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

  "But you, do you think you have to go out again? The best guess from the lab boys is that a lot of that was down to Braid having manipulated you. How do you feel though?"

  It was a bit of a strange question. He was a bit sad, about the whole thing with Mary. That she'd never loved him was a bit hard to take. It had been a trick and a lie, but in the end, she just didn't love him. Acting like she had though, well, was it the same as her deciding she didn't like him, in the end? As for the rest of it, well, he was a bit too glad that Devorah wasn't in control of his life anymore. He didn't know if he could do the job any better, but he certainly wouldn't be too hard pressed to not do worse. Physically he was well enough. Healthy and in shape, though he really had to start eating more.

  "I'm fine, really. I don't think I'll be transferring out like I was very often. Not on accident. Honestly, I think that doing it was a symptom, not my real power at all. The better I've gotten at using it, the less I've needed to, have you noticed that?" He had, but he wasn't too certain that he'd told anyone about it.

  It was a weak point for him, not communicating well enough.

  That reminded him to make some calls.

  He had friends to see to, and family to keep in touch with. Jeremy, President Lawrence, maybe even Alan Brown. It wasn't the kind of thing he was good at.

  His mom and dad too. Scott still needed to meet them both. Snapping his fingers, he got Marcia to blink at him.

  "Shaw. What's up with him? Is he being fed? Given clean water? Decent treatment?" It was important to him that it happen. The man was a monster and probably had been from well before he became Infected, but Brian didn't want to see him mistreated. Not if it wasn't needed.

  Even if he did still kind of want the man to "accidentally" die in his sleep.

  The new director waved over at where he'd been being held.

  "He's a pain in the ass. Even Warren has had to be held back a few times to protect him. We have to keep rotating the agents watching him. Kiko swears that his first mode is gone now, and that the treatment worked, but it's hard to tell that from the outside. She is doing Tobin next though, so if it works it's a good enough reason to keep him around. What plans do you have for him? We can kill him now. The thing with Braid is over, right? He doesn't know anything, and short of cutting him loose, we don't have a lot of other options. His power is class two, but his law enforcement background makes him a three, given that. I don't really want him in the IPB though." She shrugged, as if saying their hands were tied. He really could get the feeling too, himself. There was no love lost there.

  "Eh... Fuck it. If we don't have anything on him, we can let him go. If he breaks any other laws, then we'll kill him. Though, I kind of want to talk to you about that whole thing where we can't leave the IPB? That isn't an actual law is it? Just some agreement that Moore put in place back in the day that kind of stuck?" He didn't know that for a fact, but it made sense to him. It was hard to actually get laws written that called for the death of people without due process. Rules and handshake backroom deals were easier that way.

  "Yes... Why? Thinking of taking off? No one would blame you. Truth is, we could use the help around here though, if you aren't going to go and have to fight every six hours anymore. Restructure here a bit. Maybe get an actual building in place. Hire the old admin team back, so we won't have to stay up all night on the phones. That kind of thing."

  He shook his head, slowly. It was kind of tempting to jump ship, but they really would need him, for a while. A long one, he thought. It was hard to be certain, but a lot of the possible futures headed that direction. For him.

  "No, but everyone should have a choice. Plus, we should make sure that people can have a good life. Some of the way things were being done... I'm not sure it was really for the best. The team structure wasn't really working too well at the end anyway. So, maybe we should, change some things?"

  "Oh? You don't think that a lot of people will jump ship if they can?" She seemed to think otherwise, but he shook his head.

  "Marsh, we already have two kinds of people here. The ones that we couldn't stop from leaving if we tried, and those with no place better to go. If they have some place like that, then we should let them be there. Honestly, we should probably insist on it. Plus, we should get a new base. One that isn't hidden out in the middle of a wasteland. Let people live in real houses, things like that. Have pets, if they want. That good kind of stuff that no one here was allowed."

  She didn't seem impressed with all of his ideas, but she was willing to listen, which was better than he'd really thought would happen. Not that he was suggesting they do everything by voting or anything, but getting some feedback from everyone probably wouldn't hurt too much.

  That was a thing that he suddenly noticed.

  For the first time in a long while, nothing hurt. Oh, his heart ached a little, but it wasn't crippling pain. He also didn't really feel a need to run off and save everyone. Which of course, was wrong, wasn't it? He always thought of everyone else first. It was his thing.

  That got him to raise a single finger, "I need to talk to Doctor Burrows. Now, I think."

  That got him rushed over as if he were sick, or going to be. Instead, he kissed the doctor, who was a cute Japanese woman, on the cheek, which got Marcia to snicker.

  "If you just wanted to make out, you could have just asked me..." She didn't blush, but did look away after a second.

  He nodded though.

  "Okay. Later? That sounds fun actually. I just realized that my first mode is gone. All those shots you gave me and said I shouldn't mention?"

  Burrows clapped, like a little girl.

  "Ah! Very good. I was worried about that. So far it's only seemed to work on the very negative modes. Can I get a tissue and blood sample from you?" She didn't wait, taking what she wanted with enough force that he nearly hit her, several times.

  He might not have a mode anymore, but he still had PTSD to share, if anyone was interested. When that was done, after getting a few band aids, they got back to work.

  With no making out with the hot boss at all, though he had suggested they do that later.

  Smiling, he decided to remind her of that, as soon as they were done for the day. It might not be perfect, but for once in his life, he felt like he actually had a chance to succeed or fail, all on his own.

  Not that it hadn't felt that way before, but for the first time, it was actually going to be true.

  Brian Yi, Proxy, was finally the master of his own life.

  Not Braid. Not his power. Him.

  Taking Marcia by the hand, he led her back to the trailer. Then he got to work. There was a lot to do, but that was fine. There would be, for a good long time.

  He just didn't know what all of it was, which, in the end, was a good thing.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten