The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse

by Laidlaw, Steven

  I felt my threat matrix realign. Private Sarah jumped up into the list of accepted commanders. The override code put her above the general. Something was wrong with that I knew, but it barely registered as a thought. I stood to attention.

  "Orders, ma'am?"

  Jane smiled at me. "I kind of can't believe it worked." She giggled. "I could have you do anything, couldn't I?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "I could, but I won't. I'm over the violence. Over the pettiness. Over everything. I just want you gone."

  "Your order is for me to leave, ma'am?"

  Jane paused. "No. It could be that easy, but I'm not a monster. Not even you deserve that." She took a deep breath and looked into my eyes.

  "Subject D485. I want you to remember everything."

  My head split open in pain and my world went white.

  FORTY-FOUR

  I flew.

  I soared in a sky of white. There was no up or down, there was nothing. I don't even think there was a me. I was peaceful. I was free.

  Then I hit the ground.

  Pain tore my eyes open as I struggled to take in my surroundings. As my eyes started to focus pain tore through my head again. I could feel my heart beating as my head pounded in time with it. It was running so fast I struggled to breathe. My mind ran at a thousand miles a second, showing me flashes, but it was too much to take in. I tried to block it out, but that just made it hurt more.

  My heart kicked up another notch.

  I tried to suck in breath but it felt like my throat was filled with my heart, preventing me from getting any oxygen. My vision started to go white again and the pain dimmed. I felt myself relax as the white started to take over again. Things were safe there. There was no danger. I welcomed the white.

  Something in my head broke through, causing me to pause. There was nothing that way for me. That way was death.

  Hadn't I prayed for death? Somewhere in another life?

  I grit my teeth. Today was not the day I died—not without a fight. I pushed against the white, and the pain returned in full force. I felt myself shaking on the cold floor of wherever I was. Every movement send shivers of pain through my body, but I latched onto that pain. Pain meant I was alive.

  I tried to clear my mind, but that made the pain worse, so I decided to let go. At least I thought I did. I could feel something inside my head pushing to get in, something that was meant to be there, but for some reason it couldn't enter. I tried to use some of the mental exercises I knew. How did I know those? A question for another time. I concentrated on my mind, and would have gasped aloud if I could spare the breath.

  Walls. There were walls in my mind.

  I pushed up against them them and realized all at once how weak they were. It was laughable how simple it was to bring them down from the inside. I brought them down.

  My world filled with color. A life's worth of memories, experiences, lessons, and emotions ran through my body. I was still shaking, but I could feel my heart start to slow. The pain in my head returned in full force and I screamed. I must have managed to take a breath. After a few seconds the pain reduced in size. Not much at first, but I could feel it getting smaller and smaller. I lay on the floor and concentrated on that pain, feeling every drop as it oozed out of me, and I collapsed with relief.

  After a few moments of lying on the floor, I could feel a moisture under my head. I sat up to look down, and realized I was laying in a small pool of blood. I stood, wincing in pain as I did so, and looked in the mirror. The blood had come from my ears. I sighed and reached for a nearby towel and cleaned myself down. I was halfway through when it hit me.

  I staggered under the pressure of all the memories coming into clarity at once. I had to grip onto the sink just to stay upright. After a few seconds it passed, and my ears were leaking again. I ignored it and stared at myself in the mirror.

  I remembered Sarah dying—the real time in the clearing. I also remember the rest, but they were simpler to differentiate now than they were at the time. I frowned at that and reordered my priority matrix to include finding the cause of that differentiation. I blinked at my reflection in the mirror. What the hell is a priority matrix? I frowned. The last thing I remembered was the wall. After that it's just blank, but judging by the length of my hair it wasn't recent.

  I shuddered. What had they done to me?

  These questions had to wait. I needed to get out of here. I estimated my time unconscious to be twenty minutes, and knew that Bradley was awaiting me outside. I wasn't sure how I knew that, but I knew other things too. The surrounding forest was filled with ops guards. I knew all their locations, and their patrol radius. There was no way I was getting out without being seen. I needed a plan.

  First thing first was to get cleaned up and do what they expected of me. The first things that came to mind was to meet Bradley, so that was what I was going to do. I shivered in disgust at the thought of such an act. He was the reason I was here to begin with. He was the reason Sarah and Thomas were dead. If I hadn't have trusted him—no, not now. Now was time to assess and plan. I turned back to the mirror and ran the tap to clean the remaining blood off my face and hair.

  I turned to leave the bathroom when I saw Jane standing in the exit. She was smiling. I frowned at her. "What are you doing here?"

  As I said this her name and rank popped up in text above her head. I frowned, but wasn't as shocked as I thought I should be by such a thing happening.

  Her smile faltered. "You… don't remember?"

  I snorted. "The last time I remember seeing you is right here, when I…" I felt sick as I remembered what I had done. I looked up at her in a panic, but saw there was nothing but a scar on her face that indicated any kind of attack. How long had I been out for? "What's going on?"

  Jane sighed. "I was sure you were going to die when you started screaming. I knew it would be tough, but to be honest I didn't expect the bleeding part."

  I snarled at her. "What did you do to me?"

  She let out a bark of laughter. "If you could remember you would be thanking me. I didn't anticipate you not remembering what happened after they brainwashed you. Either way the result is the same, you need to get out of here, right?"

  I frowned at her, but I couldn't see any sign that she was trying to trick me. "Yes."

  "Then take this." She pulled a handgun out of the back of her pants. I flinched, but she spun it in her hand and offered me the grip. I stepped forward, still expecting a trick, and took it from her. When she didn't move, I tucked it into the back of my pants.

  "Why are you helping me?"

  Sarah smiled. "I want you gone. It's that simple. So leave."

  She turned and walked out of the room. I called out to her but she didn't look back. I sighed and shook my head. "Thanks."

  Brainwash? I had to find out what was going on.

  A few minutes later I was walking out of the barracks. Bradley was waiting for me. I tried not to let my anger show on my face. It was easier than I expected to fall into a blank face. He looked different. He had stubble on his face, which I found odd. He had always preferred to remain clean shaven.

  "Welcome back, D485. I trust you had no trouble?"

  It took me a seconds to realize he was talking to me. I wasn't sure how to react, so I fell back on my military training. "Sir, no, sir."

  Bradley frowned at me. "You seem… different."

  I felt myself start to sweat. "Different, sir?"

  Bradley crossed his arms. "Something about the way you're carrying yourself. It looks almost familiar." He frowned at me and stepped closer to look into my eyes. "Alex?"

  I frowned at him. "Who, sir?"

  He stared at me for a few moments before sighing and nodding. "Never mind. Follow me." I followed behind him. So he was in on it. I wondered how I could ever have cared about this monster.

  As we walked I assessed the situation around me. People were out, and the occasional glance was thrown my way, but for the most part we were i
gnored. My eyes flicked over to where I knew there were patrols running through the forest. I saw a glimmer of movement, and felt my internal map update the locations of the patrols. Had those patrols always been there, or were they a new measure?

  I didn't have much time to consider as we walked toward the three men I wanted to see least of all. Standing waiting for us were General Walker, Doctor Vorboyov, and Sergeant Peterson. I tried to keep my face natural, but I could feel my fear levels rising. These were the men I had been trying to get away from, and here I was walking right toward them. I took a few deep breaths and tried to get my heart rate back under control. I couldn't lose it now. Not here.

  I stopped my march right behind Bradley when he did.

  The General cleared his throat. "Report, Soldier."

  "Nothing out of the ordinary, sir."

  "How was her performance."

  "Above standard, sir. She even beat her old record in the obstacle course."

  Performance? I shuddered to think of the things they had made me do. How much time had I lost? It was still spring, so it couldn't have been that long. That was when it hit me.

  My hair. Jane's scar.

  It wasn't still spring. It was spring again. I had been gone for at least a year—maybe even more. I felt my mouth fall open.

  "What's wrong with her?"

  I felt my blood run cold at the general's words and my mouth snapped shut. I picked up my posture and stared straight ahead. "Apologies, sir. I believe I may require food."

  Bradley frowned. "That's odd. I asked her if she needed food half an hour ago and she said she was fine."

  Doctor Vorboyov cleared his throat and stepped forward. "If you would allow me. I believe some of the energy regulation systems may need recalibrating. Please leave her to me for the rest of the evening, and I will have her as good as new in the morning."

  The general didn't look pleased. "I thought she was ready, Doctor?"

  "Just a calibration issue, sir. Nothing to be concerned about."

  The general shook his head. "See that it's fixed."

  Vorboyov inclined his head. "Yes, sir. D485—follow me."

  I turned away from the other men and followed on his heels. My heart was racing as I followed him. I couldn't keep this up for much longer. I had to get away. As we stepped into the stairwell leading under the mansion I followed him down, pausing just at the height where no-one in the surrounding area could see us. I pulled the pistol out of the back of my pants and pulled back on the slide. A bullet slid into place in the chamber with a satisfying click. The doctor froze.

  "Sorry, Doc, but this is where I get off."

  Doctor Vorboyov turned around, but instead of fear on his face he was smiling. "I thought something was going on. I had to get you out of there fast before the general realized anything was out of the ordinary. Can't have him shutting down this project now, can we?" He shook his head and raised an eyebrow. "So you threw it off did you. I would love to find out how." He took a step toward me.

  "Not another inch." I lifted the gun to align with his head, and he stopped. "You're never touching me again."

  The doctor smiled. "Never say never, child."

  I felt my lip curl in disgust, and stepped forward to bring the butt of the gun down on his head. Before I had closed half the distance, he spoke up.

  "D485—reset."

  I felt my body lock up the moment he spoke. My eyes widened as my hands started to go slack on the gun. I pushed against my body to regain control, but then pain in my head came back with vengeance. I wanted to scream, but I held it in to avoid giving away to those around us what was going on.

  The doctor took a step forward and put his hand over mine. My body shook as I fought whatever he had done to me. It felt like my heart was about to explode out of my chest. I gasped for air.

  "You cannot fight it, child. It is in your programming."

  I grit my teeth. No. This wasn't happening. Not now. Not when I was so close. I wasn't being turned into their tool again. I would rather die. I swallowed hard, looked up at him, and put and much effort as I could into making my hand twitch. He hadn't moved out of the line of fire. I fought as hard as I could, and in a second I felt something inside me snap.

  My finger pulled back on the trigger.

  FORTY-FIVE

  I fell backwards onto the steps as my body came back under my control. A shower of red came down on top of me as the body of the doctor fell forward. Pieces of something fell onto my face, and I tried to push him off me. After I wriggled out from under him I turned to the side and vomited. I reached a hand to clear my mouth and found my hand covered in red. My body twitched and I threw myself away from the unrecognizable body lying on the floor. The only thing that gave him away was his lab coat. I shuddered, and turned to vomit again. When I stood back up I heard shouting.

  I chanced a glance up and over the top of the stairs. People in black were running toward me from multiple directions. I whipped my head back down, and the moment I did the brick above me exploded. I swore. They were shooting to kill.

  I turned and dashed toward the doorway, halting before opening the door. I looked back at the body of the doctor. I wanted to collapse. I killed him. I had killed him. I ended his life. I swallowed hard and shook my head. Now wasn't the time. I turned the handle and threw myself into the dark hallway.

  I didn't wait for my eyes to adjust while I ran, trusting my instincts more than the multitudes of soldiers who were coming to take me out. I grit my teeth and threw myself around a corner I couldn't see and through a door I had never been in, but somehow knew it was there anyway. I didn't give a moments thought to how I knew these things—I just ran.

  The plans of the building flew through my head, but it wasn't clear enough for me to be able to plan my route in advance. It was as if my body just knew which way to go. I broke through another door and into a wide hallway filled with boxes and military supplies. I only made it three steps before I heard the doors click open.

  A series of men and women dressed in black files into the hallway. A quick count popped up in the corner of my vision. Twenty-one. I would have started to panic, but the moment I did a plan slotted into place in my head and I saw a path light up in front of me. This was what I had trained for.

  I turned and smiled at the leader "All this of this for one little girl?"

  He stared at me for a few moments before coming to a decision. "Fire!"

  As they squeezed their fingers on the triggers, I reached inside my body and squeezed down hard on my pulse. The rush that left me felt like a welcome old friend, but I didn't have time to relish it. My body jumped into action mode and leapt forward almost without my will. Within a half a second I was bringing my gun down on the back of the head of the first motionless soldier, and kicking the one next to her in the head. I flipped over and around, tilting the guns of the next three before jumping forward.

  I stepped up onto a box and flipped over one of the soldiers as the pulse rushed back into me. The first two soldiers collapsed right away, and the next three sprayed five of their friends with bullets. The others still standing halted their fire as their fellow soldiers started falling around them.

  I didn't give them the chance to regroup.

  Two more strikes in the back of the head dropped the next two men who were standing between me and the doorway. I sprinted forward and jumped forward planting my foot onto the chest of one of the men. He lifted his gun to aim at me but my other foot collided with his face. I used his falling body as a springboard and launched myself toward the next two soldiers in the line. They too fell with minimal effort.

  I was in my element. All the training through the courses, and even my running through the streets as I grew up, had prepared me for this day. I took out the rest of them, jumping and leaping over boxes and trolleys as I did so. Some of them must have been hit in the crossfire from their friends, but I made it through exactly as I had planned until there was only one remaining.

 
I leapt forward off the back off a downed soldier and threw myself at the leader of the group. He fell backward into a roll, dropping his rifle, and came up brandishing a knife. He stepped forward and swiped at me but I managed to avoid the attack with a quick step backward. I watched as he stepped forward again and noticed his attacks followed the same rhythm each time. A small smile came across my lips.

  Thanks, Sarah.

  As he launched his next attack I feigned dodging to the right, but as he adjusted for my movement I pulled myself up and around behind him. I smashed my hands together on his temples from behind and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. The other two were just regaining their feet when I came down on them. One of the discarded rifles made a great club, and they were out cold before they knew what hit them.

  I stood breathing hard and shaking. The last fight made sense, but before that I was running on pure instinct. There is no way I should have been able to do all of what I did. I had been fast before, but this was a whole other level that I didn't even know existed. I shivered and tried not to think about what they had done to me. It was working out for me so far.

  I stripped down one of the small female soldiers as fast as I could and took her weapons. The clothes didn't fit right, and I didn't plan on using the weapons if I didn't have to, but it paid to be prepared and gave me some cover. I gave the soldiers filled with bullet holes lying on the floor a glance, but didn't have the time to process that I had been a part of taking more lives. I closed off my mind and moved on through the next doorway.

  A few hallways later and I found myself entering the catacombs. For some reason they didn't seem as confusing as before and I found myself picking a direct path through them. I had to detour on a few occasions and men and women in black came rushing by. I felt relief wash over me when I realized there weren't any Pulsers among that unit. I might have been able to deal with regular soldiers, but I doubted that that would stand up against real trained Pulse soldiers. I shuddered at the thought of what they were capable of.