Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

think he’s still alive?”
    “Yes. I do. And even if he wasn’t, that doesn’t mean I’m going to just jump into something with the next guy who comes along.”
    Paci treaded water for a few seconds saying nothing. His expression went stone cold. “Oh,” he said eventually. “I get it. It’s cool.” He starting swimming away.
    “Paci, stop, would you please?” I didn’t want him swimming off in a huff.
    “What?”
    “Seriously, come back so we can talk for just a second.”
    He made a few breast strokes in my direction, stopping about five feet away. “Talk. I’m listening.”
    “I thought we were friends.”
    “We are,” he said casually.
    “So why are you being like this? You know how I feel.”
    “Not really. You’re not the most open person in the world, Bryn. I just thought … eh!” He splashed off to the side. “Never mind what I thought. It was stupid. Forget I said or did anything after jumping in the water, ‘kay?”
    “That would be kind of difficult, actually.”
    “Well, yeah. I am pretty handsome, that’s true. I can see how you wouldn’t want to forget and all.”
    I laughed. “And humble.”
    “Yeah, and humble.” He went underwater to stick his legs up in the air before coming up again. “So are we good? Because this conversation is getting lame.”
    “We’re good. Are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to the last week, then?” I changed the subject since it seemed like a conversation about catching canners was safer ground for us right now.
    “Yep. Tons of stuff, actually.” He opened his mouth to tell me more but was interrupted by someone shouting from the edge of the ring of huts.
    “Who’s out there? Can we come in?” It was Fohi.
    “Yeah, man!” yelled Paci. “Come on in! It’s a swamp party!”
    “Whooo hooo!” yelled Fohi and a few others before I heard several splashes all around me. A few people were on the walkway, shucking their clothes. Others didn’t bother, jumping in even with their shoes on.
    “Who’s that?” asked Fohi, surfacing next to me. “Bryn? Is that you?”
    “Yeah, it’s me.”
    “And Paci too?” Fohi looked from Paci to me, back and forth a couple times. I cringed when his next words came out. “Well, well, well. Paci and Bryn taking a little private skinny-dip together.”
    “Shut up, dick. She’s not skinny dipping and it’s not like that,” said Paci, splashing him in the face.
    Fohi dove for Paci and they wrestled in the water. I took the opportunity to swim away, climbing back up onto the walkway near my clothes. I was planning on getting dressed but Winky’s voice stopped me.
    “Where are you going? We just got here.” She came up by my feet in the water.
    “I’m cooled off. Thought I’d go to bed.”
    “Don’t let Fohi scare you away. Nobody listens to him anyway.”
    “I don’t need to give Coli any more reason to be calling me … names.”
    “Excuse my French, but fuck Coli. Nobody listens to her either. She and Fohi should hook up.”
    “Hey!” yelled Fohi, still working on drowning Paci. “I heard that!”
    “Good!” yelled Winky before turning back to me. “Come on. Get in the water. We’ll go to the other side and gossip with the girls.”
    I hadn’t gossiped with any girls in I couldn’t remember how long, and for once it sounded like fun, so I jumped back in the water and swam with Winky over to her group of friends. Most of them I recognized from the training sessions, but LaShay was here too, along with another girl from the canner house.
    “Hey,” I said, pinching the water out of my nose.
    “Hey, Bryn,” said LaShay, her voice drowning out the others who were welcoming me. “This your first time here, too?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You as nervous as I am about them gators comin’ in here for a midnight snack?”
    I laughed. “Hell, yes.”
    “Okay, good. I decided I’m gonna throw one a these girls in front, if one-a-them monsters gets in here, since they seem so confident it ain’t gonna happen.”
    “I’ll help,” I said.
    “Good.” She flopped around in the water for a second and then said, “Shit. I was jus’ gonna give you some skin but I ain’t figured out how to swim right yet.”
    Everyone stopped talking and waited to hear what she was going to say next. It was painfully awkward, all of us knowing she couldn’t swim well because canners had taken her arm.
    “Ya’ll ain’t gonna start acting all weird an’ shit cause I got half an arm,