Apocalypsis 01 - Kahayatle

a gun right now.   You’re talkin’ crazy.”
    She walked over to Bodo and flicked out the blade from a knife she’d taken out of the pocket of her pants.   I tensed up for second and pushed the gun harder against Jimmy’s head before I realized she was just cutting the zip ties off Bodo’s wrists and ankles.   She grunted with the effort of bending over.
    When she stood up her face was all red.   She blew the straggly pieces of hair off her forehead before she said, “There you go, Bo-do.   Take your jaw breakers and get the hell out.”
    I stood up, thanking her and her brother profusely, still pointing the gun casually at his head.   “Listen, guys, seriously, thank you so much for letting him go.   I’m really sorry to have caused you this trouble.”
    “How’d you get in anyway?” asked Jimmy.  
    I’d come around to face him and saw his suspicion.  
    “Uhhhh, you left the back door unlocked.”   I prayed we’d be long gone before they discovered that little lie.
    “Uh-huh,” he said, squinting at me, obviously not believing a word I’d said.   “I don’t believe I left that door open, actually.   I guess I’ll just have to go back there and check.”
    He tried to turn around to wheel away, but the rebar was still in his spokes.
    “Okay, well, we’ll just be going now.   It was nice meeting you, Sissy … Jimmy.”   I backed up, heading in Bodo’s direction.
    Bodo was standing in front of a jar on the counter, pulling out jawbreakers and stuffing them into his pants pockets.   He looked over his shoulder at Sissy.   “If you see any good people who want to start a new life, you send dem to de Everglades.   Dat’s where we are going.”
    “Yeah, and any bad people?   Tell them we went to Orlando,” I added, grabbing Bodo’s elbow.   “Time to go,” I urged under my breath.
    “But I need to get da candies for you.”
    “Not now,” I said, pulling on him harder.
    Jimmy had reached around and pulled the rebar free and was turning to head back to the kitchen.
    I took off running.   “Bye, Sissy! Good luck with the baby!”
    “Bye, Sissy!” said Bodo, as he ran alongside me.
    We burst through the front door and I yelled as quietly as I could, “Go!   Go!   Go!   before he realizes I broke their door!”
    Peter quickly turned around and headed out of the parking lot, his legs pumping furiously.   I saw the Hello Kitty backpack with Buster’s head coming out of the top, bouncing around on his back.   Buster let out an excited bark when he saw us running.
    I went to jump on the bike but Bodo beat me to it.   “Bodo, get off!” I yelled, panicked that he was going to leave me behind to get shot.
    “Get on da handlebars, quick!”
    I didn’t bother to question his orders.   I jumped on and grabbed the handles just inside the grips, finding a spot on either side of the front forks to rest my sneakers.  
    Bodo started pedaling and the bike slowly pulled away.   The combined weight of him, me, and the trailer was making it hard for him to pick up speed.
    I heard yelling back at the Cracker Barrel, and we weren’t yet out of the parking lot.   “Hurry, Bodo!   Hurry!   Pedal faster!”
    I felt his breath on my neck and realized he was standing up now, grinding out the rotations on the gears as fast as his thigh muscles were capable.   We were at the road when I heard a shot ring out and the voice coming from the store.
    “You broke our dooooor!!   Get back here!!
    Bodo was now laughing while he was pedaling and I just shook my head.   I was using every abdominal muscle I had to hold onto my spot on the top of those handlebars, my heart going too fast and too wild for my brain.   I was seeing auras around the stars above our heads.   How Bodo had the strength to pedal three hundred and fifty pounds of us and laugh at the same time, I’ll never know.   Friggin Germans.
    Within a few seconds we were back under the overpass.   I jumped off the handlebars and got onto the other bike, immediately going to join Peter at the bottom of the exit ramp.
    “Come on!” I shouted as I zoomed past him, Bodo right behind me.
    “I guess we’re leaving now?” asked Peter, pumping hard to catch up to me.
    I didn’t slow down enough to talk until we were about a mile away.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    I WAS PEDALING STEADILY, KEEPING my eyes forward.
    “You’re mad aren’t you?” asked Bodo, coming up next to me.
    “Ya think?” I said sarcastically.  
    “I got