The Pulse Effex Series: Box Set

by L. R. Burkard

  “Mom! Did you see the smoke?”

  She nodded at me sadly. “It’s from that explosion last night. We’ll find out what’s burning today. Go get your chores done.”

  I led my horse out, fed the animals, and then fetched them water. But as I worked, I kept rehearsing the way I’d give Blake and Andrea the cold shoulder when I saw them. In fact, thinking about Blake, I got madder and madder. No wonder our romance hadn’t progressed much! He didn’t want it to! He liked Andrea! I closed the gate to the pasture, turned, and almost ran smack into him.

  “Lex”

  I tried walking around him but he stopped me, taking me by the arms. I was secretly pleased he cared enough to do that, but I was still more angry than pleased.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Not now.”

  “I didn’t kiss Andrea,” he said. I stared at his pleading eyes and felt immeasurably sorry. But I saw clearly in my mind the image of him and Andrea, their mouths together!

  “Liar! I saw you! Why don’t you just admit it!” I shrugged off his hands and stalked back towards the barn. I turned only enough to say “Don’t follow me!”

  I still had to gather rabbit droppings for the garden and check on two mamas; plus see if all the kits were still alive. We preferred to keep their cages outdoors in warmer weather but they were safer in the barn. I made sounds to warn them I was coming. Rabbits don’t like to be surprised—it spooks them. As I worked I blinked back tears. I knew Blake was guilty—and it hurt.

  I needed to pray—but really all I wanted to pray for was that God would help me not to care about Blake or Andrea! I knew I’d have to forgive them sometime but right now I was stuck in angry mode. Partly because, even if I forgave Blake wholeheartedly, it wouldn’t change the fact that we were through. We weren’t on the “marriage track” as I’d imagined. Staying angry helped me hold off facing that. Maybe being stuck was exactly where I wanted to be.

  I opened the door to the first cage, offering the mother rabbit a handful of clover I’d picked earlier. All I needed was to distract her while I checked the kits. I was just closing the door when I heard a sound and turned to see Jared coming towards me. He smiled, which was uncharacteristic of him, making me uneasy.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yup. Your mom asked me to come and check on you.”

  This was decidedly unusual. I wasn’t friends with Jared. I’d even tried to get Andrea to see he might not be trustworthy. Why would Mom send him, of all people? And she’d just sent me out there to do my chores.

  “I’m almost done here. I’m fine.”

  He came and stood next to me and surveyed the rabbits. “They’re kinda cute, aren’t they?”

  I glanced at him, surprised. “Yeah.” I didn’t think Jared would see future food on the table as cute. I tried never to think about how cute they were, knowing their fate. But they are pretty animals. Most all our rabbits are New Zealands except for two cages of Cinnamons. The New Zealands are snowy white and fluffy. We didn’t used to tan the hides, but we’re doing it, now.

  “It’s too bad, huh? That we gotta eat them.”

  I nodded.

  “Good thing we haven’t had to eat your horse!”

  I stared at him in indignation. How could he even think such a thing!

  He smiled and chuckled. “Just kidding.”

  He’d been joking? Jared, joking!

  “Rhema’s a pretty filly.”

  “She is, thanks.” I was trying to figure out why in blazes he was talking to me, wondering how to ask him. Maybe the guy was just lonely or something. Wait a minute! He wasn’t trying to get friendly, was he? I needed to end this, now.

  “I gotta finish up. See ya later.” This was meant to dismiss him but he took my hand as I went to open the cage in front of me and I turned to him in surprise.

  “What—?”

  And then, in a really quick and surprising move, Jared leaned in and caught me on the mouth with his mouth. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. He grabbed me around the middle and pressed down with his lips, but I came to life and started fighting. I think I kicked him in the shins and he let me go with an oath, and bent over, rubbing his leg.

  I turned to run. I was going to run to the house and tell my dad to get rid of Jared! But as soon as I turned I saw Blake. I stopped in surprise.

  He came to me, his eyes filled with soft sorrow. I felt confused. Why had Jared come to the barn and why did Blake happen to be here at the same time?

  Blake came and gently put his hands upon my arms.

  “What’s going on?” I felt a sneaking suspicion, a tremor of distrust towards Blake, my Blake, whom I’d always trusted implicitly—before yesterday, anyways.

  “You got yourself a wild cat there,” said Jared, limping off. He turned to give me a rueful grin.

  I looked accusingly at Blake. “What is going on?”

  Blake took a breath. “Lex, when I got here, I saw you kissing Jared.” My mouth opened in protest. But in a second, Blake’s face descended towards mine and then he was kissing me. I was still angry about what I’d seen earlier, but it was so nice to have BLAKE kissing me rather than that awful Jared, and it was such a sure sign Blake cared, that I welcomed his kiss. It meant he hadn’t misinterpreted what he saw—wait a minute! That was exactly what I’d done to him, I saw that now! I’d seen him kissing Andrea and assumed the worst, but I was now living proof that you COULD be so surprised you do nothing! At least for a few seconds, anyways.

  After a good, long, kiss, we stared into each other’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “I don’t want to lose you, Lex. I mean this with all my heart. Andrea doesn’t mean anything to me.”

  I could have cried. Maybe I did.

  Later Blake told me how Jared had found him looking all down and morose. When he’d explained the difficulty, Jared nodded knowingly. “Andrea said she did something stupid and Lexie was mad at her.”

  I was none too happy to learn I’d been set up. But Blake was so sweet and affectionate, telling me he’d do it again if it meant making me forgive him, that I couldn’t stay angry about it. Already we’re laughing over the whole thing. Except for Andrea’s part in starting it all. That was no set-up. She intentionally kissed my boyfriend.

  I’m still not talking to her.

  Outdoors, we stared at the ugly blackness spread across the sky. Other people around the compound were staring also. It was like a pall fell over us. The smoke is a reminder of how unstable the world is, of how precarious life is.

  During lunch, Dad said, “If it’s fuel burning it’s a shameful waste of resources.”

  “If it’s not fuel?” asked Mrs. Wasserman.

  “Could be industrial buildings,” my dad said, “but I can’t remember there being any over that way.”

  Either way, if it was buildings or fuel, it was depressing. It meant more people might have died, and that arsonists were out there who might want to burn us down, too. And what if those foreign troops were responsible? So far, we’d had enough manpower to fight off marauders, but if an organized and armed enemy was taking over the land, what could we do to stop them? We had nothing that could withstand true military force.

  Dad has said if we can get by for a year or two by careful rationing, then if the United States hasn’t been taken over by a foreign power, we may get through to a new era of peace and prosperity. IF. There’s a whole lotta ‘if’ in that scenario.

  No sooner did we clear the lunch dishes than we heard it: Another alarm! When it didn’t break up into short blasts after the first ten seconds, we all jumped into action. Here we go again, I thought. When would it end!

  “Wait. Let’s pray, folks,” my Dad said.

  My mother said, “I’m getting the children out of the yard. You all, please, pray.” She disappeared out the door while the rest of us stopped and held hands, forming a little circle right there in the kitchen. A new compound member named
Cecily prayed first—with great fervency. I admired her spirit. Then Dad prayed. When I thought afterwards of what could have gone wrong later, I knew the Lord had answered those prayers. He was watching over us. He had to be!

  Chapter 21

  ANDREA

  So I thought it was bad enough, having Lexie and Blake both mad at me. (I’ve tried to apologize, like, three times, but they’re both being jerks.) But now I wish this was my only problem.

  It was my day for child care. Knowing Lexie might be out in the barn, I took the kids outside. I knew the black sky might upset them, but they just pointed it out and then ignored it. I wanted to see Lexie and have it out. Get it over with.

  So I took the kids to the playground, which is adjacent to the path that veers off to the barn. It’s on the quiet side of the barn instead of on the side facing the cabins, where most activity is. But I cleared it with the lookouts and Mrs. Martin, and the kids were loving it.

  I was daydreaming about what might happen between me and Jared, swinging Lily and Justin on infant swings, when all of a sudden we heard the alarm. I couldn’t believe it—the third alarm in a week! And it wasn’t a warning. I gathered the kids as fast as I could. Mrs. Martin appeared and helped herd the children towards the house.

  As we got inside, Aiden started howling. “I need my Luke Skywalker!” Mrs. Martin was carrying the two babies but she stopped and sternly ordered Aiden to follow her. She was taking the kids to the safe room.

  “We’ll get it later,” I assured him. But it was no use. Aiden was almost five, but still very capable of having a temper tantrum more fitting for a two year old. He cranked up his crying and clung to my legs.

  “Aiden Patterson! You come here this minute!”

  I gave Mrs. Martin an agonized look. “Find my mom! She’ll get him to calm down.”

  “Your mother left the property with Mr. Washington about two hours ago,” Mrs. Martin said.

  “Where did they go?” I asked, annoyed. Of course she wouldn’t be here when I needed her.

  “I was going to ask you that,” she said. “Carry your brother down. I don’t care if he’s screaming like a banshee.”

  I picked him up, but Aiden went into an all-out tantrum, kicking me and thrashing with all his might. “It’s okay,” I said to Mrs. Martin, who waited, holding Justin on one hip. “I know how to calm him. We’ll be right there.”

  “I don’t need him to be calm,” she said as she turned away to lead the rest of the kids to safety. “He can come kicking and screaming, I just need him to come. Pick him up and get him along, Andrea.”

  I tried to pick up my little brother, but his screaming increased yet more and he threw himself down, grasping my leg like a drowning man does a life preserver.

  “I nee--ee--eed my Luke Skywalker!”

  I tried to pry off his arms but his hold on my leg redoubled.

  I wanted to do what Mrs. Martin said; but something in Aiden’s agonized cries pierced me to the heart. I guess that sounds pretty dramatic but that’s how it felt. It was like his crying hit a soft spot inside me that I didn’t know was soft; or maybe sore, is a better word.

  “I ne-e-e-e-e-eed my Lu-u-u-u-u-u-ke Skywalker-er-er-er!”

  As I hugged Aiden against my side, suddenly all the suffering we’d endured since the pulse—dad’s death, the loss of our home and belongings, the disappearance of our old life—all of it, was in Aiden’s cries. That toy was his security blanket. I couldn’t let him lose that, too!

  In the distance I heard shots. I knew no adult would ever give me permission to go outdoors for an action figure but as I stroked his head, listening to his sobs—and you’d think the world had ended, the way he cried—I got spitting mad about it, as Mrs. Martin would say. After all—the world had ended. Our world, anyway.

  “Okay. Wait here,” I said, bending down to look into his eyes. “I’ll get your Luke Skywalker.”

  “You will?” Quentin’s tone changed instantly into one of wondering hope. He sniffled and looked at me with great trust.

  “I will.”

  People were scrambling into position at windows all around the house. I knew that outside, men were huddling behind partitions we’d put up around the borders of the building area. Most of them were lined with homemade sandbags—one of the less lovely chores we have is to make them using anything we can find. Plastic bags, doubled, and filled with dirt and sand, did the trick.

  Lexie came flying towards us with Blake right behind her. Both held rifles and were in a hurry but they skidded to a stop. They looked at me and then at each other. I sort of held my breath, wondering if they’d speak to me.

  “What are you doing?” Lexie sounded annoyed.

  “I have to get Aiden’s Skywalker. He left it outside.”

  “You can’t go out there,” Blake said.

  “Where’s your rifle?” Lexie asked.

  “I’m on childcare! I only have this,” I motioned towards my holstered .380, which I wore clipped to a belt. “I’m going to the safe room with Aiden. I just have to get his Skywalker first.”

  “Where is Aiden?” Lexie asked, craning her head to look around me. Surprised, I realized he’d let go of my legs, but when I turned to reveal my brother, there was —nothing!

  “Oh, great!” I said. “He’s gone!”

  A sudden volley of shots somewhere on the property ended our conversation. “We have to go!” Lexie said. “We’ll be at an upstairs window! Find Aiden and get downstairs!”

  “I will!” It was such a relief they’d spoken to me, I didn’t even mind that Lexie hadn’t been particularly nice. I still needed to retrieve Aiden’s action figure though, and I’d have to hurry. But first I had to find out where Aiden had gone. Children weren’t supposed to wander around during a skirmish and I certainly didn’t want my little brother in harm’s way.

  I hurried around looking for him, growing increasingly worried. Where was he hiding? If I was to venture outdoors I had to do it quick! Every minute that passed meant whoever was approaching our borders might have crossed them by now. The longer I waited, the more dangerous it got.

  And then I saw him, right where he was supposed to be in the first place. “Where’d you go?”

  Ignoring my question, he smiled hopefully. “Did you get ‘im? Did you get my Luke Skywalker, Andi?”

  “Not yet. I need to get you downstairs, first.”

  He shook his head, and his mouth puckered up—he was gonna cry again! I knelt down to meet his eyes, taking him by the shoulders. I wanted him to listen really good.

  “You have to go downstairs—” He started howling again so loudly I covered his mouth with my hands. “All right! Be quiet! I’ll get Luke!” Immediately he fell silent, blinking back tears and staring at me with large, trusting eyes. “But only if you promise to stay inside. Do NOT come out, whatever you see. And if I don’t come back in five minutes, you have to go to the safe room. I’ll bring Luke Skywalker to you down there.” He nodded solemnly.

  “Okay.”

  “You promise?”

  “Promise.”

  I got up and ran to the kitchen where the back door was. No one was there! Normally somebody would be guarding every entry but perhaps whoever was assigned hadn’t arrived yet. Better for me. They would’ve prevented me from doing what I did next. I unlocked the door and peered out, looking in all directions—I saw no one. I took a deep breath and darted outside, praying silently. All I had to do was dash to the side of the house into the playground and grab the action figure. It had to be lying in plain sight on the ground near the slide where the boys had last been playing. I knew that hitting a moving target was difficult; only the most experienced shooters could do it, so I moved fast. Running, I skidded around the side of the house, darting split-second glances to all sides, making sure my path was clear.

  I reached the playground and felt a euphoric sense of victory, but where was the toy?

  “Andrea Patterson, get in the house!” It was Mr. Martin’s voice. He
must have been at a window.

  But I couldn’t leave yet! Not when I’d got this far. I hated to ignore Mr. Martin but I slowed down and let my eyes sweep the ground. No action figure. “Oh, Aiden!” I thought. “Where’d you put your toy?” I circled the playground. No action figure. The seconds were ticking by. I heard shots—they sounded closer. I hoped the fire was ours and would send any would-be looters running. That was always our hope—that they’d want an easy target and back off.

  As I did my second round of the playground, I heard Mr. Martin again yelling at me to get inside. My heart pounded wildly and I’m not sure what made me keep looking for that stupid toy. I felt like I was going to be annihilated at any moment but somehow I needed to find it. For Aiden. Aiden needed it.

  Beside the playground were two old oaks with tire swings hanging from them. The boys had played there earlier! I’d have to go around the chicken yard to reach the oaks—it didn’t use to be that way, but the Martins had to move the chicken coop closer to the house because of thefts. So now it was between the playground and those oaks.

  I ran. I was sure Aiden had left his toy there. The chickens squawked as I tore past. I prayed no one would start shooting over here thinking I was an intruder! I arrived, gasping for breath, and there! Inside the tire!

  I grabbed the action figure with my left hand. I’d removed my .380 from its holster in case I needed it, and had it in my right hand. Then, just at the exact moment when I shoved the action figure into my pocket, I heard a noise behind me. It was no chicken.

  I swung around into firing position, locking my arms with the pistol pointed out. Before me was a boy I knew from high school. I’d gone out with him once, to Home Coming! We’d briefly kissed good night. I hadn’t wanted to see him again. He seemed miffed about it and we hadn’t spoken to each other since.

  I stared at him a moment, feeling suddenly confused. The juxtaposition of someone I knew when life was normal, against the reality of me standing there pointing a gun at him was too weird. But like somebody waking up, I realized skinny chicken feet were sticking out the bottom of his jacket—dripping blood—he’d killed a pullet! Maybe a hen! The next second I realized the red crown showing from the top of his jacket meant it was a rooster! We’d already lost two adult males recently in separate freak accidents.