Apocalypsis: Book 4 (Haven) (27 page)

“Thanks, Peter.  Trip’s on his way.  He’s in the swamp buggy.”

Peter’s face turned pink.  “Oh, that’s nice.  What about the others?  Are they all here?  How many did you bring?  Did you get any of the supplies I put on the list?”

I gave him a secret smile.  As if he cared about anything but that dope with the tattoos.  I nudged him as I walked by and gave him a look.

“Shut up,” he said, falling into step beside me.  He turned around and shouted over to the kids at the gate which now also included Jamal and Ronald.  “Let anyone in who says the oath!  Take all weapons as they enter!”

When he turned back I put my arm through his.  “So, tell me all about how much you missed me and why you’ve decided pyromania is a good decision for Haven.”

“I’ll have you know that first of all, I missed you way too much.  No more going anywhere without me.  And second of all, we had a little skirmish here while you were gone, and we had to burn the bodies.”

I stopped, effectively jerking him back by the elbow.

“Hey!  Watch it, lady.  Delicate constitution over here.”

“Bodies?  You’re burning
bodies?
  Whose bodies?”  I was horrified not only by the idea but by his casualness over the whole thing.

“Yes.  We had to.  We can’t bury everyone who dies here.  We’ll run out of space, and it’s not good for the water under the ground.  And they’re canners, not our people, so don’t worry about it.”

I started walking again, but this time without hanging onto Peter’s arm.  “Canners are people too, you know,” I said in a low tone.

Peter grabbed my shoulder and forced me to stop and face him.  “No, Bryn, they’re not.  They came here to murder us, and we killed them in self-defense.  They’re not human, they’re monsters.  I don’t have any pity for them and neither should you.”

I nodded.  “I know that.  I know.  It’s just … I’m getting sick of all the killing, I guess.”  My gaze dropped to the ground.

“Some bad stuff happened on the road, didn’t it?”

“Yes.  Some really bad stuff.”  I was trying really hard not to cry.

“Tell me.”  He reached down and took my hands in his.  “Go ahead and cry if you want.  I won’t mock you.”

“It’s not that.  It’s just that I’m afraid that if I start I won’t be able to stop.”

Peter shrugged.  “So what?  Everyone needs a good cry every once in a while.  It’s cleansing.  So tell me what happened.  I’m all ears.”

“Jason and Kowi are dead.”

“Whaaat?!”  Peter’s hand flew to his mouth.  “You’re not joking, I know you’d never joke about that, but … that can’t be true.”  He dropped his hand and took mine again, squeezing it even harder.

“It is.  Canners hit there, too.  They were having a friggin’ party when we arrived.  But that’s not all of it.  First of all, we ran into a kid with a semi full of kids on the highway.  We hijacked his truck and went to his ranch and met his sister, his big herd of monster cows, and his carrier pigeon messaging system that he has set up all over the state.”

Peter crossed his arms and stared at me for a few seconds.  “Did you find some peyote on your trip?  Is that what I’m seeing here?  Are we tripping?”

“No, I wish I was.”  A commotion at the gate took my attention away for a second.  All the kids were coming out of the prison to ooh and ahh over the animals that were arriving.  Derek was taking things in hand and moving people back so the newcomers would have room to maneuver.

“Take the livestock around to the big yard behind the prison!” I yelled.

Derek gave me a thumbs up before turning his attention back to the arrival of our newest members.

“As you were saying?” prompted Peter.

“As I was saying, there’s this thing we need to get in on, the EWS - early warning system.  They use birds to carry messages, and if we get a contact point set up here, they’ll let us hook in.”

“And what does that do for us?”

“It lets us know when canners are on the move and what they’re doing.  And also about good kids and what they’re doing.  It’s like networking kind of but slower than we were used to before.”

“Hmmm.  Sounds very interesting.  What do we need to do to get involved?”

“We need to get some of their birds and get trained in their secret code.  I’m not allowed to learn it.”

“How come?” Peter sounded offended on my behalf.

I hugged him because I adored his loyalty.  “Don’t be mad at them.  They said there’s a target on my butt, and they can’t give the code to someone so high profile.”

He patted me on the back.  “High profile?  Oh, so we’re all Miss Hollywood now, is it?”

I pushed him away gently.  “Shush, it’s not like that.  But the canners want to kill me for biting that guy’s nuts, so I guess it’s too much of a risk for me to know secrets.”

“Ball-biter.”  Peter gave me a very sneaky smile.

“What did you just call me?” I was almost whispering.

“You heard me.  Ball-biter.”

I threw my arms up.  “What the hell!  Why is everyone calling me that!”

Peter giggled.  “We had some other visitors, not just the canners.”

“Who?”  I was totally mystified.  “How does that have anything to do with calling me that horrible name?”

Peter turned around and stared at the front doors to the prison.  “See for yourself.”

I looked over in time to see Kirsten the Amazon girl hugging Bodo very tightly to her.

Chapter Seven

MY FACE BURNED WITH SOME emotion I couldn’t quite identify. 
Shame?  Jealousy?  Anger?
  Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant, and I didn’t like feeling it
or
the fact that it was once again my boyfriend causing it to happen.

“She showed up just before the canners and helped us deal with them.  She said she got the message they were coming for the ball-biter and decided to take you up on your invitation to visit.”

I stood next to Peter, my feet rooted to the spot.  That hug was going on for way too long, and Bodo didn’t seem all that interested about breaking it up.  I let the ball-biter comment slide for now.  I had bigger problems, that much was obvious.

“How nice of her to come to our rescue,” I said.  I was only being partially sarcastic.  I did wonder what her motivations were and if they were entirely altruistic, especially when I noticed how hard she was mashing her boobs into my boyfriend’s chest.

“Friendly, aren’t we?” said Peter under his breath.

“A little too friendly,” I agreed, walking towards them.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” said Peter, walking fast to keep up with me.

“I never do anything stupid.”

“Okay, don’t do anything overly emotional then.”

“I never do that either.”

“Yeah, okay.  If you say so.”

I looked at him as we walked.  “Are you saying I’m a big whiney baby or something?”

“No, I’m just saying you’re a girl, and girls get emotional when it comes to their boyfriends, and now you have that supermodel having vertical sex with him and no one would blame you if you eye-gouged her.  That’s it.  That’s all I’m saying.”

I took his hand in mine and squeezed.  “Thank you for that … whatever it was.”

“It was a pep talk, and you’re welcome.”

I would have kept right on walking until I was between Bodo and Kirsten, but Peter stopped all of a sudden and jerked my hand so hard I almost fell onto my butt.

“What?!” I yelled, preparing for another lecture.

But Peter wasn’t looking at me.  He was staring at the gate.

“Oh my good lord in heaven and baby Jesus in a manger.  Do my eyes fail me or has the most beautiful man ever created just arrived at my door?”

I rolled my eyes.  “If you’re talking about Paci, then yes, he’s there.”

Peter whipped his head to stare at me.  “Paci?  Oh, ho, ho … how interesting that you’d choose that person over aaaaall the other ones available.”  He wiggled his eyebrows at me.  “Mmmm-mmm-mmm … the plot thickens.”

My face flamed red.  “Shut up.  I was only joking.  I knew you were talking about Trip.”  I pulled my hand away.  “And I’ll have you know …”

My next planned attempt at throwing suspicion off myself was interrupted by the frenzied barking of Buster at the door to the prison.  Someone had let the little pink beast out, and he was streaking across the open space to the gate.

“Oh shit. What’s he doing?” I asked.  We had a few dogs with us, not to mention all those other animals.  I hoped he wasn’t about to get eaten or trampled.

I got my answer when he launched himself into Trip’s arms, lick-attacking him so enthusiastically he was practically crawling up the guy’s chest vertically to get to his mouth.

“Gah!  Buster! 
Down
, you mangey mutt!” Trip shouted.  He didn’t sound angry at all.

Peter put his fingers to his mouth, his eyes getting all shiny.  “Oh my god, would you look?  Is that not the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen in your entire life?”  His voice had gone up into the high soprano ranges.

“Uh, no.  It’s not.  It’s pretty gross, actually.  I hope you don’t plan on kissing his doggy drool mouth.  And the whole thing is offensive too, now that I think about it.  I got nothing from that naked poodle, did you see that?  Not even a hello.  How come Trip gets all the poodle love?  When did I fall so low in the ranks around here?”

Peter arched an eyebrow at me.  “Oh, you want some poodle love?  We can take care of that.”  Before I could stop him he started clapping and calling out, “Oh, Busterrrr!  Someone over here wants to say hello!”

Buster heard his name and turned.  As soon as he spotted me he launched himself with a sharp bark out of Trip’s arms and came streaking across the grass towards me.

“Thanks a lot, butthead,” I said, crossing my hands in front of me, trying to block the inevitable tongue bath.

Peter bent down with me when Buster arrived, and we let him dance and bark and whine between us.

“Yes, okay, Buster.  I’m happy to see you too.  Yes, yes, yes, you’re a happy guy.  A happy naked poodle who stinks like rotten snails.  Yes, yes, I’m happy to see you too.  Jesus, lay off the licking would you?  You’re going to run out of saliva and dry up like an ugly little raisin.”

He was panting so hard I was afraid he’d have a heart attack.  He started choking and gagging, but struggled to keep licking me anyway.

I picked him up and walked him back to the front door out of sheer pity.  Poor little guy was going to love me until it killed him.  Buster left no doubt in my mind; no one does a welcome home party like a poodle does.

As I approached, Kirsten and Bodo split apart.  She looked very happy to see him, but his posture and expression told me he felt a little uncomfortable.  That seemed more like the appropriate response for a guy who’d been kidnapped, drugged, and nearly raped, so I was happy to see it.  I stopped next to him, letting Buster down before addressing Kirsten.

“Kirsten.  Nice to see you again.”  I held out my hand.

She ignored it and pulled me into a hug.  My sore arm stayed awkwardly at my side, but I patted her back with my other hand. “Whoa.  Enthusiasm.  I like it.  I think.”

She pulled away.  “I’m glad to see you survived your trip.”

“Thanks for coming to Haven’s rescue.  I heard about the EWS.  How’s the baby?”

“The baby’s great, thanks.  And good, I’m glad you heard about the system, because I’ve come bearing gifts.  Have you picked your code reader yet?  My sister sends her regards by the way and says thanks again for the trade.”  Kirsten looked over at Bodo and the expression on her face made me sick to my stomach.  There was regret there or my nickname wasn’t ball-biter.

What the hell?

I ignored my irrational desire to punch her in the head.  There was no need to get the Amazon nation all up in my grill over a stupid boy, but now I really wanted to have a private conversation with her to pick her brain a little about Bodo’s stay at chez Amazon.  Something wasn’t squaring right for me.  Bodo’s penchant for secrets combined with her overly affectionate reunion made my ass hairs stand up.

I snapped out of my jealous haze and answered her.  “No, we haven’t picked a code reader yet, but we will.  We’re totally in with the birds.  Seriously, it’s like the best news I’ve had in a year or more.”

“Kirsten wouldn’t tell us anything until you got here,” said Peter.  He didn’t sound all that happy about being kept in the dark.

“Bryn is your leader.  I talk with the leader, not the city manager or whatever you’re calling yourself,” said Kirsten. She was all business now, and much more like the girl I was used to dealing with.  Maybe I’d imagined those stupid looks I saw her making in Bodo’s direction.

“Excuse me … I’ll have you know that the city manager position at Haven is critical.”  Peter was definitely in a huff.

“Yes, we know, love buns,” I said, patting his shoulder and squeezing it once before letting him go.  “Will you go see to the animals with Trip?  I don’t want them settling in by Bodo’s future garden.”

“Fine.  But I’ll be back.”  He left with his nose in the air.

“Anyone up for some lunch?” asked Gretchen, giving me a pat on the arm as she walked by.  “We have a feast ready for you.”

“Or not,” said Bianca, coming over as I walked through the doors to give me a hug.  “Welcome home, Bryn.  We were all really worried about you guys.”  She looked at the others.  “The food’s not great, but it’ll keep you alive.”

I smiled at her as she stepped back.  “Thanks.  We’re glad to be back, believe me.”  I looked around.  “How’s Fohi doing?”

“He’s good.  Better today.  He wants to see you, I’m sure.  He’s been worrying about all of you non-stop.  And we had a hell of time getting him to just lie down and not get his injuries worse.  He’s fixated on making traps of some sort.”

“Don’t worry, Rob and I will handle him,” I said.

She winked at me and left me to greet the others.

Everyone came in from the nearby hallways and got up from their spots on the floor to welcome us home.  I finally quit after thirty or so hugs and begged to be left to eat.  I wasn’t that hungry, but there was so much to do, I needed to sit down with my main group of friends and figure out what the heck we should do first to get everyone and everything settled.