The Infected: Ripped to Shreds (Book 1): Hush

by Power, P. S.

  Starting with the man that had the bad knee, from Denny's, she really was able to cross reference to many of the others in his little hate group. That part was annoying to her, since he, and the others, really did hate and fear the Infected, and did it without good reason all the time. They also didn't see it as being wrong. That the same individuals would have called out someone that went after gays the same way should have meant they were good enough people to see how wrong they were. They didn't.

  What she was able to do, however, was jump from one person to another, reading up on what they were thinking, doing, and knew about the situation. She had to skim, but she got into the meat of the group, and was able to determine one thing pretty clearly. These people were opportunists, and hadn't been behind the thing the night before. None of them even knew it had taken place.

  So it was a dead end, information wise. That was part of doing any good research however, and, in the main, meant that she could cross them off the list of suspects. Of course she had to check the others too, but if the leadership knew nothing, the rank and file probably hadn't gone off on their own. The other shock of the day was how big the group was. Well over a hundred and fifty people.

  Having a few minutes left, she checked on Proxy. She expected him to be worried, focused on the new threat to a level that he didn't even notice what was going on around him. Instead he was all about trying to manage the people around him. Bridget's mother, Charlotte, was Infected too, and her first mode made her grumpy and angry seeming all the time.

  Strangely enough, the woman was trying to be on her best behavior, even if there were still issues there. Her husband, Scott, was on his last nerve already. That was mainly due to the fact that he'd invited Mary. His biological mother, to attend. The woman could teleport, so had her own transportation, but she'd also managed to break Brian's heart pretty well, having conned him into thinking they were in love for over thirty years.

  She'd been working with Braid, who after clarifying that she was Devorah Timberland, Cin kind of understood. The woman had been brought to their version of Earth solely to influence Proxy, and hurt him at the right time. He'd let a lot of the pain go at the end, which had saved them all, but Mary had known what she was doing, the whole time.

  So things might not be going that smoothly as far as the evening went.

  On the great side, Brian had a date for the evening, so he could look like he was moving on, and was strong, not being eaten by the memories of a life that could have been. Leaving, she realized that polite people brought things when invited to special meals. Nothing would be left open she didn't think, so she grabbed a bottle of mid-priced white wine from her stash of such things, and headed out.

  Not drinking at the moment made sense to her, but it was the thought that counted.

  The trip there went quickly, the roads being nearly empty. Keeping an eye out was wasted effort, though when she found the place, which was a nicely kept, if modest home. The yard was carefully trimmed, and the front walk was clean of all leaves, and even dust. There was no one watching them that she could see, but she looked around before going in, just in case. If there was observation, it was being done from a distance.

  Seeing a man down the street, a good ways off, Cindy tried to focus on him, and managed to bring his words, which looked like a legal notebook to her mind, close enough to herself to read. He was going to visit his parents. More, he was a pacifist, who didn't seem to have a problem with anyone in the world.

  There was no one else on the front side of the building, so she approached the door. Carefully. Like a ninja. One that was boldly walking up the front walk, holding a bottle of wine, and dressed up in bright blue. It was a pant's suit, and looked kind of funny, but had pockets, which was rare for that kind of thing. That way she wouldn't have to lug a purse around all day.

  Knocking on the door she didn't know what to expect inside, and was about to check when the door burst open, showing a familiar face. She didn't know him, but everyone could recognize Prime.

  The man saw her, and took her in, appraising her looks instantly, and rather sternly, reminded himself that even if the woman was cute enough, he was married, and that meant something.

  "Hello?" He wasn't dull witted, and took in the bottle in her hand, as well as the fact that she wasn't in jeans and a t-shirt. "May I help you?"

  His words flowed well, showing his concern that she was in the wrong place. Worse, if she weren't ready to see him, she could respond poorly. Either with fear, or with hero worship. That was rarer than the bad responses, but did happen to him.

  She nodded, seeing how that would work. He was exotic, with his gold skin, that was metallic close up, if gently, and lavender eyes. His clothing was nicely casual however, being comfortable looking tan slacks, loafers and a pull over long sleeved shirt. Dressy, but not overdone.

  Meaning she'd nailed the approximate style of dress for the day.

  "Hi! I'm Cindy. Brian's date?"

  That Proxy had a date was a surprise to the man, since no one had mentioned her it seemed. Not to him. On the good side that didn't seem like a bad thing. He hadn't called Mary and invited her in order to fix the two people back up. That one, to his mind, wasn't going to happen. The bridge had been too firmly burnt. His goal was all about patching things up, since they were his parents, and he didn't really want to have to eventually avoid either of them for the rest of his life to make the other person happy.

  That an ambush wasn't exactly the best way to do that had occurred to him. There just hadn't been a better way to get things done, so he was taking his chance.

  He beamed at her however, a large hand coming out, to shake. To his mind that was a risky thing to try with a woman. Half of them would fail at it, and then feel awkward, and the other have would take it as him coming on to them.

  Cindy just transferred the bottle to her left hand and tried for a nice firm shake, which was hard, given how vast the man's hand was. Hard, too. More so than a man that worked out would have. Then, he was Prime. A class five Infected, which meant he was probably special in a lot of very deadly ways.

  That didn't keep him from being impressed with her simple ability to clasp hands.

  "Oh? Wonderful! Come in... Come in... Let me find Brian. I think he's helping with the food?"

  She got two steps into the room when Prime suddenly moved to the left, pushed out of the way with a gentle looking nudge from Bridget. That the physics of that shouldn't have worked didn't stop it from happening. Then she was half tackled, the seventy odd pounds of girl enveloping her in a hug.

  "Cin! That's a cool name, by the way. Come on. I saved a space on the sofa. We're watching the Lions playing footy-run against the Timberwolves. I'm betting on the Lions. I mean, who would win in a fight, right?"

  There was a chuckle from behind them, as Prime recovered his footing. He was about to admonish the girl, for grabbing someone she didn't know, but he got that Cindy wasn't responding too poorly. People could, which might well ruin the day for everyone.

  She stumbled along, and smiled.

  "Don't be silly, Bridget. Footy-run would be soccer. This is tackle-slam." The words were deadpanned, and got Bridget to stop dead in space, to look at her.

  "Duh. I should have thought of that! We have snacks. This way!"

  Going that way took her to a nicely kept, nearly immaculate, living room. The carpet was white, which showed either great trust in Bridget's eating habits, or that someone with OCD lived there. The furnishings were tan, but light as well. There were windows in the room, including a big one that she looked out of, scanning the environment, in case an attack was coming.

  Bridget looked that way, and got a bowl of mixed chips. They were cheese themed, and the small wooden thing was passed to Cin, instead of eaten instantly. There was also a relish platter, with olives, stuffed celery and carrot sticks. Deviled eggs too, which were odd to see, but also not offered to her for some reason.

  The tiny girl, who had a decently poi
nted face shook her head.

  "Nothing so far, outside. I've been running a perimeter every hour or so."

  The words seemed to summon several people, who entered the room nearly all at once. From the pictures she'd seen before, it was Brian's mom, her new husband Ron, Charlotte, and Brian himself. She passed the bottle over to him, not wanting to hold it herself.

  "Hi!" He got a hug, but only that, since his mother was right there. The idea of doing more didn't bother her, but he was kind of panicked, in a quiet way, over the idea. As for Ron... Well, he didn't really know the man at all. He seemed really laid back to her, however.

  Like a person that was Infected.

  If so, it didn't come up on his feed, which was very much like a stock ticker. Honestly, while she hadn't been expected by the man, he was tolerably pleased to see that there was an extra person there who didn't seem quite as high strung as the rest of them were.

  Charlotte sneered at her, which wasn't what she'd been trying for. The new person slightly irritated her, but everything did, so she was attempting to smile, and be polite. It didn't really work. Cindy smiled back, because the effort was enough for her, even if Scott was tense over the woman, and so was Brian.

  "Hello. You're Charlotte? Bridget's mom?" She didn't have a lot to say, but the woman was tolerably pleased suddenly, that she was recognized. That didn't happen very often to her.

  "I am! I didn't get your name? Brian mentioned that he had a guest coming, but I think I must have forgotten." She hadn't, and it wasn't a pissing contest, no matter what it probably sounded like to the others. Her game was about letting her be introduced to everyone else.

  The woman wasn't pretending to forget her name in order to trivialize her, which was what Brian suspected. That was, in his mind, due to the fact that Charlotte was attracted to him. Which was true, but not it at the moment.

  "Cindy Mableton. Research librarian." She didn't add anything else, since that gave the two things that most people cared about on first meeting you.

  Well, that and the fact that she wasn't married or had children, but if they wanted to know that one, they could ask. Which Charlotte did. Almost instantly, and well before anyone could stop her. The entire room winced, except for her. It really was a bit blunt, but to her mind she needed to know that kind of thing. After all, her job was to deal with the press and if Proxy was going to take up with a woman that had that kind of baggage, she needed to get on that right then.

  So Cin just shook her head, faking a smile that was easy enough to do, not caring about that sort of thing.

  "No to both. I don't do drugs, or have sex with minors either. I do jaywalk like a fiend however. When I go running?" She smiled, and her voice was polite about it all, because she got the general idea. To this woman she needed to know if Cindy was going to be a problem, and asking got results. Mainly lies, which she hadn't done yet herself, but it let the other lady relax and manage something like a real smile of her own.

  "Excellent. Now, everyone else here is Infected. Are you comfortable with that?" She stared then, her face fixed, as if she expected something like panic over the idea.

  Which would have been possible, she guessed. Still, the woman knew about the events of the night before, so it wasn't just about bigotry. The question was explained in the words however. Charlotte really wanted to make sure Cin wasn't going to have a strange first mode reaction. Her basic ability had been described as low level telepathy and empathy, but nothing had been given out about her reactions to things. Fear was a pretty common primary emotion to have, so asking wasn't out of the question.

  It was also considered both needed, and rude, to simply ask people things like that. Which meant Brian was turning pale, wondering if a fight was about to break out, or at least an argument.

  "Nope? I mean, it wasn't planned, was it? I don't have anything against non-Infected people myself. Some of my best friends are regular people. I'd hate to have walked into a hotbed bed of hate, after all."

  That response worked well enough it seemed, and got a hand to come out from the woman to shake, which she nailed again. That got the public relations lady to nod.

  "You don't quite have the looks for Team One. Close however. Your power seems to be useful, without being frightening. Telepathy? There are some issues there, but as long as the range isn't too great, most don't have a problem with it. The people with secrets can just avoid you."

  There was a rush of thoughts from around the room. Bridget was worried that her mother was jumping to the wrong conclusions, and being mean. You had to be really special looking to make Team One, after all, and while Bridget had managed it, for a while, that was mainly due to her being around her entire life, not her looks.

  Cindy looked around and then shrugged.

  "It isn't really telepathy exactly. I... In the last few days I've been learning to do more with it, so far distance doesn't seem to be the issue, and I can find people. Um, by the way, I checked out the people from the other night? The Denny's crowd? Their organization doesn't seem to be involved with the stuff from last night. It will take a while, but I looked at the twenty or so top people, and they don't have anything on it. So my guess is that it's someone else."

  That news got Brian to grin.

  "Really? All right, that will save some time. We need to get all of that written up. Later though? This isn't really supposed to be an inquisition, believe it or not." The look he gave Charlotte wasn't exactly a glare, but it wasn't totally smooth and friendly either.

  Smiling again, Cin looked out the window.

  "You're kidding, right? You can't take a girl home to meet the relatives and not expect them to ask hard questions. Okay, Charlotte hit them right out of the gate, instead of asking subtly over two hours, but it still would have happened in most places. I came prepared." Which was true, more or less.

  It was thanks to her powers, and not just being intelligent, but either way it was working for her.

  The bowl of chips, slightly heaping, was just being held in her left hand still, so she took a bite, trying to get people to take the hint that grilling her was over for the time being. She didn't want people to ask enough that she had to lie more than needed. If she did, things might well come to light, which could lead to awkward questions in the long run.

  The tiny powerhouse that was Impulse nodded, which was more vigorous than most would have mentioned, and was waved to the sofa, next to her. She went, slipping the bowl of artificial orange stain material onto the coffee table in front of the television. It wasn't a great place for it, being too close to the glare of the window, but it would allow them to look out, and see if anything obvious was taking place.

  Brian slipped in next to her, but he wasn't planning to stay long, since there was dinner prep to be had still.

  "Sorry about this. Thanks for coming?" It was heartfelt, so she nodded.

  "Thanks for having me! Now, I think Bridget mentioned getting outside to check for spies and terrorists?"

  She hadn't really, but it would let everyone get away from her. The older woman, Brian's mother, who wasn't old at all, being well kept and seeming to be no older than Charlotte, who took pains not to seem old. In her forties, it looked like. With Infected people that didn't mean anything. She could be younger, or a lot older than that.

  Like Prime, or Scott, she guessed. He looked to be in his twenties or so. About the same age that Brian was. That wasn't the truth however. He was thirty-six. Charlotte was two years older than that. It wasn't a thing she loved, either.

  Bridget crammed a bunch of chips into her mouth, carefully not getting even a crumb anywhere, and stood up without using her slightly greasy and stained fingers.

  "Let's get to that? I can fly a circle. Dad, do you want to come too?"

  The golden man nodded, but Cindy rolled her eyes.

  "Won't that kind of tell people where you all are? I mean, I've never seen a person fly in my life, outside of television. That would at least make the web, if it happened
here." She looked at the girl, in case that was the plan.

  Drawing the bad guys to them like that.

  The writing over her head went black, however, which wasn't a great response, most likely.

  "Good point. I'll do it on foot. I was kind of already out earlier. I need the practice, so... Didn't think about it."

  That got a small chuckle from Brian.

  "I doubt it will be that giving us away. Anyone with a computer, or even a phone book, can find us here. It would take about ten minutes, if they didn't know what they were doing." He sounded relaxed, but was still thinking that Cin had been mortally insulted by Charlotte.

  Still, she got up, and smiled at him, touching his arm on the way past as Scott and Bridget went with her. They used the front door, with both of the others suddenly moved off to the sides, since that was the place anyone shooting would be aiming for. Resisting the urge to yelp, Cindy jumped behind Scott, since he was larger than his daughter by a good bit.

  More, he instinctually understood her plan, and agreed with it.

  "Stay on the building side of me. If anything happens duck first, then run around the nearest side if I don't go with you." It had an official, and even trained sound to the little speech. What it lacked was that narcissism that was supposed to be there.

  Everyone knew that the man was a fop, and that his first mode was vanity or something like it. Narcissism it was normally called. Both inside and out, that seemed to be gone. Which as she skimmed the words from him, she noticed had been removed from him. Medically, and on purpose.

  That was incredible, of course. She wanted to learn more, but he started to move, searching the surrounding area closely. She tried to do the same, but understood that it wasn't working very well. It didn't take too long or anything. They were just doing the one building and the little house was pretty normal in size. There were two stories, and it was nice enough, but not a mansion or anything. There was a paved road behind the place, and on the sides there were open areas of well cared for lawn. They didn't even see anyone, so it wasn't exactly like they needed to be there. No one would know that however, until the day was done.