Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day

by P. S. Power

  At least that was how she read his face. What he was really feeling inside, she didn't understand. He was just too scared for that to show through.

  "What? I... This is like that Darren Jones thing? Infected that hate themselves... I..."

  She shrugged, it wasn't totally wrong, but also not correct.

  "Braid, that's Devorah Timberland, and her main cronies, used to be with the IPB. She... Sort of lost it and went bug nuts on us, back in the eighties. Since then she's been orchestrating most of the anti-Infected things, so that she can reduce the population. Or something. No one is really sure what her plan is. We've been fighting them, but they're good and smart. Psychic too. So, you know, it's hard. My guess is that Braid put this thing together today so that other hate groups will start attacking Infected people in response. It may not make sense, but hey, you jerks with your bigotry don't, really, most of the time. My guess is that there will be ten to twenty deaths before the Infected band together and start just slaughtering your kind. In self-defense, so who can blame them?" She was breathing a bit hard herself, she realized, so nodded once, firmly and stood up, which got him to do the same.

  He stared at her, hard and long, then whispered, as if the military was just a few feet away from them, which simply wasn't the case.

  "Are you for real?"

  Actually, she was making most of that up, but it did sort of fit, once she'd lied about it for a while. The truth was however that Braid probably hadn't started the hate groups. She just used them, when it was handy.

  "Like a heart attack. That's why we need you. Say, what's your name, anyway?" That she hadn't gotten it, was an oversight.

  "Eugene. Gene Satai."

  He didn't look Japanese to her, but that was fine. She didn't look a quarter Chinese, either. She was however, so who was she to try and make a point of it?

  "Good. Gene, then. Look, I know that you've been told a lot of things about the Infected, most of it bad. Hell, some of that is even just the truth. There are dangerous Infected and a lot of us have emotional problems. We're still just people however. Keep that in mind? It will make what you need to do easier. You see, we need you to spread the word, about Braid and her people. Like Senator Hooper? He was Infected you know. Also working with her. Devorah Timberland, the woman that wants you to die. All of you. Not out of hate either. She's mentally gonzo in the head, and can't see another way for the future to turn out. So she'll kill you all, trying to do it. You, all of your buddies too, have to throw in with us, or she'll win. The enemy of my enemy, and so on." She wondered if that kind of thing would have any impact at all, but she sort of doubted it.

  She knew that a lot of that was true and she still thought it sounded lame. A single woman had set up the most deadly situation ever faced by human kind? Worse, she was an alien. Bridget didn't even try to explain that part. The man would just run away for sure, if she tried.

  "Bull. That... I know the people that I'm working with. James and..."

  "And dead Amanda? Were they the kind to actually throw their lives away trying to slightly harass someone like Quartz?" She was actually kind of curious. A wasp landed on her arm and tried to sting her, failing as Gene watched, his eyes going wide. She held it up for him to see, then brushed the thing away. Twice. It kept coming back for more. Why, she didn't know.

  Gene closed his eyes. "Yeah. They're diehards, all the way down. I mean, I always expected them to do something like this. It was a bit off, I guess, now that I think about it. They didn't tell anyone what they were planning, first. They're both blabbermouths, you get me? Big talkers? They were always going on about taking a few rocket launchers into that base outside of town. The one that blew up. That, or getting that Proxy guy alone and taking him apart. He doesn't really have any powers, does he?"

  She wanted to keep the fellow on task, but since she wasn't exactly sure what her point was, she nodded.

  "Yes and no. He's weak, like a regular person, but in pretty good shape. Slow too. He's also got a kind of precognition that helps him fight, and is just incredibly tough. Or he was. That bomb, it wasn't the TCC that did it, you know that right? Most of those people couldn't find their crosses with both hands, if they were on a chain around their necks. No, that was Braid. It all is. From that legislative disaster of the Hooper act, to your friends killing themselves to send a message they probably didn't understand and wouldn't have endorsed if they knew what it was. Not that James isn't still alive. I managed to save him."

  "Oh. I... what am I supposed to do with all this?"

  If he were smart, and at all sane, she would have suggested that he run, get out of the hate groups and find somewhere isolated, off in the country, to live, so that he might survive what was coming if they failed. Since he was probably sane, and of about average intelligence, she gestured for him to walk with her, moving away from the town of Chester. It felt funny to call it that, after all this time. At the base they always just called it town. If you were going into town for any reason, it was Chester that you were headed for. There simply was no place else around.

  "Right. You have to get the word out to your people and convince them that their leadership is being controlled and influenced by Devorah and her people. They really are. Not just your one group, all of them. Then, if you can, go and hide somewhere. A cabin in the woods, or something. Even a tent, if you have to do it. Braid, she might try to kill you. Or have you killed, more likely. Probably by her pawns... so watch your own people. Just me saying this to you might be enough to make that happen. You can call on us though. The IPB. What's left of it. We'll do what we can to help you. No one will believe us, but maybe you can find a way? Make them see the truth, Gene. You may be our best hope in all of this."

  He didn't seem to believe her either, but didn't say no. She was willing to bet that he was going to just pretend that the conversation had never taken place as soon as he could get out of there. She didn't really blame him. Bridget was trapped, by her life, who she was and who her friends were, into being involved in the biggest mess the world had ever seen. This man, Gene Satai, he could walk away, and possibly even hide long enough to live, if he didn't mind letting so many other people die. If he refused to try and stop what was coming.

  "It's up to you. You can do what's needed and get the word out, basically try to convince people that their hateful ways are wrong and part of a trick. Or you can run. I... Well, I won't blame you if you just take off. We have to try and save people, but it probably won't work. We're already in a war, and we're losing, Gene. Most people think that it's you and your friends against me, and mine, but they're wrong. It's all of us against an unseen puppet master that we might not be able to beat. So, you know, are you a hero or not? You seemed willing to take action back there. For the enemy, but now that you know the truth, you can decide what you want to do. Braid wants you dead, and despite what you may think, most Infected people just want you to not hate them, personally. It doesn't seem like too hard of a decision to make."

  Except that the man was already invested in thinking the way he did. They talked about that part of things, with her mainly agreeing with him, except on some of the fine points. She had a different perspective, having known hundreds of Infected people, over the years.

  He'd only ever seen two, close up, he admitted. One of those was Marcia.

  She smiled at him.

  "Right, and the first Infected people that you ever meet, they do what to you? Torture and rape you? Kill your cat? Nope, even after your friends tried to kill people, here I am trying to get you out of going to butt rape prison. Think about it." She kept walking, her senses primed for any changes, though none came. It seemed like she'd slightly over estimated the ability of the military to run a protective line. She could hear them, off in the distance, chatting tensely, as they stood in the road. Not actually even watching where they were going.

  She did steer their path away through some dense brush, just to be certain they wouldn't be seen. Gene cursed as a thorny plan
t ripped at him. She hadn't noticed that for herself, so tried to open a big enough path for him, after that. It took longer, but she wasn't done trying to convince him not to be a douche. The thing there was, as clearly afraid as he still was, it seemed to be having some effect. Probably not enough to get him to join their cause, but at least this one man might eventually rethink his anti-her position. Eventually.

  "Sure, but you just want to use me. I can do what you want, but after the first few sentences, no one will even be listening any more. No one wants to think that our leadership is corrupted. Even if I just say that they've been tricked, no one will believe me. Not of the ones that are left. After the Hooper thing, a lot of people left the cause. Um, the movement for purity?"

  "Go ahead, you can say it... Hate groups."

  "Hate groups, yeah. I suppose. But there's a reason for what we believe. You admitted that."

  "But not for hate over it. There aren't that many Infected people in the world. Think about it, you didn't even know that you'd met any until today. You probably have, but they weren't scary, and you didn't know about it, did you? Some Infected are dangerous, and can't help it, but a lot of us can, and do, all the time. That isn't made easier by people trying to persecute us. You should support the ones you can, and be as gentle as possible with the ones that can't control themselves. And yeah, keep in mind that if they can't, people like me will come and have your back, to take them down and keep everyone else safe."

  For the first time since she'd met the man, he suddenly changed. His face, which had been a bit blank, and tense around the edges of his mouth and eyes, tightened a lot. Then he cleared his throat, if softly, and kept walking without looking at her. Even when he spoke, softly enough that she nearly had to strain to hear him, he didn't stop moving forward.

  "The only way to stop them is death. We all know that. Yeah, maybe not all of them, not all the time, but you can't just pat an insane Infected on the back and ask them to change, can you?" There was no doubt in the words. The man spoke as if he were as certain of what he said as anyone could ever be.

  "After all," Bridget whispered back, her voice a lot more friendly than she'd figured it would be, "No Infected has ever learned to control their first mode, have they? Except that, oopse, here I am. In control of myself and not just flying off and doing whatever I please. In fact, almost half the people I know are Infected that have learned a good measure of control over their powers and modes. It can be done, but the fact is, with everyone trying to hide their status, we can't help anyone. We should have clinics and special schools for them, but instead we just cleanup the ones that can't manage on their own. I agree, some people probably have to be killed, but all of us? Nah. That's just being a bigot. Do you kill everyone that's a little delusional? Or who talks to themselves in public? Or do you try to get them help?" It was a pretty good argument, she thought.

  The other man stopped for a second and then made a face at her, continuing quickly enough that she didn't have to stop walking. For a long time they just walked, not seeing or hearing another person. That got them almost to the edge of town, where, to no particular surprise, they finally found some soldiers trying to form something like a watch line.

  "It's about time. Come with me. I can get us through this." She took his hand, but didn't, as he clearly expected her to do, just walk up to the line. After all the men and women there didn't take orders from her. They wouldn't have, even if she'd had I.D. on her and could prove she was Impulse. They weren't that silly, she didn't think.

  Walking up to their line and claiming that she left her credentials in her other pants wouldn't work either, she bet. Smiling she just threaded their line, towing the slightly heavy man along with her easily. He didn't resist her and stopped when she did, letting her position him behind trees, and then keep a large green vehicle with government plates between them and the watchers. They were trying hard enough, but not changing where their focus went. You had to keep looking around, she knew. Otherwise your brain got bored and would stop seeing things clearly.

  Then people like her and Gene would just traipse casually through your line. Smiling, they did just that, until they were a good half mile away. She'd wondered if there was a second line, but there was no sign of one. She would have complained, but there wasn't a real threat coming anyway. Not that a line of regular people could stop.

  No, it would take special people. Like her. Gene too. If he was good enough to get the job done.

  "So now, Gene. This is where I leave you. If you decide to do what we talked about, and try to get the word out about Braid, who is Devorah Timberland, then feel free to call us at the IPB. We should have a phone up and working soon. If you decide to run, then..." She shrugged and leaned in, to give him a hug. The man took it, but was still afraid, for some reason. "In that case, do it and don't look back. Break all your old ties and become someone new. Make everything different, including how you think. Whichever you choose, I hope for the best. Remember, this is a war and so far you've been working against your own best interests."

  He snorted and seemed a bit pissed off, now that he wasn't in as much danger of being caught. That was what she would have expected, if she'd bothered to think about it first. There was no particular reason for him to be happy with her, or the situation.

  "If you can be trusted. I don't know you. You said that James and Martha are alive, but I don't even know that. Martha is some kind of Infected spy? That doesn't seem like it fits, does it? She's been helping us for months. We probably wouldn't have done anything if she hadn't been sent by the higher ups..." Almost like a switch being thrown in his head, he seemed to get it. It was like light, descending from heaven filled his tired and careworn little brain and reminded him that there was a capacity for thought inside there. If only he'd bother to use it.

  Bridget nodded, her face solemn and while the move was a bit too big and a little fast, the man seemed to think it was genuine enough, from the way he reacted, which was making another face. He was expressive, if nothing else.

  Then she spoke, trying to sound old and wise, or not like herself, at any rate.

  "Exactly. Trivia is one of the most powerful people on the planet too. Don't forget that, if you meet again. You might not. If you know something, she does too. That goes for everyone on the planet, so you have to figure she's more than one or two steps ahead of us. I only survived her because I'm so hard to kill. If she comes for you..." That was a thing that Gene had best avoid. She nearly told him that, but realized she didn't have to.

  Trivia was on their side.

  Gene Satai swallowed and took a few steps away from her, then, unexpectedly, looked back. His large brown eyes looked weak, and a little stupid, but his words were clear enough. Firm, and almost confident.

  "I should go now." He took another step, this time backwards, but it wasn't like he was running from her. There was something in it that had changed, for some reason. "I'll be in touch. I can't promise that I'll be able to do anything useful, but I know some people, and have friends, online. You promise you didn't lie to me?"

  "Yeah. Or at least not about Braid and that stuff. I never really intended to sleep with you. This would be just about the worst time for that. I always hate that in movies when the people are being hunted and take time out to bone. No one smart would do that." It was just what she was thinking about, so she said it.

  Surprisingly, it seemed to be the right thing to say.

  "Good. You're too young to be going around doing things like that. You'll get a bad rep and then what will you do?"

  "Have lots of fun? You say bad reputation, I say good advertising for my future adventures. You'll call?"

  "I'll try. I might just run away. You had a good idea there, you know that?"

  Bridget did. In fact, it was probably what they all should have done. Except for then Braid would kill all those people, or at least have them do it to each other, and the face of the world would change.

  The really sad part, the thin
g that no one had ever told her, but that almost had to be part of the real plan, was that the Timberland woman probably intended for the Infected to win that war. They had to fight against it, so that a big chunk of regular people wouldn't die, but if they didn't, then things would probably end up being better for them. For her and all her friends.

  Really, that was the selling point that she would have used if she were Braid. That by paying a high cost now, the whole world would be better for them. She hadn't, probably due to the fact that what would sway Bridget wasn't nearly good enough for everyone else. She was a bit more morally gray than say, Proxy was. Or Marcia, though the woman was pretty dark at times. In fact, out of all of them, Bridget was probably one of the few that would have sacrificed a Billion people just so she could have a better life.

  It probably meant she was as bad as the ones trying to actually do it.

  Shaking her head to clear it, which was a sudden and dynamic move, which got Gene to stare at her, as if she were on drugs, Bridget patted his arm, lightly.

  "Get going. I hope to hear from you. Remember, I'm Bridget Chambers, if you need me. Go now. Take care and drink plenty of soup." It was just a thing to say, but Gene cringed.

  "I hate soup. It's always so... runny." Then, without explaining that line, he walked away, not looking back again.

  There was reason to doubt that she'd ever see him again, much less hear of him, but anything was possible. That part out of the way, she glided through a gap in the military line that was so large she probably could have run it at full speed without being seen or heard. Not really, which is why she went slowly, but it was pretty big and open. Then she picked her way back toward the high school, only to find that almost everyone had left already. There was a forensics team and some cops, but even the protestors had gone.

  Hopefully off to jail, but that wasn't certain by any stretch of the imagination.