The Infected 3: Cast Iron

by P. S. Power

  The reports were…

  Awesome from the sound of it.

  Much better than she could have hoped for. D.C. was still there somehow, even though a few strikes hat hit the ground. The Whitehouse was damaged; on fire still and the news people on the air were giving panicked descriptions of the air battle going on, not certain as to which side they should be rooting for.

  Marcia kind of got why that was. After all, it was a fight between the remaining ten Air Force jets, which had been responsible for the bombing of the capital, and four obviously Infected people. Bridget was one of them, the only one described by name, since she was IPB and sort of famous. The other three were just… people.

  Infected people that were trying to help when the chips were down. Civilians.

  The regular people didn’t know what to think about that. The reporters spun theories, half of which were something along the lines of the noble Air Force sacrificing their lives to protect against the evil Infected. Luckily that didn’t last too long.

  The President had been injured in the attack on the Whitehouse and the First Lady was possibly hurt too, but his daughter was fine. Apparently Proxy had traded out for her and that saved her life. He’d gotten her away, along with the special guard that had saved the President and part of his Secret Service men. Most of those died in the blast. The President had been shielded physically by Level though, along with several members of his regular guard detail who’d used their bodies to try and protect the man.

  There was no word as to what happened to Ink, or where Proxy was. He hadn’t come back. It was rare, but he’d done that once before, moving directly from one situation to another. It was hard on him to do, but it wasn’t like he got much of a choice in the matter. The other option was that he’d be dead and never coming back at all. Marcia just couldn’t stand that idea at the moment.

  “Thank god Bridget’s alive.” It wasn’t a lot to cling too, but since everyone else at the base might just be dead, it would have to do.

  The voices on the radio changed, as they rushed to a special announcement from the senate.

  The voice on the air was rough, filled with emotion… and familiar. Marcia moved closer, realizing who it was. It made her stomach drop.

  “This is Senator James Hooper. I regret to inform you all that my worst fears have been realized. A group of rogue Infected military personnel have tried to take our country from us by force, attempting to move against the President and killing his wife, Martha. The plan apparently involved an attack on the rest of the government as well. Luckily federal agents were able to thwart the worse of this attack and remove the threat and are battling with the aid of civilian forces to protect our capital at this very moment. We should all bow our head in prayers of thanks and for those lost in the horrible events of this day. God bless.” It was a good speech, the kind of thing that screamed that it wasn’t him and his cronies behind it without ever actually saying the words out loud.

  The man was a genius when it came to making the Infected look bad after all. They didn’t even have anyone that could speak for them, to counter the idea that the original plan had been from the other side. Hooper had taken what was at least a partial defeat and turned it into a victory already. It was the last straw, the crushing weight that made her look down at the white of her uniform and start crying.

  Mike came over and hugged her, just holding her while it all came out.

  It wasn’t fair.

  Oh, life wasn’t fair, she knew that, but this… to attack like they had and then to blame it on someone else… How could they defeat that? They just couldn’t. Even as Infected people risked their lives to save innocent civilians from their own kind, they were being blamed for it. Hooper had been clever enough to not even tell the people at home that the federal agents he’d talked about were IPB and that the civilians that were holding off the attack on the capital were Infected.

  It was probably enough to send them all to war, she decided. After the new Hooper act got voted in at least. The last one had called for concentration camps. Who knew what people would be willing to do this time.

  Then another voice spoke, another announcement came. At first she didn’t recognize the voice, since she’d rarely heard it sounding so firm. So angry. It was Director Moore and he was partway into a newscast when the station they listened to picked it up.

  “That’s correct. This was an attempted military coup. As you well know the U.S. military doesn’t allow Infected individuals into the service, and the indication at this point is that anti-Infected terrorists were behind today’s actions. The attempts to destroy the IPB headquarters was thwarted with no damage to the facility or personnel.” He stopped as a voice came from further away.

  It sounded like Brian.

  Marcia blinked, but it wasn’t just her that noticed it. Penny gasped.

  “Brian? That’s Brian!” She sounded happier than a girl that had kind of dumped all over the guy at one point should actually sound, but that was their business. Karen perked up and agreed that the voice was his though.

  “What’s he saying?” It was hard to hear at first, but a microphone finally got brought in, to pick him up, so people could understand him.

  “The indication is that this event has been carried out by Hooper supporters in the military, along with civilian aid from hate groups and other terrorist organizations. We do not know if it was done under his direction at this time or not, but it’s clear that the Senator is trying to spin this to make it look like Infected are involved in the attack, when the only thing that we’ve done so far today is protect the President and Washington D.C. from destruction.” He repeated it several times, explaining himself when asked to by the people on the scene.

  Lancaster slapped his forehead.

  “Brian… God this isn’t going to go over well. I know it had to be said, but I just wish we could have gotten someone else to say it. The President maybe.” He sighed and moved back a bit, as if trying to distance himself from the conversation on the radio.

  Moore came back on then and made a sound that was very close to “Humph.”

  “While I know that might be hard for some to hear, it’s simply the truth. We’ve been trying to soften the blow for a long time, but it’s very clear that certain forces in the government are involved in trying to start a war between the Infected population and the non-Infected. Like it or not, his personal plan or not, Senator Hooper is considered the defacto leader of the major terrorist groups in this country. I ask right now that he step forward and state publically that he is not, in fact, responsible for these people and ask them to not continue to perform acts of terror in his name. We need this to stop, before it becomes something we cannot control at all. Blaming the Infected for the acts of his own followers is inexcusable….” It sounded for a second like he was going to say more, but instead he just gasped and stopped, ending a few seconds later.

  “Thank you. We’ll update you all when new information comes in.”

  Then the radio show started rehashing what was known. The air battle was over and while lives on the ground had been lost as planes crashed, and two of the Infected that had been fighting were missing, with another just flying away fast. Bridget was alive. No one could get to her for comment, because she’d moved in to help put out the fire at the Whitehouse. It was a brilliant plan, since as jazzed as she was, she’d probably have said the wrong thing.

  It was enough that the IPB Director had called out a Senator like he had. People kind of expected that sort of thing from Proxy, since he didn’t pull many punches, but Moore was thought of as reasonable and gentle. The kind grandfather of the Infected that was so mild people sort of forgot that he was one of them too. Most didn’t even know. He was just an old guy that spoke to them from the television every now and again.

  It was Lancaster that pointed out that they needed to find a way to get in touch with the base. The situation with Proxy was weird, since he always went back to the location that he left
from. As far as everyone knew, it was a rule. The agent was trying to call again when Yi showed back up. Already bandaged in several places, a few pink burns showing with salve on them.

  “Hey everyone.” His voice had that sullen sound it got when he’d killed a bunch of people. Normally, even if injured he was pleasant enough when it was just a rescue mission without death.

  This time it was different though.

  “Uh.” He stopped and hugged Karen, even though it clearly hurt to do it. Then he hugged the air in front of him.

  “Um. Guys. The First Lady is dead. Ink… He tried to shield her with his body. It almost worked. He… didn’t make it. The bomb… Lauren saved the President and his daughter is fine.”He shuddered a little bit then took a deep breath.

  “The base… It’s still there, they…”

  No one was speaking, just waiting for him to finish. Ink was dead. They hadn’t been all that close personally, but Marcia had liked him well enough. Kerry was crying about it though, which made sense, the man being her teammate. Karen was too and touching her cheek she realized that tears had come down her own face. She couldn’t really feel them, but her eyes watered.

  There was a soft sob from Tobin, but no water dripped down his cheeks.

  “They… tried to nuke us. They tried to hit us with over a thousand nuclear weapons all at once. That’s nearly twenty percent of the countries arsenal. It was a major military action. Missiles mainly, at first. Then bombers. It was… vast. I got there just in time to see it. Took Doctor Clinton’s place. I don’t know why, he wasn’t in danger as far as I could tell. It let Kern bandage me up though on the fly. I got some decent drugs too.”

  Everyone stared for a while, until Mike asked the obvious question.

  “A thousand nukes? How did you… The base there, it’s fine? How?” He looked baffled and she couldn’t blame him.

  Marcia knew though. It was obvious to her.

  “Less. The Director. No one thinks about it, because he’s old and soft spoken most of the time, harmless seeming, but at one time he was considered the most deadly single man on the planet. His power is just to make things vanish. They just stop existing as far as anyone can tell. My bet is that he just got to the surface in time and made them all go away.” That included the men in the planes no doubt. That would be a problem, since the man hated killing. He’d stopped using his power for nearly twenty years because of it. Maybe a bit longer than that even. Thirty years or more. Longer than Marcia had known him at least.

  That got a nod from Denis.

  “I’ve seen him do it. Just a gun though. I didn’t know he could do that much all at once. Good thing though, I mean, if that’s what happened.” Denis moved toward Brian, carefully, since the man could be a little skittish after a fight, and found himself pulled into a hug by Karen.

  Speaking in a flat voice, Brian agreed with her assessment.

  “Exactly. You got him into place in time. Just in time I think. One of the nukes had gone off and he made the explosion itself go away. It was hard core. I wish I had a cool power like that. Anyway, he took the rest out in two waves. Otherwise we’d all be dead. The people there I mean.”

  Lancaster nodded to him and then, for some reason looked at Conroy, as if the man would know what to do next. Not only wasn’t he in charge, but what was there to do? It was time to go home and start picking up the pieces. First they had to make sure that all their people were alright, but after that it was back to the base. Marcia wondered if the Food Network conference would be canceled now.

  They loaded up and drove back in silence, listening to the radio the whole time. As expected the response to what Proxy and Director Moore had said met some resistance. Not as much as she’d expected though. She’d kind of thought that maybe half of what was said in the press would give the idea a chance, but it was closer to ninety percent. Senator Hooper was just too well known as a hate monger for the general public to not get the idea.

  At least they understood why the IPB might think he was involved. Not all of them believed it by any means. The debate was subdued by the death tolls from D.C. No one mentioned that Ink died trying to save the First Lady at all. They just talked about Level and Bridget doing their jobs. About how they were all still doing their jobs.

  Mike sat next to her, hugging her occasionally, trying to comfort her. He got the idea of course. Ink wasn’t her close friend, but they’d worked together and for the mission she’d been his commander. It was her decision that put him in harm’s way. If it hadn’t been for her and for the life she had before, they wouldn’t have been called into the whole mess and he’d still be alive.

  Or dead from the nukes, a hard little voice in her head chimed in. After all, if they hadn’t been in place to find out what was going on, they couldn’t have responded as they did. The Director would have been in his office, not taking care of the nuclear bombs coming in. The President and his daughter would be dead too. It might have been a mistake to send in Ink, but he’d been the best person for the job at the time. Maybe if she’d sent Scott? He was more powerful, so it might have worked. Then again she could second guess herself all day long. It had happened, the man was dead and so was the First Lady. The failure was hers, no matter what. She cried again, wrapped in her ex’s arms, wishing that they’d been able to stay together even if she was Infected.

  The mood wasn’t a happy one, and it didn’t lift as they made travel plans to get back home. The only good thing came when Mark showed up at the hotel, waiting for them to get there with Scott and Charlot. Peggy nearly tackled Denis as he came in, crying when she saw them. Even Brian got a hug from her, if a very careful one. It was strange, but Marcia got one too and then the muscular woman held her arms out to the air.

  “Penny?” Her voice was rich and full of emotion, and her arms closed a bit after a while, wrapping the invisible girl into an embrace as well. They were friends after all.

  The strangest thing that happened though took place a few minutes later, when Alan the cooking show guy walked over to them and started passing hugs out as well.

  “I know that… One of your friends died. We need to keep going though. We’re moving the conference to D.C. and setting up aid kitchens. I don’t know if you can join us, but Warren already volunteered those of you that can be spared. We know that not all of you can…” He was cut off by a voice from behind him, a female one that sounded shrill, but more sober than the last time Marcia had heard it.

  “We don’t need them Alan. It was their kind that did this. Everything bad is because of the freaks. I warned you all but no one would listen. Maybe now you will.” Deb the famous bigot. She had the equally famous anorexic woman behind her. Not as back up, Marcia suspected, since the woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms while looking disgusted.

  “Don’t be a moron Debbie. This was all Hooper’s fault. It’s what we get for letting Republicans run anything except gun clubs.” She turned to look at Mark, since he was the cooking personality leader in the group, and spoke a lot more warmly to him.

  “We could use the help. The damage is pretty bad and most of the people there are eating leftovers and military emergency rations right now. No one has power and might not for weeks. We need to get them clean water and decent food. It’s probably just the Network trying to capitalize on tragedy, but it’s still real enough. What do you think?”

  Mark looked around and finally nodded.

  “I need to clear it with the agency, but we’re going to need more people in D.C. anyway, so having them help out is a good enough thing for the reserve forces to be doing, instead of just standing around. I’ll try to sell the Director on it. Marcia, what are your thoughts on it? You’re the Deputy Director, so if you nix it that’s probably it.” He looked at her as everyone else turned to see her response.

  “We need to get Brian back to the base. Apparently this idea that he isn’t going to be going anywhere for weeks was a bit less than honest.” She looked at him, but he just shrugged.


  “My power got me where I needed to be at the right time. It worked. I’m beginning to think that the ghost in my head only tells me things that I need to hear. Not exactly a ringing endorsement as to her truthfulness, but I can’t complain overly. Besides, I didn’t have to fight, so that part seems right enough.”

  Marcia didn’t get why he couldn’t have worked from the base, but apparently he could see it somehow. Something he’d done there had been important to the whole thing. Or to something else. For a second she wondered if it had been that craziness with the cops. Had that meant something to the greater scheme of things? She doubted it, but there was probably some factor she didn’t see. She noticed a lot, but it would be stupid to think that meant she got it all. Thinking like that led to mistakes.

  “We also need Chris, since we’re going to drain every last bit of information from our prisoners before we hand them over to Homeland Security. We should make those arrangements now, before Kerry gets bored watching them on the bus and decides to kill them all while they try to “escape”. She wouldn’t do that normally, but…” They’d helped get one of her friends killed. Her lover.

  No one asked why that was, but the agents took over the travel plans. It wasn’t perfect, and meant leaving a lot of their friends in danger, away from home. She didn’t want to do it, but they had to be seen helping. Now more than ever. That meant putting out fires, like Bridget had done and helping to clear rubble, as well as guarding the President and his kid while they grieved. Feeding people and helping with medical supplies wasn’t glamorous, but it was important too.

  It was damned sure that the hate groups wouldn’t be helping out. Marcia nearly smiled at the thought, but held it in, since it would make her look like a ghoul if she went around grinning during a tragedy. Instead she finished deciding who’d go and who would stay on the east coast. The hard part was with Peggy and Tobin.

  She looked at both of them and then just shrugged.

  “Do you want to go back to the base or go and help Mark and the rest?” It was up to them. People would be rude to them if they went, which they didn’t need to hear, but if no one that wasn’t perfect looking ever did anything openly good, no one would know that some Infected that looked a bit funny might have good hearts too. She wasn’t about to order them into action with people that just hated them though. Someone had to do it, but there was no rule saying it had to be them.