Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

took over the driving.”
    I pointed to Winky’s prisoner who was walking towards us, about halfway down the side of the trailer now.
    “So is he one of them or one of us?” asked Paci.
    “That remains to be seen,” I said. “But he was still driving north and looked in a hurry to get there, so that doesn’t look good to me.”
    “Me eidder,” added Bodo, not looking at me.
    I was grateful for his support but annoyed he was making such a point of being distant. Now was not the time to be a jerk as far as I was concerned. It made me even angrier at him than I already was.
    The driver reached our group. “Hey, Chantal,” he said, wiping at his nose again.
    “Hello, Jackson.”
    A few other kids arrived at the doorway and got down with Rob’s help.
    “Explain yourself,” I said to the driver, who apparently went by the name of Jackson. “Are you bringing these kids to the market?”
    “Hell no. I was bringing them somewhere safe.” He looked down at the ground. It sure seemed like a guilty move to me.
    “So what’s the catch?” asked Winky. “What kind of safe are you talking about? Your own little food pantry? Place where you store your next meals?” She poked him in the upper arm with her gun barrel.
    He scowled at her. “No. I told that other girl already. I ain’t a cannibal. Never have been, never will be.”
    “Then why were you driving them north?”
    He signed heavily. “I’d rather not say.”
    “Tough,” said Winky, poking him harder.
    “Quit it, would ya?” he said loudly, stepping away from her and closer to the truck.
    “Jackson, you have a choice,” I explained. “You can fess up and tell us what the hell you’re up to, or you can die. It’s that simple.”
    He laughed once, but entirely without humor. “You are the ball-biter. I can tell by your attitude.”
    “Ball-biter?” asked Rob, sounding totally confused.
    I held my hand out. “Winky, give me the gun.” I wasn’t really going to shoot Jackson, but he didn’t know that. I wanted to know what he was doing out on the highway headed north. If I could get him to spill his secrets by scaring him a little, that would be perfect. And if I could also get him to shut up about the testicle biting incident, that would be a bonus.
    If he didn’t tell us his secrets, I wasn’t going to shoot him. I planned to let the elements or some canners do the dirty work for me. I didn’t need attacks from my own conscience coming against me. Life was precious, especially now that we appreciated it more, and what I’d done to that canner Dave was still weighing very heavily on my mind. Even though he totally deserved it, it still wasn’t enough to make me forget that I’d taken the life of another human being.
    Winky handed me the heavy nine millimeter weapon. I held it up to my waist level. “Tell us what the hell you’re up to or get a gut shot.”
    “Damn, that’s dirty,” he said, his hand going down to rub his belly. “That’s the most painful way to die, you know.”
    “I know a worse way,” I said, thinking of Peter’s poor little sister. I raised the gun to eye level, my arm straight out. My friends moved away, giving the impression they were maneuvering to keep the blood spatters off of them. When I turned my hand sideways, gangster-style, Jackson finally cracked.
    “Yeah, okay fine,” he said, running his fingers nervously through his hair. “Jesus. You guys are nuts, you know that?”
    Three more kids moved to the edge of the trailer and climbed down with help from Rob and Bodo.
    “My family and I have a ranch just north of here. A ranch I’d like to keep secret if you don’t mind. I was out scouting around and came across this group of assholes who had this truck and the kids inside it. So I snuck up on them and bashed their heads in and took the truck. That’s it.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.
    “And what were you going to do with all of them? That’s a lot of mouths to feed,” I said, gesturing to the small ragtag group of kids now standing behind the semi.
    “It’s not a problem,” said Jackson, a note of pride in his voice.
    I looked over at Bodo. His jaw muscle twitched, and my heart spasmed. How I wished I could hear him say that again with one of his silly smiles spread across his face.
    “Seriously. I’ve had a long day,” I said, sighing for emphasis. I lowered the gun a little.
    “I was going to use them for labor.”
    When Winky started to bristle he finished