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

smile from Brian.
    "Oh? What do you do?"
It was just conversational, but he meant it, actually being interested.
    "Mixed martial arts. So
there's a bit of everything. I don't compete, for the obvious reasons. I do all
right though, when I can find very small muggers." She didn't have
to explain, since they all got her meaning. Except Bridget.
    She just wanted dessert. Even
thinking that death and destruction might be upon then, her main concern was
the food. It was kind of adorable. Proxy was very aware of her suddenly. Part
of it was fear. The soft panic of understanding that him being there was a
danger to her.
    She shook her head.
    "This isn't about you. It's
all Bridget here. The price of fame. Also the price of delusion . They
saw you on the news, but it didn't really seem to sink in. What you did, I
mean." Cindy looked at the girl, who was next to her now.
    Impulse, looking like a child in
her pink dress, screwed her face up a bit.
    "Damn. Here I was incognito,
too. I didn't even wear makeup or anything. I guess I should have slipped on
some glasses?" She did not seem concerned, for her part. "Well, it
isn't a big deal. If the Agents can't get them to leave, I can handle it. I
better not ruin my new clothes. That will not make me happy." Her
voice was piping and slightly higher pitched than what was comfortable to
listen to.
    It didn't carry however, and when
the dessert came she ate like it was just a normal part of life.
    There was good news however, as
they went outside. The police had been brought in on it, and managed to stop
about half of the incoming people. Not all of them, and while there were four
agents coming to help out, they'd been delayed. By a flat tire, of all things.
    So, as they walked out the front
door they were met by a decently large crowd of people. Mostly men, and mostly
armed. Handguns and rifles for most of them, which made the whole thing pretty
darned illegal. Snapping her fingers, Cindy ran back inside, and rather
shamelessly stole a pad of paper and a pen from the front desk. They'd left it
unguarded, making it fair game.
    Then, once outside again, she
looked around in the snow, and started writing down license plate numbers. No
one got what she was doing, except Proxy, who smiled at her. As soon as he
turned to the others there, the attackers, he went cold however.
    "You really don't want, or
need, to do this. Go away. Now." It didn't seem friendly, and a few of the
larger men in the crowd bristled. Like they wanted to fight him with their
fists.
    Their side, if she was on one of
those, didn't have any weapons out, and for her part everyone ignored what she
was doing. True, she didn't know what cars people had come in, but there were
fresh tracks now, so she could tell who had pulled in most recently. She was on
the tenth car when something finally happened. That was Impulse being shot. In
the face.
    The girl bobbed back a bit, then
grinned. It wasn't really happy, but she was faking it like an actress might,
in case there were cameras catching the whole thing. It was better than the
rage she was sort of feeling suddenly.
    "Okay-doke! That means that
I get to play now. Just so you all get this, you're under arrest. I'm Infected
and will be using Infected powers to affect that arrest. If you resist, I can,
and will , subdue you. That will probably mean you die. Lie down on the
ground, now, and drop your weapons."
    That got her shot several more
times. Then, almost as one, a cry and clatter went up, as every visible weapon
hit the ground with a clang. A few people screamed as their guns suddenly weighed
half a ton or more. It damaged the parking lot a bit, where they hit. The metal
even made a few sparks, but nothing went off.
    Doug, the super hero known as
Gravity winced at that.
    "Darn it. I think I over did
things again. It was probably the thing where they shot that little girl, you
know?" He was watching the crowd, and joking about the whole thing, even
if the wince had been real. He'd