Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (4 page)

That might end up being useful to
know. It certainly hadn't made the nightly news.

Impulse was a little slower with
her information, but it was all there as soon as Cin let her attention shift.
As she read things came into clarity above her. In bright red. The feeling was
one of energy, tinged with orange. Excitement, and probably a bit of dread.
That
part had to do with how she felt about this Clark person. She'd sort of loved
him once, but in the end had given him over to Braid, rather than let herself
be blackmailed by the woman.

The girl nodded at her, and made
a face that was half sad, and half forced.

"I... We think he might have
been killed. In the Braid thing? Did you catch that one? Not everyone got it."

Oddly enough, since it had been
all the national news had played for nearly three months, she
had
caught
that bit. A madwoman trying to take over the world, using her precognition. In
the end she'd lost, but from what had been said that had been really close.

Wally, for his part nodded.

"Thank goodness. If there
was ever someone that deserved to die it was
that
...
Pedo
."
There was no particular sound of remorse to his words.

None, in fact. Just anger at what
his own brother had done.

Wally, her friend that she hadn't
even realized was Infected, even reading about his life for years, went cold
then. The words flowed above him in a rush, not fading until she read them.
Instead of scrolling it was like pages being turned with him. That was always
the case with him. She could tell a lot about it though.

Clark, his slightly older
brother, if six years was going to be taken that way, had been a waste of space
as far as Wallace was concerned. Nervous and a bit geeky, which was kind of a
family trait, but also powerful enough that he'd ended up in the IPB. Where,
instead of just trying to help people with problems, like he should have, he'd
taken to sleeping with a little girl.

One named Bridget, though he
didn't know anything else about that part of things. His information had come
from his parents, his mother in particular, who'd told him what his brother had
been getting up to. Past that point Wally hadn't spoken to Clark again. It was
a thing he actually felt shame over, and wanted to hide from the world. Being
related to a monster like that.

Cindy nearly had to smile then.

Not because there was anything
good about the man having sex with kids, or at least one girl that was too
young, but because that didn't make a person a monster really. A bad man, but
not one that destroyed for their own pleasure. She knew that one, first hand.
There were levels to things, and this Clark asshole was just wrong, and had
probably let his hormones get in the way of clear thinking. That didn't make
him in her league at all. Not that she wouldn't have gladly killed the man for
it, and taunted him with his wrong doing, if she could get away with it.

Smiling to cover what she was
would be right out, given the serious nature of the topic, so she affected a
concerned face. A thing that she'd practiced in front of a mirror more than a
little bit. Along with other things. Smiling so that the expression reached the
eyes, concern, and sadness. If you could get those down, you really could cover
almost any situation. This one was kind of strange, since people coming to tell
someone that a relative was likely dead, or at least missing in action, wasn't
something she'd seen before.

She looked at Wallace, trying to
seem supportive. For that matter, she really
was
being that, she
realized. Even being a bit different, she could like people, and out of the
ones she knew, Wally was the best. Like her pet, or minion. So if he was having
a problem she was too.

Proxy, who probably had a real
name, not that she could remember it off the top of her head, looked at her thin
friend, and sighed.

"You aren't the only one to
have that reaction. It wasn't a good thing. Bridget... Well..." The words
he wasn't saying flooded the space above him. It was complicated. There were in
fact, even diagrams, as if he were trying to show the relationship of people
through time.

Cin
had
seen some
illustrations before, once or twice, but this man produced six of them in a
row, causing her to stare again. There were even mathematical equations in the
mix. Like a science textbook.

Impulse was easier to understand,
being that she
was
Bridget.

She'd been too young, but had
wanted sex and had low impulse control when she wanted to do something that
seemed interesting to her. So she'd basically raped the man. Not that he hadn't
been into it. The girl could tell that one. Still, the adult had been punished
for it, which had left her with a raft of guilt that she carried around over
the whole thing.

Which was about to make her angry
at Wallace, because he wasn't feeling properly sad about his brother's demise.

It wasn't showing on her face
yet, but her posture did stiffen. That wasn't a great sign. Not when you were
standing next to a person that you couldn't kill, thanks to her powers. One who
could punch holes in the side of cars, and tanks, without too much effort.

It wasn't her job to stop that
kind of thing, except, of course, that they were in
her
library, and
even a screaming match would be a problem. What the hell she was supposed to do
at the moment was beyond her however. She was about to just walk away, to get
out of range, when a sign flashed over Proxy's head. It told her that he was
about to leave. To save a boy. There was even an arrow pointing which way he
needed to run, though no explanation of what the meant. There was a countdown
too.

She blinked. Then pointed the
direction of the green arrow that floated in the air.

"Um, that way? Toward the
front doors?" There was a man coming in then. One of the street people
that liked to frequent the place, she thought. He had red hair, and a beard,
but there was something off about his clothing. It was too clean, for one
thing. She yelled at him anyway. "Move! Proxy needs to go that way. Uh,
hold the door?"

Almost as if baffled the Chinese
man looked at her, his brown eyes shining a bit, as the man at the door moved
to the side instantly, and pulled the shining glass thing with him. It looked
almost planned it was so well done. Then the killer, the one that probably
would have been in her nightmares if she had that kind of thing, turned and
ran. Just like she'd said he should. As the countdown vanished so did he.

It was like magic, and several
other people saw it and looked amazed.

The little girl, who was shorter
than Cin by half a head, turned to look at her.

"Neat. I hope it isn't
anything too big. Brian is tough, but... You know, he doesn't have a physical
power. He just has to go and fight, like a regular person."

Cindy nodded at that, since it
was what the news reports and data online had said, more or less. Then the time
travel and real teleportation part had been left off, as well as who his son
was. A lot of people had wondered what his real powers were, for a long time.
Years now.

It was down to the fact that he'd
taken on beings that were so much more powerful than him, and won, that he
should have died a thousand times over. That he hadn't... Well, that probably
had to do with the data that she'd just seen. Inside of him the man had
instructions about what he needed to do.

"He's going to save a boy.
That was all the words said. There was an arrow and numbers counting
down." She petered off, since two people were coming over about then.

The street person that had been
at the door, and Glenda, the manager. Head of Library Services for the branch
actually, but she set the schedules and ran things. With a slightly shrewish
iron fist. Compared to everyone else standing there, the woman was fat.

At least a hundred pounds
overweight. Her hair was the kind that should have looked lank, being the right
color of dirty blonde to actually seem greasy all the time. That didn't happen
however. Chubby or not, Glenda did take care of herself in other ways. She was
dressed nicely, and had on enough makeup to cover any hairy moles that might
have been visible otherwise.

When she walked up her face was
sharp, her large nose flaring at the nostrils.

"Why were you
yelling
?"
The tone was half stressed, and part whisper, since that was the way people
shouted there. The look was for Cindy, which
was
correct given that
she'd been the one making the noise.

Before she could say anything
about it, the bum did, smiling at them.

"Brian had to leave. Verily,
it was his call to battle. So this lady sought to prevent collision, by calling
out, so that I might save the door that all must use, yon." He gestured,
as if they might miss that he was talking about the glass door at the front.

Cin gestured at him, and spoke in
a low voice that wouldn't carry too far, but not whispering. It was still
hushed, but lacked the venom a whisper might hold.

"That. Sorry, but people
going off like that. Vanishing..." She could tell from what the words over
Glenda said that she was going to try and take her upset out on them, by
pushing people around. That was the kind of thing the woman did, about three
times a week.

Normally Cindy ignored her when
she did that, since it was just her boss being petty and annoying. This time
however, the heavy lady was confused enough that she was
nearly
in the
right. There had been loud noises, which was against the rules, and there was
no good way to explain things.

Luckily Proxy appeared then,
facing the outer doors, in the place he'd gone away from. Exactly. He turned,
waved a bit, and smiled at them. It was a grim thing however, and not pleased
in the slightest. There was a splash of blood in a line on his dark shirt.
Under that there was a smudge.

What that meant, Cin didn't know,
other than that it was enough red that
someone
wasn't going to be happy
with it. Proxy wasn't hurt though. Not past some bruises from striking the men
that had planned to sacrifice some kid. The ones that were now dead. They would
be soon anyway. Bleeding to death, and choking on their own fluids.

It was totally hot. She actually
felt a bit of a tingle between her legs at the thought.

Again, there was a picture for
her. It showed the scene, including men dressed up in masks. Ones that looked
like skulls, and had giant antlers coming out the tops. That, and gray robes.
People that were really pulling out the stops in their effort to be crazy.

He spoke in a soft, almost harsh,
voice.

"I'm not injured." This
went to the homeless looking man. Clearly a person that was part of the IPB
group there. "Sorry about that. A boy had to be saved. Some kind of cult
thing?"

She nodded, getting it first,
having had a picture like that. It let her in on things that the others didn't
know yet.

"Maybe we could go into the
back?" Then she turned to Glenda and shrugged. "Wallace... His
brother died. They came to tell him about that. They're from the IPB."

Those words, while honest,
instructed her a lot about her boss. The woman straightened a bit, but the
words she produced, in yellow which was strange, spoke of fear. Loathing and
recognition, now that she stopped for a moment. Not of Proxy, who Glenda was
totally not getting at all, even with all that had happened, but of Impulse.
She'd been all over the news after all. Killing tens of thousands. By herself.

The plump manager swallowed. It
was a dry looking thing, that held open worry in it, if not as much as she felt
inside.

"I... Don't know..." It
was weak, and her face held an expression that wasn't worth bothering with. A
type of uncertainty, probably. The sort of thing that weak people did, instead
of running away, or fighting.

She nodded, and patted the woman
on the arm. It was reassuring, and the message that could be seen seemed to say
it was working too.

"This shouldn't take long.
I'm probably not needed for it. I can cover for Wally here?"

There was a pause, and then,
finally, a nod from the woman.

"Ahhh... Yes? I
don't..." Then she shook herself and rallied. "Wally! Your brother...
I'm so sorry." She moved forward and hugged the man over the front
counter. He let it happen, since death in the family or not, he didn't get to
hold women a lot.

That meant he noticed when the
ample chest hit his. So did Impulse. Bridget, Cindy realized.

As if it made any sense, which it
didn't, Glenda waved at her.

"I'll cover up here. Can you
stay with them? Maybe in one of the study lounges? No one will be using them
this time of day."

Rather than glare at the woman
for forcing her to stay with the potentially uncomfortable situation, she
started to walk away.

"Follow me then. Quickly,
quickly, we're walking, walking..." She was trying to be playful, and it
worked, though Glenda looked at her like she was being an idiot.