Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

to thank for the very neat stitches. She’d said goodbye to me last night, promising to come visit someday.
    We walked for ten minutes before we came to a large clearing marked off by several pens. Inside one were our animals. They were peacefully eating some piles of dried hay. All of them had halter things made of braided leather on their heads. Groups of kids were standing around or balancing on fence rails, all of them with backpacks on or nearby.
    Several kids dressed in pants made of animal hide were on horseback. Their horses had saddles with colorful blankets underneath. The most buff of the group came riding over, and when he got close I realized it was Paci. And he was shirtless. My blood heated up and moved up my neck to burn my face.
    Paci leaned down, offering me his hand. “Up you go,” he said, smiling. My heart totally went pitter patter. Now I knew what that stupid expression meant. Tiny heart attack alert. Act casual. It’s no big deal. Just get up on the stupid horse!
    “No,” said Bodo.
    I turned to look at him, frowning. “What?”
    “I saidt no. You can ride with someone else.” He folded his arms across his chest, a mutinous expression clouding his face.
    “What? You want to ride with me, dude?” asked Paci, laughing and brushing off Bodo’s stupid mood. “Sorry, but this saddle’s taken. You’re too heavy. You go ride with Winky.”
    I looked over and saw Winky taking a horse from a guy who’d just climbed down.
    I gave Bodo one more hard look before turning back to Paci. I could have declined and rode with someone else, but the way Bodo was being such a jerk made me say yes to Paci. That, and I didn’t want to cause a big fuss in front of all these people trying to help us - sacrificing their supplies and possibly lives getting this stuff to Haven. My relationship troubles were so minor league and unimportant in comparison.
    I grabbed Paci’s offered elbow. I used the leverage he provided and the muscles of my good arm and abs to fly up onto the back of his horse. I landed behind the saddle on the horse’s rump and gripped Paci around the middle with one arm, allowing my bad one to rest between us. It hung there in the sling Winky had given me last night before I fell asleep.
    I rolled my shoulder experimentally, trying to ease the stiffness. The knife wound was burning from the exertion of getting on the horse, but looking down I didn’t see any blood on the clean bandages. LaShay’s stitches were apparently holding - not only neat but also strong. She’d learned a lot in just a short time.
    Bodo stood there glaring as us for a few seconds, but then finally walked away, saying nothing. He used a nearby fence to get up high enough so that he could join Winky on her horse. She pulled up next to him and held the reins while he climbed on behind her saddle.
    The animal didn’t seem all that thrilled about having Bodo’s big old butt on the back. It reared up a little, and Bodo had to grip onto Winky’s waist with both hands to stay on.
    She handled the horse like a pro, leaning into the horse’s motions and jerking the reins sharply to the left. It had the result of making the agitated beast spin to the side. It quickly calmed down, or at least stopped trying to get rid of Bodo. It pranced a little as Winky straightened its head out, twitching its tail left and right over and over. I could hear the swishing of the stiff black hair from where I sat.
    I was glad it was Bodo on that particular horse and not me. My bad arm made horseback riding a lot more complicated and scary than it would have been on a good day, and I was no horsewoman. I preferred to have my feet on the ground. But I knew this would be faster, especially considering how sore my muscles were and the state of my wound.
    The buggy and ATVs were filled with supplies and had no room for any more passengers. At least I wasn’t walking behind the line like the fifty or so odd kids I saw milling around.
    Several of the kids were scrambling to load up the last bits of stuff into the swamp buggy and trailers behind ATVs. I saw a gas can being emptied into one of them. It made me wonder how much fuel they had left. They’d sacrificed so much already, and now they were doing even more, all in the blind hope that I was leading them to safety and a new home.
    The pressure brought on a massive headache. I reached up to massage my forehead. I missed Kowi even more now. He’d been so good under pressure, so smart