Whisper

Chapter 30

Riding on the back of the half-tread with Golem, Clarise watch the trees just fly by. They had all escaped, although they dispersed to escape effectively, Project Link kept them all in contact.

All except Clarise.

She was quick to learn that telepaths like Link couldn't reach her mind, but it didn't matter as Clarise stuck with a small group. Weaver was driving while Frost sat in the passenger seat. Golem had stopped operating the machine gun and crouched down with Clarise, holding a hand out for her to hold onto for stabilization

He would've reverted back to his normal self, but he felt they were not quite out of danger yet.

Sharp pain suddenly exploded in Clarise's mind, her hands instantly grabbing onto the sides of her head, holding it like her brains were going to break out of her skull any minute. She let out a scream of pain, Golem placing a comforting hand on her back.

It was only a matter of time before the abuse of her power came back to bite her. With everything that she did, Golem didn't expect her to get away with it without suffering.

"Ahhh!" Her eyes began to water and her throat began to burn immensely like she was about to throw up. Saliva dripped from her open mouth as her screams suddenly went hoarse, only light whimpers were an indication of her pain.

"Is everything okay?!" Frost had to poke her head out of the window after hearing Clarise's scream, concern written all over her face.

"It's fine!" Golem shouted back, turning to see Clarise completely hunched over, her fingers digging into her hair. "She just needs to let this pass."

He rubbed small circles on her back, only to quickly grab onto her waist as she spun around to lean over the side, throwing up what little food she had in her stomach. Her vision went fuzzy with black spots dancing around what she could see.

It was like she had a concussion without the head trauma.

She's never felt like this. In the years of using her power to answer questions, who knew that those questions were the dam regulating her abilities. Now that she could use her ability, unprompted, her body was struggling to adapt to the change.

"We'll help you get stronger," Golem seemed to understand what was going on. He read her file as they travelled to the other facility before Magma burned it along with the rest of their files and came up with a similar conclusion to Dr. Kadea. Where if she was put in a situation of survival, then perhaps her gifts could be used unprompted. Of course a time never arose where her survival instincts appeared until now.

Helping her lay down on the bed of the vehicle, he slowly shifted back into a normal form, rubbing the top of her head in a fatherly manner, shifting away the locks of hair that stuck to her sweaty face. Her eyes were closed shut and her face shifted between uncomfortable and in pain.

"Everything is okay now," Golem mumbled. He was recalling his own daughter he left behind. She would be a few years younger than Clarise, and probably doesn't even really remember him, but it was nice to have some semblance of a daughter.

Eventually the group had to ditch the half-tread. Not that it was out of gas, but because it was incredibly conspicuous and suspicious. So they went to the vans and cars, temporarily stopped on a hidden part of a small forest road. Golem had to carry Clarise to one of the vans where they set up a small bed for her.

Everyone seemed to understand how essential she is for their survival, although many didn't understand the full scope of her abilities.

"W-we need to split up," Clarise muttered to Golem, a small woman suddenly came into the van too. A dirty blonde woman with bright blue eyes. It was Link. "Link, tell the people in vans 1 and 4 to drive to NewTown. Vans 2 and 5 should go to Harpersville. We are going to Los Paraiso. They should be able to find the facilities around those areas. In 1 month exact, we need to meet at Ten's Motel outside of Genovia City."

Link was transmitting this as Clarise spoke, all the drivers acknowledging. There were 6-7 Projects and Abnormals per vehicle, with Clarise's vehicle containing Golem, Link, Frost, Weaver, Spring and herself. All Projects.

"Are we ready to move?" Weaver mapped out a route to Los Paraiso on the van's GPS, much like everyone else did for their vehicles. She looked to Magma who had also returned to his normal self, no longer made of lava. "See you in a month."

With that the groups dispersed and began to drive down the same two way forest road, going down separate roads when they reached an intersection.

"Is she going to be alright?" Link asked, watching Clarise wince and pant.

"She's going to be fine," Golem spoke, although not to sure himself. He wanted to give comfort to the young adults in the car. Although Link had just turned 30 a few weeks ago, so she wasn't really a young adult anymore unlike Frost, Clarise, and Spring.

"How did she know how to disable the vans' tracking system?" Spring asked, eyeing Clarise suspiciously. He was in the same containment area as she was, and noticed Conrad visit her cell quite often. "She even knew how to disconnect them from the ARC's satellite."

"That's just her gift." Golem replied, looking at Spring warningly.

"What, to be good with technology?"

"No it's a bit more than that," Golem had witnessed her near-impossible gunshot from hours ago, still not believing his eyes, "She can see everything's past, present, and future."

"Like some sort of psychic?"

"Something like that."

Link stared at her with intrigue. She blindly followed Clarise's instructions like the others, and so far it proved effective so Link wasn't as skeptical as Spring, but mumbled "What was her Project?"

"Pardon?" Golem couldn't hear her that well.

"What was her Project name?"

Golem smiled, remembering clearly on her file. It was a bit funny how they labeled her as something that has nothing really to do with her gift.

"Whisper."