Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (26 page)

The brittle woman didn't make a
big deal about it, as the blond driver spoke.

"We should be on that
plane... There. Our orders say that we should be met by a Captain Donovan. We
need to check him out, given the current sit-rep. Who do we have on that?"
He looked at Brian directly, as if he were in charge.

Which seemed to be the case, for
the moment. Turning he waved at Brie, then, almost as an afterthought, Cindy.

"These two. Actually, Cin, I
want you on that. Brie will act as backup. Can you do that?" He seemed
certain of it outwardly, and even commanding, but inside he didn't know if
Cindy would let an assassin fly their plane into the ground to take them all out.

That nearly got her to blink and
she did smile, reading the words. That this man, perhaps several of them, would
have done exactly that to remove their enemies, even at the cost of their own
lives, didn't mean
she
was that stupid. The point was for her to survive.
Maybe, someday, to be free again, too.

"It shouldn't be a problem.
If it is, I'll let you know."

The Captain was a prick, who beat
his wife, and was questionable towards his kids. He
wasn't
a terrorist,
or going to get them killed, and was, at least to his own way of thinking a
good pilot. His record wasn't perfect that way, but he wasn't going to crash
and kill them all or anything like that.

The plane wasn't comfortable, but
it was no worse than any other military transport, and better, this one had
seats instead of benches. Stripped down and lightly padded things, but you
didn't have to ride sideways. There were even belts, which everyone there used.

The flight took two hours, and
when they landed, Bridget walked over to her and patted her on the back. It was
meant to be comforting, since the girl understood that this must be hard for
her new friend. Cin decided to accept it as being that, and not try to shrug
her off.

"Welcome home. This is the
main base. The new one, that we got after the old place was trashed. It's all
above ground this time. The old base was different. This isn't too bad I guess.
More spread out, so that when things blow up it won't all have to be rebuilt at
once. It's about three miles away from the other place, but on the same
reservation." She had her bag already and waved to her, walking instantly
toward the area where the others had their things. Most of Cin's stuff was up
there too, so she needed to get at it.

Luckily the tiny girl helped her
with her stuff, since it would have been hard to carry it all on her own.
Bridget had kind of let her know that she'd never really see most of her things
again, for all that they'd be placed in storage indefinitely. In Vancouver,
except for her car, which was supposed to be driven down for her. Eventually.
Not that she was going anywhere alone for a long time.

Outside, down the steps that had
been brought over, magical things on wheels, there were people waiting for
them. Or, and it seemed clear to her as she closed with the bottom of the
thing, the people were waiting for
her
. Personally. That was thanks to
her being an insane killer, she was more than willing to bet.

One of them was a woman that was
about six or seven inches taller that she was, and dressed like she was in the
army. All in tan fatigues that were pressed well, but kind of bland looking
otherwise. The lady wasn't all that old, looking perhaps few years older than
Cindy was, at most. This was Marcia Turner. The data flowed from her, about
everything she was dealing with in life, and she was
not
at all happy
with the current situation. It wasn't that Cin was a killer as much as that she
was there at the wrong
time
. Marcia didn't have the ability to handle a
coup attempt
and
some little scruff from Podunk at the same time.

That meant she was planning to
snap at her, and be a general bitch, trying to push Cindy hard enough to get
her to snap back and go for the Director of the whole place. Then Marcia could
kill her and no one would blame her for it.

It wasn't a bad plan really. The
big problem with it was the assumption that she'd fly off the handle and
physically attack people at random. That wasn't her way at all. She planned her
kills, for one thing. She also had a real type that she loved for that more
than anyone else. Not that the idea of killing most people didn't hold some
allure for her. She loved cake with gobs of frosting too, but could take or
leave it, most days.

Rather than let her speak, Cindy
waved at her, and smiled.

"I think that Hobbs is
planning to train me? Him and Brie here. Trivia? Bridget is on me sitting duty,
along with Becky, the ghost? You probably don't have to do anything, really. I
get the whole busy thing, but me knowing the whole plan to make me mad and kill
me will
probably
short that one out before you get anything going."
She waited, still expecting the lady to snap at her, but just got a snort
instead.

"So you already planned
things out on your own? Not bad. Smart even. Fine. You need to go and get with
Doc Burrows first thing. Are you up on that idea?" The words over her head
were... Actually pretty positive about the whole idea of the treatments. The
new woman probably wouldn't die from them, and while there was a small chance
that it could just not work, or a smaller one that it might make her first mode
worse, that really wasn't going to happen. If it did, it wouldn't be hard to
just kill her and dump the body. They had lots of empty space around for that,
after all. It wouldn't be the first time either.

Cin nodded, her face held in what
was supposed to be a playful expression.

"That's the one where I get
to be the first female guinea pig for the mad scientist lady?" Cindy
wasn't thrilled with the idea, for her own reasons, so shrugged. "Then I
get to lose the only thing that makes life worth living?"

The other woman gave her a look
that was less skeptical, but still wasn't compassionate.

"You mean killing
people?"

That got a nod, as everyone else
looked on, having come down behind her. They were judging her for it, since it
was too different than what they all were inside.

Ms. Turner smiled then. It was a
weird looking thing, but not unfriendly. Inside she calculated some things out,
internally, knowing that having a few psychos running around didn't hurt
anything, as long as they stayed under control. Most government agencies kept a
few on call, for various duties.

"No one said that, did they?
We just want you to kill the right people. The ones we tell you to. That's all.
We just want to help you get past this desire to take out the
wrong
ones. So it's not as hopeless as all that, if death is your thing."

Then, as if she didn't care
anymore, the woman turned and looked at the others, rapidly, but one by one.

"You've all been briefed on
the situation we face. I noticed the news on that. I doubt it will help, but I
get the idea. Yi, Rachel, you're with me. We need to get on top of this. Scott,
Charlotte, if you can rally the troops and make sure everyone else is up on
this. How to handle the press and all that fun stuff?" She stopped, and
then turned to look at Bridget. "You can handle the security here, for the
base. Internal and from external threats. Get together a team for that. Who do
you want?" She waited, clearly trying to give the kid something to do in
order to get her out of the way. Not that it wasn't a real job too, or that she
didn't think Bridget could do it.

Impulse looked back, twitching
constantly. It was what she did, so no one noticed her agitation in particular,
except Trivia, most likely. Bridget got the whole thing, as well as it being
her part. The world was coming after her now, so they had to keep her locked
down and out of the way. For the time being anyway.

Still, it was something to do, so
she shrugged.

"Tobin and Denis, in case we
need to control a crowd.
I
can handle the individual threats. Cin can do
the information gathering portions, checking out our own peeps and all that,
and Hobbs can come to give us meditation tips."

The quick response got the boss
lady to go still, since it actually
wasn't
a bad team, other than the
inclusion of Cindy. Marcia just didn't think she could be all that great, as
far as info went. Then, last she'd heard, Cindy was a class one or two at best.

Trivia waved at Turner, and shook
her head a little.

"She's a class
five
.
Maybe higher than that, once she works out how to get at all the secrets. Her
power is one of the more versatile I've ever seen. She barely has a handle on
it, and I still had to debate killing her instead of bringing her in. I just
really want the backup that way. So Team Three." Then Brie stood back and
didn't say anything else as all the conditions that Marcia had to consider ran
through the words over her head.

It was impressive to hear about,
but how she was supposed to be
that
tough, Cindy didn't know. There were
categories for power class that mainly had to do with how many asses you could
kick in a fight. How her ability translated to the needed butt beating ability
a class five needed she didn't understand. Not in a stand up fight, which was
what the term normally meant.

Even if it could help her with
one or two opponents at a time, there was a limit that way.

For the moment it didn't matter,
since Turner nodded suddenly.

"I'll get with Christian on
it. Now, Bridget, Hobbs...
Cinnamon
, you three get with Peterson and
Tompkins. Set up a watch. Twenty-four-seven coverage, so use whoever you need.
Clear the list with me first. Get the new kid to medical now, first thing. Then
get her a room. I want a watch on her for the time being." Then she turned
and looked directly at Cin, not even seeming like a witch in particular.

"I just don't want to lose
any of our people right now. It isn't personal. Except the part that is. That will
be there until you show me that this isn't just a horrible mistake."

Then she turned and started
walking, waving for Brian to follow her.

That left the others to handle
their own needs for the moment, which, for everyone but her meant going off to
put their things in their rooms. Bridget had a plan for that one however, and
patted her back, thinking things through carefully first.

"I'll walk you over to the
new medical building. It's not horrible. Then, if Burrows is there, she can do
her thing with you while I line up a place for you to stay. I think the room
next to mine is empty, unless that changed in the last few days. We all live in
the tall building, over there. The cool kids, I mean. There are other places to
live, but the single people are all there. The rooms are small, but you don't
have to have a roommate, so that's not too bad."

What it meant was taking Cindy's
bags to medical, as everyone else walked away, except Hobbs and Bridget who
were with her it seemed.

Bridget grinned at her after a bit
though.

"Marcia was being a pain.
Calling you that. Pretending she didn't know your name. Still, Cinnamon... You
don't have the right coloration for that, for one thing."

Cin stuck her tongue out a bit,
and shook her head, smiling.

"That's what my parents
named
me. I know, it's the bestest name ever. What, did you think I was named
Cynthia
?
There's a reason I never tell anyone my full name."

Bridget really
had
thought
that, which wasn't that hard to understand. In fact, she was currently fighting
not to ask if Cinnamon was actually her real name.

Cin sighed.

"Before you ask, no, I'm
not
kidding. Hence
Cindy
. Anyway, where are we going now?" Asking the
question got the answer to come up in the girl's book, instantly. There was a
picture to go with the words off to the side.

They were headed down the path in
front of them, to the central hub, which would let them take the path to the
med center. There was an actual map hanging in the air, so if she had too, Cin
could find it for herself. Really, she could find anyplace on the base now,
with only a bit of research on the topic. Honestly, she could probably find
anything
,
if she did it right.

The trick there was knowing what
it was she wanted to learn about. That and who might have the right info for
her.

At the moment all she had to do
was march along with the two red heads with her, and not look like she was
going off to summer camp. She'd done that as a kid a few times, and the feeling
was similar, except with more uniforms here. Everyone was in camouflage it
seemed, except the two with her. People passing noticed her too, not
recognizing the face. They weren't too worried about it, seeing she had good
people with her, but they were still all curious. When someone finally stopped
them it was an ogre. Only not. The green skinned and tough looking person had
pearly white tusks, and a heavy brow, like an orc. One from a movie. This one
was a girl though.

From the story above her head,
Bridget was her best friend in the whole world, though there was an age gap.
She was only seven, after all. That made it pretty hard to find anyone to play
with on the base. Normally she just learned stuff from Lauren and fought with
the others. Because she had to learn how to do that. Brian had said. She hadn't
been truly left alone for the holidays, but it had been pretty close, since
Mark, her friend, had to cook the whole time. That Bridget and Brian had left
was sad for her, since they were kind of her people, but she understood. No one
really wanted an ugly girl like her at dinner.

Bridget lit up on seeing her.

"Sara!" Her arms opened
up for a hug, and they rushed each other. The move sent her own bag and what
she was carrying of Cindy's flying, but there wasn't a lot of breakable stuff
in her things, so she didn't worry too much. Hobbs smiled, but he almost always
did.

On the nice side he also
explained. Out loud, using his words.

"The girl, Sara, was
abandoned by her people, and taken in by those of the IPB. She is yet a child,
though with great size and power. It is the thoughts of medical here that she
might change her form, if she feels safe enough in her position, but as of yet,
this state has not been reached. There is no hurry, but I must fear for her
well being. This could go most wrongly, if no one will be her parent or at
least guardian." It wasn't that he was suggesting her for the job. For
half a second she wondered, but then found the part of his book on the topic.