Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day by P. S. Power Read Free Book Online Page A

nuked the IPB. Our orders are to clear the town. We... There are no official pickups out here. FEMA is setting up emergency camps, to the west. No one has been coming out for a while. I should radio you all in and get a transport over here for you."
    Bridget had to keep herself from wincing first, and then step in front of Ed before he opened his mouth. He sounded too weird to be trying to lie their way out of things. Luckily Charity managed it for them, her voice calm. She sounded relaxed and almost charming.
    Too much so, given what was going on. It was martial law here. A polite police state kind so far, true, but these men were there to take over and keep her people down, she had no doubt. Real Army, acting on U.S. soil. These weren't the National Guard, after all. She could tell because they helpfully had little tags on their arms that identified them. They even had names on their chest, for easy identification. She was about to simply try and knock them all out but let Charity have a crack at them first. Her power of empathy could work, in a case like this. Possibly.
    "Um, we have some friends that will get us where we need to be. I was able to call for a ride, before my cell died. We're late, but it isn't too far away."
    That shouldn't have worked at all, and there was no sense that it was real manipulation or mind control. Not that Bridget could tell. That either meant Charity was just talking, or she was a lot better than Bridget had guessed at first, based on what she'd said. The man shrugged anyway, even if it didn't make sense for him to do that.
    "That works. We just need to make sure the area is clear. You kids be safe. Probably best to get off the patrol line now, just in case anything happens. If people try shooting us or attack again, you don't want to be too close."
    So, just like that, basically telling the truth, except for a lie about a cell phone, they were allowed to walk away. Easy peasy. She'd really thought that there would be more fighting, but knew from her training that real wars didn't work that way. She'd be called on to do it, when it came to be time for it, she knew. That was nearly certain. But right now her goal had to be protecting these people. If shooting started it might mess up her hair, or put holes in her clothing, but the rest of them would bleed and not even heal fast enough to shrug the things off. They were soft, normal people. Even Charity, Bridget's new Infected pal.
    Her people, the ones in the IPB, a lot of them were like that too. Soft and exposed to the world. It was good practice, making sure they weren't put in harm's way.
    They still ended up walking for over an hour and a half, before they found the woods. Just before they got there Will stopped and pointed off to the right. There was a remote house that way, which looked a bit run down, but had fencing around the outside. Horses in the lawn, too. Bridget had to think about that one, since it was a pasture, she thought. Not a yard. Never really having had either, she wasn't too clear on the difference, except that one had better grass and fewer tasty looking animals in it. She'd never eaten horse before, but was willing to give it a try, at the moment.
    Will cleared his throat, a little nervously.
    "That's my place. We should be safe enough there. My parents..." It was clear that he wanted to say they'd be fine with a group of strangers coming to visit, but stopped himself. "Well, they'll be with their militia group. Anti-Infected, pro-constitution. As if that wasn't a huge contradiction. I can't stand that stuff, but we have a lot of food stored. Ammo and stuff." Looking down at his hand, he realized that there was a gun in it. Then smiled. "Can you believe that those guys back there didn't ask about these?"
    Charity looked away, but then nodded.
    "It was hard, but I managed to, um, get them to notice me, instead. My eyes. So, they, you know, weren't thinking about that." She wasn't the best looking girl in the world,