Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

Can you do that?” I asked him.
    “Yeah. But what are you going to do?” He was looking at Winky and me.
    “We’ll go to the prison. If you still want to come, you can warn the others and then meet us down there.”
    He hit me lightly on the arm. “You think Little Bee and I would let you face down those monsters alone, Nokosi?”
    I smiled. “You’d better not let Fohi hear you calling him that.”
    Rob grinned back. “If you guys are okay with it, I’m going to go back there and get him, go talk to Kowi and Trip, and then get Peter, Ronald, and Jamal and head south to join you. You taking the highway?”
    I looked at Winky and she nodded. I answered, “Yeah. We’ll travel from before sunrise to noon every day to avoid the canners. We’ll sleep in the brush off the side of the highway.”
    “I don’t want to pass you up. We ride faster than you guys.”
    Winky joined in. “We’ll leave you a sign of where we are. Look for the bird.”
    “What bird?” I asked, picturing Nina in my mind. That was another issue to deal with. I wondered if Bodo knew where she was, and I hoped he wouldn’t give me a hard time about leaving here without her if he didn’t.
    “Like the tattoos you’ve seen on some of the guys. I’ll use a coal stick to draw one on the shoulder of the highway. Just keep your eyes peeled. I’ll try to do it near a mile marker sign if I can.”
    Rob nodded. “Okay. Listen, I’m going to go now. I don’t want to waste any time.”
    I waved him away. “Go. We’ll be fine.”
    “Grab some food on your way out,” said Winky at his back. “And be careful with Trip!”
    Rob waved over his head, not looking back.
    We watched him go over to a table and grab some hunks of food he tossed into his mouth. He stopped to talk to Kiersten and then left. We said nothing until the door on the side of the property closed behind him.
    “So,” said Winky, looking at me now, “I guess we have some things to look forward to.” She smiled at me, her spunky personality shining through.
    “Yeah. Like a canner war.”
    She shrugged. “More like canner annihilation. We’ll be ready for them.”
    “You think so?” I asked, not entirely sure I agreed with her.
    “Yep. We have friends here now and in Kahayatle. We’ll make new ones on our way. And we’re going to build a fortress no one can enter. I’ll bet the barbed wire and walls are already there.”
    I smiled absently, contemplating my sad, limpy boyfriend and the state of our affairs right now. I’d mistakenly thought life was going to be easy and that things I’d done far from here would have no consequences out of their immediate area and time. I’d counted on the fact that there were no communication systems up anymore. I guess I forgot about the pony express. Maybe they weren’t riding ponies anymore, but they were definitely getting around and spreading messages. And we need to do the same.
    ***
    Winky and I alternated between eating bits of food and getting Bodo sobered up. I tried not to pay too much attention to the festivities that included lots of what looked like Alejandro being passed around. He didn’t seem to care too much, so I let it go out of my mind. I needed all my concentration to get Bodo to have a normal conversation, anyway.
    When he was finally ready to leave a few hours later, just before sunrise, we dragged him out of the compound, taking one of their bikes with us, promising that if they ever came down our way, we’d give it back.
    Kiersten walked us to the gate. “Good luck down at the prison. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll come for visit. Which one are you going to?”
    “There’s more than one?”
    “Yeah. There are several. The biggest one is Everglades, not far from here. You could probably get there in two days. If you’re looking to set up a new community that’s pretty big, I’d go there.”
    I took her offered hug. “Thanks. That’s where we’re going, then.” I pulled away so she could hug Winky. “I don’t know how big the community will be, but I guess we should be prepared for the best, right? And we’d love for you to visit; that would be nice.” I wasn’t just saying that either. I had a lot of respect for someone who could build a family like she’d done. The odds were against a group of girls making it on their own, but they’d managed, and it was obvious it was because of the strong leadership they had in Kiersten.
    Melody came dancing out of the house, running over to