The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Safe sex from then on however. He looked at Scott, who was staring a bit, but had moved back to Rachel and held his big hand on her rather small back. The Director came forward and started shaking hands with everyone, introducing himself. That got less of a reaction from Ed, even when he touched the women. After a few more minutes the average looking dark haired woman from the back came towards Brian, her right hand out tentatively as if touching people wasn't exactly normal for her world. She'd done all right with Moore, so Brian figured it might just be his age, and the fact that he was kind of "with" Mary, at least as far as she knew.

  Hobbs though jumped between them when he saw it about to happen holding the woman back almost by force.

  "Hold my lady. I must warn you first, this man is from this world, but he has seen much of battle, with no deep healing available. You must be careful or you may lose yourself in this contact." It meant something to him it was clear and the woman gasped, pulling back a little in fear.

  "How bad? He still stands..." Her eyes were locked with Brian's, not wavering at all, direct and almost forceful suddenly.

  Hobbs shrugged.

  "He is perhaps the strongest man of this world. I do not know his pain, but it would not surprise me if it is greater than even one such as you could heal."

  That, it seemed, was the wrong thing to say to the woman, who drew herself up straight and suddenly looked almost insulted.

  "I am a Carlie, Advocate Hobbs. My family does not shrink from the battle of healing those in need, even if it costs our lives. You know that." Then she pushed the redheaded and clean shaved man out of the way. Not hard, but it wasn't some little thing either.

  Her hand came out again, this time moving to touch Brian on the neck, which required him not to lash out at her, the move taking him by surprise. The second surprise was just as great, because about ten seconds after she touched him, she started shaking, then screamed.

  She didn't let go though. Her hand was suddenly moist on his flesh, the contact both unbearably hot and cool at the same time, a feeling of electricity running through him. He felt... slightly sick for a few moments, then he started to sweat, his body too hot for the level of activity in the cool store. Hobbs didn't move to intervene, but he looked worried anyway. So did everyone else if for different reasons.

  After a minute of this though, Brian got what was happening, he was being healed. Fixed. On a level that was a lot deeper and more profound than he could have imagined. He felt better, but it was clear that the woman in front of him was being worn down by the attempt, her face in pain and the screaming louder with each passing second. If she kept doing it, she might just die, as Hobbs had implied earlier. It took an act of pure and total will, but he reached up and took her hand, stabilizing the wrist, and stepped back. It felt like he was paralyzed, but he made it work anyway, through force of will. He'd felt similar things before after all. The instant the contact broke the woman started gasping, still looking distressed. She tried to reach for him again, her face looking terrified as she did. Determined too.

  "No." Brian didn't know if the whole thing had really hurt her, but he wouldn't let her die just so he could feel better. He did though, he realized. It wasn't perfect, but about half the pain in his body had vanished. Smiling he stepped back again.

  "Thanks, that really helped. I don't want you to kill yourself. So, you know, please stop now." It might not be a real thing, but Hobbs nodded and stepped between them again, smiling more now than before.

  "I did warn you Elizabeth. The Advocate is a very strong man."

  It sounded a little funny, but the people from Hobbs' world all seemed to be relieved, except Elizabeth, who tried to work her way back over to him, even as Mary came and pulled her away.

  "But he needs so much more, Mary. There is so much to repair there. Layers and layers of hurt and harm, pain and suffering. It is a task worthy of losing a life."

  That got him to raise his eyebrows.

  "Um, not really. Can't you spread it out a bit? We could do a little at a time maybe? I mean, I'm willing to try it if you are." It made sense to him, but got a laugh from Hobbs.

  "Aye! Brian here speaks the simple truth. With him you can do that. I've never seen a man break free of a healing like that. Before this day it was thought impossible. I feared that Elizabeth would lose her life to it, but I underestimated the situation."

  On that note, it was decided, mainly by Mary, that they should all go, before the healer jumped Brian and started the healing again. They needed to at least give her a few days to rest before trying again.

  "Come back though? Soon? We could have dinner perhaps?" She said it sweetly, as if he'd just say no and she wanted to make certain he wouldn't.

  "I'd love to. Maybe tomorrow? If I can I mean? I don't know what might happen between now and then, but I may have to go out of town again. We have a lead on a case." He couldn't really explain it all, not in an open room, but the woman just smiled at him, as if it was a definite yes.

  "That would be good. At seven, if you can make it?"

  Then she kissed him warmly enough that Marcia looked away, smiling a bit.

  On the way back no one spoke for a long time, Hobbs in the back seat again, Marcia driving. For all that it wouldn't hurt her at all to go through the windshield, she did it very carefully, making all the correct signals and using her mirrors well. She even wore her seat belt. Brian wondered if it was about her being afraid of getting the others in the car killed, since she really couldn't be hurt by anything a mere car crash could do. He had to admit though, she was a better driver than he was.

  From the back seat came only silence, and Marcia didn't look over at him, but eventually she smirked, which probably meant some kind of comment would be coming that she thought was funny, but that would be at his expense. He was getting used to reading her finally. It turned out he was wrong though. It wasn't about him at all.

  "So... Hobbs. You and Elizabeth, huh?" She said it slyly, as if it were some kind of secret thing that the man was trying to hide.

  It had been clear enough to Brian though that Hobbs clearly liked the woman. If it was anything more than that, well that was between them. From the back seat there came more silence however, followed by a low voice that barely sounded like the man he knew at all. It was almost shy, which wasn't normal at all.

  "Nay. I would like that, but her kind is far above mine own in station. It would be wrong of me to suggest such. It... Is good enough to have a friend from home, I think."

  Brian didn't know what to say about that, but he understood not feeling good enough for anyone else to bother with. To be the fat guy that was too much of a nerd, or too young, to be noticed...That didn't mean much though, in this case. Hobbs was definitely one of the cooler people he'd ever met and had stolen an entire world's power supply just to save a couple of kids. If that didn't raise his social position Brian didn't understand the idea at all.

  "I... don't know if that's right." Brian said it in his normal voice, less happy sounding than it had been.

  "Oh?" The man behind him had gone a little hard himself, which had never happened before, not even while fighting.

  Nodding, knowing that the man would see it, he continued.

  "There has to be some special consideration given for the fact that you saved the Elcampayns. I mean, after all, that's huge. It should at least make you a super-villain back home, right? If that's the case, why should you worry about what they might say at all? By our rules you're fine, and by the ones there... Well I don't know, but you should talk to her about it, if you haven't. The worst she could do is say no. It might happen, but I doubt she'll cut you off as a friend just for mentioning the idea. She has to be pretty lonely too." He didn't know where it was all coming from, because he certainly wasn't the master of all things relationship, but there was nothing but the sound of breathing from behind him.

  "You think that would work?"

  "I don't know. Maybe run it past Mary first? I mean for
you and Elizabeth, not trying to pick her up. She should know more about it all than I do. It's just... Life is way too short to not try. I wasted a lot of time on that, just letting myself be alone, too afraid to reach out, because I'd been rejected so many times. If not her, then at least someone. You're popular at the base, so I doubt anyone there would have a problem with you suggesting dinner or something." It was just the truth, of course. He was so easy to get along with that a lot of women would probably take him up on it.

  Marcia looked at him, then darted her eyes back to the road fast enough that they didn't swerve at all.

  "I'm with Brian. You won't get anything if you don't try. That doesn't really seem like the Hobbs we all know either. I mean you walked to the front gate of the IPB and asked for a job application, then made it stick. One of only a small handful that have ever done that. It certainly doesn't sound like a man that would just let an opportunity pass by without making a grab at it. Up to you though."

  That started a conversation that rapidly turned into Hobbs wondering if he really should try anything or not, but it would happen, Brian could tell. He wasn't certain how, but it would. More, the healer would say yes. It wouldn't even be an issue to her.

  The guy was awesome after all.

  He felt the tingling nearly ten seconds before Dharma popped in to the back seat, her voice only a little tense. It was kind of her normal tone when something was about to happen, but it wasn't some huge panic worthy thing.

  "Hey Bri. You're switching out in about two minutes. Um... Three men... trying to rape a girl. She's about fifteen. Only... there's another person. He feels familiar, but I'm not certain who it is. I know you should avoid killing him though. One of the good guys." Shrugging she vanished, which meant that it wasn't that big of a deal for him to her mind. Otherwise she'd lead him through the entry, so that he'd have the element of surprise. It was odd, because she almost always did that anymore.

  "Marcia, could you pull over? I have to go and take care of something." He realized how that sounded and smiled. "A fight, not a call of nature."

  The vehicle got stopped with a screech of tires, even though he'd sounded pretty relaxed about the whole thing, at least he thought so. It was kind of hard to tell anymore. He felt things, but his voice most often didn't show it at all.

  He climbed out, with the others looking a little worried, and had to wait for about a minute as the tingling got stronger. He could tell when he was about to switch though and stepped in suddenly, so that he'd have a little momentum. It wasn't a lot, but it turned out to be enough.

  The scene changed instantly, almost like he'd just blinked his eyes, and there were, as Becky the ghost had told him, three men. Guys in their teens at least. The only thing there that was different than he expected was that they were already fighting someone else.

  The skinny kid from the mall. The one that had fought the giant Balrog while he'd taken care of the others.

  "Oh, hey, Gandalf!" Brian hit one of the boys, the one with a large knife in his hand hard, taking him down with the one blow and stripping the blade from him in what seemed like one smooth movement.

  The next one over got a kick as the kid that he had to presume was the good guy wrestled with the largest of the attackers, barely holding his own. That was probably fair, since they were both doing decently well at it for kids. Stepping in Brian hit the would be rapist in the head with the toe of his running shoe. He only had to do it once, hitting the young man behind the left ear. It didn't take a lot of force to make him go limp.

  A little sheepishly the boy that had been trying to save the attacked girl stood up and looked around. Brian did too, now that he had a bit of time for it. They were in a relatively closed off alleyway. No one was going to be jumping up to attack again very soon at least. He debated killing the kids for a second and then sighed and pulled the knife from the sheath on his leg. It wasn't fun thing, but he knew that if he left these particular kids alive they wouldn't learn from the mistake and would hurt others later. They'd kill if left alive. It was known with that assurance that he was coming to learn meant it was a thing that would happen. If it wasn't fixed. He didn't hesitate then, slitting their throats carefully, trying to keep blood off of his clothing. It was some of the stuff that Mary had given him after all.

  The kid next to him blanched, but didn't try to stop him.

  When it was over he walked away, signaling the boy to walk along with him. He looked a little younger than he'd thought, his size fooling him into thinking greater age. That or he had a young looking face. His hair was light and he was white, but other than that unremarkable. Decent looking, but not special that way.

  He tried to chat as they walked away though.

  "Um, I'm Brian. Brian Yi. I work for the IPB. What's your name?" It was kind of important to find that out, since if he reported the kills as his, the police wouldn't try to blame this kid, at least in theory.

  "Jeremy. Jeremy Cooper." He said it with a slightly deeper voice than seemed natural, like he wanted to impress Brian with his manliness. That was wasted effort though.

  Twice they'd met, and each time he'd been fighting bad guys to try and protect other people. If that didn't pretty much max the guy out in the macho department, what would? He could have been wearing a dress and sucking down helium and Brian still would have been pretty impressed that way.

  It took a second for the name to register fully, and still could have been a coincidence, but Brian really doubted it. Not if the kid was Infected. How he was Brian couldn't tell at all, but it seemed likely. Just finding crimes as quickly as he had been showed something unusual at least. Maybe he had a power that let him do that? If so the guy was almost as screwed as Brian it seemed, not having any powers that really let him fight better than average.

  Well, unless his power was summoning Brian. The idea was strange, but it seemed oddly correct too.

  "Oh. Are you Penny's brother?" It was a long shot, but he remembered her mentioning something about family once. She wasn't in close contact with them, because it had been nearly impossible until a few months back. The IPB had told her parents that she was alive, but until Brian had come to the base no one had been able to really talk to her.

  Now they had a whole system in place to take care of that, devices that would play her voice on time delay, so her power of being totally invisible and unnoticed wouldn't stop her from being heard. It made her life a lot easier, he thought.

  The boy stopped walking and looked at him as if he was insane. He hadn't blinked about someone taking the place of the girl he'd been helping, or asked where she'd gone, but mentioning Penny...

  "She's dead. A few years ago. She disappeared at least. I don't know what happened to her, but it's why I left home, to try and find who hurt her. I know... it's stupid, but someone has to do something. My parents are... Not doing well. They divorced after she vanished. I was left with my aunt and... that didn't go well either. She tried to kill me. I remember that, but I was just... running after that. I don't know if she's alive or not." It didn't seem to make a lot of sense, but Brian patted the kid's back, recognizing the scene he laid out.

  "I left her alive. Crazy lady with a gun? A rifle?" He described the whole thing as best he could, trying not to let it run into one of the other hundred similar fights he'd had over the last months. He walked as he spoke though, the boy close behind.

  "That sounds the same. So, you saved me? That makes this what? Three times now? How big of a pain am I then?" He grinned about it, his eyes going slightly wide as something occurred to him. "Um, how do you know about my sister?" There was suspicion at least and a glance down at Brian's bloody hands.

  "Oh... Well as long as she's the same person, she's a friend of mine. Alive. She works for the IPB. I guess I should shorten this story... Hey, do you have a phone?"

  "No, I just kind of get by, not a lot of extra cash right now for things like that." He didn't sound bent out of shape about it though, just like it should be expected. />
  They were near a city center and had left from behind a house, so Brian figured he could send someone to find the kid. It took a minute to work out that he was in Phoenix. Near the downtown area.

  "All right then. I'll get some IPB agents to come and pick you up, just in case. Oh! Duh, sorry, it's nothing bad, just, you know, like I said, she's a friend of mine. You don't have to be worried about them, if you're Infected or something." It wasn't a good thing to accuse a person of, but the boy didn't seem put out by it at all.

  "I am. I mean, it isn't some kind of big thing, I just adapt to my situation really well. I mean, I think that's the case. I could be wrong, it isn't easy to tell. I can tell where things are wrong though and fix them sometimes." They walked for a while longer, until they reached a small statue of a man in a business suit holding a briefcase. The sign said it was "The Modern Thinker" which was a horrible name and didn't match up with the original statue at all, standing like it was, but it would make a good landmark.

  "OK, try to wait here if you can. If not... well, find the local IPB and go there. I don't know how long it will take for anyone to show up, but I'll get on it as fast as possible."

  "Thanks Brian. I hope that your Penny is my sister. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I really thought she was dead." It had to be shocking news, but he seemed pretty relaxed and calm about it all. Happy enough, sitting down to wait.

  Brian let him know that the girl would be coming back after that and then left faster than he could track, to find Marcia pacing back and forth and Hobbs standing, his weight balanced and his arms loose by his side, standing next to the driver's side of the silver-blue car.

  He looked at his hands and shuddered a little, remembering the feeling of killing the boys like he had.

  "The blood isn't mine. Three would be rapists. They were already being dealt with when I got there. Um, Jeremy Cooper? Possibly Penny's brother. For some reason he thinks that she's dead. That's not the story she told me though. Any clarification on that?" He waited for a second but Marsh just shook her head slightly, climbing back in the car after making sure he wasn't too injured or anything.