The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  That was a confusing question, but the answer turned out to be confusing and convoluted too.

  "Well, I already owned this store and the paperwork was marked as being from nineteen-seventy- one, so it looks like I was here before now, so after this. Maybe more than once."

  "Oh. OK." He wanted badly to know why that was the case, but for some reason Becky wouldn't say.

  It was kind of decided that they'd do it even if that part would be hard, and later that night, after the shop was closed, Brian made a point of kissing her and slowly moving her to the small bedroom in the back of the shop. It was a lot warmer here after all than in his little shed.

  He wasn't all that good the first time, he knew, but he got some pointers from a certain ghost, and did much better over the coming days. It was a comfortable thing, which he didn't think it would be, the days turning into weeks and then finally months in relative bliss. He played handyman and Mary worked the shop, with things constantly being rebuilt and put in, so that he could stay busy. With all the changes he didn't notice that the place had gotten busier at first, even when he had to go and help with the early and late rush, which got larger almost every day.

  Not until Rachel Chambers came in one morning, looking sleepy and holding a young blond boy's hand. She saw him first and grinned, since he was working the deli area, making some sandwiches for the lunch crowd.

  "There you are! Kevin and I have been looking all over for you. We managed to worm enough funding out of the government to get the base rebuilt. It's going to be this huge underground thing. I'm not wild about that but..." she stopped talking as Mary walked into the room from the back, smiling and holding a box of drink bottles.

  "Rachel! And Scott! How wonderful to see you both in here again." She gave the little boy a hug and it was apparently a common enough thing that the child didn't even try to shrug away, merely taking it as his due. Then he probably would, already showing the golden skin and muscle that meant he was Infected. It made him look a little odd as a kid though. Good looking, but too much so. Like a miniature adult instead of a real child. It was actually a little creepy.

  Mary turned to him and touched her stomach a little, still grinning, but turned to Rachel.

  "You said that I gave you Scott, five years ago?" She looked at the redheaded tiny woman that nodded somberly.

  "Yes, you explained about your ability and that you couldn't keep a child and also that you wouldn't remember it for a long time, so I should explain? Is it time for that do you think?" She smiled about it, looking a lot more alert suddenly.

  "Yes. You wanted to know who the father is? This is him."

  It took Brian a minute to catch on. Then he let his breath catch and nearly passed out.

  "Are you sure?" Prime did not really look like him, did he? Or Rachel. Or Mary...

  Both woman seemed to get what he was saying though and Mary nodded happily.

  "Almost certainly. I'm late and that means I'll only have nine months to travel without him. He'll be fine in the womb, but after that... Isn't he handsome though?"

  "Of course he is. He's..." He was going to say that the boy was freaking Prime, but that wouldn't mean anything yet. "Really great."

  That got the boy to beam at him at least.

  "Thank you. Everyone says that, but it's good to hear again." The voice was young and piping, filled with confidence and charm.

  Brian nodded, not bothering to say anything about it, since he couldn't help it at all. It seemed odd to him, but Rachel wanted to come to dinner and talk about the whole thing. Mary beamed about it, happy enough about the whole situation. They set the date for later that night after the store closed.

  When they left he felt like he was in shock. The real thing, like how you felt after being slammed into a brick wall at fifty miles an hour or getting kicked twenty feet into the air. Brian felt his lips tingle, then go numb. If he hadn't been in as good of shape as he was, having slowly taken up regular exercise again almost daily, he would have thought it was a heart attack.

  "OK... That was unexpected. You might have warned me on that one." He was talking to Dharma, who smirked at him and crossed her arms, but Mary couldn't tell that, not being able to see her.

  So she answered a little curtly, probably feeling just as stressed as he did.

  "Well, how was I supposed to do that? Oh, and here's this boy, grown to five years, that you and I made last week? Much easier to do with them here, to back up the tale I needed to tell, don't you think? Besides, now you know that he's going to be fine. I know that you've worried about that part, not being there for him, but look how strong and big he is already. Smart too. I think he must get that from you. Your eyes too."

  That part was just ridiculous though and Brian laughed.

  "I know, who else has purple eyes like I do... Oh, wait..." He smiled though. Prime was famous for that, and Brian had plain brown.

  It got a grin from Mary though, instead of a denial.

  "And my naturally golden locks. It's this place though, that so-called Infection with its sporting rules. Never making sense an average mind can understand. Still, he's ours. Rachel has no reason to lie about that, does she? She was good enough to take him in, not able to have children of her own. She also has that Infection. Like you." She shrugged, but Brian got it.

  Adopted kids often showed up with Infections that are like the parents they lived with. It could also pass along in a way that seemed genetic though. It still didn't really explain why Bridget looked like a miniature version of her grandmother, did it? Unless that was some kind of weird Infection imprinting thing too. Then that part hit him.

  Bridget Chambers... was his granddaughter. Which made all those times she tried to kiss him extra gross. It wasn't her fault though, but he definitely had to have a talk with some people when he got back. Brian decided to not like time travel as a rule. It was that or make a point of taking all the blame for this himself. For one thing it meant that Scott, his son, was going to be older than him when he got home. A narcissist too. At least he liked him well enough, even with all of that, so he didn't already hate the guy or something.

  It took will power to get his breathing under control, but a short hour and a half later he was managing it all right.

  The day was a bit of a haze to him, spent mainly worrying about what to say to Rachel, how to explain that he wouldn't be around to be a good father, that Scott was special, as she already knew and that they'd all be friends later. It turned out that he didn't have to worry, because she never showed up. It was a little odd and he worried for a minute, but then remembered that he knew for a fact it all turned out in the end.

  Mary was baffled, but just shrugged and helped him sweep up the store again.

  "She could just be late. It does happen. She's an important person, you said? I didn't know that. Or, well, I do now, so that explains why I go back in time and find her. Good to know. It takes a lot of the pressure off of me now. I know about her and even where and when to find her."

  They ate a nice dinner, more vegetables with sauce, this time over wheat that had been boiled and then lightly fried. It was kind of chewy, but tasted pretty good. Mary didn't eat a lot of meat at all. It worked out pretty well for Brian, because he was only working out a few hours a day, so the lower calories in what she served meant he wasn't in danger of getting fat while he rested up. Since he was probably going to be slammed right back into action when he went, he needed to stay ready.

  Smiling he helped clean up the dishes, then turned and kissed Mary hard, which got her to respond in kind. She smiled up at him and sighed.

  "That tingling on my lips... It means that you're leaving, doesn't it?" She sounded a little sad, but he noticed the feeling slowly building on his skin then too. She was pretty sensitive to have felt it before he had.

  "I'm going somewhere. I... I'll miss you Mary." Brian felt himself tear up, knowing that this was probably the end, but the woman smiled at him and shook her head.

  "
Oh, don't fret too much. Thirty years is a long time, but we may yet meet again. I won't forget you, not ever." She kissed him again laughing as she pulled back, touching her lips.

  "Definitely time travel coming then. I can feel the warping."

  He touched her arm gently and then stood back.

  "I wish I could stay, but I have to finish what I started, I guess."

  He stared at her as the pain increased, ripples of it moving across his flesh the blue wall of pain forming again.

  "I... think I love you Mary. I know that isn't a lot..."

  "But it's better to know than not. I love you too Brian. Come back to me?"

  "I will do my very best." Then he always tried to, didn't he?

  The scream of leaving was only in his head, he hoped, since it wouldn't have left a very good impression otherwise. It got worse this time, since he didn't pass out from it, his body wracked by pain he didn't think possible, dumping him in the living room of Doug's house on the stained light blue carpet. It smelled more than a bit. Musty and like there was mildew living under it.

  There were people standing around looking at him, as if shocked, but it was nearly as he'd left them, he thought. It was hard to remember to tell the truth. Lancaster helped him sit up.

  "Do you need some water?"

  "That sounds good." He needed to replace the loss from the tears streaming down his face after all. At least he hadn't wet himself. That would have made a mess.

  It was Doug that ran in with the big pink plastic tumbler, filled with tap water, since spending money on bottles of the stuff was way out of his budget. The well water at the base was better, but the city stuff in Vancouver wasn't bad. Way better than the stuff on the East Coast had been when he went away to college.

  No one asked him any questions at first, they just patted him, looking first for blood, then broken things. He waved Lancaster's hands away though and nearly had to push Carl away. The man could tell he was in pain, but not why, so he was persistent. Part of it though was just having to leave something good like that. It was harder than he thought it would be.

  "Time travel, like you suspected, no doubt." He stared at the big blond agent and shrugged, the worst of the pain receding, except for the headache. Over the months he'd forgotten about that part.

  "How long was I gone here?"

  Montrose looked at his wrist, getting the general idea faster than the rest for some reason.

  "About a minute and twenty seconds? I didn't time it, but that seems about right." He looked at the others, but Argos agreed first.

  "Yes. Not long. Time travel? How long did it seem to you?" He looked concerned, but Brian just shrugged, breathing a little harder than normal.

  "About three months." Looking down he realized that he was wearing one of the hippie style outfits that Mary had given him. A tunic and loose pants over the black nano armor that he almost always wore, luckily. Otherwise he'd have left it in the past and probably been in a lot of trouble. It was expensive. Worth tens of millions.

  More than that to him.

  Standing was hard, but doable, even though he felt shaky the whole time, he tried to walk, wondering what he was supposed to do now. Everything had changed... But only for him. The rest of the world was the same. Unless he'd accidentally changed it somehow. He doubted that though. It felt right at least, like he'd played his part well.

  "OK. We need to get back to the base, I have some... meetings I guess. So you know, if someone could see to that? Then we need to come back here and catch Carla and Shaw, just in case there is anything really going on there. It looks like this operation is a bit of a bust. At least no one innocent died, so there's that. It does remind me to look up Stillness though, and kick his ass. Jerk has been ruining my life for longer than I've been alive."

  Borrowing Georgia's phone again he dialed the number for Brie, making everyone else give him funny looks as he started to speak, his voice a little wry and sarcastic.

  "Hello... Brie. How about breakfast tomorrow? Early. I have to leave soon. Not a lot of time right now, you understand?" He didn't wait for pleasantries, because obviously she knew what he did. It was her power.

  "Why Brian! What lovely surprise. You want to meet me for breakfast? Sure. Would Sherri's do? They have a nice pancake breakfast deal."

  "Seven-thirty?" He looked at Lancaster who looked at his watch and nodded.

  The girl on the phone agreed her voice sweet and nearly perfect for being asked out on an odd date, even knowing it wasn't one. Then, her ability was to be really good at stuff, when you actually understood it all. That had to include acting as well and if Braid was smart, she was watching all her people constantly. Brian certainly planned to try and turn them if he could. That or kill them.

  She made pleasant conversation for a few minutes, talking about work and new sci-fi novels that had come out, then got off the phone at almost the perfect point in the conversation. If it had been real he would have felt like she really liked him. Anyone watching her would have to think she either did too, or that she was really setting him up for something. He didn't mention what was going on to the others though. If they spoke about it Braid could find out.

  Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but he didn't feel like talking about it and tried to put them all off gently. It was all too real to him still. Finally he had to relent and tell them, since Lancaster insisted on debriefing him, as it was part of procedure and they didn't want huge gaps in possibly crucial information.

  He gave them the short version though, not mentioning the parts with Rachel or Scott and making the whole thing with Mary sound a lot more innocent than it had been. He mentioned the relationship, but not a single person in the room seemed to judge him for it. He did, now that he was back home, knowing that Karen had been betrayed. Except that she hadn't been. He didn't want to damage her anyway and this might. Just because her compassion made her see things as reasonable even if it hurt her, that didn't mean she wouldn't feel pain.

  Worse, since this had happened on a mission, she'd eventually find out. Too many people would get the reports for it to be a secret from her. That meant trying to explain it all to her first. At least he'd want to know if it was him. How did he do that though? She was kind hearted, but fragile in some ways. He couldn't take it back now though. Not at all.

  Brian didn't sleep well that night, fitfully tossing and turning until about six, when he got up and drove his little car to the Sherri's, knowing that it was the right one without thinking about it. Brie would have known it was the one he meant.

  She met him in the parking lot, showing no sign of age at all, looking like she was a fresh twenty-two or so, like she had the whole time he'd known her. It was all make-up though, he understood, that and some kind of anti-aging trick... or something like that. Or, and it was possible, she wasn't aging as fast as other people did. Still, she didn't look much different than the last time he'd seen her, thirty years before. A tiny bit heavier, but far from fat.

  "You look nice." It was true, but she smiled as if he was complimenting her, a hand going to her hair to primp a little.

  "Why thank you! You look good too. Better. Shall we go in?" The smile seemed real enough and she took his hand. It was like they knew each other practically. Like they were real friends. Then to her mind he was the one that sent her on a thirty odd year mission, wasn't he? Maybe they were friends then?

  The hostess seated them with a professional smile. She was an older woman and efficient, wearing the green and brown uniform that was required of her. The place smelled of syrup and berries along with toasted sugar, which made his mouth water, even though he wasn't there to load up on snacks. They were left with menus, but didn't talk until after the water and coffee came.

  He didn't notice anything happening, but "Brie" made small talk, looking at the menu in her hands as if it were fascinating, then passing it to Brian, pointing to the middle of the thing, its glossy cover glinting in the morning light through the window.
r />   "That looks good, doesn't it? The eggs over waffles dish?"

  It actually did, but he paused when his hand hit the large envelope behind the laminated and colorful single sheet. He took it out by dumping it into his lap covertly, nodding. It was a passing of information most likely. A lot of it from the size and weight of the package. He nodded and smiled.

  "I think I'll try it. Good eye. So, how have things been?" After all, if they were friends, he should ask things like that, shouldn't he? Probably not perfect first date conversation, but he wasn't going to sleep with her anyway. Knowing that always took the pressure off. He ignored the package as they talked, waiting for the waitress to come and take the order before shifting it around at all.

  The food was decent enough and they talked about books that he hadn't had a chance to read, but that she thought he should.

  "We could start a book club or something! Maybe on the internet? I know you don't live here anymore..." She passed him her e-mail address openly. What that meant he didn't know, but he agreed to give it a chance. It sounded like a good idea, if he ever had the time.

  Who didn't like to read?

  When they parted ways she gave him a small hug, but didn't whisper anything at all or try to kiss him, which was good. He wasn't sure he could have sold that yet, not with everything that had happened.

  He got back at about nine, which meant he had time to help get everyone else get ready and loaded up to leave, though Doug figured he'd have to come back and actually pack his things up.

  "Maybe get them into storage? I don't know that they'll let me though. They don't seem to let people leave much, do they?" He sounded matter of fact but Brian shook his head.

  "They keep me close, but you'll probably have regular time off and vacation time each year. My guess is that you'll be allowed to come and take care of stuff pretty soon. Maybe whenever you want to, if there isn't an active mission going on."

  Jason twitched a little but nodded.

  "I can come help you, so it won't take forever to pack things up. Maybe we can rope Mark into it too. Then it will go really fast."