Ripped Open (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 2) Page 5

  “I can do that? Dave is good. We both have the time. One Life to Live will be able to get along without me. I can be his assistant?” To her that literally made sense, even if she was the person that the public was going to recognize. It was clear to her that Dave needed to be promoted so that he had a chance to shine. A lot of people at the base needed that.

  It was almost cute, the way Marcia steepled her fingers, and then leaned back, behind her desk.

  “Set that up. Good thinking, Mableton. I tend to micromanage at times, and try to do everything myself. Now…” She looked at the woman, and grinned, her face actually happy. That was rare enough that Cin started to read ahead in the story over her head. A thing that wasn’t lost on the woman.

  “Stop that. Anyway, I hear that Burrows’ treatments are working well on you? No more feeling like you want to kill everyone you meet?” She knew more than that, but Cin looked away from the words and nodded.

  “Not that I was really like that. I just wanted to murder certain people. That’s pretty much gone now. I don’t even want to go for Lancaster now. It’s sad really. Killing was pretty much my life, and now… Well, I need a new hobby, don’t I?” She wasn’t going to try to whine at people about not getting to kill.

  Especially since she’d gotten to be part of a thing like that just that morning. The IPB was doing their part that way so far. In less than two months, she’d already gotten to murder two people. That was a good clip, and not something to be a pain about. Even if she couldn’t enjoy it as much anymore.

  In a way, she probably felt a bit about things like Karen did, about not being allowed to drink.

  So she forced a smile, and shook her head.

  “Anyway, Karen needs to go and change. Or… Actually, you need to hit the gym first. I should do that too. I’ve been up all night, but that isn’t a good excuse. Partying and all that.”

  Marcia got her meaning, and Karen didn’t, but nodded anyway. She figured that it was about the bit of weight that she’d put on over the last months, but that wasn’t really it. Cindy didn’t care about that, but the Director had been thinking about how to keep them both busy for the time being. Working out, setting up the new program with Dave, and…

  Then there was almost nothing after that. Things had calmed down after the battles of the last year. Most of the troublemaking and powerful Infected had died. At the hands of Impulse. Those that were left were the ones that didn’t go off the rails all that easily, so Team Two was just sitting most of the time now. Team One was doing photo-ops, and Team Three was actually working most of the time. Handling the things that no one else could.

  The trick was going to be putting things together in a way that made everyone feel needed, even if it was kind of a make work project.

  Still, Turner wasn’t a bitch, so she winked at Cindy.

  “So, now that you’re no more threat than the average psychopath, we can pull back the Death Warrant I have hanging over you. Not totally, but a bit. Tell Brian that he doesn’t have to actually walk by your room five times a night.”

  That hadn’t been happening, but she nodded anyway. It was the thought that counted.

  “I was thinking about that part. Getting him to date me now? I mean, he was resisting that before, because he might have to kill me, if things didn’t work out. Now they have. Really, I should announce that by going and blowing him in his office.” She wasn’t really kidding, but for some reason saying that made Karen look really miserable. That meant reading up on the whole thing.

  It took some time, but Cindy wasn’t going to feel bad about it all, she decided.

  The woman had been dating Brian at one point and messed up, having sex with some other guy. That really wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but the press noticed it happening, and they’d had to break up.

  The problem now was that Karen hadn’t actually realized that, things having changed, she probably could have just gone and done the guy herself. Maybe even restarting the relationship, if she wanted. Which she kind of did. Brian was a great guy after all. A catch, if anyone was smart enough to see it.

  Cindy rolled her eyes, and then shook her head.

  “See, if you were ready for work, you could go and do that now, and beat me to it, but no, you have to go and change… I guess it’s a race?” She smiled, and noticed that Marcia sighed a bit. She liked Brian too, but being his boss couldn’t really play that way with him.

  Plus, she was horrible relationship material. Being eternally cautious made that kind of thing nearly impossible for her. On the great side, she didn’t care which of them was doing Brian, if it wasn’t her. Not as long as someone did, and managed to do it without screwing it up like all of his other relationships.

  Of course, Karen was actually the better choice that way, to her mind. The woman was sweet, and now that Yi didn’t have the ghost of her little sister in his head, they could actually have sex. Mableton was still a psychopath, and probably always would be. That didn’t really lead to a great long term relationship for the man if he made that mistake.

  “Oooh. That’s a good point.” It honestly was, as much as she didn’t care about that kind of thing. The problem at the moment was that Marcia, her head boss, did. That was the ass she needed to be kissing and probably would be chapping for a long time. Worse, messing up with Brian would be a huge mistake that way, since Marcia would take offense on his behalf. It was the kind of thing real friends did, after all.

  So Cindy took a deep breath and shrugged. Hiding her mild disappointment.

  “Fine. I’ll let you have the first shot then, Karen. Not that I won’t be doing your boyfriend behind your back, if I feel like it. Psychopath and all that. I guess I should have done Georgia myself, then? Well, next time.” It would probably come up. The woman had needs to be met, after all.

  Karen looked troubled then, not understanding what was going on, and Marcia had to take a phone call, so Cindy waved her out, smiling.

  “I’m not really great girlfriend material. Marcia was thinking that you might do better now, that way. Since things have changed for Brian. So… I guess you should go and get Brian’s attention now? You might want to get on that, since I was actually serious about doing that myself. Try doing something under the table he’s working at? It’s just kinky enough to get his attention, I bet. Just… If you hurt him again, I will kill you.” She meant it, since Brian Yi, the killer known as Proxy, was hers now. Like a pet, sure, but no one got to kick her dog.

  Not even Lady Glory.

  “I…” She was thinking that doing that kind of thing seemed crass, and manipulative, but then stopped and nodded. She had things to make up for and could now. She really could have for a long time and hadn’t even really considered it. Mainly because she hadn’t wanted to risk Brian like that. If others were suggesting it though, it might make sense. “I’ll do that now? Wish me luck?”

  Cindy scowled a bit, and shook her head. Then she faked a snort.

  “Heck no. I hope you fail, so I can have a shot. Still, you won’t. He still likes you well enough for this to work. I also wasn’t kidding about me doing him on occasion. So set that up for me, will you?” She grinned, and then walked away.

  Really, the idea wasn’t just for her to get sex, which was a thing that she enjoyed, but on a low level, compared to some. It would be nice to have a man in her life though. Brian had been convenient for her, being that she’d already set the groundwork there, but the man really did deserve better than her that way. Karen Young wasn’t perfect, and had her problems, like the fact that she wanted to drink a full bottle of wine before getting on her knees. She also kind of expected Brian to reject her overtures, which would be awkward later.

  Cindy left the space, not knowing what else to do, reading up on what was happening in the office. The door to it was glass, which meant that Wren noticed when Karen climbed under that table, but couldn’t actually see what was going on. Her own desk was in the way. She could guess, however. Penny Cooper, the
Cellophane, had to work really hard not to go in and watch. If it had been anyone else in there, she would have, but Brian would have seen it happening.

  For his part, he was… Happy. Not just with the fact that a woman he’d liked for a long time was finally doing something with him, but also that she cared enough to want to. He hadn’t been sure that had ever been the case. It actually was though. The woman honestly loved him. The real kind that had to be buried deep down for most people, and had been with her. Until the moment she took Proxy into her mouth, and he didn’t push her away.

  There hadn’t even been any asking what she was doing.

  Sighing, Cindy turned her mind away, and yawned. The world wasn’t exactly thrilling to her at the moment, and taking Lady Glory’s old position on the sofa wasn’t exactly going to be a winning plan. Turner hated lazy people after all. She put up with that kind of thing, since a lot of the people at the IPB were basically slaves to the system, and didn’t want to be there, but she really expected them to work when the chance arose.

  On the good side it was nearly lunch time, and using her powers like she had been left her feeling hungrier than she used to, back when she was just a research librarian. Yes, she’d always read people, casually, but now she was focusing on them all the time, trying to pick up everything she could, as well as learn new tricks. That apparently meant that her caloric needs were going up a lot.

  So food was in order.

  The dining hall wasn’t exactly filled with bodies yet, so after loading a tray full of fairly decent looking food, Cindy looked around. There were a lot of places to sit. Most of the room being open for that, with three pockets of individuals arranged in various places. Olga was sitting with Bridget and a square looking blond man that she didn’t know yet. Charles, the Team Two leader. She’d actually read up on him before. The man was an ex-cop, and had SWAT Experience. Well, CERT, but it was really the same thing.

  At the moment he was attempting to put together a team building experience, but wasn’t actually having much luck. Morale on his team was at an all-time low, since they weren’t really doing anything of use. The others weren’t exactly being helpful on that score, not having any ideas either. Team Two had been designed to go and kill Infected threats, after all. Those were done for the time being, and there simply wasn’t anything else for them to do at the moment. No major floods to help out with, or forest fires to fight.

  No one else was going to really let them do anything else of note, other than that kind of thing, either. Meaning that there was a pool of written misery above the table as Cindy plopped into place next to Bridget.

  “Hey all! Team Two… Did you get word on Dave’s new position?” She glanced at Charles, who had no real clue who the hell she was. That was written in bold print above his head. In a deep blue color. On the nice side, he didn’t instantly hate her for his own lack of information there. He just hadn’t been exposed to her yet.

  “No. What’s the situation there?”

  She took a bite of a rather nice toasted sandwich, which had roasted chicken in it, and spices, then chewed slowly, and wiped her mouth before speaking.

  “He’s the new liaison with the other agencies. All of them. FBI, CIA, Homeland, and ATF. For the new outreach program? Karen Young is his assistant, so it’s kind of a big deal. That probably means they need to get some real offices going on.” Cin did a brief check on them, and both were actually finished getting lucky for the time being.

  Brian was actually feeling a bit embarrassed, but pleased, and Georgia was just happy to have a new friend, so was making plans to make it a regular thing. That meant Dave was doing pretty well, since he’d had a bit of a dry spell before that moment. Several years of nothing much as far as a love life, in fact.

  All of them would be at lunch after a while however, so she just took another bite of food, and tried not to worry about what other people had gotten up to. Being a busybody was a potential hobby for her though, which wasn’t as good as killing, but might fill the void a little bit.

  After a few minutes, Tobin Peterson, the famous singer who looked like a frog man, Kerry, his girlfriend, and Denis, her brother, all moved to sit with them as well. Kerry wasn’t all that thrilled to be there with them, since she’d kind of betrayed them all, trying to get drugs. That had her thinking that they all hated her now.

  It would have been fair enough really. The other Infected traitor had an arm ripped off, and then was put in the brig for two months for doing no more than Kerry had. Both had been linked to first mode problems too, so it was basically a wash that way.

  Cindy wasn’t going to judge though. Life wasn’t fair, and sometimes a person got lucky. That was Kerry this time, that was all.

  “Hey Kerry. Denis. Mr. Peterson.” She smiled on the last words, and the decently shy man winked at her. His first mode was gone now, having had the same kind of treatment that she’d undergone. That hadn’t removed his basic hesitance around other people. Just the crippling part of it that used to control his every thought.

  “Ms. Mableton. Den was just telling us that the shooting for the new Steinberg and Friends was about to start. Mark was thinking about getting some of the other people from around here to be on the show sometimes. Argos, Prime… People like that?” The words were a bit dour, or at least the ones above the small man’s head indicated that was the case. They sounded perfectly correct however.

  Denis shook his head a bit, since the plan was actually about getting some of the others in on it. The ones that didn’t look like they could be in the movies without putting makeup on first. Jason, which was what Argos went by in real life, was actually too good looking for that kind of thing to really work. Not that having him on the program was a horrible idea.

  He could actually cook, after all.

  The problem was that saying anything that way would come across wrong to some of the people sitting there. People that were friends of his. Tobin especially, but even Olga, who was new, but interesting enough that Denis kind of wanted to sleep with her.

  Oddly enough, Cindy could sort of see that one. She wasn’t great looking, having a heavy brow like she did, but the woman was huge. Eight feet tall at least, and well-muscled. She also had large breasts, and managed to look like a girl for all of the rest of it, which could be fun in bed for the man.

  Looking around she brought up Rigsby’s book, which had very nice illustrations, being done in a comic style. The important part there however was that the man looked like a teddy bear, could cook, and wasn’t hating the whole world with homicidal rage any longer.

  Really, from what was in front of her, he seemed no worse than a bit serious about his work at the moment. That was a vast improvement. The first time they’d met, the man had wanted to kill her. The rest of the world as well. Now that part was gone totally.

  “You should get Rigs in on that. He works here, and knows the show people, right? Plus, his first mode is gone now. Like Tobin, and… Me? At least most of the worst is gone for me already.” She didn’t lock eyes with Denis, instead seeking out Kerry.

  No one had known if the process would kill women or not. It hadn’t been likely, but Cin was the one that had gone first. Just in case. Mainly because no one had really cared if she lived or died. Except maybe Brian and possibly Burrows. That got her to snap her fingers, looking at the other girl.

  “Which means that after this we can go to medical and see if we can make you the second female test subject? I don’t know how much all of this costs to do, but…” She linked over to Burrows, almost without thinking about it, and brought up a spread sheet for that part.

  It wasn’t that bad, for a medical procedure. For the time being. As long as the IPB staff was doing it, getting no more than their hourly rates, the whole thing was being brought in for about ten thousand per person. As soon as it went live, that cost would probably be around half a million however. Which meant that most Infected were never going to be able to afford it. Not without the government stepp
ing in to do it for them.

  Kerry turned a bit red. Embarrassed, instead of angry, which was actually her first mode. Almost no one knew that about the woman however. She looked cute, in a button nosed way that was a bit too much like Denis. They were half brother and sister, but their father had been the father of their mothers, which had skewed things more than a bit. It was why she always thought of them as the incest twins. Which was really mean of her.

  Looking at the food on her tray, Kerry nodded.

  “Is that… I mean, will it be allowed?”

  Cindy didn’t know really, but nodded, as if she controlled that part of things.

  “You might have to let Burrows feel you up. Well, or you, Tobin. After all, the mad scientist needs to be paid, but I think you can get in. Like I said, the second Guinea pig…” Cindy tried to sell it with a bit of a wide eyed expression. One that she’d practiced in the mirror before.

  It should look a bit hopeful.

  Tobin covered his mouth as he laughed, smiling wide enough that his thin lips stretched off to the sides. They were black, but he started to turn a little bit green as she watched. Embarrassed, but he spoke calmly enough, being among friends.

  “Doctor Burrows does get a bit friendly at times. I didn’t get that, before. That there aren’t any real medical tests that require her to squeeze my rear end like that all the time?”

  The words above his head told of how he’d always enjoyed that part of things however. His life hadn’t always given him a lot of attention physically, and he wasn’t exactly an old man, so his hormones were fairly normal that way. Kiko was even cute, bordering on being pretty, so the contact had actually helped get him through some rough times.

  Next to him, Denis just smiled and nodded a bit, then looked at her, going back a bit as far as topics went.

  “Rigsby? That… Actually, let me run it by the team? He’s decent, cooking wise, so that could work.”