The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  He pointed at Trivia and smiled.

  “Know-it-all. She does too. Everything, about everyone, all the time. Any information a human being anywhere knows, she does too. More than that, she knows if it's real or not. She can't be fooled by imagination or wishful thinking. It sounds minor, but honestly, she can do anything. Brain surgery, fly a plane, infiltrate a compound without any problem at all. Deadly in a fight. She literally knows what you're going to do before you do. It's not telepathy, she just knows what you know and can guess what you'd be thinking at any moment. Sweet girl too. She and Foggy were great friends. Probably more than just friends, but back then that kind of thing didn't get talked about.”

  Moore pointed at the last woman and swallowed. The woman had plain brown hair, dusky skin that made her look a little Latino or possibly Native American and big brown eyes that looked innocent and like they held secrets that no one should ever have to know, all at the same time.

  “Braid. My wife. I lived with her for nearly twenty years, made my whole life about helping and managing Infected and... really Brian, I don't have any clue what her powers actually are. Some kind of precognition, only more than that. She showed me ten thousand times and she was effective as all get out, but... It was too hard to see. No one got it, but we couldn't argue with the results. Even Katie, the one that called herself Trivia? Even she couldn't tell what Braid knew or how. I loved her then, Devorah. I still do really. But... If you ever face her... kill her Brian. I don't know if you can, or if anyone can, but... after what she did...” He shook his head and swallowed back tears. Just sitting for a while he finally pointed to the image of himself.

  “Less. I made things vanish and never come back. People, Infected, soldiers, buildings, once a mountain. There didn't seem to be a limit to what I could do. It was thought that I could destroy the whole world by myself. Make it all simply not be any more. Luckily my temperament didn't allow for such things. Plus, you understand, I live here. Eventually I gave it up all together. Just destroying... It wears on a soul after a while and even if there are no bodies, killing people was never my thing.”

  Brian stared at the picture, memorizing it if he could, just in case he ever saw any of them again. After a while he handed the picture back.

  “Tesseract, he killed Bravo squad?” Brian asked, hoping it wouldn't bring back too many bad memories for the man beside him, who suddenly looked a lot older and more tired than he'd seen him before.

  “Yes. Braid had him do it, pulling strings none of the rest of us could see. At first I didn't get that she'd done it, but eventually even my mind managed to put it all together. She had, has, a plan. What it is I don't know. Tess slaughtered them all so fast... That's when I knew that we were too dangerous to hold the power we did. Back then the government was more than a little afraid of us. Oh, they didn't cow-tow and cower, but they didn't have anything that could stop us, not Alpha squad. After a while they tried to set Bravo on us. It didn't make sense, but I didn't know what Braid was up to at the time either.”

  “Foggy and I, we tried to talk the others into holding back, talk things out. Earthling just fought, of course, but Bravo could have taken her down if Tess hadn't stopped them. So fourteen seconds later, the only people left on the battle field were us. Alpha. The military started to try and fight, but they pulled back, thank god. I think Stillness made them do it, but he never said anything about it. Except for one man, a private, who set down his weapons and walked toward us, with his fists raised, as if he was going to box us into submission... it was ridiculous of course, except... the others just ran away. Then the boy, he couldn't have been twenty, I don't think, just nodded at us and walked away. No one ever saw him again, he wasn't even a member of the unit he'd been with as far as anyone could tell. The others fled with Tesseract, except Foggy and me. We stayed and, in time, tried to rebuild things. I'd... kind of hoped that the others were dead, or at least retired. I don't know what they want with you, or if the message they gave you is real at all. I can tell you that them sending three like that means something... They see you as an equal at least.” He dropped his hands, the right still holding the picture, into his lap.

  Looking down Brian thought for a while, finally he stood and put out a hand to help the older man to his feet.

  “Well, they didn't come to fight or kill today. Whatever they have planned will either happen or not. If it comes to it, we fight if we have to and don't give up, even if it means we all die. Simple as that. If they don't pose a threat, we leave them alone. They... they didn't seem to think the IPB was a threat to their plans. Not that anyone said. They want something from me and said that we, them and I, may come into conflict later. So, maybe this won't have to involve anyone else at all anyway?” The idea made Brian smile. After all, he'd gladly buy the lives of his friends with his own if needed. Who wouldn't?

  That only made sense.

  The Director grunted and looked troubled by the idea, but didn't say anything at all, just sitting for a long time. Eventually he stood, turned solemnly to Brian and stuck out his hand to shake.

  “Brian... I don't know what's coming, but I want you to know that having you here has been the most amazing time of my life. The things you've done, no one should be able to have pulled off. No matter what happens, please remember that you've really helped a lot of people. More than any of us ever thought possible when you first came through the doors here. Not just the ones you saved directly either. Thank you.”

  Brian shook the hand, the speech sounding more than a little formal to him, like a person that wanted to say goodbye to someone who might die at any time. Brian smiled at that. For once he didn't feel like death was standing at his shoulder.

  The speech also sounded like bullshit.

  His time with Brian had been the most amazing of his life? Right. If by amazing the man meant annoying, maybe he could buy it. Anyone with eyes could tell that they weren't exactly buddies after all. Moore left, holding a sympathetic expression while he did and, thankfully, no one came in after that.

  He got up and got some clothes on, a pair of sweats, carrying the armor and knife in his hand. Noticing as he picked it up the black material that the hole from the knife was already gone, merged fluidly back into the whole, not leaving a blemish or, if Jeremy could be believed, a weak spot. That was just so cool. Too bad the rest of his clothes didn't do that. It would save a lot of money by the end of the year.

  The hall had people in it, but they just stood or in some cases sat on the floor, waiting for something. Bridget ran to him, grinning when he came out, jumping up to kiss Brian lightly on the mouth before he could stop her. Karen walked over quickly and gave him another hug and so, to his surprise, did Christian. Her eyes filled with tears when she held him, but she didn't let go. Other people noticed, but no one asked what the situation might be. Brian nodded to himself. She knew what the situation was, of course. Uber-telepath. It was hard to remember how much she must know about everything around them all the time.

  Really, he should learn to just ask her when he needed to know something. At least if it was work related.

  After a while he looked around and smiled trying to make it seem warm and friendly, knowing he probably failed. No one noticed that as far as he could tell at least. That or people were cutting him extra slack, as if the fight today had been any different than the four others he'd had in the last week. He hadn't even been hurt that badly this time, thanks to the medical staff.

  “I'm headed back to my room, if I can find a doctor that will sign me out?” Brian said this loudly, hoping one of them would hear.

  Burrows walked around the corner quickly and waved him away, one eyebrow raised.

  “Hurry and do that. I swear, you bring more trouble to my floor than any ten other people, Yi. I'd ban you, but then who would we bet on in the break room?” She walked over to him and patted him on the arm.

  Brian grinned at her, feeling more genuine this time and left, followed by several people, as if th
ey thought he might not make it back alone. He smiled and hugged them if they wanted him too, not really needing that for himself at the moment, just wanting to be alone for a while. His chest ached a little, but he'd felt worse. Recently even. Brian tried to be pleasant to everyone, but sent them off one by one as the group worked its way down the hall, and only took Penny, Marcia and Karen into the elevator. They rode in silence, two floors down, to nine. He turned suddenly and kissed Karen on the cheek and pushed one for her before they got out.

  “Business stuff right now. But I'll meet you tomorrow for breakfast at your room... Say around seven?” He sounded wistful even to his own ears. Really Brian couldn't help but wish that them going to breakfast meant something different, not just him coming to hang out after sleeping alone all night. She kissed him back and nodded.

  “Don't forget!” She waved to him as the door shut.

  Turning he took both the girls by the hand and led to his room. Becky raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms. “Stepping out on my sister already? I should have known...” She laughed, knowing what he really had in mind.

  “Let's all take a shower. Don't worry, there's enough room. Are the showers in your rooms like this? Mine is freaking huge.” He led them into the bathroom, pulling Penny along by the hand chuckling. Marcia pulled her clothes off without asking why, just assuming there'd be some reason that made sense. Either that or she expected them to all get it on, and didn't mind the idea nearly as much as Brian would have thought.

  Interesting.

  Still, it was most likely the first one. Marcia would do anything to get her job done. Probably even sleep with everyone in the place if that seemed like the best way to accomplish whatever her task was at the moment.

  Getting his own clothes off Brian looked at Penny and smiled. She looked reluctant, but pulled her shirt off, with her back turned. She had a sports bra underneath it and, looking over her shoulder at Marcia, and removed that too, taking all her clothes off before she turned around. Brian tried not to stare at either of them. After all, this wasn't about that, it was all about work. Still he noticed that both shaved their legs and under their arms, but Marcia took off all her body hair it looked like. That or didn't grow it at all, which was possible given her powers. Penny looked nervous, so he took her by the hand and hit the light switch, then moved to the shower and turned the water on. It warmed within seconds, and he needed to turn the heat down a bit before they all got in. Once they were all in he closed the glass doors he leaned into Marcia, pressing his upper body against hers and gently wrapping his right arm around her shoulder.

  “Do you think this will keep us from being over heard? Do the cameras have night vision and stuff?”

  She giggled and kissed him, a bit more warmly than he'd figured she would, which caused him to wonder if she'd gotten his reasoning yet.

  “Yeah, it should work well enough. Clever getting us both into the shower with you like this. Right after a life threatening situation too. No one will even notice... Psychologically speaking it's pretty normal to have sex after something like that, healthy even... what's the situation?” Her voice stayed soft and serious, but she pressed her breasts up against him the whole time. He reached out until he felt Penny, hitting her stomach with the back of his hand lightly, working over to her shoulder and pulled her close to him too.

  “We need to start collecting data about something called Alpha squad. Here's what I know so far.” He filled them in quickly sharing everything he'd been told by the Director and what he'd noticed himself. It didn't take long.

  “I doubt that even sneaking around we're really going to fool anyone, but the fewer people involved the less likely they are to go after our friends... Maybe. I'd say to just get with Director Moore, but I don't know if they're watching him or not. For all I know one of them could be in here with us listening right now. From what Moore said most of them had to be at least class six, maybe higher. So, if you're willing to help... Not that I know where to look... It's probably best If I'm not directly involved. They came for me once already, so they might notice if I was the one digging.”

  Marcia nodded and buried her head into his neck. “Got it. Penny and I can take it from here, I think, if she's in? She might have to pass info through you directly, but you can both meet in here for that. OK, now, someone wash my back for me and then we can go. I think we've been here long enough, if we're just servicing Brian at least. In the future we'll probably want to take a little more time.” Her voice held a grin, but Brian soaped her up and tried not to get too familiar with her in the process. No need to push it when this meeting place seemed like it might actually work for a while.

  Penny, hugged him before they got out and whispered in his ear. “I may have something else for you soon, but... if it's what I think it is, I'm going to need you to promise not to hurt anyone, all right?” She didn't wait for an answer or give him any hints.

  He couldn't imagine why she'd be afraid he might hurt someone, at least if they weren't attacking someone else. If they were, would Penny really want him to hold back? He didn't think so. Once out he dried off and gave each of them a kiss on the lips, trying to make it look good enough that no one watching would think anything of it. Well, other than what they wanted them to think.

  Marcia kissed him back passionately and so did Penny, even though the cameras wouldn't see it at all. She giggled at him after she did it. “That was fun, we should do it again soon...”

  He remembered then that any listening devices would pick her up on audio, even if Marcia couldn't hear her standing four feet away. Really, there had to be some way to use that so that Penny could talk to people more normally. Maybe some kind of time delayed recorder system? If he got a chance Brian decided to check the idea out. The more contact Penny had, the more friends, the easier life would be for her.

  They both left directly, with only enough hugging and kissing to sell the whole thing as being more than a clandestine meeting, as they headed out the door.

  Brian looked at the clock and realized why he felt so tired, it was after midnight, and he'd gotten up early. He put his armor on, just in case and slept with the knife and a nine millimeter sitting on his bedside table. He did it fitfully, tossing and turning and dreamed of slicing his own chest open all night, waking up occasionally feeling like his heart was open to the air, even though it was sealed up solidly.

  In the morning, still tired, he got himself up, showered again, this time with cold water to wake himself up and dressed for breakfast, hoping Karen wouldn't have forgotten him already.

  When he arrived Robert and Georgia walked out just as he got to Karen's door. They both seemed nervous when they saw him, so he smiled and shook hands with Robert and accepted a hug, a very friendly embrace that involved a slight bit of very enthused grinding from the woman, even though he didn't know her very well. Pixie he recalled... her powers involved sex somehow and so did her first mode. That explained the hug at least.

  Had they just been visiting Karen? Georgia had a reputation and Robert was good looking, way better than Brian, if a little straight laced seeming. He shrugged. Not his business even if Karen had slept with them both, regardless of the fact that the idea did leave him a little jealous. The few times he'd met them they'd seemed like nice people at least and if that made Karen happy, well... good. She deserved that.

  Brian knocked on the door which had closed as the others came out, possibly to give Karen time to tidy up or whatever. She came right to the door, looking nervous and almost panicked when she saw him. He just hugged her and asked if she was almost ready.

  “Um, Brian?” She sounded so tentative he wondered if she was breaking up with him, which given the fact that they weren't really even going out seemed a little premature to him. He steeled himself anyway and tried to keep everything in perspective. She didn't owe him anything and this time, possibly for the first time in his whole life, when the girl broke up with him they could still really be friends. Brian tried to r
emember what had happened with Penny, reminding himself not to be a douche about the whole thing. The situation was hard and Karen deserved to be happy.

  “Rob and Georgia were just telling me something and, well it's not good... I promised not to tell you, not just you – anyone else – yet... But, when you hear, will you promise not to hurt anyone? I think... well, you might feel obligated to and it's a mess, but I don't think violence will fix it...”

  That both Penny and Karen had asked him almost the same thing in the same way baffled him, but he told her he'd try.

  “Why does everyone keep thinking I'm all violent? I know I fight a lot, even kill people, but that's not me, not really, I mean I'm doing it, but all the others have to do is stop trying to kill people and I could go back to working in a factory, or I don't know, switch to Team One and go play oboe on tour to show how wonderful we all are? Maybe grab Tobin and start a band? OK, anyway, I kind of thought you were going to tell me that you were sleeping with those two, they looked so nervous when they left. For the record, it's already been established that you can sleep with anyone you want. It would make me jealous, but hey, I'll live, and honest, I won't get all violent over it.” Brian shrugged and let his hands come up. “I might pout a little. Just a heads up there.” He made it playful and she seemed to get it at least.

  She kissed his cheek and shook her head. “Not yet and not with them, though I've always liked Rob... And Georgia has certainly offered to have sex with me often enough... This was all about that other thing. Let's go to breakfast, silly!” Pulling him around by the hand she took him off to the restaurant down the hall.