Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

I sat up so they’d stop going down into my ears, and they quickly amassed on my chin and jawline, dripping down to land on my bandages. I didn’t bother to wipe them away. I just sat there hunched over, drowning in my sorrow.
    I heard Coli walking over, her feet crunching the dry leaves I’d kicked over onto the path. For once she wasn’t being totally silent. She put her hand down to help me stand back up on my feet.
    “Come on. Get up.”
    I slapped her hand away. “Get that out of my face.”
    She put her hand back where it was. “Let me help you up. You’re too weak to go alone.”
    “Fuck you, Coli.”
    “No thanks.” Her hand remained in front of my face.
    I’m not sure what exactly made me do it, but I’d had enough of her callousness and jealousy and whatever else it was that made her such a jerk to me all the time. Without thinking, I grabbed her hand with my good one and yanked on it, rocking back and lifting my legs at the same time.
    Her body flew forward, her balance thrown off by my unexpected move and unanticipated strength, allowing my feet to make contact with her chest. I pulled down on her arm and pushed up with my feet, all the while leaning back and using the momentum created by her shifting weight to send her forward. I grunted with the effort of sending her flying over me to land on her back behind my head.
    As she lay there, gasping for breath, I let go of her hand and scrambled around, jumping on her, trying to land on the side of my good arm but not quite making it. I screamed with the pain of my stitches popping, while she yelled in anger at being taken by surprise and thrown into the rotting vegetation.
    She tried to buck me off and was partially successful. I grabbed onto her shirt to pull her with me. We started rolling around in the leaves and dirt, both of us yelling and screaming, grabbing for each other. I landed a solid slap to her chin and she punched me hard in the boob.
    “You bitch!” I yelled.
    “You slut!” she yelled back.
    “I am not a slut!” I screamed, completely confused as to what I’d done to earn that nickname but feeling totally justified in using the ones for her that I’d chosen.
    “Yes, you are,” she grunted out, pushing my face into the dirt from behind.
    I arched my back and elbowed her off, ignoring my freely bleeding arm and grabbing a handful of her hair, slamming her head down into the muck with every word. “I’ve…never…done…anything…slutty…in…my… life,” I insisted. I let go, sure I’d bashed the fight out of her. But I was wrong.
    She lifted herself up fast and slapped me across the face, hard. My head whipped to the side, but I caught myself with my arm behind me before falling back all the way. I lifted up my leg while I was still on my knees and kicked her in the shoulder, sending her back down.
    “You flirt with everyone while you lead Bodo on!” she yelled from the ground.
    I froze, in the middle of stomping her, my foot poised above her abdomen. I slowly lowered it and let it drop beside me, falling ungracefully into a sitting position and moving my arm so it could rest in my lap. My legs drew slowly inward, until I was cross-legged. I couldn’t believe what she had just said. As if I weren’t feeling crappy enough, now I had to face the fact that people, or at least Coli, felt this way about me.
    Coli lay there, doing and saying nothing further. I stood up eventually, swaying on my feet, brushing the swamp garbage off me as best I could, mostly smearing the damp earth and other things into my clothes. I could see bits of leaves and twigs in the sides of my hair. I reached up to pull them out and fling them angrily to the ground. I gave up after less than a minute and stumbled away, leaving her on her back on the swamp floor.
    “Where are you going?” she asked.
    “Go to hell, Coli,” was all I could think to say. What does she care anyway? I’m just a boyfriend-stealing ho-bag. I weaved my way to the outhouse, forcing my feet to take one step and then another, hoping Coli wasn’t following me. I used to find her annoying, but now I downright hated her.
    The whole time I was sitting on the wood bench that served as a toilet seat I was fuming. Who does she think she is? I don’t want to steal her stupid boyfriend. If he’s dumb enough to go out with her, he’s definitely not my type. Besides, I was with Bodo, and he’s way better than any of those other guys. But the things she said about not