The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse

by Laidlaw, Steven

  I wasn't sure what to think, but I nodded which seemed to make her happy.

  "Anyway you should go see Bradley to work out what to do for the rest of your day. I hope you do stay."

  She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I wasn't sure what to do so I just pat her back a few times and frowned. She pulled away from me and relief washed through me. I said my thanks to her and turned to walk toward the green buildings. I was about to start walking when Sarah spoke up again.

  "Oh, I saw that last leap over the pit." I turned to look back at her. "Well done! I've never seen that before. Was impressive."

  I felt myself smile as I turned and began walking away. Perhaps this place wouldn't be so bad after all.

  FOURTEEN

  "Push, push, push!"

  The voice of Bradley grated against my ears as he stood shouting at me from above. My shaking arms pushed against the ground and lifted my body once more into the air. I held myself just before the apex so my arms wouldn't lock. Locking your arms gave you more running, and I was sick and tired of running.

  I lowered myself down for one more rep, but when I tried to push myself back up I found I couldn't. I grunted and strained, but no matter how hard I tried my chest didn't budge, and my arms shook harder than before. I collapsed.

  "Not good enough."

  I tried to talk between breaths. "I'm, trying, as, best, I, can."

  "You're a fast runner, and have good spatial intelligence, but you're much more unfit than I realized."

  I glared up at him and opened my mouth to respond, but caught myself before saying anything. Bradley was my superior officer now, and back chat just made it worse.

  I grit my teeth. "Sir, yes, sir."

  He shook his head. "Get up. We're going to run until you vomit."

  I closed my eyes for a few seconds, but pushed myself up onto my knees and stood in front of him with my head high. My arms felt like jelly, and my breathing was still uneven, but the moment he blew his whistle the two of us took off at a jog and ran side by side.

  He turned to look at me as we ran. "You know I'm not doing this to hurt you, right?" I nodded my head, not wanting to waste the energy on talking. He turned to look back at the path we were running. "We need to get you up to a minimum fitness level before you can enter into training with the rest of the regiment. They've been here a lot longer than you so you're playing catch up for the first few weeks."

  I knew all this already, but it didn't make going through this process any easier. I knew I wasn't the fittest person on earth, but I had no idea how much training these people went through. Bradley had been side by side with me for every moment of it and he only had a thin sheen of sweat on his body. I envied his regular breathing as I sucked in air through my teeth to slow the intake. Gasping for air only made it worse somehow.

  I had stayed in the mansion for the first two nights after signing up to the pulse training academy while I waited for my uniform to arrive. You weren't allowed into the military buildings in civilian clothes for whatever reason. They had arrived this morning and I was wearing them now. Long, green patterned pants; black high cut boots; and a dark gray shirt clung to my body. There were other items of clothing for when the weather got cooler, but these items were bad enough for the weather now. I could feel the shirt sticking to my back.

  True to his word after twenty minutes of jogging I fell to the ground and emptied my lunch onto the grass. Bradley stood looking down at me as I spat the foul taste out of my mouth.

  "That will be enough for today I think. The sun will be setting within a hour, and now that you have your gear you'll be joining us for dinner in the recruits' mess. Feel free to go have a look at your quarters before you arrive. I'd recommend a shower too."

  I stood and saluted him. "Sir, yes, sir."

  "Dismissed."

  ***

  As I approached the barracks I was nervous. There were separate buildings for males and females, but each room was designed for two people. I wasn't sure whom they had paired me with, but I hoped it was someone nice. I knew that no-one here was out to hurt me, but I wasn't sure how I was going to handle sleeping in the same room as someone else. It was going to be an adjustment.

  I hesitated as I reached the barracks as I realized I had no idea which room I was in. I pushed open the door and stepped into the building. The air was cooler inside, and I breathed a sigh of relief that the place had air-conditioning.

  I looked around the room and saw I was standing in a sort of common area. There were couches and tables scattered around the place, and a notice board up against one of the walls. As I approached it I saw my name, along with others, written up on the board. Next to each name was a room number.

  Room thirty-eight.

  I scanned down the list and saw another name against Room thirty-eight—Sarah. I smiled a little. At least it was someone with whom I'd spoken.

  I made my way down the hallway, stopped at room thirty-eight, and knocked. Where there was no response I let myself into the room. A set of bunk beds stood against the wall, and two sets of drawers ran along the adjacent side of the room. I saw my backpack sitting to the side of one of them, and pulled open the drawers to reveal my new clothing all pressed and ready inside. I noticed the pillow on the bottom bunk was non-standard, so I assumed that was Sarah's bed. I opened the bottom drawer and withdrew the towel and fresh clothes, then made my way from the room to the showers.

  The building seemed to be empty as I got to the showers, which was good for me when I noticed they were communal. I wasn't sure how to feel about showering with other people, and was glad that I didn't have to experience it right now.

  Once I finished in the shower I stood in front of the mirror drying my hair. I left the bathroom once I was ready, and made my way back to my room.

  "Hi," a voice said as I opened the door, causing me to jump.

  I stared at the naked form of Sarah standing in the middle of her room. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry!"

  She threw me a grin and put her hands on her hips. "What for? It's your room too."

  I held my hand up and covered my eyes. "Would you mind… uh… getting dressed?"

  "Sure thing!" She started humming a small tune as she pulled her clothes out of the drawers. "You a bit of a prude, huh?"

  "No!" I paused and frowned. "Well, I don't think so? I guess I'm just not used to seeing people I don't know naked."

  Sarah laughed. "You'll get used to it now that you've got a roomie. I grew up in a house with four sisters, so I guess I was already used to it before I came here. You can look now."

  I took my hand away and saw that she had finished dressing. She gave me a smile. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

  "No." I thought of my mother. As much as I was happy to have gone, I still wondered what she was doing now. Whether she even noticed I wasn't there any more.

  Sarah continued on oblivious. "That's a shame. Siblings are great! Where are you from?"

  "Uh, New York City." She turned to me with her eyes wide and grabbed at my hands.

  "Oh wow, you will have to tell me all about it some time! I've never met anyone from there. I've heard it's dangerous, is it dangerous? I've always wanted to go but it's pretty far away from where I grew up. I'm from down in the central region near Arkansas, but I live in a smaller town there with only a few thousand people. Cities are crazy places with so many people everywhere. The first time I ever went to Little Rock I thought I was going to get lost! It's a pretty fun place with loads to do though, but I do like smaller towns still. Everyone seems to know each other and you can always find someone to talk to."

  I stood stunned as she continued to speak for what felt like another ten minutes without breathing. I was amazed that she could keep it up without passing out. She finally stopped and I pulled my hands back.

  I blinked. "Wow."

  Sarah gave me a grin. "Sorry, people always tell me I talk too much. I hope it's not annoying?"

  I shook my he
ad. "No not at all." Once I had said it I realized I meant it. "I've never had many people to talk to before though, so it might just take me a little getting used to is all."

  "Fine by me. Just tell me if I'm talking too much, okay?"

  I laughed. "Okay."

  She took me by the hand and the two of us made our way out of the room and toward the common area. More of the girls were back now, and as we walked passed the showers I could hear some of them in there chatting. I shuddered at the thought of being in there exposed with other people.

  "Sup, newbie." I looked to the source of the voice and saw a dark haired girl who was laying down on one of the couches. She held a book above her head and didn't look away from it when she spoke. "I see you got paired with chatterbox. Sucks to be you."

  "Screw you, Nadine." I flashed a glance to Sarah but she was grinning. Nadine for her part just laughed. Sarah stepped forward and poked her head between Nadine and her book. "You coming over for food?"

  Nadine sighed and with her free hand pushed Sarah out of her view. "Later. I've got some reading to catch up on."

  Sarah turned and indicated for me to follow, and the two of us left the building to begin walking across the mess hall. Sarah turned to me as we walked. "Nadine is pretty cool. She's the top of our class for combat, but not the social type. She's been here about two years now. She's two years older than us though, like most of the other girls in our unit."

  I turned to look at her. "You're friends?"

  "I'm friends with everyone." Sarah gave me a smile.

  I nodded and stepped behind her as we entered the mess hall. The place was more than five times as large as the officers', and it was half full already with people from the company. It was noisier than I expected it to be, but the atmosphere was a positive one. There was a lot of laughter, and people were messing around everywhere you looked. We got some food from the buffet and made our way into the rows of tables and chairs. I walked with Sarah and sat down at one of the empty tables about halfway down the right side of the building.

  Sarah poked a fork at the table next to us. "Our squad sticks to these two tables. People are free to sit wherever they want, but it's easier just to stick with your unit. You end up knowing them a lot more than anyone else anyway."

  "So how many people are in our unit?"

  "Thirteen now with you. We're a full unit for the first time. Twelve soldiers and a commanding officer. That's Bradley."

  I nodded in understanding. "Who's been leading the unit while Bradley has been training me?"

  "Sergeant Peterson. He's hard as nails, but a great leader. Non-pulser though, unlike us."

  With all the training I had almost forgotten everyone here was super powered. I wanted to know who could do what, but knew better than to ask.

  Sarah gave me a searching look. "You want to ask what my power is, don't you?"

  My mouth fell open. "W-What? No!"

  She smirked at me. "I can read you like a book. We're not meant to tell people, but I think in your case I can make an exception. We're friends, right?" At my nod she smiled. "Good! Mine is emotional manipulation. I can make people feel a certain way. Angry, happy, sad, scared. It's pretty handy."

  "I bet." The implications of that were enormous. I felt my eyes widen. "Have you… used it on me?"

  Sarah laughed and shook her head. "No, you would know if I've used it."

  "How?"

  "You would feel it. Pulsing send out a wave of energy that other Pulsers can feel. Most normals can't feel a thing, but there are some who can perceive it."

  "Normals? Isn't that a bit…?"

  "Meh. We have to define them somehow. Easier."

  I shrugged and thought about the feeling she had described. "I think I know what you're talking about." I thought about my own experience pulsing, and the wave I felt pass over me before I leapt of the roof. It hit me right then—Bradley must have used his pulse to save me.

  "Do you know Bradley's ability?"

  "Nope. I don't ask people because of the rules and all that."

  I nodded. "Did you want to know mine?"

  She gave me a shrug. "Only if you want to tell me."

  I considered for a few moments and then nodded. She told me hers. It was only fair I told her mine. "It's nothing amazing I don't think. I just make time stop for like a second or so."

  Sarah gave me a grin. "Wow that's a cool one. Imagine the pranks you could pull with that!"

  I laughed and nodded. "I guess you're right."

  The two of us talked for a while longer before Nadine sat down next to us with a tray of her own. She gave me a nod which I returned.

  Sarah looked over her shoulder at the buffet. "Where is everyone else?"

  Nadine gave a shrug. "On their way at some point." She looked up toward the doorway. "Speak of the devil."

  I turned to watch the rest of the unit that I had seen on my first day make their way across the room to the buffet line. They were talking and laughing, but I was growing more nervous as they approached. When they came up to the tables, some of them glanced my way, but most of the just sat as if nothing was different. I noticed the boys stuck to the other table, and the girls sat with us on this one. I could see only one girl sat with the boys, the blond haired girl who had ignored me on my first day.

  "Alex, you know myself and Nadine, and these two are Mary and Jessica."

  I said my hellos as the two of them introduced themselves. I then sat and listened as the four of them devolved into conversation about the day that had passed, and the week they had ahead. I sat in silence for a few minutes just watching, but Sarah dragged me into the conversation at one point. I was nervous at first, but soon enough I was chatting along with the others about nothing. It filled me with a happiness I'd not felt before.

  It was probably nothing to them, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere.

  FIFTEEN

  As I stepped into the common room someone grabbed me and slammed up against the wall.

  "You don't belong here."

  I looked into the eyes of the blond girl that had ignored me ever since I'd arrive. I looked over to the other girls who all stood and watched. None of them moved a muscle.

  I stared back at they girl, opting to try to talk with her rather than attack her back. "What are you talking about?"

  "You're from New York City, aren't you?" She pressed me harder into the wall and it took all my effort not to break free and punch her in the face. I didn't want to get into a fight on my first day with the others.

  "Yeah, so what?"

  Jane smirked at me. "So you're not even from the real world. You have no idea what it's like out there. You're probably just a whore like your mother before you."

  I glared at her as my shoulders shook with rage. I tried to twist free but she had me pinned. I wasn't able to get enough leverage to get out of her grip.

  "Looks like I hit a nerve."

  "Jane," I looked over at the voice from the couch. Nadine was lying in much the same position I had seen her when I saw her earlier, the book above her head and her eyes scanning the pages, "let Alex go."

  Jane glared at Nadine for a few seconds, but removed her hands from my shoulders. I stepped forward and swung hard at her head, but in an instant I was flat on my back staring at the ceiling and my mouth was hurting.

  From the corner of my eye I saw Nadine now standing, staring at Jane.

  Jane gave her a shrug. "What? She threw the punch at me."

  Nadine gave Jane a glare from across the room. Jane held up her hands in surrender and walked backward toward the hallway, spinning and making her way away from us. She was humming a nursery rhyme. I sat up but the room started to spin which prevented me from standing. Sarah rushed over to me and helped me up onto my feet.

  "What's her problem?" I lifted my hand to my lip but it didn't seem to be bleeding. Hurt like hell though.

  Sarah frowned at the space Jane had disappeared through. "I don't know. I me
an she's not the friendliest person you'll ever meet, but I've never seen her attack anyone like that."

  "Great." I gave a sigh. "I have an enemy and I have no idea why."

  "Cheer up. I'm sure Nadine will make sure she doesn't do that again."

  "Jane looked scared of Nadine," I said. "Why?"

  "Like I said Nadine is the top of our class. Jane is second, but she knows she can't take Nadine in a fight."

  "I see." I reached up to touch my lip again. It had already started to swell.

  "Did you want to go to the bathroom and check it out?"

  I shook my head. "No. I kinda just want to crawl into bed and sleep for the next day and half."

  Sarah laughed. "Well we start fresh at oh-five-hundred hours, so if you hit the cot now you get eight. That should be enough, right?"

  I gave her a lopsided smile. "It will have to be."

  "Look, don't worry about Jane, okay? She doesn't really have many friends here."

  I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were friends with everyone?"

  Sarah shrugged. "Everyone that lets me be. Jane doesn't hang out with anyone except Benny. He was the largest of the boys at the table sitting next to her."

  We got to the room and I stood embarrassed as Sarah stripped down to nothing.

  Sarah gave me a shrug. "I sleep in the nude. Sorry."

  I took off my pants but kept my underwear and shirt on, and climbed up onto the top bunk. I slipped under the sheet as Sarah flicked off the light. After a few seconds my eyes adjusted to the moonlight that came through the window from outside.

  "Sarah?"

  "Mmm?"

  "Sorry if I freak out in the morning, okay?"

  "Huh?"

  "I've never slept in the same room as anyone before, so sorry in advance if it takes me a few seconds in the morning to stop screaming."

  Sarah giggled. "It's alright. I'll be gentle."

  I frowned at that, but soon enough I could hear her breathing even out and I knew that she was asleep. I closed my eyes and tried to do the same, but my mind kept going back to Jane slamming me against the wall.