Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

saying that some of the things we’re going to see and do will be shocking. You’re going to be asked to hurt or kill other kids, and none of us knows how we’re going to react to that. It’s fight or flight, you know? … Like an instinct you can’t control sometimes.”
    “Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not flying. I’m fighting,” said Fohi, nodding his head firmly.
    I put my hands on my hips. He wasn’t getting it, and it was frustrating. “Fine. So when you walk into a room and you got ten canners sitting down to a dinner of human arms and legs with guns at their sides, you’re going to be ready to crash the party?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And when it’s just you and one of your friends standing there, with three times as many canners pointing guns at you -and you have an escape route-you’re not going to take it?”
    “No.”
    “Well then you’re stupid.” I let it go at that and waited for the outcry. It came about a half second later.
    “What the hell? That’s not stupid! That’s loyalty!” insisted Fohi.
    “You’re saying we should abandon each other?” yelled someone else in the crowd.
    There was a lot of grumbling and people were gesturing angrily. I glanced over at Trip and his eyebrows were raised, but he said nothing. Kowi looked at me questioningly.
    I held up my hands for quiet. Most of them calmed down enough to listen, but Fohi was practically foaming at the mouth with indignation.
    “Let me explain. If you are outnumbered and outgunned, you have to get away to fight another way or another day. Otherwise, you’re just going to be full of bullet holes and dead. You have to be willing to leave someone behind if it means winning the fight. That’s what I’m talking about here. Difficult choices.”
    “That’s bullshit,” said Fohi. “The military never left anyone behind. At least, that was their motto.”
    “We aren’t the military. We’re survivalists who sometimes have to make decisions about tough sacrifices. We’re not going after these guys for revenge or to assert our power over them. We’re going after them because eventually, they’re going to come after us. And those kids they have might need us, but our primary reason for going in there is our own survival. I’m sorry to sound so cold-blooded, but that’s how I see it.”
    “She’s right,” said Trip loudly, taking a step forward, not looking at me.
    Everyone quieted down and listened.
    “Like she said, if you’re outnumbered and outgunned, and you have to choose between escaping and dying, choose escape. We can’t afford to lose any one of you if we can help it.”
    “But what about the brother or sister they leave behind?” asked Fohi, only slightly calmed down.
    Trip shrugged. “Tough luck. Try not to get yourself into that situation and you won’t have to worry about it.”
    “Which is exactly why we’re here right now,” said Kowi. “Let’s get down to business with the planning of this trip.” He looked at me. “Bryn, do you have anything to share that you found in George’s journals?”
    “Yeah. I think so. But we really need Celia to help with this part. She’s the only one who knows what the place looks like.”
    “No. I have this. Celia helped me with it,” said Trip, pulling out a folded up piece of thick paper. It looked like handmade stuff, kind of lumpy and stiff - a little bit like the toilet paper in the outhouse, but bigger.
    “What is it?” I said, moving closer. I found my answer as soon as I drew near. It was a map of the canner compound. “Nice,” I said, nodding my head in appreciation. “This is good stuff.” I pointed to a dark black mark near what looked like a wall. “What’s that?”
    “That’s a door of some sort.”
    “Oh, yeah. She mentioned some kind of door she couldn’t get through.”
    Kowi joined us, looking over Trip’s shoulder.
    “I figured during our recon we’d need to check out and kind of get ready any possible entry and exit points. Like break locks or whatever,” I said.
    Trip walked over to one of the posts that held up the hut, securing the map to it with something he pulled out of his boot. “Come on over here, you guys. Take a look. We need to get some input on the best way to get in here and do our recon.”
    Everyone got up and moved closer. Soon there was a crowd around the map.
    “What’s that?” asked Paci, pointing.
    “That’s some kind of tree she said is climbable.”
    “Where?” asked