The Pulse Effex Series: Box Set

by L. R. Burkard

  “Where are you going?” Angel asked.

  “Out the back way. We’re not going to wait for them to breach this cabin. We can’t just resist, like last time. This time, we’ll meet them head on.”

  “You mean you’re going out there?” Angel frowned.

  Tex’s expression softened. “Don’t worry,” he said. “They don’t have firearms. We do.”

  “You don’t know that!” Angel cried.

  “If they had ammunition, I think we’d be hearing it. And if it’s the same crew, they ran out, remember?”

  Richard said, “If we’re going, let’s go! You’re giving them time to circle the house.” Tex grabbed Kane to accompany them.

  “No! Not Kane! They’ll kill him like they did Kole!” I cried.

  He gave me a sympathetic look. “We need to know if they’re in the back, Sarah. If it’s clear and we have time, I’ll put him back inside.” He gave me a hard direct stare. “Follow us to the door and lock it behind us.”

  “Then you won’t be able to let Kane in!”

  “I’ll put him in the shed.”

  “They’ll burn the shed!”

  He grimaced. “Not if we can help it. Look, I don’t have time to argue with you. Do as I say! Bar the door behind us. If we need to get back in, we’ll let you know.”

  “How?”

  “We’ll holler or something,” he said, heavily. Both men had stuffed their pockets with extra mags for their rifles. I saw Tex grab a two-way and stuff that in his side pants pocket, too.

  Heavy-hearted, I followed them to the back. Angel's face told me she felt just as I did about what was going on. Suddenly she cried, “Wait!”

  Tex turned. “I have to do this, darlin’. If we fail out there, you know what to do.”

  She ran forward and barreled into him, crying. “You don’t have to do this! We can stick it out in here together, like last time!” Her wheedling voice broke my heart.

  We heard whacks—they were hitting the front door with axes or other tools.

  “Now or never!” Richard hissed. I gazed at him and my heart just seemed to stop for a moment. What if he got hurt out there—or killed?

  “I love you!” I cried. Richard and I had never once said those words to each other in all our lives. Normally it would have embarrassed me to pieces, but I looked at Tex and said the same thing.

  “I love you, too,” Richard said, his eyes large and full. He said the same to Angel.

  “I do, too,” Tex said. “Pray for us!” And they turned and ran towards the door. I had no choice but to follow and bar the door after them as Tex had told me to.

  When I turned back around Angel was there behind me, crying.

  “He wasn’t supposed to do that!” she said, shaking her head and biting her lip. “Tex is supposed to stay with me! All of our plans were to stay put!” Without thinking about it I moved forward right into her arms. We were both crying. We shared a good, heart-felt hug. But then she stepped back and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She looked up at me.

  “C’mon,” she said, in a determined tone. “We’ve got work to do.”

  Chapter 16

  SARAH

  Kool, in true guard dog fashion, hadn’t ceased barking or throwing himself at the front door where the awful pounding continued. In fact, the noise at the door increased as if they’d found something larger and heavier to ram it with.

  Angel tied Kool to a column. “Don’t untie him,” she said. “I need him out of the way.” Rifle in hand, she approached the door, slowly bringing the firearm higher. I braced myself for the noise, expecting her to take a shot; but from outside we heard two loud cracks! Angel hesitated, but the pounding at the door ceased! Only the barking of the dogs, Kane outside and Kool inside, rang out in what seemed like an otherwise eerie silence. And then even Kool got confused and began to whine rather than bark. Angel and I looked at each other. Neither of us was sure what to do.

  A barrage of gunfire sounded, making us both jump. Then shouts, thuds, yells, and more shots—but the noise was receding.

  “I think our boys are chasing them off!” Angel cried. We clasped hands and she launched into a fervent prayer for the safety of Tex and Richard. I tried to put my faith to work, to really BELIEVE what Angel was praying—only I was still wound up like a coil, feeling ready to pop. The image of the barn in flames was too disturbing for me to quiet my heart in prayer.

  I tore apart from her to try and get a peek outside but the slit was too narrow to reveal anything but smoke and dust from the explosions. Soon it would be fully dark and we’d be able to see nothing outside.

  Faintly, we heard more shouts and gunfire; and then, Kane! Every bark kept my hope alive that all three of our loved ones—Tex, Richard and my wolf-dog—would return to us sound and whole.

  Kane’s bark grew louder, and soon I was sure he was right outside, heading to the back. Tex had surely left one gate open, meaning my beloved pet would be able to get in the dog-yard to our back door.

  “I’m letting him in!” I cried. I turned towards the hallway leading to the back but Angel grabbed my arm.

  “I don’t want to lose Kane any more than you do,” she said, her eyes large in her face, “but you are NOT opening that back door!”

  “But he’s out there!” My voice sounded whiny but I couldn’t help it. “Tex said he’d put him in the shed!”

  “He’ll scratch and bark to come in, if he’s that close,” she said.

  We heard more gunfire in the distance. “Okay; I’m just going to listen at the back,” I said. “If I hear Kane, I’ll let him in.”

  “Not if he’s barking at someone out there,” Angel warned. I went to the back and listened for sounds of Kane wanting to come in but all I heard was silence.

  The sound of shots continued sporadically, though each burst seemed fainter than the one before. Tex and Richard really were forcing this band away from us! And then I heard Kane’s bark—he sounded like he was only feet from the door!

  I started unbolting the bars, hurriedly opening locks and shoving the steel bars over. When I was at the last one, I stopped to listen again. Kane gave a small yap as though he was saying, “Yes, it’s me. C’mon, open up!” I opened the last lock and cracked open the door.

  There was Kane standing tall, his tail flying up at the sight of me. I was overjoyed and opened the door further. But right before my eyes, just as he began moving in, he halted, looking sharply to the left; and then, barking madly, ran off! I stuck my head out just enough to call after him but he’d disappeared towards the side of the house into the gathering darkness.

  Gasping, I slammed the door shut and ran for a lantern. I had to know what Kane was doing! When I had the door open again I held out the lantern, calling Kane. He was at the fence with two shadowed figures on the other side of it. They jeered at the dog, swiping at him with a bat.

  “Get in here, Sarah!” Angel called from far behind me but I couldn’t make myself do it. Instead, I hollered, “Kane! Kane!” My cry was desperate. Somehow I think I knew what was bound to happen. They’d been missing his head but he kept jumping at them. Sooner or later they’d hit him, I just knew it!

  And then they did.

  One man landed a hard swat, timing it to hit Kane full in the skull as he rose above the fence during a jump. Kane made one sharp whimper and dropped to the ground. It was a swift blow, and fatal, I was sure. I screamed. The men were already scrambling to climb the fence but one looked over at me as he did—his eyes held an intense darkness, like pure cold hate. I’d never seen such a look before on anyone.

  The next thing I knew Angel was pulling me back inside and she slammed the door and had just managed the first lock when the blows at the door began. Together we pulled all the bars across and locked them in place. But I was shaking—and heartbroken.

  “Kane--." I said, tearfully, my throat all tight. “He’s--."

  “I know,” Angel said. “I know.” She wiped away tears from her eyes. But leveled a
severe look at me. “You shouldn’t have opened the door!”

  “I was trying to let him in!” I saw she’d dropped her rifle to help bar the door, and asked, “Why didn’t you shoot them?”

  “I was too late; if I missed, they’d have gotten in.”

  We’re gonna get in there! A man yelled, through the door.

  “C’mon,” Angel whispered, pulling me away. “There’s no way they’re getting through that door.”

  “How are Tex and Richard going to get in?” I asked, worriedly.

  “I don’t know, yet. They’ll have to take them out,” she said, nodding in the direction of the back.

  I sat on the floor in the hall where I could keep an eye on the back door and listen for clues that Tex and Richard might be back. But I kept seeing the image of Kane getting slammed with that bat. Inside I felt more than ever like a coiled spring—tight and tense. Angel was busily moving things from the kitchen and living area to that same spot in the hallway as she had on previous occasions as if planning on taking it somewhere. I watched her wearily. Kool barked, and the men at the back door continued hacking at it.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked her, when she went by me again with her arms full of stuff.

  She stopped and surveyed me, wide-eyed. “This cabin isn’t safe anymore,” she said. “And I can’t keep living this way.”

  “But where can we go? How are you going to carry all that stuff anywhere?” I motioned at the growing pile of totes, bags, pots and pans.

  She never answered me. A particularly nasty bang at the door made her look at me worriedly. We heard a crack then, as a piece of wood came loose from the outside. Further hits against the door resulted in a second sickening crack, and another, and then a chunk of wood on our side of the door lolled to one side, revealing that the solid metal in the door wasn’t solid after all; it was steel mesh! I imagined those hateful eyes glaring in at us through it. Kool’s barking went up a notch, and he strained at his leash.

  Staring grimly at the opening, Angel whispered, “Shut off the lantern!” I did as she said, happy to recall that even though it wasn’t solid metal like Angel thought, there was still rebar and seven steel bars locked into place across the door between us and them.

  Without the lantern’s light, inky blackness engulfed us. Even if there had been a full moon out, with the cabin in shut-down mode, we’d never know it—except as my eyes adjusted I could actually make out a slightly lighter spot on the door where the wood was gouged out.

  The sounds at the door continued, accented by angry foul language as the men encountered the impenetrable bars that blocked their entry.

  I heard Angel checking the action on her rifle. “Don’t move, Sarah! I don’t want to hit you by accident,” she whispered.

  I almost thought I could make her out in the blackness as she went towards the door. And then I heard from outside the menacing snarl of a dog—Kane! He hadn’t died! One of the men yelled in pain. Then we heard scuffling and a loud thwack, and Kane’s cry of pain—followed by silence.

  Angel pushed me away, because I’d run towards the door when I heard my dog. Suddenly she took her shot, using the opening they had made. She took another. Covering my ears with my hands and in tears over Kane, I ran towards the other end of the house, going by instinct because I couldn’t see a thing. I stumbled around and fell onto the sofa.

  Angel joined me shortly carrying the lantern, which she’d turned back on. She looked no happier than I felt.

  I looked up at her tearfully. “Why didn’t you shoot them before they did it? Before they killed Kane?”

  She sat down beside me with an air of defeat. “I didn’t have the chance. When I heard Kane, I couldn’t shoot. I might’ve hit him if I did.” She looked beseechingly at me. “I didn’t have the chance,” she repeated. “But I think I got both those men.” Her tone was quiet without a hint of triumph. We felt none.

  “Can I go look at him?” I asked, choking back tears. “To make sure he’s not suffering?”

  “The boys will take a look when they get back,” she said. “We are not opening that door again unless it is to welcome Tex and your brother.”

  At that moment Kool gave a half-hearted yap which I took to mean he wanted attention. Or food. I went to him, thankful for our last remaining canine friend, but I was so angry. Why did people have to be so cruel?

  Angel lit an oil lamp and switched off the other which was battery powered, since we try to ration precious batteries. We heard no whacks at the house. No dog, no shots. No shouts or running feet. Occasionally the sound of crackling and snapping timber from the burning barn could be heard. The barn. We were losing it and there wasn’t a thing to do about it. I felt so helpless I wanted to explode.

  “What is going on out there?” I asked, beseechingly.

  Angel looked up—she’d been praying. “All we can do is pray. Why don’t you join me? You’ll feel better.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You will.”

  “I don’t think so. I don’t see how. Not until they come back.”

  “You will, because we pray to a God who is real. The Holy Spirit will keep our minds and hearts safe. That’s a promise in the Bible, you know that.”

  Angel’s calm voice seemed miraculous in itself. She had to be worried. Tex was out there with those crazies just like Richard. I was worried sick. But she continued surveying me calmly and motioned me to join her. We sat at the table and held hands. Angel prayed and I mostly listened though my mind was still racing, still obsessed with what was happening around us—and to my brother and Tex.

  Suddenly I lifted my head. “That smoke smell is getting stronger!”

  She looked around and sniffed. “It’s from the barn burning. And the explosion of all those chemicals.”

  Outside then, we heard a few sudden thuds and thumps. Probably pieces of the barn falling to the ground. Angel bit her lip. “I guess this is my fault,” she said, shaking her head. “If I hadn’t hurt that woman—”

  “Lots of them got hurt or killed that day! It isn’t your fault! They chose to attack us!”

  “But why would they come back when they know we’re armed?” She asked. “It seems to me they’re out for blood, like it’s personal.”

  “This could be a different gang,” I said. “And they’re all out for blood.”

  “They used the same war cry,” she answered, her eyes wide. “It’s the same gang!”

  “Lots of gangs might use a war cry,” I reasoned.

  Angel just shook her head, sadly. She put her rifle down by her side and pulled out her Bible. She flipped to her favorite book, Psalms.

  I picked up her firearm and started examining it.

  “You ought to have one,” she said. “Go and get one.”

  I got on my knees to check under the sofa where extra firearms are kept but she said, “I already put the guns in the hallway. Go get you one from there.”

  I used a flashlight and found one. After I got back with a neat looking rifle, Angel said, “Good choice. It’s an AR-15, like mine.” She checked that it was loaded and then handed it back, saying, “Keep your finger off the trigger.”

  I nodded. If there was any gun rule they’d drilled into my head during my few lessons it was to keep my finger off the trigger until I was ready to shoot—and intending to.

  Angel sighed, and said, “I’ll bet they ruined that squash patch we had near the barn. It’s probably all burned up.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Our biggest worry was whether Tex and Richard were okay, but I figured Angel was trying not to think about them. And we had put a lot of work into those squash. We’d watered them by hauling water from the well; we’d hand-picked squash bugs off and sprayed soapy water to kill more of them. The squash were part of the survival garden, which meant they required little weeding but watching for bugs was a daily chore. Angel had lost a whole squash patch to those pests once. All that work for nothing. Was our work this time also going to be
in vain? On account of these lawless marauders? Why had they come to our land?

  And then I realized I’d called it “our” land. I was at home here. When you put labor—and love—into making something work, it becomes part of you. And I’d been working at the homestead as much as any of the others. These wandering strangers were ruining it all! They’d killed Kole and Kane! A surge of anger rose up within me, strong and righteous and loud. How dare they!

  I fingered the rifle, for the first time fully appreciating the power it could give me to defend our home. I’d practiced shooting this rifle only once but I remembered that it was much easier to shoot than a pistol. I was a better shot with it, too.

  As I held it in my hands thinking about this, Kool suddenly came growling to his feet. He stared at the front door.

  I was on my feet in a flash. I raised my rifle and advanced towards the door. Every cell in my body was determined to defy the goals of these intruders—they would not get their way and enter our home.

  Angel said, “Don’t let that rifle go to your head! It doesn’t make you safe, you know.”

  “I know,” I said. Then, surprising even myself, I added, “It makes me dangerous.”

  Chapter 17

  SARAH

  “Sarah!” Angel’s rebuke was laced with a gleam of pleasure. She was as surprised as I to find I had some backbone. So I ignored her and continued towards the door. A loud ping hit it, telling me someone had shot at us. I froze, waiting for more shots. Kool had quieted before but this newest assault sent him into full pitch, straining at his leash and barking furiously.

  I went to the window, to that one slit, knowing I could get the muzzle of my gun through it.

  Behind me Angel said, “You go, girl!” And then, “They finally got you good and mad! Well, I don’t blame you.”

  “Good and mad” was an understatement. My fury at all the injustices these marauders had committed against us was sending adrenaline pumping through my veins. I waited on high alert, listening for movement out there. Purposely—determinedly—I placed my finger on the trigger.