Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) (16 page)

"You're kidding, right? You
can't take a girl home to meet the relatives and
not
expect them to ask
hard questions. Okay, Charlotte hit them right out of the gate, instead of
asking subtly over two hours, but it still would have happened in most places.
I came prepared." Which was true, more or less.

It was thanks to her powers, and
not just being intelligent, but either way it was working for her.

The bowl of chips, slightly
heaping, was just being held in her left hand still, so she took a bite, trying
to get people to take the hint that grilling her was over for the time being.
She didn't want people to ask enough that she had to lie more than needed. If
she did, things might well come to light, which could lead to awkward questions
in the long run.

The tiny powerhouse that was
Impulse nodded, which was more vigorous than most would have mentioned, and was
waved to the sofa, next to her. She went, slipping the bowl of artificial
orange stain material onto the coffee table in front of the television. It
wasn't a great place for it, being too close to the glare of the window, but it
would allow them to look out, and see if anything obvious was taking place.

Brian slipped in next to her, but
he wasn't planning to stay long, since there was dinner prep to be had still.

"Sorry about this. Thanks
for coming?" It was heartfelt, so she nodded.

"Thanks for having me! Now,
I think Bridget mentioned getting outside to check for spies and
terrorists?"

She hadn't really, but it would
let everyone get away from her. The older woman, Brian's mother, who wasn't old
at all, being well kept and seeming to be no older than Charlotte, who took
pains not to seem old. In her forties, it looked like. With Infected people
that didn't mean anything. She could be younger, or a
lot
older than
that.

Like Prime, or Scott, she
guessed. He looked to be in his twenties or so. About the same age that Brian
was. That wasn't the truth however. He was thirty-six. Charlotte was two years
older than that. It wasn't a thing she loved, either.

Bridget crammed a bunch of chips
into her mouth, carefully not getting even a crumb anywhere, and stood up
without using her slightly greasy and stained fingers.

"Let's get to that? I can
fly a circle. Dad, do you want to come too?"

The golden man nodded, but Cindy
rolled her eyes.

"Won't that kind of tell
people where you all are? I mean, I've never seen a person fly in my
life
,
outside of television. That would at least make the web, if it happened
here." She looked at the girl, in case that was the plan.

Drawing the bad guys to them like
that.

The writing over her head went
black, however, which wasn't a great response, most likely.

"Good point. I'll do it on
foot. I was kind of already out earlier. I need the practice, so... Didn't
think about it."

That got a small chuckle from
Brian.

"I doubt it will be that
giving us away. Anyone with a computer, or even a phone book, can find us here.
It would take about ten minutes,
if
they didn't know what they were
doing." He sounded relaxed, but was still thinking that Cin had been
mortally insulted by Charlotte.

Still, she got up, and smiled at
him, touching his arm on the way past as Scott and Bridget went with her. They
used the front door, with both of the others suddenly moved off to the sides,
since that was the place anyone shooting would be aiming for. Resisting the
urge to yelp, Cindy jumped behind Scott, since he was larger than his daughter
by a good bit.

More, he instinctually understood
her plan, and agreed with it.

"Stay on the building side
of me. If anything happens duck first, then run around the nearest side if I
don't go with you." It had an official, and even trained sound to the
little speech. What it lacked was that narcissism that was supposed to be
there.

Everyone knew that the man was a
fop, and that his first mode was vanity or something like it. Narcissism it was
normally called. Both inside and out, that seemed to be gone. Which as she
skimmed the words from him, she noticed had been removed from him. Medically, and
on purpose.

That was incredible, of course.
She wanted to learn more, but he started to move, searching the surrounding
area closely. She tried to do the same, but understood that it wasn't working
very well. It didn't take too long or anything. They were just doing the one
building and the little house was pretty normal in size. There were two
stories, and it was nice enough, but not a mansion or anything. There was a
paved road behind the place, and on the sides there were open areas of well
cared for lawn. They didn't even see anyone, so it wasn't exactly like they
needed to be there. No one would know that however, until the day was done.

Most things were like that.
Useless, but needed in case they weren't.

They passed Bridget in the back,
then continued all the way around, stopping in the front, searching again. Prime
and Impulse both looked at each other and shook their heads, then stared
directly at her.

They wanted to know if her
abilities had gotten anything, not really knowing how they worked yet.

"Nothing in my initial
range. That doesn't go out too far. I kind of need to see a person first. Maybe
if I just knew they were there, but I've never done that."

There was a nod from Scott, and a
baffled look on Bridget's face, since she could smell Mary inside, even before
the door opened. There was no scent on the outside, but the women was a master
teleport, so that meant very little. She tensed.

"
Fuuuuck
. Mary's
here. I... That can't go well. I wonder if something is wrong?"

Without waiting for her father to
admit his guilt, she rushed to the door. It was quick enough on the opening
that a loud creak came from the thing that it shouldn't have made. Scott
followed at a good percentage of his girl's speed, and Cin sauntered after,
making certain that no one had used the distraction to sneak up on them. If
they were playing soldier or whatever, they needed to do it correctly.
Otherwise it wouldn't be fun.

In the front room, the one with
the television, standing in front of a rather pissed off looking Charlotte, and
a totally blank Brian, was a woman that looked... Average. No better looking
than she did really, as far as that went. Softer, around the edges, and in a
dress that looked a bit like a hippie should have been in it, but she didn't
seem scary or intimidating. She was taller than Cindy was, but not so much that
taking her in a fight would be impossible. Five inches maybe.

Her story was written on paper,
with what looked like quill and ink on parchment. The words told about how
scared she was being there. Fearing the Proxy would, within full right and
justice, seek to kill her. It was a fight that she couldn't win, either.

Funnily enough, to her way of
thinking that was the right thing to do. It was how you handled those that
betrayed you, and she had truly done that to Brian. A good man who hadn't
deserved an old witch like her in the first place.

Mary didn't look at all old, but
she was. Over a hundred and forty, in experiential time. She also wasn't
Infected, being from a different world. That didn't really shock her on the
reading, being that it had been on the news that Devorah Timberland had been,
and this woman had worked with her for decades.

They all looked over at the
people coming in, Mary uncertain how Bridget would react as well. She understood,
intellectually that Prime, her son, wouldn't do her harm, but it was also
understood that the girl preferred her grandfather.

It didn't really matter, given
how everyone in the place froze. Except her. She was fine that way, not having
a stake in things. That meant she was the only one that could speak, it seemed.

"Hi! Mary? Just to set the
mood, I'm almost certain that no one here is planning to kill you. Even if you
do
deserve it. So, you should all mend fences and all that. By the way,
I'm
Brian's date, so remember that. Otherwise I'll have to remind you, which could
be stressful." It wasn't a real threat, but Mary stiffened for a moment,
then, oddly, bowed.

It was a low thing, without any
sweeping gestures or pomp to it. She would have done that, if she didn't think
she could beat Cindy in a fight. To her however, that wouldn't happen on a
physical level. There would be spatial manipulation involved. At the words, all
in pure brown ink, instead of red, Cindy smiled.

"Not that it will come to
that. I just don't want you to be confused here. He's moving on now, which is
the right thing to happen. You can be friends, but the work there
has
to
come from you." It sounded like a speech nearly, since she was reading it
from the book over Mary's head. It was the right thing to say, at least for
her.

A challenge, but one that didn't
require action. Putting the woman in her place, but not seeking to push for
more than that. Oddly, it reassured her and when she stood, there was a smile
on her face.

"I understand. It is good to
see he is with someone so strong. Have you been companions long?"

That part was small talk, and the
correct answer was actually to defer, since it wasn't any of Mary's business.

"Would you like a snack?
There are chips, and some veggies cut up?"

Everyone else seemed baffled, but
the new woman nodded.

"As is the custom? I have
never been to such a celebration before. Not with others. With my ex-husband,
but not since he left."

The room went silent, no one
looking at anyone else in particular, as if the idea of people having ex's was
a forbidden topic. The discomfort was palpable. Not for her, Cindy realized, so
she spoke first, not having a horse in the race.

"It is the custom. This is
pretty much the day that people sit around, fighting with relatives and eating
too much. It isn't supposed to be that, but it really is about what the thing
ends up being. Given the people here, we probably shouldn't let it get
physical. So, arguing and bickering only?" Looking around there were
actually a few nods. Thankfully the stories were catching up, and said one
thing in common, if in several different ways.

No one else knew that she
understood that Mary wasn't from just down the street. Brian caught on that her
power would get her around that, but he was surprised that there was easy
banter, if in an odd manner, instead of shock or fear.

It was Brian's mom that broke
things for real, waving to the room.

"Why don't you all sit and
talk? I need to get back to the kitchen." She left quickly, with Ron
moving behind her without a single word being muttered. There was work to be
done, and that meant he had to help out, or his wife would feel stress over it.
Then, when he was there, he had to always do the very best he could.

That was important to the woman.

Brian seemed reluctant to leave,
not knowing if he was avoiding the tense scene or not. He had some stuffing
going that needed to be checked. Not that he was a great cook, but over the
last years he'd learned enough to know that watching what you were doing was
important in the kitchen. There was also an ambrosia salad coming, which wasn't
hard to make, but was still something to do that didn't involve staying in the
uncomfortable room.

He seemed calm and a bit cool
then, but managed a fake smile.

"I have some things to do
too, for the meal. Are you all going to be fine here? We should eat in about an
hour."

There were nods all the way
around, though when Cin looked over at the well made up Charlotte it was clear
that she, at least, was gearing up to do some of that verbal abuse that had
been put into the rules. No one else really got that, but there was a laundry
list of things that were about to come flooding out. Mainly wrongs that Mary
had done to Brian. Working with Devorah Timberland, knowing that she didn't
love him, was very near the top of the list.

The thing there was that Cindy
didn't know that her supposed Brian dating trick would hold through yet another
fiasco of a meeting. Of the two real ones so far, two of them had ended in
violence. It was interesting, and kind of fun, for her, but Proxy just might
see it as endangering her too much if it kept up.

So she smiled at Charlotte and
waved lightly, getting her attention, then shook her head.

"She knows that there are
issues there. No need to get into it." That was all, and her voice was
bland about it all.

Bridget looked at her mother, and
nodded. It was subdued for her. She normally was filled with energy.

"That's a good point, mom.
We should... Not act without thinking first." There was a bit of a strong
look after that, since it was a phrase that Bridget had heard constantly
growing up. To the point that she nearly hated the words now.

Her mother, constantly pissed off
as she was, smiled. A brittle, almost disingenuous thing. It was tense enough
that Scott touched her arm, trying to manage her. Interestingly, he wasn't
shrugged off, even though the idea was a thing that Charlotte had to fight
against.