Pulse

by Wade, Matthew

  It was a hollow, metallic ringing sound that was a cross between a clang and a shout. Winter soon realised it was both. A crying of effort just like the meatheads in the gym make when they try and show off how much they can bench press was followed by a low clanging boom.

  Winter realised what this meant, and hurried with his makeshift field dressing. He was cursing under his breath as the fabric pulled on the open wound of his hand. The blood flow was reducing, but the pain was searing.

  The noise was becoming more focussed now.

  “Heave”

  Boom.

  “Heave”

  Boom.

  A door on the side of the ship buckled and cracked.

  “Heave”

  Boom.

  The door gave and a group of men came crashing through the broken door. The gathered their senses on deck whilst the leader of the group surveyed the scene.

  They were in combat fatigues and wearing camouflage baseball caps with heavy boots and gloves.

  Damn. Seals? Or just cadets? Winter couldn’t tell from the distance, but either way it was another problem he didn’t need right now. As he put the finishing touches to his bandage he looked back up to the Medway. They were already making their way to the disembarking ramp.

  But Winter could see there was a problem. The ship had been rocked so much that the ramp was hanging loose from the exit of the vessel, cutting them off from land.

  The boat was slowly drifting away from the shore, turning as it went, so that there was already fifty to sixty feet from the ship to land.

  Winter also new this was temporary – they were already throwing ropes over the side and inflating a dinghy. One man who was obviously in charge (the only one not throwing ropes) was waving and shouting and organising the group. And fast. They had begun to descend.

  Winter grabbed his gun and steadied himself.

  The twins had seen their opportunity and were already running.

  They fled towards the city, using the buildings as cover from Winter, who would be not far behind.

  They ran for three or four blocks until they had become lost in the concrete jungle. People were walking around, dazed and looking up at the sky, looking around them, looking at each other, wondering what had caused the blackout, scared of the gunshots that had been ringing out.

  As the twins came running into the small crowd people stopped looking up and began to notice the dirty, panic stricken duo.

  “Hey kids are you OK?” Said a stocky man holding a briefcase. “You two look like hell”.

  Tears were rolling down Maggie’s face. “Please. Please can someone help us. There is a man. He’s trying to kill us. He has already killed my boy… my b…” But she could not continue. Waves of grief and pent up emotion were pouring out of her. She had been trying to be strong for her brother. Trying to stay focused on the journey ahead. Trying to be the mature one. But she was still just a teenager. Still just a child in an adult skin.

  Two middle aged women came over to Maggie, Bobby and the stocky man with the briefcase.

  “Honey did you just say someone is trying to kill you?” One of the middle aged women said.

  Maggie looked up at her. She had kind eyes. The sort of eyes her Aunt Karen has. She could tell this woman must have children, or even grandchildren by the kind look she gave her. The way she seemed to be able to look directly into her soul and understand.

  “Please. We need to hide somewhere. Just until the police come. Or someone who can help.”

  The woman thought for a moment. “OK, but do you have someone you can call?”

  “Good luck with that” the stocky man said. “Phones are out. Powers out. Heck – the whole damn city is out”.

  “What’s your name sweetheart?” the woman asked.

  “Maggie. And this is Bobby.”

  “Well its very nice to meet you Maggie and Bobby. Mine name is Janice. Janice St John. What say we go across the street to that little café over there” she said, pointing over to a small corner café called ‘St. Johns’.

  “The power is out, but we still have water for an orange squash. You are welcome to come too, sir.” Janice said, looking to the stocky man.

  “Thank you ma’am.” He said tipping an invisible hat. He offered him hand to Janice.

  “Harry Stephens.”

  “Well Mr Stephens; Maggie, Bobby. Looks like we have ourselves a tea party.

  As they followed Janice over to the café, Harry paused and looked down the road; back to the shoreline. He squinted in the low light and tried to focus on what he thought looked like a swarm coming towards him. He leaned his head forward and squinted harder, waiting for his brain to make sense of the image. He could hear a clumping sound. Rhythmical and reverberating around the city. Now there was no power it meant there was no machinery, no engines, no air conditioning whirr, no horns, no ringtones; nothing that could make a sound apart from the natural sound of people and animals.

  Wow. He thought. You can really hear the birds up above. And see the stars.

  “Mr Stephens, are you joining us?” Janice said from across the street.

  “Hey come take a look at this” he called back.

  Janice, Maggie and Bobby walked over to him. He was still looking up to the sky when they arrived.

  “You can really see the stars tonight.”

  The other three gazed up and marvelled at the blanket of light covering the sky.

  “Beautiful.” Janice said. “It’s because the power is out. There’s no light from the city anymore.”

  Maggie was still sobbing softly, so Janice put her arm around her.

  The rhythmical clumping sound was getting louder now. Harry had been so distracted with the sky, he had momentarily forgotten all about it.

  He looked back down the street as the swarm was getting closer.

  “Looks like the cavalry has arrived.”

  The three star gazers looked at Harry, and then followed his gaze down to see an army marching toward them.

  “Yes.” Maggie said. She was still crying, but a smile of relief was spreading across her face.

  “Looks like the cadets are coming.” Harry said.

  “How can you tell?” Janice said.

  “Uniforms. They’re not in full combats.”

  Janice squinted in the low light. “Ok.” She said, not sounding sure.

  “You guys go ahead and get inside, said Harry. “I’ll talk to them.”

  Janice beckoned for the twins to follow her over to the café. As she opened the door a bell rung above their heads. The old fashioned kind that Maggie had seen in old movies.

  The inside of the shop looked very European. Maggie had been on a school trip to Rome the year before, and ‘St. Johns’ reminded her of those coffee shops where they served expresso and tiramisu all day, with vibrant Italian women waving their arms at each other as they spoke.

  It was dark inside Janice’s café, but she went over to the counter and opened a drawer. Maggie wondered how she could find her way, but she supposed she could find her way in her own bedroom in the dark. She knew it so well.

  There was a flicking sound and a flame jumped from Janice’s hand to the top of a decorative candle. She lit three more and soon the café was bathed in a warm yellow glow.

  “There we go.” Janice said. “Now I can get you whatever we have in the fridge, which is fruit juice or water.”

  “Water would be great, thanks.”

  Bobby, who was gazing out of the window, stood up and peered through the glass.

  “What is it honey?” Janice said.

  She joined Bobby by the window and could see Harry talking to the group of cadets. Now they were closer she could see what he had been talking about. There were young. Probably around seventeen or eighteen. There were in uniform as Harry had said, with cadet logos embroidered on their upper arms. They looked fit and strong, but there were not carrying and weapons. Their leader was a man in his late thirties, and he was the one talking to
Harry Stephens.

  Bobby went back to the table and sat with his sister whilst Janice watched on. She watched Harry talk with the leader of the group of around eight cadets. He pointed over to the café and the cadets looked over to Janice who raised a hand in acknowledgement.

  Harry pointed over the shoulders of the men in front of him and as they all turned around, Janice looked further down the street and could see another man walking toward the group.

  He approached the group and started talking. The leader of the cadets stepped over and shook the man’s hand. They talked for a moment and the cadet leader beckoned Harry over, who also shook with the new man. They talked some more and Harry nodded and pointed once more over to Janice, who once again raised a hand.

  But the man shook with his left hand, as it appeared his right was bandaged and bloodied.

  He seemed to wave away any offers for help as the cadets’ leader gestured toward his injury.

  The talking carried on for a few more moments, and as the talking continued, Janice could see that Harry was becoming agitated. He swept his arms across and out from his body in a ‘no it’s final’ sort of way as the cadets all stiffened around him.

  The man did something unexpected to Janice. His good hand reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun, aimed directly at Harry.

  He gestured for the group to all move away from him and turn around. The leader, however, stayed facing Winter and walked very slowly toward him with his hands up. Winter began shout and pointing the gun at him, but still the leader advanced. It was obvious to Janice that he was attempting to reason with Winter, but it also obvious that he was putting himself in grave danger.

  Winter fired directly at the cadet leaders’ head. The sound was explosive, and reverberated around the city as a misty red spray exited the leaders’ head as he fell to the ground.

  Janice let out a scream which made Winter turn and face her. Maggie and Bobby had already jumped out of their seats and were standing in view of the window.

  Winter ran towards them.

  Maggie and Bobby ran through the café, looking for a back door.

  Janice turned to follow.

  Winter raised his gun and fired.

  The glass behind Janice shattered and crashed to the floor. The bullet struck her in the back of the neck, and exited through her oesophagus. She fell forward and hit the floor, where she lay unmoving.

  Maggie and Bobby carried on running.

  They crashed past the counter and through the small kitchen at the back, where Bobby hit the bar on the fire escape door, and led them out into a small alleyway.

  They turned left and stopped just shy of the street.

  Bobby peered around the corner.

  The cadets were still standing there, hands on the backs of their heads and a look of terror on their faces.

  Seeing Bobby snapped them out of their trance. The nearest cadet gingerly looked over his shoulder and then bolted for the far corner, to take refuge behind the next set of buildings.

  Bobby and Maggie ran too, using the uniforms as a beacon of hope.

  As they neared the far corner, Bobby paused. “Listen.” In the distance they could hear a rumble of an engine. A helicopter was approaching, dispatched from outside Bobby’s blast zone.

  A loud crack was heard, and the wall next to them splintered as a gunshot narrowly missed them.

  “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Winter bellowed from down the street.

  The small crowd turned and ran once more.

  Winter was bearing down on them, rage in his eyes. “THERE IS NO WHERE LEFT TO GO! I WILL KILL YOU BOTH!

  The group had realised too late their mistake. They had reached a plaza.

  An open area where they were completely exposed.

  Winter was firing again. A bullet struck one of the cadets in the back of the leg and he fell to the ground. His comrades stopped to pick him up, and, across the shoulders of his fellow men, limped on to the far side if the square.

  They stopped as they realised they had reached a dead end. There was only one way out, and it was back through John Winter.

  Winter had also realised this, and was walking slower as he assessed the group before him.

  Still the rumble grew closer.

  “Three blind mice. Three blind mice.”

  Winter was enjoying taunting them. Slowing walking towards them as he sung his demented nursery rhyme.

  “See how they run. See how they run.”

  He fired a shot that made the stone shatter at the foot of the nearest cadet. The group trembled in fear.

  “They all ran after the farmer's wife,

  Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

  Did you ever see such a sight in your life?”

  He paused and addressed the twins who were holding hands at the back of the group.

  “Well, you did give me some sport, I suppose. But now it has to come to an end.”

  He cocked back his gun.

  “I will give these noble cadets a chance. After all, I do hate to see such young military talent go to waste. God only knows this country needs its Navy. So, gentlemen, if you could part the way to these civilians.”

  The cadets did not move. The engine noise was getting closer.

  “Just to be clear.” He continued. “Either you make way, or I will shoot through you. And believe me, the results would not be favourable for any of you.”

  He lowered his gun at the people before him.

  With a sigh he said “So be it – You all with die tonight.”

  He started firing. This time it was rapid. Bullets tore through two cadets with deadly aim, slicing through their chests and leaving them no chance of survival.

  The group scattered and ran around the edge of the Plaza, Maggie and Bobby sticking together along the north east corner.

  Bullets flew until a clicking sound signalled the end of Winters’ ammo.

  Bobby paused and looked at him, believing it was over, only to see him discard the empty cartridge, take another from his pocket and reload.

  The engine noise seemed imminent, it was on top of them now, responding to the only sound in the city that it could trace.

  Then a shaft of a searchlight swung through the gaps in the buildings as Winter opened fire on them once more.

  The helicopter appeared from behind the buildings above, the rumble from its engines reverberating loudly around the desolate and dark city.

  The spotlight landed on the gunman, illuminating him like an orb.

  “This is the military police - Throw down your weapon” said the megaphone voice.

  Winter trained his gun on the twins, who were now only one hundred yards away.

  “This is your final warning. Throw down you weapon or we will use deadly force.”

  Winter started laughing. “Oh – we could have been so good together, Robert, you and me. We could have conquered the world – But you had to go and ruin it, didn’t you?”

  He fired.

  The helicopter fired.

  A star shaped flame omitted from the machine gun mounted on the doorway of the chopper, and a hosepipe stream flowed from barrel to ground, finding its target with deadly precision.

  Winter reacted as though he had been electrocuted. He shook as though he were having a fit, except he wasn’t. He was being hit by a rapid fire machine gun.

  The force of the bullets ripped through his lungs, his spleen and his stomach, painting a red trail on the road behind him. He hit the floor with a thud, and was lifeless.

  Maggie let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God. It’s over, it’s over, it's….” She turned to her brother. “Bobby?!”

  Blood was pumping out of wound in Bobby’s chest, his face looked pale.

  “Help me Mags. I don’t feel well.”

  “Someone call an ambulance, please. My brother….”

  “We can’t” said one of the crowd. “Something has knocked out everything for a quarter of a mile.”

  T
he helicopter was circling, trying to find a landing spot, but had to fly back out to the beach to land.

  Bobby chocked and spluttered.

  “Shhh, shhhh. Try to stay still darling.”

  Bobby tried to move, but he chocked again. He gasped for air and coughed up blood bubbles. He had stopped breathing and gone limp in his sister’s arms.

  Bobby was dead.

  “Bobby… Bobby!”

  Maggie collapsed over Bobby’s lifeless body and sobbed.

  Maggie looked up at the night sky. Because no lights were coming from the city, she could see the stars more clearly than ever. He never noticed how bright they could be. The helicopter was landing in the distance.

  Bobby’s body shuddered. Maggie jumped and backed away from him.

  “Bobby?”

  The cadets were standing over them. One of them put a hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “Ma’am, it’s... it’s a twitch. It’s when the nervous system shuts down. It happens.” He said.

  His body twitched again. He started flailing like he was having a seizure. Then he stopped twitching and lay still.

  Maggie let out a cry.

  Everything was still. No one else made a sound.

  Fifty four

  Where am I? Who am I?

  I was home some time ago, then something disturbed the ocean floor. There was a lot of noise, as we all were sucked upwards.

  Heaven bound we flew, through the water and into the light above.

  As we flew up we got faster, and as we got faster we travelled higher. Higher and higher until we broke the surface of our world. The surface of the ocean.

  Where am I?

  I soared up. I was flying, and with no water to slow me down, I was getting faster.

  I could see around me. Colours and shapes that were alien to me. Creatures on the ground; some of them people, some of them not.

  Things flying past me; some of them birds, some of them machines.

  Lights on the ground, lights in the sky, noise from everywhere around me.

  But I needed water. I was suffocating. I tried to turn; it had little effect. I tried to slow; it worked a little better.

  Up ahead there is water. It is not the ocean, but I can see it glistening beneath me.

  It is a lake. It is not what I am used to, but it is salvation.