Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

four people there, all of them looking like they’d just gotten into a fight. It was the blood and the ripped clothes that initially threw me off, making it difficult to identify them; but once we were within twenty feet of the gate, the images hit me like a ton of bricks.
    “Rob!” I yelled, throwing down my shield and helmet, sprinting to the gate.
    “Bryn!” yelled Ronald, “what are you doing?!”
    Rob was holding Fohi up on one side, and another big guy was on Fohi’s other side.
    “Oh my god, Yokci! What are you guys doing here?” I yelled, desperately trying to find the right key to open the gate. My hands were shaking and they kept slipping away.
    Jamal came up beside me and took them from my hands. “Let me do this.” He looked through the keys to find the right one.
    “I’m sorry,” said Ronald, “I didn’t even recognize you guys at all.”
    “Yeah,” said Rob. “We’ve run into some trouble.”
    “But … but … Yokci’s here too,” I said, not understanding. “How come he’s here?”
    “We’ll explain everything when we get in. Fohi’s in bad shape. I hope you have some medical supplies in there.”
    Fohi’s head was hanging down and his hand was resting lightly on his stomach.
    “Hey, Fohi,” I said gently, coming up to the gate and putting my hands on it, looking through the links. “What happened to you?”
    He lifted his head and tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. His teeth were bloody. “Got kicked a few times. Stabbed twice. Rough day at work,” he said, trying to joke about it. He started coughing and some blood came to his lips. “Sorry about that,” he said wiping it away with the back of his hand.
    Rob gave me a look that meant nothing good.
    I heard the lock clicking and moved back so we could open the gate and let them in.
    “Is anyone else coming?” I asked.
    “I hope so,” said Rob. “We couldn’t wait around to see what was going on.”
    Ronald and I ushered them into the lobby, the rest of our friends running out the front door to help. Jamal locked the gate behind us.
    Fohi was laid out on the ground near Jenny, and Winky and Peter got to work making him comfortable. I pulled Rob and Yokci over to the side, out of their way, and Bodo, the twins, and Gretchen and Bianca joined us.
    “So what the hell happened? Where’d you guys get jumped?” I asked.
    “Just outside Kahayatle. Near the canoe rental place,” said Rob.
    “You were there, too?” I asked Yokci.
    “Yeah. I was helping them get their stuff together.”
    “Were you going to come here, though?”
    He shrugged. “Probably eventually. This just sped up the process.”
    “Who was it?” asked Gretchen. “Someone you know?”
    “Canners,” said Rob. “Guys who got away when we came to their place, I think. Plus some of their new friends.”
    “So they tracked us back there,” I said, thinking out loud and feeling guilty as hell.
    “Dey already knew about da kids in da swamp. Kiersten told me all about it. She said your days were numbered. Dat’s a funny expression. I alwayss pictured a calendar with da days crossed off. It’s spooky, really.”
    “Tell me about it,” said Rob. “We were ready to come meet you here after talking to Kowi and Trip, and bam , there they were.”
    “Who else was hurt?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.
    “Lots of kids. Several of them were killed. Those assholes had serious guns and lots of bullets. Several of our tribe got away and went off to the ranches where we have the livestock. We can’t afford to let them get to that stuff, otherwise life will become even more difficult. I’m not sure how we’d come back from that.”
    “They need to get here,” I said. “We can protect people here.”
    “Well, that’s good news,” said Yokci, “because here is where everyone’s coming.”
    “What? Are you serious?” I asked.
    “Yeah. Apparently, Trip had a change of heart for some reason. I guess he missed you guys or something. He told us to tell you that you could come back anytime, but that if you didn’t, he and Kowi would send supplies. And he also told everyone that anyone who wanted to come join you could.”
    “Yeah, and the talk around the swamp was, a lot of people were interested.”
    “And now that the swamp’s been infested by something worse than gators…” said Yokci, leaving his statement unfinished.
    “Guess we’d better figure out how to feed these people, and quick,” said