Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

a mask of pain.
    I took a few steps forward, closing the distance between us. She needed help. I couldn’t just punch her lights out and leave her here. I knew she didn’t share the same charitable feelings towards me, so I wasn’t going to open myself up to a stabbing, but I had to try and get through to her.
    I held my hands out in a pacifying gesture. “Coli, if you want, I’ll take you to see him. But it might be a little hard, since we sent his body off in a canoe down river. Or up river, I’m not sure. Whatever … it went with the current. I spoke to him right before he died.”
    “No you didn’t,” she whispered, staring intensely into my eyes. She was hanging on my every word.
    “Yes, I did. He was here looking for you. He said so himself.”
    “But we broke up,” she said, tears flowing down her face. She was sobbing now, trying to talk through her spasms. “But … but we broke up … but we … broke up! We broke up!”
    “Was it you or him who broke up?” I asked gently. “Because I don’t think it mattered to him. He wanted to get you safe. He came for you.”
    She dropped her head into her hands and screamed.
    I rushed forward and put her in a bear hug, trapping her arms bent up against her chest. My goal was twofold: to console her and also keep her from stabbing me.
    She didn’t struggle. She just keened, sounding very much like a wounded animal.
    “Shhhh, don’t cry. I said a prayer. He’s gone to the spirit world or heaven. He’s watching over you. He wants you to be safe. Shhhh.” I tried to pat her on the back a little, but I didn’t want to let her go.
    “I didn’t know … I didn’t know …” Her words were muffled in her hands, but the meaning was clear. Like so many girls before her, she hadn’t been able to read the mind or heart of her boyfriend. Join the club .
    “Listen, we have to get to the ranches with the other kids. Do you know how to get there?”
    She said nothing. Her crying stopped in an instant and the animal cries disappeared. I felt her tensing up against my touch.
    I let go and jumped back at the same time, falling into a fight-ready stance.
    She dropped her arms immediately and put both of them behind her back.
    I frowned at her odd movements, wondering what the hell she was doing.
    “Watch out, Bryn!” shouted Bodo. “She hass a knife back dare!”
    Her hand flicked out so fast I barely saw it move. It was only instinct that had me leaning to the side in a jerking motion.
    A burning pain sliced through my upper arm followed shortly after by the sensation of blood leaving my body.
    I dropped down low and ducked the second knife that left her other hand just after the first.
    Reaching up without even looking, I found the hilt of the knife that was sticking out of my upper arm. She had probably planned to get me in the heart, but lucky for me had only caught the outside edge of my muscle. That arm was useless now, but my left arm wasn’t. I slowly stood straighter, moving in closer to her, praying she didn’t have a third or fourth knife in her back pocket.
    “You fucking stabbed me, you freak,” I growled. My fingers probed the area around my wound, trying to figure out how deep the blade had gone in and whether I should risk taking it out. I knew that leaving them in was better sometimes, but I couldn’t use the precious seconds I needed to look at it. Taking my eyes off the lunatic in front of me would be the last mistake I ever made.
    “I missed. That’s just a flesh wound.” She backed up into the hut. “I was aiming somewhere else.”
    “Listen, you crazy nutbag, I’m trying to be nice here. I’m trying to help you through your friggin’ grief and help you find a place to live. But if you keep trying to kill me, I’m going to have a really hard time convincing myself to do that!” Every time I took a step or moved it felt like the blade was cutting me more. I decided to take a chance on bleeding too much and pulled the blade out.
    I screamed with the pain that sliced through me. Warm blood gushed down my arm. I breathed a small sigh of relief that it didn’t spurt out with every heartbeat, though. At least she hadn’t tagged an artery.
    “You’re bleeding!” shouted Bodo. “You needt to stop the bleeding! Come ofer her and let me help you!”
    I side-stepped to get around Coli and into the other hut. She backed up, putting the pantry between us.
    I walked backwards, reaching Bodo’s mattress in a few steps. “Can