The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Tull didn't come back in when people started showing up, Bridget almost made him pass out when she jumped on his middle and started bouncing. He laughed after he recovered for a few seconds, Lauren holding the smaller girl up by one hand, dangling her above the bed. She started swinging back and forth giggling above him, but thankfully kept her feet up, instead of thwacking him with them each time they passed. Brian smiled at her.

  It was cute, in a painful way.

  Mark showed up with Christian, who looked nervous. Standing in the room with him, feeling his pain and all the emotions from everyone had to be hard for her. He appreciated the effort it must have taken her to come see him at all. She smiled at him, looking pale, like she wanted to run, but held, not willing to leave until he'd spoken to her.

  “Christian! Thanks. I know you have to go, but it's nice to see you.” He said, trying to sound friendly and pulling it off well enough that she came over and patted his hand, her eyes going wide when she did.

  “Holy fuck, Brian, do they have you on pain medication at all?” She ran from the room not stopping to explain.

  Mark smiled looking calm as always.

  “Mark, thanks... I heard that it took you a long time to get me, and a lot of work too. I owe you.” He didn't know what else to say, the guy had done a lot to save his life. There could be no doubt he'd be dead right now without him. It made him feel awkward and tense, not knowing what to say.

  The other man just shrugged and smiled at him. “Nothing you wouldn't do for me. Consider it my small part of taking the Jackal down. You do owe me for six candy bars though.” His eyes narrowed on that.

  Brian chuckled.

  “I do that. They were tasty ones too. I'll try to get you more. You know, in case I need them in the future?”

  That got a chuckle at least.

  Beatdown, walked in slowly. Marcia he amended, she was more to him than a code name, and hard as she'd been on him, her lessons had saved those people lives in the end, hadn't they? She gave him a serious look.

  “That...” She waved her hand at his shoulder. “Was the second suckiest job fighting I've ever seen. Kids on a schoolyard would have done better. If it wasn't for Prime you'd be in the number one spot right now. By any normal rights we should be laying your body out, not coming to tickle you on the belly and tell you good boy.” A smile crossed her lips. “I'll let it slide this once, but we have a lot of work to do as soon as you can. You won't always be able to count on luck and balls to get you through.”

  He shook his head a little and laughed.

  “Second person to tell me that today, so it must be true. I don't know how long this will take to heal, practice-wise, but I have to guess I'll be back walking and running with Karen before I can do anything with you. On the good side, I think I did enough while I was gone to keep getting in shape. Lots of walking and running. Not much for the other stuff, unless fighting counts as practice?”

  The long-faced woman crossed her arms. “The way you've been doing it? Probably not. We'll review everything later, tomorrow maybe, and see what we can fix.”

  At the door Karen stood, looking more uncertain than everyone else for some reason. She didn't come in, just stood there.

  “So, you think you'll be back working with me first?” She sounded sad about it to his ears, so Brian smiled at her and put a hand out, hoping she'd walk over or else he'd look stupid.

  Slowly at first, hesitantly, she finally rushed the last few steps and hugged him, he tried to reassure her that, while he'd been injured, he could probably get back to at least the basic stuff in a few days.

  “I don't want to try running right now though, Jackal nailed me in the groin pretty hard. Jerk. That hurts, you know? No kids for me, I guess. But as long as no one comes and tortures me tonight, I should be ready soon. I'll get with the doctors later and see what can be done safely. I just wanted to check in with everyone. I kind of missed you all while I was gone...” He teared up and wiped his eyes sheepishly.

  “Anyway, I have some press thing to go to, where they'll probably ask what kind of a dufus I am while accusing me of being a cannibal. Which can't be true... because that guy wasn't human.” He'd meant it to sound funny, but his voice had gone cold at the end by itself. Everyone looked around nervously, except Marcia who grinned.

  “If the fuckers want a news conference with you in this state, then they deserve to hear the truth, whatever you think it is. We'll scoot. You need stuff, clothes and what not? Any preferences?”

  Brian decided that what he wore before, in the store, black fatigues and running shoes would work for him, if it could be dug up. He refused make-up, not because he didn't think it would make him look better, almost anything would, but because people needed to see that things had real world consequences. Besides, taking it off would be a pain.

  It was mainly that last part really. He didn't say that out loud though.

  They all left, except Penny, who stayed and when Marcia ran in – literally running – with the clothes, helped him change. He didn't have time to worry about modesty, being too chubby and all that. His looks just didn't matter anymore.

  Then really, had they ever? It seemed odd, but looking back in life he could tell that the answer was really no, wasn't it?

  The girls walked him to the elevator, and rode with him to the second floor, a level he'd never been too before. It looked like an office building, generic tan carpet and off white painted walls. Near the front, so he didn't have to walk too far, a bunch of reporters were already setting up, cameras on little stages and risers toward the back to the room. He could see the space through the wide doors that had been propped open. Penny pulled him around to the side gently, making sure to use only the lightest pressure on his right arm. When they got to a plain blue door, she walked him inside.

  People stood and sat, the Director having makeup applied, Prime sitting in a corner talking to several attractive women while a tall brunette in heels and a business suit stood, staring at him, giving him a frown. As she walked over to him, her body language seemed aggressive, as if she were almost angry with him personally about something.

  “You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago. Now we won't have time for makeup!” She spun away, going to the older man in the makeup chair and pointing at him.

  “Why is Mr. Yi late? And what moron picked his clothes. He looks like a military misfit, not a super-hero! Couldn't we have at least gotten him some boots? And something with some color? A green beret or something? Argh.” She threw her hands up and stomped back to Brian.

  “Well, nothing to be done for it now, we go on in five minutes. All right, try to smile and look intelligent. If you can't think of something witty to say, or get lost... screw it, just tell them you came from your hospital bed for this. That always plays well.”

  Smiling Brian put his right hand out to shake.

  “Brian Yi, fresh from his hospital bed, regardless of how it plays, pleased to make your acquaintance?”

  The woman stopped, looked pissed for a second and then smiled, a cold and wintry thing. “Good. Keep that attitude. Polite smart ass is better than dopey moron at least. Charlot Chambers. I'm supposed to make you look good. As it stands we might have to put Prime behind you to dress the frame up.” She said this like a threat, but Brian nodded.

  “That sounds good. People like him already, and trust him. If he's willing to go out there with me, it can't hurt...”

  Prime perked up and smiled, walking over suddenly, leaving the women to trail him, each looking more than a little desperate for attention. It was both sad and funny, Brian decided.

  “Wonderful! So good to see someone with sense around here. I told them I should be out there, being an American Icon and all that, but they thought you wouldn't want to share the stage. Glad to see you're an intelligent and wise person.” He moved to pat Brian on the back, a hearty slap, but Chambers blocked it and yelled at him.

  “Damn it, Scott, he had half his shoulder eaten! Not
everyone shrugs that kind of thing off you know! Read the reports on other people occasionally, all right?” She spun to Brian.

  “Seriously? You'll go out with him behind you? It does play well when he's on...”

  “Sure. Prime's cool. He can give me hints if I get lost, or just jump in and rescue me if I flub too hard.”

  Prime's smile got bigger. “Of course I can.”

  For the next four minutes the woman gave him directions, walk out with the Director and Prime in front of him, stop on the blue tape x on the floor and trade places with the Director when introduced, then answer questions. Just point at someone and listen carefully. Try not to start a war or insult anyone. Except the Jackal and his friend, he could insult them all he wanted. As long as he didn't use actual swear words.

  After all, what were they going to do, sue?

  As he walked to the stage he leaned over to Charlot and whispered.

  “You do know I'm on drugs right? Just got out of surgery?”

  Then keeping his face straight he walked out.

  He hoped he didn't mess up too bad. At least he had Prime, who'd probably steal the show, but that worked for him. If the guy wanted this mess, he could have it.

  Chapter five

  The lights were blinding and he could hardly see anyone in the audience. That... really, it was kind of comforting. Brian just hoped they didn't make him stand too long, he felt a little woozy already. On the good side, this tiny bit of stage fright couldn't hold a candle to some of the stuff he'd done lately. Even Itch had scared him more. So had Marcia for that matter. He tried to keep his face still while the Director, Kevin Moore turned out to be his name, ran over the events pretty well and did it relatively quickly. He seemed to have a knack for this kind of thing, his statements all clear and concise, with no grandstanding and when he turned to Brian after introducing him, his smile seemed genuine.

  Brian walked to the podium, extending to shake the Director's hand, because it seemed right. The man returned the gesture smoothly, then got Brian up on the little box putting him in front of a large array of microphones.

  “What Director Moore said hit most of the facts pretty well, so I'll just take some questions if anyone has some? If not I bet we could dig up some snacks or something and find a movie to watch maybe? I think I get the rest of the day off...” The audience chuckled.

  “Right, how about you.” He indicated a man that looked familiar from somewhere. Well, TV, but Brian didn't know what show or even channel.

  The man spoke loudly enough, even without a microphone, to be heard all over the room.

  “Can you explain the nature of your abilities? It seems a little unclear...”

  This took Brian a little aback, being a much more practical question than he'd expected.

  “Sure. Someone gets in trouble and is about to die, I go there and take their place... it's kind of like teleportation, except I don't control it at all, and then I try not to die myself. I don't know where they go, the people I replace, but they come back when I'm done. Unharmed. At the same time I go back to where I started from.”

  The man didn't seem satisfied with that.

  “What about other powers? You've fought at least a dozen Infected individuals, some with high level abilities, what else can you do?”

  Laughing, Brian shook his head a little.

  “Other than get the snot beaten out of me? I don't have any other abilities. I can't even sing. I do play a mean Oboe though.”

  He pointed to another man about four people over, dressed in a black suit.

  “When you were fighting the Jackal, were you afraid?”

  “Yes. If you follow up with “did you wet yourself”, I'll lie... Well... honestly I don't remember, so you'd have to ask whoever did my laundry after, but it sounds like a very reasonable course of action – in hindsight at least. The guy had already helped kick my... rear once, and then some other things happened after that which, yeah... Afraid... Very.”

  The questions went on for a while, most of them getting honest, if flip remarks. He pointed to someone, a woman he thought, wearing red toward the back. That or a man in a dress. He just really couldn't see past the lights.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” She asked, making the others laugh.

  Brian shielded his eyes like a visor, searching the audience for where the voice had come from. “Mom? Is that you? Look, honestly... I'm not gay!” He over-exaggerated the words and got a huge laugh for his effort.

  “Seriously? No... I'd like to, but I don't think I have the time.”

  A voice came from the room in front of him, it sounded male, and thoughtful.

  “Why not? Do they work you that hard?”

  Smiling he shook his head then let it tilt.

  “Well, actually, yeah, come to think of it, they really do, but I meant I don't think I'll survive long enough for it to be fair to anyone I might have a relationship with. I'm essentially just a regular guy, like most of you, and most of the people at home. The only difference is that I keep getting dropped into fights, sometimes with Infected people, sometimes not, sometimes they have guns and knives, once I was chased by a mob calling for my death. If I make it to my next birthday that's going to be pretty good and probably means someone keeps bailing me out. Um, my birthday is in June, next month, on the twelfth. If I'm still here, I'm having a party. Cake and ice cream on me. You're all invited.”

  No one asked any more questions.

  “No one? OK. Well, nice chatting with you, if you think of anything else, let me know and I'll try to get an answer back to you if I can fit it into my schedule. Not a joke. They're already riding me about how much I suck at fighting.” He waved and stepped back, and traded places with Moore hoping he hadn't screwed up too bad, telling them all that.

  They walked out together a few minutes later, Charlot grabbed him by the collar, he thought she wanted to hit him for a second, but she kissed him instead. A dry kiss, but on the lips.

  “You rocked! If I weren't married I'd date you myself. That bit about being around on your birthday... I couldn't have paid people to come up with it. Prime, get over here!” she ordered, sounding angry again.

  Before she could say anything, Brian put his hand out to the tall man – who really did look like a super-hero from an old time comic book. “Thanks, man. You saved that out there you know. If they only had my face to look at everyone would have turned the channel. It really helped a lot.”

  He meant it, realizing that having the man behind him didn't just make Prime feel better, but had helped him too. It had reminded Brian that the fate of Infected everywhere didn't rest only on what he said.

  The brunette looked at him, and raised her eyebrows.

  “That's right, you did a great job, Scott. From now on, if Brian here needs to be on the air, I want you with him, all right? Even if you're not in the picture just then, I want you standing backstage for him. You're the master of this kind of thing after all.”

  Penny came over and took his hand. The one not attached to a lump of pain.

  “That was pretty good. Let's get out of here, you should get back to your hospital room and make sure you didn't open anything up moving around like this.”

  Director Moore walked over and shook his hand, which made Penny let go first.

  “You did well out there today. We'll have to see how it plays, but it had a kind of honest, folksy charm that people like. I'll get with you in a few days for follow-up, all right?”

  They all parted ways, Penny practically holding him up as they walked, his energy about gone. Back in the hospital room, Bridget and Lauren had “borrowed” a television and wired it to play. It was huge, about fifty inches across. They'd stolen the wall mount for it too, putting it up without asking any of the medical staff, but wouldn't tell him where they'd gotten it from.

  “We'll give it back in a few days. It's not really like we're keeping it or anything.” Fidgeting, Bridget looked at the screen with awe and greed in her eye. “Yea
h, definitely just giving it right back as soon as we're done with it.”

  To distract him, Lauren turned it on.

  The preset had it turned to one of the big five cable news channels, the most popular one. His face came up, startling him. He didn't look good, too battered for that, but he did look a lot thinner than he'd thought. He had bruises on the side of his face, but he couldn't even remember what had happened to cause them. His voice sounded all right, just a little higher pitched than inside his head, but that happened. Bridget clapped and shushed everyone when he started speaking. It turned out to just be a clip, covering three of the answers, all about his powers.

  Because him being lame was clearly the big story here.

  The good-looking people sat on stools, almost standing, which couldn't have been that comfortable, Brian decided. A pretty golden-blonde woman spoke first. She wore a blue blouse and tan skirt that was just a little short for someone claiming to give reliable information, but looked hot.

  “Can you believe it? He's an ordinary guy, he knows he's going to die, but he doesn't sound bitter about it, just happy he can help people. It's kind of inspirational. We could all do with a bit more of that. I have to dig deep into my soul to give a few hundred dollars to charity at Christmas each year. Can you imagine?”

  Her co-host, one of two, a sandy-blond man that looked like he tasted something sour, snorted.

  “I find it hard to believe that on top of all the recent negative press for the Infected this fellow comes out of nowhere with a heroic act and a sob story, don't you? Doesn't this seem a little tailor-made? He saves the kids of a bunch of officials, from a group made up mainly of Infected and then finds the most notorious serial killer in the world and fights him to the death to protect some people in the heartland of America? On video no less? It doesn't scan for me.” He sounded like he tasted something sour too, Brian noticed.