Apocalypsis: Book 2 (Warpaint) (5 page)

I heard Peter sigh behind me as he struggled to keep up with my pace.  I didn’t check to see if Coli was following.  She needed to learn that I was going to win at the intimidation game.  If I let her get away with being a pain in the ass, she was going to get herself hurt and maybe someone else too if we were really unlucky.

***

I don’t know why I expected all the girls to act angry and defiant like Coli and Celia.  Most of them were shy and a lot more laid-back.  Some of them smiled shyly when I approached, and others just avoided eye contact.

I wanted to ask them how Celia was doing because I was worried about her and thought it was something we all had in common and could talk about, but I decided to wait until we were done.  I needed them to be focused on the training and not their injured friend.

Might as well get started, then. 
I rubbed my hands together and clapped them once before speaking.

“Peter is going to be my partner today, since he’s the odd man out.”

“Oh goody,” he said.

I shot him an angry look and he immediately got with the program.

“Sorry.  I’ll behave.”

I turned my attention back to the group.  “I’m going to teach you my two favorite moves today.  These will be the ones you’ll use most often, probably.  I’ll show you with Peter in slow motion, and then you can practice with a partner.”

I reached over and pulled Peter to me before facing them to explain.  “First, the easiest move.  The one that will save your bacon more than anything.  I call it the
nut crusher
.”  I turned back to Peter.  “Peter, spread your legs.”

He put his hands over his crotch.  “You must be out of your mind, Bryn.  Did you spend too much time in the sun today?”

Some of the girls giggled.

“I’m not really going to kick you.  Just relax.  You can keep your hands there if you want.”  I looked at the girls.  “Most guys will not expect you to go for the balls right off the bat.  They expect you to struggle, not fight, or run.  But the most important thing is not to telegraph your moves ahead of time.”

“Come at me,” I said to Peter, taking two steps back to put some distance between us.

“What?”  He looked confused.

I waved my hands, gesturing for him to come to me.  “Walk towards me like you’re going to attack me.”

He took two tentative steps forward, his hands still cupped over his crotch, causing more giggles to erupt from the group.

“Geez, Peter.  Could you be any
less
threatening?”

He looked like he was about to faint in fear.  “Hey!  My balls may be small, but they’re sensitive!”

I laughed.  “Who said anything about small balls here?”

I didn’t mean for that to be a joke, but the laughter was nearly out of control now.  I pinched the bridge of my nose for a second, trying to think of a way to get us back to something resembling a serious session, and also trying to keep the smile off my face.  I could hardly expect them to be serious if I couldn’t be.

“Okay, fine,” I said.  “I’ll attack you.  When I get close, don’t look at my balls, look at my face.  Lift up your hands like you’re going to slap me, but balance your weight on your back leg a little.”

He looked at me totally straight-faced and said, “I’m sorry, but you lost me at, ‘Don’t look at my balls’.”

I gave up.  The laughter had gotten to the point that some of the girls were gasping for air.  “Bring it in, Peter.  Let’s just sit down and talk, first.”

He came walking over, still cupping his nuts, earning him new respect from the girls.  He was our new funnyman, brave in the face of badass Bryn, renowned buttkicker.  I had known that I would have to use different tactics with the girls, but until Peter had started his comedy routine, I hadn’t realized
how
different.  I was mad at him at first for ruining my setup, but quickly changed my mind as I realized this would be better.  I just hoped I could pull it off and not just turn the whole thing into a big emotional, angry mess.

“Alright, so, everyone get your breath back and I’ll go over a few things with you.”  I looked around and saw that for the most part, they were in control.  The only one not laughing at all was Coli. 
Of course.

“I’m going to talk to you about some serious crap.  Not because I don’t like goofing around or having fun and want to throw a wet blanket on you, but because the reason we’re doing these exercises really is serious.  It could mean the difference between life and death for many of you.  Or your friends or family.”

That got their attention, at least.  Now it was time to go for the gut.

“You all know how seriously hurt Celia was.”  I looked around at their faces, the laughter now completely gone.  Some of it was replaced with sadness and some with anger - possibly at me.

“When I first met her, she attacked me with a baseball bat.”  I waited for that to sink in.  Some of the girls nodded, apparently approving of her tactics.

“But here I am.  I arrived on your doorstep a few hours later.  Did any of you see any lumps on me?”

“I saw a bruise on your shoulder,” said Coli with attitude.

“Yeah.  Because she missed my head, where she was aiming, even though she snuck up behind me and was only three feet away.  Want to know why she missed her target?”

No one answered, but I could tell they were waiting to hear what I had to say.

“Because she telegraphed her move.  It’s pretty hard not to when you’re holding a weapon that big.  Still, she should have been able to crush my skull three times over, or at the very least, knock me out.  But she missed because I’m trained to read body language and I’m fast.”

I looked at all of them in turn.  “Someday, you might be attacked by a canner … a kid who wants to make you his next meal, like what happened to Celia.  The question is, are you going to go down?  Are you going to be seriously injured or killed? 
Or
are you going to be the one taking people out?”  I searched their faces, talking as earnestly as I could.  “Just because you’re girls, doesn’t mean you have to be victims.  Do you get what I’m saying here?”

Heads were nodding, reluctantly.  It was clear that I needed to get their leader over on my side, and by the way they kept stealing glances her way, I could tell it was pain-in-the-butt Coli I had to impress. 
Ugh.  Why can’t life ever be easy for a change?

I stood up and spoke to Peter quietly so the others wouldn’t hear.  “Peter, do me a favor.  Go back to our hut and find me a guy.  Any guy will do.”

“You don’t want to use me?”

“No.  You’re too much like a girl, it’s not going to work.”

He sighed.  “Do you have
any
idea how insulting that is?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry.  But I’m impatient and running out of time here.  Every minute I don’t train these girls is another step towards one of them losing a fight like Celia did.”

He rightly guessed that this was not the time to argue with me, and left without saying another word.  While he was gone, I decided to attack the situation head-on and stop ignoring the elephant in the room.

“How’s Celia doing?” I asked Coli.

“Not good.”

“So she’s still alive.”

“Yes.  But she’s not talking to anyone.  And she’s sick.” Coli’s tone made her sound more vulnerable now.

“Do you have antibiotics?”

“Yeah.  We have some.  But she doesn’t want them.”  Her voice got rough and she looked down at her hands in her lap.  “She’s trying to die.”

“I hope you’re denying her attempts.”

“We are.  But it isn’t pleasant, having to force her to accept the medicine.”

“That sucks.  Has she been able to tell anyone where she was being kept?”

“I think so.  Kowi talked to her.  He’ll discuss it tonight.”

“Good.”

My next thought was interrupted by the sounds of Peter and Bodo crashing through the trees and brush.  I could hear Peter talking.

“I told you, she needs your help with something.  I don’t know what it is.”  The devious smile Peter was trying to hide behind a mask of innocence didn’t fool anyone in our group for a second, but I don’t think Bodo noticed.  He was too busy staring at all the girls.  Some of them were quite beautiful, and I suddenly felt really plain.

“Hello, girlss,” said Bodo cheerfully.  “I hear you needt some helping from a big strong guy.  I guess dat’s me.”  He rubbed his chest through his t-shirt and then looked at me.  “Hello dare, Bryn.  What do you want me to do?  Show dem my moofs?  Becausse dat’s definitely not a problem.  I can do dat.”  He did a couple karate chops that would have had my father shaking his head.  Bodo had absolutely no finesse
at all.

“Uhhh, no.  That won’t be necessary,” I said, standing.  “Girls, please get up and move back a little so I can have some room here.  I’m going to have Bodo demonstrate an attack so I can show you that move I mentioned earlier.”

Peter self-consciously covered his crotch again.  I motioned with my head for him to get the heck out of the way, trying to tell him silently with a frown not let Bodo see what he was doing.

The girls stood back, watching attentively.

“Okay, Bodo.  I need to you attack me.”

“What?” he said, laughing a little bit, a big smile on his face along with a look of confusion.

“Attack me.  Come at me.  I need to demonstrate something to the girls.”

“But I don’t want to hurt you, Bryn.”

“It’s not a real attack, first of all, and second, you couldn’t hurt me if you tried.  Now come on. Just play-attack me.”

“I could hurt you if I really wanted to,” said Bodo, his smile disappearing to be replaced by a cocky expression.

“No.  You couldn’t.  We’ve already established that several times over.  Now get over here and attack me.”

He thought he was going to fool me by first talking me to death and then following it up with some crazy sneak attack, but I was totally ready for him, since he’s about as sneaky as a bull in a china shop.  I think I knew what he was going to do before he even did, his thought process was so obvious.  He spouted some more nonsense and then suddenly came charging at me, planning to put me into a bear hug.

I met him halfway, jumping to the side, slamming his arm down at the wrist, and reaching up to gouge him in the eyes.  I did it gently - not enough to hurt him seriously, but enough to temporarily blind him.

“Aaaaahhh!” he yelled, his forward momentum still carrying him a few steps, but haltingly since he was unable to see.  “My eyess!”  He stopped and put his hands up to his face, bending over slightly.

“Now that you have your attacker blinded.  Your next move is to finish him.”  I walked over swiftly and heard Bodo say, “Finish him?” in a weak, confused voice, just before I kicked him behind the knee to drop him down and then drove three knee thrusts up into his chest.  I sent him to the ground with a hammer strike to the upper back.

He laid motionless on the ground, but I think it was more for effect than anything.  I hadn’t really hit him hard at all.

The girls didn’t seem to notice that I held back a little, though.  They just stood there, looking stunned.  Even Coli.

“Holy shit, did you
see
that?” asked one of the girls.

“She
blinded
him,” said another.

“Man, you aren’t messing around,” said Coli.  “I thought you liked that guy.”

“I do.  But this is war, girls.  If someone attacks you, anything goes.  I didn’t get to show you the nut crusher this time, but we’ll do that in our next session.”

“No,” moaned Bodo from the ground.  “No more.  Pleasse.  My nuts are all I haff left.”

Peter came over and helped him up.

Bodo’s eyes were watering, and he kept wiping them, talking to me as he walked by.  “Wow.  Dat was very effectiff, dat eye poking thing.  It’s better dan a ball kick dough.  For me, I prefer dis eye thing.  I’ll just do da ball one later.  Anudder day, maybe.”  He limped away, Peter helping him along.

I could tell he was totally over-acting, and I seriously appreciated what he was helping me do.  Somehow he’d figured out that these girls needed to see me bring down a bigger guy, to show it could be done.  And it was good that I had used my friend and not one of theirs as my crash-test dummy, since it left the whole insider-outsider bias off the table.  Anyone could kick Peter’s butt - even Buster - so he was a terrible choice for an attacker.

Bodo didn’t realize it, but he had just volunteered himself as my new training partner for the girls’ groups.  I was hoping he would be as thrilled about it as I was.

I didn’t have any trouble getting the girls into the training session after the guys left.  Before long, I had them eye gouging, nut crushing, palm thrusting, and forward punching; and they were having a ball.  Maybe it was the exercise, maybe it was the teamwork - or maybe it was taking charge and not accepting the victim role anymore.  But whatever it was, it amped up the energy of our group a hundredfold.  I used one last nugget of temptation to push them all the way over to my side.

“After I get you girls in shape, we’re going to challenge each other to matches, and then eventually, the guys.  My goal is to have you taking down guys like Paci, Jeremy, and even Trip and Kowi by the time we’re done here.”

Coli stopped punching her partner’s palms and said, “How long will that take?” Her face was red and sweat was pouring down her temples.

“About two months.  Depends on how focused we can be in our training.”

She nodded her head and went back to punching her partner with what looked like renewed energy.  I smiled at her form, noticing already that she was a natural.

The response from the other girls had me practically glowing.  They had taken one look at their leader Coli, one hundred percent focused on landing her punches and using the technique I had taught her, and doubled their efforts.  It was poetry in motion, as my dad used to say.

***

After ninety minutes of work, when the girls were almost ready to collapse from exhaustion, I let them stop, promising them it would be tougher next time when we met again in two days.  I ran them through some cool-down stretches and said some brief goodbyes before walking away.  Coli went with me back in the direction of my hut, leaving the girls behind.