The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Luckily, Bridget stood up and that got the woman to back away a little.

  "We're about to have lunch. If you aren't going to put the camera away and join us, perhaps it would be best if you went and interviewed some of the others. I highly suggest you don't mention those lies about Denis and Kerry to anyone from Team Two. Or Team Three. You being booed all day long won't be conductive to good footage." She was polite, compared to Tobin, and sat without being menacing at all. Of course, most wouldn't have thought she was anyway. Then most people were morons that didn't realize what being Infected really meant.

  The woman left, glaring at all of them, and the cameraman walked backwards, so that he could keep getting them on the record. Bridget didn't flip him off or anything. It was amazing.

  Denis sat down with them, without waiting for an invitation.

  "Thank you. Both of you." He indicated Bridget with a nod. "I'm on ice cream for this thing, can I get you two to help with that?"

  Bridget shook her head, going a bit too big with it, which was her habit. Why that was Tobin didn't know. It was probably a super strength thing. He didn't do that, but he had some quirks that way too, didn't he? His partner was many times stronger than he was, so it had to have some external signs.

  "Can't, we're on burgers. You should get Debbie from Team One on that anyway. Even if the machines don't need extra cooling, it kind of fits."

  Denis looked around, and then nodded.

  "I keep forgetting that Team One is actually capable of doing work. Other than standing around and looking pretty, I mean. They do a really good job of that." There was just a tiny hint of bitterness in the words, which seemed out of place, but Charlot didn't let it slide.

  "Jealous?"

  "Oh, hell yeah. I'd love to look like Jason. They get the best of everything too, and are paid more than the rest of us."

  Tobin smiled and shook his head.

  "We are? I didn't know that."

  They managed to turn the discussion away from that to getting Team Two involved in things, which actually had him and Bridget going down to the fifth floor about one in the afternoon. The political discussion he seemed to need first was given at the meal, where Charlot basically told him not to have opinions and to get them from her at the briefings they held each week. Or, if he was in doubt, he could always say the exact opposite of what he really wanted to.

  Except, as he whispered to Bridgie on the way down the stairs, that wouldn't end well at all.

  "Why yes, Mr. Reporter, sir, I do hate the idea of living in a free country. Integration? That's for suckers! We should round up all those Infected, and put them into camps! Yep. Yes, siree." He made little gung-ho gestures with his fist as he walked, and had the girl cracking up by the time they were about to go in. She took a deep breath and froze at the door. That wasn't like her at all.

  "I'm not really wild about most of Team Two. Hobbs is cool and you tried to help protect my mom, when they..." She didn't go into the story.

  Then, he'd been there. People had claimed that she and Prime were having sex, and that there was a video of it. Tobin hadn't seen the thing, but it came out later that it had been faked by an evil woman that wanted to start a war. Devorah Timberland Moore. The Director's wife. He wasn't a fighter, so he'd sung a very angry Charlot into a stupor, keeping her out of the fight. It was all he could really do to help her. He would have liked to be able to honestly claim he'd never believed any of it, but the truth was that he really had.

  Prime was known for having a lot of women and not really caring what anyone else thought about it. To Tobin, now, it was clear he couldn't see it as wrong. It wasn't so much about him not caring what anyone thought, and was more like he really missed that anyone else would ever assume he wasn't doing that sort of thing. He was him after all. It worked for him too, so why not?

  They hadn't been however, and Team Two, along with a portion of Team One, had nearly killed Prime, and Impulse had been knocked around pretty well too. She'd grabbed him and made him swear he'd protect her mom. It had sort of worked, after a fashion. They'd all lived.

  She stood straighter and then gave a tight smile that was more anger than happiness.

  "I'm going to kill them all. They don't know it, but I am. All of them that said those evil things, and hurt my dad. They nearly killed him. Over lies. They all think this is over, but it won't be until they're gone." Then, almost as if putting on a new face, she suddenly seemed happy and playful. "Which they don't need to know. Let's go and see about making sure Team Two doesn't go on a wild orgy spree."

  "Orgies don't have sprees, I don't think." Not that he was sure of that. Georgia could probably pull that off.

  Most of the people were milling around, as if they didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. Charles was in his office, just as lost as everyone else was. When they walked in he smiled, which made his big mustache twitch. Sparks probably should have been on Team One, given that he wasn't that hard to get along with, nice enough looking and had a strong, but well controlled power. Basically he could generate and control lightening. He'd also been a Swat team leader in a former life, so had volunteered for the job on the team that handled the real threats. That bit of pride was the only thing that really kept them going, most days.

  Team Two was who you went to if there was real danger.

  Team One was pretty, except for him. Team Two fought the bad guys, and killed Infected that couldn't be controlled by any other means. Generally they weren't called in for less than class fours, and had on occasion gone up against class six threats.

  Team Three... Was just scary, if he actually stopped and thought about it for any length of time. Penny was Marcia Turner's assistant, that was true. She also kept leaving the base right before their enemies died, often of mysterious causes. There was a link there. Most probably didn't get it, but since he sort of liked her, he paid a lot more attention to where she was than most did.

  Mark wasn't just a baker with a show on television, but was so powerful that they sent him into situations alone that no one else could even get to in time. Not fights, as a rule, since he wouldn't harm anyone. More than once Tobin had seen dozens of people that were about to be killed by raging psychos with powers just vanish however. Stasis was called up and would go and fix it.

  Denis was at least a class six. He could help move people past their first modes. That was so powerful that it only made sense to put him there.

  Rachel, Tobin didn't know, except that she'd stood up for him once. That, and she was supposed to be really powerful. Like Bridget, he thought. Only without the flying and energy blasts.

  Their team leader was special too. Christian Poures. Tobin had spoken to her a few times, and she'd been nice enough, but she didn't really like being around people. She liked them, he'd been assured. She just preferred them to be at a distance. She was also an incredible telepath. The poor woman had probably been subjected to knowing what he was thinking all the time too. That had to be miserable. It was bad enough being inside his own head most of the time, but the whole IPB had to be about unbearable for her.

  In a way she was the scariest of them. Mind Reader. Even her code name was blunt, and to the point. If you had a mind, she read it. That was all. Just boom, she knew what you were thinking. The horrible part there was that she was also really hot, so whenever she came around he had to try and fill his head with other things. Songs mainly. Otherwise she would have had to listen to him going on about her very nice behind, on more than one occasion.

  Shaking himself he realized that he was there to actually do something.

  "Charles? We've come to get volunteers for the cookout and to make sure everyone knows not to drink or fight today. We have press all over the place up there and more are coming. This is the big show. Today Team Two moves out of the shadows and stands in front of the cameras as ourselves. A lot of that is about how well almost everyone did in D.C. helping the needy a few months back. We need more of that today, and better." Th
e words just popped out, and he didn't know where they were from at all. It didn't sound like him, did it? Denis wasn't behind him either.

  Charles just stood, looking happy.

  "I know. Isn't this great? It's almost like we're finally part of the team. So who do you need?"

  Bridget wasn't speaking and asking for who was kind of specific. He opened his mouth to say he didn't know, only to find words coming out again. Unnaturally confident ones.

  "Felicia and Dave to work with Denis on ice cream. Snow Queen will be with them on that, I believe. We have several salads being prepared as well as barbecued chicken. If we could get three helpers per section? There's also a baking team, that will be working with Mark. Everyone except Crandall is invited to participate."

  That got a funny look from Charles, but he waved.

  "Got it. I hate to leave anyone out by name, but... he did spit in the food at the food line."

  Tobin had been there too, and noticed when Warren, the regular guy chef, punched the super soldier for doing it. It hadn't worked very well, until Proxy came and kicked the other man's behind. He was on Team Three too. It was a strange decision, putting him there, but it fit anyway. Brian didn't lose. Oh, one day he'd never come back maybe, but in the mean time, when he fought, even without extra powers, he always pulled it off. He'd fought a class eight to a standstill, by himself, once.

  One of those enemies that they had to worry about.

  Tesseract.

  Tobin had to commiserate. Not that work details were fun, but everyone should have been allowed to participate. Even the jerks.

  "He can help with the sound equipment and lighting. Maybe the fireworks, if he's willing to work with Proxy on it."

  That was enough to have everyone called to the front room, packing in a bit, since it wasn't all that large. There were over forty-five of them after all. Charles called them all to attention, but didn't make too big of a deal out of the being in control of themselves part, stressing teamwork, pride and the fact that there were going to be cameras.

  "So, we need teams of three. Felicia and Dave, you're with Denis from Team Three on ice cream, I hear that you have Snow Queen, from Team One with you, so this is a good mixed training exercise. I mean party. With cameras. Don't make me keep stressing that one." He smiled and it got a bit of a chuckle that was only a little subdued.

  From the back one of the women, Nan, who was very nice and looked a bit like her face had been mummified, raised her hand and spoke.

  "We have Team One in on this?"

  Bridget answered, since they were in the front too, standing behind Charles. She had her nice lunch clothes on, which was a tan skirt with a turquoise blouse for her, along with running shoes.

  "That's right! Everyone. Team Three, the front office people, Groundskeeper Willy, the whole shebang. Don't worry about Team One. I'm sure if we pull together, the rest of us can do their work for them, so no one will break a nail or anything." She said it like she wasn't one of them.

  Hobbs spoke from the left side of the room, standing near Lobo, his eyes twinkling merrily.

  "I for one look forward to participating in whatever way I may in this holy celebration of your land's Independence. Please indicate where I may be of greatest use and I shall lend my hand there."

  Everyone was silent for a bit, so Tobin made himself speak, remembering the exercise with the coals. All he had to do was stick that hand out and grab hold on what he wanted to say. It was easy.

  Suppressing a sigh he managed it.

  "Pies and cakes."

  That was a popular one and several other people wanted to join him. The salads were the hard places to fill, and then they needed a few emergency teams.

  It meant that, less than half an hour later they invaded the top floors of the place, and had to run around finding where everything was setting up. The ice cream was in the show kitchen, with three large machines set up for it, though the actual mixes had to be made still.

  After dropping off the people for that, they went to find Mark and Warren, who knew where most of the rest of them needed to go. Bridget and Tobin just had to find Kerry, who was in the real kitchen, behind the show one, making lots of patties and preparing three different kinds of cheese for the tops of them. Cheddar, provolone and mozzarella. She explained the reason for each, but Tobin wasn't certain he'd ever had the second before in his life.

  "So, I figure that about seventy percent of the people will have at least one burger, and expect we need to cook for at least three hundred. I have the meat ready. This is going to be an adventure!" She seemed very pleased by it too.

  It took hours to get ready and at five they had to move it all outside, taking a large refrigerator with them which they needed to run power to, so the meat would never get too warm, until it was cooked. A sink had been set up with running water for hand washing, and while cold, he made a point of using it often. He really wouldn't pass on germs or anything, but a lot of people would have a problem with him having touched their food. Less here than most places, but knowing he was being scrupulously clean wouldn't hurt, he figured.

  He got to help start the five grills, and they started getting all the food ready to go nearly forty minutes before they were supposed to eat.

  "We'll do that in shifts. Bridget, Tobin, then me. The privileges of leadership, getting to go last." That was the plan, but they still didn't leave their grills for two hours. It took time to cook, and while the lines were long, they managed to keep up with things. There were simply that many people.

  Music played in the background, which reminded Tobin to run in and do up what he needed when he got a chance. The sound system was good and a little stage had even been set up. They were going to get a speech by the Director and the Deputy Director, and then he was going to sing for them. Then they were, according to what Crandall was telling everyone, going to blow some shit up.

  It sounded like fun.

  Really, even working through it like he was, Tobin thought that it was about the nicest party that he'd ever been to. Even when a group of protestors came, they were just invited in for dinner. Only one of them actually did it though, a man that looked mean and like he didn't care what they were complaining about, as long as he got to have his say in things. He probably had something bad planned, but when his burger was flipped on to the bun he prepared the man shocked him.

  "Thanks. I didn't realize that you all took our country so seriously." That was all and he moved on, but it was one of those moments that Tobin doubted he'd ever forget.

  A man that had come to attack them had said thank you. To him. He didn't even do anything bad, going back to his little line of bigot buddies and getting some of them to come in for the free food.

  It was nothing short of amazing.

  Mainly Tobin just worked, getting patties on the grills and refilling the little coal bins for the others twice, so that the heat would stay good the whole time. Kerry was very professional, and kept moving fast and while Bridget didn't leave, her attention flagged a few times, leading to slightly charred food. Not horribly so, and people were still willing to eat them. Finally Kerry waved to the girl, who was standing at her grill with a determined look on her face, and smiled.

  "That should be good. Bridget, why don't you go and get some food? I know that you have to be starving about now."

  She didn't leave instantly, looking at the food she had already there, cooking. It sizzled a little, the scent of meat a nice brown thing in the air. It had black specks in it, at least to Tobin's perceptions. Other people didn't perceive things that way, he knew, but it made things richer, and gave more depth to the world. There was also a slightly reddish hint of the vinegar sauce that had been mixed in, and a slight undertone of green to it from the herbs. It was what he planned to eat, as soon as it was his turn.

  If he got to have any. Given how long it was all taking he might just have to run in and get music first and skip out on the food, which would be a shame. It all looked really goo
d.

  His partner huffed a bit, clearly torn.

  "I can't leave right now. I just put all these patties down. They'll burn." It was good to see that she was taking things so much to heart at least.

  A voice came from behind them, the words rapid and a bit rushed. Then, Jason always sounded that way, so it was a good sign. When he was worried, he'd let out with what sounded like buzzing that no one else could understand.

  "Not a problem, if Tobin and Kerry will show me what to do? I can help out. I've been just standing around all day and it's getting a bit boring. Everyone else is helping and being useful and I'm just being a lump. That isn't really my natural state, I don't think, so maybe I can learn to do this? I should have volunteered earlier to help with something, but Team Two already had everything pinned down. They really get the job done too. We should have more parties like this, don't you think? I do." He was clearly ready to keep going, so Tobin nodded.

  It was clearly about a bit more than the man feeling lazy too. He was watching the younger girl with a fatherly expression on his face, clearly worried that she'd gone so long without eating. They were both hungry all the time, having such fast metabolic rates, so it was probably a bit of solidarity there.

  "That sounds like a good plan, thanks Jay. I can show you what to do. It isn't hard, since all the real work has been done already, so all we have to do is watch the heat and make sure we get the things done all the way through, even if people do claim to want them rare. Otherwise they might get food poisoning and die." He smiled when she said it, but the man seemed to take the warning to heart and moved into place next to Bridget, taking over rapidly, as if he figured that even a second's delay would cost them the entire project.

  Being slow just wasn't his thing though.

  Jason was a bit too attentive and actually had Kerry laughing, since he was flipping all the burgers so fast that they barely had a chance to cook. They did eventually talk him into slowing down, and the good-looking Team One member got the hang of it. That wasn't too surprising. He was smart enough, for all that he seemed a bit featherheaded to most people. He just spoke so fast that words seemed to almost pop out without being censored first. After a bit Kerry stood back and watched him work three of the five grills by himself however, which worked really well, giving him almost enough to keep him busy. Tobin was doing two, and she grinned, wickedly.