Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

stabbing that disgusting cannibal in the neck, which is way more disgusting than it looks in the movies. And right after I left, Julio kicked that grenade right at Loco and blew the place up.”
    “Wow. How’d Julio do that when he only had one leg left?”
    I noticed the people around us had gone silent. My story had them all frozen in place, listening.
    “It dropped out of the back of my pants and rolled over by him. And when I fell down nearby, he told me to balance it on the top of his foot. So I pulled the pin and did it.”
    “I can’t believe it didn’t just fall off,” said Winky, her voice sounding reverent.
    “He had his foot bent up, like he said he did with hacky sacks or something. He held it there tight, even after I’d pulled the pin. I … I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to kill him, but he kept saying he wanted to go…” A loud sob escaped my throat. I covered my face with my good arm.
    Winky stroked my arm as it rested on my face. “Shhh, don’t cry about it. Peter told us the kids who were left would never have made it.”
    LaShay came over and sat down by my feet. “Julio was done-for, girl. He had serious gangrene all up in his legs and stuff. He was dyin’. I’m surprised he was able to do as much as he did. You must have inspired him or somethin’.”
    “He was telling me how happy he was to be able see his girlfriend again,” I said through my tears. “She had died already.”
    “Yasmine. He talked about her a lot,” said LaShay. “Lucky girl. Julio was a great guy. What they did to him … evil . Shameful. But what you did, girl, was the right thing to do. Ain’t nobody who was there gonna say any different. Those killers had it coming to them. If I coulda shoved that grenade down their throats myself, I would’ve. Every single one of ‘em was a demon straight from hell.”
    I pulled my arm away from my face, my tears now at bay. “What about that kid Sean? He didn’t seem like he was totally in with them,” I said, remembering his conversation with LaShay that I had overheard when I was hiding in a nearby tree with Winky.
    “Sean? Yeah, I call that demon Doctor Mengele . You know, like Hitler’s doctor who did all those nasty experiments on kids?” She shook her head. “He ain’t no better than the rest of ‘em. He coulda tried to break us free, just like you did; but he didn’t. Nope. He just kept cleanin’ our wounds, stitchin’ us up, keepin’ the meat cold for the kid-eaters. Huh-uh. No, ma’am. Sean is evil. There ain’t no excuse for what he did.”
    “I heard him say that they sicced the dogs on him,” said Winky. “I think he tried to escape once, right?”
    “Yeah, that’s true. He did try to escape, to save his own ass, not anyone else’s. And the demons sent them dogs, Duke and Dracula after his sorry ass, too. Mangled the hell outta his arm and one of his legs. I was glad when I saw it. I wished they’d gotten his throat instead.”
    “Would you have escaped if you could?” asked Winky.
    “Hells yeah. What? You think I’m stupid?” She was obviously offended by the question.
    “I was just wondering, because you’re coming down kinda hard on that guy Sean when he did the same thing I would have done … and you too, from what you just said.”
    LaShay let out a burst of frustrated air. “Ssssshhhhh. It ain’t like that. Don’t be twistin’ my words all up. You know what I meant.” She got up to leave. “I can promise you one thing. No matter what you just said, if I see his face anywhere around here, I’m gonna blow it off for him. Then I’m gonna feed what’s left to the gators.” She strode out of the hut, her bandaged half-arm held out to the side for balance as she picked her way over the ground of lumpy roots and rotted earth.
    “Well, I guess she told me,” said Winky, smiling.
    I smiled back. “She’s probably right, you know. If that guy is ever stupid enough to show his face, I don’t think he’ll survive it. No matter what we saw or heard, he was there with them … those canners. He’s one of them, even if he wasn’t totally into the craziness.”
    Winky shrugged. “It’s not all that black and white to me, but whatever. We need to get you better. So is that what’s bothering you so much? That Julio kid and killing Loco?”
    I sighed. “Yes and no, Doctor Winky, psychoanalyst.”
    She bowed her head slightly at me, but said nothing.
    “I’m mostly upset about other things.