The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse (15 page)

He stepped forward, causing me to cringe back, and leaned his head down so it was inches from mine. He raised a thick, calloused hand to my hair and ran his fingers through it. He pulled the hair toward his hood and I heard him inhale.

He was smelling my hair. I shuddered.

I managed to find my voice. "W—what do you want?"

He dropped my hair and stepped back, staring at me for a few seconds.

Fast as lightning he lurched forward and slammed his fist hard into my stomach. I felt my body tense hard against the restraints as it tried in vain to cringe away from the blow. Pain rushed through my body from the center of the hit, and tears sprang to my eyes. My breath came in ragged gasps. I lifted my eyes of the black hood and opened my mouth to speak.

That was when he hit me again.

This time he hit me harder, and twice in quick succession. The second blow hit before my body had finished reacting to the first, causing my stomach to spasm. I felt the contents of my stomach rush up my throat and out onto myself and my attacker. It burned my throat, but I was struggling to breathe so much I didn't notice.

He stepped back and looked at me for a while, before turning to the table and retrieving a towel. After cleaning himself he turned to me with the towel and began cleaning me down. I cringed from him as best I could, but to my surprise he was gentle in his movements and had me clean in no time. As he turned back to return the towel to the table I saw my chance.

"Please." I swallowed and coughed to clear my throat. "Please I don't know what you want, but I will tell you anything you want to know. Just please don't hit me like that again."

He turned like lightning and slammed his first into the bridge of my nose with a resounding crack. I was too surprised to feel much of the pain, but I could tell right away he'd broken it. I felt the blood dribble down my lip into my mouth. I tasted iron and salt. That was when I realized I was crying. In my daze from the attack I didn't see him throw his fist out again.

I had been in pain before, but this was a whole new level. I screamed for a solid thirty seconds until it felt like my throat was about to burst. When I regained my senses I found my attacker wiping my face with the towel. Once I was clean again he turned to replace the towel, but I was still bleeding. I let the blood pool into my mouth.

When he turned I spat the mouthful of blood right out in a spray onto his stomach and legs.

"Fuck you." I glared at the expressionless mask. "I hope you die."

I knew at that moment that I wanted this man to die. I didn't care how it happened, I just wanted him dead. Nothing in life would make me happier at this moment. Thinking about it was almost enough to make me smile. He tilted his head down to my level. I could have sworn he was smiling behind that mask. I shuddered again.

As he turned back to the table I made a resolution with myself. I would no longer talk to him. I would just bide my time and wait. He could only hurt me. It was only pain. I would not allow him the satisfaction again.

As he turned to face me I saw a pair of pliers in his hand. I couldn't help it. My body betrayed me. The scent of urine filled the air as he stepped toward me with the pliers. Using his free hand he gripped my jaw and pulled my mouth open. The restraints made it impossible to stop him from putting the pliers into my mouth. I felt the metal of the tool grip one of my teeth.

He made me scream a lot more.

NINETEEN

As I woke I fell to the ground, unable to stand under my own weight. I felt someone at my side, but the only thing I could think about was my mouth. I lifted my hand and felt around inside.

My teeth were all there. I was whole.

The relief washed over me and I felt tears spring from my eyes. Almost as an afterthought I checked my nose, but that was fine also. I felt bile rise up in the back of my throat, but after a few seconds of gagging I managed to keep my dinner down. I looked up into the eyes of Bradley who was kneeling next to me, a grimace on his face.

"Are you okay?"

I just stared at him.

"She will be fine." It took a few moments to connect the thick accent with Doctor Vorboyov. It was at that moment that I realized I was still in the lab. I shivered and looked over the doctor. "You did well, Miss Alex. Few on the first time have such a passionate response. Well done."

I looked up at Bradley with a disgusted look on my face. "What the hell was that?"

Doctor Vorboyov answered. "That was torture preparation training. The children here refer to it as 'The box'. It is to prepare you for real wartime situations when the enemy has captured you."

I stared at him with my mouth agape. "How can that prepare anyone for anything?"

Bradley gave a sigh. "After a while you start to be able to isolate the pain. You can block yourself off from it. It still hurts, but it doesn't affect you like it does now. The training works." I looked up at him with my mouth wide. He shook his head. "I'm sorry." He looked ashamed.

I turned back to look at the chair and shivered. "Can I leave now?"

Vorboyov was still smiling. "Yes." He lifted his hand and gave me a little wave. "I will see you again next week!"

I felt like being sick again. I looked up at Bradley, but his face was expressionless again. He put his arms around my shoulders and helped me up. With his help I started to make my way out of the laboratory. At the doorway I stopped and looked back. Doctor Vorboyov was scribbling onto a notepad and humming a happy tune to himself.

It was funny how monsters didn't look like they did in dreams.

Halfway back to the barracks I was able to start walking on my own. My head was clear enough for me to connect the dots.

"How long will I have to do this?"

Bradley didn't meet my eyes. "As long as you're here."

"And everyone else?"

"Has to do it too."

I shook my head in disgust. "You people sicken me."

"I know it's bad, but you will see that it's necessary."

I shook my head again. "I can make it back to the barracks from here." I quickened my pace to get away from him. Bradley stopped behind me and allowed me to move forward by myself. I was thankful he didn't try to protest.

When I arrived at the barracks it took me a few minutes of heavy breathing to open the door. When I walked in I saw Jane sitting on one of the couches. She smiled at me as I walked in, but from my position I could see Nadine was sitting in such a way that she was ready to react at a moments notice. Nadine's eyes scanned over me, and for a brief moment she frowned, but then she turned back to her book.

I left the common room and made my way into my bedroom. Sarah was sitting on the edge of her bed biting her nails, and she stood the moment I walked in. She stepped forward, but upon seeing my face she stopped. I stepped past her and climbed up onto my bed, kicked my boots off, and climbed under my sheet. Sarah turned out the light and laid down in her own bed.

"If you want to talk. I'm here."

I turned away from the room and faced the wall. That night I cried myself to sleep.

***

I stormed down the hall and stomped toward the large double doors. I hadn't been back here since my first day, but I remembered the way without any trouble. I didn't have an appointment, but didn't much care at this point.

After having slept on and off all night, waking from nightmares, I decided to come down here the moment I woke at five in the morning. I had seen the light on from the outside, so I knew he was here.

I walked up to the doors and kicked them open hard with my foot. The thick wood slammed hard into the walls and shook on their hinges. My foot and leg hurt now, but it was worth it for the effect.

The general turned to look at me with his face set in a small frown.

"I've been expecting you, Alex. Please take a seat."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I don't think I will. I have a few things that I need to say."

He took a seat behind his desk. "In the interest of getting through this sooner, you have my permission to say anything you need to say. I will not interrupt, nor will you anyone hold you accountable for whatever you say next." He lifted his hands and threaded his fingers in front of his face, placing his elbows on the desk.

I took a breath to collect my thoughts, but I couldn't think straight enough to allow the thoughts to form. I was so angry, but I had to let it out. I turned and noticed a small plant sitting in a ceramic pot. I walked over, lifted the pot, and threw it was hard as I could at the window.

The moment it collided with the glass I regretted my decision. The spray shot outward and I watched as the plant, still in its pot, fell the few stories to the ground and shattered on impact. I stood shaking for a few moments, before looking over at the general. For his part he just watched me. I walked over and took a seat behind his desk.

"I apologize for that."

He nodded once. Now that I had dealt with my anger I managed to find the words that I couldn't earlier.

"What is wrong with you people?"

General Walker waited for a few moments to confirm I was waiting for a response before replying.

"Before I answer your question, I'd like for you to read this."

He reached down to a folder that had been sitting on his desk. In my anger I hadn't noticed it until he slid it toward me. I frowned at him, but opened the folder and started reading. I was only in the first paragraph when I started sweating. It was a detailed report of everything I had gone through the night before, only a few things were off.

The things that were off were major things.

It wasn't a report on me, but on a male subject a few years older than I. He was a Pulser, and as I read, I realized that this wasn't a simulation. This had happened to him. I felt like being sick.

"How is that meant to make me feel better?"

The general shook his head. "It isn't—it's supposed to help you understand." He stood from behind his desk and began to pace back and forth. "An intelligence agent recovered that report about eighteen years ago. He had infiltrated a compound that had captured some of our agents, with his mission being to get them out at any cost." The general paused and looked out the broken window. "It was not what we thought."

"What do you mean?"

General Walked turned to face me. "What I mean is that we thought it was a holding facility, but in fact it was a lot worse than that. The captors had been putting the prisoners through experiments. Some to make them break and reveal information, some to work out more about the pulse power, and some… some just for the sake of it."

I swallowed and it sounded too loud. The general looked down at his desk.

"In our attempts at extraction we lost a lot of information about the facility, but worse than that were the minds of the subjects. They never outright killed anyone. Some died of their injuries, and others bodies gave out from the stress. Over ninety percent of the people they captured were still alive."

"So you got them out alive?"

"If you can call it that." General Walked shook his head. "They were gone. Minds broken from their treatment at the hands of those… monsters." Pain and rage was etched across his face. I saw his hands clench and unclench as he ran through the memories. I shuddered at the thought of coming across those people. He cleared his throat and met my eyes again. "Those that weren't broken would never serve with us again, and the information we lost set the war effort back decades. We've been picking up the pieces ever since we shut that facility down."

I sighed and felt the last of my anger drain away. I could see in his expression that this tortured him, but that only served to confuse me further.

"Sir, if it was as bad as all that then why are you forcing your recruits now to go through the same thing?"

He looked to me again with a hard expression. "We used those reports to create the simulations—one of which you went through last night." He shook his head. "I'll not have my troops go up against the enemy unprepared again. Although it's barbaric—and make no mistake that is what I believe it is—it is also necessary. The training you receive in the simulations is a way to prepare you without putting you through what they went through. I know that it was hard, but it was nothing compared to the helplessness that those who went through it for real felt.

"When doing this training we have shown marked improvement in recruits. Not only in the ability to withstand interrogation techniques by the enemy, but also in the spirit of those who have overcome it. It's the worst thing I have ever had to give the order for in my entire military service, but I believe it is doing much to save lives."

He returned to his seat and laid his hands palm up on the desk. He looked me in the eye. "Do you understand?"

I wanted to swear. I wanted to throw something again. I wanted to cry. I wanted to say no. I wanted to hate him, and this whole situation. I wanted to scream that it was wrong.

But I did understand. Curse me to hell I understood completely.

I nodded to him. "I get it. I don't like it, but I get it."

Walker gave me a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Then we're in agreement. In the report it said you didn't attempt to use your Pulse power last night."

I frowned, and considered for a few moments. "To be honest, sir, I forgot." I gave him a shrug. "A lot was going on and I wasn't in my right mind. I'm sure with more training it will become easier. Now that I think of it though my power would be pretty useless in that situation. Slowing down the experience wouldn't be something I would pursue."

"There are always situations where opportunities present themselves." He gave a sigh. "But in any case during the simulation your power is… suppressed is the wrong word, but in effect it's the same thing."

"How so?" I asked.

"The simulation can't handle it. There is not enough computing power to replicate something like that. It can make the character 'you' due to the expectations by your mind, but it can't do every Pulse power. It works out better for the training, but it is something the Doctor is trying to crack."