Apocalypsis: Book 2 (Warpaint) (28 page)

“Getting some things for us to take.”

“What things?” I looked at him suspiciously, not liking his evasive tone.  We had already very carefully planned what we were taking and everyone had packed as lightly as possible.  We couldn’t afford to be weighed down with extra stuff.

“Things that will help us.”  He looked up, his eyes catching something in the distance.  “Ah.  There he is.  Right on time.”

I looked over to see Trip entering the hut carrying the case holding the grenades I had brought with us when we arrived.

“Oh, crap, are you kidding me?”

“No.  We discussed it and decided it was a good idea.”

“Well,
we
weren’t in on that discussion,” said Peter, indignantly.  “They’re our grenades, so I’m pretty sure we should have been included.”

Trip stepped up and gave Peter a death stare.  “You were asleep.  And we figured you wouldn’t mind giving them to us to help.  But maybe we have you all wrong.”  He put the case down and puffed his chest out a little.

“I’m easily wakened, and it has nothing to do with wanting to help,
obviously
, or I wouldn’t be standing here,” said Peter, his hands on his hips, staring Trip down with the meanest look I knew he was capable of making.

“Well,
next time
I’ll come in and interrupt your little love fest in there and get your permission to do what I want in
my swamp!”

“Love fest? 
Love fest?!
…”  Peter took two steps forward, moving closer to Trip and letting his arms drop at his sides.  He adjusted his feet to get better balanced, a move I’d taught him recently.  Peter was ready to fight.

Kowi snapped out of his daze and jumped in between them.  “Whoa, whoa, guys,
chill
. What the heck is this all about?”  He looked back and forth from Trip to Peter, like all the rest of us were doing, his face screwed up in confusion.

I was just as lost as Kowi looked.  Peter and Trip sounded like me and Bodo arguing - like a couple.  And neither of them seemed to realize it or notice that the rest of us were stunned into silence over it.

Bodo leaned over and whispered, “Dey chust need to cuddle I think.”

I elbowed him, telling him silently to shut up.

Trip finally broke the stare between the two, stalking away.  “Just forget it,” he said, without looking back.  He left in the direction of the boats, through the trees.  They were docked a few minutes away.

“He’s right.  Never mind,” said Peter, now more in control of his emotions.  He almost looked hurt, in a way.

I moved closer to him and put my hand on his upper arm, trying to get him to look at me.  “You okay?”

He put a big, fake smile on his face and said brightly, “Yep!  Let’s get this show on the road.”  He looked over at the grenade case.  “Are we bringing those or not?”

I looked at Kowi.  “Want to discuss this real quick?”

He shrugged.  “Sure.  We just thought it’d be a good idea to have a little more firepower.”

“I just worry we’ll need it later, if they ever come here,” I said.

Kowi nodded.  “Yeah, but what if we need some firepower there?  You wanted a distraction.  It seems like the easiest way to make one that will be hard to ignore.”

“Let’s just take a couple, how’s that?”

“Sounds fair.  I agree with you.  I don’t like the idea of being out here and so vulnerable.  I mean, what the hell.  They could roll in with tanks someday.”  He was smiling, but what he said wasn’t funny at all.

“Yes.  They could.”  I fixed him with a hard stare, which erased all the humor from his face.

“You know, sometimes you scare the crap out of me, Bryn Mathis.”

I tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace.  “Yeah, well, sometimes I scare myself.”

“I think it is a good compromising,” said Bodo, breaking the freaky mood that had started to develop.  “Who iss going to carry da grenades?”

Kowi answered, “Trip and Paci.  They’re in charge of creating the distraction.”

I shrugged.  “Fine with me.  Just be sure they have padding around them.  I think they can go off if they’re tossed around too much, even with the pins still inside.”

“None of us know for sure, so we’ll just be extra careful.”

“In the movies they always throw them a special way.  I think that’s to keep them from blowing up in your hand,” said Peter.

“Please be sure to show Paci and Trip the technique,” said Kowi, before motioning to everyone to start walking to the boats.  Three canoes were bringing us and our backpacks to the dock where we left the bodies of William and Rachel Coleman, the former kid owners of a canoe and boat rental place.

There were too many people to gather around the boat launch, so they lined the path leading the way.  We gave out high fives to almost everyone and a few hugs to others.  Peter seemed to have made friends with most of the girls from both tribes.

A few people were crying, and it did nothing to help my nervousness.  When I got to the boat and saw that Celia had gotten there first and was waiting for us to get in, I felt sick to my stomach.  It wasn’t because of her injury; it was because I didn’t want to let her down.  We were going after the people who had taken something very precious from her.  A limb, yes, but it was more than that.  She’d lost some of her faith in the decentness of humans the day those animals had taken her arm.  I felt like today, it was our job to restore it somehow; and I wasn’t sure we were up to the task.

Trip and I were the last ones to get in.  We both stood in front of Kowi, Celia, and Coli just a couple feet behind her.

“Hey,” Celia said quietly.

“Hey,” I responded.

Trip just nodded.

“I just wanted to wish you luck.”  Her eyes filled with tears but she blinked rapidly to make them go away.

“Thanks.  We’re going to do our best,” I said.  I probably should have said something more poetic or quotable, but I was in a panic.  I couldn’t promise her anything, much as I wanted to.

“I know you will.  I wanted to tell you too that if you aren’t able to do everything you want, it’s going to be okay.  For me.  I’m going to be okay.”  A tear escaped her eye.

I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, just above her bandages.  “I know you are.  I absolutely
know
that.”

She continued, raising her chin a little.  “But it would be a lot easier and a lot faster if you killed those bastards for me and brought those poor kids back here.”

Tears came to my eyes too now, a couple of them slipping past my defenses to drip down my cheeks.  I gave her a weak smile.  “Consider it done.”

It was the best I could do for promises, and it made me want to panic and run the other direction, away from all these kids who were counting on me to make things right,  away from this swamp with its false sense of security making everyone believe they couldn’t be touched by the ugliness, and away from even the two boys I now loved - because I was so afraid they were going to die today and it would be all my fault.

***

The paddles and poles the indians used to move their canoes dipped in and out of the water.  It was just before dawn, and the sky should have been alight with the beautiful pinks, yellows, and oranges that I was used to seeing here in the morning; but instead it was dark gray, giving a spooky atmosphere to the swamp.

Hopefully, the canners would decide to sleep in today on this dreary morning and give us time to get into position around their house.  No one said a word out loud.  The danger of our mission was weighing heavily on everyone, much like it was on me.

Nina’s shriek startled me out of my depressing reverie.  A few of the others giggled.  I looked up and saw some sheepish grins, apologies almost, for being startled.

Bodo had his harmonica to his lips and gave one short blow on it.  I heard and saw nothing of his bird from then on.

We arrived at the rental place where we had taken our canoes from not that long ago, dragging them up on the beach and chaining them together and to the canoe rack, using the chains and locks we had taken from there before.

“Good thing we kept these,” said Peter, lugging an end over to Fohi to connect with his part.

“Yeah.  I guess I thought we wouldn’t be coming back so soon,” I said, getting out of the boat and stepping onto the wet sand.  I lifted up a foot and looked at the bottom of my moccasin which was now covered in clumps of the wet stuff.

“They’re treated to be waterproof,” said Winky.  “Just don’t go swimming in them and you should be fine.”  She walked past me to climb the bank towards the rental shack.

“Thanks for the tip,” I said, putting my foot back down and following her.

She reached her hand down once she was at the top of the hill, pulling me the rest of the way up.  We watched the guys finish the canoe-securing from the top of the bank.

Bodo stood apart from them, staring up into a nearby tree, sliding his harmonica into his pocket.

“That’s pretty cool … Bodo and his hawk,” said Winky, watching him.

“Yeah.  It is.”  I tried not to look at her face, but I was drawn to it.  I wished I could read her mind and know if she was lusting after Bodo.  I didn’t want to feel competitive with her over him.  I liked them both too much.

“You’re lucky,” she said, wistfully.

“How so?”

“He loves you.”

“Why do you say that?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I guess I just don’t see it that often anymore.  I miss it … being in love.”

“Did you have a boyfriend before?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking down.  “He was older.”

Oh, crap. 
I knew what that meant.  But I couldn’t just not say something.  “He died?”

“Yeah.  Along with my parents and everyone else.”

“I’m sorry.”  I reached over and rubbed her back a couple times before letting my hand drop to my side.

“Thanks.  But anyway, I have hope that I’ll find someone again,” she said, turning to me and smiling.  “And don’t worry.  I know it’s not going to be Bodo.”

I was taken aback by her bluntness.  “I … uh … didn’t think it was.  But that’s good to know.”

“I thought I saw you looking worried a few times.  I don’t blame you.”

We both watched as Fohi and Rob got tangled in the chains they’d been using to tie the boats and fell into the sand.  “The options are kind of slim around here.”

We both laughed at the spectacle being provided courtesy of the crack team of indian warriors.

“Holy crap, what are we getting ourselves into?” I said under my breath.

Winky punched my arm lightly.  “We’re not getting ourselves into anything except that canner house to rescue those kids and to kick a little ass.  They started this, not us.  We’re just going to finish it.”

I nodded.  “You’re right.  Let’s go finish this.”

We walked over to the shack, joining the rest our team who’d finally made it up the bank to assemble there.  Fohi and Rob took off running into the trees.

“Where are dey going?” asked Bodo.

“Getting our transportation,” said Kowi.  He looked out over the small group.  “Is everyone here, now?”

I scanned the immediate area.  Everyone was present and accounted for, even a struggling Buster who Peter was trying valiantly to contain.

“Better let him run around and pee or something so he can get that energy out of his system.  We don’t need him spazzing out before it’s time,” I said.

“Did you bring something to muzzle him?” asked Kowi.

Peter pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.  It was pink.  “Yep.”

“Where’d you get that?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Coli.  She gave it to me right before we left.”

I shook my head in wonder.  I hadn’t taken her for a girl who wore pink.  But then again, I hadn’t known her before when she was a girl who walked the halls of a high school, putting books into a locker and wondering who was going to ask her to prom.

Fohi and Rob returned, both of them wheeling bikes next to them.  They were the ones Bodo and Peter had ridden to get here.

“Hey!  That’s my bike!” said Peter.  I couldn’t tell if he was pleasantly surprised or mad they were using them without permission.

“Yeah.  We needed ‘em,” said Fohi.  “We’ll see you guys in a few.”  They jumped onto their seats and took off.

“Where are they going?” I asked, completely mystified.

“Getting our ride,” said Trip, not even looking at me.

“Are we gonna walk?  Cuz dat’s a long way,” said Bodo, coming up to stand next to me.

“No.  We have a truck.  We keep it hidden and only use it in emergencies,” said Kowi.

About twenty minutes later, as the rain was drizzling down, a huge black SUV pulled into the area surrounding the shack.  It had an extended back end and could easily hold all of us.

“With the extra kids I hope we can save at the house, it’ll be a tight squeeze, but I think it’s do-able,” said Kowi.

“Hell, yeah,” I said, thrilled with the idea of not having to walk all the way there and back.  I had been imagining the tremendous amount of luck we’d need to get in and out undetected, especially with injured kids on our hands.  The fewer people who knew there were kids living out here, the better.

The passenger door flew open and Fohi stood on the running board.  “Come on, y’all, this ship is heading out!”  He disappeared inside again before any of us had taken a single step.

“I guess Fohi’s riding shotgun,” I said, moving towards the truck.

“That’s what he thinks,” said Trip, standing in front of the vehicle’s grill, sticking his thumb out and jerking it to the side. 

Fohi’s excited look fizzled to be replaced with a mutinous frown.  But then all we could see was his backside as he climbed into the second row of seats, diving in head first, his legs hitting Rob in the side of the head.

Rob turned around and punched him several times.  The truck rocked back and forth with their antics.

We all climbed in once things settled down, Rob driving with Trip and Kowi in the front seat, three across.  Trip sat on the cupholders in the center.  He looked comical, hunched over to fit his frame in under the low roof.

Once we were all in, Rob pulled out, making his way onto the main road and then turning right to head east.  We drove for a couple minutes in silence, everyone lost in thought.