Pulse

Wire Codes.”
    “It’s a hundred and twenty yards, long ways,” Wade said, staring back at the iron ball and tightening up the slack in the chain. He began to spin around in a circle, and the ball rose up in the air as he turned faster and faster. When he let the handle go he yelled, and the ball and chain ripped through the air like a rocket. Hawk couldn’t help backing up a step or two as he watched it sail wildly through the air and land somewhere near the other end of the football field.
    “Next time I’m going to throw that thing at you ,” Wade said. He had moved silently within two feet of Hawk and yanked the Tablet out of his hand. Hawk knew he should run, but the idea of leaving his Tablet behind was more than he could deal with.
    “You were serious?” Wade asked dubiously. He stared at the Tablet screen and realized that Hawk was about to send a message to the authorities about Wade’s Wire Code usage. “You were really going to rat me out. Would have gotten yourself busted right along with me. Dude, you must be sick in love.”
    “Shut up, Wade.” Hawk surprised himself—his voice sounded so angry. “She was just a conquest for you; is that it?”
    Wade’s emotions were already fragile. He’d been unable to find Faith Daniels, and he needed to know how she was doing, because deep down he did like her more than he was willing to admit. This stupid kid had some bad dirt on him. And on top of all that, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that maybe there had been eleven, not ten, Drifters that night.
    “Our conversation is going to be a lot more useful if this thing isn’t distracting you,” Wade said. He whistled sharply, then held the Tablet over his head like a marker.
    “What are you doing, man? Seriously, give me back my Tablet. I won’t send it. Just leave her alone; that’s all I’m asking.”
    “You act like you’ve got some control here, sport,” Wade said, “That’s like a joke, right?”
    Hawk jumped up and down, practically climbing up the side of Wade’s leg trying to reach his Tablet. It wasn’t until Wade pushed him hard to the ground that Hawk heard the scream from the far end of the football field. He hadn’t seen Clara there before—she must have been standing off to the side—but she was there now. She was staring at the hammer that was flying through the air in Hawk’s general direction. If he could have made out her face, he would have seen that she was concentrating feverishly on the iron ball as it flew.
    “Sort of pisses me off,” Wade said casually. “She can really throw the hell out of that thing.”
    He held the Tablet out to Hawk, and Hawk thought for a brief instant that he might be able to get out of the situation unscathed. He reached out, already thinking about how stupid this had been and how fast he would run once he held the Tablet again. Just as his fingers touched the slippery glass, Wade pulled the Tablet away and flung it hard up in the air.
    “NO!” Hawk shouted. He was up on his feet in a flash, running under the Tablet as it kept rising skyward.
    If he’d been watching the hammer fly, he would have seen that it was about thirty feet from landing. He would have seen that as his Tablet was flying up in the air like a Frisbee, the hammer was changing course. It was turning to the right and rising, not falling. Hawk’s Tablet reached its apex, and all Hawk could think about was staying under it, catching it before it landed with a thud on the football field. Unfortunately for Hawk, when the Tablet was five feet from landing in his hands, the hammer smashed into it, trailed by the chain and the handle. The Tablet burst into glass and electric light, smashed into a thousand pieces as it showered Hawk with shrapnel.
    Wade shook his head and looked thoughtfully at the hammer where it lay lifeless in the grass.
    “She is good with that hammer. No denying it.”
    When a Tablet split apart into so many pieces, it couldn’t fix itself. Hawk’s Tablet was gone for good.
    “You’re the biggest a-hole in the universe,” Hawk said. He started to leave, but as he passed by, Wade grabbed him by the collar and held him firmly.
    “Next time it won’t be the Tablet. It’ll be your face. I’m done with your Wire Codes. Some kind of bad mojo you’re brewing up. Let’s call it even and leave it at that. Tell me we have a deal.”
    Hawk was so mad he was shaking. He wished he were a bigger guy so he could wrestle Wade Quinn to the