Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

scoffed at the stew there, never daring to try it, but now I realized I should have paid it more respect. My stomach was cramping in ecstasy. The food in Kahayatle was pretty damn good, but there was nothing like real beef in authentic beef stew.
    “Aw, it ain’t that good,” said Katy, clearly pleased by the compliments she was receiving.
    “No, dis is goodt,” said Bodo, poking a hunk of meat with his spoon, his cheeks bulging with food. “Where didt you find all da vegetables? Carrots, potatoes, and onions? Even da salt.”
    “In our garden, of course. What? You think I walked to the supermarket?” Katy snorted. “That’ll be the day.” She ladled more stew into Bodo’s bowl. “We get the salt from the ocean, believe it or not. Evaporate the water right out. Works like a charm.”
    “We’re totally self-sustaining at the Triple Bar D,” said Jackson, addressing all the kids who’d come out of the trailer. “If you want to stay, you can, but you’ll have to work. And when I say work, I mean, work your tail off. Work your fingers to the bone.”
    Katy held up a manual-labor-worn hand, wiggling her fingers a little. The fingernails were ragged all the way to the quick and not from being bitten. I could see the callouses on her palms from several feet away.
    “He ain’t jokin’ neither,” Katy added. “It’s dawn to midnight around here and then there’s guard duty. Luckily we have help with that part of it.” She nudged the little dog at her feet.
    “I can work,” said Chantal. She looked at me. “But I’m not sure if it’s as safe here as it will be with her.”
    “Bryn is my name, by the way, you guys. And this big strapping German guy with me is Bodo.”
    He nodded his head at them, his mouth too full to speak.
    “What’s a guy from Germany doing all the way over here?” asked Chantal. She gave him a special smile that made me instantly sick to my stomach. There was no way Bodo would want to be with me when Chantal was around. Even dirty and raggedy, she was ten times prettier than me.
    “I wass doing an exchanche and den the bomb dropped on da worldt and dat was da end of my Cherman life. I’m Hamerican now.” He looked back down at his bowl, preparing another giant spoonful for his mouth.
    Katy could obviously care less about Bodo. She didn’t even spare him a glance before she was responding to Chantal’s earlier comment. “It’s plenty safe here.” She sounded defensive. “We got dogs up the yin yang, rifles, shotguns, bows and arrows … you name it, we got it. And we know how to use all of it, too.”
    “So how does that help you when some kid comes up in the middle of the night to snag one of your cows?” I asked.
    “First of all, ain’t no one gettin’ on this here property without us knowin’. We got dogs can smell outsiders from a mile away. Plus one of us always stays awake while the other one sleeps. And the herd’s never far from the house.” She shrugged. “It gets a little pungent sometimes, but until we have more hands, that’s the way it’s gotta be. Plus, we got the ewes.”
    “The ewes?” Now I was really confused.
    “Dat’s da girl sheeps, Bryn. I know da English for farm animals because my granfadder had a farm and he hadt lots of American friends.”
    Bodo’s explanation did nothing to help me understand. “I didn’t know ewes were so aggressive. You actually use them to protect your ranch? Like guard ewes?”
    Katy and Jackson both started laughing. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either one of them for a full five minutes.
    When Katy could finally speak, she put her hand on my shoulder. “Ball-biter … you’re one-a the funniest girls I ever met. You’re all right by me, though. You’re aaaaalll right by me.” She patted me a few times before picking up her beef stew pot and walking towards the front door.
    I rolled my eyes. “The name’s Bryn, okay? Call me ball-biter one more time, and I’ll pop you in the boob.”
    She sobered up quick, turning around. “Them’s fightin’ words, girl. But I’m gonna keep my fists to myself because I don’t wanna lose a chunk of my girl parts when you decide to get all angry and hungry at the same time.”
    I acted like I was going for her just to make her flinch, and she didn’t disappoint. She jumped so far, so fast, I almost didn’t see it happening. The empty pot was on the floor and her knife was out and ready in half a second. The sound of the pot clanking