Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

away to leave a stone mask in its place. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said, before delicately walking away with his head held high, towards the outhouse.
    “Iss he gonna do a stress doodle or something?” asked Bodo, coming up to stand at my side.
    I laughed a little, not sure I understood. “A stress doodle?”
    “Yes. Dat’s when you doodle becausse you are so freaking out.”
    Coli looked up at him. “Do you have any idea how much you sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger sometimes?”
    “Yes. I haff been told dat I sound like him. But I don’t agree. He hass a very strong accent. Not like me.”
    Coli’s expression told me she was wondering whether he was joking or not.
    I patted Bodo on the arm. “Yep. Arnold had quite the accent, unlike our Bodo, who’s practically American-sounding.”
    Bodo nodded his head and Coli rolled her eyes.
    Now that my initial panic had worn off, I remembered Bodo yelling when he woke up. “What was that thing I heard you say when you got up?” I asked him.
    “I don’t know. What was it?”
    “It sounded like vahss zoom something.”
    “Oh, dat’s da Cherman way of saying what da fuck .”
    “Say it again.”
    “Was zum Teufel.”
    I tried it out. “Was zum Tohfel.”
    “Hey, dat’s pretty good.” He smiled big, his eyes practically sparkling. “You only have a little accent. Maybe pretty soon you can speak Cherman with me.”
    I laughed. “Maybe.”
    Coli shook her head. “Whatever. Are you coming to lunch or what?”
    “Yeah. Can we wait for Peter?” I asked.
    “No. I’ll send someone for him in a few minutes. It’s better if you come now so the planning can start.”
    I looked at Bodo and he shrugged, so we both followed an already retreating Coli through the trees to the ceremonial hut, eventually joining all the members of the team and a few extra people several minutes later. I wasn’t sure if the extras were there out of curiosity or because they were serving a purpose, but my mind lost track of trying to figure it out when I saw Coli walk over and put the mangled snake in a basket near the collection of food.
    I leaned over and whispered near Bodo’s ear, “She’s not expecting anyone to eat that thing now , is she?”
    “Maybe,” he said, eyeing her warily. “She’s a little bit crazy, dat one. I bet she bites da heads off snakes for fun.”
    I smiled. “Seriously.” I didn’t think that Coli was crazy crazy; maybe just a little overly angry which made her seem a bit unhinged. I could see her biting off the head of a snake that pissed her off.
    Kowi came over with Trip. “Hey. Thanks for coming. What’s up with the snake?”
    “Yeah. Did Coli bite the head off it, or what?” asked Trip, grinning devilishly.
    I smiled at how he’d read my mind and he winked at me in response. Kowi shoved him, but Trip barely moved with the force of it, his upper body swaying only slightly to the side.
    “No. Buster did,” I explained.
    Kowi nodded his head slowly. “Nice. You brought a hunting poodle with you.”
    I laughed. “He’s no hunting poodle. He probably found the thing dead.”
    “Nah,” said Trip, shaking his head. “It’s a fresh kill.”
    “How do you know?” I asked, doubting him instantly. He was like one of those know-it-alls I just wanted to be wrong sometimes.
    “It’s not stiff, and I didn’t see any signs of decomp. No smell.”
    “Pfft. You missed Buster’s breath.”
    “Your dog had that breath when he came here,” said Trip, moving away to join a group of guys standing off to the side.
    “How would he know what Buster’s breath smells like, anyway?” I said, almost feeling insulted for my poor, pink, spaz-attack of a dog.
    “He plays with Buster all the time. Haven’t you noticed?” asked Kowi.
    “No.” I wasn’t sure I believed him. I couldn’t picture the big, tough Trip playing with little, goofy Buster. No way.
    “Oh, yeah. He feeds Buster crap all the time. You didn’t notice your dog goes right to Trip every time you guys come around?”
    I shook my head. That’s weird. I should have seen that. It made me worry about all the other little things I might have missed that could be important. Who Buster spent his time with didn’t matter to me one bit, but who other people spent time with did. Alliances and vendettas could spell big trouble for us in the future. I resolved to pay closer attention, beginning today at this meeting.
    I watched Coli walk over to a girl and talk to her