Free Hush (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 1) by P.S. Power

looked a pale yellow, like an ancient text, and the words were
hand written, but very clear. He was assessing the potential fight to come
already.
    The effect was fascinating.
Before she'd always had to look at people to read them. Looking at Brian, she
tried to bring up the ring leaders page, which swung in too. It took a bit to
find the right part, because she had to go back, which was never much fun, but
after a minute she shook her head.
    "Something like fifty?
There's a militia coming? We can probably leave now. I'd hate to miss the free burger
though." That part was true. She was starving and so was Bridget, who
smiled at her broadly.
    "I know what you mean. These
aren't bad for a Denny's. Mark would cry, but what he doesn't know won't
get my tummy in trouble. Fifty? I can do that. Really, what are they thinking?
Do they have tanks or rocket launchers? I wouldn't take on any of us
without at least that."
    That took more research, but that was
her thing, so it wasn't too hard. The big issue was that Levi the asshole bigot
didn't know all of that. The group he was with was the biggest one, over in Portland.
That they weren't all made up of hipsters was interesting, but it seemed like
they actually had some ex-military involved. Ones smart enough to bring more
than a pipe to fight three of the most powerful beings on the planet.
    They didn't know about Hobbs at
all, which was their loss. They also weren't accounting for her, thankfully.
Not that she wasn't going to be killed too, since the only way to do
anything here would involve explosives and innocent patrons. On the good side
it was going to take at least an hour to get them all together. They had to
travel, and didn't have a plan for that location.
    She explained all of that, which
got Hobbs to smile at her directly. That wasn't real, just being his default
expression. A thing that he'd trained for, on purpose.
    "Oh? That sounds like it
might be in our favor then! First we should remove these five as a threat. Do
any possess weapons or powers of note?"
    Oddly enough one of the women had
a handgun, which the others didn't know about. The other girl had pepper spray,
but wasn't really in on the plan. The guys weren't ready for anything all that
physical, and didn't even have pocket knives on them. She related this to the
others, as Bridget kept eating.
    Then she got to do the same as
Sherry the waitress came back, with her burger. It was still warm, and it was
clear that she'd hurried with it, coming right over. She felt harried however,
which meant that she felt late, even though she'd done it about as fast as
humanly possible.
    "I'm so sorry this took so
long. Do you need ketchup or anything?"
    "Um, do you have any vinegar,
for the fries?" That got a concerned look and a head shake, since very few
places did that out west. They did back home. Not every place, but it was worth
asking about.
    No one noticed that, but fries
were fine plain. She did her own eating for a bit, while Brian used the phone.
Calling in reinforcements, so, hopefully, they wouldn't have a Denny's ruining
fight. That would be rude and make it hard to get breakfast the next morning.
The hotel they were staying in was just down the street, making it really
convenient that way.
    She tried her new trick, holding
the page as she looked away, her mouth full of burger. It really wasn't bad.
Even with a head start Bridget finished at the same time Cin did, which given
everything meant that several desserts were being ordered. Hobbs and Doug
skipped that, but Brian had a piece of pie, and Bridget had one of everything
on the menu.
    Cindy just shook her head after
that.
    "I don't want to be too
full, if I have to fight. Just, if it comes up, I get the scrawny looking guy
on the outside. He has a bad back, and his right knee is shot. I guess I'll see
if all that practice pays off?"
    That got a nod from Hobbs, as if
the most natural thing for a tiny woman to say was that she was able to fight,
and a pleasant