Apocalypsis: Book 2 (Warpaint) (23 page)

“I think dat’s very smart.”

“Smart?” Peter turned on Bodo.  “Smart?  Are you
kidding
me?”

“No, dat’s not a joke.  You don’t prefer dat he eat da snake’s butt do you?  Dat wouldn’t be good for me.  It’s da head dat does da biting.”

“No, I’m not suggesting Buster eat the snake’s
butt
.  I’m just saying … chewing off its head …”  He shuddered and didn’t continue.

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked Coli, almost hoping she wouldn’t answer me.

“We’ll eat it.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”  I sighed.  It made sense not to waste meat, but I was starting to seriously consider the idea of not asking any more questions of the cooking crew.  My meals would probably taste better if I didn’t know exactly what I was eating.

“I’m not eating that.  No way, no how,” said Peter.

“You already have.  I mean, not this snake, but other ones just like it.”  She smirked, looking at Buster.  “Only they usually still have the head on them when I get them.”

Peter went still, the expression melting away to leave a stone mask in its place.  “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said, before delicately walking away towards the outhouse with his head held high.

“Iss he gonna do a stress doodle or something?” asked Bodo, coming up to stand at my side.

I laughed a little, not sure I understood.  “A stress doodle?”

“Yes.  Dat’s when you doodle becausse you are so freaking out.”

Coli looked up at him.  “Do you have any idea how much you sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger sometimes?”

“Yes.  I haff been told dat I sound like him.  But I don’t agree.  He hass a very strong accent.  Not like me.”

Coli’s expression told me she was wondering whether he was joking or not.

I patted Bodo on the arm.  “Yep.  Arnold had quite the accent, unlike our Bodo, who’s practically American-sounding.”

Bodo nodded his head and Coli rolled her eyes.

Now that my initial panic had worn off, I remembered Bodo yelling when he woke up.  “What was that thing I heard you say when you got up?” I asked him.

“I don’t know.  What was it?”

“It sounded like
vahss zoom
something.”

“Oh, dat’s da Cherman way of saying
what da fuck
.”

"Say it again.”

“Was zum Teufel.”

I tried it out.  “Was zum Tohfel.”

“Hey, dat’s pretty good.”  He smiled big, his eyes practically sparkling.  “You only have a little accent.  Maybe pretty soon you can speak Cherman with me.”

I laughed.  “Maybe.”

Coli shook her head.  “Whatever.  Are you coming to lunch or what?”

“Yeah.  Can we wait for Peter?” I asked.

“No.  I’ll send someone for him in a few minutes.  It’s better if you come now so the planning can start.”

I looked at Bodo and he shrugged, so we both followed an already retreating Coli through the trees to the ceremonial hut, eventually joining all the members of the team and a few extra people several minutes later.  I wasn’t sure if the extras were there out of curiosity or because they were serving a purpose, but my mind lost track of trying to figure it out when I saw Coli walk over and put the mangled snake in a basket near the collection of food.

I leaned over and whispered near Bodo’s ear, “She’s not expecting anyone to eat that thing
now
, is she?”

“Maybe,” he said, eyeing her warily.  “She’s a little bit crazy, dat one.  I bet she bites da heads off snakes for fun.”

I smiled.  “Seriously.”  I didn’t think that Coli was
crazy
crazy - maybe just a little overly angry, which made her seem a bit unhinged.  I could see her biting off the head of a snake that pissed her off.

Kowi came over with Trip.  “Hey.  Thanks for coming.  What’s up with the snake?”

“Yeah.  Did Coli bite the head off it, or what?” asked Trip, grinning devilishly.

I smiled at how he’d read my mind, and he winked at me in response.

Kowi shoved him, but Trip barely moved with the force of it, his upper body swaying only slightly to the side.

“No.  Buster did,” I explained.

Kowi nodded his head slowly.  “Nice.  You brought a hunting poodle with you.”

I laughed.  “He’s no hunting poodle.  He probably found the thing dead.”

“Nah,” said Trip, shaking his head.  “It’s a fresh kill.”

“How do you know?” I asked, doubting him instantly.  He was like one of those know-it-alls I just wanted to be wrong sometimes.

“It’s not stiff, and I didn’t see any signs of decomp.  No smell.”

“Pfft. 
You missed Buster’s breath.”

“Your dog had that breath when he came here,” said Trip, moving away to join a group of guys standing off to the side.

“How would he know what Buster’s breath smells like, anyway?” I said, almost feeling insulted for my poor, pink, spaz-attack of a dog.

“He plays with Buster all the time.  Haven’t you noticed?” asked Kowi.

“No.”  I wasn’t sure I believed him.  I couldn’t picture the big, tough Trip playing with little, goofy Buster. 
No way.

“Oh, yeah.  He feeds Buster crap all the time.  You didn’t notice your dog goes right to Trip every time you guys come around?”

I shook my head. 
That’s weird.  I should have seen that.
  It made me worry about all the other little things I might have missed that could be important.  Who Buster spent his time with didn’t matter to me one bit, but who other people spent time with did.  Alliances and vendettas could spell big trouble for us in the future.  I resolved to pay closer attention, beginning today at this meeting.

Just as I thought that, Coli caught my eye, walking over to a girl and talk to her in low tones.  The girl disappeared into the trees, heading off in the direction we had just come from.  I hoped that meant Coli was following through on her promise to get Peter and bring him over.

Bodo and I wandered over to the food to fill our plates.  I eyed the meat suspiciously, but it didn’t look like snake, so I took a piece.

Once Bodo was finished filling his plate with about five pounds of food, we sat down next to each other over in a corner.  Winky soon joined us, sitting on the other side of Bodo.  He smiled and greeted her, making me feel instantly sick to my stomach.

I looked down at my food and set it off to the side, my appetite suddenly gone.  I caught myself glaring at Winky and forced myself to stop before anyone saw me. 
This is totally stupid.  Winky is not after Bodo.

I looked up and caught Paci staring at me curiously. 
Crap.  All I need to do is start drama with these people.  That’d be the fastest way to get kicked out.  Just relax, Bryn, relax.  Bodo likes you.  He’s said it a million times.

I kept talking to myself for about five minutes, but as much as I tried to convince myself I had nothing to worry about, I couldn’t help but move away from Bodo the slightest bit.  Maybe I should have moved closer, but I just kept thinking that if he preferred her over me, I wasn’t going to do anything but walk away.  I couldn’t afford to get all girly emotional over the situation, not matter how much it would hurt.

Bodo stopped talking to Winky when he sensed me moving  away and looked at me sideways.  A frown passed over his lips before he reached behind me, put his arm around my hips, and pulled me over until I was nearly stuck to his side.  “You stay by Bodo,” he said.  “I don’t want dat Paci guy getting any ideas.”  He looked up and glared in Paci’s general direction.

Paci just raised an eyebrow and smirked.

I looked at Bodo.  “Ideas about what?”

“About who’ss gonna be Mr. Bryn.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his goofiness.  I glanced over at Winky a second later to see her grinning too.  Reaching down, I  picked up my plate, my appetite fully restored.

***

Peter came walking into the hut as Trip began his speech.  He sat down next to me and picked at the food on my plate as we listened.  I tried not to think about the snake while I chewed my mystery meat.

“We’re all here to talk about our plans to go to find the animals who hurt Celia and who have some other people there being held as … prisoners.”  Trip looked around at the group of us sitting in front of him, slowly, as if taking our measure.  “This is going to be dangerous and could result in injuries or maybe worse.  No one has to go if they don’t want to.”  His voice went harsh.  “So if you’re not interested, take your food and go.”

Everyone there had to know from his tone that if they left, Trip was going to mark them forever as cowards in his mind.  I was glad when Kowi walked over to stand next to him and add his two cents.

“No one who backs out is going to be thought less of.  You all have your own things going on, and we understand if you can’t take the risk.”

Trip glared out at the group but said nothing.

No one got up and left.

I scanned the group, trying to read their body language and determine if anyone was having second thoughts.  I didn’t want people who weren’t totally dedicated to go; they could turn tail and run, or freeze up at the worst possible time, jeopardizing us all.  I saw only stoic faces and an occasional frown, but nothing that looked like fear.  I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or worried about that.

I made a split-second decision and stood, going over to join Trip and Coli.  “Sorry guys, but I had a thought and wanted to just say it out loud.”  I looked at the two chiefs for permission to speak and they both nodded.

I turned to face the group in front of us.  “I know you all love Celia and want to do the right thing by her … revenge and all.  And I totally get that.  But I just want to be sure you know exactly what we’re doing here before you agree to go.”

“Are you trying to talk us out of it?” asked Fohi.

“No.  But I can’t afford -
we
can’t afford - to have someone watching our backs who takes off running or freezes up at a bad time.  It could cause someone to get killed.”

Fohi scoffed loudly at me.  “Please.  Like any of us would run.”  He looked around at his friends nearby, and they all nodded, puffing out their chests.

I shook my head.  “No, I’m not calling anyone here a coward.  I’m just saying that some of the things we’re going to see and do will be shocking.  You’re going to be asked to hurt or kill other kids, and none of us knows how we’re going to react to that.  It’s fight or flight, you know? … Like an instinct you can’t control sometimes.”

“Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not flying.  I’m fighting,” said Fohi, nodding his head firmly.

I put my hands on my hips.  He wasn’t getting it, and it was frustrating.  “Fine.  So when you walk into a room and you got ten canners sitting down to a dinner of human arms and legs with guns at their sides, you’re going to be ready to crash the party?”

“Yeah.”

“And when it’s just you and one of your friends standing there, with three times as many canners pointing guns at you -and you have an escape route - you’re not going to take it?”

“No.”

“Well then, you’re stupid.”  I let it go at that and waited for the outcry.  It came about a half second later.

“What the hell?  That’s not stupid!  That’s loyalty!” insisted Fohi.

“You’re saying we should abandon each other?” yelled someone else in the crowd.

There was a lot of grumbling and people were gesturing angrily.  I glanced over at Trip and his eyebrows were raised, but he said nothing.  Kowi looked at me questioningly.

I held up my hands for quiet.  Most of them calmed down enough to listen, but Fohi was practically foaming at the mouth with indignation.

“Let me explain.  If you are outnumbered and outgunned, you have to get away to fight another way or another day.  Otherwise, you’re just going to be full of bullet holes and dead.  You have to be willing to leave someone behind if it means winning the fight.  That’s what I’m talking about here.  Difficult choices.”

“That’s bullshit,” said Fohi.  “The military never left anyone behind.  At least, that was their motto.”

“We aren’t the military.  We’re survivalists who sometimes have to make decisions about tough sacrifices.  We’re not going after these guys for revenge or to assert our power over them.  We’re going after them because eventually, they’re going to come after us.  And those kids they have might need us, but our primary reason for going in there is our own survival.  I’m sorry to sound so cold-blooded, but that’s how I see it.”

“She’s right,” said Trip loudly, taking a step forward, not looking at me.

Everyone quieted down and listened.

“Like she said, if you’re outnumbered and outgunned, and you have to choose between escaping and dying, choose escape.  We can’t afford to lose any one of you if we can help it.”

“But what about the brother or sister they leave behind?” asked Fohi, only slightly calmed down.

Trip shrugged.  “Tough luck.  Try not to get yourself into that situation and you won’t have to worry about it.”

“Which is exactly why we’re here right now,” said Kowi.  “Let’s get down to business with the planning of this trip.”  He looked at me.  “Bryn, do you have anything to share that you found in George’s journals?”

“Yeah.  I think so.  But we really need Celia to help with this part.  She’s the only one who knows what the place looks like.”

“No.  I have this.  Celia helped me with it,” said Trip, pulling out a folded up piece of thick paper.  It looked like handmade stuff, kind of lumpy and stiff - a little bit like the toilet paper in the outhouse, but bigger.

“What is it?” I said, moving closer.  I found my answer as soon as I drew near.  It was a map of the canner compound.  “Nice,” I said, nodding my head in appreciation.  “This is good stuff.”  I pointed to a dark black mark near what looked like a wall.  “What’s that?”

“That’s a door of some sort.”

“Oh, yeah.  She mentioned some kind of door she couldn’t get through.”

Kowi joined us, looking over Trip’s shoulder.

“I figured during our recon we’d need to check out and kind of get ready any possible entry and exit points.  Like break locks or whatever,” I said.