Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

you think?” Rob asked Kowi, glancing to his right and slowing down, waiting for a response before he committed.
    “Looks good. Back in.”
    We all waited breathlessly as Rob pulled up a little past the driveway and then reversed in. I was halfway expecting a bullet to come flying into the car.
    As if reading my mind, Peter ducked down, putting Buster on the floor so he wouldn’t squish him.
    “What are you doing?” asked Fohi, sounding disgusted. “You’d better not be barfing, dude. I don’t wanna ride around in no barf mobile.”
    “I’m not vomiting, you idiot. I’m trying to keep from getting my head blown off by some kid who might be hiding in there with a gun.”
    “Ain’t gonna happen in this thing,” said Fohi cheerfully. “This is a genuine VIP car. Bulletproof glass.”
    “No freakin’ way,” I said, looking at the side windows, trying to detect their strength somehow with my stare.
    “Yeah. We had a few of them on the reservation for special guest visits. Paid for by the white man’s gambling money.” Fohi was obviously proud of his tribe’s accomplishment.
    And I had to admit, while I might have looked at it as an unnecessary extravagance two years ago, today I was blessing the forethought of his tribal leaders. “What about the tires?”
    “Yep. Can’t pop ‘em.”
    “Well, don’t go nuts, Fohi. They can withstand some stuff, but not a bazooka or anything.”
    The car jolted to a stop and Rob put it in park. It was backed up all the way to the garage door. He turned around and looked at us in the back seat. “Fohi, go open it.”
    “Oh hell no. I ain’t gonna be the dumbass that gets out of the car first and gets shot. You go.”
    “I’m the driver. You’re in the wayback. Go.”
    “I’m the driver, my ass,” growled Fohi, jumping from the back, halfway to the front to grab Rob’s shoulder.
    I didn’t know what he had planned to do, but it was an utter failure. Fohi ended up head first down by Peter’s feet. Buster took advantage of the situation and lick-attacked his face.
    “Oh, gah! Get this friggin dog off me! His breath smells like fish! Sick!”
    Rob reached over and pushed Fohi down farther. “What’s a matter, little bee? Can’t get up? Rather make out with the dog?”
    “Fuck you, Rob, you knob!”
    Rob kept pushing Fohi’s struggling form, leaning back away from the mostly helplessly flailing arms that occasionally made contact with his face. “Let us know when you’re done french kissing Buster.”
    Fohi gave himself a mighty shove and balanced his stomach on the back of my seat. He was knocking everyone around him, including the three other people in the wayback with him.
    “Cut it out, Fohi!” yelled one of them.
    “Fohi, what the hell is your problem?!”
    “Fohi!” yelled Kowi, “Get the hell out of the truck and open the goddamn garage door!”
    The car got totally silent, except for the sounds of Fohi’s struggles to right himself and his heavy breathing.
    “Fine,” he said, when he was righted again. “But if I get shot, it’s on your shoulders. And for your information, I bleed more than a normal person. And I don’t deal with pain well either; so if I get shot and don’t die, I’m going to complain a lot.”
    “I accept. Now get out.”
    I should have offered to go with him, but at this point, it would have felt like defying Kowi in a way, and I didn’t want to be the one to do that. Apparently neither did anyone else, because Fohi slipped out of the back alone. The tailgate was like a giant swinging door. He opened it enough to get his small body through and closed it quietly behind him. Rob moved quickly to lock it after him with the automatic button.
    We watched in tense silence as Fohi snuck over to the garage door and tried to turn the handle on it. It didn’t budge. He hunched over and crept around to Kowi’s window.
    Kowi rolled it down a few inches. “What?”
    “It’s locked.”
    Several people giggled.
    Kowi sighed heavily. “Just go inside and unlock it, Fohi.”
    Fohi got a panicked expression on his face and his voice came out a couple notches higher than normal as he whined, “But what if someone’s in there?”
    “Then you’d better kick their asses,” said Kowi, before rolling up the window.
    I leaned over and rolled the window down that was next to Peter. “Fohi!” I whisper yelled as he passed by.
    He stopped and turned, mouthing, “ What?” at me.
    “Take this.” I reached into my bag