Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

said.
    “Did you bring something to muzzle him?” asked Kowi.
    Peter pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. It was pink. “Yep.”
    “Where’d you get that?” I asked, trying not to laugh.
    “Coli. She gave it to me right before we left.”
    I shook my head in wonder. I didn’t take her for a girl who wore pink. But then again, I hadn’t known her before when she was a girl who walked the halls of a high school, putting books in a locker and wondering who was going to ask her to prom.
    Fohi and Rob returned, both of them wheeling bikes next to them. They were the ones Bodo and Peter had ridden to get here.
    “Hey! That’s my bike!” said Peter. I couldn’t tell if he was pleasantly surprised or mad they were using them without permission.
    “Yeah. We needed ‘em,” said Fohi. “We’ll see you guys in a few.” They jumped onto their seats and took off.
    “Where are they going?” I asked, completely mystified.
    “Getting our ride,” said Trip, not even looking at me.
    “Are we gonna walk? Cuz dat’s a long way,” said Bodo, coming up to stand next to me.
    “No. We have a truck. We keep it hidden and only use it in emergencies,” said Kowi.
    About twenty minutes later, as the rain was drizzling down, a huge, black SUV pulled into the area surrounding the shack. It had an extended back end and could easily hold all of us.
    “With the extra kids I hope we can save at the house, it’ll be a tight squeeze, but I think it’s do-able,” said Kowi.
    “Hell, yeah,” I said, thrilled with the idea of not having to walk all the way there and back. I had been imagining the tremendous amount of luck we’d need to get in and out undetected, especially with injured kids on our hands. The fewer people who knew there were kids living out here, the better.
    The passenger door flew open and Fohi stood on the running board. “Come on, y’all, this ship is heading out!” He disappeared inside again before any of us had taken a single step.
    “I guess Fohi’s riding shotgun,” I said, moving towards the truck.
    “That’s what he thinks,” said Trip, standing in front of the vehicle’s grill, sticking his thumb out and jerking it to the side.
    I could see Fohi’s excited look fizzle to be replaced with a mutinous frown. But then all we could see was his backside as he climbed into the second row of seats, diving in head first, his legs hitting Rob in the side of the head. I laughed, watching Rob turn around and punch him several times. The truck rocked back and forth with their antics.
    We all climbed in, Rob driving with Trip and Kowi in the front seat, three across. Trip sat on the cupholders in the center. He looked comical, hunched over to fit his frame in under the too-low roof.
    Once we were all in, Rob pulled out, making his way onto the main road and then turning right to head east. We drove for several minutes in silence, everyone lost in thought.
    “Where are we going to park this bad boy?” I asked no one in particular, about five minutes later.
    “A few blocks away from the canner place,” said Kowi, looking at a map he’d pulled from the glove compartment. He put it over Trip’s lap and pointed to something. “Right here, Rob. Take that right near the shell shop and then left into this neighborhood area.”
    The place I met Celia for the first time. Her mother’s shell shop business. I hadn’t realized she lived so close to where the canners were hiding out. Man, that is some seriously crappy luck.
    The truck reached what should have been civilization and cruised slowly through the streets. At first it was all businesses, but then after turning near the shop, we saw houses too. It was like a ghost town, not a single person out, and no signs of any living beings anywhere. Every house looked abandoned.
    “This place is freakin’ creepy,” said Fohi from behind me. He’d been relegated to the wayback and was hanging over the back seat, embracing the headrest in front of him.
    “You ain’t kiddin’,” said Rob, turning the wheel slowly as we entered an intersection.
    “We need to park this in a garage,” said Peter. “If we leave it out, it’ll get stolen or destroyed. I know this place looks empty, but there has to be kids here somewhere.”
    He was right. “Are we close?” I asked.
    “Yeah. Search for a house that looks empty with a garage,” said Kowi
    “Right there,” said Bodo. “Dat one. All da glass is broken. No one would liff dare.”
    “What do