“Bitch attacked me, you saw it,” she said angrily, moving past me to the clinic, rummaging through baskets to find clean cloths and cleaning fluid.

“Yeah, but why? Why were you even here with her?”

“She friggin’ followed me.” Winky growled in frustration, nearly dumping the contents of one of the baskets.

“Why are you mad at me?” I asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

Winky sighed, stopping to put everything she’d collected down on a small table, looking at me. “Yes and no. I’m mad at you because you’ve caused me to question everything I thought I knew. About myself and my family and the people I live with …”

I frowned. “How so?”

“Bryn, don’t take this the wrong way, but until you came here, everything was fine. Everyone just got along for the most part, ate food, slept on a mattress every night, goofed around. None of us worried about dying or being eaten or blowing things up with grenades …”

“Oh. So that’s all my fault,” I said in a flat voice.

“No. It’s not your fault at all,” she said, frustrated. “You coming here was just a timing thing. But now suddenly we know there are murdering monsters out there. That they are going to come for us … that the swamp isn’t as safe as we thought it was. And that the people I live with are closed-minded assholes who are going to put my life in jeopardy if I stay with them.” Her voice was rising as she continued. “And now I’m just trying to come here, get some supplies for our trip, and that crazy bitch attacks me, cuts me - so now thanks to her I have to worry about infection while I’m on the road - and we have to leave before she wakes up, or she’ll start a friggin’ war and I’ll probably get fed to the gators or something!”

I looked at her, a smile dawning across my face. “You’re coming with me?”

She walked over and punched hard me in the arm. “Of course I’m coming with you, you idiot. Now help me get this cleaned and wrapped. We need to get some supplies and get the hell out of here tonight.”

I reached up to help her, awkwardly putting fluid on the cloth she handed me and pressing it to her wound that she’d revealed by pulling her shirt aside.

“Why tonight?” I asked.

Winky gestured towards Coli’s inert form as I wrapped a cloth around her arm and tied it up.

“Because that bitch is going to wake up and tell her boyfriend you tried to strangle her to death, and that I was going to steal from the tribe, that’s why. And then we won’t be going anywhere except farther into the swamp.”

“Do you really think they’d do that?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to wait and find out?”

I shook my head, a new sense of urgency overtaking me. “No. Come on,” I said, pulling her sleeve back up. “Let’s go.”

She grabbed my arm, stopping me from leaving. “Not yet. I have to get some things from here, first. And you need to get Rob and Fohi.”

“Where are they?”

“At the pool, trying to get some ass before they leave.”

I smiled. “Are they having any luck?”

“Rob might be, but Fohi … not so much last time I saw him.”

“Are you gonna meet me back at my hut when you’re done here?” I asked.

“Yep. Be there in ten. You’d better run. I’m going to immobilize the bitch and put her somewhere they won’t find her until tomorrow.” She looked at Coli, lying nearly lifeless on the floor. “Better make it fifteen.”

“You sure you can do that with your arm?”

“I can do whatever I set my mind to, Bryn. Don’t ever forget that about me.”

I put my hands up in surrender. “Oh, I won’t. Believe me.” I reached out and grabbed her into a hug. “I love that you’re coming with me, but I hate that you were forced into it.”

She patted me on the back. “No one forces me to do anything. It was my choice.”

I pulled away, my hands still on her arms. “I guess you like to live dangerously.”

“Nope,” she said matter-of-factly. “I like to take measured risks. And staying here is riskier than going with you, so it’s just simple math.”

I shook my head, dropping my arms. “I love the delusional.” I turned to leave the hut, going into a slow jog. I heard her response floating out from behind me.

“I’m not delusional! I’m a realist!”

I broke into a run, ignoring the sounds of branches swishing past my body as I pushed through and the leaves crunching under my feet like little firecrackers, echoing all over the place. Our departure had been pushed forward and I had no time to lose.

***

I arrived at the pool area to find Fohi and Rob sitting on the walkway, getting dressed, surrounded by giggling girls.

“Oh, hey, Bryn. What’s up?” asked Fohi, separating himself from two who were sitting next to him.

I took him by the arm and pulled him away from the others before saying in a quiet voice, “Don’t freak out, but we need to leave now.”

“What?!” he said in a high-pitched, panicked voice.

I squeezed him arm painfully, whispering loudly in his face, “I just told you not to freak out, stupid!”

“Ow, that hurts,” he said, trying to brush me off. “Sorry, you just surprised me. Next time warm me up a little with a, Hello, how ya doin’ kinda thing, before you tell me we gotta run out in the middle of the night.”

Rob had walked up in time to hear the last part of his speech. “What’d he just say? We’re leaving tonight?”

“Yeah, you heard right,” said Fohi, bending down to lace up his moccasins. “She says we have to leave now.”

“Like now now?” asked Rob, looking at me.

“Yeah. Like now now. No time to explain. Can you guys get your hands on the grenades without anyone finding out?”

“I don’t know. Why?” asked Rob.

I sighed. “Isn’t it obvious? I plan on taking them with us.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked, doubt in his voice.

“Do you have some other way to protect us against canner attacks in our new home?” I asked sarcastically. “A bazooka maybe? Rocket launcher? Flame thrower? Tank?”

Rob held up his hands. “Easy there, I was just asking.” He dropped his hands. “Yeah, I can get them. You need them now?”

“I’m only gonna say it one more time, Rob. We are leaving now.”

He looked at Fohi who shrugged his shoulders in response. “Okay, then,” he finally said. “I’ll go get them. Where should we meet you?”

“Meet me at the canoe launching site. Make sure you have what you need for our trip and the weapons. If you have a gun and bullets, bring them, too.”

He started to walk away with Fohi, leaning down to talk to him. I grabbed his shoulder to stop him, taking a step closer to the two of them so I could whisper in both their ears at the same time.

“Listen … we had a little run-in with Coli. Winky’s taking care of her, but we need to get out before she wakes up. Don’t say anything to anyone about us leaving early. We need to do this on the down-low, if you know what I mean.”

Rob nodded, but Fohi had to question me. I should have known he would, but it was making me frustrated, wasting time like this.

“What’d she do? What’d you do?”

“I’ll tell you later. Just go, okay?”

“But what … you mean Winky’s going too?”

“Yes!” I whisper-yelled. “Would you just go, please?”

“Well, that means we’ll need two canoes, not just one,” he said over his shoulder as I pushed on his back to get him going.

I stopped, realizing he had a point. “Is that a problem?” I asked.

“Nah,” he smiled, turning to face me while he walked. “I can get you ten canoes if you need ‘em.”

Rob slapped him on the back of the head. “No you can’t, idiot.”

Fohi punched him in the ribs. “Don’t hit me on the head, a-hole. And, yes, I can. I know where everything is, unlike you.”

“Do you know where the bikes are?” I asked, suddenly hoping we might not have to walk the entire way.

“Of course I do. I’m in charge of all that stuff,” he said, puffing out his chest.

“You used to be in charge of it. Now you’re in charge of shutting up,” said Rob.

Fohi’s mouth thinned, and I could see he was getting ready to tackle his friend, so I put my hand gently on his arm and stared him in the eyes. I don’t try to use my feminine wiles on guys often - or ever - but this was an extreme emergency.

“Um, Fohi?” I said softly, almost flirtingly.

He smiled lazily, looking a little stunned. “Yyyeeeah?”

“Do you think you could get us two canoes and some bikes also?” I rubbed his arm gently, back and forth.

He nodded, his mouth hanging partway open. A couple seconds later he said, “Uhhh, yeah, I can do that. Sure. Uh-huh.” His head was bobbing up and down.

“Good,” I said, smiling and patting his cheek. “I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes or less.” I gave him one last pat on the cheek that was more like a slap, and it woke him up out of his daze.

“Yeah … yeah … okay,” he stuttered. “I’ll get it. All of it. Them. The things.” He grabbed Rob’s arm, pulling him along. “Come on. I need your help.”

Rob looked over his shoulder at me as he followed his friend. “Nice,” was all he said, smiling at me, nodding his head.

I nodded once and took off, running back towards my hut and not feeling one bit guilty that I’d manipulated Fohi so easily.

***

I ran right into our hut, not stopping until I got to the sleeping area. Peter and the guys were lying down.

“Get up! We have to go now!” I said breathlessly, turning back to the kitchen area and slinging my backpack up to my shoulders. I turned back to see Peter sitting up and shaking his head a second.

“What? Why now? What time is it? I feel like I’ve hardly slept.”

“You have hardly slept,” said Jamal, looking at his watch. “We just laid down fifteen minutes ago.” He looked up at me and I could hear the concern in his voice. “Bryn, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. Get up, please, we’re leaving now.”

“Why now and not in the morning?” asked Ronald, getting to his feet and moving towards his backpack. “I thought they gave us permission to stay until then.”

“Something’s come up. I’ll explain later. I just need you to trust me and come now.”

All three of them moved wordlessly to their backpacks and put them on. Peter clipped the leash I hadn’t seen since we went after the canners onto Buster’s collar. He looked around the kitchen and sleeping area, his eyes sweeping past the pantry and then over to my face.

“We’re ready,” he said, looking as serious as I’ve ever seen him look.

“Sorry this is so sudden,” I said, truly regretting how this was going down.

“Don’t apologize.” He looked first at the twins and then at me. “I know you wouldn’t do this if it weren’t absolutely necessary. You can explain later.”

I nodded at all three of them and turned, leading the way out of our hut, humbled by their faith in me. I was silently hoping Winky would come and find us at the launch site, since she hadn’t shown up at the hut yet.

I tried to be as quiet as possible, avoiding branches and taking bare paths where I could, but my top priority was getting the heck out of there as soon as possible, so there was no way to avoid announcing our travel through the swamp. I just had to hope that no one would pay too much attention to it and alert the chiefs.