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

by P. S. Power

  Christian, who wasn’t bothering to block the rest of them out, her mind being frazzled a bit at the moment thanks to her first mode, had set the whole thing up, since to her way of thinking, they needed a good sex scandal or two. A lot of data had been put out to make them look bad, and the sex things would eventually as well. Coming out first was the right move, in her world.

  Then, she honestly figured that putting out sex tapes was a decent career move. It had worked for her, after all. Before the Infection had set in, and changed everything.

  Georgia was mainly feeling horny at the moment. It was her default state after all, and everyone in the world knew she slept around. Adding a few more people into the game made very little difference to her situation there.

  Cindy clapped her hands, and spoke softly. She was at work, and all those years at the Library had burned habits into her mind.

  “All right. Charlot will get me those names. Marcia… You have a… Ten o’clock phone meeting with the head of DHS, right? You should get ready for that. Karen, you need to get with Dave and set up an action plan for your liaison work. Christian… Run, and I’ll try to hold them here, so you can escape.” She deadpanned the whole thing, but the attractive blonde woman, who was wearing a pink poodle skirt of all things, and pearls, got up and scurried away.

  No one tried to actually follow her, getting the idea. Marcia even chuckled a bit.

  “So, you’re managing the place now?”

  Cindy snorted, and then gave a nod.

  “It was only a matter of time. I mean, after I was pardoned by the President, there was only so much you had left to hold me here, right? I don’t fear death, so you can’t just threaten to kill me, so I figure a promotion is in order.” One to Bossy, Slightly Annoying, Lower Functionary. Which was clearly higher than being an Annoying Lower Functionary, First Class.

  The Director rolled her eyes then, and shook her head.

  “Nope. You get perks for good work, but if you want a promotion you need to put in more time first. Prove out, you know?”

  Cindy thought for a second, then read the stories of everyone there, to figure out what she actually needed to do.

  “Hmm. All right. I need hiking buddies then. Today, at one, barring other things going on? Outside the fence line.” That was what they used to do, when they were afraid that the government was going to be watching them. The interesting thing there was that everyone picked up on what she meant.

  Turner gave her a serious look.

  “Oh? Who do you need for that? Are we going to be setting up a training exercise, or just walking?” To her mind the best thing to do was to set up an actual hike, for a lot of people. With heavy packs. They never needed that kind of thing, but it was good exercise, and would help them bond as a unit.

  “The first one, if you like my ideas. It will help me seem like I’m actually part of the group. For now… Charlot, why not come with me? We get a few hours to work things out.”

  The lady seemed surprised, and not all that pleased by the idea. Not upset, really, but she felt annoyed by it. Not because Cin was helping her, but due to the fact that no one had suggested it earlier. The feeling grew stronger as they worked, since Cindy Mableton was more than willing to actually come up with some powerful dirt on people.

  None of the other telepaths were, which caused a bit of teeth grinding for the attractive curly haired forty-something.

  Then she smiled, meaning it, and relaxed.

  “So, we’re going to be setting up an illegal operation to control the world?” The words were half playful, since the other woman was actually more ethical than that.

  Cindy shook her head.

  “No? Though I have been considering how to do insider trading. Only that should technically be legal, as long as I don’t have any information through normal means. We can save this kind of stuff for when we need it. You know, to save America? Or the IPB. That kind of thing.” She grinned, and winked, being charming, or trying too. “That sounds right, doesn’t it? I keep working on seeming like I’m not an insane psychopath. I don’t know how much of that is true anymore. On the normal side of things, I mean. I used to be pretty bad that way. Now… I don’t know. It’s annoying, but I think I might end up like everyone else.” She pretended to shudder at the idea, which got a somber look in return.

  Charlot stared for a few moments before thinking, the words appearing over her head just before they came out.

  “That must be hard. I don’t love my own first mode, so losing it wouldn’t hurt my feelings. You did though, didn’t you?”

  “Love killing?”

  “Yes.”

  Cindy nodded, then looked behind Charlot, at the office door. It had been left open, in case anyone needed either of them.

  “Of course. It was… Everything to me. I feel empty now. Hollow. Like I’m scrambling to go through the motions, and nothing more. Nothing shines now. There’s nothing to look forward to either. I do stuff. I keep going, and show up each day, but… Yeah. I miss it. The thrill of it. The thing there is that the part of me that wanted that, that loved to kill, it’s gone now. I could go and stab some random man in the throat, but it just doesn’t call to me. Like, what’s the point? Really, I’d kind of been hoping that I’d be able to still do it, even without that. I mean, I can kill still, of course. It doesn’t bother me or anything. I could torture people, too. You know, just… When I tortured Clark to death I got wet. Now? I just kind of feel annoyed by the screams.”

  The woman blinked at her, and then tried not to react. She had known that Clark was dead. Marcia had mentioned that part. They had a warrant for it. The name on it was even Cindy’s or so she’d been told. How it was done hadn’t been mentioned. It wasn’t pretty, and really, angry all the time or not, Charlot wasn’t strong enough to know what had really happened.

  She’d actually feel bad about it.

  Cindy didn’t. Not yet.

  The woman across from her just nodded, and didn’t ask. Not even about the sexual nature of what she’d hinted at.

  “You should start a hedge fund. If you do it correctly, it should always prosper, but look like it’s simply doing well, instead of better than everyone else in the world. I bet a lot of people here will be willing to invest, if you can show early success.”

  The change of topic was unusual, and the other woman stood up as soon as she did it, and took a deep breath. Then she smiled.

  “Thank you. I can come to you, if I need more information?” She hefted the pad that her notes were on. It was all just information about people, that might be used as leverage. Some of it had actual proof, that they could harvest if they needed too. For the moment they didn’t need that kind of thing. They wouldn’t as long as everyone involved played ball. Which they would, in the end.

  One way or the other.

  After lunch, which was eaten with Bridget, Sara and Lauren, Cindy stood up and stretched.

  “All right, one and all, I need to get my hike on. I’m meeting up with some people to set up the big training exercise we’re going to be having. You all love walking while carrying heavy things, don’t you?” She was playing, but Bridget actually smiled and nodded.

  “Love it! When is it happening?” She was a bit bored, according to the floating words.

  “In about a week? You can invite Will?”

  Bridget smiled about that, and nodded. The two had actually gone out, not just once, but twice, and were getting along fine so far. Part of that was down to the fact that Bridget wasn’t stingy when it came to being affectionate. Not that she’d done much with the guy yet, for her. It had to be clear to him though that they were actually going to have a physical relationship, if he stuck with things.

  Cindy didn’t check though. It wasn’t her business. Not yet.

  Sara, who was in her small form again, and looked like a tiny Hispanic child with black hair sighed.

  “I can’t carry much. Can I be my big shape for that?” Secretly she wanted to be her new
form, since she got to be pretty that way, and not Infected. That line had been a throw away thing, so that no one would pay that much attention to her in the press, but it made sense to the girl.

  No one wanted to be Infected. Her friend had made it so that part of her wasn’t.

  Cindy screwed her mouth to the side and nodded.

  “Really, you should use the one that you did up yesterday. Any time there might be press around, from now on, or if you’re going out with Rachel. I’ll set that up with people for you. That way we can trick the reporters so that they mainly leave you alone. Just remember, no dating until later.”

  Bridget smiled and put her arm around the little girl’s shoulders.

  “That was really good! We all got side tracked, but I didn’t even recognize you. Can you do other looks?” It was a throw away question.

  Sara nodded though, smiling.

  “Yep. I can do anything, I think. People anyway. I can’t really copy them. But I can do things like tall, and short, old and young. That stuff.”

  Everything else as well, Cindy knew. So she winked at the girl and then Bridget.

  “That’s right. Anyway, Bridget will need to come with me, I think. You have lessons after this?” That was for Lauren, who had a full six-hour day planned out for the kid. She agreed with a gesture, as if to wave the suggestion away.

  “Naturally. We did reading and writing, but have history and math left for today. Then story time.”

  Cindy smiled, and got up slowly, so that Bridget would come along with her. The girl was smart, but could miss subtle signals. As soon as they were outside, away from the others, Cindy started to fill her in on the events of the morning. Leaving in the blackmail portion of things, though not all the dirt was gone into. None of it was that bad, but the girl might be a little troubled about forcing a man to do their bidding when his only crime was dressing up like a teddy bear twice a month and going to furry conventions.

  It was a bit freaky, but not anything to start a scandal about. Which kind of meant that they should be able to expect him to be willing to play ball, since group sex wasn’t that much different from what he was doing.

  At the office, Bridget still listening carefully, feeling like she was actually being included, there were three people waiting for them to go set up the hike. Outside the fence line. Marcia, Doug Tibs and her old pal, Agent Burkes. They were all in tan fatigues, and had sturdy looking military style boots on. Marcia wasn’t certain if the others were needed for what they were doing. Really, she figured that the talk was about someone having smuggled a nuke onto the base. That, or planning to.

  Cindy smiled at everyone, looking up at the others.

  “This is about the right group. Come on? I was thinking that we could mix the event up a bit? A long hike, about fifteen miles, with heavy packs. Only we’ll have one group setting up ambushes the whole time as the others try to navigate around them?” She walked out, the day being cold outside. It was January, so there was a bit of snow on the ground. That meant she was wearing her tan jacket. It wasn’t really adequate for her, but it had come with knit gloves, and would be enough if she didn’t let herself stop moving.

  In fact, she nearly ran, trying to stay warm enough. Marcia just had fatigues, and so did Bridget, but Doug and Burkes opted for the same look she had going on, being sane.

  They bantered a bit, as they walked the route, which would take them near the old base, about three miles away, though on the same government reservation.

  Marcia pointed to the left, by a hill.

  “We can stage the first water truck there?” It was kind of clear that the woman was getting into the idea, and had forgotten that they were on a special walk, to tell secrets.

  Burkes didn’t forget, nudging her shoulder with his hand. It was a bit cozy, given they’d only met once before, but the man didn’t mean it that way. He was just trying to spur her into action.

  “Right. I brought you out here for a reason. And no, Bridget, not an orgy. If we were doing that, it would be someplace warmer. It’s freezing out here.”

  Everyone looked at her, but kept walking, not knowing what kind of thing the new woman might say to them. Something she thought of as important, no doubt. Marcia knew that part, and even got that there were some things that needed to be hidden from the rest of the people at the base. They had open spies around, in the form of military people, after all. There had been trouble there, so it was just possible that Cin had picked up on that kind of thing.

  Instead of making them wait, she shrugged, and started into the discussion at hand.

  “Sara… She can take on any shape, more or less. Yesterday, her new form?” She glanced at Bridget, who had seen it.

  The girl smiled.

  “She was hot. About thirteen, blonde and with brilliant green eyes. If the situation were different, I’d suggest we get her a job with Disney. Do you think she can sing?” That was aimed at Cindy.

  So she nodded.

  “If she wants to. That’s the issue here. She didn’t just look cute, she had your strength, speed and invulnerability. I managed to coach her not to copy your flight abilities or power blasts, but she’d started to do that. The thing is, she can copy pretty much any power that way. She knows it, too. She wasn’t even near Bridget, her subconscious mind just worked it out from having met her before. Any power. Possibly all of them, at one time. So, think of Rigs, with all of Impulses abilities, and say, Trivia’s knowledge? Sara has all of that in her head, right now.”

  Marcia nodded, and spoke eloquently, expressing what the rest of them were thinking.

  “Fuck. That’s impressive. Really, that should get her most of the way to being unstoppable right there. Does she really know she can do all that?”

  Cindy lied, but only in part.

  “Pretty much. I don’t think it’s occurred to her to do much with it, but she knows that she can do powers, on some level. She’s smarter than you’d think, too. Undereducated, even for her age, given her history, but smart enough to work out what will protect her in the world. Even that being pretty and strong are a good combination. There’s a little kid sensibility about it all, so far. I can’t say that I love all of this. Not given what’s happened to her.”

  Marcia tightened her lips, her mind working furiously.

  “The Mophrey thing? When she finds out a lot of people might die over that. Should we try to take her out first? If we fail… Well, then her trust in us will be gone. Do we risk that?”

  Bridget went wide eyed, but Doug shook his head, and actually touched Turner on the arm to get her attention. He looked good enough now that it was kind of clear that Marcia didn’t mind. Not that she would have before, but nothing even triggered as it being a bit inappropriate, which wouldn’t have been true for Doug even a month before.

  “No. She’s a little kid, and managing herself just fine so far. We need to make her feel loved and safe, so she knows that she has adults to rely on. I… Guess we hide the thing with that military guy?”

  Cindy smiled and shook her head then.

  “Nope. I already told her that I killed him. That it was for him having sex with her, and raping someone else. That isn’t allowed. She’s too cute in her new form to let her go running around that way, so I set a rule that she has to be around one of us, Lauren, Rachel or me, when she’s doing that. Then I told her that she should try to hold to that form when the press is around. So, mixed messages there. By the way, if anyone asks, she isn’t Infected in that form. Which means she can’t use any powers, or it will give it away. I think she’s on board with that idea, to be honest. We might be able to use it, to teach her control. Not that she’s bad that way now. Not for a seven-year-old. This is dangerous, but I’m not that worried yet. Not until she becomes an angst ridden teenager.”

  There might be fits now, but that could be handled. Right until she figured out that she could destroy the whole world, by herself. Then things were going to be a bit rougher. Unless she was a good pe
rson, by that time.

  Burkes shocked them all then, by smiling.

  “Agreed. She’s a good kid. I want a team on her though, all the time. Rachel Chambers is her mom, right?” He looked at Bridget, instead of the rest of them. “Which makes you her aunt, more or less? So you should take part of the load there. Level is doing her school functions?”

  That he even knew that much was impressive, Cindy had to agree. It meant he was watching more closely than she’d caught on to, for one thing. Then, she didn’t check his book each day, or anything like that. They’d barely met. It hadn’t seemed important, so far.

  “That’s right. Mark is supposed to be watching her, while Rachel is gone. I’ll get with him, for the afternoons. I guess we can wake her up in the mornings, and see if Hobbs will work with her on fighting and meditation? It can’t hurt, learning that stuff while young.”

  Marcia snorted a bit, and then fixed her with a solid gaze, thinking about how reading the girl each day, several times, would help a lot as far as keeping her in line.

  “Fine. Cindy, you’re with her during the times that Lauren isn’t, for now. Still get with Mark, since he gets to play dad for her. If he has a problem with it, slap him around until he gets in line. There are only so many people that can actually do all of this right now. Brian should be involved, but I don’t want her to get attached, only to have him die.” Like Mophrey.

  Luckily the man had mainly just been grooming and abusing the girl, not getting close in any real sense of the word. That meant she wasn’t actually going to kill over the loss. This time. If it had gone on longer, the actual abuse, then things might have ended very differently.

  After the orders, they just set up a training event, like they’d come out for. It sounded hard, but kind of fun, in a wacked out military way. They were going to have teams of Agents leading groups of operatives, and another, separate, group of people set up to attack at random, with a variety of powers and weapons. The trick would be in making certain that no one knew what was coming, so that everyone would be careful the whole time. Then there would be camping, and s’mores. At least she assumed that was what would be happening at night.