Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day (6 page)

So, just like that, basically telling the truth, except for a lie about a cell phone, they were allowed to walk away. Easy peasy. She'd really thought that there would be more fighting, but knew from her training that real wars didn't work that way. She'd be called on to do it, when it came to be time for it, she knew. That was nearly certain. But right now her goal had to be protecting these people. If shooting started it
might
mess up her hair, or put holes in her clothing, but the rest of them would bleed and not even heal fast enough to shrug the things off. They were soft, normal people. Even Charity, Bridget's new Infected pal.

Her people, the ones in the IPB, a lot of them were like that too. Soft and exposed to the world. It was good practice, making sure they weren't put in harm's way.

They still ended up walking for over an hour and a half, before they found the woods. Just before they got there Will stopped and pointed off to the right. There was a remote house that way, which looked a bit run down, but had fencing around the outside. Horses in the lawn, too. Bridget had to think about that one, since it was a pasture, she thought. Not a yard. Never really having had either, she wasn't too clear on the difference, except that one had better grass and fewer tasty looking animals in it. She'd never eaten horse before, but was willing to give it a try, at the moment.

Will cleared his throat, a little nervously.

"That's my place. We should be safe enough there. My parents..." It was clear that he wanted to say they'd be
fine
with a group of strangers coming to visit, but stopped himself. "Well, they'll be with their militia group. Anti-Infected, pro-constitution. As if
that
wasn't a huge contradiction. I can't stand that stuff, but we have a lot of food stored. Ammo and stuff." Looking down at his hand, he realized that there was a gun in it. Then smiled. "Can you believe that those guys back there didn't ask about these?"

Charity looked away, but then nodded.

"It was hard, but I managed to, um, get them to notice me, instead. My eyes. So, they, you know, weren't thinking about that." She wasn't the best looking girl in the world, but she
was
the prettiest in the group. Dark and cute. What wasn't to love?

Of course, doing that under stress was a
bit
more than simple empathy. She wasn't just reading people, but influencing them and doing a good job of it too.

Bridget noticed that, but didn't let it worry her. A lot of her friends could do things like that. Most of them at pretty high levels. Still, it might mean that her new buddy was a bit higher in class than she'd thought. Maybe all the way up to a two or three. Depending on how many people she could influence that way at a time. Making people not notice you had a gun could really work out, during a fight to the death, for instance.

Bridget looked at Will then, her face schooled to not show how she felt about anti-Infected militia folk. It was hard, but not a first mode problem. Simple dislike was enough for her to deal with on that score.

"You should probably get home then. Keep the nine, and make sure no one sees you. Try not to let the Anti-Infected stuff get to your brain. Not
all
of us are evil." She moved in, not thinking about it and gave him a big hug, resisting the urge to grope him, or grab his ass. Doing that would have ruined the effect, and turned her words into a joke. It took more than a bit of effort, since she
kind
of liked him already. "Also, forget about Charity. I mean, seriously, don't even think about it. We were just a group of people that walked out with you, and left you here, so you could get home." There was no real weight to the words, but he seemed to take them to heart, his eyes going a bit blank for a moment. More than they should have.

"Right. I know you, most of you, from school. That's it. Thanks everyone. I know this is scary, but we'll live. I should head home now." There was a bit of a strange feeling to the words, as if he truly believed them.

Then he walked away, not even looking back. Charity was staring at him, her tiny dark skinned face scrunched up more than a bit. In concentration.

Bridget rolled her eyes, knowing coercion when she saw it.

"Or, you
could
have just trusted him not to rat you out? I don't think he would, you know?"

The other girl finally blinked a few times then shook her head, very slowly.

"I...
Can't
. If people find out about me, then... They could hurt me. Or my dad. He doesn't know. Thank god he doesn't hate people like me. Us, I mean. But... If people know about me, they could, you know, hurt us."

It wasn't
wrong
thinking that. Gesturing ahead of them, she started walking, keeping to the side of the road, the green and heavily treed area just ahead.

"The others should be right up there. If they haven't left already. That's on you guys however. If we get out of this you should all, you know, start running regularly. Maybe do some pushups." She was just talking idly, but Deidre gave a soft sound that was probably meant to be a snort, but came across as something more like a strong exhalation.

Except that, she realized, it
wasn't
that. The other girl was just breathing a little hard, trying to keep up with her walking pace. Her slowed down rate of speed that really wasn't more than a regular person should have been able to hold. Charity was doing a bit better, and so was Ed, but she got the idea. They really
did
need to work out more. Whoever their trainer was, he'd been slacking a lot.

For Charity... Well, real people didn't have that kind of person, did they? Ed and Deidre had
Hobbs
however and that man was both hard and knew what kind of things they should have been working on to keep them ready. Since things like
this
could happen, or people could come and try to steal them back to their own world for a horrible fate of vivisection, she would have thought that would have been a pretty top priority.

She didn't slow down, since they were nearly to the rally point. The woods weren't that dense, but in a few places there was thick undergrowth. Bushes, a few trees that were decently large. A car hidden under a bunch of branches. It was obvious to her, but even when she pointed to it, the others didn't see it for a long time. Finally Ed made a sound and pointed where she had.

"Tis a transport! Cleverly disguised as a bit of foliage. Truly, it is a thing I would not have thought to expect. Will your people aid us, do you think, Lady Bridget?"

"Oh, yeah. You're our peeps too, so that's not an issue." Not for the Elcampayns. She was a bit concerned with what to do about Charity however. The girl was Infected, so one of theirs, but she could
pass
, too. Being with them right now, if she didn't need to be, that was probably a poor idea. Ed had promised her help though. So what were they going to do?

Well, first, she decided, she'd move in front of the rest of them, so that Lancaster didn't shoot them all. Or set them on fire. That would suck. He could generate flames in the air that were hot enough to vaporize flesh. The little spot in her arm that she'd cooked earlier had hurt enough that she didn't want to risk that happening if she could help it. Not even if she'd be healed from it a minute or two later.

Doug could have made their lives pretty hard too, she realized. His power was an area of effect control over gravity. Crushing
her
wouldn't work, since she was way too strong for that, but it would influence the others pretty well. Possibly killing them. Not that he was that kind of guy.

What
had
worked in practice against her though, to her surprise, was when he made the world pull her away at a strange angle and then kept doing it in different directions. She could fly, and use that to stabilize herself a bit, but it wasn't a skill that could equal the world simply
betraying
her like that. She hated being betrayed, after all. It was so hard to counter, and then you could never trust the ones that had done it again. Not ever.

Still, by being in the front, she got Lancaster to move out from behind a tree, some fifty feet off. The other man wasn't visible, but she could
smell
that he was there. Hiding. A bit stressed, from the tang in the air. They all were. Even her. True, that was about her concern for everyone else, but it was still there.

"Bridget. I see you brought friends?" He didn't have a gun pulled, but, she realized, the rest of them did. All of them were pointed away from the rest of the people, and down at the ground. Well, she didn't have one, except in her large green knapsack.

"The two tall ones are Ed and Deidre Elcampayn. They're... I guess the best way to put it is that they're Hobbs's adopted kids? The other girl is Charity. She's Infected. Probably class three. Empathy and coercion. A bit like Denis, at a guess, except that from what she said she can read too, and doesn't seem as strong going the other way." That was all guesswork, but she went on anyway. "Pretty well controlled first mode, so she can pass. Compassion, I think. Her dad is out of town, and we just didn't know what else to do with her, or we would have gotten her away from us already." It was the truth, and not meant to sound snotty or anything. It seemed like no one took it that, way either. She'd been a bit worried that Charity might take offense, not understanding the idea.

Lancaster, who was muscular, blond and good looking enough that Deidre was watching him with a tiny smile already, took the time to look around before speaking. It was careful observation of his surroundings and the kind of thing he always did, no matter where he was.

"It might be best if you head out on your own then. The last thing you really want is to be linked with people like us right now. How did the mission go?" That last bit was directed directly at her, Bridget knew.

"I vamped, and didn't shoot up the police force, or their station. I told them that I was from the Totally Clean Christians, and that we'd smuggled a nuke into the IPB headquarters. Right
before
it went off. Then I shouted about it, in disguise, for a while. I know that wasn't the plan, but they seemed to be buying it, and really, it made sense at the time."

Rather than have a problem with her version of things, he cleared his throat.

"Not bad. Better than a firefight. They won't buy it when they realize there's no radiation, but that could take hours still. You can probably come out now, Gravity."

That he'd used Doug's code name was a sign that he thought they were still on the mission. He was better at things like that than she was, so she turned to look at the spot the sound was coming from, in time to see a decent looking guy with black hair move out from behind a tree. He had on a blue t-shirt and some jeans, and while a bit square looking, it seemed like muscle for the most part now, rather than lard. He'd been pretty chubby before, but now he looked cute enough to be worth watching.

She didn't notice it really happening, but was
on
him then, in a rush. Just giving him a hug, which was returned without it being too awkward. She stopped the rest of the move, which involved some deep kissing and the offer to have sex with her right there. That was her mode taking over, so she moved back, not letting it. For now.

After all, he'd hugged her
back
. That was a good sign, and she might be able to get more of that kind of thing from him later, if she didn't make him too afraid now. She was, like it or not, his best friend's granddaughter. So if she didn't make too big of a thing of things, he might just put out, sometime. Forgetting about how unlikely that was.

For once, reality was on her side on the issue. No one could look at Brian and think that he was old enough for that kind of thing, because he simply
wasn't
. It was just a matter of getting the man in front of her used to touching her casually like that for a while, so it would seem normal to him later, when she tossed him down and had her way with him. It was coming, as long as she didn't blow it.

Or him. Not too soon.

That thought nearly had her on her knees, trying to get him to like her, but she fought for control, working to not to let anything show on her face.

Charity looked troubled, her short black hair, which was a boy cut, but not butch looking, was a little messed up from their hike through the woods.

"I don't want to be a problem, but I... Really don't have anywhere to go. My dad, he's in North Dakota, doing oil field work. He sends money. I...That sounds bad, doesn't it? There just aren't a lot of good jobs here, but we have the house. I..."

Lancaster just looked at her, his ice blue ice cold. Unfeeling. Agent like.

"There will be some kind of temporary shelters set up, or you could camp out for a few days. The town won't be closed down forever. My guess is that you need to be prepared for a week." He glanced at the rest of them, his face not betraying anything. "I have some food for you Chambers. What's your play here?"

Bridget felt her mouth water, but thought she understood the idea. She was able to pass as normal too, and while two young girls going around together might be an invitation for some panic rape, if the wrong people caught them, Charity would be a lot better off having her there than not. He might seem like a tool at times, but there was a tiny nudge for her there. In the direction of staying with the new girl. Not that she really wanted to camp for a week. Not without food. She could hunt however, and steal enough to survive. Maybe take some of the food that Will's bigoted family had put by? That both made sense
and
would be fun.

"I'll eat first, then Charity and I will vanish for a bit. I'll meet up with you at the location in ten days." That would be a week of waiting and then three nights of travel cross country on foot. True, she could run it in a lot less time from that, since Montana wasn't that far away from Colorado, but it paid to be careful.

That got a strange reaction from the others. Doug nodded, since he was so easy going that he didn't really get worked up, but Ed turned a deep red color. At first she figured that he was angry with her, but when he spoke, the tone was one of pure embarrassment.