The Infected (Book 9): Proxy: War Day Read online

  "I... guess. Well, what do we do now?"

  It was Bridget that answered, pulling a ten dollar bill from her left hand pocket. "Pony up? Then make sure that this lady... Sorry, what's your name?" She spoke to the Lizard woman, her voice friendly and high pitched.

  "Marie. Marie Samos." She sounded sexy again, Brian noticed. It was a bit off, considering she was also shaking a little, but he didn't think it was psychic manipulation or pheromones. That probably meant he had a thing for exotic blue women.

  Which he could kind of see, actually. Karen fit both of those categories, too.

  He didn't have anything on him that way. Not even his IPB debit card, which had been destroyed in the blast, but Doug had twenty on him, and one by one most of the others managed to liberate a bit of cash for the woman, who seemed a bit embarrassed. The lumber yard guy nodded though.

  "That will get you through to next week, when you get paid. I can give you a ride home?"

  They all stayed there, until Marie and her new boss left. That part would work out, Brian hoped.

  The rest of the people expected to be arrested, he realized. Not that they wanted to be, but...

  He shrugged.

  "Go on home now, and get online. Tell people about this. We have to change, and fast, and we can't do that if people aren't willing to try. You all got off to a rocky start today, but you pulled it out in the end. Next time you see someone funny looking, try to treat them like anyone else? Infected people aren't all safe, but don't assume they're going to be bad either, if you can. Like you saw here today, a lot of them just need a bit of help."

  It was clear that they didn't all believe him on that one, but when he took Doug and Bridget away, he didn't have a sense that any of these people needed to die for the future to work out, either. That was good, because killing them now would just seem insane.

  It wasn't the last thing like that they had to do that day either. In fact, at about seven in the evening, Marcia came to find him, and patted him on the back, then put an arm around him and leaned in. She smelled nice, he realized. Warm and a bit like some kind of perfume. It reminded him of flowers.

  "Hey, you should take off. I set this up for you." It turned out to be a small black cell phone. "Try not to lose it. Keep it with you, too. If we need you in the middle of the night for something, I expect you to be here. You get tonight off, but tomorrow you have phone duty, so be ready to sleep in here."

  He took the phone, and smiled at her, not standing up yet. It was nice to have someone hold him. That job belonged to Mary though, but it was a hug, not a blowjob. Finally he started to move, getting her to let go.

  "I'll keep it on. Does it come with a charge thing? I've never had one of these before." Making him one of the ten people in America that was true for over the age of ten, he was willing to bet.

  That got him hooked up, and about ten minutes later he was at Mary's. She was still running the store, but after he changed, into a set of tan fatigues that he had to get from the supply tent on the base, he went into the store and started cleaning the place up. A few minutes later, after helping a man that needed some donuts, and who was a bit too heavy for that to be healthy for him, she came over, nearly bouncing.

  "Brian! I wasn't certain you'd come back. For a bit I'd thought perhaps I'd scared you away, being too forward. I can have your dinner ready for you in about an hour. I should have done it already, but I wasn't certain when you'd be here, and the shop..." She actually sounded concerned, as if he'd be upset by her having a day job? It was cute, but a bit different than what was needed.

  "That's fine. Really, I should be the one making dinner, since you did lunch, but I can't cook. I can run the store though, while you do that? Oh, I also have an order for donuts, from the base? Marcia would like ten dozen a day, if that can be done? I can take them with me when I go. I have to be there before seven, but I can help with that, if you show me what to do."

  The woman smiled, but nodded.

  "That will be done. Assorted?"

  They chattered about it for a while, and he made things up, so that he wouldn't have to call in and force Marsh to do the same thing. She was busy enough anyway, without things like food being dumped on her. Then he took a turn as a store clerk for a while. That got some funny looks from the people coming in, but he'd done the work before, if about thirty years prior. Things were different now, mainly in that the till was much more modern, but he was able to figure it out well enough.

  Finally, at just before nine, Mary came back, and shut the place down. They were going to eat in the house, apparently. That made sense to him, given that the store was straightened and tidy already. Really she needed to hire someone to help her out there. For a long time she'd had Liz, Ed and Deidre for that, but now... Well, the Elecampane kids were back in their own world, making sure it didn't die, and Elizabeth was with Hobbs and the others in hiding. She could come back, not being known by the government at all, but it seemed a bit mean to make Hobbs lose his girlfriend like that. Especially since he'd been exiled from his entire world already.

  For stealing the kids.

  That it had saved their lives and led to their entire world being protected didn't seem to matter to anyone from there. He'd broken the rules, and those in power wanted him punished. It had been suggested at the time that he be allowed the right to contest that judgment in combat, but in a very unusual vote, even that had been denied him. Hobbs was too good a fighter to be allowed that kind of thing, it seemed. What it really meant was that they were afraid what might happen if he won, and stayed.

  As the man that had saved the world, people might rally behind him, and usurp those that had nearly gotten them all killed by being foolish. It was too good a plan for someone not to give it a good try.

  No one had explained that to Brian, but it was so clear that they all knew it. The leaders of an entire world, had, for one moment, been so terrified of a single person that they couldn't even risk killing him.

  It was sad, but Brian just took Mary's hand, and followed her into the house.

  It was dinner time, and he needed to make a point of eating more often. If he could.

  Chapter six

  It was dark when he woke up.

  He had an erection, which wasn't that odd for him in the morning, even though he and Mary had sex before going to bed. It was a bit strange that she was stroking him, but they'd gone to sleep together, so he didn't wake up hitting her or anything. It felt nice, but after a few seconds, he realized that he could feel her body off to his right. Still sleeping.

  Opening his eyes he found Becky there, her hand under the quilt, pushing the whole thing to the side. Making the blanket move up and down as she worked on him.

  "What the fuck?" He sounded sleepy, not mad, but she winked at him.

  "Hey, I have permission. I just figured that it would be nicer to wake you up this way than by slapping you in the head. Anyway, get up. We have a meeting. Unless you want me to finish first? I can, if you want?" She sped up then, as if trying to make it seem like a good idea.

  He nearly growled at her, since he wasn't the kind of guy to have sex with a ghost with his girlfriend in bed with them, but just shook his head, not really wanting to fight with the girl about it. After all, they'd teased about that kind of thing for months, back when he had no one, and couldn't feel her. Now he could, because she was being projected into his mind by Christian. Plus, she also could kind of move small objects now, so the hand on him felt really good. Real.

  Still, he waved her away. It wasn't fair to her, but he had to at least try not to be that guy. The A-hole that simply used women whenever he could get away with it. She didn't seem offended, but did stare at him when he got up, checking him out. He'd slept in his clothing, since he might have to go and fight at any time, but without his shoes on. Getting up he looked at the clock, which said it was three in the morning. Because that was a normal time to hold a meeting?

  Walking with his shoes to the front room, he d
idn't speak, since at least one of them should get a good night's rest. On the front porch he slipped his running shoes on, then remembered that he needed to take a weapon with him all the time now. That meant sneaking back in, but Mary didn't wake up.

  Finally, about five minutes later, he whispered to the ghost girl.

  "So, molest people in their sleep much? You know that I would have said no."

  "Like that matters? I own you after all. You're my bitch, and you know it. Honestly Brian, it's like you live in a little fantasy world where you don't get what's really going on." She pretended to go for him again, so he looked at her and shook his head.

  "Stop with that stuff. I mean, seriously, it's like all the women around here can't tell the difference between consensual sex and just doing whatever they want. I can see you and Penny doing that, but I know that Chris had to help you just now, and you'd think she'd know better. I guess that means she's in on the meeting too?"

  That got the girl to shake her head.

  "Nope. She's fast asleep. I think you just see me because you love me. I was just going to jerk you off for fun, then slap you until you figured things out, but you caught me. Does it really bother you? I heard about the crap with Penny, but it's not like you don't want me." Her face was made up, or looked like it, but she seemed fresh faced and cute, not pierced and with heavy black eye-shadow and lipstick.

  It made her seem a lot more relatable.

  "You do want me, don't you?" That came out sounding a little worried.

  Brian rolled his eyes. "Hey, that isn't a fair thing to ask. If I say yes, it makes it okay for you to do whatever you want to me, and if I say no, it's offensive. The truth is that yes, I do, but I'm with Mary, and that means you need to keep your hands off. It may not be fair, but that's kind of how relationships work."

  She pretended to pout for a moment, then shrugged.

  "Yeah, well, no promises, but I won't stuff a dildo up your behind. Pen-pen kind of went a little overboard there. Not that I don't get it at all. It's harder to walk around without being acknowledged than you might think. I do it every night, and it's hard for me to take. She had years of isolation like that. I think it broke her mind a little. You should forgive her. You all should. Especially Warren. He's being a little bitch about it all. It isn't like he doesn't want things up his ass, right? He's gay after all."

  Brian walked away from the house, so that when he started yelling at the girl he wouldn't wake Mary up. He kept his cool, but shook his head hard enough she got the idea.

  "That, is fucked up, Becky. If a women likes having sex, that doesn't make it okay for some guy to just throw her down on the street randomly and do her, does it? No, of course not. It's the same thing. Yeah, maybe some of the guys aren't as bothered by that as Warren is, but he's the one that's right. She violated him, and claiming that it's okay because he enjoys that kind of thing... Well, for one thing, we don't know he really does, do we? I've never asked, and wouldn't. Even if it's what he wants in bed from Carl, that doesn't make it all right for her to do that to him. For that matter, you coming at me like you just did is pretty sketchy."

  She made a little handjob gesture in the air, mocking him. That was the kind of thing she liked to do, he knew. Make fun of people instead of hold an actual conversation. After all, if she just used her words, she might actually have to try and defend her position. So he was ready for the next bit, even before she did it.

  "Poor little Bri-bri, did the bad ghost haunt you too much? Are your widdle feelings hurt?"

  "Fuck you. You know what I mean, and also that I'm right. It isn't about my feelings being hurt, not even in the slightest. It's not even about me being okay with this after the fact or not. You have to ask first. Those are the rules, and rules only work if they apply to everyone, equally. Especially if you think the other person is going to say no." It was clear to him, and he didn't really see any good way around them. After all, it was what men were supposed to do all the time.

  Becky clearly didn't think that was the case though. At least she just gave him a look that told him he was being stupid, and waved her hand a bit.

  "Whatever. Anyway, Lancaster needs to see you about something. He should be in the front room. How you're getting there I don't know." She grinned. "I could have passed the messages for you, but now I think I'll just let you do yourself." She grinned at her witty line.

  Brian didn't.

  "Oh... yeah, that's pretty clever there. Like a masturbation joke? Because it's all right to abuse people, as long as they're men? I know you don't really believe that. You can have a mouth on you, but I've never seen you actually be stupid about anything before. Hopefully it's not going to be a habit with you. This isn't some little thing that people are blowing out of proportion. What Penny was doing to people, a lot of them, wouldn't be allowed if say, Clark Clarkson had been going around and doing the same thing, would they? Or even if Scott had." Prime was good looking enough that a lot of people might have looked the other way if he were breaking the rules like that. Not everyone would though.

  Rather than answer, she waved it away, but Brian smiled. He really was right, and it was clear that she got that. Even if she had been trying to molest him in his sleep.

  The thing there was that he also got what most of the men had been thinking too. Why they didn't care about what Penny had done to them. She was attractive and they liked sex. It was hard for them to say that, and then also go with the idea that it was morally wrong. Brian had been half tempted, or more, to let Becky finish up, hadn't he? That it was wrong for other reasons didn't mean he was going to be traumatized by it.

  Still, that didn't make it right. Bridget had been fine with Clark having sex with her, but also twelve back then. Everyone else had agreed it was wrong anyway. She hadn't seen that, at least later when she'd been caught doing it, but still...

  As a group they'd made rules, and had to live by them.

  It was hard for him, because really, he'd already forgiven Becky, and really had done the same with Penny. He couldn't actually help it, he didn't think. Warren couldn't do that though. Brian could see why too.

  It was clear that something bad had happened to him at some point, and now Penny had woken that up in his memory. Even if he forgot about it later, which was pretty likely, the man was in for a hard time, thanks to what she'd done to him.

  Becky vanished, but he located her again in about two minutes, when he went to find Lancaster, who was sitting with Olga and the new guy, Jake. They were all on the main sofa watching television.

  Brian could tell the difference after a second, since Jake had a different energy about him than Mickey did. Mickey was always happy, and seemed like it. Jake radiated peace, joy and love. He made you want to be a better person, without even speaking.

  Brian waved, as Becky popped into place, after he did. She jumped, but the others hadn't. Her voice was baffled though.

  "Brian! How did you get here?"

  He waved that away, knowing that the others wouldn't be able to hear her.

  "Hi everyone. Becky said that you wanted to see me?" This was said to Lancaster, but he just shook his head, slowly.

  "Not really. I could use an update, since you're here? I didn't ask for a meet. What did Becky say?"

  He nearly hid the truth, but sighed.

  "I... woke up with her giving me a handjob, and she claimed it was just about getting me to come and have a meeting with you. I really need the sleep though, so... Well, I guess I can take a minute or two." It took longer than that, but the other listened, and when he finished up the whole thing, the ex-agent nodded.

  "You need to stay armed, which I bet you got already. Keep that for now." That, of course was the nine in his hand. Lancaster pointed a large finger at it. "Also, we need to go over some things with people. That kind of bullshit will eat at unit cohesion faster than a fist fight would. I don't know what we can do about it though. A stern talking to may be about it, but right now about half the guys here have to
be wondering what would happen to them if they tried to get with a woman without her permission. We can't really do anything to them, other than kill them. So, any ideas about how to handle it?"

  Brian thought for a few seconds, and then looked over at Becky. No one else got that he was doing it, because Christian wasn't pushing her into their minds at the moment, being sensibly asleep. That did give him an idea though, at least for her.

  "Right. Well, with Becky, we can do two things. First, if she does anything like that again, we'll get Chris to not help her out anymore. That won't protect me, but I'll live. As for everyone else... Well, most of them aren't going to have an issue that way. Most people simply aren't rapists. It doesn't matter if they can get any sex or not, they won't do things like that. If they do, well, it's like you said, we don't have a lot of other options. We can just have Jake tell them that in the morning, and I'm sure it will be fine." Because dumping that on the new guy who was some kind of Pope or Dalai Lama in his own world made perfect sense to Brian.

  Oddly, he simply nodded.

  "I'll make sure that happens. I know that they don't want to harm anyone. If we can help them see that it would be damaging to others, they won't do the wrong thing. Good people just need to be reminded every now and then, who they really are."

  That didn't say anything about the bad ones, but it was good enough for now, he decided.

  Then, without mentioning anything about how he was doing it to Becky, he left, not even saying goodbye to her. Worse, when he got back, Mary was getting up for the day, meaning he had to as well. He was tired, and felt a bit grumpy, but couldn't let it show. He did however mention being assaulted by the ghost the night before, and how he'd handled it.