Efferent

Chapter 54

Suddenly the figure split into two, one much shorter and stockier than the other, and as they came into view I gasped, clutching at my chest once more. "Sorry," Blaise offered limply, taking in the scene behind us, and gestured slowly at his companion. "But I ran into a man with a quite a bit to say."

"Walter!" I exclaimed and scrambled to my feet quickly, "What is he doing here? Did you lead him to the house, Blaise?"

"He found me." He looked over to James, who had his arms crossed tightly as he was observing the old and weary man with a wary look, "He said that he wanted to speak with you."

"So you brought him here?" I asked incredulously, anger tinting my voice. "In the midst of all of this," I threw my arms out wide, gesturing to the dead body in front of me and the boy who killed him, slumped against the tree unconscious. "You brought him here?"

"I did not know what to do," Blaise spat harshly, glaring at me, "Or what to think. And I certainly had no idea that any of this had happened."

"It happened because you were not here!" I shouted at him, leaning in, fists clenched. "It happened-."

"-Because you were too weak to handle it!" Blaise interrupted and I stuttered backwards a step.

"Says the guy who ran off into the woods because of his own insecurities." I shot back at him, but my voice was softer this time as the hurt caused by his words began to seep in.

"Enough!" James shouted, his arms out, as if spreading us apart even though he stood four feet away, "Both of you. We have more important matters at hand than silly teenage squabbling."

I nodded, refusing to look Blaise in the eye as I walked past him, but quietly I spoke before I turned on my heel. "You left. I needed you, and you were not here. End of story." I backed away, eyeing Clark, and bent down on one knee as I examined his face and his shallow breathing.

"He seems normal." I offered to James, who stood close to Dr. Ross. "Just sleeping." I glanced over at James, and worry crept under my skin, as he wore a calculating look. "I know that you want to kill him," I rushed out, "But I will not let you. He lost control, that is all, he was not himse-."

"Kill him?" James scoffed leaning in. "No, I do not want to kill him. What he did..." He trailed off, glancing at the covered body as a pair of afferent carried it away. "Was uncustomary, yes. Incredible, even. No." He repeated. "I do not want to kill him. I want to utilize him. His power." A glint entered his eye that left me unsettled.

"That is not your choice," Blaise offered up from behind him. He gestured limply to Clark, "It is his, and his alone."

"After what he has done," Walter spoke up and I jolted at the sound of his voice. "Do you really think he would willingly give you access to that power? That he would ever want to do what he did again?"

We were silent until James stood up. Without looking back at the returned afferent who had carried the body away, he flicked his wrist, "Take Clark inside, to the infirmary, please. I belive that I have other business to attend to at this moment." His gaze shifted up and down Walter's stout frame and wrinkled face.

"What is it that you want?" He questioned, crossing his arms. Travis shifted on his feet, beckoning me to stand closer to him so he could whisper in my ear.

"I do not have a good feeling about this." Travis offered, "Not a good feeling, at all."

"It is Walter." Blaise spoke up softly from behind us, "Walter Ross, the creator of the very serum that changed our lives forever and put us into this mess. What did you expect?"

"Something does not sit right with me either, Blaise." I added, lifting a brow. "Why would you ever let him follow you? Why not return with James and host the negotiations there, so that he would not know where we were hidden."

"He already knew where we were hidden." Blaise grit out, but his eyes remained glued to the conversation between Dr. Ross and James.

"What do you mean, 'He already knew where we were hidden?'" Travis furrowed his brow and a feeling of dread crept along my spine as I thought.

"The cart. The vehicle, I mean," I rushed out. "The one that we had taken from the facility."

"It had a tracking device implanted in the radio." Blaise offered. "Not only did we draw them a perfect map, but gave them our radio access too."

I inhaled sharply, and Travis pinched his brow. "Why did it take so long for him to find us?"

"Trouble," Walter spoke up. He and James had shifted to face the three of us, and evidently had heard the end of our conversation "Trouble was blocking my path."

"What kind of trouble?" I asked, crossing my arms and shifting my weight to my left leg.

"The media. The press. Really, the first amendment in general." He chuckled slightly, "Turns out that a corrupt government facility has a way of angering the masses."

"And they are calling for your head." Blaise offered blatantly, hands in his pockets. "So that is what you want from us. From him." He jutted his chin out to James, who stood eyeing us all.

"Shelter. Safety. Sanctuary." James nodded.

"In exchange for my services as an established scientist, of course." Walter added.

"Services?" Travis questioned, anger tinting his voice as he clenched his teeth and rose to his full height. "What services could we possibly want from you? More extractions? More experimentation?"

"Precisely, my boy." Walter added with a feral grin that spread across his whole face.

"What?" I asked, panicked, looking over to James, "What does he mean? I will not do it! We will not!"

"No, no." James raised his hands as if soothing a wild animal. "In exchange for safe harbor, Dr. Ross will help Clark."

"How?" Blaise grit out, "How could Dr. Ross possibly help him? After all, he was the one who made him that way in the first place!"

"No, no." James repeated, "He will complete the extraction, and yes, it will cause your frind some temporary pain, which is unfortunate. But Clark, as you said, would not want to live with that burden, that lack of control."

"So you plan to take it away." I finished. "Extract it from his blood and then use it for what?" My breathing came quicker and I reached for Travis' hand as the answer became apparent. When he refused to answer right away, I asked James once more. "What do you plan to do with the extracted serum?"

"Utilize it." James said with a note of finality. "I plan to utilize it."