The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse (29 page)

"Is she dead?"

I spun to face him with my mouth wide. The look on his face broke my heart, and tears rushed to my eyes. "You think I would kill her? Do you think I'm a murderer? After everything I've told you?"

Bradley's face softened and he stepped forward to pull me into and embrace. I pushed against him at first, but he pulled me closer and I soon gave in.

"Shh, I'm sorry. I was just scared."

I sighed and let myself sink into his chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so worked up."

He let out a breath of laughter. "It's a little understandable given your day so far." He stepped back to look down at me at arms length, his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry about your mother."

I winced as the sting in my stomach was reignited. Everything that had happened since had pushed it from my mind, but the pain was still there, waiting to swallow me up. I pushed it back down and smiled up at Bradley. "Thanks."

"So what's the plan now?"

I sighed. "Well Jane is knocked out in a bathroom stall at the moment, but I'm not sure how long that will stick. Sarah is getting Thomas to gather some supplies, and I'm going to meet them in the forest." I looked up into his eyes. "We're going to run, Bradley, and I want you to come with us."

His face was unreadable. He swallowed and look up at the mansion, before looking back down at me. His voice broke as he tried to speak. "Run?"

I nodded, not taking my eyes off his face. "I know this is a lot to ask you, and I understand if you don't want to come with us." Saying the words set a feeling of sickness through me, but I forced them out anyway. "Just, please, if you decide not to come, don't give us away."

Bradley stared down at me, before pulling me forward and wrapping me in his arms. "Of course I'll come with you."

I felt myself sag as the tension fled from my body. I pressed my face into his chest, and felt the tears flow from my eyes dampening his shirt.

He was coming with us. He was coming with me.

I looked back up and him and stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. "Thank you."

He smiled at me, and kissed me again. Once we broke apart I looked down at my hand. "I need to get this treated as soon as possible."

He nodded and we began walking toward the mansion again. When we were at the doors Bradley stopped me.

"I need to go get a few things done before I go. Can I count on you to wait for me at the pond until I arrive. I promise I won't be too far behind you."

I smiled at him. "I'll be telling someone about Jane right before I leave to make sure she gets the appropriate medical attention, so we can't wait too long. She knows about that location."

Bradley nodded. "Understood. I'll be there on time. You go get yourself patched up."

I nodded and turned from him to enter the building. He walked off toward another section of the mansion.

A short elevator ride later and I was knocking on the door to the medical room. There was no-one inside so I let myself in and started rummaging through the cupboards. I was looking for the injectors that had been used on my body on various occasions since my arrival. I wasn't sure if it would work on bones or not, but it was my only chance. I found one of the small silver canisters and cracked it open, but hesitated before jamming it into my hand. I knew what it was cost to get these medical supplies—how many innocent people had died—and I didn't want to waste it. I instead stuffed it into my pocket, and reached into the cupboard to grab some more for the journey. Half of my pockets were full when I heard the door behind me swing open.

I spun on my heels to look into the face of Doctor Vorboyov.

"Well well. What do we have here?"

I swallowed and lifted my hand. "I hurt myself. Sorry for letting myself in, but I was just looking for something to fix it with."

He looked down at the silver canister in my hand. I hoped the bulges in my pockets weren't noticeable. I realized that if he looked in the cupboard behind me he would know there were a lot missing. I lifted my arm and swung the door shut with my elbow. I raised the silver cannister up to eye level.

"This is the one I need, right?"

The doctor smiled and shook his head. "No, child, that will only heal surface wounds. I will show you which you need."

He stepped forward toward the cupboard and I felt the blood leave my face. I felt for my Pulse, but realized right away that it hadn't yet regenerated enough for me to use again. As he walked passed me I looked around for something to hit him with. I was about to pick up the lamp, but stopped when he walked passed the cupboard and made his way to his desk at the back of the room. He took a key out of his pocket and opened a drawer in his desk to remove a syringe.

"This will do the trick."

He walked over to me with the syringe. I took a step back which caused him to laugh.

"Don't be scared, my child, it is just a small prick and all will be as good as new."

I frowned, but held out my hand from him. He stuck the needle in, and I had to clench my teeth to prevent myself from crying out in pain. As he pushed down the plunger my hand went cold. The feeling was strange as the coldness spread throughout my hand, and I could feel the pain getting pulled away. I watched as the bruising faded back to normal, and somehow felt the bones in my hand knit themselves back together. It was not painful. Uncomfortable, sure, but I couldn't really complain as my hand healed itself. The whole process took about five minutes, and once it was done my hand felt as good as new. I lifted it and tried clenching my fist a few times. It was a little stiff, but that soon passed and it felt like my hand had never been hurt. I looked up at the doctor with my eyes open wide.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" He said with a large grin. "You are in luck. This is a new formula we just finished development on last night."

I felt ill when I realized what he meant by that. This was the serum developed using the genetic code from Justin's pulse ability. This was his healing ability. I shuddered at the thought of what had to happen to make this possible. I had to get out of here as soon as I could. Progress couldn't cost this much. It was wrong.

"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.