Ripped Open (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 2) Read online

  Tobin figured that running it by the team would be the excuse to not let the man on the show, but Kerry was fine with it, and understood the basic idea. Denis didn’t want to insult anyone, by saying flat out that it was about getting some of the less than normal looking people on the program. It was a great idea, but also mercenary, after a fashion.

  Cindy didn’t explain things for anyone, just eating for a while. Eventually Brian came in, holding Karen’s hand. She’d gone and changed, and had makeup on and everything. Just into fatigues however. Dave came in alone, since Georgia was skipping lunch that day. However it worked, her powers didn’t take as much energy to keep going as some of them, so she just didn’t need to eat all the time.

  That meant the man was alone again, when Charles waved for first him, and then Karen, to come and sit with them. Which got Brian as well. He was happy, and embarrassed, but willing to put up with that, since Karen seemed to need him to. That part was actually even true. The woman really wanted them to be an actual couple. It left Cin feeling more than a bit jealous, but she buried that.

  Charles smiled at Dave and then Karen.

  “Congratulations! I hear that you two are the new liaison group for the outer agencies. That’s a coup. It isn’t every day that one of ours is given a top job like that, Wilson. We’re all very proud of you.”

  Cindy nodded, as Olga did the same, looking a bit subdued suddenly. A lot of that was how many pretty people were with her at the moment. It was how she referred to anyone that looked fairly normal, so blue or not, Dave counted in that group. Only Tobin was like her that way.

  Still, it was pretty clear that no one had informed Dave of the job yet.

  “Um… You and Karen are the contacts for anyone from other agencies that wants our help with anything. It’s a new program, so you’ll probably need to get with all the other organizations and set things up. You’re in charge, Mr. Wilson. Karen is your assistant. She knows the ropes, in the political world, but has another job as well. If you need more help than that, then assign someone on to it. Really, you two should work up an action plan and get with all the team leaders about what their teams might be required to do.” That came directly from Marcia’s plan for them, but Cindy was willing to steal it wholesale. It wasn’t a horrible idea, and the woman would get that she was trying to be a team player.

  Karen nodded, and reached out, to touch Dave’s hand. It lingered too long, but wasn’t meant to be inappropriate. She just knew that the blue man didn’t normally get a lot of attention, so tried to be there for him.

  Both Tobin and Denis were suspicious of that contact, since it was really easy for people to get Lady Glory to do things that she might not actually want to, just by being needy. Only he wasn’t doing that at the moment. In fact he smiled, and pulled his hand away.

  “Hey, watch it. I’m your boss now. Apparently. How did that happen, by the way?”

  Cindy lied, since she was halfway decent at that kind of thing, and the man didn’t really need to know that it was largely happenstance. He’d been the one that Georgia was doing at the right time, which brought him to mind for her.

  “Turner’s orders. Apparently she’s getting sick of people being lazy, and knows that you’re going to do a good job. She’s not wrong.”

  Brian smiled, and took Karen’s hand. Under the table, but everyone got the basic idea. At least no one was saying anything about it. It was the red head who explained it all however.

  “I… Decided that I wanted to try things with Brian again. The situation has changed, so we can… Do better now. I hope no one minds?” She seemed to mean that, and glanced at Bridget of all people. The girl waved that away, as Cindy sighed.

  “Mind? Why, no… Except the part where you’re stealing my boyfriend. Just because you can do a better job of it than I can. Grrr.” The whole thing actually came out as being playful enough, and while Karen was really worried, Brian wasn’t.

  Kerry, oddly enough, kind of was.

  Mainly because she figured that Cin might make a play for her boyfriend, if she weren’t otherwise engaged. Which was incredibly silly. She would have made a play for Tobin anyway, if she wanted to. The guy was exotic, if nothing else, and polite. There were worse things to be.

  The thing there was that Tobin was afraid that Kerry would probably leave him soon. Due to his looks, or lack of them. To him it felt like they were drifting apart, since she hadn’t been spending all that much time with him lately. For her part, Kerry had mainly been trying to not be killed by the others, for betraying them. Even though almost everyone had instantly forgiven her.

  Not Marcia Turner, but the rest of them pretty much had, inside the first day.

  Looking at everyone, she realized something then. Half of them used to have sex with Pixie, but had stopped, since they were troubled, or seeing other people now. That got her to stick out her tongue, read a bit, and figure out what was needed there.

  Kerry, honestly, was the one that knew what to do. So for the second time in less than a minute, Cindy stole a plan of action from someone else.

  “Now… We need to make up a schedule for Pixie. Everyone has kind of been avoiding her, and that needs to stop. Kerry, will you set up a schedule? Really, that’s kind of low of you all. Leaving her hanging like that. It’s an actual medical issue for her, so suck it up and…” She nearly said suck, or lick, but stopped.

  Really, she was going too far, and knew it, but the group around her basically seemed fine with the idea. Charles used to have a fairly regular thing with the woman after all, getting that she really did have needs, and so did he. So that worked for him. Dave was a bit concerned that he’d be left off the thing, but that wasn’t happening, and Brian didn’t know what to do. He had nothing against Georgia, but didn’t want to abuse her, using her first mode.

  Which was silly, since if he was doing her, along with Karen, no one would think Karen was a lesbian. Just kinky, which was totally allowed in the tabloid world. Kerry actually just smiled and started working on the thing, in her head.

  “Just the people here, or…”

  She shook her head then.

  “Get with everyone individually. Don’t leave off the military people either. Dave is kind of dating her now, so make sure they get together at least three times a week. She kind of needs… At least twenty-one sessions a week.” It was a huge number, but when the information was checked was actually right. In fact, that was about the level that she needed just to be roughly content.

  To Cin that seemed like enough for a busy year. Really, she hadn’t had so much as a solid cuddle in years, herself. Mainly because she’d had to pick between being a killer and having a normal relationship. Though, in a way, that kind of worked the other direction as far as Pixie went. She had to have sex all the time, which meant that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to actually love her. You could share like that, or be in love, but doing both was a bit much to ask of most people.

  Kerry went and got some paper, and started asking everyone if they were going to be on the list or not. She just wrote in Tobin’s name for him, expecting him to want to be there. Which he did, but that made him worry at the same time. Like his girlfriend was trying to get rid of him. The words over his head explained all of that, with a yellow coloration that meant he was a bit afraid it was real.

  Brian didn’t volunteer, but Karen had both of them signed up for the same nights, which made perfect sense to her. That way she could have both of her loves with her, at the same time. Denis was a bit shocked to be included, but said nothing, and everyone looked like someone was offering to have them suck lemons when Kerry got to Bridget.

  “Bridgie? Are you in on this?” It was spoken politely, since to Kerry, the young girl was fair game that way. She was legal after all. Still, the tiny woman rubbed at her rust colored head and sighed.

  “Nope. I need to be a bit more… Um, normal, than that. For a while. Get a regular boyfriend and all that. I’ve been putting it off, not want
ing to be rejected.”

  Really, it was about what would be considered normal. A lot of the Team Two guys would have had sex with her, since she really was legal now, and Argos might pretend to be her boyfriend, if she approached it right. He was too old however, even if everyone would forgive her for that part, since the man was incredible looking.

  It took a bit of research for Cindy to get the information on things down correctly.

  “Right… Will, in town. Here, I have the number you need. He’ll say yes. He actually likes you, but figures that you’d say no, given his parents are bigots. Call him up and ask him to a movie in town? It’s low risk for you.” He was a normal teen guy, and while a bit youthful looking, Bridget was old enough for him.

  She grinned.

  “You mean that? I didn’t want to… Mess things up there.”

  It was all there however. Not that the guy wasn’t interested in several other girls at the same time, but if Bridget bothered to try a little, it would work out for her well enough.

  “Do it and see? Not that I’d sell you down the river that way. Good, now, Proxy… You have a plan for Team Two?”

  That wasn’t actually a thing, but the instant she spoke the words, one started to come into being, and move forward on the screen in his mind. It was actually an old one, that they’d started on, before things had gone all to hell.

  “Cross training. Really, it’s Tobin’s plan. We need to get back to that. Who’s going to be in charge of setting that up? We should get someone from each team.” He had some ideas, but didn’t want to push everyone that way. Instead he ate for a bit, figuring that Cindy would read his mind, and work out who was actually needed. The thing there was that some of the people he thought would be good for that, wouldn’t. Not when she connected to their minds.

  Plus, a few of them, like Mongo and Ice Queen already worked together, which was a bit too close to being on the nose. Instead she searched for the right people, and then nodded.

  “Svetlana, for admin. Becky, for Team Three, since she has an in with the team leader. Lobo for Team Two. For Team One… How about… Shiva?” The man had experience, but wasn’t that loved in the press. Or hated. He got the job of looking nice done, but in a quiet way. What he excelled at was giving press interviews.

  Brian gave her a troubled look, and started to disagree, as Charles nodded and smiled.

  “Brilliant. That gives us a good spread, and puts people into play that normally get left out. They’re all team players, too. Are we passing this to the team leaders, or going to them directly?” He looked at Cindy directly, as if she were the one that would know about all of that.

  It was Brian that spoke however, his tone a little bit firm.

  “Let me run it past Turner? Regardless, we need that meet with the people in charge. Tonight, after dinner? Dave, you and Karen need to get your part ready by then. Call it seven this evening? I’ll get with the team leaders. I should get off and do that now.”

  The man looked at his plate, which had most of the food on it. He was hungry still, but looking for an excuse not to eat. Not consciously, but he was, underneath it all, terrified that he was going to get fat again. Instead he was leaning toward being underweight by a good bit.

  “Eat, Anorexia Lad. I’ll get to that, after the meal. I mean, how am I going to suck up to Turner, if you keep getting in the way? Not that she should kill me now, but I have a long way to go, to prove that getting rid of me isn’t the best plan.” She meant it, but Brian rolled his eyes. That was about the food however.

  He just sat and ate, with only two of the others realizing that she’d been serious about him needing to eat more. One of them was Karen, the other Olga. The woman might look large and brutish, but not a lot got past her. Inside her world, which was currently made up of the base they were on, she was aware of nearly everything that happened.

  A part of that was simple boredom. The rest, hyper keen senses. Really, Bridget was kind of in the same boat that way. They both worked out things that others might not credit them with.

  It was interesting really.

  After she finished eating, Bridget nudged her arm, and used her head to gesture that they were going to need to leave together. At first she thought that it was about Will, and what kind of sweet words would win him over. He was a teen boy however, so that wasn’t hard to figure out. Asking him on a date, with a gentle hint that it would be fun for him would be enough. Bridget knew that. In fact, that was the easy part for her. It might be anyway. The hard part would be in not offering too much right off. That would kind of make the whole having a real relationship thing a bit hard to swallow for the press, if there was a recording of her suggesting that she and Will meet for sexy fun times before even holding hands.

  No, the real issue was different than that.

  Bridget ignored it nicely however and changed the subject.

  “We need to get the cross training going. Otherwise Team Two is likely to end up going bat-snaps and killing each other inside the next two weeks. There’s been muttering going on already. The thing is, with that group it’s never about being a little bored, or feeling a tiny bit unloved. They figure that they aren’t needed anymore, which means that the death squads will be coming for them in the night soon. Also, you need to get with Kerry on that list for Georgia. Both of them really. That…” She grinned and looked away, shaking her head. “No one has bothered to try doing that before, you know? It’s a great plan, but everyone has always been too shy to just mention the obvious. I mean, not me, but they always ignored it when it came from me. Even though we all know that doing anything else is asking for trouble with her. If we don’t feed her beast, it will find a way to eat anyway. The last time that happened there was a twenty odd person rape orgy. I missed it, myself.” She didn’t seem upset about that, but inside her mind was already three pages ahead, working on ideas for the new mixed groups. Some of what she had in mind was actually decent.

  Like working up spy hunting teams. They had a real need for that kind of thing, and while each member would need to be watched, daily, that could be done. Without saying anything, Bridget hopped up, and led Cindy by the hand to the admin building. It probably seemed impulsive to everyone else, and was, but the move was also a good one. That meant Cindy just followed along, like she was supposed to be involved with things like that.

  Ms. Turner was in her office, slowly drinking something that looked like a gallon of vegetable oil, while reading something out of a file on her desk. She was also sitting back, and not doing either thing very well. When she saw them, she used the back of her hand to wipe at her glistening lips, and faked a smile.

  Then she looked at both women, her face more pleasant than it should have been.

  “Mutiny? All right. I guess I can’t help but give in to your superior logic. You can be in charge, Bridget.” She sounded nearly hopeful, but also was clearly teasing.

  The tiny Chambers nodded.

  “Yes, not in the fun way that will get us cake, but kind of taking over. We hashed out some plans at lunch. With several of the others. It’s really all about Cindy here looking good, to get on your good side.” She put her hands behind her back, and went still, meditating, to prevent doing something. It took a bit to understand what that was.

  The girl was preventing herself from blurting out that she thought Cindy was trustworthy. Mainly because she was smart enough to understand that being hard working didn’t trump psychopath. She’d been paying attention, after all.

  It took about ten minutes to go over all the plans, and three more for Turner to start nodding, thinking while leaving them all standing there, and avoiding drinking the oil. Finally, she nodded and waved at Bridget.

  “Get with the team leaders then. Set up the seven o’clock. Mableton, you get with your team. The… Uh… Sex Squad? Also the cross training unit. I’ll want a presentation for each later today at the meeting. We won’t win by hiding what we’re trying to do that way. Dismissed.” It was militar
y seeming, and the woman grimaced after saying it, since they weren’t actually in that kind of a situation.

  Instead of making fun of her over it however, Cindy just turned and left. Bridget was only a little way behind her, and patted her on the back, as soon as they got out the door. Then the girl stopped, and slowly started to lower her hand, ending on Cindy’s behind. There was a fairly gentle squeeze then, with the hand being pulled away after a bit.

  “Tight. Sorry. You know, first mode stuff.” She grinned, her story going over how it both had been a real first mode issue, and something that she’d decided to allow. The words spelled it out pretty clearly. It was flirting, a bit, but without serious intent to follow through. Bridget wasn’t that into girls. For her part, Cin stopped, and then did it back. If her own ass was tight from all the running she did, then Bridget Chambers was smuggling cement back there.

  Cindy grinned and let herself go wide eyed.

  “Damn. Well, this Will is a lucky guy, isn’t he? Now, I need to get some things worked out. Presentations and whatnot. Wish me luck?” She wouldn’t really need it, she knew.

  Neither would Bridget. The girl just had to take the first step and the rest would fall into place for her. She managed charming well enough, and was willing to be physically affectionate. That was about all that Will was going to require of her.

  Putting together presentations was mainly about research. That was a thing she was particularly good at and even well trained for. Powers aside even, not that she wasn’t planning to cheat and use those as well. She even had nearly five hours to get all the work done. It was plenty of time really.

  First, she needed to get with Pixie, and then the cross training team. It meant doing some running, and she couldn’t help but yawn through most of it, but that was the price of staying up all night. Partying like she had.

  If she kept moving fast enough, and did it long enough, then she might even be able to outpace the void that was left in her soul. Probably not, in the long run, but for the time being keeping busy was better than sitting around. Feeling the value of her life drain out of her. All her happiness gone already.