The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Thank god it's not raining, Brian thought, then not wanting to jinx things glanced up at the sky and saw with relief that it really was clear. Thinking about the situation and how cool it was likely to get he looked around at the people left, the ones that hadn't been bussed out already. They could keep most of them in the outbuildings, if people were willing to sleep on the floors, he realized, working the math as well as he could by approximation.

  “We need to get rid of more people, about a third of them, if everyone's going to be sleeping inside tonight. Are there any hotel rooms left, or can, I don't know, people double up or something?”

  The man that had made the note about the car hit the pad in his hands a couple of times and looked at him directly.

  “We can't find any more rooms in town, but we think we can double up for enough people to do that. A few people will end up being cuddly or sleeping outside... can't be helped. We do have enough sleeping bags for everyone and food for about four days. Water's fine, we have well water here anyway and the power for it hasn't been disrupted at all, the generator complex is outside. We can even have showers, if a water hose hanging from a building roof counts as a shower in your book at least.”

  That sounded well planned out to Brian, so he decided to leave it in the man's obviously capable hands. He asked his name, just in case something came up, since he seemed to be the go to guy for this kind of thing.

  “Sam. Sam Morris. Pleased to meet you...” He obviously searched for a name to go with Brian's face, holding out his hand, the shake a little weak, and the hand much softer than expected, even though the guy looked at least average in fitness level. Then, he was an admin type. That he looked as hard as he did probably meant a lot more work than most people would have bothered with. Then that was just part of the IPB wasn't it? Even the cooks looked a little hard really.

  Smiling he let the man have his hand back, speaking just a little later than would be normal he knew, tired from the day's events even if it wasn't that late yet. It threw off his timing.

  “Brian. Thanks, I appreciate all the help on this stuff.”

  Marcia sat on the spread sleeping bag next to Penny, both of them watching him closely. Not that he'd be that entertaining he knew, but with this little going on anything probably seemed interesting about now. It was a major problem with potentially life threatening events, they got you all amped up, but that effect would often last a lot longer than whatever needed to be dealt with. That meant sitting around being bored for a while after things calmed down, no matter how important it might be to stay ready.

  He walked over and asked if he could sit too, since he didn't have anything left to do for a bit at least. Brian's stomach told him he could eat, not having had a chance, but that he didn't need to yet, not really. Carefully he settled on the blanket, close to Penny, his leg gently touching hers, enjoying the feeling of warmth and closeness. She took his hand for a few seconds and patted his leg, but didn't move away from him.

  Marcia looked at him and grinned.

  “Damn Brian. Pulled it out again didn't you? Everyone even got out alive. I heard that Denis made a pain of himself earlier and almost got Crandall killed. We should just sneak over and off him when it gets dark. That guy's just going to keep being a problem until he's stopped. You can't keep a class four locked up forever if they're hostile. Speaking of which,” She turned her whole body, the loose sweat pants pulling halfway off in the movement, she looked annoyed and pulled them back up, then stared into Brian's face, her own going hard and slightly angry.

  “What's the deal with letting Clark go? I'll give you Peggy, she shouldn't have ever been locked up anyway, that was all politics and public image, but Clark? He was sleeping with a twelve year old! That's pedophilia... I mean, OK, granted, other guys did too, but waking up with a girl on top of you in the dark might give them a pass, once, maybe even twice, but Clark was doing it on purpose... a lot!”

  Brian nodded and went over what the Director told him the psych profile said.

  “It's not good and the guy deserved to be locked up for it, but supposedly he's not into kids, just desperate for sex. Not,” holding up a hand to stop Marcia from hitting him before finishing – even though she hadn't really started to even protest yet – Brian paused briefly. For her the time between mild reaction and beat down could be very small, hence the nickname, so he wanted to make sure she didn't overreact. “That being desperate is an excuse for what he did. But he's not likely to re-offend with anyone but Bridget and I told him that if he touched her or even got too close, I'd kill him. Not that I intend to, but the Director OK'd it, we just have to make the body disappear. I think he was even serious... Still, let's give Clark a chance... So far the one potential meeting he had with Bridget ended with him running off in the other direction as fast as he could, so... good sign, right?”

  He could tell Marcia wasn't happy about the whole situation, but it certainly made more sense than trying to hold them prisoner without any facilities at all. It would be hard enough to control Denis. Brian told her he kind of agreed with her take on the man and that if Denis did anything more hostile with his power than give someone warm fuzzies, he'd kill him.

  “So, if something happens and I do have to kill him, back my story. As it stands I'm probably going to overreact to something small at this point... Sure, I could see him having a problem with me, but he almost got Prime killed earlier and Charlot too, a single blow going the wrong direction and she'd be dead. If he wanted to pop off and try to torture me with his power, I could forgive that, but this? No. Plus, he made Soar attack Prime. What if Scott hadn't held back and waited for me to protect him like I'd asked? I mean when you think restraint and calmness, does Prime really pop into your head first? As it is I nearly murdered a man already once today because of what Denis had done.”

  Trying to change the topic he asked Marcia how she got her new hair cut. The story turned out to be a fairly interesting one, involving being buried under two of the huge weight lifting machines on fourteen, ones Brian had never even looked at too closely, because the weights were just so vast on them. They might as well have been giant sculptures as far as utility to him.

  “So long and short of it, I got a haircut and my work out uniform got destroyed, I mean just ripped to shreds. Bridget and Lis had to get me out, which took a while, since neither of them is really strong enough to lift those kinds of things alone. No one is. They managed. I did find out something interesting though – my bones don't break. My legs got trapped and bent across the shines, almost in half,” making hand gestures she indicated how the legs had bent back. “But when the pressure was taken off, they just sprang back into normal shape. Luckily I don't feel pain. I'm betting that would have been uncomfortable otherwise.”

  Touching her arm gently got her attention and she looked over at him. “But you can feel some things?” He asked, curious.

  “Oh, sure. Most things, at least to an extent. A warm shower feels warm, a hot shower feels hot, my hand in a pot of boiling water feels hot too, but not to the level of pain. Punch me and a feel I tap, tickle me and I squirm and giggle like anyone else.”

  Penny sat up and got a devilish grin on her face. Without warning she ran her hand under Marcia's right knee, which really did make her yelp and gasp suddenly. She looked at Brian smiling, then cast around for Penny, looking for some tickle retribution. They stopped when Penny inadvertently pants the other woman, the sweats ending up around her mid thighs. At least Brian thought it was on accident. She scrambled to get them back in place before anyone saw anything, which didn't work too well. A large group of Team Two members sitting about fifty meters away had been watching her antics and started clapping and yelling for her to take it all off.

  He moved in front of her and put his arm around her protectively, mock glaring at the “hooligans” with their cat calls. He told Marcia not to take it all off, since it would probably start a riot.

  She smiled ruefully. “That bad?” Her voice
held a bit of chagrin.

  “Nope, that good. Even if you weren't just teasing them, this is the wrong place for a giant orgy. Especially with visitors coming in a few hours. Have to keep up appearances and all that. So let's try to keep your clothing mainly on until at least dark, all right?” He grinned and pushed her shoulder playfully.

  Most of the people that had the powers for it helped clear debris out of the way, stacking it to the side. Not having anything else to do, they all decided to go and make sure the makeshift hospital had everything they needed. Penny moved better already, but Brian had her put her right arm over his shoulder and walked slowly anyway, trying to take as much weight off of her as possible. No need to take chances when they didn't need to, right? Besides, her arm felt warm. The temperature had dropped enough he almost wanted to wrap himself up in one of the sleeping bags. Ever since the lake thing, even a little chill annoyed him.

  The square was outlined by what equipment people, mainly Mark, had managed to get from inside the complex, nothing electronic, but a full table of drugs, first aid kits and real blankets sat stacked up, with new things suddenly appearing along with Mark, who just asked what else would be needed and where it might be. He didn't wait to say hi, just blinked out and back in somewhere else, then asked again, a new pile of things having appeared, after about ten of these Burrows laughed and told him that should do it for now, then thanked him several times.

  Brian looked at all the stuff and shook his head. “And here we were coming over to see if you needed anything. Should have known Mark would have thought of it first.” He smiled at Mark and then the doctor who gave him a considering look for a moment.

  “Well, I know that it's probably not strictly needed, but I'd like to get Warren to a functioning hospital. The Director wants to keep this all under wraps, of course, but Warren may have some internal injuries. I've already talked to Moore, but he doesn't want to risk it unless it becomes absolutely needed, but the problem there is that by the time we know it's indicated for certain, it might be too late.”

  Warren turned out to be one of the main chefs for the restaurant on level one, the one a bookcase had fallen on earlier. Apparently a big and heavy bookcase, since the man looked pretty messed up. The guy must like to read, Brian figured. Good, maybe he could lend him some books if he ever found any time for such things himself again.

  “Warren? I'm Brian. Doctor Burrows tells me she'd like to move you to a functional hospital for the night, the only problem is that this whole little... thing here today is supposed to be kept quiet. Would it be all right with you if we sent someone with you to the hospital? Just to make sure no reporters bother you or anything? You can talk to them, the reporters, if you want, your health has to come first, but I'd consider it a big favor if you'd be willing to help out here by keeping quiet for now? As a group we don't look too good here today, you know?”

  The cook looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Thanks. Yeah, I can keep quiet. You don't have to handle me like I'm five though... Or if you are going to, at least try and bribe me with some candy or something.”

  Laughing a little Brian stood. “Got it. Would you be all right going with an agent or two? They can keep the cops off of you too, if it comes to that. I'd go myself, but an agent would be better for this I think. Lower profile, plus, you know, they all look so intimidating. Let me see what I can arrange.” Warren tossed his head just a little, which Brian decided to take as agreement.

  Taking a deep breath he headed over to the Director, who spoke into a phone again. The man sounded tired, like he'd almost forgotten who he'd been speaking to. After the fifty plus calls Moore must have made that day, who could blame the guy? Not Brian. This time he was arranging for experts to come look at the structural soundness of the building and trying to convince whoever was on the other end that since there were no windows in the building, it didn't matter if it was daytime outside or not when they got there. After nearly ten minutes of wrangling and trying to deal with the person on the phone, Brian asked if he could talk to the man. The Director looked amused and baffled but handed the phone over anyway.

  “Hello? This is Brian Yi. We need to have our facility here up ASAP. If it isn't and people die, I'm going to make a point of calling you twice daily and reminding you of all of their names, every day, for as long as I live. This is important and we need you to make this work, no matter what, do you understand? If you don't make this happen, no one else will, it's up to you now. Thanks in advance, we'll have everything you need waiting for you, just let us know what it is.”

  He handed the phone back.

  After a few seconds the Director started murmuring that they could do that, whatever that was and after less than a minute he smiled and thanked the man on the phone. Then he turned to Brian, his eyes tired in the dim light, night having fallen and portable floodlights on trucks being the main source right now, but those where focused on the hole where the main building had been. Sighing he waited for Brian to speak a small smile on his face for a moment.

  Brian shook his head slowly.

  “Don't get too happy with me yet. We're moving Warren to the hospital. He's agreed to keep quiet and have a couple agents with him to protect him from the police and the press. It's the best we can do. If we keep him here we're endangering his life. Burrows was being too polite with you earlier, which makes sense, you being her bosses-boss or whatever. Can we borrow transport and agents, or do we need to steal them?”

  His voice sounded flat again, so he grinned and wrinkled his nose when he finished, trying to show he was being playful and serious at the same time. Moore glared at him, not looking nearly as happy as he had a few seconds before. Holding up his hands Brian continued.

  “It's a risk, but, seriously Warren seems to be with us, so we should look out for him. Um, you know, we need to tell the press something... probably the truth. Better they get the whole truth from us than bits and pieces of it spun by Hooper and his friends. We could hide this, maybe, the building being gone, explosion or training accident, stuff happens here after all, but we can't hide it if Scott and Charlot go to the press, which... Right now, could you blame them if they did? Speaking of that, I need to borrow a phone again soon and get in touch with them, so they know what the situation is right now.”

  Moore looked around and saw Karen, then waved her over.

  “Karen, be a dear and lend Brian your phone please?” This came out so strained that the man actually seemed to grate the words out through his teeth, sounding more hostile than he'd heard him before, even when clearly angry. Brian shrugged. If he needed to be mad at someone, then it may as well be him.

  After all, Brian already knew he didn't care. Yelling at him or not, these people weren't going to get anyone else hurt if he could help it. Not Bridget or Charlot and not Warren either. He heard the Director ask for transport and two agents for Warren, then Brian went back to Burrows.

  “Well, Warren should have transport to the hospital soon. Moore may have me killed in my sleep... so, if it comes up, I'm not currently feeling suicidal, but he agreed to let Warren go. Are you going with him?”

  Burrows shook her head and told him that she didn't want to be off site if she could help it, as department head her responsibilities were to the operatives. Shrugging, she told him they'd send Clinton with the patient instead. Brian shook his head and asked if someone else could go.

  “Nothing against him, well, except that if he goes, he may suddenly decide that medical ethics means he has to contact the press or something. I was kidding about Moore having me killed... I think. But if that happened...”

  She sighed and looked around. “Fine, Kern, get over here, fun things all around...” She explained quickly, leaving out the reason for the substitution. As the small Asian woman finished, Doctor Clinton came over, his expression about the same as almost every time Brian had seen him, sour and a bit angry.

  “I thought he was my patient? Is there some reason that I'm being penalized or is it j
ust harassment because your friend here doesn't like me?” Glaring first at the other doctors and then at Brian, his lips went white with anger.

  Brian laughed and put out a hand to shake, which the doctor, professional that he was, took, even while angry. “I do like you, I mean we don't hang out, but I don't have a lot of time for that most days anyway. No, this is just because I have an uneasy feeling about things.” Letting go of the other man's hand, he raised his right hand and shrugged. “It's probably not rational, but Doctor Burrows is humoring me because I put my butt on the line with the Director to get Warren to the hospital. I think... I don't know, but either we need Kern at the hospital or you here for whatever reason. I know this is stepping on toes, but... Look, it's been a long day for all of us, right? Please don't take this personally and, I don't know, if you could stay ready? Just in case?”

  Brian didn't have a clue why he'd phrased things that way exactly, but his read on Doc Clinton seemed accurate, because the man relaxed a lot after he heard all that. His smile still looked strained and a little like a foul odor was in the air, but no more complaints came. After a minute Burrows passed Brian back over to Marcia and sent them both away with several flicks of her wrist. Mark had vanished, but showed up in front of them as they walked back toward the Director's staging area, which actually had chairs now. Mark's work, Brian was willing to bet.

  Penny put her arm around his shoulders again and made a small noise when Mark popped into view, a tiny gasp that sounded cute. Mark smiled and handed Brian a piece of paper with the Ridgemont's number on it with the room that Scott and Charlot were in. At least that's what the paper said.

  Brian took a deep breath and pulled out Karen's phone, then dialed quickly, hoping that the Chamber's family hadn't decided that he was just as evil as everyone else probably felt to them right now. He asked to be transferred to the room, which the cheerful woman on the other end did without asking any questions, so he thanked her and held his breath.