Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

one and took a big bite, unable to stop myself and even pretend to be polite about it. “Forry,” I said through the food, shrugging a little.
    “Don’t worry about it,” said Kowi. “I went a little nuts when I saw them too.”
    I swallowed my first bite. “Yeah, well you seem to be able to control yourself.”
    “We’ve already had two each.”
    “Oh. That explains it.” I took another bite, watching them dig into their third helpings. They were like all the other guys I knew from the dojos where I trained - monster eaters . They finished their sandwiches off in about four bites. I took the basket from Kowi and put it on our shelves, keeping it there for when Peter and Bodo eventually showed up again.
    “I think that Peter kid is over with my people. Working on making bread,” said Trip.
    “That’s cool,” I said. That was definitely a good skill to have here. “Where do you guys get your flour? Costco?” My lame attempt at humor was met with zero smiles. “Just kidding, geez.”
    “We make our own,” said Trip.
    “Whaaat? No way.”
    “Yeah, we grow our own crop and harvest it by hand. Just outside this area, actually,” said Kowi. “That’s one thing we’ve always shared between us. Even when we stopped getting along, we kept that a team effort.”
    “Yeah. It’s too important to try and take from each other,” said Trip.
    “Well,” I said, swallowing another bite, “call me crazy, but I think that could be said about everything out here, not just wheat.”
    They both shrugged.
    I gave up trying to be political. “So what’s the deal? You guys want to discuss our plans?”
    “Yeah,” said Trip. “We talked about it before coming. Celia told us everything she told you after you left with Coli.”
    Kowi joined in. “We think we could go in the next few days, just check it out, figure out if it might be possible to sneak in while they sleep and just get the kids out first.”
    “What would be the point in that?” I asked. “First, you alert them that we’re there, then you get them hungry so they go out looking for more food? That means we’ll just have to go back and do it all over again , and have more handicapped kids here in the swamp.”
    They just looked at each other.
    “Okay, I know that sounded bad, about the handicapped kids. What I mean is, every one of them who’s missing a limb is going to need extra care. And out here, that makes them even more vulnerable. So it’s a lot of work and whatever. Not to mention we need to stop crap like that from happening in the first place. I’d prefer it if we kept the injuries to an absolute minimum.”
    “So you have a better plan?” asked Trip.
    “No. But George probably does.”
    “Who the hell is George?” demanded Trip angrily.
    Kowi placed his hand on Trip’s shoulder. “Just relax, man. She’s on the same side as us.” He had a bemused expression on his face.
    I frowned at Trip, not happy with him jumping at me again. “George is my old neighbor. He gave me his war journal and it has a lot of good tips in it. I’ll show you.” I got up and grabbed the book off my mattress, coming back to join them and sitting on the floor near our pantry. I motioned for them to join me.
    I opened up the book to the first page I had turned down. “Let me read this to you, and you can decide if you think it will help us.”
    They sat down across from me and listened attentively.
    Prisoners of war are a problem you should expect to face in a wartime situation. Sometimes, there are special units utilized to identify were they are being kept and to secure their release. But other times, it falls to the shoulders of the originating unit to retrieve their comrades from behind enemy lines. Great care should be taken to ensure that the rescuers don’t become prisoners themselves.
    “Seems like pretty obvious stuff to me,” said Trip, sounding decidedly unimpressed.
    “Let me finish.”
    The first step is to conduct reconnaissance. Determine when your enemy is sleeping and awake; how many people or dogs are used to guard both prisoners and entry points; find out where they store their weapons and food; see who is giving orders and who appears most likely to sway from them. The more disciplined the unit, the more regular their activities should be. You can use their routines to your advantage, striking when they are most vulnerable. In other words, you should strike when they are sleeping or have the least amount of manpower