The Pulse Effex Series: Box Set

by L. R. Burkard

  “I’m not a good shot at this distance.”

  “There’s a lot of them! Just wait until they come into your scope.” But he shoved the two-way towards me. “Check if the other lookouts are on their way. We need all our manpower up front now!” We had border patrols on the far ends of the property so I got busy trying to make contact.

  Mr. Buchanan’s voice came in saying, “We know. We’re almost there. From your southwest; don’t mistake us for the bad guys.”

  “We won’t,” I assured him. To my disgust, I noticed my hands shaking. It was happening again—I just wasn’t cut out to be a fighter!

  He trains my hands for war? If only I could believe it!

  The noise from below continued. We did our best to defend the cabins. I suddenly noticed survivors straggling out of the truck which had been hit and, to my horror, I saw a few men pulling a large weapon of some kind from the back of another truck. Oh, no! This was it—they had something huge and powerful and they were going to destroy us! They’d probably demolish our house right in front of my eyes!

  “What’s that?” I said, nudging Blake and nodding in the direction of the emerging artillery. “We can’t let them use whatever that thing is.”

  “It’s an RPG!” Blake said. He grabbed the two-way. “Jared, you on here? You got another of those grenades? They’re unloading an RPG—truck number three!” We heard my dad talking, but not Jared.

  “Jared? Jared—” Blake looked worried. “Now would be a good time to use one if you got any more of those grenades.” He shoved the two-way back at me. “I gotta take a shot at those guys.”

  I had no idea what an RPG was but his words sent a wave of fear through me anyways. It sounded bad. Later he explained that an RPG is a rocket propelled grenade launcher. Ugh. If they had discovered our whereabouts, they could have sent a grenade right at us!

  Meanwhile, I saw some soldiers moving among the cabins! We had families in some of those cabins, people who weren’t ready to fight. Mrs. Wasserman and her baby! The Wassermans were preppers like us but didn’t believe in violence. They had no guns! Suddenly, my sluggishness vanished. I didn’t like shooting at anyone, but these guys were going after innocent civilians! I felt a surge of anger—and it was directed at those crawling insects called soldiers.

  He trains my hands for war!

  Finally I got shooting as busily as Blake. It was like I’d transformed in one instant to a new woman. My protective feelings put me into mama bear mode, I suppose. Two men came directly in our range, and I sighted in. I took my shot. And got one.

  Blake stopped to reload while I took aim at the man I hadn’t hit, who was running. He went down from somebody else’s bullet. It was good to remember we weren’t alone in the battle.

  “C’mon, C’mon,” Blake muttered. He’d been targeting any man who tried to get behind the RPG, and suddenly—finally!—a second grenade hit! The truck with the RPG rocked and again shrapnel went flying—but the vehicle stayed upright.

  “Did we get it?” I asked. “Did we take out that RPG?” Just as I asked, a third explosion hit the truck. It burst into a pyre of flames.

  “Yeah, Jared!” Blake cried. We shared a happy smile. It felt like a miracle! We’d had grenades thanks to Jared, and had taken down two military trucks! But then the real miracle happened. They were retreating! I saw them swarming towards the two remaining trucks!

  “They’re leaving!” Blake confirmed. “They didn’t expect grenades. Let’s keep at ‘em, Lex!” Normally I shrank from shooting at anyone from behind but soldiers did not evoke the same regret in me. They’d already come back once. Their retreat did not mean we were safe.

  Mr. Buchanan and two other men joined us, falling to the ground beside us. Below, others kept up the defense too, as shooting continued. One of the trucks revved its engine and started moving. Then another grenade hit the back of the bed and blew up! Amazingly, the truck kept going. I was glad it kept going. I wanted them all to go.

  We noticed projectiles being thrown from the last truck. Projectiles that hit the ground with a flash and burst into flame. Fires broke out in the trees and brush lining the road front.

  “That’s Molotovs they’re throwing,” Blake said, his voice grim. “There goes our brush cover.”

  “At least they’re leaving,” I said.

  “Yeah. C’mon!” Blake jumped to his feet, grabbing his equipment. “Let’s get back to the shack. It’s got a better view of the road.”

  “We’ll fan out,” Mr. Buchanan said, as he and the other men went further downhill, staying among the trees.

  “We need to make sure they don’t get out to the road and regroup. They got to keep going. I want to see it to know for sure.”

  From the shed, we watched until they drove out of sight. I threw my arms around Blake as soon as we’d lost view of the last truck. He circled his arms around me and gave me a sweet, warm, kiss.

  “Good job,” he said.

  “Better job by you.”

  “Good enough job by you.”

  “He trains my hands for war,” I said, with a smile.

  “Amen!” Blake agreed, softly. We kissed again.

  Afterwards he said, “You realize this changes everything. It’s not about getting by without electricity anymore, or fighting off marauders, or not having a government. It’s about surviving a hostile takeover. We’re at war, Lex.”

  Chapter 45

  ANDREA

  Once again I was at my bedroom window looking out at the grim sight of four army trucks trying to access the compound. This time Marcus was at the adjacent window and Roper was beside me. I hadn’t seen Cecily that morning, but I hoped she was praying. I’d seen her at target practice—she was good; but I happened to think she’d be more useful to us by remaining closeted in prayer during a skirmish. Maybe before and after one, too.

  I quickly got my ear buds in place and had only taken a single shot when I almost fell over from a loud explosion out front. One of the trucks blew up right before our eyes!

  My handsome companion let out a cheer. “All right! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” He met my eyes. Another heart-stopping smile. Roper was the sort of guy who should be in Hollywood making movies only there probably wasn’t a Hollywood that made movies anymore.

  “Let’s keep at ‘em,” he said. So we did. We had to keep as many of those uniformed men away from the house, the cabins and animals, as possible. My magazine held thirty rounds, which I emptied quickly. Stopping to reload, I jumped involuntarily when another blast occurred.

  “Yes!” Roper cried. “Man, I didn’t think we had any big guns,” he said, shaking his head with a little smile. “This is awesome!”

  I was equally surprised, as was Marcus who said, “I didn’t know, either.” Then he cried, “Look out! Here come theirs! That’s an RPG!” But before we could see them use it, a barrage of bullets struck our window, shattering the glass and sending it flying into the room in a million little pieces. We threw ourselves to the side, but glass fell over me and all around us. I felt like a swarm of bees had stung my face—thank goodness I’d put on eye protection.

  Marcus said, “C’mon, don’t let up! Get back at it!” I glanced at Roper, who was sending a concerned look in my direction. He nodded solemnly when he saw I could still shoot.

  We kept fighting. I realized during this battle that the countless hours I’d spent playing shoot-em-up video games with my little brothers had actually inured me to fighting. I’d never believed what they said, that such games could make people less sensitive to killing; but now it seemed true. Lexie found it far more difficult to shoot at the bad guys—even though they were ready to shoot her. She didn’t have the hours of war-play behind her as I did. She’d played fashion and shopping games with her sisters and found these skirmishes nerve shattering.

  I felt less frazzled by them. Especially when fighting guys in uniform. The fatigues definitely switched on my video game mentality. They were the bad guys and we needed t
o take them down. I even felt in my element while doing it.

  I don’t mean I enjoyed killing anyone. It was seeing them fall, like game pieces. It didn’t feel real. The thought of death was not on my mind, as though a solid wall had crashed down between this game-play and reality. Maybe I needed to do this, to keep it that way. All I thought about was every fallen man out there meant a small victory for us. As they fell, it was victory upon victory. If we got enough of them, we’d come through this.

  The RPG was frighteningly real, though. We couldn’t take down men fast enough to keep it unattended. When the third blast hit it, making the whole truck explode into a beautiful plume of fire and smoke, we cheered.

  “They’re takin’ off!” Marcus cried. We continued to barrage the soldiers with as much fire power as we could. We had to send the message that we weren’t an easy target. Mr. Martin had drilled it into our heads at council meetings that, just like common thugs, organized thugs wanted easy targets, too. If we were aggressive enough, they’d probably go elsewhere. If we held out long enough, the U.S. could send military support. We had to hope for that!

  After the last truck left, I sat staring out at the burning brush in front and the smoking truck which they’d had to leave behind. Men were on the ground, bleeding out or dead. The video-game sense of play suddenly left me and I found myself blinking back tears. Roper gently touched my arm.

  “Hey,” he said. “You’re bleeding. Come here.”

  I started brushing off shards of glass, noticing the pain on my face.

  “Keep watch,” Marcus said. “I’ll see if we’ve got an all-clear, yet.” Roper, meanwhile, dug in his pockets for something and pulled out an old, worn, but still unopened sanitary wipe. He handed it to me. It looked like something he’d been carrying a long time.

  “Your face is cut.”

  I got up and went to the mirror and saw little scratches all over my cheeks, nose, and forehead. I wiped at them gingerly, making sure not to press in the glass fragments. There was one long cut on my forehead which was seeping blood.

  I did not present a pretty picture. But Roper joined me. He took the wipe and turned me to face him and began gently going over my cuts, talking in a soothing tone. His own face was remarkably unscathed. I drew a piece of glass off his jacket.

  He said, “Can you see outside? We’re supposed to be watching.”

  I turned and looked out. “I see our guys,” I said.

  “Checking for survivors?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Or stragglers.” But something was odd. “Why are they wearing gas masks?” I asked.

  Roper peered out at them. “Maybe the Molotovs included poison gases. They have to be careful.”

  Checking for injured survivors was the worst possible job, in my opinion. Besides the fact it could be dangerous, if you found someone badly injured you were supposed to put them out of their misery. If they were only superficially injured you had to take them prisoner so they could be questioned. Jared, being ex-military, usually led the reconnaissance after a skirmish, giving the all-clear only after the grounds had been searched. He and a few other men were the only ones who had the stomach to do the job the way it was supposed to be done, like picking guns and other things from the bodies.

  Thankfully, we young people weren’t expected to do these after-battle “clean ups.” I hoped I never would.

  “You got one bad cut,” he said, wiping my forehead. “Go get it bandaged.”

  Our eyes met. His were blue-grey beautiful. I wished I was older. I felt Roper liked me but was holding back. I almost wanted to reach up and kiss him softly on the lips. I might have, too, except for what happened with Blake. I had vowed never to be so forward with a guy again.

  “Okay,” I said. “Thanks for helping remove the glass.”

  His expression changed. “Did you hear about the optician? Two glasses and he made a spectacle of himself.” He smiled, and I caught the joke. Roper had been sprinkling our conversations with silly one-liners every chance he got. I loved it.

  “Ha ha,” I said. “Not one of your best.”

  “Oh!” His face scrunched in thought. He enjoyed a challenge, I saw.

  “Ok, what’s an outpatient?”

  I shrugged, trying not smile.

  “A person who fainted.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Wa—wait, I have a better one.” He rubbed his chin. “What were the sleeping soldiers wearing?” He waited a beat and continued, “Fatigues—tired army clothes.” I groaned. He chuckled, which made me smile.

  “I gotta go.”

  “One of these days I’ll surprise you with something that’s actually funny.”

  “Don’t worry, I love your jokes.”

  “You do?” His eyes sparkled at me. But they strayed to the cut on my forehead and his expression turned to a frown. “Go get a bandage.”

  He winked at me before I left, and I felt instantly lighter. I can’t explain what it is about Roper when he winks at me, but I eat it up.

  The gash on my forehead was beginning to throb. When I got downstairs I put off going for a bandage because I wanted to find out what people were saying about the attack. Instead, I grabbed a rag and pressed it against the gash.

  I found out two of our cabins had taken heavy gunfire, and three people were badly injured. Miraculously, we suffered no casualties! The soldiers, on the other hand, had lost twenty men, and maybe more—we wouldn’t know for sure until the fires burned out and we could check the two trucks.

  All I wanted now was to see my mom return to us in one piece and to patch things up with Lexie. If both those things would happen, even though we knew these troops might come back—I would consider it a banner day. I’d had time with Roper—I had a really good feeling about him—and I’d have my two most important relationships back.

  Lexie was especially on my mind. I needed our fight to be over. She needed to forgive me! The night before, I’d asked her one more time, Look, can we just make up? When she said nothing, I added, I’m sorry! I really am! I wish I could take back what I did; only I can’t! But she was like a rock—I never knew Lexie could be like that. I figured if I apologized really well, she’d never stay mad at me. But she did. I miss the old Lexie. If she’d just get over this, we could go back to the way we were. I’d said, C’mon, Lex! You’ve punished me enough. Whatever happened to ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord?’

  For the first time she softened a little. I’m working on it, she said.

  What do you mean?

  I’m working on giving it to the Lord. She met my eyes. But I’m not ready to trust you yet. I felt my temper rising. I was trying to mend things but she was being as obstinate as a mule. The compound has a mule, named Callie. So I said, You’re as obstinate as Callie!

  I may be obstinate, but there’s only one ass here, and it isn’t me!

  At first I was shocked to hear her say something that was almost a cuss. Lexie had never cussed in my hearing, not even once. My second urge was to burst into laughter that she’d been goaded to it now. In the past we’d have both burst into laughter at such an absurd exchange, but she was still mad and didn’t laugh, and this made me madder.

  I dropped the subject. She wasn’t ready to trust me? Fine! But that was last night. Today, I wanted to try one more time to regain her trust. Only I had no idea how to do it.

  I found the first-aid kit and stuck two band-aids across the gash on my forehead. My other cuts were still seeping little red spots of blood so that I looked like I had the measles. But I wasn’t about to plaster band-aids all over my face.

  As I went towards the back door with the idea of visiting her up on the hill, I was planning on what to say. I’d remind her that Jesus said we had to forgive others if we wanted to be forgiven ourselves. As an added measure I said a quick prayer: God, I put this relationship into your hands. Please help me and Lexie to be friends again!

  Chapter 46

  LEXIE

  After the tru
cks left, Blake and I waited and watched on the hill for the next hour. We saw our own men searching the grounds, going through the smoking debris and checking the cabins for stragglers. Our shift wasn’t over but I was itching to check in at the house. We had heard reports of some damage and three badly injured—including our sole nurse. I guess I also wanted to know I wasn’t the only person feeling shaken up by the appearance of foreign soldiers.

  I wanted to hear the theories about who we thought they were and whether they’d be back—and then, what we were gonna do about them. I wondered if Jared had more grenades, or maybe other weapons that would mean something against their firepower.

  But honestly? Most of all, I wanted a good hug from my mom. What can I say—I’m not even seventeen yet! I like to think I’m pretty grown up. I’ll be seventeen in July. But now and then a girl needs a mom’s hug.

  Blake took out his thermos and he nodded towards my backpack.

  “Have a cup of tea or whatever you’ve got in there.”

  “I think I need a brandy.” We both understood I was totally joking.

  He gave me a piercing look. “Why don’t you call your dad and see if you can go to the house? We beat those guys pretty soundly. They may come back, but not today.”

  I loved how he understood me. “You think they’ll be back, though?”

  He took a sip of his coffee and looked towards the road, which was now empty. He glanced over the two trucks that were out of commission, still spewing smoke into the air. He nodded. “They’ll be back, all right. With bigger guns.”

  I got on the two-way and asked for permission to go to the house—“Just for a few minutes, Dad.”

  He said, “Well, we’ve seen no sign of stragglers in an hour. I guess so. Leave the two-way with Blake. And stay armed—just in case.”

  Chapter 47

  SARAH

  I felt paralyzed as I stared down the barrel of Tex’s gun.