The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  "There's an exercise room, last door on the right. Showers across from that. Just let us know when you're using it, so we don't let Clark in with you."

  "Like that would make a difference? I don't make much of a show. Oh..." She nearly blushed. "Wait, that's so I don't knife him in the shower, right?"

  "Yup." Millstone seemed pleased by the idea at least. "Need to borrow a blade? I have an extra in here..."

  Penny looked down at the one strapped over her right thigh. It probably wasn't what the guard wanted to know about, but she wasn't a real prisoner, was she? At the very least she was a bad one.

  "Got my own thanks. A nine millimeter too. No one thought to check me out before I came down, mainly because they can't. Kind of a failure in procedure, but I might need to leave on a mission at any time, so I need to stay ready. That's my story at least, so I'm sticking with it."

  "Yeah, I got the briefing on that last bit of work you did before I came on shift. You killed nineteen terrorists to save those kids. Half of them with only a knife, wasn't it?" The guard didn't seem to be teasing Clark this time at least. Not openly.

  Penny sighed, but didn't think it would carry well enough for anyone to hear.

  "About a third of them really. I didn't count. We got the kids out before the bombs at least. That was a screwed up situation. They told us it was PLO, but I don't think so. The men inside seemed like they were American. All like you guys... The Agents here. Hard and sharp. Ready to fight, or kill. What kind of monster takes a school of children like that, planning to kill them all?"

  Clark cleared his throat.

  "Holy crap. You killed nineteen armed men? Alone?"

  "She sure did Clark. Think about that, a building with two hundred little kids, all about the same age that Bridget was when you first did her. Makes the old juices flow doesn't it? The whole place had bombs on every window and door, except the one that they were dumping the bodies of children out of. Penny used that to get inside, she had to stack up their little corpses to climb in. Then she took the bastards out. All armed to the teeth and ready for an attack. None of them even knew she was there as they died. I bet you sleep pretty well tonight, thinking about it."

  Penny rolled her eyes.

  "Seriously, you're being a jerk. Clark gets it, you don't like what he did. He won't do it again. I'm not here to kill you Clark, don't worry about that. No one is going to hurt you here." Except maybe Marcia.

  The original plan probably had her being locked up with the man for two weeks. From what Penny had heard that wouldn't have gone too well for him. Marcia Turner wasn't just in charge, she was superhumanly strong, fast and almost impossible to hurt. If she wanted someone dead, she could find a way. From what Penny had learned over the years, she probably could have gotten it done even before she'd popped Infected.

  Not that she would have done it in the lock-up. That was stupid and the Deputy Director wasn't that at all. Paranoid and a bit pushy, maybe too forgetful of certain invisible former teammates, but not dumb. There was no way to kill Clark in his cell that wouldn't be incredibly obvious. Then Bridget would know who'd killed her "boyfriend". Marcia might survive that, but no one else would. Not easily. It was also illegal to just murder people, which had to be a consideration. If that was the plan, it would be done in a way that made things look like an accident, wouldn't it? That or blamed on someone else, but that would be wasteful. No, Marsh would wait for Clark to get out, which would only be about four more months, and then arrange for him to vanish one day. Go for a walk and just never make it back inside.

  One of the reasons that he needed to run as soon as possible.

  She could break him out for it, but honestly, Penny didn't like the guy that much. He was really annoying and even though his plight made her feel a bit sad, he'd also had sex with a girl that, even when she was of age, had impulse control problems that would probably make her legally off limits in most states. At least if anyone took it to court. That wouldn't happen, since they were all IPB, but it didn't make it less real.

  That point was sort of the one where Robert had messed up. Karen really wasn't an adult in some ways. She was smart enough, but saying the right words would get her to do almost anything. If they were out in the real world that wouldn't matter and people would probably take advantage of her compassion all the time. Here though, they had rules. You didn't hold a grudge if a person had a first mode problem, not if you could help it, even if it meant you got hurt or felt insulted. Some people couldn't work around their own problems well enough, but most managed that part pretty well. The other half of that was the fact that you didn't use a person's first mode against them in a way that didn't serve them. It was done all the time of course, but there were levels to things like that and you didn't abuse anyone. If you did, you had to know that someone was going to slap you down.

  Even Clark hadn't asked why she'd had Torque beaten. Agent Millstone either.

  No, they both understood.

  She'd stopped talking for too long, so everyone sort of forgot she was around, including the man on the new shift, who didn't seem to have an earpiece in. Not wanting to be accidently locked in her cell, Penny moved a bag of food out and sat against the cool gray wall just to the left of it, but outside. The man didn't do anything except turn all the lights down. They didn't go off all the way, but her door stayed opened. Finally she risked going inside. If the door locked on her it could be days before anyone came to let her out again. The floor was just too hard to sleep on. The mat they'd given her wasn't much better, but it made a tiny difference.

  She slept pretty well, once she drifted off. After all, she wasn't really trapped, her door was open still and if worse came to it, she could time things right and just walk out with whoever came in next. The guards used some other entrance, but someone would be around eventually, to feed them at least.

  The next morning, at what she figured to be about nine or so, the lights popped on. There was no screaming that she had to get up, but a loud clang happened, which made her freak for a few seconds, feeling trapped. It was just Clark though, walking out in an orange prisoner's uniform and wearing thongs on his feet, carrying what looked to be some toiletries. Penny didn't have a towel herself. Or soap. She did have a toothbrush however and toothpaste, packed up in one of the bags of things she'd gotten from the fourth floor. After a few seconds she followed along, taking the packages with her.

  Clark was in the shower already, an open room where anyone could watch you. It had four spigots, but there were almost never any prisoners here, so that didn't really matter. It was decent sized, since some people might feel violent if hemmed in too much, or got too close to other people.

  He was an odd looking man, once he had his clothing off. His hair was brown and he didn't shave anything off, and his brand of Infection didn't change him physically that much, as far as she could tell. He was tall and thin, with a nice set of abs, but in that way that just meant you didn't eat enough really, not the kind guys got from a lot of exercise and hard work. His skin was pale and he really did move his head a bit like a stork, his eyes bulging in a strange fashion that made him look kind of creepy.

  There was no tan to his skin, and if he realized that he was being watched by a woman at that moment it didn't do anything for him at all. He looked pretty normal that way, but it was hard to tell when men weren't excited. She'd learned that over the years first hand. Not everyone at the base locked their doors all the time.

  After a few minutes of watching him, mainly just because it was more interesting than staring at the wall, she went and tried to get a towel from the man on duty. He was behind a mirrored glass window, but seemed to have gotten an ear piece in place. When she got back to her room one was lying on her cot, along with a pair of shower thongs as well. She didn't bother asking them to put Clark away, even though he was already back in his room, just going and scrubbing up, after hiding her weapons. It wasn't that the guards might get them, but she'd look pretty bad of Clark actu
ally did kill himself with her gun, wouldn't she? That wasn't worth the risk at all.

  She walked over naked, and when she was done had to climb back into the same clothing that she'd been wearing the day before. No nifty jump suit appeared for her or anything, so she'd have to make do. It would be fine for a day or so, as long as she didn't sweat in them, but after that she'd start getting ripe.

  Breakfast came, for Clark, but for some reason the little robot that delivered him food didn't stop at her door at all, just rolling on past, empty. That was part of why she'd brought her own, of course. One thing that being her had taught Penny very well over the years was that it never paid to count on others to do things for you like that. Do for yourself, or do without. Always. She didn't let it upset her at all. It wasn't fair to blame everyone else for not noticing her, when she was hidden so very well from the world.

  Later in the day she went to the exercise room, naked except for her towel, which she kept around her neck. That way she'd show up on the video feed later, if anyone looked. If they weren't going to, then there wasn't any reason for her to really be there at all. She took her gun, holstered under her naked shoulder and her knife, just because she was leaving her door open. It would be natural enough for Clark to poke around, if he was out at the same time, which he really wasn't. Other than the shower he spent most of the day locked in his cell. At six he was given an hour to exercise, but he just rode the stationary bike, slowly, and generally didn't do much at all.

  They didn't talk until right before bedtime again. It wasn't lost on her that no one came to see how she was doing at all. No one did for days. She lost track of them after a bit, but no meals came and while she didn't eat that much, she started to run out of food eventually. It was about noon, she thought, some good amount of time later, that she realized that she'd come with nearly enough food to last the whole time. Clark was the same, day after day, but he didn't speak to her a lot. Even Millstone didn't overly. They couldn't remember she was there to chat with, unless she did the work first. She tried, but after a while there just wasn't a lot to speak about.

  No books came at all, even if Marcia had taken notes. That could mean anything though. Really it was just amazing that no one at all bothered to visit. Brian should have. He was her life line after all. The only person on the planet that she really thought might come for her if anything happened to her. It had worked before, on the stairs, when her leg was broken. It made her a bit sad to realize that he might not care as much about her now as he had back then. It hadn't been that long, but still, no one visited at all. Finally, feeling a bit desperate about the whole thing, she asked Agent Millstone one evening as they chatted before bedtime.

  "So, I'm a bit lost, how much more time do I have in here? It's been twelve days?" She thought that might be right. It could be less.

  "Ah..." There was a rustling sound from the other room and then a cough. "Here we are. Actually you get out... now. Technically you can be out at midnight, but Agent Bransom has problems remembering that you're around. I'll write it up now and kick you out just before I hit the lights, unless you want to stay the night? We're always here for you after all." There was no hint of irony in the voice.

  Penny popped her head out of the door of her room and looked at the silver mirror at the end of the gray hallway.

  "I'd like to go back to my room, actually. Nothing against the accommodations, but I'd love a pillow."

  She had to keep talking, of course, so the man didn't forget about her and not fill out the correct papers. It took about twenty minutes, but he didn't make her wait overly after that. Before nine he had the elevator door open for her and spoke over the loudspeaker.

  "Make sure to get all the way in first, let me know when you're set."

  "Ready!" The doors slammed shut without hesitation. Clark didn't say goodbye at all, but then he was probably used to people coming in for a short period of time and then leaving. It couldn't be fun, but then it also wasn't her responsibility.

  At the top of the ride, on the second floor, the door opened to show that, as expected, no one was there. She started to walk away when she heard the familiar voice. It wasn't an expected one, but it was at least a person she knew.

  "Penny?" Bridget sounded normal for her, if questioning. Her voice was high pitched and her face looked a little buck toothed and pointed at the chin. She had really short auburn hair and was whip thin, her abs actually showing under the tight t-shirt she was wearing. It was a new one it seemed that had a picture of, of all things, her, on the front. In her work uniform, which was a nice brown thing that made it look like an adult had come up with her costume, instead of a manic pixie child. "Are you here yet? Hellooo..."

  "Hey Bridgie! Did you come to see the ex-con?" She thought she was that now, at least as far as her record went. She probably would never be able to get a job on a political campaign now, would she? Or handling money. Golly.

  "Yeppers. Denis told me to make sure I came. Otherwise it would be all sad and you'd think no one loved you, instead of almost everyone being gone. I'm actually out of here tomorrow myself. We have a run into D.C. Guard duty at the White House. Dad and I are going. Oh! Wait a second..." She cleared her throat and got a piece of paper out, then, after standing at attention, which made her nearly four feet and seven inches tall, she started reading. "Penny, nothing of note has happened since you've been locked up. Almost everyone on Team Three is out right now, but it's fairly boring stuff. Mainly television things. Lancaster wants you in the morning, so get a good night's sleep. Marcia. She said that you'd want to know that kind of thing. Brian is around somewhere, but he's actually been working his ass off lately. Press things. Mom has kept him running. It's mostly about the thing with the school you did."

  She waited then, clearly expecting that there would be talking. Penny nearly didn't know what to say, but realized that if she couldn't come up with something Bridget would probably just wander off. The girl really might anyway.

  "Um, well, would you like to take me to dinner? The Team Three dining hall will be closed, most likely. I can't really order food for myself. I had enough to eat, since I took a stash with me, but I've been rationing the last few days. I nearly had to escape to the store for another food run."

  "Got it. Let's go. I could eat again myself. I'm not dressed for it, but I'll explain the situation. They can stick us back in a corner or something, don't you think? I have make-up on, but mom will gritch at me if I don't wear a dress in there. No one else has to all the time, but she thinks people will confuse me with a boy. It's the hair. That, and the no breasts thing." She glanced down at her chest, which really was decently flat and shook her head a bit sadly. "Boards envy me."

  The hostess didn't glare or anything, she just looked at the tiny girl as if pleased enough to see her.

  "Table for one?"

  "Two. I've got Operative Cooper with me. The invisible one from Team Three? I really do this time too, I'm not just saying that to get extra food." There was a giggle with the words, a cute and slightly too young sounding thing. It sort of made Penny want to go back and stick a knife in Clark's left kidney.

  That was kind of specific, but there it was. He just seemed like the kind of guy that needed a good kidney shanking, at least at the moment.

  The woman held up her right hand, one finger, the index, extended.

  "Hold on." She went to her little pedestal desk thing nearby and opened a small drawer under it. It was interesting, but she pulled out a small black ear piece and tucked it in with a deft and delicate motion. It went with the slightly oriental silk dress she was wearing, and the fishnet stockings that peeked out, since they were also black.

  "So, I'm testing you this time, Bridget. Murray threw a fit the last time you pulled this in his section you know. It wasn't that you ordered too much food, we all know you need to eat, it was the lying. No one likes to be made fun of or fooled." She did manage to sound like she was lecturing a bit, but Bridget just shrugged, a huge thing for
her little frame, that showed that her range of motion was a lot greater than a regular persons.

  Penny smiled, "I should stay silent and get you in trouble, but I'm actually here. Fresh from the pokey. In two weeks they never once managed to serve me a meal there. I had to eat snack cakes and beef jerky the whole time. Poor, poor me." It hadn't been that big of a deal, she'd done that kind of thing for years after all, but the woman in front of her seemed scandalized suddenly.

  "I... Here, let's get you two seated right now then. We have a nice place for you. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Let me..." She pulled Bridget by the arm hard enough that the little girl looked almost like she was in trouble and being hauled off for punishment, rather than an extra meal. The table itself wasn't even all the way at the back of the room, but did hug a wall, which was nice. The cream silk wall paper had an interesting pattern and the candle in the center of the red cloth table covering was lit instantly, before she even left.

  "So, Penny, I'll have the waitress over here in a second, would you like something to drink first? We have mixed drinks, soda... Coffee?"

  An alcoholic beverage was tempting, but she decided not to go that way tonight. It would be too easy for her to just sink into doing that, even if she was too young to drink. It wasn't like she couldn't manage an unlimited supply of the stuff, if she wanted.

  "Could I have a lemonade?" They made it fresh, so it was a real treat.

  "Me too, please." Bridget smiled up at the woman and didn't get another word out before she spun and left. After that she kept going, her voice going lower than it had been for some reason. "Sandra's great. This is her section. She should be right over, I think."

  The drinks came about three minutes later, a nice looking older woman in tow behind the hostess. She was putting in an ear bud as well. The idea that everyone at the first floor restaurant would work that hard just for her was kind of a big deal. It was almost too much for her, but she held on and didn't let herself get too nervous. They'd all forget her if she did that, and she at least wanted to get something to eat first.