Apocalypsis: Book 3 (Exodus) (9 page)

I frowned.  “I want to try.”

She shook her head.  “Nope.  I have a quota I have to get done today.  Talking to you is slowing me down.  Maybe another time.”

I felt rejected, but knew I couldn’t get in the way of their plans.  They had a whole group of new kids to clothe and keep comfortable.  No way was I going to be to blame for getting in the middle of that.

Just then Peter came walking in.  “Hey, Bryn.  What’re you doing here?”

“Didn’t they tell you?  I’m head weaver now.”

Peter frowned at me for about two seconds before he said, “Yeah right.  That’ll be the day.”  He took a seat at one of the looms nearby that was unoccupied, pulling a couple levers and picking up the hunk of wood to start weaving as if he’d been doing it his whole life.

“I’ve got your workout schedule put together,” he said without looking at me.  “I assume you can start tomorrow.  Is that going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” I said absently, watching him work.  I wandered over closer, wondering if I could get him to give me a try.  “So, do you have quotas too?”

“Yeah.  But they’re not as bad as Mandy’s.  She’s the top dog around here.”

“Watch who you’re callin’ dog,
dog
.”

Peter smiled.  “Whatever, Mandycat.”

Peter seemed happy here - less stressed than he did back at the hut or when I saw him talking to the mystery man in the trees.

“So, Peter, where were you this morning?” I asked as quietly as I could and still be heard over the clacking of the looms’ boards.

“Around.  Coming here.”

“I left after you and got here before you, though.”

“I was in the bathroom.”

“I went there too.”

Peter sighed and stopped working to stare at me.  “Am I in trouble for something?  Why do I feel like you’re watching my every move?”

“Uhhh, because I am?”

“Why?” he whispered, glancing over at Mandy.  I looked at her too, but she seemed very focused on her work.  Another girl came in and sat down at her loom.  The clacking in the room got louder.

“Because,” I whispered back.  “You’re being mysterious and sneaking around and stuff.”

He frowned at me.  “The only one sneaking around is you.  And not doing a very good job of it, either.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.  “Meet me for lunch.  We need to talk.”

“I’m busy.”

“Peter, I’m not kidding.  I seriously need to talk to you.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Fine.  I’ll meet you at our place at lunchtime.  Don’t be late.”

“I wouldn’t dreeeaam of it,” I said, reaching over to pinch his cheek.  “See you later, hot stuff.”

Peter tried to stay grouchy at me but a smile snuck out.  “Bye.”

I left the loom area, keeping a close eye on the pool, seeing nothing moving inside but the currents of water that were feeding it.  I still wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of going in again, but maybe that was because it was still cool out.  My tolerance for danger seemed to move up and down with the weather and circumstances.

Thoughts of my wavering bravery reminded me that Paci and I never did have that conversation about the defenses they were constructing.  So even though I was a little worried about him thinking I was tracking him down because I liked being with him, I decided to go find Paci anyway and see what he and his group had been up to.

***

Paci and his group of defenders were working near the area where Peter, Bodo, and I had first pulled up in the swamps.  I’d wandered a good hour before I was able to track them down, getting various directions from people I stumbled upon along the way.

Paci was down in a hole banging away on something.  I approached the edge and looked down to find him waist-deep in black water, looking dirty and sweaty as hell.

“What are you doing down there?”

“Oh … hey, Bryn.  Pounding in some stakes.  Wanna come join me?”  He smiled invitingly.

I grimaced.  “No thanks.”  I looked up at Fohi who was standing across from me, handing things down to Paci as he asked for them.

“Pretty tight, eh?” he asked.

“If tight means dangerous-looking, then yeah.  Tight.”

He puffed out his chest with pride.  “Anyone thinking about showing up here unannounced is going to get a little surprise … a nasty one.”

I nodded, not sure what to think about this vicious trap.  Anyone falling in would instantly become a shish-kabob.

“Help me out.  I’m done here,” said Paci, holding up his hand to Fohi.

Fohi grabbed it and pulled, but a piece of the ground underneath him near the edge of the hole crumbled, causing him to lose his footing.

He let go of Paci and his arms flailed out to the sides as he fell forward,  his feet now on solid ground, but his body angling down towards the pit and moving almost in slow motion.

Paci let go and fell back slightly, able to catch himself on the inner wall of the pit.

Fohi, however, had nowhere to go but straight down horizontally.  And down he was going, his entire torso headed for about ten sharpened stakes at the bottom of the pit.

I did the only thing I could think to do, not stopping to consider the possible outcomes.  I leaned over the pit and connected my hands to the top of Fohi’s shoulders, stopping his descent into the hole.

Unfortunately, now we were both leaning over it, and only the triangle made by our feet on the crumbling edges and our connection at his shoulders over the top of the pit were keeping both of us from being skewered below.

“Ahh, Bryn!” Fohi yelled in a high voice. “What are you doing?!”

“Holy, shit, Bryn!” yelled Paci, backing up against the wall as tightly as he could.  “What the hell?!”  He reached his hands up, but he couldn’t touch either of us.

“Get someone!” I grunted out.  “Pull back on both of us … at the same time.”  I could feel my feet slipping.

“Hurry up!” yelled Fohi, his voice two octaves higher. 
“Ahhhhhhh!”
  He was yelling and gripping onto my wrists with his hands.  His body was shaking with the stress of staying nearly horizontal over the hole.  My abs and back muscles were burning from the effort of not collapsing.

Hands grabbed my waist from behind. 
“Wait!”
I yelled.  “Fohi needs to get pulled back at the same time or he’s gonna fall in!”  His rescuer wasn’t in position yet.  We waited the few precious seconds for him to get there; it was Yokci and he looked majorly stressed at his responsibility.  I watched as he positioned his feet on either side of Fohi.

I heard Rob’s voice behind me.  “On three!  Ready?  One … two …
three!” 
I was yanked back forcibly, but the ground under my feet started caving in, so Rob was only able to keep me from landing horizontally over the stakes.  I fell into the hole, my right leg scraping down the side of one of the sharpened sticks, getting sliced open in the process.  I hit bottom but kept my hands up near the top of the hole.  Rob grabbed onto them and kept me from falling over sideways onto a spike.

“Holy
fuck!
” I yelled, panting now over the pain in my leg.  My wound was being filled with dirty swamp water and bleeding into the pit.

“Get her out!” yelled Paci, and seconds later several hands grabbed me by the wrists and under the armpits, heaving me upwards.  Paci turned around and scrambled out on his own, using one of the stakes to push himself up with.  He crawled over to me on hands and knees, staring open-mouthed at my leg.

I looked down at it with trepidation, expecting to see it filleted open, but it wasn’t bleeding as heavily as I thought it would be.  I couldn’t see much in the way of exposed leg innards, so I was happily relieved, but that didn’t stop the incredible pain from nearly overwhelming my brain.  I started moaning and rocking a little, trying to make it go away.

Paci jumped to his feet, sweeping me up into his arms and taking off in a limping cantor.  “I’m bringing her to the clinic!” he yelled over his shoulder.

I held on tightly, worried he was going to drop me.  My leg was burning, and I could see the blood dripping over the sides and onto his hand.  I didn’t want to think about how my caregivers were going to get this cut clean.  The wound was already filled with gunk that was now getting rubbed in, but I could hardly complain since I was being practically airlifted to the clinic, Paci was running so fast.  It never ceased to amaze me how well the kids who lived here could navigate the uneven ground, especially Paci who still had an injured leg.  I was constantly tripping whenever I walked, but Paci made it all the way to the clinic without missing a step.  It was like he had invisible wings flying us along.

LaShay met us at the entrance.  “What the heck happened to you this time?” she asked, not unkindly.  She pointed to an available spot with her half-limb.  “Put her down over there.”  She reached out and took my hand as Paci walked over.  “You okay, baby?”

“I’ve been better,” I said, smiling at her weakly.  For some reason she instantly made me feel a little less scared about the whole thing, calling me
baby
.

“What about you?” she asked Paci, giving him a once-over.  “You hurt too?”

“No, I’m fine.  It’s just her.”

“Accident prone?”

“No …
heck
no, she’s not accident prone.  It’s Fohi.”

“Fohi did this?” She frowned, looking like she was ready to have a few words with him personally.

“No, he didn’t,” I said, waving Paci away.  “Go see if he’s okay.  I’m fine here.  Thanks for the lift.”

Paci reached over and took my hand, squeezing it gently.  “You sure?  I can hang for a little while.”

LaShay came over with a bucket and a cloth, along with a bottle of something that looked like alcohol.  The idea of something like that hitting my long open wound made me instantly feel sick.

“Uh, maybe you can stay.  Just for a minute,” I said, changing my mind.

“Yeah, no problem.”  Paci let go of my hand for a minute to get a stool, but then sat down near my head and grabbed it again.  “I’ll stay as long as you need me to.”

“Aww, ain’t that sweet,” said LaShay, looking at us for a moment before getting all serious again.  “Jus’ stay outta my way.  This thing looks nasty.  I’m gonna have to scrub.”

“Scrub?” I said, fear in my voice, as she leaned over and poured some of the liquid onto my wound.  I was prepared to scream, but it obviously wasn’t alcohol.  It just hurt a little.  “Phew.  That wasn’t bad.”

“Hold on to that thought,” said LaShay, right before she started scrubbing my leg and then pouring more of the liquid on.

I squeezed Paci’s hand hard.  My leg was stinging and burning like it was on fire.  “Holy
shit
, LaShay, what are you
doing
to me?”

“Keeping you from dyin’ from a cut, that’s what.  You want some leather to bite?”

I shook my head, gritting my teeth together and channeling my pain into my tightly-fisted hand.  “No.  Just get it over with,” I grunted out.

“Doin’ my best,” she said, scrubbing again.

Coli wandered in and said, “What happened to her?”  She didn’t sound all that concerned.

“She got hurt helping Fohi,” said Paci, staring into my eyes.  His were like liquid pools of chocolate and totally mesmerizing.  It was easier to ignore the pain looking at him this way.

“What’d he do this time?”

Paci didn’t bother answering.  After a few awkward seconds, Coli huffed out an irritated breath and left.

“Mmm-mmm-mmm, that girl. 
Tsk, tsk…”
  LaShay shook her head.  “Girl’s got a serious chip on her shoulder about you, Bryn.  I don’t know what you did to her, but
damn
, you better watch your back.”

Thoughts of Coli intruded on the peaceful feelings that I’d only been able to find by losing myself in Paci’s gaze, so I closed my lids, trying to get a grip on what LaShay was saying.  There was no point in trying to ignore the pain anymore now, anyway.  All I could think about was Coli telling everyone that I was messing around with Paci at the clinic.

“I have no idea what her problem is, to be honest.  She’s hated me since day one.”

“She’s jealous,” said Paci.

“Jealous?  Jealous a-what?  No offense, Bryn, but no one here’s got any kind of glamorous life or anything.  Case in point …,” she said, stopping to gesture at my leg.

“I have no idea what she’s jealous of.  It’s her own twisted mind making crap up,” I said bitterly.

“She’s jealous that Bryn got the attention of a lot of guys here.  Everyone kind of hates Coli, and even Trip likes Bryn.  He’s the hardest one to win over, so when Bryn did it her first day, that probably made Coli feel … I don’t know.  Left out, maybe.  Trip’s never liked her, even though they’re cousins.”

“Well, maybe if she didn’t walk around like she has a bee up her butt all the time, it’d be easier to like her,” offered LaShay.

“Seriously,” I agreed.

“Several people have mentioned it to her, believe me.  But all it does is make her worse,” said Paci.

“Girl’s got mental problems,” said LaShay.  “I’ve seen that before, you know.  Girl I knew … she was all bi-polar an’ shit.  All the time she was like perfect and everything was just
so
in her life, you know?  And then one day, she comes to school a
wreck
.  I mean her hair was
all
tore up, her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, lookin’ like she slept in ‘em all night.  She was talkin’ crazy too, like accusin’ me of hiding my glasses when I was wearin’ contacts instead.  It was wild, the way she was bein’ all aggressive towards me and other girls.  I was ready to slap that bitch, but something made me not do it.  She reminded me of a wounded animal or something - upset but only because she was hurtin’.  And it didn’t seem right to slap a girl who was havin’ a hard time about something and confused about it at the same time.”

“What happened?” I asked, almost able to ignore the scrubbing LaShay was back to doing quite rigorously.

“The principal called in the school cop, and they took her to the hospital, eventually.  She was there for a couple weeks, got some medicine, and came back to school like nothin’ ever happened.  She was back to bein’ all controlled again, only now she had a smokin’ habit.  Smoked like two packs a day in the smokin’ area.  Saw her there all the time, hangin’ out with a different crowd than she used to.  She lost all her old friends.”