Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

a mental note to be sure Peter had his .357 with him on the day we left.
    “So what time do we go? And what day?” asked Winky.
    “They tend to sleep in until nearly lunchtime in our experience,” said Peter.
    “Yeah. Dey like to party at night,” said Bodo.
    “Did Celia have anything to say about that?” I asked Trip. I couldn’t remember her mentioning it to me.
    “Kind of. She said they drank a lot and had lots of late night … uh … bar-b-cues.” He cleared his throat and looked up at the ceiling. All of us remained quiet for a few seconds before Winky broke the silence.
    “So do we go in the morning then?”
    “Not necessarily,” I said, remembering George’s wisdom. “We have to watch them do their thing, so we need to go for a full day and night. And if we could do it for more than one day, that would be better - to see what their routines are.”
    “Let’s just plan on one day and if we can do more, we will,” said Trip. “We’re not going to be able to plan everything; some things will just have to be done on the fly.”
    “When are we leaving?” asked Winky. “I have to get our stuff ready. Clothes and paint.”
    “Clothes and paint?” I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.
    “Yeah.”
    The others kept talking as if she made complete sense.
    “Coli and some of the others can help you. I’d like to leave in five days,” said Kowi. “We can get a little training done with Bryn first and then go. Plan to have us gone for three days max.”
    “Fine. No problem,” said Winky, moving away from us to go talk to some girls who were standing on the outskirts.
    “What is she talking about? Paint?” All I could picture was the group of us throwing buckets of color on things. Or spraying graffiti - Canners Be Gone!
    “Camouflage and warpaint,” said Trip, looking away from me to address the guys behind him. “You guys get our weapons and any stuff we can use for distractions.”
    “Like what kind of distractions?” asked Paci.
    “Noisy ones. Exploding ones,” I said absently, still struggling with the whole paint idea.
    Paci smiled devilishly. “Well allll riiiight. Now that’s what I’m talking about.” He rubbed his hands together.
    “So we’ve got some teams,” said Kowi. “Peter’s on the distraction team. What about you, Bodo? Where will you be?”
    Bodo shifted from one foot to the other. He glanced nervously at me and then Peter a couple times before answering. “I will be with Peter. Doing da distracting with animals.”
    I squinted my eyes at Bodo, trying to figure out if his choice of words was intentionally vague or if it was just his crazy German thing coming out again. His body language gave nothing away, save for the fact that he appeared to be avoiding my eyes, looking anywhere else but in my direction. I had a feeling he was thinking about Nina, but I didn’t know if that meant he was afraid to leave it behind or what. He can run but he can’t hide. I’ll make him tell me later. I relaxed knowing that he’d be lying next to me in less than eight hours and I’d get my answers.
    “Okay,” said Kowi, “so that’s Peter and Bodo with Paci and whoever he takes on the distraction team - I assume that’ll include at least Fohi, right?”
    Paci nodded.
    “The rest of us will position ourselves to gather info,” said Trip. “And get ready to kick ass if needed.”
    “All of us need to be ready to do that,” I said. “Workouts at eight o’clock tomorrow. Same place as this morning.” I turned my back to go to our hut. “No bystanders this time,” I shouted over my shoulder. I was freaking out enough over the huge obstacles to our success already, and I didn’t need any more distractions to add on top of it.
    Peter and Bodo fell into step next to me on either side, and we trudged back through the trees and roots to our little hut over the swamp.
    ***
    We got back to the hut, Peter going right to his pantry organizing and Bodo, Buster, and I going to the mattresses to hang out. I immediately made it my mission to figure out what Bodo had planned for his part in the canner recon.
    “So, fess up. What are you going to do when we get to that house?”
    Bodo shrugged. “I don’t know. Help Peter. Make sure he doesn’t get eaten.”
    “What else? I saw you not looking at me.”
    “I don’t look at you all da time, Bryn.”
    “No, but certain times you do and you didn’t this certain time.”
    “You’re being like one of