Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

call me ordinary or boring,” I said, before stepping around him. I fell a little and grabbed onto his arm for support. He just stood there and waited for me to stop being an idiot.
    I pretended to look behind me and spoke out of the corner of my mouth at him. “That girl in the rags came to Haven and refused to enter with some bullshit. Watch out for her.”
    I looked up as I turned back to face our welcoming party, and caught Trip nodding so slightly I questioned whether I’d even seen it. He was ever so much cooler than me.
    We both stepped forward to talk to the girl in red.
    She stood there with her hands fisted at her sides. She didn’t look like a trained fighter, but she sure looked determined to be tough. She had dark skin and her hair looked like it had been hacked off with a dull knife. Her big boobs were the only thing keeping her from looking very boyish. She wore camouflage pants and had a canteen on a belt at her waist. Her other hip had a knife in a holder on it.
    “Hi,” I said, stopping about five feet in front of her.
    “Hi,” she said. Her eyes darted nervously from me to Trip and then over our shoulders to the group behind us. They had stopped about fifty yards away.
    “My name’s Bryn, and this is Trip. We’re just trying to pass through. We don’t mean you any harm, and we’re not here to take anything.”
    “This is our land. Our spot,” she said. “Nobody passes for free.”
    “What are you, a troll?” asked Trip in a snotty voice. “We gotta pay your toll to get over your bridge? Please. This is Miccosukee land. Always has been, always will be.”
    She looked at him calmly, only her flexing fists belying her nervousness. “Wrong on both counts.” Then she looked at me. “His history’s as flawed as his reasoning. Either you pay, or you go away. It’s simple.”
    “We have stuff to trade,” I said. “What do you need?”
    “We aren’t giving her any of our stuff!” Trip was indignant.
    “Trip, can it, would ya?” I tried to give him my stern look but his was much more effective than mine. I just rolled my eyes and looked back at the girl.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Robson.”
    I thought I’d heard wrong. “Say that again?”
    “You heard me. Robson.”
    “That’s a guy’s name,” said Trip.
    “At least I’m not named after an accident someone has when they can’t walk right.”
    I had to laugh at that. A snort escaped before I could stop it. I held out my arm to keep Trip back. “Relax, Trip. She’s right. Let’s get down to business, okay?” I pleaded with him using my eyes. I was going for the sad puppydog look.
    “Stop staring at me like that,” he said, backing down and not pushing against my arm anymore. “You look like a canner lunatic.”
    I wiped my expression clean, going back to the girl. “Okay, Robson, what do you want to trade?”
    She gestured over to Gail. “We’ll trade that chick over there for a gun and safe passage.”
    “Uhhh, we don’t trade people,” I said.
    “But we do, especially when they’re a pain in the ass like she is.”
    “Hey!” Gail shouted. “I’m not the pain in the ass, you are!”
    The few kids standing around her laughed a little, none of them looking at her. It was pretty clear they were behind Robson one hundred percent.
    “How about we take her off your hands as a service and you just thank us for it?” asked Trip.
    “You won’t have to feed her or put up with her anymore,” I added. “That’s got to be worth something. We can’t give you a gun. We don’t have enough.” That last part of my statement wasn’t even close to true with the armory we had at the prison, but the last thing I wanted to do was arm potential or future enemies.
    “You’re in no position to bargain. Take the PITA, give us the gun, and we’ll let you through. Don’t and you turn around or suffer the consequences.”
    “Troll,” said Trip in a soft voice.
    “And one more word out of pretty boy there and the deal’s off too,” said Robson, not even looking at Trip.
    “Fine,” I said. “Deal. But no bullets.”
    “We have plenty,” she said.
    I turned Trip around and pushed against his lower back. “Be right back,” I said over my shoulder.
    I could hear Gail ranting behind me the whole way back. Apparently she didn’t want to go with us anymore than we wanted her to. Robson seemed pretty tough. Maybe Gail felt safe with her. Gail’s attachment to the treehouse couldn’t be for Robson’s