The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Brian drew a blank and no one else said anything for a few minutes, in the silence he heard Rachel's stomach growl loudly.

  “Oh, right, is there room service here, do you know? Rachel ran here from Arizona and has to be starving. She mentioned it in the car and I got side tracked. Sorry Rach...” He stopped and looked down, suddenly embarrassed.

  “Um, is it all right if I call you Rachel? I didn't even think to ask...”

  She laughed and moved to touch his arm, then stopped herself and told him he could call her anything he wanted. Her voice went low and sexy when she said it and pushing sixty or not, she didn't look over thirty, so Brian noticed it. Hell, he would have noticed the tone if she had looked her age. It wasn't like he could afford to be all that picky, right?

  Watching the whole thing closely, Bridget's eyes went wide.

  “What if... I mean, would it work... what if instead of me the fight started over mom? Brian knows her too, they've even been seen in public together and there has to be footage of them hugging and even kissing, mom does that sometimes...”

  She hopped up and started acting out a little scenario, physically jumping into different rolls.

  Doing a high pitched but otherwise decent impression of her dad she crossed her arms and got a haughty look on her face and stared at empty space.

  “You're sleeping with my wife, and that offends my well known self-importance!”

  Turning rapidly her demeanor changed and her voice went flat and deadly sounding, her gaze suddenly out to an imaginary horizon line, looking through where her version of Prime had been.

  “I'm Brian. I don't sleep with anyone. I need to go work-out now and practice killing people. Lives depend on it.”

  Charlot was next up, standing and wringing her hands as if worried, something Brian had never seen her do at all. The voice match was a lot closer than with Bridget's version of him. That was his hope at least. Otherwise he sounded like a B-movie robot or something.

  A psycho robot at that.

  “Dear, I do love you... But Brian is so dreamy. I can't help myself, I lust after him."

  Before anyone could laugh the girl grabbed a foot stool and stood on it, leaving her just under six foot tall, her arms went wide as did her legs and she mimicked running.

  “I haven't admitted it to anyone, but I have a crush on Brian, he's mine. Get away from him you evil Prime!” She looked at Rachel. “That's Lauren, my ex-best friend. She looks like a giant bug tank. I mean half insect, half tank. Not a thing to hold a bunch of bugs. She pretty much gets a crush on any guy that's halfway nice to her.”

  Jumping down she pantomimed being half a dozen others who get concerned and them finally joining in, trying to keep anyone from getting hurt.

  Suddenly she stopped. “Like that, only with crying and more ouch. A bit unrealistic, since Brian probably wouldn't need help, but... Would that work? I mean people get into fights over cheating and stuff, right? And while Brian looks a little bad, cause people know he's kind of seeing Karen, even though they aren't sleeping together, but to the public... Would anyone really care at all? I mean, they might cover it in the tabloids, but no one believes those things anyway, right?”

  Charlot opened her arms for Bridget who jumped in to accept the hug as a reward. That, Charlot let them know, would probably work, if everyone else would back their story. It would need to be tweaked a little and they could confuse things and make it more colorful, maybe add in another person or two, but that actually sounded far more reasonable and likely than what had actually happened.

  “If worse comes to worse we could get Karen to claim she slept with Scott and that Brian actually started things, though that would be a harder sell. Karen isn't wild about Scott...”

  Prime shrugged as if that was of no consequence and stood up.

  “I'll get that food for mom.”

  They worked out things for about another half hour, then Charlot said that they couldn't do anything else unless the IPB was going to back the tale. Brian snorted.

  “Charlot, you're a brilliant PR person, but you're totally missing the real situation here. They owe you. All of you. If you come to them with this, more to the point if I do it for you, they'll do anything you want. Need money? Want Director Moore to come and kiss your collective butts?” He pointed at Bridget going still. “That last part about kissing your butt, that was figurative...”

  It got a laugh from everyone, which was what he'd been going for, happy to hear them all starting to bounce back.

  “You want everyone to apologize to you and mean it? We can do that... You can't kill them, but really, when things move on a bit you're going to look back at this and realize that if someone had been messing with your minds and making you actually do something like you were accused of – which given the people we're dealing with is actually within what they could have done – you'd have wanted them to stop you. Thank god that isn't what happened... It makes me think a little better of the bad guys really. I'll have to remember to thank them for that when I'm killing them for doing this.”

  Rachel walked him to the door when he got up and told him she'd be around for a few days at least. Brian looked at her and shook his head.

  “We need you to be here longer than that. Would you be willing to relocate, at least part time? I'll pay for it myself if need be, but this seems really important to me for some reason. You don't have to live at the base, but if you want to, I'll make that happen too. Please at least consider it? I'd love to meet your cats....”

  She gave him a funny look. “You can promise things for the IPB?” She sounded skeptical.

  “Oh hell no. But I can get this done anyway. It's part of the “they owe you people” thing. If Bridget wants her grandmother, no one in the world will stand in the way of that right now. Besides, Moore thinks you're hot. I don't think having you around in the halls is going to really hurt his feelings.” Smiling he tried to wink at her, which didn't hurt, but didn't really work either. It was more of a strained blink than anything else.

  The agents got him back to the base safely, the only problem coming when a police car drove past them and he drew his gun instantly, holding it out of sight. The driver saw the action in the rear view mirror.

  “Easy now. Just some local guy going to get his late night Crispy Crème or whatever it is they eat around here. No need to kill him for that. Let's give him a chance to mess up a little first.”

  Nothing happened of course, because it really was just some guy out on patrol. Just because he may have personally helped try to kill Brian before, that wasn't any reason for him to worry now, was it?

  Of course not.

  He held the side arm in his lap, pointed toward the side of the car, until they were safely through the gates. Before stepping out of the car he considered holstering it, but something felt wrong, so he kept the weapon out. Things were too quiet. Yes, it was the middle of the night, so maybe Brian was just being over cautious, but... He signaled by looking around and pointing at the nine in his right hand to the agents who brought out their own weapons. He had to admire these guys a little. Even if it was just him being paranoid, they hadn't hesitated at all to give him backup.

  To the right a half dozen people lay on the ground, writhing, another form standing over them, arms spread palms down, as if holding them in place. Whoever it was wore an orange jump suit and since he didn't look like a stork, that meant Itch had escaped.

  Goody.

  Brian pointed the weapon and moved forward smoothly, so the gun didn't bounce while he walked, not planning on calling out or anything, just shoot the man until he wasn't a problem anymore. It was about time after all.

  Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a form in a light blue outfit, hunched over as if trying to sneak, walked slowly up behind Denis, something in his hand. From the frosting of white on top of the blue and the glint from the man's glasses, it looked to be Doctor Clinton.

  Denis started to turn, sensing or perhaps hearing somet
hing, so Brian shouted at him. “Freeze Denis. I'll shoot if you try to do anything but stop what you're doing and lay face down on the ground. Now.” He walked forward rapidly, trying to get the man's attention focused on him alone. It worked, he knew, because it suddenly felt like he was on fire. He kept walking, reminding himself that the pain wasn't real, no matter how much it hurt. The curly haired prisoner focused everything he had on him, every kind of pain, burning, freezing, discomfort and even a sense of tiredness oddly enough, overtook him all at once.

  Smiling Brian kept going, Denis's eyes going wide.

  “Seriously? Do you think I would have survived this long if I was willing to give up that easily? Lay down on the ground now. Do it or I will shoot in three, two...” On two the doctor leaped forward and hit Denis in the side of the neck with the needle in his hand and pushed the plunger home. The man slapped his neck and spun around suddenly, taking his attention off of Brian for a brief moment while he frantically worked to do something to the doctor.

  The distance between them was only about sixty feet by the time he started running, about twenty meters. Even injured he could sprint that in about three seconds, which was slow really. A running elbow to the chest took Itch to the ground, the armor having stiffened nicely, turning his arm into a fairly decent weapon. Once down Brian kicked him in the head several times with his left running shoe. Hard. The man didn't stir at all after that, the drugs coming into play, Brian guessed. If he was just knocked out there would probably have been tremors or shaking. Worst case, he'd be dead. On second thought, that might be the best scenario, all things considered. Looking closely Brian could see his chest rise and fall.

  Well... darn.

  The people on the ground had started to get up, two agents and four members of Team Two, including Tobin. He straightened his lean Goblin body and smiled darkly. Instead of kicking the already downed man he turned to help the others find their feet and then picked Itch up and carried him, face down, into a little shed about two football fields away.

  The agents started to explain what had happened, but it was clear that they'd just been too nice to the guy, took the hood off so the he could eat and he'd used his powers to escape. Brian wasn't in charge of things like that, and the agents didn't answer to him, so they got a shrug in response. He couldn't blame them for not being monsters, and it wasn't their fault that Denis was a prick. Looking around for a moment Brian asked what Doctor Clinton had given the man, it looked to be working pretty well and the way things worked around the base he may have to know what the names were on things like that for future reference.

  “Midazolam. It should help keep him calm and prevent him from remembering this. I just happened to be near it when I noticed what was going on...”

  Putting his side arm away finally, he smiled at the doctor and told him that his being there had saved the man's life. Brian didn't know if that was actually a good thing, but Clinton smiled about it, as if he'd done something heroic.

  Which, of course, he had.

  It wasn't easy to run up on a person that could cause you intense pain like that. Everything in your mind screamed at you not to do it, even while you made yourself move. He'd have to mention it to the Director the next time they talked... and Burrows. Get the guy a bonus or something. Brian thanked the man and walked away shortly after that, wondering around, trying to see where everyone had gotten too. One great thing about this job, no one made him do the paper-work.

  Brian finally found Penny in the front section of the armory, she'd made a barricade of boxes around herself in a darkened corner that no one else wanted. Probably to keep anyone from stepping on her Brian realized. She'd grabbed an extra sleeping bag and made a little nest on the floor, like almost everyone else. He walked over and shook her shoulder a bit, causing her to wake with a start.

  “Brian? Oh, hey.” She rubbed sleep out of her eyes. “Is everything all right?”

  He looked at her little corner and thought there may be room for two, but wasn't sure, not knowing if she was one of those people that couldn't stand someone near her while she tried to sleep.

  “Can I sleep here too? I missed all the good spots and I'd like to crash for a bit. It's OK if you don't want me to. I...” Without even waking up fully she made room for him and then threw half of a spread out sleeping bag over him, already warm from her body heat. He didn't have a pillow, but the pain meds had gotten him this far. Now if they'd just hold for a few hours. Brian slept a lot more easily than he'd figured would be possible. He woke up a few times, but something about having someone near made him feel a lot better. Plus it was warmer, which helped. When he woke up daylight spilled through the open door, along with cool, but fresh, air. Everyone else had started to stir already.

  Penny lay pressed against him, warm and comfortable. When he sat up her eyes opened and she asked the time. He didn't know himself, watches not really fitting his current lifestyle, so Brian asked the man walking past if he could tell them. It was the groundskeeper from the day before, Emanuel. The small tan man kept walking and didn't even look over at him. He tried again with similar results. Was everyone mad at him or something? He looked at Penny who laughed, getting it way before he did.

  “You're invisible. Well, technically “really-not-noticed”, but same difference as far as most people are concerned. If you stop touching me for a while it should fade. I don't know how long, with Bridget it was about fifteen minutes, you're bigger so it that may change things. What is it she said? Quick, let's go to the showers?”

  Brian sniffed his shirt, which wasn't too bad, and stood up quickly rolling the sleeping bags and setting them toward the wall so they wouldn't get in the way if they had to move any more gear in or anything. Penny followed suit. No one else was doing it, except the one agent that he could see, Agent Burke if he remembered the name correctly from the night before.

  They stumbled out, carefully not touching each other so that he'd come back to being noticed eventually. They walked over to the food area slowly, Penny's ankles feeling a little sore still. Since no one could see them Penny just had him cut in line and take what they wanted, finding a case of tooth brushes someone had liberated from the store set up with tubes of toothpaste. They each took one and loaded the bristles on the new brushes, Brian's having a pink handle just like Penny's and brushed their teeth before they ate, washing their mouths out with bottled water and trying to clean their faces the same way, the water cold from sitting out all night.

  They sat next to the space that seemed to have been established as the makeshift HQ, since talking to the Director as soon as he got the chance seemed like a good idea. The man sat eating a donut out of a pink bakery box. No one else had them, but this area had several dozen that someone had picked up in town. Privileges of power or something. An MRE was good enough for Brian, since that's what everyone else was getting.

  Pulling a high fiber cracker from its vacuum sealed wrapper, and opening a small flat pack of strawberry jelly he ate, leaving crumbs down his front and his fingers sticky. It wasn't tasty, but beat eating bugs. Snorting, he remembered that it also tasted better than Jackal.

  He'd been a little salty.

  Penny sat quietly a little ways off from him, about fifteen feet, because they didn't know if proximity made a difference or if the not being noticed effect required contact to maintain. He listened to the conversations that the people were having around the Director as he ate. The big topics of concern for the day, so far, seemed to be getting the building checked out and what the Chambers were going to do. The big bet was that they'd go directly to the press. Charlot would probably have Hooper calling for an end to the IPB before lunch according to one man, who looked grumpy and unshaven. Almost everyone did, look grumpy, at least. Penny didn't look like she needed a shave. Feeling his chin he noticed he didn't need to overly yet either. He had a bit of stubble on his chin, but not the full face growth most of the white guys did.

  When he finished the food, he cleaned up after him
self and threw what he hadn't used into an open top box in case someone else wanted it later. Everyone had been pretty good about cleaning up after themselves so far, or else someone had been going around getting the trash up for them.

  He noticed that Clark and Peggy asked everyone to please throw their trash away when they were done and had set up bags for it. Good. No need to litter after all.

  Occasionally people walked over and spoke to Peggy directly, but no one did with Clark. Killing a person was all right, as long as you had a good reason, but having sex with a young girl was evil, seemed to be the message.

  Brian couldn't really argue the point. Irrational or not, he held about the same beliefs as everyone else on the matter. Clark creeped him out a little. Not like, scary monster in the dark freaked, but the man made him uncomfortable. He was a little funny looking, sure, but in a tall skinny way that didn't preclude him from ever getting a date or anything. Why would he pick a twelve year old girl? There had to have been other women that would have slept with him, right?

  Brian sat on the ground near Moore waiting to be noticed. No one looked at him yet, but he doubted it would be long, another few minutes or so. The Director said his name, making Brian look up. The man talked about him, wondering where he'd gotten too.

  “Does anyone know where he is? God I hope he didn't have to go fight someone else after yesterday. Did he stay in town?” The man looked at the people around him like they should know, which of course they didn't, probably because everyone else had been sleeping when he'd gotten back. An agent, the one that worked with the Chambers a lot, Burke, mentioned that he'd come back, having been in on the Itch take down.

  “Davis and Royce came back with him.” The agent said with a shrug.

  One of the few women in the group of about fifteen people opined that the world might be better off if Itch had an “accident” complete with quotation fingers. The IPB Director looked at her sternly and told her that was not appropriate to say, ever, even as a joke. He grinned at the end of it, spoiling the effect of the reprimand. Everyone laughed, which made Brian think it might be an in-joke of some kind.