Efferent

Chapter 45

The cell was padded and grey, muting most noise, and yet the shouts from the city behind us grew in volume the longer the time passed.

"How many do you think there are out there?" Blaise questioned with his eyes drawn tight, despite the fact that my mouth was still covered and we were held in different cells. He tried to glance out the small window at the top of his cell, reaching for the lip of the wall to see out, but could not breach the edge of the windowsill.

"Too many," he grinned slightly. "Far too many. The clinics and the testing facilities will have to respond in some way. They can not ignore thousands of angry voices." He glanced over to me, rubbing his hands together as he slouched against the soft walls. I mumbled, but having no voice, had to show my confusion and frustration by simply furrowing my brows together in a questioning manner.

He blinked, gazing at my face as if trying to interpret my message. "It would be a perfect-no, the perfect- distraction for us to escape, the perfect distraction for us to grab the sedatives and go." His gaze traveled once more to the setting sun, and although the ensuing darkness did not deter the impassioned protestors at the foot of the clinic, it left a growing pit in my stomach.

I looked away from Blaise and his prying gaze, my eyes stinging as I glared at the padded floor. How many hours had passed since we left the home? How many hours did we have left? How long until the truly decide that we are never coming back, just as the Afferent before us? How many hours did Clark have left to live out his life in a locked room?

"Ardyn, stop. Hey," Blaise called from the side of the room, "We will get out in time. Clark will be just fine, and we will give him the sedatives we need to buy time to find a viable option for his new... condition."

My mind protested in waves of rebellious and doubtful thoughts, just as my heart yearned to believe his words. But would we make it in time even if we did escape? I glanced pointedly at the locked door, sighing as I raised an eyebrow. We would have to surpass the lock on our individual cells, the locks on the door to the hallway outside, locate the sedatives and exit the clinic completely undetected. My ire rose with my doubt.

"They will have to transfer the both of us to the infirmary anytime now." Blaise added, attempting to reassure me, "That is when we will make our mo-."

"Move!" With a bang, the door bounced off of the opposite wall, nearly swinging back in on the approaching soldiers. An official shouted form the door. "Stand up, both of you! The Doctor wishes to speak to you. Show some respect."

Slowly, I got to my feet as the soldiers marched about the small cell, unlocking the doors with a clang and surrounding both Blaise and I in a flurry of motion.

As soon as the motion quieted into an eerie stillness and silence pressed at the seams of the room, Dr. Ross waltzed into the prison, his steps echoing until he reached the threshold of the padded cell. "You have caused quite the predicament for me." Walter hesitated, pacing the outer edge of our cell. "But luckily you can fix it too."

"Coward," Blaise spit out before the officials could silence him, "You are afraid. Afraid of what might happen when the clinics run out of the serum, afraid of what anarchy will be caused then."

His guard checked him, but with only a grunt, Blaise continued, frantic. "You think that you can appease them by making more? This will be nothing compared to when you no longer have us to extract your precious Efferenece from."

"Silence him!" Walter ordered, but did not stop his pacing. "The riots are increasing at the percentage testing facilities around the nation."

"And no matter how much you spin the bottle, it will always land on you!" Blaise shouted, desperate to verbalized his thoughts.

Walter froze, and looked over to me, holding my gaze. "He is right!" Walter spit out, "Extraction will only solve the problem temporarily. I need the formula. I need time," he paused looking over to me, holding my gaze for minutes before flicking it over to Blaise. "I need a distraction."

"Sir?" And official questioned, widening his stance to hide his doubtful shifting. "The masses, they are far too...passionate about this subject."

"No ordinary distraction will do, no." Walter resumed his pacing and ran his wrinkled hands through his hair as he studied Blaise out of the corner of his eye, flicking his gaze between us. "Panem et circenses."

"We broke him." Blaise stated sarcastically, "He is speaking in circles."

"The Romans! The Romans!" Walter shouted, and my eyes widened, "Do you not see? The Romans employed this very method in times of rioting, and had success many a time!"

"Sir?" The official questioned once more.

"A superficial means of appeasement! To satisfy the masses, distract them from their rioting under the guise of informative entertainment!"

"Sir?"

"We host a demonstration for the protesters, displaying the abilities of the efferent. We reveal their identity to the hordes, explain this medical phenomenon that has caused a delay in production and in the mean time we employ the Romans favorite method of entertainment: a fight to the death."

"Mphmph?" I tried to shout in protest. I looked to Blaise, who's eyes had gone wide and his face had gone white.

"A fight?" Blaise whispered, "Between Ardyn and I?"

"Yes, yes!" Walter clasped his hands together and grinned from ear to ear. "A fight, televised all over the nation. In an arena. Affording me more time to redevelop the formula."

I narrowed my eyes at his behavior, suspicion crawling up my spine to settle on the base of my neck. "What makes you think we will fight willingly against one another? To the death no less?" Blaise scoffed and rolled his eyes to hide his unsettled demeanor behind a sarcastic facade.

Walter smiled once more, sending a chill down my back as I attempted to guess what his answer might be, what he had that would motivate us to murder. A threat? A promise? A negotiation? Nothing came to mind and my brain rebelled at the silence in lack of an answer.

Slowly, as if aware of the edge I was grasping at, hardly able to hold on any longer, Walter spoke in a hushed voice. "You will fight against each other," Dr. Ross trailed off, "Or you will force my hand. I will have no choice but to release the Afferent serum to the public in response to their protests."