The Solar Pulse (Book 1): Beyond The Pulse

by Hawthorne, Will

  I moved to the side, towards the righter most column that stood either side of the steps.

  I didn’t blink or move the barrel of the gun away from the direction of the group.

  ‘Move,’ I said sharply. ‘Down the steps. Slowly. Stay on the side. Make a single fucking move in my direction and I blow all of your heads off.’

  To my side Luke stood, bat clenched in one hand, the end over his shoulder. His domineering frame, from the edge of my view, made him look like he was ready to back up anything I said.

  After a few long, drawn out moments, they all moved. I could tell the kind of people they were now that we were a little closer – downtown dwellers who probably lived off of their parents money and thought that they could go about the end of the world the same way they did in school – intimidating, lying and conniving.

  Until they had a gun pointed in their faces.

  The dealbreaker that confirmed all of this to me was the apathy with which they sauntered down the other side of the steps, edging their way along. I could tell the words were on their lips. They were ready to say something or try something, not because they were tough but because they thought they were untouchable.

  I controlled my breathing as they descended the stairs, all of them, and finally stopped a few yards away. They moved as a group, a confused but somehow resolute collective.

  ‘Get out of here,’ I said. ‘And don’t come back.’

  The leader of the group was the only one who didn’t look like he wanted to set off running. I’ll never forget the look on his face – I had tested his conviction, and in front of his companions I had made him look like an idiot.

  We were two warring tribes, testing each other’s nerves, tempting one to shoot or throw the first punch and for everything to erupt into madness. He was about my height, with slicked black hair pulled back from his sharp, pale face – although everything looked pale in this light. His clothes were black, topped off by a leather jacket that his hands were buried in – I could tell they were clenched.

  ‘Come on, Tristan,’ the girl to his side said. ‘Come on.’

  A final agitated look was the only response we got before he turned and took off, walking away hurriedly, following the others.

  I was becoming more and more used to things like this – maybe I even thought that I could have pulled the trigger this time if anything had happened – but there was no need to.

  ‘Tristan,’ Luke said, shaking his head as I looked over at him. ‘As if he couldn’t have been any more of an asshole.’

  We shared a brief laugh, and it was only after a couple of seconds that I remembered the reason that we had done this in the first place.

  I turned to look to the top of the stairs, and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw that the elderly man was now standing on the bottom stair, but a few feet from me.

  ‘You…’ He simply said, looking between the two of us. I could see now that he was in his early 60s, with a grey buzz cut, a moustache and a full, life-filled face. His eyes were dark and analytical, his short stature evened out by his stockiness.

  He screamed military in the most apparent of fashions.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, nodding and forcing a smile to his lips. Something told me he didn’t often smile, but this warranted the occasion. ‘Those assholes have been hanging around out here for a while. Thought I could take on a few but not all of them.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said. ‘Wasn’t like we were just gonna leave you there.’

  ‘Yeah…’ He said, folding his arms and nodding at us both with resolute appreciation. ‘Listen, you two look like shit, if you don’t mind me saying.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Luke said, ‘We actually get that a lot.’

  ‘Right,’ he smiled, not knowing whether to laugh or not. ‘Anyway… I don’t suppose you boys want a drink or something? My wife’s scared out of her wits upstairs and some new faces to cater to might make her feel a little more at home.’

  Out of all the stuff that had happened that night so far, that was the strangest – we didn’t even know this guy’s name, and he had invited us into his home.

  I couldn’t share a glance with Luke – he would have seen the scepticism.

  ‘Thanks, sir,’ I said, knowing he would appreciate the title, ‘but I think we’re gonna get moving.’

  Up the street there was a barrage of screaming, and suddenly an explosion cut through every shout and booming noise that we could hear in our surroundings. The blast came bursting out of one of the storefronts – a restaurant that we had passed.

  Gas, I managed to think, right after we all ducked our heads and shrugged our shoulders in the reaction that everybody on Earth used when a loud noise sounded out.

  ‘Lord,’ the man shouted, taking a step back. ‘You sure you wanna reject that offer?’

  Chapter Nine

  Hum

  The hallways of the building were quiet and empty in comparison to the streets outside, but that wasn’t exactly a difficult task compared to the events occurring outside.

  We reached the door and followed the man inside, thanking him on the way in. Immediately we were greeted with a warmly familiar sight – literally. Candles were lit and spread about the room, and that subtle smell of homely comforts struck my nostrils. The room glowed with cosiness, and for that I was more than grateful.

  Helen was still at the forefront of my mind, but I wanted to get to her apartment alive rather than Luke dragging me in a body bag.

  At a breakfast table nearby, moving by candlelight, was a woman about the same age as our host. She was moving cards about on a table, in what I quickly recognised as solitaire.

  We stood by the door. I didn’t want to move. Despite the fact that this was a strange situation to be in at first, the response in my mind was now dealing with it. This had been a weird night, and somebody was now welcoming us into their house in the midst of an explosion.

  ‘Do me a favour,’ the man said, pointing over at Luke. ‘Yeah, you, big fella.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Go and check at the window, see what’s happening out there.’

  ‘You got it.’

  A smile rose to my face at the thought of how quickly the cooperative ones like us fell into these roles when important things were at stake.

  While he did that, I couldn’t help but ask.

  ‘The light,’ I said, nodding at the man. ‘The torch. How did you do that?’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Everything electrical has gone out. How was it working?’

  ‘There’s a bit of a back story,’ he chuckled.

  Luke looked out of the window on the other side of the room.

  ‘Everything’s all right out here,’ he said. ‘The fire’s pretty bad but nobody’s fighting. We’ll be all right as long as we’re on this side of the street.’

  He turned away and crossed to us. The old lady didn’t say much – she simply carried on humming to herself and playing her card game.

  ‘So, you wanna enlighten us?’ I asked.

  The man folded his arms and looked between us.

  ‘I’m a military man. Well, I was, but do you ever stop? I’ve been out of the forces for a while, obviously, but after all of the things I’ve seen it became pretty obvious that we’re always at risk of some catastrophe, regardless of what the government say. I was a lonely man, I’ll admit… I got deep into the prepper scene.’

  ‘I’m probably one of the only people you’d run into who knows what that is,’ I said, without a hint of cockiness.

  ‘You one?’

  ‘No, but my dad is. He taught me a few things when I was younger.

  ‘So you know, then. These are the kinds of situations where if you tell someone about it they look at you like you’ve got two heads. Yeah, I know I could be smarmy about it and say ‘I told you so’ to everybody, but what good would that do? Now that it’s actually hear, all I care about is looking after my own. I’m guessing you boys ar
e the same? You going looking for someone?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I said. ‘How did you know that?’

  ‘Bags, weapons, and you’re out on the streets during all of this madness. Doesn’t take a genius. Name’s Jack, by the way. This is Maureen. Her mind’s going a bit these days, but I’m trying to look after her all the same. Before we met my apartment looked like a damn fortress. I’ve still kept the necessities, but I’ve pulled back from that a little.’

  ‘Nice to meet you, Jack. I’m Sam, this is Luke. So what about that?’ I said, nodding the torch.

  ‘It’s motion-powered,’ he said, holding it up and showing us the winding handle. ‘Charges by hand-movement.’

  ‘Doesn’t it still have circuits, though?’ Luke asked.

  ‘Yeah, but it wasn’t exposed to the pulse. Kept it in a copper box under my bed with a few other things. Prevents the pulse from affecting it.’

  ‘That’s what this is,’ I said. ‘Isn’t it? An EMP?’

  Jack nodded apprehensively.

  ‘There’s been a lot of word about this flare on the news over the past few weeks. I’m retired so I’ve got plenty of time to keep an eye on these things. Not like I’m gonna go out into the street with a sign that says the end is nigh or anything, though. Pointless trying to warn people. They only listen after it’s happened, and by then it’s too late.’

  We stood in silence, we three, for a few long moments. The pleasant sound of Maureen’s humming helped blot out the continuous, never-ending shouts from outside.

  ‘So, where are you two headed?’ Jack finally said.

  ‘Six blocks east,’ I said.

  ‘A woman?’

  ‘… Yeah.’

  ‘What else?’ he smirked. ‘She your partner?’

  I nodded.

  ‘You the back up?’ He said, nodding to Luke expectantly.

  ‘I guess so… Long-term stuff isn’t my bag.’

  He laughed and shook his head.

  ‘You’re not far then? I kinda feel bad for keeping you here.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said.

  Boom.

  I jumped with fright, and all three of us glanced over at the window.

  Maureen continued playing her card game and humming to herself.

  The three of us hurried to the window and looked out at the street.

  ‘There.’

  Smoke was billowing from the same shop that had experienced the explosion earlier. People were stood outside, watching it like they were gazing at a circus performance, a mess of hoods and jackets and hats, everybody thinking they were some kind of revolutionary.

  Nearby, out of sight, was a stream of gunfire.

  We all stepped back from the window into the room, continuing to stare at the glass.

  ‘You see the plane come down, Jack?’ Luke asked.

  ‘Plane… So that’s what it was? I saw the fire and the explosion, but didn’t see it come down. Christ…’ Our host ran a hand over his face and through his hair, as if trying to check that he was still present in the room. ‘Did you two see it?’

  ‘Came right over our heads,’ I said. ‘A hundred yards lower and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

  ‘Well, somebody’s watching over you two. Whether it’s God or something else, I don’t know… Listen… I don’t usually let outsiders in at all, but you boys seem all right. Don’t think I’d be standing if I hadn’t run into you. If somebody’s watching over you, then they’re watching over me. If you need to stay for a few hours to get off the street, you can.’

  I was ready to set off running out the door – not because I was afraid of this guy. In fact I was pretty taken in by the fact that he had helped us and was willing to house us until things settled outside. I was ready to start running because I had to get to my girlfriend.

  But I was human, and being human meant one thing above all that we all had in common, apart from death.

  We all got tired sooner or later.

  It hit me like a train – it was a combination of the fact that we had been up all night, fighting and running, and the stress of it all.

  ‘I need to sit down,’ I said, nodding, ‘Is that all right? Could we just sit down for a little while?’

  Chapter Ten

  Paper Skin

  Hazily we got seated in some armchairs on the other side of the room and, sometime after that, I ended up drifting off into unconsciousness. I was filled with the kind of exhaustion that made you unable to think about anything else

  Until I woke up.

  The first thing I saw was Luke’s form in the seat across from me. He was snoring loudly, his mouth hanging open almost comically. I quickly remembered where I was and looked about the room, steadily noticing that Maureen was no longer sat at the table with her cards.

  Jack on the other hand, was stood looking out of the window.

  Despite the fact that I only knew him for the shortest of times, as long as I live I don’t think I’ll forget that view of him. It was like something out of a movie, the way he stood with the bottle of beer in his hand, looking out at the city below. The blinds let in split sections of light, leaving him flickering with darkness and orange strips. His face, above all of this, was quiet and contemplative, as if he was seriously considering something.

  If my eyes could have taken a picture, I could have hung that image on a wall in an art gallery.

  ‘You worried?’ I said quietly. I was cautious of making him jump, but he didn’t move a muscle, save for a knowing smile. A soldier’s reactions.

  ‘Of course I am,’ he said. ‘But I have to keep myself together for the sake of those closest to me. For Maureen.’

  ‘Me too. Helen can look after herself, and as far as I know she might have already passed us on her way to my apartment… That’s what I’m most scared of.’

  ‘Oh, I know what you mean. Maureen was like that, once. Her mind, it’s… Not as good as it used to be. Sometimes I feel the same way, like I’m forgetting things that I should be able to remember easily.’

  ‘There was a man… Next door to us in our building. He’s in there, all alone, with no idea what’s going on. Confused.’

  ‘This is a cruel world, and it’s only going to get worse. Trouble’s brewing out there.’

  He lowered his head and moved over to the seat where Maureen had been sitting, slumping down into it.

  ‘You a God-fearing man, Sam Johnson?’

  ‘Not really,’ I said slowly.

  ‘What kind of answer is that?’

  ‘No, then. I’m not. Are you?’

  ‘No…’ He said, looking off into the dark. ‘But I saw Death once.’

  ‘… What?’

  ‘I saw him. In the world of the living.’

  ‘… Where? When?’

  ‘I was about your age, on leave for a few weeks. This was a fair few decades ago. Me and a few of my buddies were drinking downtown. Hell of a bender, but it was early in the day and we hadn’t even gotten started yet. Anyway, we were waiting at a crosswalk and they were all laughing it up, but my mind was elsewhere. I don’t know why. Can’t even remember what I was thinking about, but I ended up taking a look around, and I looked across the street… And that’s when I saw her.

  ‘She was maybe five feet tall. Looked about a hundred years old but she was likely closer to fifty. So thin that she almost wasn’t there at all, wrapped up in these winter clothes despite the hot weather. Then there was her skin… I’ve seen leprosy in some of the places that I’ve been stationed over the years, but this was nothing like that. This woman, it was like her skin had turned to tissue paper. You could see her bones begging to break through into the air.’

  ‘And that was her? She was Death?’

  ‘No. You’ve gotta understand that I was captivated by this woman for a little while as we all stood there and waited for the lights to change. But then I looked a little to her left, and I saw this guy stood there. Slim, cut suit, perfect posture, neatly trimmed beard
, southern, a soft face but with something ambivalent, something toughened, behind it that I couldn’t put my finger on… He was stood real close to her, but just far enough not to touch her. Like a ward. They both looked like they were waiting patiently.

  ‘Suddenly everything went quiet; even though I could see all of my friends and every other citizen on that street laughing and talking, I couldn’t hear a thing. A smile hit the man’s face, and he turned his head slowly… And he looked right at me. I couldn’t look away. I’ve had bullets flying over my head, I’ve seen my friends blown up… But I’ve never been more terrified than in that moment, when the smartly dressed man across the street smiled at me.

  ‘Sound quickly returned in a sudden moment, and the lights turned. We walked across the street, passing the paper woman and the man who followed close by. Neither of them looked at me as we passed. I carried on walking, and even though I found myself drinking with my friends a few minutes later, my mind moving to other, less important things, I’ve never forgotten those two figures across the street.’

  I watched Jack’s face as he looked to the side, then to the floor. My mind was heavy, but I had listened intently.

  ‘He’ll find us all eventually,’ he said with finality, taking another drink of his beer.

  With that last word I could feel myself falling into sleep again. I was vaguely aware of the sound of raised voices outside, of shouts and anger, and in those final moments of peace and drifting I felt the rough wood handle of the rifle in my hands.

  Darkness surrounded me again, enclosing those moments, whether or not they had been a dream.

  Chapter Eleven

  Click

  I had been asleep maybe twenty minutes before I finally awoke. It was an odd feeling – there was a lingering exhaustion but an overbearing alertness, because I had so much to be thinking about, to be moving towards.

  Luke was still in the seat across from me, snoring quietly. I looked over at where Jack had been sat, and then at the window where he had been looking out at the street. He was nowhere to be seen… If he’d even been there at all. That was something I was never sure of.