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

by P. S. Power

  “I won’t. It was… I’m doing better now, you know? That man, Timon… We need to see if he’ll move here, to our reality. He could do nothing but help infected people and still be worth whatever he’s asking for the service. I… Didn’t really ask about that. How much did that part of things cost? I don’t have that much. Some cash, but I doubt that will translate to his world.”

  She really didn’t seem to know the score there, so Cindy nodded, her face blank.

  “He didn’t ask for anything. Nothing at all. Still, you should work out what he might like and see about that for him. Get with Tobin on it? I have no real clue what that might be though, myself, or I’d already have set it up.”

  That would give the other woman something to think about, other than betraying them again. Not that she was going to do anything like that. Her problems, much like Kerry’s were situational. Her armor and first mode had trapped her, and a bit of attention had, in the end, been enough leverage to warp her mind.

  Now she had things to lose, if she didn’t go along with them. To cement that, Cindy got up, walked around her desk and hugged her. Making a point of holding the other woman for a bit as she more than half melted into her arms. It was nearly romantic seeming, though thankfully the woman wasn’t taking it that way. For her it was just the magic of the point of contact. After long enough that Cin was pretty certain they were dating, regardless, she backed up, smiling.

  “Now, let’s get some calls in and set things up?”

  It wasn’t that hard to find Rachel’s number, though it did require looking into her story to locate the right one. The conversation didn’t even have any strained overtones, really. The woman had been called away for a few days, by the brass in D.C. which meant that she had to travel to them. Mainly over the Mophrey incident. Some of the higher ranking military people weren’t wild about that situation, it seemed. Especially the torture portion of events.

  Cindy had kind of wanted to hide that part of the situation from them, but Director Turner had simply put it in the report. The only real saving grace was that a bit over half of the military higher ups got the basic idea. A super soldier out of control needed to be punished in a way that would inform the others that they weren’t above the law. The IPB had done that. A bit messily, to their way of thinking, but only a portion of them were doing the whole, my-side-right-or-wrong thing.

  “Ms. Mableton? This isn’t a secured line. Is there an event?” The voice was nearly sultry, under the professional worry.

  Then, since her story was still floating in front of Cindy she realized that it had a lot to do with the fact that the woman on the other end of the phone wanted to take her to bed. They were around the same size, which was rare for Rachel to get, being kind of tiny herself. She even found Cin attractive enough, and felt like they were friends, being on the same side. Also torture buddies.

  Given why she was calling, that was probably even true enough.

  “Nothing major. Lauren got some help, so her first mode is gone, and it turns out that she’s a two form shape shifter, not just the one form that was presented the whole time to us. We had help putting that together. She’s acting as my assistant for the time being, but I was thinking that we should set up some classes for Sara. They have some things in common, and Lauren has that nifty teaching degree.” She was also a traitor, but that part was gone now.

  Rachel did consider that fact, but didn’t speak about it, being able to hear that there were two women in the room from the tiny noises they were making.

  “I see. That would be good, actually. Mark is watching Sara right now, but he has to work during the day, and is busy with his show. Is that actually all right with Lauren however? Sara is… She’s a good girl, but her life hasn’t been very easy so far.”

  Meaning that eventually she was going to start getting bratty, possibly with super Orc slap downs involved. Rachel knew that she could handle that kind of thing if it came to it, but wasn’t certain what Cindy would be able to do. That was the wrong person to put in that spot however, so she cleared her throat.

  “Between you and Level that won’t be a problem. You’re both pretty forgiving and understanding.” Plus, powerful. Sara, at least so far, wasn’t in the power range of either of the women.

  Eventually that might actually happen, given that Doctor Burrows was nearly certain that she could take other forms if the kid wanted to. That she hadn’t yet seemed to be more down to the fact that she’d only needed two so far. The one that she was born with, and her battle form.

  Still, it would be hard to beat the two women, if it came to a bratty pre-teen throw down. Not that the girl was that bad so far. A few minor issues, but she was so afraid that everyone would leave her that her current plan was to be as good as possible.

  Cindy smiled and looked at Lauren.

  “Great. I’ll have her new teacher go and introduce herself. In a bit. The movie that she’s watching isn’t done yet. Citizen Kane…” On the good side, the girl seemed to be picking up most of it, which was rare for a person that young. “Lauren can have her do a verbal report on it. I don’t think she’s up to writing one yet.” She was kidding, but Rachel let out a gust of air, and Lauren winked at her.

  The voice on the phone, directly in her ear, spoke first.

  “Thank you for thinking of this Cindy. From the reports you’ve been rather busy, and a single girl might get lost in the shuffle. It’s good to know that you care.”

  The thing there was that the red haired woman, who looked a lot like Bridget Chambers, even if they weren’t biologically related, actually meant it. To her this was a sign that Cindy was actually breaking her first mode, and even if she were still a bit of a psychopath, was trying to be a real human being again.

  Which hadn’t honestly been her point. Not that she was going to tell on herself over the issue.

  “Well, we’ve got to keep our minds on the important issues. We’ll go and set things up in a bit. I just wanted to run this past you, first, being her mom now.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you in a few days? Four?”

  That part was a bit of a surprise, since the woman was going to be gone for longer than that. Then, reading the story on it, she understood the basic idea. Congress wanted a certain short blonde woman to come and speak to them in a secret, closed, session. Not about military torture either. It was all about the nuclear devices. After all, as far as they were concerned, she was the one that had single handedly uncovered the plot, and then secured the weapons. All of them.

  Even after an obvious leak had let one get away from them.

  They didn’t really want to reward her, or even pat her on the back over it, however. No, some of them wanted to suggest that she must have been in on it, even knowing that she was innocent. A few of the others kind of thought that getting her on their side early, near the start of her career, would pay off in the end. At least that was Rachel’s, and the President’s, take on things. She’d done well enough in several ways that people wanted to groom her for more.

  On the great side, the actual threat that several of them held over her, that she’d been a serial killer, wasn’t a real one anymore. No one had told her about it, but a certain leader of the free world had kind of given her a presidential pardon for all past crimes. Including the torture that had happened a few days prior. That was due to her having helped find his wife, who everyone had thought was dead. It was interesting, because everyone had just been told about what had happened.

  As in, it had been on the news, even if Cin hadn’t seen it. Her life had been incredibly light on actual television watching over the last two months or so.

  Rachel purred at her for a while longer, as she absently agreed to get with the woman when she got back. Over dinner. There was an implication that they might do more than that, which wasn’t exactly what Cindy had in mind, but when she got off the phone, Lauren helpfully pointed that part out for her.

  “You and Rachel are… Um, dating now?”
/>   Cindy blinked, and reviewed what Rachel was thinking, which wasn’t too far from that point.

  “Um… I kind of missed that part? Well, no big thing. I mean, I’m not really dating anyone, but if I have to make friends that way, I will. It still beats prison. Rachel is at least clean and always smells nice.” The real kind of prison. Not that being locked up in a brig cell alone all day would be any better.

  Lauren knew that one first hand, and shuddered a bit.

  “For the torture?” She nearly whispered the words, and looked around, like they might be recorded regardless of the volume.

  Cindy wrinkled her nose.

  “I was… My first mode? I was a serial killer. Men. Ones that were tall and dark haired, as a rule. A mania, I guess. Doctor Burrows new treatment worked, so I’m not doing that now.” She took a breath and then was just honest with the woman, since it was both true and would bring them closer together, most likely. “I miss it. Not that I think I could do that anymore. It was the only thing I really had. That, and my job, and I only did that to keep the bills paid so I could spend time on my hobby. I bet you don’t miss constant loneliness as much, do you?” She grinned a bit, hoping that was right.

  The other woman nodded, and after a few panicked words in yellow over her head about serial killers, she calmed down and didn’t judge her over her old, and now broken, mode.

  “Not even a tiny bit. Should we go and see Sara?”

  It was a plan, and though they needed to stall for about ten minutes, so that they wouldn’t ruin the end of the movie, that just meant walking slowly over to the recreation center. There were other people there in the room, but no one was actually near Sara at all. For her part she was in her combat form again. Due mainly to the fact that looking like a six-six Orc woman with fairly rippling muscles was safer for her, most days.

  From the words in her head, Rachel was gone, so that meant she had to protect herself all the time. Her other friend, Brent, had left too. That was hard for her to take, since she normally got to play her secret games with him when she was left alone. Now she had to take care of herself.

  Which was how things always ended. It left her feeling sad, and depressed, but she didn’t let that show on her face, as the two women walked toward her. One was new to her, and the other one was Cindy. She was a bit scary, since she liked to kill people. It had been one of the first things that Sara had learned about her. It seemed wrong, since she was little, but a lot of tiny people were dangerous. Even the regular ones could hurt you, if you weren’t careful.

  Cin smiled at her and waved, the credits just starting to roll on the movie screen. It was a large thing, and a flat screen, placed against a pale white bit of wall that was wide, but half pillar, near the center of the room.

  “Hi, Sara! This is Lauren. You know, Level? The big armored woman? She learned to change shape, kind of like you do. She can go back and forth, but it would ruin her uniform to do that right now.” Which was a simple truth. Sara more or less believed that it was true, even without evidence. There were lots of Infected people there, after all, and having more than one shape was just useful, if you were careful.

  “Neatsh. You can go backsh and forthsh?”

  The words were understandable, if a bit slurred, due to the big tusks, the orc woman had going on. Lauren didn’t seem bothered by the idea.

  “I can! I’m sticking with this one for now. I was kind of stuck in my other one. Really, I didn’t even know that I could change shape. I never even tried it. Silly of me, I can see. Now.” She smiled, her face lighting up, even if it wasn’t perfectly lovely.

  Makeup would help though, and the woman didn’t seem all that worried about that kind of thing at the moment. Neither did Sara.

  Cindy clapped, gently, and winked at the girl.

  “So, I had an idea, and talked to Rachel about it, since she’s your mom.” That part was a bit risky, but the girl nodded, even if she didn’t trust or believe that the woman kind of caring for her was that at all.

  Rachel did, so it would work out in the end.

  “Anyway, Lauren used to be a school teacher, and now that she isn’t going to be going around feeling lonely and sorry for herself, I was thinking that you could use some lessons. You know, math, reading, computer use so you can torrent all the best programs illegally. That kind of stuff.” She acted very serious about it, as if crimes would be on the curriculum. “You’ll still have fighting practice each day. In both of the forms you have right now. Also, I want you to come up with a good third form by the end of the week. You can do more than you have been that way. Pick something useful.”

  That would probably not be happening, if the kid didn’t have control over that part of her powers yet, but she nodded a little anyway. She hadn’t ever done that before, other forms, not that she’d let on. The feeling from the kid was more that she was being played with than anything else. Not because the women hated her. It was clear that they didn’t.

  No, it was the claim that anyone would actually want to spend time with her that was the issue.

  A bunch of people had kind of been there for her at the base, which was really nice. Her world hadn’t held even that much interest in her for most of it. When it did, things were mainly down to being molested or beaten. She preferred the sex stuff, to be honest. Even when it hurt. Not that Cindy could blame her, if those were the only options.

  She blinked though, her eyes watering when she read about it, for some reason.

  “Good. You and Lauren… Actually, why don’t we all go to dinner together? You need to work out a schedule, and I could finally use some food. You both hate eating, right?”

  There was a snort from the green woman, her white tusks gleaming a bit. She could tell sarcasm when she heard it, even the subtle kind.

  “I couldsh eat. I… Should I change firstsh?” She looked down, like that might be a requirement. As if they wouldn’t want to be around her the way she was at the moment.

  Cindy shrugged.

  “Up to you. Maybe you should change into a girl, but one a bit older looking? About eighteen or so? That way you can pass as an adult, and get into all the good movies on your own.” She nearly suggested twenty-one, for the bars, but the kid was only seven. That would be irresponsible.

  Instead of telling her that she couldn’t do that, the girl nodded.

  “S’okay. I’ds needs clothsh.”

  Cindy tilted her head, and then nodded at the girl.

  “You’ll want to be taller than I am, or you could borrow mine. Let’s see… I know, we’ll go and bug Karen Young for some things. She’s about the right size. Five-six or seven. Tall enough to seem normal, but short enough not to seem like a man in drag. We can save that look for later.” When the girl learned about things like anatomy.

  That part was interesting, since Karen was still with Dave in the conference room, talking on the phone when they all got there. Cindy didn’t know that the woman would let the little girl play dress up with her outfits, but she beamed at them as soon as she got off the phone with the minor government official she’d been reassuring. Mainly that they didn’t secretly know of any more nukes hidden anywhere.

  “Hey! Sara and Cindy!” She looked over at the other new woman and smiled warmly. “And a new person, who was here, but I didn’t get your name, earlier? We were so busy, I’m sorry about that. I’m Karen Young, pleased to meet you.” She stood up, and moved to give everyone a hug. Even the supposed person she didn’t know.

  That was due to the fact that Lauren was kind of being a hug slut, now that she had a regular body. She knew it too, and planned to keep going in the vein until everyone hated her for it. Possibly past that, if she could find some rope or duct tape, so the others couldn’t get away.

  Cindy waved at her, as Dave got off the phone, the all blue man smiling at the seemingly new lady. With interest. True, there was some there for the rest of them too, though he turned his mind away from Sara rapidly enough to show he was a good person.
She looked older, when she was an orc, and the form kind of played tricks with his mind. The fact was, the man couldn’t afford to be picky that way, so was generally good with women that looked like almost anything.

  Even fairly unsexy battle monsters, which is what the kid had going on. He was also a good enough person to remember that kind of thing and protect her instantly, without even consciously realizing it. Meaning that most of the attention ended up being split between her and the new lady.

  Who wasn’t new at all.

  “Nope. You do know her. This is Lauren. As in Level? We had a specialist from a different reality in, and he uncovered that she’s actually a shape changer. This, and her armored form. Also, her first mode has been removed. We were just about to head to dinner, and decided that Sara would dress up as a cute teen model for it. So we were wondering if we could borrow some clothing from you, Karen?”

  The woman, who still looked a little puffy for her, but had probably lost a few pounds already, now that she had a purpose in life again, lit up like someone had tried to taze her butt.

  “Lauren! Oh, my, goodness!” That got the woman hugged again, and Dave stood up, not knowing if he’d be allowed to do the same thing. Which was a bit odd, given that the two were pretty much best friends. At least they’d watched an awful lot of daytime, and prime time, television together over the last years.

  It was just that, to his mind, Lauren was too good for him now. Which wasn’t actually true. He was all blue, and Infected, but freaking exotic enough that if it wasn’t for his low self-image as far as relationships went, a lot of women would have wanted to get with him. Worse, Cindy had already told him that once, and was going to get sick of his act, if he didn’t wise up soon.

  So he stood awkwardly, and slowly held his hands out, not certain if he was going to get a handshake, or told to back off.

  Lauren practically tackled the man, and he not only got a hug, but a kiss that was sound enough that he had to know that he could score with the woman. Probably by just suggesting they get together later. Except that, of course, he didn’t take it that way. What he did do was hug her, and hold the woman.