Apocalypsis 01 - Kahayatle

kicker.”
    Kowi smiled.   “It means bear.   Gentle unless its family is threatened.   Not afraid of its own power.   Deadly when annoyed.”
    I smiled.   “Yeah.   That about sums me up, I guess.”   I didn’t mind being compared to a bear.   At least not until turtle-boy spoke up.
    “Smell bad, too.”
    Peter giggled.  
    “Hey, watch it, turtle-boy.   I haven’t had access to a shower in months.   It’s not my fault the friggin world came to an end.”
    “So what’d da deal, guys?” asked Bodo.   “Are you going to kill us and eat us or what?  
    Both of the newcomers frowned.   “The Miccosukee do not eat human flesh,” said Kowi.
    “Yeah, that’s just disgusting,” added Yokci.   “Besides, we don’t need to.   Kahayatle provides everything we need.”
    “That’s why we’re here,” said Peter enthusiastically.   “We don’t want to eat anyone or do anything to hurt people, either.   We just want to … eat snakes or whatever and leave you alone.   Just help us find a place to stay and you’ll never hear from us again, we promise.”  
    I smiled watching him.   He looked so earnest, his eyes all shiny as he bounced on his toes.   He was like our little diplomat.  
    “We’ll help you,” said Kowi.  
    Yokci folded his arms, not looking all that thrilled with the idea.
    “But not for nothing,” Kowi continued.
    “We have nothing to give,” I said angrily.   “We have barely enough food to last a week for the three of us.”
    “You have more than that.”
    Another indian came walking up, this one a girl, small and wiry.   She didn’t have any tattoos and was fully clothed, her long black hair hanging in a braid down her back.   “They have military-grade grenades,” she said.   “And bikes with a trailer.   They took whatever was in the Coleman’s shack.”
    “They were dead,” said Peter.   “We didn’t steal anything, and we didn’t kill them either.”  
    “You better not take any of dat stuff,” warned Bodo.   “We made a lot of work to get dat here.”
    Kowi looked at us impassively.   “We’re not interested in your things, although the grenades … we may take those.   But no, you have something more valuable to us than these things.   If you agree to share it, we will agree to let you live on our land.”
    “What’s that?” I asked, ready for anything.
    “Fighting skills.   We need you to teach us.”
    ***
    I eyed him warily.   “You’re going to give us a place to live, on your land, in exchange for krav maga training?”
    “Yes.   We have weapons that can be used at a distance, but as you can see, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, our skills are lacking.”   He frowned at Yokci who stared at the ground in shame.
    I looked at Peter and Bodo.   “What do you guys think?”
    “I say, hell yes,” agreed Bodo without hesitation.   “Dey are a tribe, we are a tribe.   Let’s make an accord.”
    “You sound like we’re in the model U.N. at school,” I said.  
    “Yeah, it’s kind of like dat, actually.   We are two nations, only very small oness.   We each have something to share dat the udder one needs.   Togedder we are stronger.”   Bodo’s accent was getting heavier with his enthusiasm.
    “Well, I feel kind of bad that Bryn’s the only one who could contribute to this … peace accord,” said Peter.
    “There will be other things I’m sure you can help with,” said Kowi.   “We may be separate people, but we don’t believe in living in isolation.   That was the case when the first settlers came to the United States and it’s the case now.   Times have changed a lot of things, but not our basic nature.”
    “So does that mean you still scalp people who piss you off?” I said.
    “I suggest you not try to find out,” said Kowi without missing a beat.
    I smiled.   I was talking to a fellow badass and it was amazing to think my boys and I might have what was left of the Miccosukee nation watching our backs.   It made the prospect of meeting up with canners almost something to look forward to.   I held out my hand.
    “You’ve got yourself a deal … on one more condition.”
    He paused before taking my hand.   “What?”
    “We keep the grenades, with our promise that we won’t use them on you.”
    “You keep half, we get half,” he countered.
    I looked at the guys and they both nodded.  
    “Fine.”  
    We shook hands, and as soon as they went up and down together one