Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

around continued, but she was still and ready to fight.
    “Stay back,” she said, a six-inch blade in her hand. “I’ll stick you like a dang pig, you come any closer.”
    I laughed, easing up my stance. “Relax, Katy. I was just kidding.” I settled back down, tipping my bowl up to my mouth and slurping up the rest of the broth, ignoring her so she’d calm down. “So tell me about these attack ewes.”
    Jackson walked off the porch. “Follow me. I’ll show you the ewes.”
    I put my bowl down on the steps and walked down to be with Jackson, leaving everyone else behind to finish their meal. A moment later I heard sounds behind me and found Bodo coming up behind us. He still wasn’t talking to me, but at least he had my back. I let that warm me a little and help me ignore the fact that he’d been spending an awful lot of effort on hurting my feelings and acting like an immature ass.
    ***
    We approached a shed-like structure that couldn’t possibly have been big enough to house more than a couple sheep. Maybe four, max. They must be really small ones .
    When Jackson got to the front of it, he reached for a flap on the side of the wall. I realized then that it had wire mesh on it.
    “What are those? Air holes?” None of this made any sense to me.
    Jackson laughed. “I guess you could call ‘em air holes if you want. Me, I call ‘em cages, but whatever. It all works.”
    He opened one up and reached in, pulling out something very small and gray.
    “Dat’s not a ewe,” said Bodo, drawing even with me.
    Jackson turned to fully face us. “Well, it’s a part of the ewes.”
    I crossed my arms over my chest. “Something tells me we’re being mocked right now.”
    “I think so too,” said Bodo.
    “Nah, it ain’t like that. You just misunderstood, and I figured it’d be more interesting to show you than to explain it.” He held out what looked like a pigeon. “This here is one of the members of the Triple Bar D EWS. The Early Warnin’ System we got set up with some friends in this county and a few nearby.”
    “Pigeons.” I said simply.
    “Well, carrier pigeons to be more specific, but yeah. Little birds.”
    Bodo stepped forward, his hands held out. He was speechless.
    Jackson pulled the bird back towards his chest. “You can’t touch it. Birds need special handlin’. It ain’t for everybody.”
    “Bodo’s an expert,” I said. “He raises hawks.”
    Jackson frowned. “That’s the only threat to the EWS … them damn hawks an’ peregrines an’ owls. Damn vultures.” He held his bird up near his neck now, stroking its feathers gently as he frowned at Bodo.
    “I will not hurt your birdt. I swear it. I love birds of all kindts.”
    I could hear the plea in his voice, and even though he was being a buttbasket to me, I hoped like heck Jackson would let him hold the dumb bird.
    Jackson thought about it for a couple seconds and then extended it out to Bodo. “Here. Just be gentle.”
    “Of course.” Bodo took her into his hands, being sure to keep her wings close to her body and turning her against his lower chest. “How didt you train dem?” He looked down at the bird, rubbing her head with this thumb.
    “When we heard that the world was gonna go in the crapper, we worked at school on some projects to help prepare. Then when school kinda died off, we just kept at it. One a-them was this carrier pigeon project. We’ve got message points all over Florida and Georgia now too.”
    “That is … friggin’ amazing,” I said, totally blown away. “You mean these birds actually carry messages?”
    Jackson smiled proudly. “Heck yeah, they do. Look. Here’s one we got a couple weeks ago.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a narrow strip of paper, handing it to me.
    I looked at it, but it was just a bunch of letters and numbers that didn’t make sense.
    “Is this some kind of code?” I asked.
    “Yup. We made it up ourselves.” He rocked back on his heels and then his toes, obviously very pleased with himself. And he had a right to be. This was one of the most amazing and hopeful things I’d seen since walking onto the prison grounds.
    “What does this one say?”
    Jackson walked over and pointed to the codes. “Says here … ball-biter at Everglades prison. Can send friends.”
    Bodo laughed. “Oh, dat’s funny. You’re famous, Bryn. Da testicle girl is in da prison.” His shoulders were quaking with laughter.
    I punched him in the arm. “Shut up,