Apocalypsis 01 - Kahayatle

my brother.”
    I had nothing to say to that.   The guy was obviously a jerk but I couldn’t very well say that to his sister.
    A couple minutes later another guy appeared.   “Trip says you can come in the circle.”
    “Wow.   How big of him,” said Coli sarcastically.
    I grabbed her arm to hold her back, letting Paci take the lead.
    “Do you think maybe you could just try to get along here?”
    She jerked herself free.   “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “Yeah, actually, I do.   I’m talking about getting my friend Peter back without anyone getting hurt; and I’m talking about possibly saving your whole damn tribe.   I’d think that would be a little more important to you than whatever little personal issues you have going on.”
    She walked away from me without saying a word.
    “Don’t bother,” said Bodo softly.   “She’s a lost person.   She can’t hear anything you’re saying.”
    “That’s too bad,” I said.
    “Yeah.”
    We were soon at the edge of the lighted circle, looking at a group of faces, all of them painted red and black.   Even Peter’s.   He was sitting off to the side, his shirt off, looking very dejected.   He was the sorriest excuse for an indian warrior I’d ever seen in my life.
    “Wow.   Look at Peter,” said Bodo.   “He’s got paint on his face.”
    “And his chest.”
    “Dat’s his chest?   Wow.   He’s so white he almost glows in da dark.   I thought it wass a t-shirt.”
    A big guy separated himself from the group in the circle of fire and came over to greet us.   He had long black hair, hanging loose around his shoulders.   It had some beads and pieces of string wrapped around chunks of it.   He’d painted his face and his chest with lines, dots, and primitive-looking birds.   I was pretty sure they were the washable kind of tattoos, but regardless, they looked freaky.   I almost felt afraid.
    “Coli,” he said, briefly looking at her and then swiveling his head slowly to stare at me.
    “Why are you on my land, Paci?   You know you aren’t welcome here.”   He didn’t even bother to look at the guy when he was speaking to him; I was no expert on indian customs, but it sure felt like an insult to me.
    Paci apparently didn’t care.   “Yo, Trip, what’s up, man?   How’s it hangin’?”
    “Coli, why did you bring this mongrel to our place?   You know better than that.”
    “He’s here to represent his brother.   You know … the chief?   My boyfriend?”
    Trip leaned over and spit on the ground.
    “Who’s this?” he said, gesturing at me with his chin, still not breaking eye contact with me.  
    I kept my gaze steady.   I’d seen guys like him before.   He was a class-A egomaniac, totally convinced of his own superiority.   Every one of those guys had a serious weakness and it started with that ego giving them false bravado and an over-inflated sense of their own fighting skill-level.
    “That … is a white girl.”
    “I can see that.   What’s her name and why is she here?”
    I sighed.   “Okay, guys, really … I appreciate the whole ceremonial stuff and everything, but we don’t have a lot of time.   It’s getting late, I haven’t eaten all day, and my friend Peter over there is not looking well.   I’d like to get this wrapped up so we can head out of here in the next half hour, tops.”
    “So you think you’re going to just walk on my land and claim your Peter and walk away?”
    I tried not to laugh at his choice of words but it was impossible.   I put my hand over my mouth to try to hide it, but then gave up and said,   “Did you just say I came to claim my peter?”
    I heard Coli snicker next to me, and then Paci joined in.   Finally, Bodo got in on the game.
    “Oh, dat’s funny.   I just got dat.”   Bodo leaned over and asked me in a loud whisper, “Do you think he knows what dat word means?”  
    “Yes, I know what that word means,” said an angry Trip.   “Stop laughing, you idiots.   It wasn’t that funny.”
    “Yeah.   It kinda was,” admitted Coli.   “You were totally pulling off that badass indian chief thing and then you started talking about peters.”
    Peter’s head came up.   “Bryn?   Is that you?”
    “Yeah, it’s me.   I’ll be right there.”   I turned my attention to Trip.   “Sorry for laughing.   I’m really tired and hungry, like I said.   I’m here to talk to you about a cease fire or a truce or