Asunder (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 3) Read online

  “Medical?”

  That sounded about right, but they had things to do there at the moment.

  “After this. I think… I’m not going to die from this. As long as we don’t get hit again. This…” She wanted to shrug, but didn't, since it wasn’t going to work on the left for the moment. If ever again. That part started to hit her.

  She was crippled now. As far as she knew it was going to be forever. As bad as being impaired, it was ugly. That sounded pretty shallow, but her looks had been one of the things that had really helped her in life, so far. Not to the level of a movie star or anything, but enough that she knew where her bread was buttered. Still, that didn’t mean they were out of danger, so she moved forward, ready to hit the supposedly dead Tor again. Also to run, if the good one was still going to fight, not understanding that they were friends.

  The two pits, which were about thirty feet deep in places, with a strange, nearly identical structure inside of each one, had hills behind them. The very tall man, who had to be well over seven feet, rose into the air, and drifted toward them, his weapon still pointed at the remains of the other man. Not at them at all. Just the real and now dead, threat. Behind him, Cindy finally noticed that there was a weird looking thing.

  A purple teardrop shaped object that pretty much had to be a car.

  When she checked the man’s story, that part was different, being that it was actually a space craft. Made from magic. A good one as well. As in, it could go from Earth to the Moon in about two minutes. Most of that was set-up, not moving. On the far side, behind dead Tor, there was an identical vehicle. One that he wasn’t going to be needing any longer.

  She waved at the man with her good hand, since the other wasn’t up to doing much at the moment. She was holding, but not pointing, the white stone wand. After a moment, he landed next to her and Marcia, his face seeming annoyed.

  “I’m so sorry. I brought this mess to you…” Then he seemed panicked. Way more so than he had been during the fight. “Your arm… Here! I…”

  Something, a small stone piece, was held to her right arm. If it did anything she didn't know, but after a few seconds the man took a deep breath.

  “Good. It’s working. I was afraid it might not. Not everyone can regrow limbs or significant loss of flesh. See, the wound, it closes now, filling in. You’ll need food. I had some with me, but they were destroyed in the battle.”

  Glancing down, she saw that the man was right. Almost like some kind of movie about massive wound healing, her shoulder was being fixed.

  “Neat. About the wound, not the pies. Oh, um, dibs on the other space ship. Called it!” She tried to seem pleased about that, and after he looked over, Tor nodded.

  “I don’t know all those words. You want the Jump Ship?” He waited for her to nod before going on. “We can do that. I’m very sorry and shamed… About this…” He waved to mean the mess, his face seeming honestly troubled by the damage, instead of the battle.

  She grinned.

  “Don’t worry, we can fix that. You have a wand for that, right?” She was joking, but the man nodded, smiling then.

  “I do! Yes, we should do that. I came to visit my nephew, Willum. When I got out, I noticed that I was already standing there, preparing to kill me. So, this happened. I shouldn’t have come. I brought danger to you all.” That last bit was pretty downcast, which was hard to see, since the man was hot. Almost too much so, like he wasn’t real.

  She’d seen the effect before, from Will, so that didn’t get her to lose her composure. Instead she looked down at the pink flesh that was forming on her shoulder. She had one of those again already, which seemed to have bone inside. It was better than what she’d feared.

  So much so that she would have cried, if she were a pussy. Instead she smiled at it, going for a grim thing that didn’t seem too happy.

  The man cleared his throat, still holding the magical healing device to her arm.

  “This is working very fast. That should have taken about ten or twenty minutes. It’s been less than one.”

  It was Turner who spoke then, looking tidy and commanding in her undestroyed uniform. It was covered in dirt, since the entire base was going to be for a while, but here she was, mainly clothed still. Cindy wasn’t. Luckily, she looked good naked. That had been the truth her entire life, but right now she seemed a bit like a super model, being very thin. That was, she noticed, a bit worse now, thanks to the healing. Replacing ten pounds of flesh apparently ate away at the rest of her body pretty well.

  The Director nodded at the man.

  “I’m Marcia Turner. I run this place. We normally don’t have things like this going on here.” She waved at the pits, then shook her head, smiling a bit. She didn’t really mean it, but was actually trying to not be a jerk to the man. Not just because he was clearly dangerous, either. “Except on alternating Tuesdays, I mean.”

  The guy was, after all, an alien emissary. Letting herself blow up and blame him for what happened wasn’t going to make relations better between the two worlds. The government was already a lot less than happy that all the people from other worlds were coming to them, the IPB, instead of their chosen people. Ones that weren’t Infected, naturally. Not that Cin couldn’t see that one as legitimate enough. Most of the Infected had real emotional problems. Powers, but that didn't always work out that well, even if they were emotionally solid enough.

  Her first mode, the part of her that had made her a serial killer, had been removed via the magic of science. Their crazy doctor, Burrows, had done it. Others had been being worked on at the base, mainly by Timon and his little sister, Taman. The siblings of the man in front of her.

  Tor, shaking a bit, didn’t move his right hand, which had the healing device in it, but turned to bow toward the other woman. To his mind, that was needed and could honestly cause a war if he skipped it. Even not doing it right might do that, since he was busy at the moment. Helping her. It was a gamble to his mind. A thing that he hoped would be allowed given the emergency, or at the very most, end in his death, not that of others who hadn’t wronged the lady in front of him.

  Marcia just did it back, her face twisting a bit. It was the fighting of a smile, since as far as she could tell, they’d won the battle there, with no deaths on their side. Even better, her pet psycho had stepped the heck up and protected everyone else there. Running away would have been acceptable for an admin person to her mind. Cin had done a whole hell of a lot more than that. Even if it had only been about protecting Sara, or one of the others, it wasn’t a bad thing to her way of thinking.

  Cindy spoke though, her voice relaxed, even if she didn’t really feel that way emotionally. Now that it was over, she was freaked. Quietly so, however.

  “We should get to things fast, if possible. The repairs? We don’t need the press to get wind of this. Anyway, that other you was here to try and destroy us. I guess we’re just going to be a pain in the behind to his side in that war? It isn’t really my thing, personally. I mean, I’m working a different issue, right now. Something here? When he saw you, the idea wasn’t really to kill you. Not that he wouldn’t have if you didn’t fight well enough. He was just trying to push you so hard that you’d end up destroying reality. I got that much. I can get more, possibly. Otherwise he seemed really similar to you. No pie though, I notice. That sounds really good just now. We should go and get something to eat.” She was starving, like the man had suggested might happen.

  He, it seemed, got that part, but looked at Marcia, his eyes going down. Not to stare at her, but to find the ground.

  “I’ll work on repairing this, while you do that? Again, I’m sorry I brought this to you. I can only hope that it will not become a rift between us.”

  The Director shook her head then, a list of things going on inside of her that was impressive to look at. Not just the speed of it, but how complete it was. Many of the things were crossed off the list, including the idea that the man had actually been responsible for the attac
k. That was down to the fact that Cindy had announced other information, and for some reason the Director was trusting her on that. Mainly because she’d nearly died a few moments before, stopping the threat. For a few minutes, Marcia was just going to trust her. For once.

  It would fade, soon enough. Being trusting wasn’t high on the list of Ms. Turner’s skills.

  Other people were starting to show up, several of them at impressive speeds. Covertly, after pulling back a bit, Tor activated his shield. Wincing he realized that the small blonde lady, who had healed way too fast, still held the talisman that could turn it off. He didn’t run though, which was brave of him.

  Cindy moved her shoulder, which didn’t hurt. Then, it hadn’t when it had been blown off or healed. She rubbed it with the bottom of her right fist, and smiled. It felt right. Solid and like the rest of her body did.

  “These are friends.” The man got that, however. He just wasn’t certain they were his friends, that was all. “Hey! We need to check everyone and make sure no one is hurt. Then…” She glanced at Marcia, who took over smoothly then, since she was great at being in charge of stuff.

  Everyone coming in moved efficiently, forming a perimeter, setting guards and getting ready to fight to protect them. One of the people running up was Willum, who’d been working with Hobbs. Both of them were from other worlds, which was interesting. Then, they were Grand Central Station as far as that kind of thing went. The base was the hub of that kind of travel now, for some reason.

  Interestingly, Tor waved at both of the men.

  “Will and um… Master Hobbs?” The reason he knew that one was clear. He’d been told what was going on, being in the loop where he came from. Pretty much all the loops of note, to be honest. Also, the man was his best friend from a different reality. Prince Alphonse. Rolph, as Tor thought of him inside his own head.

  “Aye. There seems to have been a small matter here? We have prevailed?” The red haired and slightly shaggily bearded man was getting ready to kill Tor Baker, if he could. Just in case it was needed. Right up until Will spoke. Unlike the others, he didn't have an accent. Honestly, he sounded more like he belonged there than Cindy did, most of the time.

  That wasn’t a mistake. The boy was there to learn to infiltrate other worlds, after all. Starting with there, so he could learn how to fight at the same time. The kid had only been there for a few months, but had totally learned to be a badass in that time. As well as how to pretend to be from there so well that no one that didn’t know it was possible would have guessed that he wasn’t just a regular Infected guy.

  He even had cool purple hair and eyes, making him blend in with the odd people on the base. If in an extra good looking way.

  “Uncle Tor? What happened?” For his part, the guy was afraid that he’d been fighting with Cindy. That didn't make sense, but the man could do things like that, if he didn't understand what was going on. At least he’d tried to kill Will once. Plus, Cin was kind of naked at the moment, which was a bit embarrassing. Mainly because she was so cute.

  Which was why Tor was there that day. Trying to make up for that first attack on his nephew. It had been a mistake. An honest one, since the only other version of Willum Baker that he’d ever met had always been spies from the enemy. Not a relative he didn’t know. Instead of letting them talk, which could be a trick, or misinformation, Cindy interrupted. Rudely, but that was her thing in life.

  “Another version of Tor showed up, having come to try and kill us, or at least make our lives harder. In a death and destruction way. This one came at the same time and they started fighting, making the mess here. He’s your Uncle, by the way. From your world. The other one wasn’t.” That fit, their stories showing it was true. Not that they were close at all. In fact, she knew Will better than his own Uncle did.

  For that matter, having been in battle alongside of the man that day, she knew Tor about as well as Willum did. Certainly, he seemed well disposed toward her. The others there as well, since no one standing around had tried to kill him yet.

  She was going to try and make a plan, or at least talk about the strange things going on, when Sara, looking about seven again, came up. She was dressed, which had been why she’d changed back to the form she was in at the moment. Being naked didn't really bother her, not in her big, good looking shape, but she got that you didn’t greet people from other worlds while unclothed.

  “Hello. I’m Sara. The… Liaison between your world and this one? I’ve been working with Tiera Baker.” Then she bowed, going low, since the woman on the strange, very advanced, cell phone had taught her to do that. As well as how to speak several languages. She did it in English, since clearly Tor could speak that.

  The man didn’t even blink at a tiny girl being in charge of that kind of thing, bowing back, trying to match how far she went down. The thing there was that the rest of them were supposed to do it as well, to be polite. She pulled that from Will’s story, so did that at nearly the same time that he did. Doing the exact same thing.

  Interestingly, the other people standing back, except the ones facing away, to guard them, did the same. Hobbs didn’t even need to be guided into it. Marcia was a bit slow, but managed to follow along, figuring it was a political thing. The thing there was that the Director was supposed to stand first. Otherwise they were going to be down there for a while.

  The Director didn’t get that however, so hung out for about ten seconds. It was actually very proper and correct, but a bit of a hassle as well. Covertly Cin waved for her to stand, knowing that everyone would get it.

  Also that no one else thought it was that big of a deal. It wasn’t a secret sign that she was in charge or anything. Not to anyone there.

  When they were all upright, the woman brushed at a curly brown hair.

  “Mableton needs food. She lost half her shoulder and had to be healed. That was impressive. Also, remember that Cindy called the other space ship over there. We’ll probably have to give it to the feds, but we can’t let that go, if it’s an option. We don’t really have that kind of thing.”

  Willum nodded, but didn’t speak on the topic. It made sense and certainly Tor Baker didn’t need anything like that. He could make the things on a whim, after all. It might take him a month, but in that time he could have thousands of the ships. So, the value of them was very small to the man. To Willum that was different, however. He knew that each one was probably worth several million-gold coins.

  Trying not to blink, she saw that the very tall man, who had black hair and brown eyes, not purple at all, smiled, looking directly at Sara.

  “I’m very pleased to meet you! Tiera has been telling me about how pleasant and useful you are. In fact, she asked me to invite you, and some of your friends here, to dinner with her soon? Tomorrow, if possible. That will be over a week, our time, so we understand if you can’t make it. You may have other plans, or need more time to prepare, naturally.”

  That nearly sounded a bit like he didn’t want the girl to go, but that wasn’t his point. Not even a little bit. No, his idea was to allow the people there a way out, without being stressed by an invitation that might be unwelcome.

  That got her to smile, in a genuine and meaningful fashion, since no one else but Will understood the idea at all. From what was going on in the book floating over his head, the idea of what was going on wasn’t really all that certain to his way of thinking. It had been in his lessons at school, but he’d seldom heard it done like that. It was a very noble thing to do, and Willum was, in the end, a back-country boy from the woods. One who had flat out told them, several times, that he knew more about the IPB and how to get along in their world than how to be a noble in Noram.

  That meant stepping in for them all, since Marcia was actually into the idea of sending people to another reality. Not that the government would love the idea of the IPB being in charge of that kind of thing. Less so, when they learned it was a seven-year-old taking the lead. At least that was her personal bet on the matt
er.

  Cin grinned, her stomach ripping at her. That was just burning hunger, however. Not fear. Thankfully.

  “How many should we bring with us? We don’t want to stress a private citizen or anything. There should be at least a trustworthy chaperone for Sara, however. Willum, perhaps?” That would give Sara someone with her that spoke the language of that other place, as well as who knew the rules. Better than they did anyway.

  More to the point, Will would die before letting Sara be harmed. If they only were allowed one person to send along, he was the best one for the task.

  The words that came up over people’s heads on the issue were all different, since Hobbs didn’t know if that was wise, the girl being so young, and Marcia knew that they needed to have a larger group than that. Especially if the people there were all capable of bringing the kind of battle to them that the two Tor’s had that day.

  For his part the very tall man smiled, running through what would be appropriate in his head. Rapidly enough that it showed he was clearly a genius. Possibly one that was nearly twice as smart as she was.

  “We could easily host ten of you?” He meant it, but there were rules to that kind of thing in the world he was from. Which was on Earth, if another one.

  The issue there was that Harmony, which was the Moon there, had different rules, which, he realized, he didn’t know. The place was so new that no one had really made them up yet. For instance, you had to have a good shield there, in case the air went away. That he’d provide those was why he’d picked the number of ten, since he had that on him. The man could make more, inside about ten minutes, but he didn’t want to give that idea away in public. Not even in his own world, so wanted to stick to that. That foreign nobles, which he counted them as, might bring in guards was expected, but how many had to be negotiated. Bringing more than four might seem like an attack, after all. At least in Noram.