The Pulse Effex Series: Box Set

by L. R. Burkard

  Mom looked at me. “Lex, run to the infirmary tent and get all the equipment you think we’ll need—especially the I.V. stuff.” I hurried to the door but she said, “No, wait; I’d better go.” I was glad she did. In my state of mind, I wouldn’t have known what to grab, anyways.

  Mrs. Philpot was asleep on the bed adjacent to Andrea’s, drugged, (I found out later) after sustaining a bullet wound to her left calf. Like Andrea’s, hers was a flesh wound. She’d been bandaged up by the D.O., and now it was Andrea’s turn. My mother returned and dumped a basket load of instruments and packaged gauze and gloves and wipes and other things out on a clean white pillowcase, which she had me open and spread out at the bottom of the bed.

  Mr. Clepps had been checking Andrea’s vitals and readied her good arm for the I.V. He began grabbing things from the stash. He said, “We need to get her hydrated.” Afterwards he carefully unwound the tee-shirt dressing I’d wrapped around the wound, telling Jared to don gloves and “get the Celox A” ready. As he took a pair of sharp scissors and began cutting away the bloodied fabric of Andrea’s shirt, he asked my mother, “How’d you get this stuff? This is a perfect wound kit here.” Then, “Quick, Jared! Now. Inject the Celox right here.”

  I watched, surprised. Jared seemed perfectly at ease helping Mr. Clepps, as though he’d done it a thousand times. Maybe he had.

  My mother took a deep breath. Seeing Andrea’s open wound was harder for her than me; she didn’t even hang around to watch most births on our farm.

  “We’ve been buying stuff little by little for years,” she said, answering the question. “And Mrs. Philpot brought great stuff with her.” She glanced at Jared. “You did, too, didn’t you, Jared?” He nodded silently, keeping his eyes on Mr. Clepps’s progress. Mom added, with a little smile, “You brought us all kinds of surprising things.”

  He glanced at her then quickly and almost smiled himself. “You mean the grenades?”

  “Yes. I think you saved the day, today!”

  He nodded. “They were homemade. A little trick I picked up in Iraq—from the bad guys.” I gaped at him a minute. I felt suddenly that maybe Jared wasn’t so bad after all. He’d just been through a lot. Stuff that I probably couldn’t even imagine. Returning my attention to Andrea, I changed that thought. I probably could imagine, now.

  I sat by with my arms crossed, engrossed in my own misery. I’m not squeamish—I’ve seen our farm stock give birth and I’ve seen animals injured and bleeding—even torn up sometimes from coyotes or a broken fence. I’ve watched while a vet stitched them up. So I was able to watch what Mr. Clepps did to Andrea but I was consumed by guilt.

  Mr. Clepps suddenly raised his head, smiling. “No reason to cry, Lexie! She’s gonna be all right. If this shot went to her abdomen or chest, it could be a different story; but look here, the bullet missed the major artery!”

  “Thank God!” my mother said.

  He turned to Jared, clearly pleased. “It didn’t mushroom; that’s something to give thanks for—went clean through.”

  Jared nodded, knowingly. He saw my face and added, “Some bullets are hollow points—made to mushroom on impact, spreading out to inflict greater damage. Some are made to splinter apart—they’re even worse. Andrea’s lucky this outfit wasn’t using either of those.”

  “We’re blessed, not lucky,” my mom said. She turned to me. “We had protection from above.”

  I nodded but I was still unhappy. It would have been better protection if Andrea hadn’t been hurt at all, it seemed to me. Yet I knew my mother was right. We’d come up against an organized band of fighters—either an actual army or a guerrilla outfit—and they’d retreated. That had to be a miracle!

  Jared continued to watch everything Mr. Clepps did, jumping to assist if necessary. In fact, he presided over it like the Chief of Surgery at a hospital watching an underling. I knew Andrea would be gratified to hear about this later.

  Roper popped his head inside the door. He met my eyes. Everyone else kept their attention on the patient. “How’s she doing?”

  “Good.”

  “She’s not in shock?”

  “No. It was close. They gave her something.” I went on to tell him how the bullet went clean through and didn’t mushroom or anything.

  He smiled. “I know that.” And he held up a tiny shiny object. “Here’s a souvenir. I cleaned it off. I think it’s her bullet.”

  “Wow, thanks!” I said, receiving it from him. I was genuinely pleased. I figured Andrea would keep it as a trophy. She’d sacrificed her safety for me, and I wanted to make sure she was proud of it. I was certainly proud of her.

  Jared glanced over at me. “Let’s see it,” he said. I handed the bullet to him.

  My mother said, “Lex, you’ve been here long enough. Andrea’s gonna be okay. Go see if anyone needs your help in the kitchen or anywhere else.”

  I hesitated. “My shift with Blake isn’t actually over yet. We were supposed to be on until 6pm.”

  “So why were you near the house?” she asked, softly. I knew what she meant. If I had stayed on the hill with Blake, that soldier wouldn’t have grabbed me. “I—I—was coming in to look for you. Dad said it was okay. I was gonna go back up.”

  She stared at me. I looked away, feeling teary again. I wished sometimes I would just grow up and stop being sensitive. I didn’t use to be so sensitive. What was wrong with me, anyhow? But my mom came towards me. I thought she might scold me for leaving the hill; instead, she enveloped me in a hug. Normally I’d be embarrassed to let my mother hug me in front of other people. I was almost seventeen, for crying out loud. But I didn’t care.

  “This was upsetting today. But God protected us.” I drank in her soothing tone and the comfort of her arms.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Roper went past us. “Anything I can do here?”

  I looked over in time to see Jared turn icy eyes on him. “No. There’s nothing you can do here. There’s nothing you can do for Andrea.” Even my mother raised her head to look at the two men.

  Roper held up his hands and backed away a step. “Just trying to be helpful,” he said.

  “She don’t need your help.”

  I didn’t like the look on Jared’s face. Just like that, he was once again his former scary self. My newfound trust in him vanished. I had no idea if anything had started between Andrea and Roper but Jared certainly made it clear he didn’t want there to be anything between them. Wowzers. I knew Andrea used to like Jared—but did she still? And what about Roper? Of the two men, I immediately sided with Roper. He was super good-looking but more importantly he was a believer and had kinder eyes. He also joked around a lot. I hoped Andrea would like him better than Jared.

  But if she did, would Jared be trouble? He wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to cross. He looked at me then, with dark, forbidding eyes.

  I got the distinct feeling we had trouble brewing.

  Chapter 52

  SARAH

  Hulk came abruptly to his feet. “Time’s up. Outside. Let’s go,” he ordered. My hope—that he’d extend our waiting period—vanished.

  “Angel could be doing plenty of things that take longer than an hour,” I said.

  Tex pointed his pistol at me. “Move.” He motioned at the door.

  “What’re you gonna do?” Richard asked, his voice heavy. “We didn’t do anything to Angel!”

  “Outside,” he repeated.

  We walked to the door and went out. I was praying Angel would appear. Maybe we’d see her coming towards the house or near the barn or chicken yard. I looked around in every direction but saw nothing.

  Richard turned to Tex. “Look,” he said, I don’t think you’re a killer. And you don’t want to do anything you’ll regret.”

  “Keep walking,” Tex said. He was leading us towards the barn, which was actually a relief. He could’ve headed us to the area where Angel slaughtered the occasional chicken!

  “If Angel comes back and we’re hurt, s
he will not be happy,” Richard said. “And you don’t WANT to do this, I can tell. Besides, she is coming back!”

  “Yeah. You keep saying that but I don’t see her,” Tex said, gruffly.

  “Just give us more time,” Richard said.

  “She could have caught something big in a trap,” I suggested. “That could take her longer to get back.”

  “Traps are for small game,” Tex grumbled. “Nothing that would take her long to manage.”

  “What if a deer got its leg caught?” Richard asked. “That could happen.”

  Tex snorted. “A deer would run off and take the trap with it.”

  “Maybe Angel tracked it!” I cried. He didn’t reply but I thought I’d seen a change in his face. He thought it was a possibility, too!

  “She would go after it,” I added, with more assurance. “Angel is not afraid to go after what she wants.”

  Tex stopped. He looked as if he could almost crack a smile. But instead he unlocked the barn door and motioned us inside. My heart sank. It occurred to me that Angel had said they did use the barn for slaughtering sometimes, like in winter. Especially for small game like rabbits. Were we going to be slaughtered like pieces of meat? Was he really going to feed us to the dogs?

  “God,” I prayed, silently. “You didn’t bring us this far just to let us die like animals!”

  Tex had rope now and he motioned for us to sit down against a wooden support beam. Richard fell heavily on his bottom, drawing his feet up—the next thing I knew there was a scuffle and then Tex came up holding a second pistol.

  “Nice try,” he said, sardonically. I’d completely forgotten about Richard’s gun in its ankle holster. My brother had tried to draw it quickly but he was unpracticed and wasn’t fast enough. Tex glared at me saying, “Don’t you move, or your brother’s toast.” I watched helplessly as Tex tied him securely to the beam, first with rope and then duct tape. But I realized this meant he wasn’t going to kill us! At least, not yet. If he was, then why bother tying us up? I felt calmer.

  “Please don’t cover my mouth,” I said, when he got to me.

  “Did I cover your brother’s mouth?” he asked, in his gruff voice.

  “No. But in movies they always do that. I don’t want you to do that.”

  “This ain’t a movie,” he said. “But you’d better pray for a happy ending, sister; cuz’ if I don’t get my wife back soon, the two of you are gonna have starring roles in a tragedy.”

  He left us tied up and staring at each other.

  “At least we can talk,” I said.

  Richard nodded. I waited for him to start spewing anger. He was usually only a few degrees from bitter, even before the EMP. He’d fly off the handle when people did things he didn’t like or couldn’t understand. Here we were, tied up and uncomfortable, thirsty and hungry; for all we knew he might still kill us. But Richard was calm.

  “Aren’t you mad?”

  He looked at me. “About what?”

  “About being tied up! When we’re telling the truth! Aren’t you mad that Hulk isn’t believing us?”

  “Hulk?” He almost smiled. “You mean, Tex?”

  “Yeah, Hulk Hogan. Anyway, how come you’re not fuming mad by now?”

  He fell silent. “I guess because I can’t blame him. He doesn’t know us. He doesn’t know whether he can believe us. And Angel isn’t here—I sure wish I knew what she was doing or where she went but I guess I’d feel the same way he does if I was in his place.”

  I nodded. “But he might still KILL us!”

  “I know. But we’ve had a few lucky breaks before now so maybe she’ll be back soon and we’ll get another. What do you think is keeping her?”

  “Lucky breaks? It hasn’t been luck.”

  He looked at me, questioning.

  “It’s God. He’s watching out for us.”

  Richard grimaced. “Like he watched out for the millions of people who died after the EMP?”

  “We don’t know why that happened,” I said. “But he HAS been looking after us! Ever since that day when he—when that guy showed me how to find water at the library—I’ve known God is watching out for us.”

  “How can you say that? Mom died, Sarah! Jesse died! Dad is lost and probably dead too! I don’t call that watching out for us!”

  I swallowed. I was still upset when I thought of Mom and Jesse or Dad. “They’re in a better place,” I said. “They can’t be hurt anymore.”

  “That is the lamest thing I’ve ever heard! That is the sorry excuse for reality religious people use to make everything okay when really nothing is okay. It’s a fantasy, Sarah.”

  “To you, maybe. Because you don’t believe it. But if you knew it was true—if you KNEW—wouldn’t you feel better? Wouldn’t you be glad for them?”

  He shook his head. “Can we just change the subject? Heaven’s a fantasy for the weak.”

  “Maybe those who can’t believe are the weak. Maybe heaven is a reward for the strong—in faith.” I was no Bible scholar, but I spoke from what I knew. I’d been reading my little Bible whenever I got the chance since we’d left the library. Whenever I had a few minutes and enough light, that is, which wasn’t actually very often. But what I did read felt stirring to me, powerful. I felt like, reading the gospels, I was getting to know Jesus. “Jesus said heaven is real. So unless you want to believe he lied, you have to believe it’s real.”

  He hardly blinked. “I don’t have to believe anything.”

  “No, you don’t, Richard. But I have a Bible that says heaven is real. And that’s good enough for me.”

  He nodded. “Uh huh. That’s what I thought. You have no proof.”

  “The Bible is proof.”

  “It’s just a book, Sarah!” He paused. “Look, you’ve come really far since this started, you’re not having anxiety attacks anymore and maybe believing in this stuff is helping you. But I don’t have to believe it too, okay?”

  Just then the door slammed open. Our heads swiveled sharply at the sound. I hoped to see Angel but it was Hulk. He held a satchel in one hand and had a rifle slung across one shoulder. He looked fierce. My heart started pounding. I hoped I would not faint. Then I changed my mind and wished I would. For the first time in my life, I actually wished I would pass out—I did not want to be around to witness what was going to happen next. If Tex’s face hadn’t looked so dreadful I might have thought Angel had returned and he was here to set us free. But his face was hard, his eyes steely.

  I gaped at him as he came forward, glowering with that hardened look, clutching that bag. I did not want to know what it held…instruments of torture? I could only guess, but one thing seemed certain: We were dead meat. I was sure of it.

  Chapter 53

  ANDREA

  When I came to, blinking, I was in my mother’s room. Well, the women’s room we called it because women slept here. Jolene, my mother, and any of the wives who were waiting for their cabins to be finished. Why was I here? A terrific pain in my left arm answered that question. It came flooding back. Lexie walked in, looking sad. Her eyes brightened when she saw I was awake.

  “Hey! How are you feeling?”

  I swallowed. “Like my arm is on fire. A blazing, raging fire.”

  She frowned and sat beside me on the bed, shaking her head sorrowfully. “I’m so sorry, An. I—”

  “Did I kill him?” I couldn’t seem to remember.

  She searched my face. “Oh, yeah! Instantly! He got a shot at you right before you got him, unfortunately.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, wincing from pain.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “For not keeping him alive.” It was always good to keep a guy alive so we could get information.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Lexie said. “You saved my life! I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t—”

  “So you’re not mad at me anymore?”

  Her eyes grew large, haunted. “I’m so sorry I stayed mad at you! I wasn’t thinking
! I—I love you, Andrea. You’re like my sister.” She leaned down and kissed my cheek.

  I felt so good at this that I got teary. “You’re like my sister, too.” Lexie had taken my right hand, my uninjured side, but even that hand was sore from the I.V. needle stuck in it.

  “Your skin feels better, now,” she said. “You were cold and clammy yesterday.”

  “Oh—I don’t know why.”

  “Shock. Mr. Clepps explained it to me. He said the body needs all its energy for life-sustaining functions. Everything else, including temperature regulation, gets put to the wayside.”

  “I went into shock?”

  “Not really; but you would have, if they didn’t get you warm and pump some fluids into you.”

  I shifted slightly on the bed and an onslaught of pain made me want to cry. But having Lexie there made me be brave. “Lex—can you ask Mr. Clepps if I could have something for pain?”

  Her eyes widened. “Absolutely! I’ll be right back!”

  Lying there, I kept replaying yesterday’s events. I’d seen that guy’s face before pulling the trigger. His eyes were filled with rage. I wondered if he was furious that he was facing a bullet, or that he was facing one at the hands of a young woman. I felt no joy, no sense of victory, for having ended his life. My only comfort was I’d saved Lexie. But I wanted to know: Why were these foreigners attacking us?

  So I’ve been getting a steady stream of visitors. I’m not great company because the pain in my arm is consuming, like a fire that won’t go out. Jared came by and gave me a step-by-step account of what they’d done to patch me up. He seemed extra attentive, for Jared. I got the feeling he wanted to say more to me than just chat. Finally, he sat down next to me.

  “I’m glad you’re okay.” He was eying me steadily. I blushed. He reached over and touched one of the marks on my face from when the window shattered in front of me. He gently thumbed over my cheek. “Nothing here’s gonna scar, I don’t think.”