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

but she was the prettiest in the group. Dark and cute. What wasn't to love?
    Of course, doing that under stress was a bit more than simple empathy. She wasn't just reading people, but influencing them and doing a good job of it too.
    Bridget noticed that, but didn't let it worry her. A lot of her friends could do things like that. Most of them at pretty high levels. Still, it might mean that her new buddy was a bit higher in class than she'd thought. Maybe all the way up to a two or three. Depending on how many people she could influence that way at a time. Making people not notice you had a gun could really work out, during a fight to the death, for instance.
    Bridget looked at Will then, her face schooled to not show how she felt about anti-Infected militia folk. It was hard, but not a first mode problem. Simple dislike was enough for her to deal with on that score.
    "You should probably get home then. Keep the nine, and make sure no one sees you. Try not to let the Anti-Infected stuff get to your brain. Not all of us are evil." She moved in, not thinking about it and gave him a big hug, resisting the urge to grope him, or grab his ass. Doing that would have ruined the effect, and turned her words into a joke. It took more than a bit of effort, since she kind of liked him already. "Also, forget about Charity. I mean, seriously, don't even think about it. We were just a group of people that walked out with you, and left you here, so you could get home." There was no real weight to the words, but he seemed to take them to heart, his eyes going a bit blank for a moment. More than they should have.
    "Right. I know you, most of you, from school. That's it. Thanks everyone. I know this is scary, but we'll live. I should head home now." There was a bit of a strange feeling to the words, as if he truly believed them.
    Then he walked away, not even looking back. Charity was staring at him, her tiny dark skinned face scrunched up more than a bit. In concentration.
    Bridget rolled her eyes, knowing coercion when she saw it.
    "Or, you could have just trusted him not to rat you out? I don't think he would, you know?"
    The other girl finally blinked a few times then shook her head, very slowly.
    "I... Can't . If people find out about me, then... They could hurt me. Or my dad. He doesn't know. Thank god he doesn't hate people like me. Us, I mean. But... If people know about me, they could, you know, hurt us."
    It wasn't wrong thinking that. Gesturing ahead of them, she started walking, keeping to the side of the road, the green and heavily treed area just ahead.
    "The others should be right up there. If they haven't left already. That's on you guys however. If we get out of this you should all, you know, start running regularly. Maybe do some pushups." She was just talking idly, but Deidre gave a soft sound that was probably meant to be a snort, but came across as something more like a strong exhalation.
    Except that, she realized, it wasn't that. The other girl was just breathing a little hard, trying to keep up with her walking pace. Her slowed down rate of speed that really wasn't more than a regular person should have been able to hold. Charity was doing a bit better, and so was Ed, but she got the idea. They really did need to work out more. Whoever their trainer was, he'd been slacking a lot.
    For Charity... Well, real people didn't have that kind of person, did they? Ed and Deidre had Hobbs however and that man was both hard and knew what kind of things they should have been working on to keep them ready. Since things like this could happen, or people could come and try to steal them back to their own world for a horrible fate of vivisection, she would have thought that would have been a pretty top priority.
    She didn't slow down, since they were nearly to the rally point. The woods weren't that dense, but in a few places there was thick undergrowth. Bushes, a few trees that were decently large. A car hidden under a bunch of