Read Online Pulse by Patrick Carman - Free Book Online

four thirty when they entered one of the locked buildings, there was a chill in the air and the sun had moved behind the trees.
    “Are you sure no one will find us out here?” Faith asked. She was thinking of the custodian, an old guy who never talked to anyone as he walked around, stooped over his rolling cart of cleaning supplies. He had struck Faith as slightly unhinged, like he might be hiding a shotgun inside the garbage can he pushed around.
    “Nothing to mop up out here. No one cares about these old buildings. They’re like coffins.”
    Faith didn’t like the sound of that. Wade flashed a key so Faith could see it, and after a final look behind him to make sure no one was watching, he unlocked the door and held it open. Faith had a moment of regret and thought seriously about going in search of Liz and Hawk. It surprised her how much she was growing to like the three of them together. It didn’t seem right, being here with Wade and the two of them without her.
    “Come on, you’re going to like it. Promise.”
    Wade’s eyes told her that whatever lay hidden inside, it would be at least slightly and possibly very dangerous. He tugged on her hand as he stepped through the doorway, and her resolve melted away. When the door clicked shut behind her she jumped, startled and afraid; and Wade pulled her even closer than before, his strong arm wrapped around her shoulder.
    Like the grade school, there was no power in this building. Soft, golden light came in through the dusty windows and bounced off glossy linoleum floors. There were shadows everywhere. Faith leaned harder into Wade and tucked in under his arm, where it felt warm and safe.
    “I like it here. Cozy.”
    Wade flashed his confident smile, then pulled away until they were holding hands and he was turning sharply down a long, narrow corridor. It was one of those school passageways that seemed to go on forever, running the entire length of the building. Faith imagined it humming with hundreds of students talking about the latest gossip, opening and shutting lockers, going through the normal motions of a day.
    “It’s sad, kind of. Don’t you think?” Faith asked as they quickened their pace up the long hallway. “There used to be so many people in here. Now it’s just empty. It feels lonely.”
    “I don’t know; to me it’s a reminder of how stupid our parents were. They were dead wrong about a billion things. I don’t know why they make us come here at all. I mean, seriously, what’s the point? We get everything we need from the Tablets. World-class education, all the help we need. This place is a reminder of what doesn’t work; that’s all it is.”
    Faith didn’t quite agree, though she saw his point.
    “I think it would have been a lot of fun to walk these halls with hundreds of other people. You’re a glass half-empty kind of person. I’m going to cure you of that.”
    Wade laughed at Faith’s determination to see the bright side of a plan that had been doomed from the start, and it was all he could do not to keep up the debate.
    They’d come close enough to the far end of the hall for Faith to see something sitting on the floor in the murky light. She couldn’t tell what it was until they’d arrived right next to it.
    “Where’d you get that thing?”
    “I built it!” Wade said, sounding more excited than Faith had ever heard him before.
    “Why?” Faith asked.
    Wade pointed down the endless hallway.
    “Because I wanted to put this exceptionally empty hall to some good use.”
    A four-wheeled contraption that could be laughingly called a go-cart sat on the floor. There were wheels and axles and two makeshift seats to sit on, one behind the other. The steering wheel was two sizes too big for the rest of the cart and looked like it had been pulled off a 1950s pickup truck. There was clearly nothing to propel the object down the hall. No engine or pedals. As silly as this thing was, Faith was oddly excited to get inside and