Apocalypsis 01 - Kahayatle

for.
    She leaned the bat up against the wall.   “I know it sounds nuts.   You probably think I’m going to stab you in the back or something, but I’m not.   It’s just that … my mom used to hug me all the time … and she’s been gone for almost a year.   And I miss her terribly.”   The tears fell down her cheeks.   She gritted her teeth together, refusing to sob.   I could see her jaw muscles standing out.   She looked like a proud indian warrior girl.
    I shrugged.   “Why not?   Just don’t stab me, seriously.   I’ll kill you if you do.”
    She half choked, half laughed, holding up her hands.   “Promise.”
    We both took two awkward steps towards each other and just stood there for a moment.   She was shorter than me, her dark hair hanging in greasy clumps around her face.   She had huge brown eyes and wispy eyelashes.   I could see why her mom had hugged her a lot.   Underneath all her angry bravado, she was just a cute kid, scared about what was going to happen to her.
    I grabbed her in a strong hug, feeling her arms come around my waist to settle at my lower back.  
    She was crying now, her shoulders shaking with the effort.  
    I just stood there, fighting off my own tears.   Life was so friggin unfair.   All these kids, left alone to fend for themselves.   Like Bodo said, we weren’t meant to be alone.
    I rubbed her back a few times and then pulled away.   “Listen, we don’t have much, but you’re welcome to join us.”
    She shook her head.   “No thanks.   I’m going to stay here.   With my mom’s things.”
    I looked around, seeing the place from her perspective now, my eyes picking out shell-covered objects and seeing them differently.   I could picture an older version of this girl, her mom, sitting at a table with her glue gun, taking each small shell and putting it in the exact right position, creating something that someone would buy, making it possible for her to put food on the table for her daughter.   And man, did I feel like an asshole for mocking the glue gunning now.
    I turned back to face her.   “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us.   Somewhere out there in the swamp.”
    “It’s a big place you know,” she said, wiping her nose off with the back of her hand.
    “Yeah.   I keep hearing that.   Well, we’ll leave you a sign.”
    “What kind of sign?”
    “I don’t know.   You’ll recognize it when you see it.”   I was pulling stuff out of my butt now, but whatever.   I knew me and my two boys would figure something out.
    As I left, she followed me out, pressing a bag of shells in my hand when I got to the door.
    “What’s this for?”  
    “A gift.   From me and my moms.”
    I gave her another quick hug and then let her go.   “What’s your name?”
    “Celia.”
    “Mine’s Bryn.   Look me up sometime, if you’re ever out in the swamps.”
    She smiled.   “I might do that someday.   After I sell all this stuff,” she said, gesturing around the room.
    I laughed.   “Good luck with that.”
    The guys were sitting on their bikes, just watching me with questions in their eyes.   I shook my head slightly, telling them silently not to ask until we were gone.   I got on my bike and waved goodbye one more time before pedaling away, leading my tribe back to the highway.  
    We had brochures to study and plans to make, and I didn’t want to do it here in a town where lunatics who ate people or lonely girls with bats might be waiting to jump us.
    ***
    We sat behind a copse of trees near the roadway with the brochures in a pile on the tarp.   Buster had decided he liked the feel of shiny paper on his underparts, so did everything he could to spread out on them with his legs poking out behind him, giving him maximum belly exposure to their cool surfaces.
    “Ew, Buster, get your wiener off the maps,” I said, nudging him to the side.
    He just leaned over quickly and licked me in hyperdrive speed every time I tried to touch him.
    “He’s trying to cool himself off,” said Peter, smiling and reaching over to play with Buster’s ears.   That was one of Buster’s favorite things.   His eyes went half-closed as he floated off into doggy heaven.   In Buster’s world, there wasn’t anything much better than an ear tickle and a cool belly.
    “I think we shouldt check dis place out,” said Bodo, looking at the booklet that Celia had brought out from her office.
    “What is it?   She said it had