The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Brian jogged to the stairs near the back and then right up to the man, who wasn't paying attention at all. Then he punched him in the back of the head, making him crumble and a few seconds later, the giant red form vanished.

  Then Brian cut his throat too. He'd killed that guard after all. None of the rest of them could have thrown him like that most likely. Without much warning he felt a tingling start, and slapped the knife to his middle, so he wouldn't lose it when he went back.

  If he got to go home at all... With his powers acting funny he just didn't know what might happen.

  The first thing he saw was Lancaster standing up, looking at him for wounds. It was what everyone did at the base when he came back too. The idea was, he guessed, that he was too stupid to know if he was hurt or not. That or too tough to admit it, but that was dumb. When he was hurt he always tried to see to medical treatment first. You'd think that people would notice that fact.

  He had other things to mention though, since he was fine.

  "Does Denis have a sister that might be trying to infiltrate an Infected revolutionary group?"

  It got the Agent to stop fussing over him, for a few seconds at least.

  "Yes. Why? Is she alive?"

  "Oh, yeah. She ran off after we talked. She has some kind of persuasion power? It wasn't that strong. Wore a mask, so I didn't see her face. She told me that and then ran off, looking pissed. I'd killed a couple of her friends by then, so I can't blame her for being a little ticked. I left one alive, other than her. I... Honestly I don't know what she was doing there. Girl with huge eyes. She didn't really try to fight even. I hope she's OK." It could be hard to be Infected if you didn't have a good power. She probably had great night vision or something like that, which didn't make her much of a fighter. She wasn't all angry even. Just scared.

  The obvious people got picked on a lot though. Probably more than he really understood. All of Team Two understood why he didn't like the police, didn't they? Tobin had mentioned something like that come to think of it. That a lot of them had problems when they went out. No one more than he did, but that didn't get mentioned. He looked like a half human frog and was code named Goblin. That plus his small size made him a target. Only for morons of course, since he was about fifteen times stronger than a powerful regular man. Not a violent type or someone that pushed into problems if he could avoid them.

  After another check for wounds, the knife still in Brian's hand, covered in blood, Lancaster sighed.

  "Try not to mention the part with Denis's sister. Not even at the base. She's on her own really. Doing the right thing it seems, but it isn't anything official. So, if you see her again, try to back her up. That sounds like her though, persuasion powers, pissed off. I can't say for certain, but the odds of someone faking all of that on the fly is decently low. A few people could do parts of it, but it would be hard to get it all done at once like that."

  "OK. One got away. She just ran after her power didn't work on me." He went blank then, deciding not to worry about it. After all, it wasn't something for him to deal with at all.

  It did remind him to put a call in to Denis though, and more importantly to Karen. He'd been gone for days and hadn't even called his girlfriend. She'd understand, since he was also ducking the Director and they were buddies, but it wasn't a good thing to do. Sighing he realized that he needed to call the whole thing in most likely.

  That meant a talk with Director Moore, because even if they didn't always get along, the man wasn't evil or anything. Just a politician. Avoiding him wouldn't let him do a better job.

  "Can I borrow your phone again? I need to talk to some people." He sounded glum about it and decided to get the hard part over with first.

  Lancaster, being a good Agent, had the Director on speed dial. Before hitting the button Brian looked at the name, which was at the top of a lineup. Marcia's was second, but all the names were people from the base. OK, it was a work phone, and they were on duty, but it seemed odd that he didn't have at least someone else on it. Not even a name that Brian didn't recognize. No girl from the movie theater on base that he might be dating or anything like that. Or guy, though Brian didn't think that was the problem. The thing was, nobody would have blamed him for having a girlfriend or even just a buddy he slept with. Also he didn't have a supervisor listed that Brian could see, unless one of the agents he knew had that job.

  "So... we never talked about that. Who's your boss? On the Agents side I mean. Of course the Director, but who's your supervisor of whatever it's called?" Brian looked at him for a few seconds before the man gave him a cocky grin.

  "I'm the Director of my department. The head agent for the IPB. I answer only to the Director. Even the Deputy Director only has the same clearance and can't overrule me. I thought you knew that. Figured that Marcia would have mentioned it to you. Not that it matters. We aren't exactly a huge agency and most of our personnel are so professional they don't need a lot of oversight. Lots of paperwork though." He waved to the case that he had sitting on the sofa.

  Brian just nodded.

  "You know, we really need to talk sometime. No one tells me anything and I think at least some of it might just be helpful. I'm sure not going to get it from the Director. That guy hates me with a passion." It was a little glum, but Brian hit the button to dial anyway.

  The man shook his head a bit, but didn't deny that the Director wasn't always his best friend or anything silly like that.

  As the phone rang he said something interesting though.

  "He doesn't have to like you Brian, or the other way around. He just has to respect you, and he really does. You annoy the crap out of him most days, but only because you keep being right. No one likes the new guy showing them up." He grinned then and settled back to look at more paperwork. It made more sense now that Brian knew what it was all about.

  On the second ring the phone picked up.

  "Director Kevin Moore, IPB." Just that, said in a warm voice that seemed almost smooth, not really sounding as old as the man actually was at all.

  "Brian Yi here. Calling to update you on everything."

  "Brian! Are you all right? We saw footage of the situation at the mall..."

  "I'm good. Unhurt. I need to wash up still, before all the blood dries. Anyway, let me start at the beginning..." It didn't take as long as he thought it would, the man just listening to what he said. It was clear that he already had most of the information. What he questioned him on was interesting though.

  "The boy... is he all right? He apparently just walked away after that. No one on the scene was able to find him at least. Did he say anything to you?"

  "Nope. Pretty brave guy, but I didn't see any powers or anything. I think... Honestly I think he was a regular person. Maybe insane, standing there in front of that monster and not wetting himself, but... yeah. It would have to be checked out of course. I could be wrong. He might be Infected and just have an ability that didn't help him a lot. Pretty much the same thing though." Or he could be an alien, the fact was Brian didn't know and guessing wasn't going to really help anything at all.

  The Director sounded pensive, but not displeased by anything.

  "I... have to say that I've been impressed with your restraint over the last few days. We could have possibly done without the breaking of Captain Monroe's arms, but Chief Lincoln mentioned that you handled the situation there with a modest amount of force, all things considered. There is one thing though Brian..." The voice in his ear seemed ready to try and wheedle or cajole him, which never worked for the man. It wasn't a good sign though, because it almost always meant something pretty bad was about to be said.

  Stiffening he held his breath and waited.

  "Captain Monroe... He mentioned that a friend of his attacked you at the hospital? Assaulted you actually? He wants to know if you plan to press charges or if it might fall under the Death Warrant. I assured him that it wouldn't be the latter, or the man would already be deceased. About the charges though, I t
hink that we could gain more from this situation if... we didn't go after the man. I know that it's not fair to ask you to do this-"

  "Yes it is. Rick is the Captain's boyfriend. If someone broke Karen's arms I'd be all over them too, no matter what the situation was. If someone did that to Rachel you'd do the same, even though that would be insane, since, you know, I doubt anyone could do that and survive. Why should he do less? Oh, um, Monroe isn't out, so, you know, keep that part quiet, but as far as I'm concerned it was just a friendly discussion. It wouldn't shock me if he came after me again, if we meet. No big thing."

  Lancaster smiled, not even looking up from what he was reading.

  "Plus it was hilarious. Brian didn't even hit the man, just blocked. Well, after being landed on his ass by the first punch. Oh how the mighty have fallen." It was said with good humor, but Brian just nodded.

  It did kind of show that anyone could be dangerous, if you weren't paying attention. Maybe even then. The Director made a small sound, like clearing his throat and then went back to sounding professional again.

  "Well, thank you for calling. Please keep me up to date on the investigation as well, if anything new breaks. I'm a bit concerned about your power operating as much as it has been though. I thought that it was supposed to be going into a rest period for a few weeks?"

  Brian shrugged.

  "I thought so too. So far I'm fine, so I'm planning to see this through." If it was a problem they might as well fight about it right then. If he had to quit to keep doing it he would. It was about the best position he'd been in for months, since he could get a job and take over the rent on the house maybe.

  Instead the man on the other end of the line just chuckled a little.

  "Well, you know your own power best, but don't push yourself. If you need to come back we have people that can finish the work there. Investigation isn't your job after all, and this seems to be branching out in that direction. I'm proud of you though, setting aside your own goals and desire for revenge in order to look at things rationally." The part where he didn't think Brian could manage that didn't get said at least.

  After a few more words the man hung up.

  It was a relief. Brian was never certain if they were going to end up in some kind of power struggle or fight when they spoke. It happened about half the time for some reason. The problem there was that he really didn't know why. They should have been friends or at least cordial to each other, and it was clear they both tried to be most of the time, but it didn't seem to work. The man would say something innocently enough and three sentences later Brian would be demanding he change his mind and do something totally different, not always even knowing why he wanted it done either.

  Looking at the phone he noticed that Karen's number wasn't in it for some reason. It was kind of reassuring in a way. Not that Daryl would have been sleeping with her, but Brian didn't really want that kind of competition if he could help it. On the other hand, since Karen couldn't sleep with him, maybe they should? Lancaster would be around a lot longer than he would and he really was a good guy, if a bit too much of an alpha male at times. Sensibly so though, so that wasn't too bad.

  He dialed from memory and had to wait for a few seconds for Karen to pick up. She sounded out of breath, as if she'd been running.

  "Karen Young's phone, how can I help you?"

  "Um, by being cute and wonderful? Which you already are. This is Brian by the way, not just someone calling to tell you that at random again."

  A warm chuckle came over the phone.

  "Brian! I was just working out and thinking about you. The gym is so empty right now... How are things going? With the warrant and all?"

  She hadn't been told anything for some reason, even though it wasn't a secret as far as he knew. It was a little strange since Marcia was her best friend, but he filled her in quickly enough and then related his biggest worry of the moment.

  "So... Doug. We're going to need to really help him. Do you think you could get with medical and see if they can do some diet drugs or something? He really needs to be on Team One. I don't know how we're going to do it, but maybe if we all pull together?"

  His girlfriend chuckled a little and sighed.

  "That's so sweet, looking out for your friend like that. I'll make sure it all gets set up. I'm pretty sure that if you say he's on Team One, everyone will just go along with you."

  The rest of the conversation got into the half whispered things that real boyfriends and girlfriends might say about missing each other and then insisting the other person hang up first. On the third go round he said that he loved her and did it, knowing that her compassion really wouldn't let her do it first. He looked at the man on the couch, but he just read, as if totally ignoring the gooey interplay. It was kind of him, even if there was no way he could have missed it at all.

  Brian gave his phone back.

  "Sorry about the cooties. I hear they clean right off with a little Pine-Sol."

  The agent just nodded and handed him a stack of folders, all plain except for the tags on the outside with various names. The top one was for Doug, the second Janice.

  "Check these for errors and make notes as needed on the sheets at the back."

  It took a lot longer than he thought it would, though there wasn't anything shocking in the folders yet. Name, social security number, last addresses, and Team One recommendations. He noted on each that it felt important that they go to the designated teams and that it seemed related to his power, though he didn't understand how or why. It was true after all.

  Then he outlined what he thought would be needed for Doug. It wasn't all nice really, a hard exercise program, cross training with Team Two and particularly Hobbs and Denis. He didn't have a clue what that meant though, but the men seemed to be able to get real results from people fast. Brian wanted that for his friend too.

  It was an hour later that he realized he needed to go wash up still, splattered with blood as he was, which was gross. That he'd just been sitting there covered in the stuff, working... It wasn't normal, was it? Instead of worrying over it, he just went and used all the hot water, scrubbing as well as he could until nothing seemed to be coming off him.

  It was never good to think after killing people, so he tried to distract himself, wondering what would be a good thing to do while he waited for the real agents and operatives to finish the investigation. It was a bit of a dark thought, but nearly fair. Everyone was better suited to that task than he was here. Except that it wasn't true at all.

  Ellen was, and maybe Lancaster, the rest were like him mainly. Smart enough, but not trained for the task at hand. Not unless Carl or Montrose had skills they didn't get to normally use.

  In short it meant that he was at loose ends and kind of had to be. If he went out it would just be inviting problems, wouldn't it? Either bigot attacks meant to either kill him or get someone else killed to make him look bad, or problems with the police. It didn't matter what he did, anytime he went off base the police were a problem, normally working hand in hand with a hate group.

  He sort of got it though.

  Not the hate directed at him in particular, since there had always been a cop at fault, or at least used as a tool by someone else, in everything that had happened with him. The rest of the Infected world though, it was scary to the police. They didn't have powers and most of them weren't smart enough to outthink an opponent at the best of times. He could barely do it and he had a genius level I.Q. While it was fair to blame the system for only hiring people that weren't exceptionally bright, it wasn't good to blame the individual for not being smart. It wasn't like they could easily control it or anything.

  Still, it meant staying in and doing something there to be useful. It was the same old story, which was a constant problem on base as well. He wasn't going to be around long enough for people to train him in skills that didn't have anything to do with surviving directly and there wasn't a lot for him to do otherwise if he wasn't training or off trying to save
someone. Instead he went to his room and got a book. It had been a while since he'd actually just gotten to sit and take a break like that. On base they didn't have a library or anything and he hadn't gotten a computer, so he couldn't get books that way.

  A lot of the things he had were classics, but a few were newer and one was something that he'd been partway through reading when he'd had to leave. He remembered thinking it was a little plain for his tastes at the time, a book about a female vampire hunter that had to keep her job secret from family and friends. It was set in an alternate world where there were no Infected, or at least no one in the first half had mentioned them. It made sense, because Brian knew at least a few dozen people that could have kicked the main villain's butt pretty easily. For that matter not all of them were Infected. He didn't doubt that most of the Agents could have done it too.

  That wasn't the point though. The story was about a woman that had to overcome her own liabilities, and the death of her partner, to beat the bad guys in the end.

  He finished the book just after everyone came back, after dark, so near six in the evening. He walked out to see Ellen and waved, trying to be happy about it, getting a warm smile in return. The report she gave was succinct as always.

  "At least eight other police have been influenced by the same Infected individual that affected Officer Remoss. The only common denominator is that in each case they were in a tense situation with Jeffery Shaw at the time. I can't be one hundred percent certain, but given the similarities of what people saw, images that caused them to be instantly fearful, I'd say that this ability is triggered by Officer Shaw's own fears. It probably isn't due to his first mode however. That seems to be some kind of aggressiveness." She tilted her gray head and looked at him through the glass lenses she didn't need, her violet shawl drooping slightly on her narrow shoulders. It was a good act, one that made her seem a lot older than her years. She was maybe forty. She looked closer to eighty.