Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

you roll over in front of me? I can cut your ropes off with her knife.” I was lucky she’d decided to use knives instead of bullets.
    Bodo rolled over, doing a backwards somersault off the mattress to land in front of me. I looked down for just a split second to find his wrists, using the knife to cut him free. It was so sharp it went through the fibers like they were made of butter.
    “Hey! Leave him alone! He’s my boyfriend, not yours!” She took two steps toward us.
    I frowned at her. “Shut up, Coli. Your bullshit isn’t funny anymore.”
    She pointed a finger at me like a scolding grandmother, wagging it up and down for emphasis. “You’re going to be sorry, Bryn. Really sorry!”
    “I already am, Coli!” I yelled, standing again. I heard the sounds of material ripping and then felt Bodo administering first aid to my arm. But all my attention was on my would-be murderer.
    “Coli, you can come with us out of here, but you have to hand over all your weapons and promise you’ll go peacefully. Otherwise, we’ll have to leave you here.” Part of me hoped she’d take me up on the abandonment program.
    “Good! Just leave me. I don’t want to go anywhere with you.”
    “I think you do,” I said, not convinced that was true. But I had to think that even mentally ill people didn’t want to be alone. Isolation could not possibly be good for Coli, even though it was decidedly much better for me.
    “You killed Kowi,” she said. “You were jealous of us. You were jealous of me!”
    I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, Coli, give it a rest, would you?”
    “Da only person who is jealous is you, Coli. Dat’s you. You are da problem, not Bryn. You were alwayss da problem here.” Bodo shook his head, tying a knot over the top of my wound.
    I grimaced with the pain, but knew it was the best thing for me right now. I was fervently hoping that I’d be able to get back to Haven before infection set in. I had to believe Coli’s knife had been used on that canner first, and I knew he was diseased. He had to be. To think that I’d survive the apocalypse to die of some weird canner disease was almost laughable it was so awful.
    My morbid thoughts flew out of my head when Coli suddenly looked like she was going to come for us. But then I calmed down when she walked out of the hut instead.
    My pulse picked up briefly when I saw her marching over to retrieve the knife that had flown by, but she never even looked back after picking it up. She just shoved it into a holster at the back of her pants and trudged through the trees, making a huge amount of noise that included not only leaves crunching but some crazy shrieks and sobs too. It was so not like her to sound like a buffalo.
    “Dat girl is very sick,” said Bodo as we watched her disappear into the darkness.
    “Yes. And she’s very dangerous. We need to get the hell out of here.”
    “Where are we going? To da Miccosukee ranch or back to Haven?”
    “To the pool and the loom hut first. Then to the Miccosukee ranch. I need to see if there are any looms left that we can take.”
    “What about Rob? And da rest of da kids?”
    “I hope they made it to the ranch. But we’re running out of daylight, and I don’t want to be anywhere near that looney bird when it’s dark.”
    “Me neider. You want to go clean your arm at da shower? Maybe dare is some soap dare.”
    I nodded. “Good idea. Let’s do that first.”
    We left the huts and followed the trail to the showers, both of us on high alert, expecting Coli to jump out from behind every tree.

CHAPTER SIX

    BODO AND I WALKED TO the showers in silence. My brainpower was split between worrying about being stalked and attacked by Coli and what my boyfriend was thinking - if he even was my boyfriend anymore.
    When we got to the shower, Bodo untied my bandage. I walked to the water hoses without taking my clothes off.
    “Aren’t you going to go naked?” Bodo asked. He stood at the entrance watching me.
    “No. I’m too tired and sore.”
    “I can help you.”
    I looked over at him. “I can’t believe you’re making a move on me in the middle of all this.” I shook my head in disbelief. I didn’t know whether to be mad or happy.
    “I’m not!” he said, sounding serious. “It is just a bad idea to be wet all night when you are going to be weak from an injury. But you go ahead and do it. It’s not a problem for me.” He turned around, facing out and no longer looking at me.
    Tears pricked my eyes. I