Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (36 page)

"Gene therapy first. Then...
Yes. I can set that up, if we can't find a different way. I'm thinking that a
person with your skill might just be able to work something out. I want several
options as to how to handle things. In writing." There was a gentle smile,
that didn't reach the pale woman's eyes. Her curly hair framed her face, making
her seem a bit too pleasant for what she was thinking.

That was about blackmail, and
even framing reporters for crimes, which would get them out of the way, without
killing anyone at all. As ideas went it really wasn't a poor plan.

Cin nodded, then smiled at Bridget.

"So, see, there
will
be some justice for you. Not what you want, but that's part of the system. No
one is really ever all that happy about how others are punished, are they? We
tuck people in prison, but they get out. We kill them, but even that is never
really enough to make anyone giddy about it. Now, let's go and see about
Lauren? We'll want her arm, if that didn't get tossed out?"

It turned out that no one there
knew what had happened to it.

No one there. The people in
medical, led as they were by an insane mad scientist, were running all sorts of
tests on it. The interesting part was that the thing was still alive and didn't
really seem to be dying in any way. That got her to think about things for a
bit, and then nod her head. Fixing the armored woman wasn't going to be all
that hard really, given that.

The woman was in lockup, and was
lying on an oversized pallet that seemed to be made of metal. It was all silver
and had the look of stainless steel to it. The whole place did, which got Denis
to start ranting in his story about being locked up for months in a similar
place. His crime hadn't been treason, just attempted murder. Of Proxy. Really,
of Brian, who had been a fat kid back then, with no particular fighting skills
and a suck ass power. The ability to go places and have his behind beaten.

Denis had gone for him, armed
with a gun, which Brian had taken away from him, even while he made him afraid,
and feel like he was on fire. Then the chubby fellow knocked him out, beating
him well enough that it was hard to credit as having really happened. At the
time. Now Den, as he thought of himself, could see it. He'd thought that
fighting a class two would be easy for a class four like he was, but he hadn't
accounted for the man actually being as tough as he was. Not even close to it.

The whole thing, being there and
seeing a woman that he was actually fond of missing her right arm made him feel
close to panic. He glanced over at Bridget, who, despite what she'd claimed,
was about to try and finish the job of the day before. Even if the whole world
hated her for it.

Sighing, being able to see what
was needed at the moment, Cin rolled her eyes.

"Sit up. We're going to get
your right arm put back on, then you're writing an apology to Bridget and Scott
Chambers for falsely accusing them of being perverts. You
should
have
done that already, but I can see from the story over your head that you were
just too embarrassed to really do that before. Suck that up and do it now,
understood
?"
Cindy was lying, mainly for Bridget's sake.

The very large woman tried to
think at her, like she was a telepath. It made the letters bigger than normal,
and they were in all red, as well as all caps.

Basically she was saying that she
didn't feel that way, and that she didn't know if she could do that. Cindy made
a considering face, and then nodded.

"That's right, it's okay for
you to admit to being ashamed for getting something like that so wrong. I guess
that a lot of other people will feel the same way. You should start by doing that
now." That part was just her being a bitch, but the woman actually still
felt a little self-righteous about the whole thing, even if she'd maligned and
nearly killed a man over it. Even knowing that the accusations were false, she
couldn't let go of the idea that they weren't totally real.

She was just about to send
Bridget away, to try and get the arm, when a large male nurse walked in,
guarded by two men in all black. The agents had firearms on them, and the same
basic haircut. Short and bristly. It was a good enough look for them, and
reminded her a bit of Brian Yi. Probably because they all used the same barber.

Lauren sat up, wondering if she
were about to die, and then took a long, hissing breath. Part of her wanted to
announce that she'd never apologize for what she'd done, since it had been the
right thing, morally. It hadn't been though, and unlike certain killers in the
room, she was actually smart enough to understand that even if she didn't feel
wrong, that Bridget might actually need to hear her say it. That she hadn't...

Well, a big part of that was that
Bridget hadn't been willing to listen to her for a long time. Not since that
day, years before.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I
just... I made a mistake, and it led me to think the wrong thing. I know that
won't help anything now, but I really didn't want to hurt anyone. I just
thought... Well, you've seen those videos. We all have. Trivia made them to
have a certain effect, and no one could tell that they weren't real. Not from
the pictures. I
should
have waited, but I was afraid that you'd be hurt
more." Some of that was even true, which got Cin to nod.

"That's a good start. You'll
need to redo it in writing." She read that Lauren knew that it wouldn't be
as easy as that, since to have any chance of doing anything with Bridget. She'd
have to grovel to her parents too, since they were the ones accused.

Cindy hadn't thought of the
mother, but there was a woman that she wouldn't have wanted to leave pissed off
at her, any longer than was needed.

She turned instead and looked at
the nurse, who stood there still, holding the heavy appendage over his right
shoulder like it was a log. He had paperwork too, held in his left hand. That
was down to the whole thing being called in to medical by Director Turner.

Bridget cared about that very
little. Even after hearing the words from the armored brown and black form on
the silver cot. Her tiny arms, looking no bigger around than Cindy's own
wrists, which weren't huge, were crossed over her middle, the fatigues tight
over her shoulders.

"You couldn't say that
earlier? You've had
years
. I don't think I'm buying it. You're lying,
trying to stay alive." She was watching the woman carefully, as if she
could read her face, or what she intended from her body, though both were
impossible.

It was Denis that shrugged then.

"That's a good plan, isn't
it? Not that she doesn't mean it. Look, a lot of people screwed up that day.
Most of them were influenced by Stillness, and couldn't have helped themselves
really." He rubbed his face, which was clean shaved and about as pale as
Cin was herself. "I know, there weren't specific orders, but there didn't
need to be, did there? If Stillness and Trivia planted stuff about
me
doing you, they would have all been down in the cells trying to lynch me for
it. Even if I'd already been locked up for months and couldn't have done it.
That really is part of our culture, and you know it. Accusation, especially of
abuse against kids
will
be responded to, even if it isn't always
sane."

It wasn't exactly a ringing
endorsement of what anyone had done, but did seem to be about right, as far as
Cin could tell.

People would hear the words, and
think they had proof of something, even if they really didn't. The accusation
was all the evidence that most people needed. It went without saying that most
of those people weren't very good, inside, but it was so common that it was
easy for the worst of them to hide most of the time. Even as they screamed for
blood from innocent people.

The real thing in this case was
that Bridget had told them all that nothing was happening, and they hadn't
believed her. True, the video proof really did sound pretty solid, but going
after Trivia, who had been trying to keep the world from being half destroyed,
wasn't going to work either. What really needed to happen was for the kid to
let it go, but Cindy wouldn't have, if it had been her in that same place.

The only reason she was doing any
of this at the moment was so that she'd look good and useful to Marcia and
Brian. That reminded her to get together with him when she could and have sex.
It was mercenary of her, but he probably wouldn't let her be killed too easily
if they were boning. Not as long as she didn't kill anyone again. Given that no
one knew if the gene therapy would do anything to her at all, she might need to
use that kind of leverage at some point.

To that end she tried to really
focus on what was needed at the moment, looking into the deep index of Kerry,
and making sure they got the arm put back on right.

Lauren apologized again, her
voice subdued. Then, she didn't really get that she was going to get an arm
going on again. She'd heard the words, but it didn't seem real to her.

"Sorry. I really am Bridget.
God. I never wanted you to be hurt. Not by anything." She sobbed, though
nothing showed on the outside. It was real enough, but the lady couldn't really
cry at all. Her eyes were hidden behind black shielded lenses. That left the
whole thing feeling really fake to everyone else.

Cin waved at Kerry.

"Look at the file pictures,
then, when you're ready we'll hold the arm in place and get that back up and
going. Your subconscious mind will work out what to do, so it won't be a
problem." The trick was really going to be about getting her to try, and
not give up after a few minutes of work. That she was kind of planning on it
was just about her low self-esteem. "It will take about two hours, so be
ready for that."

It wouldn't. Not even close. The
real answer was probably a bit over twenty minutes. Setting the bar that high
just meant that the girl wouldn't be as prone to giving up.

Cindy got Bridget to take the arm
and hold it steady, nearly in place, as Kerry looked at the pictures, then
nodded, her breath coming fast, as if she were trying hard already. The armor
itself flowed from both the shoulder, which had been closed off smoothly, and
the ruined arm end, joining first. That took about a minute, but the internal
stuff was what had to be done next. That part would take the longest.

There was a moan from Lauren, because,
it seemed, having raw nerves moved around hurt for some reason. Kerry nearly
stopped then, panicked.

"I'm doing it wrong!"

Cindy shook her head, reading all
about it from two different sources.

"No, you aren't. Denis, can
you help with the pain? It just gets worse from here." That idea had come
from him, but he wasn't certain if he was supposed to do it or not. The instant
his power killed off the discomfort, which was a nearly total thing, the
armored woman sighed.

"That's better. Um... Can
I..."

She needed to go to the bathroom,
but didn't know how to ask. Cindy shook her head, since the woman could also
hold it and not hurt herself.

"No. Let her finish, this is
going well. I can see it happening. Sort of, I mean, from what their stories
are saying. Hold on." The weird part was that no one called her on saying
stupid things like that in the moment. Really, while it seemed okay, she wasn't
getting half of what she was claiming, since no one there really knew.

It was a bit of a risk, since
Lauren could potentially die, or end up with an arm that didn't work, which
seemed to be the real worst case scenario. Even that went away about fifteen
minutes in, when the woman started moving her hand, getting a gasp from Denis.

"It's working! Keep going,
Kerry. You can do it!" He seemed proud of her again, which he hadn't been
certain would ever really happen after the day before.

He might not have always been the
nicest or best liked person in the world, but he was loyal to the people that
were loyal to him. It had been a thing that he learned when he'd lived on the
streets.

Cin wondered at the basic idea,
but didn't focus on it at the moment. Instead she watched, getting ready to
tell Kerry to keep going if she gave up too soon. About eight minutes after the
first movement of the large, slightly rasping armored fingers, it was done.
Kerry kept trying, focusing, but nothing new was going on.

"That's it. Done! Way faster
than expected. You should be able to go to the bathroom now. Or, actually the
rest of us will leave. Call us back when you're done? We have some things to
talk about." The woman really needed to use the toilet and there was one
in the cell. It was all metal, and oversized, so that she could use it. They
moved out into the hallway with the agents, who weren't really totally thrilled
to have a fully powered Level there in the cell. The day before they'd worried,
since she might make it out of there given her power level. Now it was simply a
fact that she
could
do it.

Tearing the walls down like they
were made of thin wood. Cindy smiled at one of the men, who she didn't
recognize yet, whose name was Mathews. Jeffery Mathews. Ex-Navy Seal. He also
enjoyed reading, oddly enough. Glancing his way she shrugged.