The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Penny knew what she wanted, which was fish and chips with tartar sauce. She hadn't had it for years, but it was her favorite food. At least it used to be. She doubted it would be on the menu at a place like this, but when she mentioned it the waitress just grinned, looking at the back wall the whole time.

  "I'm sure Jan can do that for you. Bridget, are you having the same?" It was leading, but the girl nodded.

  "Why not? It sounds good and if it's a special order it will be easier to make twice as much of one thing, right? I don't know how that works really. I eat food, I don't cook it. I should learn, but for some reason no one wants me too close to a kitchen yet. Like I'll start a food fight, or burn the place down?"

  Oddly enough Sandra the waitress just nodded.

  "That sounds about right. Still, if you really want to learn you should get with Jan or Warren. They can teach you what to do. I don't know what you can bribe them with for the lessons, but that's where I'd start if I were you."

  Bridget didn't say anything about it and the woman left, still seeming pleasant about the whole thing.

  After a few seconds, without much of a pause at all, the elfin looking girl in front of her shrugged.

  "Did you see Clark at all? I mean when you were in lock-up. I don't know how that works, since it's one of the few places on the base I haven't really been. I've tried to go visit him a few times, but no one will let me. They won't really tell me why." There was almost perfect eye contact then. A little off, but the girl was focusing on her nose, or would have been if she could see her at all. It was a really good effort. Most people didn't really bother even trying.

  "Yeah, he's good. I mean, you get the idea, no one beats him and he's not being sodomized by a large celly. So it isn't that bad. They even feed him. The guards aren't exactly nice to him, but that's mainly teasing really. They don't hurt him or make it so he's too uncomfortable. As to why no one will let him see you, well that's pretty simple. He raped you." She held up her hand, which didn't do anything at all. After a second, before the girl could say anything, she continued. "Like what Torque did to Karen? You can't see it, since you're inside the whole thing, at least in regards to yourself, but it's like that. Plus you're young and the first time... I nearly killed him back then, you know, when I heard about it. The only thing that saved Clark was that they'd already locked him up. You were twelve. I know that you didn't care about that, but it's a social thing. I cared. So did a lot of other people." OK, so she also hadn't been a bad ass back then either and might not have been able to do the deed, but it really had crossed her mind at the time.

  "Oh. I mean, people have said that, but it's different. No one can do anything to me that I don't want. Well, not Clark at least. I suppose that Denis could, but he wouldn't. It's like that though. Maybe a dozen people on the planet could make me do anything I don't want to, so Clark shouldn't be held responsible for it. I made my own choices. I get that they were impulsive at the time, but they were still mine. Isn't that what being an adult really is? That time when making your own decisions has weight?"

  "Nope. That's pretty deep, but we don't do things that way. You have to meet the imaginary marker of age first, so that Brian and Denis don't kick Clark's ass. Or Marcia. I know that you and her aren't the best of buddies all the time, but she'd kill anyone that tried to hurt you, you know that right?"

  There was a brief pause as Bridget looked around the room, movement by the door catching her attention. It was, of all people, Robert, and he really did look like someone had worked him over pretty well. It was weeks later and he was still moving a bit gingerly and had a pained look on his face. It was also pretty late for him to be coming in for dinner.

  Cutely enough, Bridget waved to him.

  "Rob! Come sit with us." It was the polite thing to do after all, since no one else was there. They didn't even have their food yet. Plus, she could consider tipping his chair over backwards. That was always fun. Almost no one ever got that she was the one doing it when it happened.

  After slowly walking across the room the man smiled, his face a bit pained.

  "Bridget. I don't see anyone else, are you entertaining?" The man was wearing a suit and tie, which made him look like a businessman, and he had good features, a slightly square jaw that was totally clean and very tidy brown hair. If it wasn't for the whole Karen thing Penny could have easily been into the guy. That really just made that part worse though, instead of better.

  "Yup. Penny is here. She just got out of naughty girl IPB grounding. We were just talking about how what you did with Karen was like the situation with Clark and I. I don't think that's true, since, you know, I could say no a lot easier. What do you think?" The strange, nearly incredible part of the sentence was that the girl actually sounded conversational and interested, not like she was needling the man at all.

  To his credit, the guy just pulled another chair over and sat, his face looking less than pleased. Penny would have walked out, if it was her. Facing that kind of situation was a lot less than pleasant after all.

  "No. It isn't that different at all. I should probably be locked up as well. The only thing stopping that from happening is that Karen wouldn't be able to take it, I think. It's the reason Clark is alive you know. Not Karen, but that Denis convinced the Director that you'd be damaged if we executed him for abusing you. Of course Karen isn't a child, so at least there's that in my favor. I... Have no excuse." He stopped talking then, and just looked at the girl across the table from him, his face bland.

  Penny stuck her tongue out, thinking before she spoke.

  "Well, that's self-aware enough, I guess. I suppose it would be too much to ask why he did it, wouldn't it?" She was mainly speaking to herself, but Bridget answered anyway.

  "We know why, he wanted to tap dat ass. Who can blame him really? Karen is hot. Not the world's greatest reason given everything, I guess, but I bet it had a lot to do with things. I know that a lot of the guys making a fuss over this would have done her too, if it had been them there at the time, no matter what they say."

  For his part the Team One leader ignored the girl, as if she hadn't said anything. For a bit Penny couldn't tell if the man was ignoring her because of the beating he'd gotten, which had supposedly been her doing, or if it was her being given the silent treatment. It could have been either one, but it was probably the first thing. The only time that anyone had ever done that to her on purpose had been the months that Brian was angry with her. The guy could hold a grudge, self-sacrifice as a first mode or not. All she'd done was tell him that she wasn't looking to date anyone, but he'd gotten all butt hurt over it and acted like she'd broken up with him or something.

  No, this was a bit different. The others spoke to her, but Robert acted like they were just saying some slightly odd things, and when the fish and chips came he tried to take her plate, even though he'd ordered a beef dish.

  That got Bridgie to chuckle at him and steal the plate back, setting it in front of Penny.

  "You really can't tell that someone else is here at all can you? Is that all the time or is this special?"

  Thinking about it, Penny knew what it really was, most likely.

  "Eh, well, I'm nervous about him being here. I, uh, ordered the others to thump on him and he kind of has a right to yell at me now, right? So I think that my power is protecting me, targeting him specifically. I've seen things like that before, sort of. I doubt that he can even hear you talking about me really. Or remember that your mouth moved."

  That made for an entertaining few minutes as the girl tried it out, throwing her name into the conversation several times, trying to get Torque to chat about Team Three. He was fine until it came to her. At that point he'd just move on to another topic instantly. It was kind of neat, in a very her-denying sort of fashion. It was also uncomfortable. They got dessert and she had a banana split, with three kinds of caramel sauce. How a person made a strawberry caramel she didn't now, but it was good. Incredibly so. It was still warm even and mad
e the ice cream all melty, the way she liked it.

  There was even a little sparkler in it, lit on the way to the table.

  It wasn't high class, but there was a certain happiness to the whole thing, wasn't there? Definitely geared toward her and Bridget, who had the same thing, as opposed to Torque, who sat, just sipping at a cup of black coffee. He was one of those kinds of people that had to watch his weight pretty carefully. Different people had different energy needs after all.

  Penny didn't say goodbye, just leaving the two alone, relatively certain that, no matter how much the guy had messed up with Karen, that wouldn't translate into trying to pick up a little girl that he'd known for years. He wasn't really a pervert, just a man. One that had, stupidly, let his dick think for him at the wrong time. Obviously, if he was going to take advantage of other people he needed to make sure he didn't get caught, right?

  Penny headed for her own room, the whole of floor nine dark and gloomy feeling, silent, as if no one else was there at all. That was impossible though, since Peggy kind of had to be around. She was a prisoner on the base. She'd killed a civilian once, and people didn't like it when Infected monsters did things like that. Not that the woman was really bad at all. She was actually darned sweet and probably a better person than Penny was by far, but she looked funny, having a very long jaw that stuck out, with rows of sharp pointed teeth, making her look a bit like an alligator.

  Plus the asshole she'd killed had just been an obnoxious bigot and while the courts couldn't try her for it, since she'd been too near a combat situation at the time, the government had kind of decided that it meant she had to be watched forever. It was silly.

  Out of everyone on floor nine, the woman was probably the least likely to kill anyone, except Mark.

  It was the best they could do for her though. Brian had done it really, getting her out of lock-up and taking her on as a personal project. If she messed up he'd be in trouble, but for some strange reason that didn't bother Proxy at all. Probably because he still didn't expect to live very long.

  Her room was as she'd left it, which was tidy, since there was maid service. She changed her clothing, after taking a second shower for the day, and then fell into bed. That part was heavenly. It was so soft, and her head rested comfortably on the pillow. It was nearly too soft, but she adjusted after a few minutes. After all, it had only been a few weeks, not years on the crummy cots.

  In the morning she found that the dining room was locked up tight again and that no one at all was around. Not even Brian. He had to be on the base somewhere though, that being the rule. He needed to have good medical care far too often to just hang out at a mall or anything fun like that. She changed again and headed toward the gym, since it was too early for anything good to be on television and she didn't have any books to read at the moment. She'd have to go and borrow some from her lending library. That was what she called the books shelves in Warren and Carl's room. They all had similar taste in books and the men actually bought them, which made it easier to get new reading material, since the base store didn't carry much that way. Mainly just a few best sellers.

  She ran, did a light weight lifting routine and then rode an exercise bike for a while. It took nearly three hours, but everyone at the IPB worked out. Not all at the same level, but Penny kept herself in shape. That was mainly because she didn't have anything else to do, but it still counted.

  After that she needed to eat, which meant a little light theft. She decided on chocolate Pop-Tarts and a half gallon of milk. It was too much food, but she needed the calories. Feeling a bit stuffed she made her way to her room, knowing that she didn't have anything in particular scheduled for hours. That being the case she kicked back on her bed and turned the television on. It was her best friend after all. That and her books. She didn't need anything else. At least until the food digested. Then she'd start to feel lonely again, like always.

  It was time for the early soaps, but she couldn't stand those, so she flipped over to one of the news channels instead. CNN. The other major networks were too likely to say mean things about her friends and coworkers, which always pissed her off when she heard it, so she avoided them. The liberal channel mainly just covered the news, as far as she could tell. Then, it was closer to her personal political beliefs, so it might have just been that.

  There wasn't anything on of note, until the report about Hooper came on. That was mainly about how the man was clearly flouting all rational thinking, still going to work each day, untouched by the law. His daughter, who there was video of him raping, was still missing, off in some Swedish boarding school. His wife was out of the country as well, in a totally different place. There was nothing new about the story, but the man was still in D.C. going to his day job as a Senator.

  Asshole.

  A murdering one at that.

  One who she was supposed to be getting ready to kill, if she could. She smiled at the idea. Of course she could. Really she just needed to know where he was staying and to collect up some poison. She didn't know what to pick up for that still, but if she could get Marcia alone, they could work it out. It probably didn't matter as much as it seemed like. He could "kill himself" and no one would really doubt it was legitimate. He was accused of raping his own kid and then murdering the nanny when she found him doing it, beating her to death with his own hands.

  Even if he hadn't, he was enough of a jerk that she really didn't mind setting that up. A toaster in a bath tub could work pretty well. Or a gun "accidently" firing inside his mouth, with his finger on the trigger. That would be pretty hard to disprove. She could even do it on camera if she got him to the right place...

  That would work pretty well. It would take some care, but really, that might be better than poison.

  She wouldn't buy the man just dropping now, but offing himself, that made a certain kind of sense. Now all she had to do was get into place without it seeming suspicious. After the orders came in. Not that Marcia was acting on anything official, she didn't think. No, this was more extra-legal crap. Which was kind of Penny's bag.

  Or something like that.

  After that she got up and headed out, only to find herself dodging to the right, hard, as Brian came running right at her. He did that, when he was about to go off and save someone. He'd suddenly take off and even though he could see her, that didn't mean he wouldn't run right over her if he had to.

  "Penny! We have a problem." There was a grabbing of the wall to slow himself, and he didn't vanish at all. "Outside, now. Everyone that we can find. We have... a problem."

  "Oh, hey, specific. Come on then. Not too fast, I don't want to lose my breakfast."

  They jogged to the elevator, but apparently the difficulty, whatever it was, needed everyone for real. Brian hit the button for the lobby for her then darted back into the hall.

  "I'll use the stairs. We need to clear the building. Don't panic, but... there might be a bomb. Or... seven. Best not to be in here for a bit."

  She just nodded.

  "That's a problem all right. Don't take chances. No announcement or alarm? That means..." She didn't say the reason out loud, since it meant they were being watched and whoever was doing it might have the place wired.

  What the hell was it with all the bombs lately?

  The door opened six times as people started leaving, no one acting all that upset or worried at all. They started to pack in pretty thick and pushed her into the far wall, Tobin pressed against her bodily.

  "Hey, try not to let them kill me here, will you?"

  "All right." The little man didn't move, but he put his hands out. "No one move. Penny is here and we're crushing her. Where are you?" He sounded nearly commanding, and very certain of what he was saying. It was totally wrong, but useful to her in the moment.

  "Behind you Tobin. Against the wall. Your back is pressed up against me."

  "Oopse, sorry." He actually sounded it.

  "No, this is good. Just leave me a foot between you and the back here. T
hank you." It really was handy. The guy was just walking around with an ear piece in? That was... incredible.

  "So, Tobin, are we dating or something now? What's with the constant use of ear pieces? Not that it isn't flattering."

  There was a few seconds of silence and then the little guy's face split nearly in half, he smiled so big.

  "That's right. Totally dating. I knew that if I kept this up long enough you'd come around. You're my girl now. Can't get out of it." He didn't laugh at all.

  Penny just couldn't be bothered to feel shy for some reason. Maybe it was Tobin just being so helpless looking, or it could have been the fact that no one else could hear her, but she actually managed to sound halfway confident herself when she spoke.

  "OK. I expect flowers and stuff though. Are we sleeping together too? If so I have to warn you, you probably won't actually be able to feel it at all. Kind of hot for me, but not so great for you."

  That got a sigh and a head shake.

  "Nah. I just know what it's like to not have many people. So, you know, here I am. You have people." He held out his hand, which she took gently, realizing that he couldn't feel it at all.

  "Thanks. You too. I mean me. If you need me for anything." What else did you say in a case like that? She didn't know and it was all about to be just a little too intense for her if it kept on the way it was. Tobin for his part walked her over to a collection of bodies that was made up of a pretty odd group of people. Or maybe not as strange as all that, once she understood who all was there.

  It was the Riot Squad. Plus Doug, the new guy on Team One. He was looking pretty good, having lost about thirty pounds already in the last few months, which left him a little heavy still, but in that cute way that some guys got, if they had good features. He had a nice jaw line and high cheekbones she realized, now that some of the fat was out of the way. He'd be decent looking in a few more months.