Shine (The Infected: Mirror Man Book 1) Read online

  That part was interesting, since he was able to pick up the heaviest weight there, which had a large one-twenty on the side, stamped into the metal, and hold it in his right hand. Not thinking he could do it, Howard tried to curl the thing. It was hard to do. Almost not happening at all. He did it though. Once, only. Still, it was there in his hand. When he tried to use the mirror, going out to the the other room again, touching the thing with his left hand, nothing happened.

  That got him to feel worried for a moment.

  “You aren’t stuck. This place isn’t a prison. You can always just jimmy the door and leave. Don’t panic yet, pal.”

  Setting the weight on the short red carpet, he was able to tap the mirror, moving into the dim and backward world. Then he did it again, to return to the gym.

  “I know I can carry things. Tabby, you weigh what, ten pounds?”

  Carrying the weight back, since being sloppy led to making mistakes, he started there, with a much smaller dumbbell. That one, being about one cat weight, ten pounds, was easy enough to take with him.

  Over the course of fifteen minutes he was able to kind of work it out. Carrying weights with him, slowly increasing, he got it.

  “I can take about fifty-five pounds with me. Well, that isn’t much. Enough though, if I’m careful.” A lot of things were lighter than that, after all.

  Like Tabby. Or diamonds. They could be pretty light. Even cash and a lot of art wasn’t all that heavy. Clothing, either.

  That got him to nod to himself, then snap his fingers. It actually worked, for the first time in a decade or more.

  “Come on, Tabby. We need to collect some things. I bet there are lockers here. That means there will be a key for them.” At least that was the trend of things like that in life. If there was a lock, then the owners of the place would want a key.

  The front desk was, predictably, at the front of the place. It was slightly risky, going up like that. He didn’t use any light, not having that kind of thing on him, but there were glass doors. Those had boards in places, but light was still coming through. If he could see through it, that meant the cops could see in. Being careful was the only trick he had at the moment, since he was kind of in a jam. He had to have things to wear, or he’d be nabbed and locked up.

  Probably for being insane, claiming he lived at the old folk’s home down the street. No one was buying that. Not looking like he did now. Then, feeling like he did, that wasn’t going to be needed any more. Okay, he was going to be stuck out for a bit, not having any cash or resources on him, but hell, he would have paid to feel like he did at the moment, even if it had taken the rest of the fortune that he’d amassed in life.

  Being that it was impossible for him to prove who he was now, not going back to his own life just made sense. Plus, it was kind of clear that whatever had happened to him, that infection taking hold, had made that part worse. He’d always kind of liked to just take things. It was a rush and always had been. Now, he sort of wanted to take everything in the place he was in. Everything that existed anywhere, if he could. Even things he didn't need. Candies and sparkly things in particular. Just thinking about it was intense. Not that he was doing that.

  No, Howard needed cash, but what the gym could provide him with was mainly an outfit that would keep him from being locked up the very first time anyone saw him.

  The front desk wasn’t bad, really. It was large and made of fancy modern materials. A clear resin of some kind, with strips of blond wood inside of it. The effect was interesting, without seeming fake. Behind the thing, on a peg board, was a key ring that handily said locker rooms on it.

  He could see which one would be the master key for the lockers already. It was a Master lock, but too simple for a door key. The specific model number wasn’t a thing he was up on, but the shape of the thing was right. It took him longer to find the men’s changing room than it did to open the first of the red and gold lockers there. They weren’t all locked, but there also wasn’t a lot inside of them. Finally, as Tabby came to find him, purring for some reason, he located a blue pair of sweat pants that weren’t designed to double as a circus tent and found a t-shirt. That had a logo on it, that said TCC in big blue letters.

  “Totally Clean Christian.” He considered it for a minute, then smiled. “Wrong on both counts. Infected and a fudging heathen, bunky.”

  That he was talking to himself again didn’t worry him all that much. After all, he’d lived a lot of his life alone. Everyone needed a friend, so he’d learned to be that for himself so long before that it seemed natural any longer.

  It was a bit annoying, but to find shoes that fit his feet he had to go to the ladies’ side of things, and pry around in there. It took a while, since the first pair of running shoes he found, and everything there was in that kind of exercise vein, being that it was a gym, were white and pink. Howard wasn’t afraid of that color or anything, but he also didn’t want to make his theft that obvious. Anyone could be walking around dressed like an infected hating sports nut. He was even fit enough looking for that. Though if anyone asked he was going to have to claim that he was a competitive runner of some kind. He was just too small for anything else.

  It had been kind of impressive that he’d been able to pick up that large weight with one hand like that. Given that it wasn’t that much less than he weighed, it meant he probably had his climbing skills back. There would have to be a test of that kind of conditioning before he did too much else. Not that he didn’t have a checklist of things to do, first thing.

  Which wasn’t going to be as easy as it normally might have been. Trying to map things out in his head, he sighed and wanted to just leave the area. After all, it had taken a long while to walk up to the light where he was now. Going back down the hill was going to take at least as long. Worse, the world outside was kind of wet and windy. It had been better in the dark.

  The question then, was how big of an infected dick-bag he was. There were people that were going to die, back in the home, Shady Lane, if someone didn’t get to them and do something.

  Growling to himself, he shook his head.

  “Everyone has to be a freaking hero, don’t they, Tabby?” The cat wasn’t right there, but interestingly, she jogged over, looking at him. Kind of like she understood what he meant.

  Picking her up, Howard shook his head.

  “We should use the mirror for this. Let’s see…”

  He was a bit wired, of course. Not that his hands shook or he looked upset. You couldn’t afford that kind of thing if you wanted to be a successful criminal.

  It took about four minutes to figure out what the heck he was supposed to do. He could walk back to the home in the dark. Maybe. It was kind of hard to navigate by points of light. Plus, once he was back inside the dark, along with Tabitha the kitten in his arms, he realized something important. The world looked different in the star filled night inside the mirrors. The big one he went through was slanted in a slightly different direction already.

  Honestly, he wasn’t truly certain that he was even headed in the right direction as he moved out of the building. There were tiny dots of light though and, after a while, a shimmer in the distance that seemed to dance a bit. The water, which covered the world, he didn’t doubt.

  Almost on a whim, he tried to tap a dim blob, not expecting anything at all. The angle felt funny, but he ended up standing on his feet, over the shiny thing that he must have come out at. A silver gum wrapper that barely reflected light. It was half covered with grime and mud.

  “Brilliant. That could come in handy. I mean, if that works, I can just carry a little hand mirror with me. That and a pen light will let me escape almost anything. Possibly.” He smirked a bit. That was the kind of thing that needed to be purchased. Oh, certainly, with stolen money, but still, you didn’t shoplift. It was low class for one thing. Plus, one crime where you took ten thousand dollars was one crime. A hundred candy bars stolen from separate shops gave them ninety-nine more chances to catch yo
u doing it.

  He was already a bit down the hill, about a quarter mile away from the flooded old folks’ cemetery waiting parking lot. Shady was a fine enough place to wait to die, to be fair. Except now, he just might not have to be in such a hurry for that any more.

  Howard really wanted to steal something. Bad.

  Chuckling, he headed down, wondering if he should find someplace dry to plant the cat for a while. There was going to be swimming involved, trying to take the people inside the place back from the water. It was a kind of theft, he supposed.

  Thinking that, he headed down the hill a little more quickly. Just in case it wasn’t too late already.

  Chapter two

  Part of him wanted to feel bad about the fact that Gary had drowned, trapped in his bed. Moaning and pissing himself in the dim evening light that came through his window. A thing that wasn’t able to be opened, even if it was on the first floor. Howard really wanted to feel lousy about that part of things.

  Unfortunately, Gary didn’t have the courtesy to die like he should have. For a brief moment, maybe ten minutes, there was a small temptation to hold the old man’s head under the murky and polluted water. No one would ever have to know about it, after all.

  “Who are you! Nurse! Help!”

  It wasn’t the first time that the other man, his face old and sagging, tried that one. Then, given that he was being floated out of the rest home on a plastic mattress at the moment, Howard could kind of see that. He was clearly being kidnapped, after all. No one normal or sane would take a whole old man unless they were planning to get something for their effort. He nearly joked about getting the man’s grandkids to pay to get him back, but, much like with him, Gary had never had any real visitors over the years. Just the kids that came in around Christmas, as some kind of school project.

  The difference there was that, even being a Jew, Howard had managed not to be an ass to the tykes when they came in. Gary hadn’t. The man always managed to scream and carry on at the intrusion by the high school students. Given that Howard looked to be about that age gave him an idea. Well, that and the fact that he was clearly in need of a cover identity. Claiming to be himself was asking for trouble. Not that he couldn’t have pulled it off. People knew and understood what being Infected meant after all.

  They just feared that kind of person. Howard less so than most, but he’d seen the few contacts he’d had with that kind of condition face a lot of hostility and anger. There had been a war of sorts, a few years before. It had been on the television in the rec room, so Howard had bothered to watch it, when he could.

  There had been a little girl that represented the government, instead of the Army doing it. Impulse. He wasn’t about to pretend he hadn’t gotten who or what she was all about. The tiny powerhouse had slaughtered so many people, Infected and not that anyone with half a brain had to be wondering how she wasn’t in charge of the whole mess by now.

  It probably meant she had some kind of brain in her head, avoiding that kind of thing.

  From the bits he’d picked up from listening to the visitors that others got day to day, most of them ended up being a lot more favorable toward those with troubles, instead of less. That hadn’t been the response in the home though. No, the old folks were just scared. They’d pretty much lived that way, all the time, so it made sense to him when it happened in regards to the Infected people of the world.

  In short, it meant that confessing he was Howard Barret wasn’t going to fly all that well with the ones left.

  So, he lied.

  “I’m Richard. I was passing by and heard that you needed some help. The water is still rising, so we need to get you up to the roof. Let’s hurry? The others need to be gotten out as well. I guess that you were left here? Probably a mistake.” He didn’t make an effort to sound young, but his voice came out a bit high pitched, even to his own ears.

  That was a bit annoying, actually. Not that it was that much different. Smoother, with less rasp and gravel to the whole thing, but it had never been all that deep. It had given him a nice tenor, for singing at least.

  Which was something to keep in mind, once he collected up some scratch and finished stealing the old people from Shady Lane. If he had to, he could beg on the street corner for his initial funds. Not that he couldn’t work out how to pull a job. Especially in a massive storm. It was nearly perfect as far as cover went for that kind of thing.

  Gary, who was floating awkwardly on the damp, half submerged mattress, since it wasn’t a floatation device, just plastic covered enough to have a bit of buoyancy… Nodded.

  “Yeah? Someone actually bothered to come for us? I figured we were dead. Who… Eh…” He was loud, almost yelling the words. Then, he was probably halfway to deaf. Howard had been as well, until a few hours before.

  Half of his mind expected that part to fade, just as quickly as it had come. Turning him old again, now that he wasn’t inside the mirror world. His hands looked cold, even though the water was decent that way. A bit blue and wrinkled at the tips, but the rest of them were fine. They were the hands of a young, strong man. At least for the time being.

  He sloshed along, guiding the poorly floating mattress with both hands. Gary was mainly out of the water, at least. Totally unprepared for anything, of course. None of them were going to be ready to climb up on top of the roof, either. That got him to sigh and nod.

  Before he could speak, the guy went on. He wasn’t that old, only being in his eighties or so. Howard was about fifteen years past that.

  “You wouldn’t owe any of us anything. I was… I know they left us. They told me that they were going to do it. The nurse… Ali? She came in and…” The man shook his head then. “She told me that they couldn’t take some of us. That they were going to come back, once they unloaded. That… She knew it was a lie. She cried when she was saying it. That’s a kick in the pants, isn’t it? I probably… I could have gone. I’m strong enough. It’s just… They hate me here.”

  Howard nearly nodded, but then realized that would be cruel. Even if it was whining Gary.

  “They probably should have gotten you out, if you could make it. Some of…” He nearly stumbled, deciding to head over toward the hill, instead of the roof. He wasn’t going to be climbing up the thing carrying people after all. Not in a way that would leave them alive. That wasn’t why he nearly fell though. It was that he’d stopped moving for a second, trying to not say that some of us wouldn’t have made it. “The most infirmed probably couldn’t have been moved. We’ll save them anyway. I heard a woman from down the hall. Let me get you to the hill, over by that cat.”

  Tabby was up in a tree, but visible enough. Not on the water’s edge, either. She’d decided to park it there, instead of risking a second dousing for the day. He’d talked to her about it, and she’d ran up the tree in response.

  Gary grunted then, in pain. Probably from the sharp movement of being pulled around suddenly.

  “I heard Ethyl too. I… figured we were all dead. I should have tried to go help her. You need this thing. To float her out. I think it’s just her, me and Howard, from across the hall.”

  The old man grabbed the younger hand, just as they got to the hill and the water had an actual edge to it.

  “He’s old. We all are… but I don’t know if he can be moved. We have to help him… Drowning is a hell of a way to go. I don’t know…” There was a sadness to his eyes then. A firmness as well. “It might be best if he didn’t drown. I can’t ask.” The old whiner shut up then.

  He could have been upset by the words, but the truth was, if he’d been stuck in that bed, about to go down for the last time, a bullet to the head or even a knife to the throat would have been preferable to slow drowning to his mind, too.

  Plus, he was standing there, not going to do that at all. It made the whole thing easier to take.

  “Got it. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I should hurry.” He was about to help roll the other man, who was a bit heavy around the
middle, off to the side, when he did it himself, actually standing up, wearing real pajamas, instead of a hospital gown. They were blue and looked well-worn and old. His feet were bare, but the ground there was dirt and grass, if damp. Saturated with rain, making it a nice soft mud.

  “Go, boy. Hurry.” There was a wave, and a bit of pushing at the mattress. The thing wasn’t that heavy, though it was clear that he wasn’t going to be using it too many more times, if there were more people inside. It might have one more, quick, trip in it. As he hurried back, he thought he heard a soft voice. “Thank you. God… Thank you so much.”

  The guy was still annoying. Howard didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about that though, getting first Ethyl out of the wet mess, then Eugene. There were two others, but the truth was that he couldn’t help either of them. They were dead and probably had been for hours.

  That left them all sitting on the hill, with Tabitha the cat moving out of her tree to sit on him. She started to at least, until she worked out that he was damp all over. There wasn’t even a single cat friendly place to lie down on in the whole area. Even the old people were all wet. He also wasn’t going to easily move them. That meant getting them some kind of help. Blankets and possibly starting a fire. He could do all of that, but it would mean leaving them there while he gathered and stole what was needed for it.

  Just as he stood, getting ready to explain all of that, a line of headlights popped up over the hill. The vehicles rumbled, all of them being decently large. Trucks and SUVs. At least he thought that was what they were called. They weren’t a thing from his youth, but he’d watched television enough to pick up what some of the changes in the world were.

  Raising his right hand, he waved. If they were there to beat up old folks and take their pajamas, then they needed to slow down. If not, then they might be able to at least call for help. The front car pulled over, about a minute later. It was large, red and had enough mud on the side to show that it had gone through a good bit of hardship to be there. All of them were a bit like that.