Apocalypsis: Book 3 (Exodus) (14 page)

Jamal dropped the sticks and stood back up with a happy expression on his face.  “I don’t mind getting my feet wet.  And it is pretty hot.”  It was the happiest he’d looked since I’d met him.

“Come on then,” I said, gesturing.  “Follow me.”

We walked quietly to the pool, each of us lost in our own thoughts.  I was planning the rescue of Bodo in my mind, finally deciding that I would leave in two days.  That would give Jamal and Ronald a day to get acclimated and acquainted with some of the others before leaving them behind.  They could keep Peter company, assuming they would be living with us.  I figured they would be, since I knew there probably weren’t a bunch of empty chickee huts standing around for random strangers to move into.

The pool came into view, and I could hear from the sounds of splashing that we weren’t the only ones with the brilliant idea of cooling off.  LaShay’s voice could be heard above everything else.

“You
go
, girl!  My gawd, that was a complete flip.  You are beyond belief, you know that?  Like a mermaid.”

When we were closer I could see she was cheering on a fellow amputee who’d just done some sort of flip in the water.  It had to have been difficult with only one arm to move the water around with.  LaShay reminded me of a physical therapist, guiding her patients and cheering them on.  I smiled at the thought of her in nurse’s scrubs, bossing sick people around.  She would have been an awesome medical person - doctor, nurse, therapist, whatever - she really cared about helping others get well, that much was obvious.

I walked up near to where her head was, at the edge of one of the docks, and bent down.  “Hello, gorgeous.”

She screamed, spinning around in the water, her face a mask of terror.  “Sweet Lord and baby Jesus …
Bryn! 
You scared the you-know-what outta me.  What’re you doin’ sneakin’ up on me like that?”  Her eyes lost their angry look as soon as they fell on Jamal.  “Oh.  My … goodness.  You brought friends.”  She smiled, reaching her hand up to smooth her hair.  She must have momentarily forgotten she only had the one, because she immediately sunk below the surface.

“Oh my god …
she’s drowning!”
yelled Ronald.  “I told you black people don’t swim!”

LaShay’s face came bursting up out of the water, spraying droplets around.  And she was pissed. 
“What
did you just say, boy?”

Ronald cleared this throat and stretched his neck out uncomfortably.  “Uhhh … I said you were drowning?”

“No. 
After
that.”

“That … uh … black people don’t swim?”

“Boy, get yo’ head outta yo’ butt.  Do you see a black woman up in here?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

“Don’t you
ma’am
me!  I ain’t your
momma
or your fat, old lady
neighbor!”

“Yes, I can see that.  I’m sorry.”  He sounded so contrite, I felt bad for him.  But I was laughing all the same.

“Fine, then.  You see this black woman swimmin’,
don’t
you?”

“Yes, I do see that.”

“Good.
  Look
real
hard and say that shit again, then.”

“No.  I … uh … think I’ll just shut up now.”

“Mmm-hmm,” said LaShay, turning her back to him, “that’s what I thought.”  She calmly swam away, only a little bit off kilter because of her missing arm.

I couldn’t stop laughing.  Peter joined in, holding his stomach.

LaShay ignored all of us, continuing on with her graceful departure to the other side of the pool.

Ronald let out a long breath of air.

“That was friggin’
awesome
, Ronald,” I said, patting him on the back.  “Thanks for that.”

“That
what?
  Spectacle?” he asked, still looking pretty stunned.

“The entertainment.  I love when LaShay gets her undies in a bunch.  Come on.  Let’s go swimming.”

Jamal and Ronald both looked afraid again, so I pointed to the dock.  “Sit there, take off your shoes, and dip your feet in the water.  It’s really nice.”  I reached down and pulled my moccasins off.

“Aren’t you afraid of snakes?” asked Ronald.

“And alligators?” asked Jamal.

“Yep,” I said matter-of-factly, and then jumped into the water with all my clothes on.

Within minutes the newcomers had a swarm of girls swimming at their feet.  They were all laughing and joking around, including Jamal.  He kept looking at LaShay, but she wasn’t giving him the time of day.  She was teasing Ronald though, and he was being really good-natured about it.  I had a feeling he must have had a bossy mother, the way he handled her so well.  He never got offended no matter what she said.  I liked him more and more with each passing minute.  He and his brother would be good additions to our little community.

Eventually the sun started going down, so I got out and sat down next to the guys.  “We need to get going.  The meeting will start in an hour or so and I need to try and get somewhat dried off.”

“You should probably get that leg cleaned up, too,” said Ronald, eyeing it warily.

I looked down and noticed it looked a little raggedy.  “I probably shouldn’t have gone swimming,” I said, almost to myself, biting my lip as I tried to touch it without making it hurt.

“I’ll get you fixed up.  Just go to the clinic, and I’ll be right there,” said LaShay.  She reached up and smacked my hand away from my leg.  “Don’t touch!”  She swam away, a group of kids following behind her.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my moccasins on.  I noticed Ronald and Jamal staring at the kids getting out of the water, every one of them missing an arm or a leg.  They exchanged looks but said nothing.  I was glad they were seeing it; I wanted them to know that the people here were the good kind and not the vicious kind.

When Peter and I were ready, the four of us walked together through the trees, headed towards the clinic.  Ronald finally spoke.

“So … we noticed that the kids in the pool were all … you know …”

“Missing body parts?” I suggested.

“Yeah.  I wouldn’t have put it quite so bluntly, but yeah.”

“Canner victims.  We rescued them a few days ago,” said Peter.

“Wow.  That’s amazing,” said Jamal, respect in his voice.  “You guys did that?  Why?”

“Because it was the right thing to do,” I said.

“But didn’t that put you in danger?” asked Ronald.

“Yes, it did,” said Peter.

“They took Celia, one of the Creek girls, and she escaped.  But she told us what was going on, so we could hardly just ignore it and do nothing,” I explained.

“Everyone else does,” said Ronald softly.

“Well, we’re not everyone else,” said Peter, his voice filled with pride.

“Can I ask you a question?” said Jamal.

“Seems like you already have,” I said.  I wasn’t being mean, but it seemed funny to ask permission now.  We’d already had the awkward why-are-all-these-kids-missing-limbs conversation.

“When you all made the decision to go after those guys … what did Trip say?  Was he for it or against it?”

I sighed.  I knew this wasn’t just about the canner mission.  “He was against it at first.  But he changed his mind.”

“Who changed it for him?”

“Kowi, probably.  They’re old friends.  He trusts him.”

“Do you think Kowi’s going to let us stay?” asked Ronald.

“I don’t know.  I want to think, yes, but you never know with these guys.  They have a lot of people to take care of and worry about.”  Even though I was pretty sure Kowi was going to let them stay, I didn’t want to get their hopes up yet.

Nobody said anything after that, all of us wondering about Ronald’s and Jamal’s fates.

We arrived at the clinic and Winky was there to fix me up.  LaShay helped, but mostly she busied herself with changing bandages on the hurt kids’ arms and legs; and she worked very hard at ignoring Jamal, too.  He kept staring at her but she obviously wasn’t interested.  I shook my head.
Poor guy.  He and Peter should get together and compare notes on how to deal with difficult crushes.

We left the clinic a half hour later to go to the dinner meeting, along with all the people who worked there.  Everything was riding on this moment, but I didn’t let myself think about the what-ifs and the whys.  I just needed to get through tonight and the next couple days so I could go after Bodo.  Nothing was going to stop that from happening.

***

Everyone but us was already there.  Torches were lit and the food was out.  I walked the two newcomers over to the baskets of food and gave them a basic idea of what they were eating.  I left out the part that one of the hunks of meat might be snake, deciding since it hadn’t killed any of us, they’d be fine eating it too.  Maybe for fun later I’d tell them.  I had a feeling that Jamal might be easy to freak out when it came to eating things that slithered.

We ate in subdued silence, watching the others talking and joking around.  This was a no-big-deal thing for them.  For Ronald and Jamal it meant everything, and I totally felt for them.

I nudged Ronald.  “Don’t worry about it.  I’m sure it’s all going to be okay.”

Ronald shook his head slowly.  “I’m not so sure about that.  He would have sent word we could stay if that was his decision.  That would have been the nice thing to do.”

I hadn’t considered that, but I brushed off my misgivings.  “No.  He’s a formal guy about stuff like this.  He would have wanted to announce it.”

Ronald stopped eating and looked at me.  “You sure?”

“Yeah.  I think.”  I was suddenly even more stressed, feeling like I’d just vouched for an affirmative answer from the chiefs; and while I was confident they’d do the right thing, I wasn’t sure my idea of the right thing and theirs would always match up. 
Please let it match up tonight!

“Just let it go, Ronnie,” said Jamal.  “It is what it is.  Stressing isn’t going to change anything.”

“Yeah.  I know,” Ronald mumbled, poking at his food.

My food started to taste like sawdust.  I threw my hunk of bread on the ground for Buster to eat and set the rest of my basket aside. 
Maybe I’ll be able to eat it later.

Trip and Kowi arrived, not bothering to get food.  They stood talking for a few minutes before splitting apart, Trip going to stand with Jeremy, and Kowi remaining center stage.  He raised his hands for everyone to stop talking.

My stomach started to burn.

“I need to talk to you for a few minutes and then I’ll leave you to your dinner.”

The talking stopped and everyone faced Kowi.  Coli moved so she was just off to his left, looking every bit the proud chief’s woman.  I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination or not, but she seemed to be avoiding looking at me.

“As you probably know, we had a couple of strangers enter Kahayatle asking for safe harbor.”  He looked over at Ronald and Jamal.  Ronald waved and gave everyone a quavering smile.  Jamal looked like he wanted to vomit.

Kowi looked out to the group.  “Trip and I have discussed it, and we’ve decided to decline their request.”

Gasps echoed all over the hut, mine included.  My heart spasmed, and the pulse in my neck started hammering.

He looked at Ronald and Jamal.  “You can stay the night, but at first light, you’ll be escorted out of the swamp and given a few days’ rations of food.  But if you try to come back, we will consider it an attack and react accordingly.”  He moved to leave the hut, Coli walking behind him with her chin held high.

I looked at him in shock and then over at the two boys; their expressions told me they were both terrified.

Before Kowi got two steps, I leapt to my feet, ready to blow a gasket.  “What the
hell
, Kowi?!”

He stopped, but didn’t look at me and didn’t say anything.

No one else spoke until Jamal said softly, “I told you, Ronald.  We’re not wanted here either.”

My heart nearly broke with the unfairness of it.  “You can’t be serious!” I demanded.  “Tell me this is a sick joke, Kowi,
please
.”

Kowi sighed and turned his head to look at me.  I noticed he didn’t bother to acknowledge the two people whose death sentences he was signing.

“I am serious.  Your tie breaking vote is not needed today.”  He turned his head back and started walking again.

“Well, I’m sorry to inform you that you’re going to get my vote anyway … and that’s that they be allowed to stay.”  I stood with my legs spread and fists at my side.  I felt a hand on my shoulder and shrugged it off.

“Bryn, let it go,” said Paci.

I had no idea when he’d showed up, but he was trying to tell me to back off, and all it did was make me hate him.  “Get away from me, Paci,” I growled, my eyes blazing.

He backed up two paces, frowning at me.

I turned back to Kowi.  “You can’t turn them out like dogs.  Hell, you don’t even turn dogs out!” I yelled at Kowi, pointing at Buster.

“We’re not treating anyone like anything except people who don’t belong.”

“What? … Is this a
racial
thing?” I asked, completely confused.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Kowi in an offended tone.

“Well, explain it to me, then.”

“You aren’t
owed
an explanation!” screeched Coli.  “You are
not
a part of this tribe!  So
shut up
and sit down like a
good
girl!”

I pushed Peter and Ronald out of my way, advancing on her with only one plan in mind: I was going to slam her smug face into the dirt and suffocate her with it.  She was hateful and nasty to the core and I was sick and tired of her constant ugliness in my life.

Kowi jumped in between us with his hands out.  “Bryn,
back down!”

I met Kowi, toe-to-toe.  “Get the hell out of my way, Kowi, or I’m taking you out, too.  She deserves what’s coming to her.”

He pleaded with me with his eyes before doing it aloud.  “Please, Bryn.  She’s out of line.  I’ll talk to her about it.  But you can’t touch her.  I won’t let you.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.  “You think you can stop me?”

“Maybe he can’t … but I can,” said Trip, leveling a gun at my face from off to the side.