Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day Page 6

Not that she wasn't ready to do some of that, if the right people showed up. Braid for instance, would be going down, if she ever met the woman. Even if she was a nearly perfect precog. Really, she'd make that happen even if it meant dying. Too many of her friends had been damaged by the woman already. Brian, of course, but Tobin too. Even Christian Pours, the Team Three leader. Her child had been taken away, and placed in a home, by Devorah Timberland herself, even before Chris had popped Infected. She'd just been a party girl heiress back then. That child had turned out to be Tobin Peterson. True he was doing well enough now, but who knew what he might have become if he'd had a healthy home life and a rich mom looking out for him.

  It wasn't like Chris was incapable of love. She was just a snitch that would tell on you for even thinking the wrong thing. At least if it was a crime. She was rich too, so bribes wouldn't work to get her to look the other way. Bridget knew, having attempted that one, a time or two. Instead, just to get around her, over the years, she'd had to learn not to think about certain things too much. She was doing better lately, but for years that had almost not worked at all for her.

  Impulses started with an idea, and she hadn't had any real defense from them. Now that she did, well, Chris wasn't even around for her to use her new found skills on.

  They walked for a while, Charity using almost any excuse to jump a little, since she probably weighed about ten pounds at the moment. It made for some interesting tricks. Like running along the side of a log, as she nearly fell, then pulling her legs under her to land on the ground softly. The reason it looked so cool was that she just wasn't falling that fast. Bridget caught Doug's eye and pointed at her, then whispered.

  "New trick?"

  It was, it seemed, since the black haired and brown eyes man winked. Then he picked up a rock and handed it to her. The thing was kind of round and a bit dirty, since it had rained a few days before and not totally dried yet. It seemed to weigh about a pound, though it should have been about ten times that heavy.

  He pointed at it, using a strange overhand gesture that looked a bit fabulous, considering he was straight. That meant he was copying someone, she was willing to bet. She just didn't know who.

  "Drop it."

  When she did, it barely moved, drifting slowly toward the ground. She took it again and it still seemed to be the same weight, even when she moved it around. But it didn't fall nearly as fast as it should have.

  "Awesome. That is really neat. You can explain it to me, later." They really should have been using total operational silence, but she was willing to bet that the only person there that had ever been told about things like that was her. That meant it was her job to be the good example. Because when it came down to it the impulsive girl was always the one for that task, wasn't she?

  Except that, honestly, she was almost certain she could do it, now. It would take work, and a lot of focus, but Bridget wasn't running off and French kissing light sockets for fun anymore, was she?

  Trained for what they were doing or not, Doug got the idea and Charity, even though she still had a bit of fun jogging along with them, didn't make a lot of sound. She even dove to the dirt, laying on her stomach, when the military men came into sight. They were on the edge of the woods, and made plenty of sound tramping around.

  "I thought I saw something in there." The voice was female, which was interesting, since the army didn't have a lot of those as far as Bridget knew. "It might have been a dog. I saw one earlier."

  That was both a bit insulting and a little bit of a challenge for her, since a part of her very soul wanted her to bark and try to pretend to be that puppy. Making very fake sounding woofing calls to play along. She held that in, mainly by biting her tongue so that it couldn't move.

  Someone else, who had a deeper voice, answered.

  "Dogs aren't on the list today. People either. We're here to look for terrorists. As long as no one attacks, play it cool. Here..." There was a soft rustle of clothing, as she hid behind a low log that had fallen, and not cleaned up yet by the township.

  For a second she thought someone was going to start peeing, but a voice called out instead. She didn't raise her head to look, and no footfalls came any closer.

  "If there's anyone in there, you don't have to be afraid. We're just here to help."

  The government always was, naturally. Why, just the other day Bridget had heard that they had a plan to kill her and everyone she knew, to helpfully eradicate them from the planet. The idea was to bring in artificial super soldiers, after softening them up with bombs. The IPB had simply beaten them to the punch and blew things up first. The idea was that the government couldn't really be certain that they, themselves, hadn't been the ones to do it. That would last for a while, too.

  Everyone inside the base would seem to be dead, but that wasn't the case. It had taken a lot of work, but they'd managed, over the course of about three days, to covertly get everyone out of the place, then trick the cameras that always watched them into thinking they were all still there. The explosion was so big there would be no bodies, or wouldn't have been, if anyone had been inside. That meant that she, and her entire life, was gone, as far as everyone knew. Except Will and Charity.

  It wasn't true, but they could be a problem, if they talked to the wrong people. In six months it probably wouldn't matter anyway, so she was fine with not having killed them to keep it all a secret. Hopefully Will wouldn't remember her as more than some girl he'd met. Charity had seemed to be setting that up, or at least she'd been doing something like that. It was tempting to ask her what that was, and she started to open her mouth, but realized that talking at that moment might be a bad plan.

  Instead she just held her place, smiling a bit.

  The soldier that seemed to be in charge of the unit spoke again, to his own people this time.

  "There. You were probably right. Just a scared dog. Let's get on with this. Keep to the outer ten feet and spread out a little. We don't know what we might be facing. I heard there was shooting earlier." It sounded in charge, informed, and a bit nervous. One of the other men, and at a guess there were twelve people in the group, so a squad, sub vocalized a little play for her, about how the mighty sergeant was just going over what they'd all heard in the briefing, as if it were news.

  She nearly busted up then, because to this guy, the man in charge sounded like someone's rather harping girlfriend.

  That actually took slapping a hand over her own mouth to suppress. Doug looked at her, seeming pleasant and relaxed, but Charity seemed ready to soil her jeans in fear. It wasn't like the three of them couldn't take the other group in a fight. Really, either Doug or she could do it before they could even fight back at all. The darker girl might have managed it, too. If she could, that would make her a class three. It was sort of what the term meant. The ability to take out a military squad of armed and trained men. Or women. Not special forces, just regular grunts, which this crowd really seemed like.

  After a bit they all walked off, searching the edge of the woods carefully for threats to national security. Or waiting for them to run out and beg to surrender in exchange for MREs. That might have been the plan, too. More likely it was to half-ass the job enough that they didn't find anything, so that they could all go home in a few days. Bridget could get behind that one, if it were the case. If they'd do their part and leave her alone, she could do hers, and not kill them for being in the way.

  They waited for a long time, lying there on the flat, but moist ground. Her knap sack was right beside her, tucked into the log. It was boring, but they didn't wait too long. For one thing, the others just didn't seem to know what to do. She had a clue, since she could track the party as they left, by sound. When they were about a quarter mile away, she stood.

  Her words were a whisper, but seemed pleased, she hoped.

  "Let's get going. Doug, if you don't mind? Try to keep things silent if you can. I'm betting this isn't the only group out here."

  She was, of course, correct. They saw
four groups out, all doing the same thing, which looked pretty efficient, but was done in a way that meant none of them expected to find anything at that point. She even managed to overhear why that was. Their higher ups had told them that an attack on the IPB wasn't a priority, in a way that had them speculating that their own people had done it. The others, Doug and Charity couldn't hear what they were saying, which was all to the good. Half of the people out there were morons. They spoke in hushed tones to each other about stupid shit, like scalping Infected.

  As if that wouldn't go the other way around? It was fear talking though, not anything else. She knew dozens of people that could have cleared the whole town of soldiers, by themselves. In fact, two of them were right there, as those fools ran their mouths about committing atrocities.

  No one mentioned what would really happen if they were attacked though. Which would be dying fast enough that they might not even really know what had happened. Not unless Becky was right, and there was life after death.

  Bridget was willing to trust her on that one, since her old friend had been dead for years, and still managed to show up for some of the meetings. At least she had been lately.

  They lost about three hours to the dumb-asses and their lame non-searching bravado. The rest of the time they managed to travel pretty well. A regular girl in no particular shape could jog at about thirty miles an hour without being out of breath, when she only weighed a few pounds. Doug was clearly doing the same for himself, and Bridget had to be careful not to leave them far behind, just using her natural speed and staying a good thirty feet from them most of the time. She didn't need help for that part of things, and in fact it would have been annoying to try. She was way too strong for that kind of thing to work very well.

  So, even though it hadn't been that late when they set out for the far side of town, they got to Mary's Coffee and Donuts at about six in the evening. Hours later than they would have without the watchers, but a lot of that really had been spent resting. Just laying on the ground, dozing, while they waited for the coast to be clear.

  Well, she'd been tempted to. No one had gotten a lot of sleep really. They probably wouldn't for a few days, until whatever was going on was done.

  Bridget had expected to have to break in, but both the shop and the tiny house behind the big donut sign by the road were open for some reason. It looked ready for people to come and visit too, and in fact, the open sign out front was turned on. It was red neon, and the place normally did lock up at night, so someone had been there. Catching the scent, she wasn't too shocked when Mary came walking from the side office, having heard them come into the main store. The others had followed her, but seemed shocked for some reason, as if all the clues hadn't given things away?

  She glanced at Mary, who was in a soft looking powder blue sweater, tennis shoes and well faded blue jeans. She looked like a girl that was home from college, rather than a shop keeper. Not one that owned her own place.

  "Hi! We came to visit, since everyone else ran away." It wasn't the most clever thing to say, but her mouth had worked on its own, and she managed to cover the fact that she sounded slightly like an idiot by hugging the woman in front of her.

  "Bridget! Friends as well." She kept one arm around Bridget's slender shoulders, holding her as if they hadn't just met a few months before. It wasn't sexual.

  She had to remind herself of that, because part of her wanted to reach out and grab the other lady's behind, and give it a nice squeeze. Becky, who had lived inside Brian's brain for a long time, had told her that Mary was just an average lay. Given how things had been back then, the ghost girl had a front row seat to each sex act Brian had been involved in for about a year.

  Almost all of which had been with Mary, as it turned out.

  That sounded like something to test out for herself, on both sides, except for the part where they were both her own grandparents. She should have had a problem with things, because of that, but she didn't really. It made it harder not to grope her granny than it would have if she'd looked her age. Or if she'd known her whole life. That part wasn't her fault however. After all, Mary had been right there, at the donut shop, not twenty miles down the road, her entire life. Watching them all, if only at a remove. Waiting for Brian to show up.

  Literally. Just sitting there, working for decades, to make certain she was at the right place in time for them to meet again.

  Bridget wasn't certain if that was really romantic, or the sign of a truly dedicated stalker.

  Doug looked at the woman and smiled, since they of course had met more than a few times. Even hung out, Bridget thought.

  He waved a bit.

  "Hey Mary. Sorry to crash in on you like this, but Charity here needs a place to stay for a few days. Her dad's out of town, and going off to a camp isn't really going to work too well. Would it be all right if she stayed here? Maybe out in the tool shed?" There was no sense of slyness to the question, but Mary responded as if it were purest manipulation, cleverly laid by the slightly square framed fellow in front of her. Meant to obligate her to the duty, as if that should be enough to make that happen.

  Bridget shrugged.

  "Edmund promised to protect her, since she's from his area. I don't know if we're really close enough for me to count as family, but-" She was about to suggest that they could camp out, if need be, once the soldiers were out of the way, but Mary made a sound that suggested a strong exhalation through the nose, without being a snort at all. It was an alien thing, as far as she knew, if not just a Mary one.

  "Of course you may stay, Charity. Should I take you two to the secret location? It will be only a matter of moments." That seemed to be her plan, but Bridget shook her head.

  "If it's good with you, we need to stay too. For about a week? We can all work, if you're going to try and keep the place open. Didn't the military tell you to leave?"

  "That they did. I was about to suggest that they remove themselves, or that I would be forced to thrash them all, when their Captain told me that it would be a welcome service, that they would pay for, if we could keep the doors open. It seems that those enslaved to the federal contracts enjoy fresh treats as well as any others, if not more. I would welcome the company, and the help, if that would not be an imposition?" She made it all sound very serious, as if they'd just camp out in her house and let her do all the work, but Doug smiled at her.

  "We can do that. It's probably a good idea, actually. We should all disguise ourselves however. I don't know how to really do that. I guess we should... I wish Clari was around. She'd know what to do. I've had her put makeup on me that had the girls jaws dropping. I know because Charlot told me so. She wouldn't lie, would she?" There was a playful air in it and he turned to Bridget a little since he was talking about her mom. Using nicer language than most did when the subject came up too.

  Then, even if her first mode was annoyance, Doug's lack of that meant that they actually got along pretty well, most of the time. In fact he was one of about six people on the base that was really true for. Charlot, in short, actually liked him.

  "About things like that? No, she really wouldn't. I saw you that day, too and I have to agree, you looked pretty hot. I think you should go for something a bit more... I don't know, less attractive, for this one? We don't want some lonely soldiers to think that you're just the cutest little thing, now do we?" She meant the guys, but then realized it was true for all of them. They didn't want to attract attention. "Could... I wonder if Clari could help us?" She didn't want to suggest she come to them, or that they leave, but there could be written instructions, and some gear for it?

  Bridget could do basic makeup, but she wasn't some kind of super expert.

  Mary clapped, happily.

  "Very good, we can look into that after the meal. Bridget, would you help me with that? I was thinking something simple, if that isn't a problem? I don't really eat meat, myself. I know that's a custom here... I could use a good meal, however."

  "And I need to co
nsume about ten thousand calories. Well, I can drink the old donut grease, if it comes to that. I'd rather eat the donuts, but I'll make do." She didn't want to eat the poor woman out of house and home, if she could help it.

  "Good. Douglas, would you watch the front? I don't know if you can run a till, or provide service to anyone coming in..."

  He actually shrugged, then looked around the place.

  "I can manage, I think. I used to work in a place that wasn't too different from this. Could you show me the till system first?"

  That got them all walking around for about half an hour, as everything in the place was explained, if briefly. To her it seemed pretty complex, but Doug had a good handle on it, so they left him and Charity to go and make a large pot of rice and some vegetables. Stir fry, with some kind of gravy that Mary liked. It did smell good, Bridget decided. They just worked, and no one came to the shop at all. She would have heard them if they did. Or she thought so. There was no way a car would have gotten past her, even being all the way behind the building in the little blue house that was about a hundred feet away.

  Marching feet should have set her off as well. Alerting her instantly. She was surprised then when the sound of a bell came, and she turned toward it, and pointed.

  "Someone's here. They didn't come by car. We might want to check on things." No one had spoken yet, but there was movement.

  Finally, as she moved in that direction, Doug spoke, his voice sounding professional and like he was pretty comfortable in the position he held now. Like he really had done it all before.

  "Hello! How are you folks doing today?"

  "Very well, thank you. And yourself?"

  She wasn't running toward that location, and didn't recognize the woman answering. Not exactly. She'd heard her before, she thought, but where didn't come to mind right away. Mary stopped her at the door, and put a hand on her shoulder.

  "This is my place, I'll go see to our custom. I'm certain that Douglas will have it fairly in hand."

  The lady spoke again, her tone pleasant. Like she was really just there to shop.