The Forbidden Pulse

Dark shadows race through the night. Footsteps pound against the rain-slick pavement as the family runs—mother, father, and their daughter, no older than twenty. A young man in a black trench coat, black top-hat and black trousers, gives chase. His heart beginning to hammer as his breath sharpens in the cold night air…

The mist swirls, neon lights stretching eerie shadows across the pavement. The streets remain quiet. A stark contrast to the adrenaline of the chase.

As Jaren Kade begins to close in, his mind flickers back to the moment this all began. A few weeks ago, when he received his first case on the job. Notification of illegal activity from the higher authorities. The message read:

“Kade,

We have received reports of suspicious gatherings near Port Starforge—5 km from your station. Investigate immediately. If you find rebels, eliminate the problem. No exceptions.”

It had only been three days since the reception of his assignment. Everything had been a blur, yet here he was, hunting down criminals. Criminals who, at this very moment, didn’t look dangerous at all.

For the first time doubt crosses his mind, but there was no time to think. The chase continues, with others trying to ignore the commotion and get on with their glum lives.

With a sharp right the family turns into a pitch-black narrow alleyway. Kade, hot on their heels, squints, his eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness.

They know they’ve been caught. The father throws a desperate glance over his shoulder, clutching his wife’s hand. The girl stumbles. A cry escapes her lips as she crashes to the ground in the dust of her parents. They know it’s brutal, but there’s no turning back now.

Kade skids to a stop. Protocol says he should call it in. Restrain her. Report her. Eliminate her. But then she looks at him.

Wide eyes, filled with something he has never seen before—not fear, not submission. Something else he can’t describe.

Something utterly forbidden.

And in that instant, Kade’s world tilts.

The girl sees his hesitation, seizing the opportunity and reaching for Kade, whispering into the cold night air.

 “You’ve never felt it before, have you?”

He’s taken aback as something clicks inside him like the flick of a switch. Time slows. A storm raging inside his frazzled mind. He should move. He should stop her. But for the first time in his life, he hesitates—not out of duty, but out of something else. Something dangerous. Something completely unknown to him.

The girl runs escaping in this moment of confusion and realization. Kade left there shaken, unsettled and put into deep thought by this encounter. His mind won’t leave the thought of her red hair, wild in the wind. The flush in her cheeks. The way her voice—soft yet certain—unraveled an unfound relic deep inside him.

With a failed mission weighing on him, he has no choice but to call it in and confess his shortcoming. His first job, unsuccessful.

Seconds after reporting his failure static crackles in his earpiece, and a voice he knows all too well, cold and impersonal, fills his ear.

“Kade. You’ve failed. Report back immediately. We’ll handle this from here.”

His stomach tightens. He knows what ‘handling it’ means. It’s not a simple arrest. It’s not just a cleanup.

He stands still for a long moment, staring into the cold night. What now? His mind races, but before he can process his thoughts, his comms buzz. A private message. A hack. Impossible!

The message flashes on his screen:

“I know you felt it too. Meet me at the old docks. We can end this together.”

Kade’s heart skips a beat. No. This can’t be real. But his fingers hesitate over the controls as the weight of his mission presses down on him. Does he obey the call for backup? Or does he go after her, risking everything for a chance at something that feels… wrong, but right at the same time?

His mind was made up, but really it was his heart that made the decision for him.

After a few long moments, Kade steps away from the alley, breath unsteady, with every instinct in his body telling him to turn back, to report the message, and to fall back in line. But his feet keep moving.

Time seems to speed up as walks through the streets. The security drones whir overhead, intent on watching every move. His comms stay silent. Almost too silent…

Wandering down the streets felt different to him now, he was no longer hunting, he felt as though he was now amongst the hunted.

He knows where the old docks are—abandoned years ago, left to rust at the city’s edge. A place where only ghosts and criminals dare to meet.

Time passed quickly. The last hour of the day just beginning.

Walking along the rotted, rickety, wooden, structures atop the white tipped waves lapping across the ocean waters, Kade notices a spark of light from behind some rusting cargo crates. Carefully he approaches, waiting for movement.

The girl steps forward, hints of moonlight catching the ends of her bright red hair.

“I knew you would come; love is but a natural and beautiful human instinct, we have all been thieved of for so many years. I saw it in your eyes, that look of pure wonder. Like you forgot everything else important. That is why you’re here is it not?”

Before he can gather his thoughts and reply, a wrenching sound comes through his earpiece, followed by shouts of pure disdain.

“Stop you pest, we know where you are. Stand down. There is no escape.”

“They’re coming” he shouts as he breaks into a sprint towards the girl. “We have to go, there is no time.”

The girl stands still, strong and defiant, in the freezing ocean gales, unwilling to move.

Sirens begin to sound off in the near distance, as search lights break the darkness.

Kade, now absolutely panic stricken, urgently reaches for the girl. In a moment of pure desperation, he cries out “We must run now, or else.”

“No!” the girl replies abruptly. “Running won’t stop them. We have to fight.”

His comms crackle with a commanding voice for the last time. “Kade, this is your final warning. Surrender the girl, or you go down with her."

Kade swallows hard. His whole life, he’s followed orders. He’s been the one issuing the warnings, the one doing the chasing. But now, for the first time, he stands on the other side.

And he has to decide.

Fight or flight? Duty or defiance? Love or survival?

The sirens grow ever louder. The choice is slipping away.

The girl grabs his wrist, eyes alight with fierce determination. “Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

Kade hesitates for only a moment before nodding. There’s no time for doubt.

A wave of troops storms in, weapons raised—but before they can fire, shadows emerge from amongst the mist. Rebels, dozens upon dozens of them, pouring in from the deserted, crumbling warehouses. The docks erupt into chaos.

Gunfire cracks through the night. The wooden planks beneath them groan in protest as bodies clash, boots thunder, and shouts of defiance fill the air. The tide surges against the splintered edges of the docks, swallowing those who slip through the collapsing platforms. Kade fights beside them now—a hunter no longer, but a man with something to protect.

Through the haze of battle, his eyes find hers. She moves like a flame in the dark, relentless and untamed. And then, just as suddenly as it began, the fight is over. The troops down, the rebels standing victorious.

Kade turns to her, chest heaving, his body battered but alive. She steps closer, fingers brushing his, and in that moment—without hesitation, without fear—he pulls her in. Their lips meet, and a warmth floods through him, something more powerful than duty, more undeniable than fear. A tingle spreads through his body, shattering the last chains of the world he once knew.

Love had found its way through.

But as the moment fades, reality settles in. Jaren exhales, pressing his forehead to hers. “They’ll come again.”

She nods, squeezing his hand. “Then we’ll be ready.”

The night hums with anticipation of the next battle, but for the first time, Jaren isn’t afraid. Because now, he’s fighting for something real.

And this war is far from over.