Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

someone from the back. “I can’t tell what you’re talking about.”
    Kowi motioned to Coli and said, “Hand Trip one of those thin branches so he can point to stuff, would ya?”
    She turned and did as he asked, the crowd passing the stick until it reached Trip’s hands.
    “Here,” he said, pointing to the star-shaped thing on the left side of the map. “That’s the tree that Ce used to get out. And that is where they’re keeping the other kids.” He pointed around at the various places he was talking about, tapping the map each time. “This is the front door. It’s on the east side of the building as you can see. It faces the ocean pretty much.”
    “The sound of the ocean could mask some of our noises if it’s close enough,” I said mostly to myself. I looked at Trip. “Where exactly is the ocean in relation to this place?”
    “Right across the street,” said Trip.
    Sweet. I was going to hope for a rough day at sea, then. Noisy waves means we can make a little noise ourselves and maybe get in and out without being heard.
    Kowi took over. “Okay, so our plan is to just watch them for the first day. Get a feel for their comings and goings, their routines. Find and open all the entrances and exits, and figure out the best way to get those kids out of there.”
    “But if we open the doors, they’ll know we’re there. How are we going to surprise them if we announce ourselves ahead of time like that?” asked Winky.
    Peter moved to stand next to me, joining in with his answer. “You have to do it in a non-noticable way if you can. Just make sure the door will open when the time comes. If they notice an unlocked door or whatever, maybe they’ll just assume someone was stupid and left it that way by accident.”
    “Yeah,” agreed Paci. “I mean, who unlocks a door and then doesn’t go in?”
    “Crazy Meeks and Creeks, that’s who,” I said, grinning.
    “You got that right,” said Fohi, his arms crossed over his chest, a proud smile back on his face. I could almost picture him in yellow and black, wings on his back. Bee was the perfect name for him - fuzzy and cute-looking on the outside but able to deliver a painful sting when pissed off. I hoped the canners, if they even saw us at all, would underestimate him like I had.
    “Bryn, I hope George had some ideas about where we should do this stuff from and how, with details. I have no experience in this,” admitted Kowi.
    “He did mention some things. We need to find cover. We need to camouflage ourselves as much as possible. That might mean hiding or it could mean standing out, looking like others who live around the canners. I mean, we don’t know if the streets are deserted or if people are out walking around.”
    “I think we can assume no one walks around there since they’re flesh eaters,” said Coli sarcastically.
    “Maybe,” I shrugged. I didn’t feel comfortable assuming anything at this point.
    “Let’s plan on being camouflaged in the invisible way. Seems like that might be a good default option since we have no idea what their neighborhood is like. We can hide from the canners and any kids in the nearby area who might tip them off about us.”
    I nodded. It sounded as good as plan as any. It was more than a little unsettling to think that local kids might sell us out to the canners for points with them or something. That made our enemy base a lot broader.
    Trip’s map included some other features outside the walls of the canner house.
    “What’s that other stuff around the edges of the map?” I asked.
    Trip pointed to the west side of the house. “This stuff here is a high hedge wall. It’s all overgrown now, so plenty of spots to hide in.”
    “They have dogs, though,” said Coli. “Anyone getting close to that wall is going to make them bark.”
    “I might have an idea for that,” said Peter, his meek voice barely coming through the crowd of people.
    “What?” asked Trip.
    “Buster.”
    My eyes widened. I couldn’t imagine he was suggesting we use Buster as bait, but it sure seemed like that’s what he was saying.
    “You want to feed your little bald dog to their big man-eating guard dogs?” asked Trip, sounding a little angry.
    “No, of course not. Don’t be silly. I’m just saying, he could go to a part of the fence far from where you want to be and bark. Call them away. Then you could get in position and they wouldn’t hear you.”
    Trip nodded slowly. “Could work. But how do you keep