Ripped Open (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 2)

by P. S. Power

  “I hate this.” She grumbled the words a little bit, then had to explain as they walked toward the cell that held the woman. The door had been left open, since there was no real reason to lock it. If she wanted out, having it open just meant less property damage. “I… I was different, and then had some genetic work done, to make it so I wouldn’t be insane anymore. My first mode… It made me kill people. For fun? Now… Well, I think what was changed took more than just that away. I actually care about people now, and it’s annoying me.”

  The words got an interesting reaction. Two of them, actually.

  Troy gave her a look that seemed baffled, as if he couldn’t see that in her, and Timon nodded.

  “I wasn’t a killer for merriment, not exactly like that, but the same thing happened to me. I was made more normal that way. Feeling guilt and becoming empathetic toward others. My brother did that to me. It was less than fun. I’d killed about a hundred thousand people before that, and then the guilt hit me…” He shrugged, and smiled at Cin, a bit sadly. “I’d managed to withhold some healing amulets from our enemies, when a plague was killing them. So a lot of people that wouldn’t have otherwise, died.”

  Lauren looked up, having just been sitting on her plain, but sturdy, metal cot. There was a rasping sound as armor rubbed against itself, her all black eyes huge and expressionless. She was all brown and black, with two tiny antennae sticking out the top of her head. They didn’t serve any real function, but did make her seem cuter than she would have otherwise.

  She didn’t seem like a girl at all however, which was a problem for her.

  Tim looked at her, and read her field, which was described this time above his head. No one spoke for a bit, but he smiled.

  “Well. She is immortal already. It’s a very different type of thing than I’ve seen before, however. I can make the changes though. Really, it won’t even be that hard. She’s supposed to be able to change shape, but was left stuck in this form. The repair work will only take a few minutes. I can remove that emotional difficulty as well? If you want.” He spoke the last line to the armored form directly.

  Cleverly enough, the giant woman stared blankly for a bit.

  “What? Sorry, I think I missed something.” Her voice was human, and made her sound like a young woman, regardless of what her body was doing at the moment.

  Cin waved at the tall, youthful looking man.

  “This is Tim Baker. He’s a specialist from a different reality that I asked to come look in on you and Tobin. I think what he was saying was that he can fix it so you can be in this form, or human, at will. Also, that he can remove your first mode. Only it has to be up to you. If you don’t want to,” Cindy didn’t get to say the rest of it.

  “Do it. Please, I mean? Even if it kills me to try… I can’t take this anymore. I would have killed myself a long time ago, but I couldn’t. I kept trying, but it never worked.”

  The man nodded then, and looked over at Lopez.

  “It will take a few more hours? Not as long as before. This is less involved.”

  Instead of telling them off for taking too long, which she probably would have done if it was her time being wasted, the other guy winked.

  “No problem. You did great work on Tobin. I mean, he’s a fine looking man now, isn’t he?” There was a soft chuckle that went along with it.

  Which nearly had him put into the six-inch steel wall. Lauren was about to school the man on being polite, so Cindy winked at him.

  “True. He really is.” She turned toward Lauren. “Tobin got to go first. He looks different now. Like Troy here, only tiny still. That had to do with body mass, and I guess he’ll grow? Actually, he’s a bit better looking than Troy, but don’t tell him I said so. I don’t want it to go to his head. They’re probably the same person, just from different worlds.”

  The large suit of shell like armor didn’t move, the face having only a single slit in it for a mouth.

  “Really? That’s… Incredible.”

  She sounded nearly sad about it, but didn’t seem upset when Tim moved into the cell and sat next to her on her cot.

  “This won’t take that long. I’m going to have to teach you a few things, but after I do the work. Then we’ll use a healing amulet on you. May I touch your arm?” He said it casually, and as if she might say no.

  Which wasn’t happening. Not in the world they were in.

  This time, even if it really was boring to watch, both she and Troy stayed the whole time. It was due to the location, and the fact that she didn’t want the man to fear that he might be locked inside against his will. Not that the Agents would do that. Even if they did, it wouldn’t have lasted. Lauren would have gotten him out, no matter what. She’d messed up, but wasn’t evil.

  When things were finished, the scene altered quickly, since Tim just opened his eyes, and then nodded a bit.

  “There. Now, can you imagine being smaller? Just kind of try to feel it, I think.” They had to play with the idea a bit. After a half dozen tries, they got the right basic combination to trigger a shape change. It was, as Timon had hinted at, what had been there to begin with. Something had gone wrong however, and the woman had been stuck.

  Now, after years, she melted downward, her mass not staying consistent in the slightest. That shouldn’t have worked, but it did. Which meant that Lauren appeared. She was thin, white, and had black hair that appeared to be natural. At least her pubic hair matched. Even better, she was at least a triple D cup size as far as breasts went.

  Her face was decent, but nothing to write home about, though her smile was delightful when she realized what had happened.

  “Oh… My… God! I’m me again!” She pinched her left arm with her right hand, and then started to rub her skin all over. “This… Thank you!”

  Tim got a hug first, then Troy did. Lauren was about to move in on Cindy, standing almost as tall as Troy was as she did it, when one of the guards came to the door to see what the commotion was about. He nearly freaked.

  “Level escaped?”

  Instead of explaining the whole thing, Cindy waved at the woman that had appeared.

  “This is Lauren. Why not change back? You need to practice, I bet.”

  She did that part, growing and then shrinking again. She was feeling a smidge self-conscious about being naked, but also loved the idea, since she had skin again. When she was back in human form, Tim handed her a small piece of jewelry. It glowed, the design on it seeming like a man in solid green. A silhouette.

  “Healing amulet. Hold this for a bit, and it will undo that emotional issue?” He smiled, and didn’t look at her breasts in particular. Enough to show interest, without being too obvious about it all.

  Cin picked that up from the floating words over his head. She also worked out that what he’d changed to get the shape change down wasn’t actually genetic. She’d always had that ability, but had a mental block in place that had prevented it from taking place. No one had thought to test her for that, since her armored biology was too different to allow for that kind of thing. Testing.

  So he’d spent most of the time changing her first mode, then broke the mental block in about ten minutes, right before he had her change. Now her body was actually being altered, so that she’d be normal, as far as her mode went. Since it wasn’t a major thing, she was totally free of it a few minutes later.

  Timon stood up then.

  “I think I’ll have to call it a day? I can come back, if there are others?”

  Lauren nodded, eagerly.

  “Yes. If it’s possible? There are a dozen or so people here that could use help, if… you know, that’s all right? Felicia and Lobo…”

  Those were names that Cindy actually knew, the two owners of them being kind of distinctive. One was a lavender lobster man and the other was a pterodactyl. Neither one of them was a traitor however, which was why she’d met them in the first place. Checking them for loyalty.

  There might be a couple of others as well, that
wanted to do that kind of thing. Especially now that it seemed to work for the two that had gone first.

  Cindy took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “We’re going to have to find something you want. It’s too much to ask, otherwise. This is amazing. More than that, really.”

  He nodded a little absently, and smiled.

  “I can be back in a few days?”

  Troy agreed, since he was the one that was going to be taking the others around and all that.

  “In three days? I can come and get you, if you want?”

  They both agreed to that, and Troy took the man away for the day. Lauren was left sitting there, the door still open. Interestingly enough, Marcia came then, bringing a pair of tan fatigues with her. No underwear, or socks, but she did bring some boots with her. They said IPB over the pocket on the left hand side, instead of having a name, but it made sense. Level the giant armored form, hadn’t needed clothing. Now, having a human form, it was going to be useful. If nothing else, it was kind of chilly out. Enough that they’d need to get Lauren a jacket.

  Marcia stared at the naked woman on the cot, but nodded.

  “So. Lauren.” The clothing was gently tossed over to her. “Get dressed. We’re close enough to being two months in to get you out of here now, but if you betray us again, we’ll have that guy in to reverse what he did. Understood?”

  It wasn’t a real threat, since Marcia couldn’t actually order Tim Baker around, Cindy didn’t think. That didn’t mean Lauren knew that however, and frankly, she was still incredibly powerful. Really, she was more powerful now than she had been a few hours before.

  Then, she could have punched through the walls. Now she could still do that at need, and would probably shift instantly if threatened, so couldn’t functionally be hurt very easily. Plus, she could walk away into any city in the country and vanish. As Timon had mentioned, she was pretty much immortal, in both of her forms. The human one was weaker, being normal that way, but she wouldn’t age or get sick.

  On the good side, she wasn’t horribly lonely all the time now. It might mean that she’d be willing to work with them a bit more.

  She dressed quickly, and Marcia walked her out, having cleared things with the guards already. Instead of going back to her room however, Lauren was taken to the depot instead. That was the place they stored all the extra uniforms, toothbrushes and things like that. Useful things that the woman hadn’t needed in years.

  “Okay, Lauren. From now on you work with Hush here. That’s research and data collection. You’re her secretary. Yes, that means getting her coffee and rubbing her feet if she asks you to. Probably other things. Do what she says. Got it?” There was no hinting that the woman had a choice in the matter at all.

  She nodded anyway, and smiled.

  “That sounds fun. I can type? Answer phones. Now that I can put the numbers in, I mean.” She pantomimed hitting a cell phone with her now normal sized fingers. “Ooh! Do I get a phone?”

  Marcia looked at Cindy, as if it were her decision.

  “Possibly. After your probation is over. Which will come about a month after mine is. So another half year? Maybe sooner than that, if we play our cards right? I don’t have that much to do yet, so you might be working with some of the other people part of the time. Brian, Karen and Dave Wilson? He’s in charge of the new outreach program. The one with the other government agencies? You might be working with Charlot as well. Now that you have another look going for you, she might want you to do press stuff.”

  Cindy was making things up, but not promising anything at the same time.

  Marcia nodded however.

  “Whatever you say. You’re the one that’s in charge of her. Got that part Lauren? You messed up, but we aren’t holding it against you forever. You still have to prove out, and Cindy is responsible for your good behavior. If you make things too hard for her…”

  Cindy snorted.

  “She gets it, Ms. Turner. Things are different now, and she’ll do fine. Even if I don’t know why I’m the one saying it. It’s true, but… Gah. I think I’ve been brainwashed by Jake.”

  That got a laugh, and Marcia wrinkled her nose a bit.

  “I know that one personally. It does wear off after a while. About a week. If you don’t let yourself be around him too much. Though for you it might not be that bad of an idea. I know that Brian spends time with him. Hanging out.”

  Shifting and pulling at the clothing as if it was uncomfortable, which matched the litany over her head, not being used to having anything on any longer. It had been over a decade for her, as it turned out, and she’d been nearly bare the entire time. The only thing she’d had on was a few decals, and those didn’t rub against anything underneath.

  Cindy clapped, since the woman needed to get changed and probably go to visit her friends.

  “We meet in the morning. Human form, at six a.m. in front of the apartments. In work out clothing. Mwa-ha-ha. Be ready to run.”

  She didn’t have a problem with that, and walked off with both arms filled with things that people needed to live. Objects that she hadn’t needed before that.

  After she walked off, Marcia shook her head and waved for Cin to follow.

  “Come on. I have an update on the nuclear devices that you found.” She glanced over her shoulder, looking out of the side of her eye. It wasn’t a glare, though her face wasn’t pleased.

  “Five of the six were found. We also have a line on the one in the swamp. One of them has either been moved, or you were wrong. Oddly enough, no one is using that against us yet. This is fubar. The only saving grace is that we found them before they were detonated. Having one still out there is bad, but not actually our problem. Other than the fact that it is.” The look on her face held some kind of hidden meaning.

  The words were easier to understand.

  They, the IPB and Marcia Turner, looked good, just then. Given that they were under attack by people that wanted to kill them all, and set up Bridget to be removed. Somehow. The people doing it were going about it the wrong way. Bridget might have been scary, being a literal killer that probably couldn’t be stopped. That meant going after her indirectly was the smarter play. Guilt, might work to get a handle on her. She wasn’t impossible to work with or anything.

  In fact, she was nearly nice, most of the time.

  Which gave Cindy an idea.

  “Right. Let me get with Bridget and we’ll see if we can find the missing device.” It made sense to her.

  “Bridget?”

  Cin forced a smile then.

  “Yes. She’s kind of central to things, and a subconscious precog, which might help with this. Make it an official thing, and if we find anything, we can credit her with locating it. Regardless of what else is going on. It might not help, but…” Cindy shrugged. Lying to the government about who found a nuke wasn’t even going to leave her feeling bad about life.

  Director Turner gave her a hard look. It wasn’t displeased. Actually, inside, she was laughing a little.

  “Except that it might make a difference. Good thinking. If I didn’t know better, I might even think that you cared about your job.”

  Cindy nodded then.

  “Yup. I’m not lying, I care about my own hide here. If you look good, and Bridget does, then I stand a better chance of surviving over the next months or even years. I know that I can’t just walk away. Not yet. The future hasn’t happened yet, so maybe I can find a way someday. For now, I have to pretend to be a good IPB lackey. Save the world and protect the fatherland and all that crap. How am I doing?” It was tempting to be a bit more polite about it all, but it was clear that Marcia wasn’t going to believe her if she did it that way. Honestly, the woman wasn’t going to trust her at all, regardless.

  This way the boss could pretend that Cindy wasn’t playing her as hard, because she really wasn’t. Being honest, at least this one time, made sense. Doing anything else would set the Director of a government agency against her. I
nstead she got a chuckle and a sturdy pat on the back, right behind her left shoulder.

  “That’s my newbie. So far so good. Not even a half year in and you’re already being put in front of the President as a positive thing. Congress as well. Sink this last shot and you’re probably going to be pretty close to home free. Not that we can trust you. Not for a long time. It can be done though, if you stick with things and keep working hard. Not everyone here does. Lauren for instance over the entire time she’s been here. Before it was kind of hard to find anything for her to do, so that worked. Might as well watch television if that and fighting is all you’ve got. I’m hoping you can find enough for her to do now that she’ll change. It might not work.”

  Cindy nodded, getting the idea now.

  “Or it might. Plus, if she does well, I get a chance to look good. If she fails, well, you can’t really blame me for that, but I’ll find a way to bring out her potential.” She had already, in a backhanded fashion. After all, someone had gone to a different freaking reality to find a way to help improve her life. That was a thing that she could use, even if she hadn’t meant it that way at the time.

  It had just felt like the right thing to do. Which was a miserable way to live your life, in Cindy’s book. Not that it seemed like she was going to get a choice in that kind of thing. It didn’t seem like it anyway.

  Still dressed up in a black skirt and deep blue button up top, Cindy went to her office. It was late in the day, but she wasn’t hungry and probably wouldn’t be until the next afternoon. Besides she was about to go off and get lucky. Which reminded her to take a run past medical really quick. There was a jar of condoms on the counter, and she was an adult woman that didn’t want kids. That meant making certain no mistakes were made.

  Not of the kind that would leave little psychopaths running around. On the great side, Cindy just walked in and grabbed a handful of the things without having to talk to anyone behind the counter. She waved them, and the woman that was there smiled at her, getting the basic idea. It was why they were there after all, so being embarrassed would make no sense that way.