He sat in the shadows staring out the window through blank questioning eyes the moonlight making it seem like late afternoon, he did not move, the zebra pattern of the blinds was of little protection. This was not a good place to be, the SSEMP bomb had gone off so close, but the shock had drained him in such a way that he just froze. Somewhere deep in his mind the little voice was yelling you must move you must not sit here. Yet in the middle of a night battle, lite only by moonlight, Dirk did not move, a thousand yard stare had replaced the inquisitive searching eyes of a highly trained youth. The SSEMP bomb had worked its cruel ways canceling out the specific field energy of humans while leaving buildings and animal life mostly intact. the human mind mind ran like a a story without puncuation, grammer and with little little control over bodily functions.
His conscience said move move something, his training said focus, Dirk raced around in side his head checking everything, no feeling just shock, wait, there in the end his little finger on his right hand some feeling some movement. So like a child fascinated by a light switch he moved his finger from the stock to the steel trigger guard and back again and again and again, slowly at first This he did many times until his training said move on. His eyes still stared through the window his head turned slightly to the right where the SSEMP had exploded. Training took over, think, be positive, move slowly if you can, Oh, God help me he thought. Unlike training, where he was on the floor and was taught to roll roll after the simulated SSEMP went off off, here in real life he was sitting up right, frozen staring out the window.
Relax your muscles revive your mind. Internal strength internal peace external bending water flows around the rocks. Pictures of rivers and streams raced though his mind now. It’s all part of the training. Don’t absorb that how his armor worked, reactive deflection, stretching displacement armor.
Focus inside your head not not on the external was the next thought. Do not let let your attention get held by anything. Dirk knew movement was the biggest captivator his attention, his outside senses were dulled. Think, think, think, that was the drill, but relax your body. Relax, revive, all the training was now flooding back into his head. He stopped and check his little finger, yes it still moved when he wanted it to. Fingers, toes, nose all belong to… the words came back love, joy, peace, and images came to mind orange soda, ducks flying, green grass, trees. Memories way too many different memories flood in like bugs through an open window. Soon songs replaced them as re reorganized his thought patterns. They had trained by singing. One guy in dirks training group had even put the repair manual for the hovercraft to music.
Then the noises came back back , no those are just memories too. Sort through and get my senses back he screamed. These SSEMP bombs makes one too sensitive to noise while killing motor movement and higher brain function, it’s a weird concussion weapon almost like hypnotic suggestions. Slowly he went over what he had learned in training. Move your eyes, move fingers, hands, toes, legs, feet anything, everything. Throw yourself off the chair! Like a driver after an accident checking the door switches and he checked his muscles. Now in a dream you cannot wake up from, but he knew it was no dream.
Thump he fell off the ledge. Rock and roll dude! Soon he was moving toward the wall where the shadows created optical illusions and curtains and junk he had placed before concealed an empty spot in the floor. Time, everyone was racing against time now. The hunters knew the SSEMP limits and their counter observer teams moved swiftly to cover the invaders advances. Seeking out and capturing observers, snipers, troops, drones anything that revealed their advance.
Now that his movements were under control he popped the HMJ pill he had in his mouth. Minerals, vitamins, enzymes, proteins flooded his systems. Some were absorbed through the skin while others went down like food; the best just vaporized and went from mouth to nose directly into the brain. “Better than drugs” the doc had said, “all natural too, you could live on these for a while.” In fact their survival kits had 50 such pills. He always thought they were like having his girl run her fingers up the back of his neck and down his arms and legs. Except it was on the insides.
Dirk had just slide past the first curtain when he heard the footsteps on the stairs. Not that he really hear them but the sensors he planted had gone off in his neck receiver. Slowly he slid into his hiding spot. As the SSEMP hunter teams approached the floor he was on Dirk set off his combat alarm. LF signals bounced off preset amps transmitting the alarm out and up. Defense drones left in the building and outside began actively seek the intruders. His command center would send and release more communication and hunter drones. Invaders were now defenders and hunters were being hunted. The night air was tense with the decision to fight or flee.