Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

moved closer and closer to Bodo.
    I put my hand up to my mouth, speechless, thinking, holy shit, I hope that thing is dead and not poisonous.
    The hawk landed on Bodo’s arm and allowed him to take the snake from her, opening her sharp-looking talons and letting it drop into his hand. He lowered it slowly, letting it hang limply at his side. I tried not to gag when he casually stuck the tail of it in the back of his waistband. He pulled out some more meat from his pocket and fed her, stroking her feathers as she gobbled it down like before.
    I shook my head. I had seen her before, but I was still blown away by her now. She was almost magical. I was reminded of movies I had seen before the world had changed so much, with knights riding around on horses wearing chain metal and cloaks, living in castles and fighting battles against armies of men in kilts. I sighed, imagining Bodo dressed like that. He’d totally fit in.
    “Swoon-worthy,” said Peter. “I have to admit. He goes from goofy to hot just like that.” He snapped his fingers.
    “I know, right?” I looked at the snake hanging down over his backside. “Except for the whole snake in the pants thing. Not so swoon-worthy.”
    “Yeah, right. Gah, that’s disgusting. Why’d you make me look at it?” He turned with Buster in his arms to slap me, but lost his grip when Buster wiggled just at the wrong time.
    “Buster, no!” yelled Peter.
    But Buster had other plans. He took off running, his leash trailing behind him, heading out into the grasses in the distance.
    The hawk took one look at him and shrieked, throwing her wings out at her sides and flapping them frantically.
    Bodo leaned back to get out of their way, hanging on to the leather straps that were wrapped around her ankles, yelling the whole time.
    “Get him, Peter! Schnell! Quickly!”
    Peter took off running daintily through the grass, yelling, “Buster, come back!” He went faster than I would have thought possible, quickly putting distance between us.
    The hawk shrieked again, breaking free of her tresses and taking to the air. I didn’t have to be a hawk expert to see that she had locked in on her target and she was going to go for it. It was Team Hawk against Team Fuzzy Pink Poodle, and I was absolutely sure who was going to win. It was no contest.
    I took off sprinting after Buster. I had no plan in mind, other than to just tackle him and hope my back didn’t get too torn up from those talons. For a brief second I wondered if she would be able to rip out my spine. They looked like knives, even from far away.
    Her shrieks echoed around us. I was closing in on Buster, but not as fast as winged death was. I was just about to give up hope when I saw Buster stop. His head disappeared for a second underground and then a rabbit jumped up out of nowhere, sending Buster out of the hole and into a barking frenzy.
    The hawk swooped down, nearly taking Peter’s head off, causing him to scream like a girl on fire and drop to the ground. The hawk continued on, gliding just over Buster’s back to grab the rabbit and tackle it to the ground.
    Buster came up short, standing just two feet away from the hawk, dropping down into a prone position.
    We all froze in place, watching the imminent tragedy playing out in front of us.
    Buster whined, his butt wiggling with the effort of his tail. He clearly wanted to share the kill with the hawk, but was smart enough to ask permission first.
    Peter gained his feet again and tiptoed over, talking in a quavering, high-pitched voice. “That’s a good boy. Come on, Buster, come with me now. Leave the vicious, poodle-eating pterodactyl alone. Let her eat her fuzzy rabbit. Look! I have some snake for you!”
    Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out a hunk of his dinner.
    The hawk took one look at him and threw her wings out to the sides, opening her beak in a silent scream, no sound coming out.
    “Don’t do dat! Put dat away!” shouted Bodo.
    Peter quickly threw it at the bird in a panic.
    Buster saw it leave Peter’s hand and followed its trajectory over his head, watching it land a couple feet on the other side of the hawk. Buster crouched down even lower and army-crawled around her.
    I couldn’t frigging believe it. That stupid dog was going to try and take that snake meat away from her. “Buster, no!” I growled out, but he ignored me. “Peter! Get him!” I whisper-yelled.
    Peter took a step forward and the hawk shrieked menacingly at him,