Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

voice.
    Paci looked back at me, smiling. “Yeah. Gators like struggling animals, stuck in the muck. Easy dinner.”
    “Oh, crap,” I said pretty much to myself. No one but Peter could hear me, now that they were all out there trying to pull the two roosters apart. Neither of them seemed interested in ending the disagreement, though. Bodo made one last attempt to go after Trip, but they were both so tired, they ended up looking like they were just hugging, holding each other up in the water.
    “Idiots,” I said, shaking my head.
    “They don’t fight as well as you,” said Peter, standing at my elbow.
    “I know. All I can think about is how much work I have to get done before we can go get those kids out of there.”
    “I’ll double your schedule,” said Peter, walking away and mumbling to himself as he went about the business of straightening our pantry once again.
    The guys managed to bring Bodo and Trip up out of the water and left them standing on the roots outside our huts. Kowi stood between them, making sure they didn’t start again.
    “I don’t know what got you two going, but this has to stop. We don’t have enough medical supplies to treat people for non-essential injuries. And getting into a fist-fight is one of those non-essential situations. It’d be pretty stupid to die from a cut you got from a friend’s fist, don’t you think?” He looked from Bodo to Trip, but neither of them looked ashamed.
    “Fine. Whatever. I have a feeling this would all be easily solved if Bryn would just be up front about who she wants to be with, but whatever. Let’s move on and talk about the plans for going after those canners.”
    My mouth dropped open. I wanted to blurt out a retort, but nothing good was coming to mind. How had this suddenly become about me picking a boyfriend?
    “I could give a crap who she wants to be with,” said Trip, “and I’m also not interested in her plans to attack those canners. That’s what this fight is all about.”
    “You lie,” said Bodo. “I see how you look at her. And you are rude. You should not be rude to da girl who is helping all your family like dis.”
    “Guys, get over it. Bryn will do whatever she wants. I’m here to support her efforts, and so are you, Trip. So cut the crap.”
    “I’m not supporting a war.”
    “She’s not talking about a war,” Kowi said, looking at me for confirmation.
    “No, I’m not,” I agreed. “I just want to get those kids out of there and take care of that group of canners, that’s all. They’ve shown that they’re stealing kids very, very close to the swamp. Celia lived in that shell shop that was, what? A mile or two from here? They’re practically hunting in your backyard, Trip.”
    “That ain’t cool,” said Jeremy. “Seriously, Trip. She’s right.”
    “She says she can change the regular training for preparation training, starting right away,” said Kowi, looking to me for comfirmation.
    I nodded, looking to see Trip’s reaction.
    Trip frowned, wiping his dripping face off with his wet hand, putting the back of it up to the cut on his cheek that had been re-opened in the fight. It was bleeding freely down his face and onto his chest.
    Peter came over with a small piece of cloth and tiptoed over to Trip, tentatively reaching up to dab his face with it. Trip tried to scowl him away, but Peter persisted, so he finally let him wipe some of the blood away before waving him off.
    I smiled at Peter’s pleased look. He’d been permitted to touch His Awesomeness. Peter gave me a look that said we’d be talking about this later.
    Trip spoke. “I guess I’m the only one around here who sees the problem with mixing in the white man’s world again. Seems I’m the only one who remembers our history.”
    Kowi sighed. “No, you’re not. We all remember. We were all taught the same stuff. We’re just trying to do the right thing. And to me, it’s not the right thing to let kids murder other kids when we could do something to stop it.”
    “But it’s not just here, it’s everywhere! What are you going to do? Build an army? Go take over the country that used to be the United States of America? I know! We can make it the United States of Kowi. How does that sound?”
    “Shut up, you dick. I’m not talking about an army or conquering places or any of that crap. I’m talking about protecting our home and our people. Period. Get over your friggin ego, man. It’s getting really annoying having to work