Efferent

Chapter 55

"He is not even awake yet!" I shouted, running down the hallway after Dr. Ross and James. "You have not even asked him and yet you plan to go through with the procedure?"

They had left, quickly after our conversation in the clearing. I had thought that they were trying to get Walter settled, and yet when Blaise approached me with Travis by his side in a fit, I had been told they were preparing the operating room.

"James!" I called from behind, before they could turn a corner. "James, stop! Think about what the implications of your actions are!"

James froze in his path. "Implications?" He asked, without turning around to face me. Dr. Ross looked over his shoulder in annoyance. "I took a group of children in to my home, offered them training, supplies, sanctuary, and now you want me to think about th implications of my actions, Ardyn?"

"Clark has not had a say." I offered simply.

"Clark does not have a say!" James exclaimed loudly, and he closed his eyes to draw in a deep breath, before he began again, lower. "I am the adult, in this situation. I have seen far more than you ever will, far more than you could ever comprehend, Ardyn. I am not asking you to trust me."

I stood silent, examining his face. He carried a serene expression, but underneath, and through the small crack I could see the fragments of something haunted, something dangerous. Something angry.

"I am not asking you to trust me," He reiterated, "But I am asking that you trust I have Clark's best interest in mind."

"Why are you rushing this?" I pushed on further, wishing that Blaise and Travis were standing behind me, "Why are you fighting so hard to get this serum?"

"The longer it stays inside Clark, the harder it will be to get it out."

"You can not wait a day, less than that even, for him to wake and give you his decision on his own?"

"This is not a negotiation, Ardyn." James spat, and looked to Dr. Ross, who was tapping his foot impatiently. Leaning in, he whispered, "Even if I were to wait, could we trust him to be of sound enough mind to make the decision on his own?"

"But-."

"No buts," James shook his head and took a step back. "You saw what he did. While I am well aware that he lost control, that he reverted back to the defense styles of our primal ancestors, I could have killed him for his actions. Without his consent, without yours."

I inhaled sharply, but remained silent. "This is for the best, Ardyn." James continued. "You will not have to even witness it."

"I will." I grit out, "I will join you, and I will watch. I will be there when he wakes up and I will be there when he recovers."

"Very well, then, Ardyn." James shrugged. "Try not to hinder us in doing so. This conversation is done with, then." He turned back on his heel, and paced down the hallway with Walter at his side and me, trailing slowly behind him.

We entered a room, graced completely in white, its focal point was a metallic table in the middle and a familiar machine next to it which caused chills to go up my spine.

Clark, who lay still, pale and motionless, was lying on the table, arms strapped down tightly in three different areas, his legs pinned in a similar fashion. I covered my mouth in horror, but stood against the wall as James and Walter bustled about the room.

"I expect his reaction to the extraction will be extreme." Walter spoke. "But it should not cause any implications during the procedure, I assure you."

"It had better not," James said apathetically, "For your sake, Doctor."

Walter hesitated as he was putting a syringe to Clark's skin when he heard James. "O-of course." He stated, "O-of course."

I glanced between James and Walter, who looked genuinely startled, and my heart skipped a beat in apprehension. Would James kill Walter if he failed the procedure? No, I thought, No, he could not do something like that.

"Ardyn?" James called my out of my own head, "Ardyn, we are preparing to start the procedure now. Please stand to the side." I nodded, following his directions, when the door opened, revealing a pale Travis. Shakily, he glanced over at me and then back to James standing in the corner.

"James?" he called, "You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes," James called back without turning around from a small table. "Come here."

I watched as James bet down to whisper in Travis's ear, and when he pulled back to look Travis in the eye, Travis nodded grimly. Leaning down once more, there was some movement in the background before Travis joined me sullenly in the back.

"Why are you here?" I asked him quietly, "You do not have to be, I know that you do not like this."

"You are here." He offered simply and shrugged, though his eyes were filled with anxious energy. We watched silently, as Walter injected the needle and the tubing that would extract the Afference from Clark's blood. I felt sick, watching as they tilted him backwards, his feet pointed towards the ceiling.

"James said that I was here to observe, for training purposes." Travis added, speaking out of the corner of his mouth.

"Training purposes?" I glanced over at him, but he remained silent. "What training purposes?"

"I-." Travis started, but his sentence was cut short as a moan was ripped from Clark body. His eyelids fluttered, and he writhed under the restraints, pulling against them. Clark settled for a minute, and I could see the apprehension on Walter's face as he spoke, "That was early. Too early for a reaction, we just began the procedure." His voice was breathy and rushed.

Clark shouted again, a long, drawled note and I covered my ears as tears formed in my eyes. "Stop!" I pleaded, "Please, stop this!"

Clark gave a final cry of pain, before his eyes flew open. He looked about the room in a frantic haze, but as his gaze slid across the back wall, I saw that his pupils were solely black once more. "James?" I tried to get his attention, to tell him what I had seen, but he was to enthralled in the procedure, eyes glued to the writhing beast before him.

"Incredible," I heard him say, awe softening his tone, "Absolutely incredible. It responds to pain."

Clark arched his back against the chair, and pulled against his restraint with a shocking amount of strength. Metal began to clang about the room as his arms fell free, and he fell against the table, before ripping out of his restraints again, and falling to the floor.

His chest heaved as he ripped the tubing out of his body, throwing it against the wall. Exhaustion from earlier, combined with his now fading adrenaline painted his face in a weary light, but his eys were angry and narrowed on Walter's figure as he approached. I saw Travis shifting out of the corner of my eye, but my gaze was ripped back to Clark when he took another step towards Dr. Ross, then crumpled into a heap.

I went to rush forward, cradling his head in my lap, as I looked over to James. "I told you," I whispered lowly, "I told you not to do it." Carefully, I traced Clark's brow, and placed my hand on his chest to feel it rise in slow beats.

I looked up once more when Walter spoke. "I swear, nothing of this range was ever expected. He is much stronger than I thought, originally. But now that I no, I can continue with the procedure at a later date and-."

"No." James said, stepping forward. "There will not be another date."

I sighed in relief, toying with Clark's hair, and began to smile when I say James look over his shoulder and nod grimly. "There is too much of a liability, having him here."

"Him?" I asked, following his gaze until my breath caught in my throat.

Arm raised, the shiny chamber of a gun pointed straight from the hands of Travis, and with a rotating click, he cocked the small revolver. In a second, without a blink, Travis had fired off a bullet that resounded about the room.