Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

away.
    Her body stilled, but I waited five full seconds before letting go, just in case she was faking it. I released my arm tentatively, and when she didn’t jump up to attack again, I shoved her off me, taking Winky’s offered hand to stand. I frowned at her, mad this fight had been brought to my doorstep, but understanding it wasn’t her fault. “What the hell was that all about?” I asked.
    “Bitch attacked me, you saw it,” she said angrily, moving past me to the clinic, rummaging through baskets to find clean cloths and cleaning fluid.
    “Yeah, but why? Why were you even here with her?”
    “She friggin’ followed me.” Winky growled in frustration, nearly dumping the contents of one of the baskets.
    “Why are you mad at me?” I asked. “Did I do something wrong?”
    Winky sighed, stopping to put everything she’d collected down on a small table, looking at me. “Yes and no. I’m mad at you because you’ve caused me to question everything I thought I knew. About myself and my family and the people I live with …”
    I frowned. “How so?”
    “Bryn, don’t take this the wrong way, but until you came here, everything was fine. Everyone just got along for the most part, ate food, slept on a mattress every night, goofed around. None of us worried about dying or being eaten or blowing things up with grenades …”
    “Oh. So that’s all my fault,” I said in a flat voice.
    “No. It’s not your fault at all,” she said, frustrated. “You coming here was just a timing thing. But now suddenly we know there are murdering monsters out there. That they are going to come for us … that the swamp isn’t as safe as we thought it was. And that the people I live with are closed-minded assholes who are going to put my life in jeopardy if I stay with them.” Her voice was rising as she continued. “And now I’m just trying to come here, get some supplies for our trip, and that crazy bitch attacks me, cuts me -so now thanks to her I have to worry about infection while I’m on the road-and we have to leave before she wakes up, or she’ll start a friggin war and I’ll probably get fed to the gators or something!”
    I looked at her, a smile dawning across my face. “You’re coming with me?”
    She walked over and punched hard me in the arm. “Of course I’m coming with you, you idiot. Now help me get this cleaned and wrapped. We need to get some supplies and get the hell out of here tonight .”
    I reached up to help her, awkwardly putting fluid on the cloth she handed me and pressing it to her wound that she’d revealed by pulling her shirt aside.
    “Why tonight?” I asked.
    Winky gestured towards Coli’s inert form as I wrapped a cloth around her arm and tied it up.
    “Because that bitch is going to wake up and tell her boyfriend you tried to strangle her to death, and that I was going to steal from the tribe, that’s why. And then we won’t be going anywhere except farther into the swamp.”
    “Do you really think they’d do that?”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to wait and find out?”
    I shook my head, a new sense of urgency overtaking me. “No. Come on,” I said, pulling her sleeve back up. “Let’s go.”
    She grabbed my arm, stopping me from leaving. “Not yet. I have to get some things from here, first. And you need to get Rob and Fohi.”
    “Where are they?”
    “At the pool, trying to get some ass before they leave.”
    I smiled. “Are they having any luck?”
    “Rob might be, but Fohi … not so much last time I saw him.”
    “Are you gonna meet me back at my hut when you’re done here?” I asked.
    “Yep. Be there in ten. You’d better run. I’m going to immobilize the bitch and put her somewhere they won’t find her until tomorrow.” She looked at Coli, lying nearly lifeless on the floor. “Better make it fifteen.”
    “You sure you can do that with your arm?”
    “I can do whatever I set my mind to, Bryn. Don’t ever forget that about me.”
    I put my hands up in surrender. “Oh, I won’t. Believe me.” I reached out and grabbed her into a hug. “I love that you’re coming with me, but I hate that you were forced into it.”
    She patted me on the back. “No one forces me to do anything. It was my choice.”
    I pulled away, my hands still on her arms. “I guess you like to live dangerously.”
    “Nope,” she said matter-of-factly, “I like to take measured risks. And staying here is riskier than going with you, so it’s