Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

want.”
    My heart felt like it was breaking into several pieces. I was so confused I didn’t know what to do or say.
    “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” mocked Coli from behind Kowi.
    I nearly jumped out of my skin with my anger. It didn’t matter that Paci had just slapped me down too; he was my friend, and as far as I could see, one of the few people in this miserable swamp who had a real heart and wasn’t afraid to share it. I leapt at her, intending to go right through her boyfriend since he was in my way.
    Kowi grabbed me around the middle and bear-hugged me. I didn’t want to hurt him, but he left me no choice. I jabbed him in his injured gut and then kneed him in the nuts when he let go of me to grab for his abdomen. He slid to the floor of the hut at my feet and I reached over him, grabbing a fistful of Coli’s hair and pulling her to me, putting her in a tight head lock with my other arm. I twisted my body around hard, ignoring the pain in my leg, and presented her head to Paci.
    “Apologize, you miserable bitch!”
    “Screw … you!” yelled Coli from under my arm, grunting as she tried to reach up and get a hold of me.
    I squeezed her neck harder, cutting off her air for a few seconds. “I’ll give you a friggin stroke, Coli. I don’t give a shit if Trip shoots me. I snap your neck on the way down if he does, I promise.” I was trembling with the rage and anger and sadness that had overwhelmed me with this horrible situation. These people who I’d respected and thrown my lot in with had let me down in a monumental way. My home had dissolved into thin air and I’d been totally unprepared for it.
    “Last chance, ho-bag. Apologize to Paci or become a bad memory for everyone here.”
    Kowi moaned from the ground. “Do it, Coli. You were wrong.”
    “What?! She shrieked. “But, Kowi?! …”
    “Do it!” he yelled, lifting his face. It was beet red with pain and anger. “Just fucking do it, Coli.”
    “Fine,” she said, pushing on my waist. “Let me go.”
    I released her and jumped back, ready for her to go after me.
    She threw her long, tangled hair back out of her face and fixed first me and then Paci with a stare so full of hatred, I was almost surprised it hadn’t been physically painful for us.
    “Paci,” she said in a low, eerily controlled voice, “I’m sorry.” She turned to me, her voice going even lower and taking on a slight growl. “Bryn, I’m not sorry. And if you ever touch me like that again, I’ll gut you like a fucking fish.”
    I took a step towards her and matched her, tone for tone, threat for threat. “You come near me with a knife, a gun, or anything else I decide looks like a weapon, and I will end you, you crazy whacknut bitch.”
    We stared at each other for a few tense seconds before Paci intervened. He stepped up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders, gently pulling me back away from her. I never let my eyes break their stare with hers, though. Eventually she turned away and stalked off, leaving the rest of us in her angry wake.
    Fohi came up on my left side, whispering, “Don’t ever turn your back on that viper, Bryn. I’m serious.”
    I nodded, silently thanking him for both his support and his warning. I glanced over at Peter to see him standing off to the side looking stricken, tears coursing down his face. He held Buster high up in his arms, squeezing him like a security blanket, burying his nose in his fur. Even Buster seemed to appreciate how serious this moment was. He wasn’t trying to lick anyone and his eyes looked sad, moving from me to Kowi and back again.
    “Bryn … can we talk about this?” said Kowi.
    “Sure,” I said, crossing my arms so I wouldn’t slap him. “Are you reconsidering your decision?”
    “No. I just want to explain my rationale to you. And to them,” he said, nodding at Jamal and Ronald.
    The twins were standing so close together, they looked connected at the hip. I could picture them almost as little boys, being excluded from a group of kids, left on their own and rejected. It was awful and painful to see. I couldn’t let this happen. They’d be killed.
    “Go ahead. But nothing you say will make it okay in my mind that you’re sending them out.”
    Kowi stood slowly, holding his gut with one hand and resting his other on his thigh. “We can’t afford two more mouths to feed.”
    “Bull. I know you have livestock and crops.”
    “Yes, but they’re enough for us and a few