Apocalypsis: Book 2 (Warpaint) (8 page)

“Yeah.  And he likes that candy.  It’s his favorite.  So he doesn’t care that it has smelly feet.”

I scowled at him.  “How do you know he likes jawbreakers so much?”

“I just know.  I can tell a good match when I see one.  He needs someone spunky and tough, someone different than other girls.  That’s you.”

I smiled, liking how Peter had described me.  “But what if he just decides to eat it real quick and then move on?  I mean, there
are
other jawbreakers out there.  They’re just more rare.”

“That’s not how he is.  He’s methodical.  A thinking person.  He’s not rash. And he knows his odds of finding a jawbreaker of
this
flavor?  Are pretty slim.”

“I’ve seen him do some stupid, rash things … like going after the candy at the Cracker Barrel.”

“That was all a very carefully-crafted way of making sure he had a good grip on his jawbreaker.  He wants to keep the candy happy.  Keep it sweet.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Ugh.  Your analogy is making me want to eye gouge you right now.”

He held up his fingers, turning them like he was adjusting dials on a stereo.  “Just remember:  titty twisting champion, eight years running.”

I resisted the urge to cover my boobs and was rescued from having to come up with a suitable retort by Paci joining us.

“Hey, Hot Stuff and her very small friends.  Are you ready to go?”

Buster went bananas, running over to Paci and jumping up on his legs, begging for attention.  Paci didn’t disappoint him, either.  He bent down and baby-talked with Buster like he was an old hand at it.

I smiled in amusement.  Paci was no wimp.  He was almost as big as Bodo and ripped to the max.  He had zero body fat, so Peter and I were able to admire his every muscle, which I noticed Peter was doing with unabashed curiosity.

I caught Peter’s attention and raised my eyebrows at him in a conspiratorial message of mutual admiration.  He smiled in return, giving me a pitiful wink that made him look like he had something stuck in both eyes.  It made me laugh.

Paci looked up at me.  “Something strike you as funny?”

“Yeah.  You baby-talking to a nude poodle.”

Paci turned his attention back to the dog.  “I had a dog, but she died a few years back.  I miss her.”  He swallowed hard.

I wondered how many family members Paci had lost.  Most of us didn’t talk about it.  It was too depressing, and life was already pretty crappy most of the time.  It had turned into some kind of unspoken rule to keep your family miseries to yourself.  Peter was the exception, maybe since it hadn’t been the virus that had taken his sister.

“Time for the meeting,” said Paci, standing up straighter.  “Where’s your boyfriend?” he asked, looking at me.

“He’s not my boyfriend, and I have no idea where he is.  He took off on a walk or something.”

Paci’s eyebrows raised.  “He’s not your boyfriend?”

“No.  Why?”  I wasn’t sure why I asked.  It was kind of a loaded question, and I tried to avoid those, generally speaking - at least when it came to guys.

“Sure looked like it to me.”

“Well, looks can be deceiving.”  My hands went to my hips, and I probably seemed defensive but I couldn’t help it.

He looked at me for a couple seconds and then broke out in a huge grin.  “You don’t have to tell me that.  The first time I saw you acting all tough I was expecting to see you on your ass in the swamp.”

“The only ones on their asses in the swamp when Bryn’s around are you guys,” said Peter, pride in his voice.

I glanced over at him and winked.

“I don’t deny it.  But see, she’s making a critical mistake.”

“Oh, yeah?  What’s that?” I asked.

“You’re teaching us all your moves.  Eventually we’ll all be as tough as you, and then you’ll be the one taking a bath.”

“You might think so,” I said casually, “if you didn’t consider the fact that while I train you, I continue to train myself.  So no matter how far you move forward, I’ll always be ahead of you.”

“Burn, Paci,” said Peter, his voice again full of pride.

Paci smiled.  “I like your style, Bryn.  I really do.”  He walked towards the ceremonial hut.  “Let’s go.  The tribe is waiting for you.”

“Tribe, as in singular?” I asked, walking over to follow him through the trees.

“No.  They’re both there.  I’m just trying to get my head wrapped around the idea of us being just one now.  It’s not easy.”

“It’ll get easier,” I said.

“Let’s hope so,” said Paci.  He remained silent the rest of the way to the ceremonial hut, but he kept looking back at me from time to time with a weird expression on his face.

Peter came up to me as we reached the edge of the trees that ringed the hut.  We let Paci pull ahead until we were alone again.

Peter spoke once he was out of earshot.  “I think he likes you.”

I watched Paci join the others, noticing that he was still glancing at me occasionally, and watching other guys who were looking over at Peter and me.

“Really?”

“Yeah.  He keeps watching you.  Once he heard Bodo wasn’t your boyfriend, he was all over that.”

I sighed.  “Shit.”

“Yeah.  Exactly.  You’d better not go around advertising you’re single.  There’s not a hell of a lot of available jawbreakers if you know what I mean.”

My mind raced with the implications.  It was stupid of me not to have been thinking about all this stuff before.  I’d been so wrapped up in finding food to eat, a place to live, and companions who wouldn’t eat me, I hadn’t much considered the other human needs, other than on the most basic level. 
God, I hope there are no rapists in this group. 
The last thing I wanted to do was kill a guy in the swamp.

***

There were almost a hundred people jammed into every available spot in and around the hut.  Some carried torches, but none were lit.  Most of them were wearing regular clothes, no one bothering to get all dressed up like they had last time.

Trip and Kowi were talking together near the center.  Coli was standing off to the side, behind Kowi, gesturing to me with her head to join the two leaders.

I walked into the center of the hut, making my way through the surrounding throng, arriving in time to hear them talking about what I assumed was the training I’d done with the guys earlier today.

“Yeah, very cool.  You’ll like it.  She knows her stuff.  I’m dyin’ right now, man,” said Kowi, rubbing his bicep muscles.

Trip acknowledged me with a bland look.  His bruises from our fight still hadn’t completely faded.

“What’s up, guys?” I asked.

“I was just telling Trip about your training … told him he needs to get in on it.”

“He can if he wants.  I’ve got room for two groups a day of each tribe.  One girl, one guy.  Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”  I changed my focus to Kowi.  “I’m putting Peter in charge of the schedule if that’s okay with you.  He needs something to organize so he doesn’t go nuts or drive me crazy.  He’s already reorganized our pitiful pantry about a hundred times.”

“It’s okay with me,” said Kowi, looking at Trip.

Trip shrugged.  “Whatever.”

I couldn’t get a read on Trip at all.  “
Whatever
, as in, you’re okay with it?  Or
whatever
, you don’t want to do the training?”

“Whatever.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Again, Trip?  Again with the rooster shit?”

“Rooster shit?” he said, looking a little angry now.

“Yeah.  The strutting around with the feathers and stuff.  Honestly, I thought we were beyond that.”

Kowi cuffed him in the shoulder.  “He’s just pissed you kicked his ass in front of everyone.”

Trip scowled at him but said nothing.

“Don’t let it bother you,” I said with a totally straight face.  “No one’s managed to beat me since I was twelve.  You have a lot of company.”

Trip smiled in spite of himself.  “Seriously?”

“Yeah.  Seriously.”

“How long have you been doing this?  The fighting stuff?” asked Kowi.

“Since I was three.”

“No way.”

“Yeah way.  My dad was an instructor.  He was kind of obsessed with it, especially after my mom left.”

Trip nodded, saying nothing.

I decided a change of subject was in order.  “You guys ready to start?  And what exactly are we doing here, anyway?  I’m kind of clueless, actually.”

Kowi waved around to everyone, motioning for them to sit.  “You ready, Trip?” 

Trip nodded, scanning the crowd.

Kowi looked at me.  “Just stay here.  It’ll be easier to just explain as we go, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure.” 
What am I going to say?  No?  Sorry, Chief, but it’s my way or the highway? 
I tried not to be frustrated with my place on the totem pole, which was much lower than I cared for.  It made me feel out of control of my life and therefore, my safety, so it put my nerves a little on edge.

“Thanks for coming,” said Kowi to the group.  “Trip and I have agreed to get all of us together to discuss uniting the tribes into one nation.”

“I agreed to this in principle only,” clarified Trip.  “I know we’re stronger as one.  But we still need to figure out who’s in charge and how it will work with sharing hunting grounds and other stuff.  If I’m not happy with it, I won’t agree.”

“I thought we already talked about a combined ruling council,” said Coli from the perimeter, her voice clearly expressing how annoyed she was with Trip.

“We did,” said Kowi, “and as far as we’re concerned, it’s still the option we agree to go with.”

“I’m fine with it, too.  But we need the person to act as the tie breaker for decisions that are stuck, and we need to figure out the specifics of who does and gets what.”

“Let’s figure out one thing at a time,” said Kowi.  “First, the issue of tiebreaker.  We nominate Bryn.”  He looked at me as if waiting for me to say something.

“Uh.  Are you sure?”  I asked.  I actually thought Peter would be a better choice than me.  Or even Bodo.  They were less emotional than I am and always seemed to be talking sense when I was going off, following my first instinct.  “Why not Peter?  I think he’d make more sense.”

“You’re welcome to consult with him, but I prefer you,” said Kowi.

I looked over at Peter and he just shrugged his shoulders.

“I agree to this,” said Trip, “but only if she has plans to stay here for a long time.  There’s no use giving her that kind of power if she’s just going to be here for a little while and leave.”  He was staring at me intently, a challenge in his eyes.

Trip was really putting me on the spot.  I looked over at Peter and he nodded his head, encouraging me to accept.  But I wasn’t sure what to say. 
Can I promise I’ll never want to leave?  Do I even know what it would mean to actually live here?
  So far it had been more like a camping trip than a lifestyle.

Kowi must have sensed my reticence because he chimed in with, “I don’t agree that she needs to commit to the tribes forever.  I think it would be good to get some sort of commitment from her, though.”  Kowi looked at me and then Trip.  “Would you agree to six months at least?”

Trip shook his head.  “No.  But one year?  Yeah.”

So it’s a one-year commitment or I can see my ass out of the swamp.
  I looked over at Peter again, and his eyes were begging me.  Bodo wasn’t there, but I had to assume he’d want to stay, too.  He was always talking about doodling on the house to make it nicer; I was going to take that to mean he wanted to make it more homey - as in a place he’d want to put down roots.  Buster licked my ankle, which felt a lot like moral support, and that was the final sign I needed to agree.

“Fine.  I can commit to a year.  I guess we’ll look at this again when we get to that point and decide what works for us then.”

Kowi nodded his head.

Trip just stared at me as if he were trying to read my mind.

It made me uncomfortable, but I stared back without flinching or glancing away.  Obvious and purposeful strength was important to earning and keeping his respect.  I knew that.  I wondered if he knew even this much about himself, or if he was a slave to his ego like most guys were.

That’s where Bodo had it over Trip, as far as I was concerned.  Bodo knew who he was and could make a joke about himself without worrying about being seen as less of a man.  But not Trip; making a joke about him would probably get you beat down in a hurry.

I watched Trip and Kowi standing side-by-side, wondering how two close friends out in the old world, like they apparently had been, could become such rivals when the world fell apart like this. 
What had caused Kowi to become this calm and thoughtful leader, and Trip to become so belligerent and short-fused?

Kowi spoke again, gesturing to Peter.  “We need jobs for the three additions to the tribes.  Who’s got a spot for Peter?”

One of the Creek girls raised her hand.  Trip acknowledged her.  “Jen?”

“What can he do?” she asked.

Everyone looked at Peter, who immediately squirmed under the attention.  He seemed at a temporary loss for words, so I spoke up for him.

“He’s very good at organizing and cleaning.  He’s going to keep my training schedule for all of us, so that’ll keep his brain busy.  But he needs to do something with his hands.”

“And not cleaning the outhouse, please,” he said in a meek voice.

Everyone laughed.

“We’ve got a spot for him,” said Jen.

“Good.  Get him in the morning tomorrow,” ordered Trip, not even looking at Kowi.

Kowi spoke up.  “Anyone in the Miccosukee tribe able to use Peter?”

“Yeah.  We could use him.  In the weaving hut,” said Coli, narrowing her eyes at Trip.

“I’d like to suggest that Peter spend half his time with you and half with us,” Kowi said to Trip.

Trip thought about it for a second and said, “I agree.”  He jerked his thumb at me.

“What about her boyfriend?”

“He’s talking about Bodo,” I clarified, “but he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Really?” said Kowi, looking genuinely surprised.  “Sure seemed that way to me.”

“Yeah, well, whatever.”  Peter’s words were coming back to me, so I decided not to argue the point.  Maybe it was better to just let everyone think what they wanted about us.  At least I wouldn’t have to fight off any advances during practice sessions.