Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

transportation of remains filled in the hole with the dirt we’d kept from our excavation.
    Peter stood by with a clipboard. “Excellent work, everyone. That looks great.”
    I walked over to him and watched as the last shovels of dirt were packed into place. The bare earth stood out in stark contrast to the heavily-weeded surroundings. I lifted the mask off my face so he could hear me better.
    “So what’s next, commander?”
    “What’s next is we get into that freezer and kitchen and bleach the heck out of every single surface there is.” He gave an exaggerated shiver. “I for one will not be supervising that task.”
    “What’s the big? All the bodies are gone now.”
    “The big is that it’s probably haunted, and I’m allergic to ghosts.”
    I grabbed his arm and pushed him back until we were farther away from listening ears. “Don’t say that, you dope!” I whisper-yelled. “You want everyone in here afraid to go into sections of the prison because of imaginary spirits?”
    He half-frowned and half-pouted at me. “No. Not necessarily.”
    “No, not at all, you mean. Geez, Peter. Use your head. You’re the big cheese out here. You have to hold your crap together or you’ll start a friggin pandemic.”
    “Do you even know what that word means?”
    “Maybe not, but you get my drift. Man-up.”
    “I prefer the term cowboy-up if you don’t mind.” He lifted his chin a fraction of an inch and looked back out towards the work crew.
    “Fine. Cowboy-up, then.”
    “What’s your problem, anyway?” he asked, turning his attention back to me. “Who doodled in your Wheaties?”
    I sighed heavily. Normally I wasn’t one to share my feelings or wallow in the boy-girl drama, but I was so lost on this one, I didn’t see any other way to manage it. “Bodo is thinking of breaking up with me, I think.”
    Peter snorted. “Yeah, right.”
    “I’m serious. We talked this morning. He’s being very cold.”
    “He’ll get over it. It’s not a big deal. So what if you kissed a guy one time when you thought your boyfriend was dead? He needs to get over it. For serious.”
    “Yeah, but it was wrong. I should have waited longer at least.”
    Peter turned to me, his face all scrunched up. “Are you kidding me? What? Like you’re supposed to wear widow’s weeds and mourn for a year? Shoot, if we had to do that every time someone we cared about died out here, we’d never not wear black.”
    “Widow’s weeds?”
    Peter rolled his eyes. “I’m going to stock some historical romances in our library so you can expand your vocabulary.”
    “Weeds?”
    “Yes. Weeds.”
    “Weeds.”
    “Stop saying weeds!”
    “Weeds. That makes no sense whatsoever. Did they cover themselves in grass or what?”
    “No, dipdork, weeds is the current version of the word in Old English spelled w-a-e-d-s. It just got changed to w-e-e-d-s somewhere along the way.”
    “Who changed it?”
    “How the heck do I know?” Peter turned to me, all red in the face from frustration. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”
    I smiled. “Maybe a little.”
    “Don’t you have boyfriend drama to go fret over or something?”
    I lost my good humor immediately. “Thanks. Yeah, for a second there I forgot how miserable I was. My bad.”
    I turned to go, but Peter caught me by my arm and pulled me back.
    “Sorry. That was poopy of me. I’m a jerk. Come to papa.” He dropped his clipboard to the ground and grabbed me in a hug, patting me on the back. “Everything’s going to be fine. Either that stupid German goofball is going to wake up and realize his jawbreaker candy is still the only sweetness in town, or he’ll walk away and try to find happiness with someone less worthy. And if that happens, well, we’ll just wish him good luck and move on.”
    I smiled over Peter’s shoulder, adding, “And we’ll maybe eye gouge him once.”
    “And that, too.” Peter drew away and looked me in the eyes. “Don’t forget that Paci is standing on the sidelines, just waiting for his chance. He’s prime beef, too. I mean, Bodo’s no slouch, don’t get me wrong, but Paci …” His eyes took on a dreamy look. “He reminds me a little of Trip, actually.”
    I kissed Peter quickly on the cheek before stepping away. “Keep your thoughts clean, Peter. Trust me, you don’t want to be confessing to your boyfriend that you were lusting after someone else while he was temporarily out of the picture. The guilt isn’t worth