"Thanks, doc," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. He smiled down at me and waved as I made my way toward the door. I stepped carefully to prevent the cannisters in my pockets from clinking together.
"You come back any time you are hurt, young lady."
I nodded at him, smiling to hide my disgust, and left the room. As I rode the elevator back down to the ground floor I stared at my hand. If this was reverse engineered from his blood, then why did they need to torture him? I didn't understand it. I don't think I ever would.
THIRTY-SEVEN
I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes until we leave. I made my way back toward the barracks and stopped as I entered the common room. A few of the girls were milling about, and I saw who I was looking for lying on the couch.
"Nadine, can I talk to you a moment?"
She frowned at me for interrupting her reading, but nodded and walked over the edge of the room and out of earshot of the rest of the girls.
"What's up, Alex?"
"I don't know if this is something I should be telling you about, because it's kind of embarrassing, but I noticed a girl in one of the bathroom stalls last night." The look on her face caused me to rush on. "Nothing unusual, I know, but I saw her again in the same stall a few minutes ago. I know it was her because of the shoes. I know it sounds silly, but I just want to make sure she's okay, and didn't really want anyone else hearing in case it was just an upset stomach."
Nadine smirked down at me. "Okay, I get it. I'll go make sure she's okay."
I smiled up at her. "Thanks, Nadine."
She nodded and I turned to leave the barracks. Now that my last job was taken care of I made my way to the edge of the forest. When I entered I felt a huge weight leave my chest. We were going to do it. We were going to be free. I felt a smile make its way onto my face.
A short walk later and I was entering the clearing in the forest where the pond was located. Sarah and Thomas were standing there holding hands. Sarah rushed over to me when she saw me coming.
"How's the hand?"
I grimaced. "Good as new, thanks to a new formula that was developed last night."
Sarah frowned at me, and then understanding washed over her face.
Thomas joined her side and shook his head. "These people are sick."
I nodded, but smiled at him. "Glad to see you here, Thomas."
"You too, Lexie," he said with a grin. I shook my head at the nickname. Only he could be so blase at a time like this.
Sarah put a hand on my shoulder. "Bradley?"
I turned to her with a smile and nodded. She grinned and hugged me, and I felt myself smile. When she released me I looked up at her.
"Supplies?"
"Over there," she said, pointing toward a pair of trees.
I made my way over to the edge of the woods to see what she had collected for us. There were four packs stocked with food and standard survival kit sitting between them. Sarah's eyes lit up when I removed the medical spray canisters from my pockets and added them to the packs.
I turned at the sound of crunching leaves coming from the forest. Bradley was arriving. I turned to wait for him to arrive and lifted one of the packs onto my back.
We were going to be free.
As Bradley stepped into the clearing I rushed toward him and threw my arms around him. "I'm so happy to see you." I stood for a moment before I realized he wasn't hugging me back. I pushed back from him and looked up at his face. He was looking down at his shoes.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Bradley sighed. "I'm sorry, Alex. I'm so sorry."
I shook my head. "What are you—"
I heard the crack of a stick and turned, my mouth falling open in horror as I saw them entering the clearing. A large group of fully armed soldiers dressed in camouflage made their way into the open area from various locations, cutting off every avenue of escape. I felt the color drain out of my face, and I could feel my hands shaking.
Their weapons were raised, and I could see that they were screaming at us, but I couldn't make out the words they were saying. Thomas was standing in front of Sarah, screaming back, but all I could heard was a great rushing sound like I was standing next to a waterfall.
I turned to look back at Bradley when I saw him. The general stepped out of the woods and walked up behind Bradley, putting his hand on my boyfriends shoulder. Bradley sagged at the touch, and didn't look up to meet my eyes. I looked over his shoulder into the eyes of the general, and sound returned to me.
The general smiled. "Good work, Officer."
Anger flared in me, and I felt my teeth bare at him. I reached inside my body to feel for my pulse. It wasn't fully back yet, but I could feel a small bubble.
Just enough for a second. Just enough for the general.
I started to press down when a shout from beside me made me turn.
A large man was holding a gun to Thomas's face. "I said get down!"
Thomas just smiled, and his eyes flicked to mine. I saw his expression change, not much, but enough for me to know that he was reaching inside himself. Apparently the others saw this too.
"He's going for his Pulse! Fire!"
The man standing in front of Thomas squeezed the trigger.
I screamed as the bullets tore out tore through Thomas's body. I was about to run forward when I noticed that Thomas was still standing, and felt the familiar wave of the pulse rush past me. A man fifteen feet behind Thomas fell to the ground, screaming in pain. It registered in my head that the bullets had somehow passed through Thomas and impacted the man behind him.
I jumped forward and threw my fist at the mans cheekbone. The impact knocked his head to the side and he fell to the ground. I reached out to grab Thomas by the hand, but I passed through him like air. There was nothing there to grab. I looked up at his face with my mouth wide. He winked at me and then turned to run toward the edge of the clearing.
He ran through two men who stepped into his way to block his path, and then turned back as I felt the wave come crashing back. He reached up and pulled the gun out of the hands of one of the men and unloaded the weapon into them. They fell to the ground in an instant.
Their deaths snapped me out of my stupor, and I turned to find Sarah. I saw her on the other side of the pond being held down by a man who was trying to cable tie her hands. I bared my teeth and ran forward to try to stop him when I was knocked onto the ground from behind. I was dazed as I hit the ground, but in my stupor I managed to roll out of the way as the woman who had hit me brought her foot down where my head had been.
I used my momentum to pivot on the ground and spin, catching the woman's legs and tripping her. She crashed to the ground with a thump, and a quick kick to the temple took her out. I realized as I stood that none of them were pulse trained. They were an outside security force. I frowned at the thought. They must have been stationed close to have this kind of response time. Why had I never seen them before?
My thoughts were brought back to the present when I heard Sarah scream. I jumped up and ran around the pond toward her. I noticed none of the other guards had fired since the first. They must have been on orders to bring us in alive. I threw myself forward onto the man sitting above Sarah, smashing his head with my elbow. He fell like a pile of bricks.
I tried to lift Sarah, but she stumbled. He had managed to cable tie her hands together. I was trying to get her to her feet again when two of the guards came around to grab me. I pushed Sarah out of the way and threw myself toward them. I was halfway through a spinning kick when one of them grabbed my leg, lifted me into the air, and threw me hard to the ground.
I saw stars.
By the time I got the world under control I found my hands tied behind my back, the hard plastic cutting into my skin. I stumbled as I was marched back around the pond toward where General Walker and Bradley were standing. Sarah stumbled along beside me.
"No!" Sarah screamed.
I looked up at her face and turned to see what she was lookin
g at. My blood went cold. Thomas was lying on the floor, his neck twisted at an odd angle. His blank eyes stared out into the woods. I wanted to vomit. The man standing above Thomas's body was shaking his head as he looked down at the boy. He shrugged his shoulders, and turned to talk with one of the others.
I felt a white hot rage flow through me, but my short attempt at a struggle earned me another blow to the back of the head. I shook it off as we came to a stop in front of the General. The man and woman that were directing us let us go and stepped off to the side. The general cleared his throat. I ignored him and turned to look at Sarah. Her face was white and she was hyperventilating.
"Sarah." She didn't turn. "Sarah!" She jumped in shock and looked up at me. "I'm going to get us out of here, okay?"
Sarah looked at me in the eyes, and just turned to look at the general. I sighed and did the same. Walker stepped forward to within a few paces of us and cleared his throat.
"Well that was unfortunate."
I snarled at him. "You bastard."
He shook his head. "None of this had to happen, Alex. This was your choice. His death is on your head."
I spat at his feet. He smirked and turned toward Sarah.
"Sorry for your loss."
Sarah stared him in the eyes. "No, you're not."
The general frowned. "I am. It wasn't part of the plan. I wanted to keep you all alive. To rehabilitate you."
Sarah didn't move. "You mean torture and kill us, like you did with that kid last night?"
The general shook his head, and I saw some uncertainty pop into his eyes. "No, that's not it at all, I just—"
"You didn't think, did you?"
The general blinked a few times, and looked around for help, but the guards around him just seemed confused. I was too. Where was the man I had always seen? The powerful man. This was his business. What was he—
Then I felt it.
It wasn't a wave like I was used to. It was more like the tide coming in. You couldn't feel it rising unless you were expecting it to. I looked over at Sarah, and smiled. She was controlling him. Playing with his emotions. I reached inside myself and got a firm grip on my own pulse, ready to explode the moment I had an opportunity.
"You enjoy this, don't you?"
The general shook his head. "N-no, I d-don't."
"Of course you do. You're a sadist, and you're never going to stop."
"Never stop?" The general looked up at Sarah. He looked vulnerable. It was an odd look on him.
Sarah leaned forward as far as she could while being held from behind. "There is one way."
The general's eyes widened and and nodded. He reached into his holster and started removing his pistol. It was an old style revolver. He started lifting it toward his head. My eyes widened.
"Sir!"
The shout made me jump. I turned to see Bradley with his hand on the General's arm. Walker frowned, and shook his head. His eyes seem to lose some of their cloudiness. A few seconds passed as he turned to look at Bradley.
"Thank you, Bradley," he said, before turning back to Sarah. He smiled at her. "You clever bitch."
He raised his gun to her face and fired.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Time seemed to slow as I watched her head flick back and blood explode from her face. I screamed as I watched her fall forward, her lifeless body slamming to the ground with nothing to keep holding it up. I fell to me knees and did my best to crawl over toward her. Without my hands I couldn't move her, but I fell to the ground and let my head rest on her back. The tears that clouded my vision fell onto her back, dampening her shirt.
Pain spiked in my shoulders as I was picked up and pulled away from her. I looked up at the general who was re holstering his weapon.
"You murderer!" Rage burned within me. I wanted to tear this mans eyes out.
"Take her to the holding area."
I was pulled away from the General and forced to march to the edge of the clearing nearest the facility. Bradley was standing in my path.
"Stop, I need to say something to her."
Whoever was behind me halted his march, but didn't release my arms.
"Alex, look, I just need to tell you why I—"
"Stop talking," I said, staring up into his eyes. A few seconds passed between us. At the moment I wished for the power to stop someones heart. I had to settle for words instead. "If I ever see you again—I'll kill you."
Bradley sagged and stepped out of our path. Our march through the forest recommenced. Two men with fully automatic rifles took places either side of us to accompany us back to the mansion. I would have laughed at the convoy needed for one little girl if I had felt like laughing. I couldn't get the image of Sarah's head flicking backwards from the impact of the bullet. I closed my eyes as we walked and tried not to think of my friends lying in the dirt behind me. I stumbled a few times, but the hands of my guide on my arms kept me upright. Soon enough I could feel the sunlight on my skin and opened my eyes to see the barracks.
People were standing in crowds near the barracks. They must have heard the gunfire. I could see more of the armed guard patrolling through the crowd to keep everyone calm, but from this distance it seemed to have the opposite effect. The crowd was full of whispers and shifty eyes looking all around them. It wasn't long before we were spotted and a cry went out. Soon enough a hundred pairs of eyes locked onto us, and the crowd fell silent.
As we came closer, and they realized I was a prisoner, the whispers broke out again. I stared at my feet, not wanting to meet any of the eyes that were judging me. I wasn't sure I could handle it right now. The crowd wasn't thick, but they parted as the men escorted me in a straight line toward the mansion. No-one spoke to us. We were almost through when someone stepped out of the crowd and into our path. One of my guard stepped forward and shifted his weapon.
"Clear the path."
"I need to say something to her," said a voice I recognized.
My eyes flicked up to see Nadine standing in front of the armed man. She was standing with her head held high in full military mode. None of her usual carefree attitude was evident.
"Negative, ma'am, we're to escort the prisoner to a holding facility right away. General's orders."
Nadine didn't move. "One minute."
The man stared at her for a few seconds, before turning to look over my head at the guard behind me. I felt him shrug. The man in front of Nadine turned back to her.
"One minute."
Nadine nodded to him and looked up at me. As she stepped toward me I wondered what she was going to say. Would she chew me out for getting in trouble? Would she bother to ask for my side of the story? Nadine had always been one of the girls that I could count on. Not a friend, but someone I could go to if I needed to. I knew I had to tell her what I had seen. What they had done.
"Nadine, they killed—"
I was cut off mid sentence by Nadine's fist colliding with my cheek. My head flew back from the unexpected impact, but the man behind me prevented me from falling. I blinked the tears of pain from my eyes, and spat out some blood. The inside of my mouth had split open against my teeth. I looked up into her eyes. They were filled with anger, and something else. A hint of sadness?
"How could you?" I frowned at her. Nadine shook her head. "By the time I reached Jane she was close to death. I managed to get her to the doctor in time, but she's in a coma. Was it worth it, Alex? Was it worth it to get your petty revenge? I hope you rot wherever they leave you."
Nadine turned on her heel and stormed off into the crowd. The whispering around us reignited with a fervor. I tried to yell out to her, but she had already slipped back into the sea of people. She thought that was why I was being arrested. That is the story that would be circulated. The general wouldn't even need a cover-up. I gave him the perfect excuse.
The man behind me gave me a shove and we started walking again. When we reached the mansion out march stopped. Without warning a black hood was pulled over my face and tied at the ba
ck. I cried out in surprise, but the noise was muffled behind the thick material. It smelled musty like it had never been washed. I gagged. Our march resumed.
After another ten or so minutes of walking, including navigating some stairs, I was seated in a chair and the cable tie that held my hands behind my back was cut loose. Before I could even rub the pain out of my wrists they were shacked again to either side of the chair. I heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and then a door closing behind me, but I couldn't be sure all the men were gone with this hood on.
I was about to try to shake it off when I felt hands on the back untie the knot. The hood was pulled from over my head, and I had to blink as the white fluorescent light filled my eyes. When they adjusted I saw the man of my nightmares standing over me. Doctor Vorboyov leaned down over me with his usual grin.
"Welcome to your new home, child."
I looked around the room. It was empty, with nothing but a large glass mirror in front of me, but a glance to the roof confirmed the sense of dread that had been building in my stomach.
I could see the vent system. The same I place I had looked out of not twenty-four hours beforehand and watched as a young boy was tortured, and then murdered.
I was in one of the torture rooms.
I was in my nightmare.
Doctor Vorboyov loomed over me like a grim reaper. He looked so excited, like a child with a new toy. I wanted to be sick. I swallowed my fear and stared into his eyes.
"So when are you going to torture me?"
He tilted his head to the side. "Torture? Why would we torture you?"
I frowned. "Isn't that… what you do here?"
The doctor laughed, causing a chill to run down my spine. "No, child, that is not 'what we do'. He help people."
I felt anger boil under my skin. "Like you helped Justin?"
Doctor Vorboyov frowned. "Who?"
I lifted my hands to wrap them around his throat, but the steel cut into my wrists and prevented me from standing. I screamed at him in frustration. "You know damn well who!"
The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse Page 23