Efferent

Chapter 47

The masses were chanting once more, and not much has changed. They still called for blood, they still raged at the oppression of the government, still insulted the clinics and the doctors. Only now, they had accumulated into one arena, and all of their insults were directed as us.

I stood in the corner of the arena, looking above to the towering seats that were filled to the brim, threatening to spill the watchers out onto the stadium floor. Blaise, diagonally across from me, kept his focus on the cement flooring, eyeing each panel as if it were his enemy.

Each breath raced out of my chest as though to stay inside of me a second longer would diminish it's life, and my heart felt as if it were beating out of my chest. I clenched and unclenched my fists to the rhythmic pounding that had flooded my ears and overpowered the shouts of the crowds calling for my death. The noise rushed together, crashing together to rise above my head in a heightened crest.

"Ardyn?" Blaise called from across the arena, and although I could not hear his voice, I saw his mouth form the words next. "Are you ready?"

"Ready?" I questioned. "I am terrified."

"Stick to the plan." He mouthed across the stadium. "It is ours for the taking."

I nodded, turning to face the podium as I watched the monitors on both side of the arena display our faces on a split screen. Ardyn Danvers and Blaise Simmons, it read, and I realized that before I had never learned his last name.

That fact shook me to the core far deeper than I had thought it ever would. Unsettled, I shifted on my feet.

"Ladies, gentlemen, citizens of our fine nation," Walter spoke into a microphone. "It has been revealed to you in several phases, why there has been a delay in serum production." The crowd's mumblings fell silent.

"Efference," He stated. "Efference is why. These scientific anomalies, these-these freaks," He pointed down to the stadium floor and the cameras flashed to my blank expression before returning to Dr. Ross. "Have posed a danger, a very grave danger, to our fine nation."

He looked about, and I glanced over to Blaise, who stood as erect just like a trained soldier.

"Efference is the very reason why we had to halt production of the serum that determines your children's future, that ensures their success." Walter explained. "A genetic mutation in the neuron cortex of the brain allows those who have taken the serum to develop certain abilities that are based solely on percentage."

Whispers spread through the crowd, but Walter silenced them by raising a palm and clenching it into a fist.

"Most who opt to use the serum to boost their percentage see and average increase of five to ten percent. The highest we have ever seen and publicly released was a forty." He gestured to Blaise and I. "These two are only a small sample of the Efferent, and they both have a percentages over eighty percent. Ardyn Danvers has reached total brain function at one-hundred percent."

The crowd gasped, and I stood up straighter under their scrutiny. "Today," Walter continued, "We will demonstrate the abilities of these special few, through a tactical fight between Blaise Simmons, at eighty percent brain function and the capability to manipulate thought, and Ardyn Danvers, at full brain function and the ability to control minds."

He then touched his ears in a wide gesture. "Close your ears, for their words can effect your own thoughts, open your eyes, and observe the dangers these rebels pose to our establishment." With that conclusion, he walked towards the side of the arena with a satisfied smirk dancing on his lips.

With that, a projected screen of glass rose around the stadium floor, insulating us from the noise, and the arena fell silent. I could hear Blaise's raspy breathing. I nodded at him, signaling us to start, and crouched into a defensive position, arms raised for effect, as he positioned his body to lean heavily onto his front foot.

We had practiced this dance a hundred times in our small cell, exaggerated arm movements and lunges as we taunted each other. I look up at the monitors, which displayed the anxious faces of the crowds, and prepared to make the first move.

I raised my arms slowly, high above my head for as long and withdrawn as I could, before bringing them down with a shout, "Kneel!" I brought my arms down in a rapid snap, and across the stadium, Blaise buckled to his knees, resisting my imagined offense as much as possible, teeth gritted and arms shaking.

I glanced to the podium to see a satisfied smirk on Walter's face as I paced closer to a struggling Blaise. I stopped within a foot of his kneeling body, and raised my hands to my sides, preparing to clap the together.

Before my hands made an impacted, Blaise's arms shot out in between my own, and he stood, the spell broken, I fell back onto my arm, before hopping back up and spinning behind him in a complicated dance.

Blaise clutched me close to him and for a minute I could only stare at his face, confident and collected. I leaned in, and Blaise leaned back, pushing me away before he overtook the upper hand. He tapped my shoulder and spun around to face me one more, as he pretended to influence my own thoughts.

"You have lost control," His words echoed across the stadium and in my peripheral vision I saw the audience lean in as I fell to my knees, huddled into a ball, shaking. Slowly as if breaking out of a shell, I rose to me knees, head down, and then my own feet, arms raising to my sides once more to meet above my head in the end.

I turned to face the arena seating, and the podium above me, my anger rising at their fascination, and as if a bubble had burst, the tingling that had become so foreign in my lack of ability came back full force, and I turned my head over my shoulder to look at Blaise, eyes wide.

"Chang of plans, Blaise," I offered simply. "We are doing this for real." I saw his eyes widen as he stood motionless behind me and I turned to face the glass once more.

Walter had raised to his feet, watching my anxiously as a grin spread confidently across my face and one simple word came forth from my mouth.

"Fall." I whispered, and listened to the echo as it resonated about the building and with a rumbling the glass walls dropped back, revealing the audience's shocked whispers to me.

"Run." I spoke once, and the crowd took to their feet, panic spreading through the crowd as the lost control of their own movements.

I glared squarely at Walter, he stood still amongst the masses. I would take my revenge, we would reach the officials and get the sedatives for Clark. But not before I started my own fair share of chaos.

With one final word, rising above the hordes of people, Walter's face got went ashen, and sent the arena into a flurry of motion.

"Attack."