The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse (8 page)

Bradley handed me a paper bag which I started breathing into to calm myself. After a few minutes I had stopped shaking enough to remove the bag.

His annoying grin was back on his face. "First time flying, huh?" I glared daggers at him and tightened the seat belt.

Gus cleared his throat. "You know that if we crash that thing won't save you right?"

Bradley shot him a look. "You're not helping."

Gus tilted his head to the side. "You thought I was trying to be helpful?" He turned back away from the two of us to sit straight in his seat. After reclining he closed his eyes and lifted a set of headphones and placed them over his ears. I turned to look at Bradley again.

"How can you be so calm about this? We're in a tiny piece of metal flying through the sky."

Bradley laughed. "You think this is bad? Wait until you're sitting on the leg of a low flying chopper as it tears above the tree line so fast you can only see a blur of green below you. This right here is damn luxurious."

I shook my head and looked him over. He was wearing the same black clothing that I had seen him in last night, the same clothes that Gus and the other man had been wearing. That is where I'd recognized it from.

I sighed. "So I'm going to hazard a guess and say that you're military?"

"In virtute."

I frowned at him. "What does that mean?"

"It's Latin. That's the motto of the Pulsers."

"The what?"

"It's what we are, but I don't want to get into it now. We'll talk about it more when we get to where we're going."

"Where are we going?"

"Training camp."

I opened my mouth to push him further, but another thought occured to me. "Why were you in the cell next to me back in lockup? That was a setup, wasn't it."

Bradley grimaced and had the good graces to look sheepish. "Yeah, sorry about that. I wanted to meet you before all this recruiting crap. Wanted to see if I could see the real you."

I raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Jury's still out," he said with a half smile.

I grit my teeth. "So Trey sold me out the moment we got into jail, huh?"

Bradley gave me a sidelong glance. "Look, I—"

I held up a hand. "Don't."

A few minutes passed in silence before I sighed and turned to him again.

"So how long left on this trip?"

"Should be there in about three hours."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "So you say I'm not a prisoner, but I'm going to some training camp with you. You going to brainwash me?"

Bradley shook his head. "Nah, no need."

"And whys that?"

"Because you'll choose to join us."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because of where you're from."

My eyes widened and I leaned forward to poke him in the chest. "You know nothing about the city I grew up in you stupid tourist. You don't get to spend a day in a place I've spent my entire life and then judge me for it."

Bradley raised his hands up, palms outward. "Hey, wait, that's not what I meant. I saw the way you moved through the place when you ran. The effortless way you slipped between people and maneuvered your way out of danger. I got to see you at full speed running from Gus and Roger, and I've got to say, I'm impressed."

I felt heat in my cheeks at the compliment, and scolded myself for acting like a schoolgirl. This man wasn't my friend. He was my enemy. I shouldn't be happy about any of this, and I damn well shouldn't be crushing on the guy who was forcing me into a life I didn't want. Either way I took my finger from his chest and sat back down on my seat. "Who's Roger?"

Bradley pointed toward the front of the plane. "The pilot. Other man who was with you and Gus."

I nodded and waited a few moment before replying. "So you could see me when I ran?"

Bradley nodded. "I could see it on your face. Even in the awful situation we put you in you loved the thrill of the chase. You loved the escape. The moment that I saw you make the decision to jump from the roof is the most happy I have ever seen anyone. You'll love it with us."

I snorted laughter at him. "That's where you're wrong. You watched me so hard but missed the most vital point. The reason I was happy wasn't because I was going to jump off that roof. It was because—"

"Because you were free," Bradley finished, smiling at me.

I frowned in confusion. If he understood then how could he think that I would be happy about having my freedom taken away? I opened my mouth to ask him but he beat me to it.

"I think you have a lot of misconceptions about what it's like in the military. Especially in our division." He turned away from me and leaned his head against the headrest on the chair. "How about you just hold your judgment until you've seen it for yourself."

"Only if you stop pretending you know everything about me."

Bradley smiled. "Oh trust me, I know there is a lot more to you than meets the eye."

I frowned again. What did he mean by that?

"Let's try to get some rest."

I looked up at Bradley, but he already had his eyes closed. I shook my head and sighed, trying to convince myself that now wasn't the time to worry about some boy's opinion of me. After wriggling on the chair to find a comfortable position I closed my eyes and tried my best to sleep.

I wasn't successful.

ELEVEN

I grit my teeth and gripped the armrests as the plane touched down. Bradley had offered to let me sit up with the pilot for the landing, but I'd put a halt to that foolish notion right away. Once we'd stopped we made our way to the door. With a bit of noise it opened up by itself and folded out into a stairway.

I squinted into the brightness of the daylight as I stepped off the last step and onto the tarmac. Large, green trees encircled us. They could have gone on for half the world for all I knew. I could see mountains nearby and the sea of green ran up the base of them too, so I knew this wasn't a small forest. The air was a bit cool for the time of year which meant we were further north than New York. The smell that filled my nostrils was unlike anything I had smelt in my life, even with the plane fuel burning right at my back. The sweet and tangy air left an odd taste in my mouth which would take some getting used to. When I turned to look for any sign of civilization, all I could see was a small white building on the corner of the short runway.

I turned to Bradley. "Not what I expected from the military. I thought you guys were the richest organization in the country."

Bradley smiled and shrugged. "Close to it, but I think the underground drug trade is beating us this year. Anyway, this isn't a military facility in the strictest sense. Its purpose is ferrying people to and from the training camp."

"It's not with the other military training camps?"

"No. We have… special needs."

I nodded, even though I didn't quite understand, and followed him and Gus toward the building. I looked around at the landscape. This would be the perfect opportunity to make a run for it. Only two things were stopping me. The first was that I had no idea where I was or where the nearest town was, so without supplies I would be dead within a few days. The second is that I kind of didn't want to any more. Bradley's words had piqued my interest, and if what he said was true I didn't want to risk missing an opportunity to see the facility.

When we were halfway to the building I heard the plane fire up again and watched as it started taxiing out onto the runway. I turned back to ask Bradley a question and realized they had keep walking without me.

"The plane is leaving?" I called out as I jogged back up to them.

Bradley nodded. "It comes at our request."

"What if I don't want to stay?"

Gus's deep voice rumbled from up ahead. "Then in a weeks time, on the supply delivery, you can catch a lift back out on it."

I looked up at the mountain of a man. "So what do you do?"

He grunted.

Bradley clasped a hand on his shoulder. "Sergeant Peterson here is our public relations officer."

Gus grunted again.

"I think you need a new one," I mumbled under my breath.

Bradley laughed. "You might not like his methods, but he got you here didn't he?"

I didn't respond to that and followed them past the building to another black sedan. We all jumped in, Gus in the driver's seat, and pulled out onto the road.

"How long until we get there?"

"Another two hours." Bradley turned to look at me over his shoulder. "Know any good driving songs?"

I sighed and turned to look out the window at the scenery as it went past. I was so used to concrete and brick that I had no idea how big these forests were. I had seen them in books and on TV of course, but it was hard to appreciate the scale without being there. I couldn't see more than thirty feet into the woods with how thick it was, but I knew it would go on for days, or even weeks, if I tried to walk it. I felt myself smile at the view.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I turned to Bradley and saw he was looking at me. I nodded and turned back to the window, not wanting to miss anything on our journey. This had been the kind of thing I had wanted to do, even if I didn't know the specifics. Seeing things I had never seen before and getting new experiences. That was when it hit me.

I was out of the city.

Even though the circumstances weren't like I imagined, it didn't change that fact that I was free of that life. I would never have to live in that kind of fear again. That constant state of vigilance.

It was every bit possible I would never have to see my mother again.

I frowned at that thought. It had been something I wanted, leaving her, but I didn't know what to think about it now that it was real. I decided to ignore it for the time being and concentrate on the landscape around me.

A large white mansion sat on a huge clearing of land in the forest. Most of it was grass, but there were sections which I could see that differed in color. I could make out rows of buildings peeking out from behind the mansion itself. There were various set-ups of what looked to be training equipment scattered around the place. As we drove down the long driveway, I could see a team of people jogging in the distance. We weren't close enough to make out how many people were there.

I turned my eyes back to the centerpiece of the area and took in the whole thing as we approached. The place was huge: at least five stories and looked to be about hundred and fifty feet in width. I couldn't tell from here how far back it went, but I was guessing it wasn't small in that regard either.

I was unable to keep the awe out of my voice. "That's where you live?"

"Not the recruits, no." Bradley pointed off to the back corner where the rows of buildings I saw earlier rested. "We live in the barracks until our training is over. We use the mansion for the officer's quarters, education, and some of the different training exercises."

"Different?"

Bradley waved his hand. "Pulser stuff. You'll see when you stay."

I frowned at the back of his head. "If." Bradley just laughed.

I sighed. "You keep using the word Pulser. Are you ever going to tell me what it means?"

"I'll let the General do that. It's a bit late to disturb him now, so after we get your wounds all sorted I'll show you to one of the guest rooms where you can sleep tonight. Everything will be explained to you in the morning."

As we got closer the road split into three, and Gus turned the vehicle onto the leftmost road. It took us around the house, and as I expected it was almost as long as it was wide. I could see more of the training facilities from here. It was impressive. A huge, multi-storied obstacle course ran across one section of the clearing. In fact, when I took a closer look, a part of it even ran into the forest and up into the trees.

It looked like a challenge, and I could feel my leg tapping in anticipation of conquering it. I grabbed my leg to stop it bouncing, but it was too late, and Bradley gave me a smug smile. I scowled at him and kept looking around. There more were buildings and a few open firing ranges that I could see from the car.

As we pulled into the back of the mansion I felt a little more at home. From this angle I could see it was hollow in the center, like a giant wide U shape. Gus parked the car next to some others that sat inside the U and the three of us got out.

It was a surreal experience as I looked around. It reminded me of home a little with the windows and walls surrounding us. The main difference was the clear sky and forest I could still see. They were in stark contrast to the life I knew. I watched as the sun started to fall behind the roof, signaling the end of the day was near. I swallowed and made my way after the two men who had already started toward one of the doors.

When we got inside a lady in a suit was waiting for us. She took my name down in her notebook, smiled at me, and handed Bradley a key. Gus clapped Bradley on the shoulder and went back out the door we came from.

I watched him leave. "Where is he going?"

"Over to his office to make a report about the mission."

That confused me for a moment before it clicked. I was the mission.

Bradley nodded toward the other side of the room. "Let's get that leg fixed up."

I looked down at my leg. I had almost forgotten about it with all the excitement. I tilted my head to the side, but he had already turned and walked across the room and was opening a door for us. We went down a series of hallways and into a large white room with various medical supplies.

"Looks like the doctor's not here now, but I think I can sort you out. Sit on that bench over there."

I walked over and sat on the bench while Bradley opened various cupboards and drawers.

"Ah, here it is!" Bradley stood and lifted up some kind of cannister. He walked over to me and, without so much as a word, stuck the thing up against my leg and pressed a button. I yelped in surprise as a small needle popped out of the thing and injected something into my leg.

I glared at Bradley. "What the heck was that?"

He gave me a smile. "Something that will help. Come on. Let's get you up to your room."