Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

that point.
    Paci bent over and put Buster on the ground, scratching him behind the ears a couple times before releasing him. “Now go away and bother somebody else,” he said.
    Buster wasted no time in following orders, running over to the nearest girl with food in her hands.
    “Doesn’t anyone ever feed that mutt?” I asked.
    “Three times a day he gets choice bits from the kitchen. I’ve seen him eat every last scrap, too. I can’t believe he’s not twice his size by now,” said Paci.
    “It’s all the nosing around and lick-attacks that he does that keep him so trim.”
    The conversation stalled and I felt stupid, standing there talking about Buster. And I was still worried someone was going to see me talking to Paci and call me a slut over it. “Okay, well … thanks for the rescue. I’ll see you later.” I started to walk away, but Paci held his hand out, catching my arm.
    “Do you mind if I walk with you? I wanted to talk to you … about the defenses we’ve done so far.”
    I hesitated only for a second. “Okay. Sure.” I left the eating area used by the tribe and walked back towards my hut. Paci followed until we were out of everyone’s earshot and then moved to walk next to me. I couldn’t tell if he did that on purpose or not. I felt weird thinking we were sneaking around.
    “So, what’s up?” I asked.
    “Nothing, really. I just wanted to walk with you for a minute. It seems like we’ve never really had a chance to talk. You’re always around other people and I’ve been busy setting up defenses with Jeremy and the other guys.”
    I wanted to ask him a lot of questions, but no way was I going to say, Why do you want to talk to me now when you never did before? It sounded too pitiful and could possibly be misconstrued as flirting. I bent down and picked up a stick, flinging it into the trees. I hated that Coli had caused me to question every single thing I did or said near a guy now.
    “You’re mad. Is it at me?” he asked.
    I glanced at him and then faced forward again. “No. Not at you.”
    “Who then?”
    I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Really, it doesn’t. I’m over it.”
    “Is it Coli?”
    “How’d you know?” I gave him a half-grin.
    “She’s a pain in the ass to everyone. But she saves her worst for you, for some reason. What’d she say to you that day you beat her down?”
    “Ha! I’d say she’s the one who did the beat down, not me.”
    “Well, I saw her limping around the next day, so she didn’t walk away at a hundred percent. What’d she say?”
    I shrugged. I really didn’t want to tell him, but it was eating away at me that she’d called me those names. Maybe Paci would have some insight and could make me understand it from a guy’s perspective. I’d been too embarrassed to tell Peter about it, maybe because a piece of me had been afraid he’d agree with her.
    “She called me a slut.”
    Paci laughed really loud. “She what?” He stopped walking, his laughter disappearing in an instant, as soon as he saw my sad face. “Seriously? She called you a slut?”
    I nodded my head.
    “Oh, man. If she were here right now …”
    “Don’t worry about it. I’m over it.”
    “No, you’re not,” he said, all seriousness now, but the threats against Coli were fading away to reveal concern. “I knew something was bothering you. I knew it.”
    “You watch me too closely.” The minute the words were out of my mouth, I felt like a freak again. He did watch me all the time, but I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t want things to be awkward between us.
    “Does it bother you?”
    “It didn’t before. But ever since Coli said that …” I shrugged. It’s not his fault she’d called me a slut.
    “Don’t let that rag decide how you feel about stuff, Bryn. She’s not worth it, believe me. She does nothing but cause trouble everywhere she goes. Even her own brother was glad to see her leave the Creeks before.”
    “That can’t be true,” I said, caught up in the gossip. Who’s own family wouldn’t want them around in times like these?
    “Serious as a heart attack. She was constantly ragging on him, Trip, everyone over there. She’s nothing but negative, angry, unhappy, bitchiness, twenty-four-seven. Even her own boyfriend can’t stand her half the time.”
    “That’s awful,” I said, now seeing her in a slightly different light. I’d found love and acceptance here with these people, and they weren’t even my own family.