“Good luck. I hope we see you again,” said Katy, all her vigor gone. She sounded sad.
“What about us?” asked Chantal, sitting up and wiping her eyes. “Can we go too?”
“No, you stay,” I said. “You’re too weak to help, and it’ll be too dangerous. We’ll come back for you, or we’ll send someone for you. They’ll ask for you by name, so you’ll know they’re good people. Don’t forget Dane on the side of the road. Maybe you could go get him, Katy?”
“Who in the sam hill is Dane?”
“He’s a friend of ours. I could show you where he is,” said Chantal.
“Fine. I got a four-wheeler with a trailer we can use if he ain’t far.”
I turned to walk down the stairs.
“Where are you going?” asked Katy.
I drew up short, turning around. “What do you mean? I’m going to the Everglades to help my friends.”
“Well, you gotta wait for your ride.” She frowned at me like I was stupid.
“You want us to drive that truck?” I asked, gesturing to the semi.
“Dat’s too loud. Dey will hear us coming from very far away.” Bodo was shaking his head no.
“No, I ain’t talkin’ about that truck.”
“Well, what then?!” I was losing my patience with her redneck accent and slow way of explaining herself.
The sounds of running came from the side of the house again. And it wasn’t the running of a person, either.
Katy smiled. “Your ride has arrived, my dear.”
***
My eyeballs nearly fell out of my head when I saw Jackson riding up on a horse. He stopped with a sliding of the animal’s hooves right in front of the porch, dropping down out of the saddle like a real cowboy.
“Here ya go,” he said, handing me the reins. “This ain’t my best horse, but she’s strong, and she’ll get you where you need to go. I just gotta ask you to get her back to me if you can. She’s special, like all our animals are.”
“Oh my god.” It was all I could think to say.
Bodo walked up without saying a word, taking the nearest stirrup and making an adjustment to it.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he walked around the front of the horse to the other side of the saddle. He made an adjustment over there too.
“I’m fixing da stirrups. Dey are too short for me.”
I looked at Jackson.
He just shrugged back at me before addressing Bodo. “Guess you know what you’re doin’. That’s good news.” Jackson moved to the side so Bodo could take the reins from me.
Putting his foot in the stirrup on the left side of the horse, Bodo hiked himself up, swinging his other leg over until he was straddling the beast. He sat up in that damn saddle like he’d done it every day of his life.
“Uhhhh …” I was so stunned, no words were coming. We were about to enter a battle on a massive scale, and the boy I loved, who was ignoring me and hurting me on purpose with his pettiness, was sitting up there like a friggin’ cowboy supermodel.
“Come closer, and I’ll give you a leg up,” said Jackson. “But first, put them shells in your pockets.”
I placed my shotgun on the ground and opened the box that was on the stairs. Pulling out the shotgun shells a handful at a time, I shoved them into my front pockets until they bulged. I brought the ones that wouldn’t fit over to Bodo and he put them in his pockets.
“Be right back!” said Katy, running back into the house as I was finishing up.
I walked back over to the horse, eying it with trepidation. It was so tall. Falling from that height would be more than painful.
“Bend your leg at the knee,” instructed Jackson.
I was looking up at Bodo, but he was just staring straight ahead, his shotgun lying perpendicular across the front of the saddle, muzzle pointing out towards the truck.
I bent my leg as instructed and Jackson put his hand on my shin.
“Use the pressure on your leg to get up.”
This was different then the laced-fingers technique I’d seen before, but it worked just as well. As I pushed down on my leg, trying to straighten it, he pushed up and hoisted me to a point that I could throw my other leg over the back of the horse. I wasn’t on the saddle, but I had a bit of blanket under me, just in front of the round part of the horse’s rump.
I hurriedly wrapped my arms around Bodo’s waist. I’d been on a horse before, but they scared me; I wasn’t afraid to admit that. Now in addition to worrying about my friends being attacked, I was panicking that I was going to break my neck by falling off the back of a horse.
“You can run her full out for about a hour, maybe two. That’ll get you there. But please, when you’re done, point her home and smack her hard on the bum. Don’t let her stay there.”
“Why?” I asked totally mystified. “I mean, why smack her on the butt?”
“She’ll find her way back home. She just needs a little motivation to get going.”
“Like the birds?” How come I didn’t know all these animals had such a strong sense of home? Are they so different from us, really? Does everyone and every thing need a place to call home and feel safe in?
“Yeah, kinda. But different. Anyway, good luck. You’d better go.” Jackson bent down and picked up my shotgun.
Katy came bursting out of the front door, carrying some leather straps with her. “Put these on! So you don’t have to hold the guns!”
Jackson handed up two shotgun holsters. After a little bit of finagling I was finally able to attach it to my body and get the gun inside, over my back. I felt like a real cowboy outlaw now. Only one that didn’t know what the hell she was doing.
“You sure you know how to do this?” I asked Bodo as he adjusted his holster.
“Yes. I had many horses in my life.” He slapped the reins a little and kicked the horse in her sides, making a clicking noise with his tongue.
There was so much about my boyfriend I didn’t know - things he hadn’t told me. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out if it was because he’d withheld the information deliberately or because I just hadn’t bothered to ask.
I turned to watch the ranch fading behind me as we transitioned from a walk to a trot. Every face looking back at me had an expression of worry.
I had to turn back and hold onto Bodo tighter so I didn’t start thinking about all the ways I could die.
The jarring trot quickly turned into a gallop that threatened to throw me off the horse’s rear end. Bodo pointed the horse to the road that would take us to the highway, and in no time we were running down the shoulder of I-95, headed in the direction of Kahayatle.
I held on for dear life, praying to my father and any invisible gods who might be listening. Please don’t let us die, please don’t let us die, please don’t let us die…
Chapter Five
THE HORSE WAS FOAMING AT the mouth with white gooey stuff by the time we arrived at the small store that used to serve as a canoe rental place.
Bodo got down, reaching up without a word to help me off, taking me by the waist and lifting me down.
I had a hard time standing when I reached the ground, my butt and back were sore from the constant pounding they’d endured on our trip. I massaged my lower back through my shirt as I got my equilibrium back. I was so not in fighting shape right now.
Bodo didn’t seem bothered by the hard ride at all. He turned the horse around, tied the reins to the saddle horn and whacked her really hard on the butt.
The horse jumped and took off, running like a bat out of hell back towards home.
I sent out a silent prayer that she’d make it, because this place surely was hell compared to where she was from.
The store had been destroyed. Someone had set it on fire, and there wasn’t much left. Some of the nearby trees were also scorched.
“Wait here,” said Bodo, running in the direction I’d seen Rob go before. In less than a minute he was back. “Da bikes are still here. I think
dey are still in da swamp.”
I walked over to the top of the bank that looked down to the docks. “There aren’t any canoes here. What are we going to do?”
Bodo shrugged. “Swim.”
“You’ve gotta be friggin kidding me. Swim? Are you serious?”
He got to the bank and took his gun off, putting it up on his head.
“The shells!” I yelled, just as he was stepping into the water.
He tugged out the few I’d given him and put them in his teeth.
“What are you doing?!” I screeched as he entered the water again.
He turned to me and just frowned for a few seconds before jerking his head and turning away. He went in deeper.
“Jesus flippin’ Christ,” I mumbled, whipping my holster off and dropping my weapon to the ground. I quickly took off my t-shirt and threw it at my feet. Next came all the shells out of my pockets, which I quickly tied up in the flimsy cotton. I put as tight a knot in it as I could and then grabbed it in my teeth. It was heavy, but manageable. I stood there staring at the river in my shorts and bra, pissed and scared to death. Several mosquitos feasted on my exposed skin as I debated entering the gator-infested water.
I made my decision, the only one I could make really, and snagged the shotgun still in the holster from the piles of rotten pine needles. I ran back to the edge of the bank, sliding down to the bottom and nearly biting the dust I got going so fast.
I stumbled down the short beach and into the water, taking long strides so I could catch up to Bodo. I held my gun up above my head and my chin back, doing everything I could to keep my weapon and my shells dry.
***
I couldn’t even imagine how we were going to do this. The water was getting deep quickly, and the current was strong enough that it was pushing me along, threatening a decent soaking if I lost my footing. I was pretty sure the gun wouldn’t work if it got wet.
Bodo took the few shells he had out of his mouth. “Come to da side,” he said, moving to walk near the banks of the river where it was much shallower but lined at the bottom with dead wood and tangled roots of nearby trees.
I pulled my t-shirt out of my mouth, holding it up with one hand while the other held the heavy gun. “That’s where the gators are,” I whispered, my tone obviously revealing my stress.
“Da gators are everywhere. Just ignore da fear. If dey attack, we haff da guns.”
“But … you can’t shoot a gator underwater!”
He didn’t say anything in response. He just shoved the shells back into his mouth.
This had to be the stupidest non-plan in the history of our new world. I was close to abandoning it completely and climbing out of the river when I saw the end of a canoe sticking out of some tree roots up ahead.
I was all set to shout with joy when Bodo threw his finger up to his face in a shushing gesture. He glared at me, making gestures with his hand to look around.
I stopped moving and went as silent as possible, searching for signs of enemies hiding in the trees around us. All I could hear was the water rushing past and the occasional screech of birds. They wouldn’t be doing that if there were canners here. I was sure of it.
I walked over to Bodo and whispered in his ear. “Give me your gun. Go get that damn canoe. Or I’ll do it.”
He handed me his gun without argument, leaving me to swim across the water. Grabbing the edge of it, he swam in a modified backstroke to bring it over to where I battled the current, not as close to the edge as I wanted to be.
The speed of the water carried Bodo downstream, so I struggled along to meet him where he finally landed on the banks. My arms were trembling with the effort of holding both guns above the water.
When I reached the canoe, I threw them both over the edge to fall inside. I had expected them to make a hell of a clattering, but didn’t care; it was either that or lose them to the river. But something in the boat muffled the sound of the guns’ landing. My heart froze as I considered what that might be.
I threw the shells in next and then grabbed the edge of the canoe, tipping it down towards me.
Inside was a body dressed in animal hide and moccasins. There was a lot of blood and the person who it had come from wasn’t moving.
***
“Jason!” I yelled, a sharp gasp escaping my lips as I realized I was calling every murdering canner my way with my shouts.
“Jason,” I said more quietly, jumping up to smack him on the head, trying to get a response from him. The boat rocked my way, tipping really far to the side.
“Don’t!” growled Bodo. “You’re going to tip it ofer, and we needt to get inside.”
“But Jason’s in there.” I was so confused. Why was he out here in a canoe all by himself? And why was he covered in blood?
“He’s dead,” said Bodo, reaching in and grabbing Jason’s shirt.
“What are you doing?” I asked, freaking out because it looked like he was trying to pull Jason out.
“We haff to get in da canoe and he hass to come out.” He grunted with the effort of hauling Jason’s lifeless body towards him.
“He might not be dead!” I said, nearly crying now. “You have to be sure! And you can’t just leave him here in the water for the gators!”
“We can’t keep him in da boat. Get back. Get outta da way.” He wasn’t paying me any attention, too focused on wrestling around with Jason’s body.
I punched Bodo in the arm, using my knuckles to get his attention. “Hey! Asshole! We’re not dumping him!”
Bodo stopped his struggles with Jason and glared at me. “You want to die? Fine, den. Go aheadt and die.” He started swimming away.
My heart was breaking into a hundred different pieces. I watched Bodo’s body cutting through the water cleanly, like he didn’t have a care in the world - like a boy we called a friend wasn’t bloody and dead in this boat I was hanging onto. Like we hadn’t ever been in love.
“What is your friggin’ problem?” I asked, my voice full of the tears that I was battling to keep from falling. This was so not the time to be disintegrating into girly emotions.
He turned to tread water. “You needt to ask me dat? Right now?”
“Yes! I do!” I whisper-screamed at him. “I really do. Is what I did so bad that it can’t be forgiven? That you have to hate me forever? Didn’t we have something special that meant something to you?”
He stared at me with a hard look for a what felt like a long time. Then he swam back, never breaking eye contact with me. When he finally got to the side of the boat, he grabbed the edge of it, facing me from not more than six inches away.
“What you did … it hurt my feelingss. I trusted you.”
His words made me angry. Angrier than angry. “Trust? You’re talking about trust? You of all people should watch your step when that word comes up, Bodo.”
I had expected him to get mad, but that was not the emotion that came to the surface.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
Suspicious. Guilty. He did something! My heart was beating so hard against my ribcage I was sure he’d see it.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re no one to be talking about being trustworthy.” I really wasn’t sure what I was referring to; in my mind it could have been the fact that he’d hidden Nina from me, or his history, or any number of things. But for some reason, whatever was going through his mind was making him lose some of his anger. Now he looked more scared or bratty than anything else.
“Whatever dey said, it’s not true.” He frowned.
My mind was going a million miles an hour. Who’s they? What could they have said? Does he mean kids back at Haven? Kahayatle? The Amazons? It could have been anyone at this point.
I decided now was not the time to try and worm it out of him. I had to play it cool until we were safe again. Then I would totally take him down for whatever it was that had him so worried right now.
“Let’s just forget about it for now and dea
l with it later. We need to put Jason up on the bank.”
“He’s too heavy.” Bodo wasn’t fighting me nearly as much now.
Guilt, guilt, guilt. He’s done something. The more I thought about it, the madder I became. Energy surged into my body, giving me superhuman strength.
I walked over to the edge of the river, hauling the canoe with me. I scrambled out of the water and grabbed the edge of the boat, pulling it up to the edge as far as I could. It wouldn’t stay there long, but I only needed it to be there for a minute.
I reached inside and grabbed Jason by the shoulders of his shirt. Shaking him hard, I said, “Jason. Jason. Are you okay?” His head lolled to the side and for the first time I noticed that his eyes were open.
I put my fingers on his neck, unable to feel a pulse. “He’s dead,” I said softly.
“I already told you dat. He has a gunshot in his chest. Move him to da land. Come on.” Bodo stepped out and leaned into the boat, taking Jason by the side of his shirt.
Together, we pulled his stiff body out of the canoe and dragged him up onto the bank, hiding his remains amidst the tree roots that rose up out of the water in a tangle.
“What’s going to happen to him here?” I asked, as Bodo tipped the canoe a little, trying to get water in there to wash out some of the blood that had pooled and coagulated in the bottom. The smell of iron was strong, making my stomach churn.
“Probably da gators will get him.”
I swallowed past the huge lump in my throat, barely able to speak. “But that’s … that’s not right.” Tears burned my eyes.
“It’s fine. Dat’s da circle of life. He’s gone now. Dat’s just da shell.”
I knew he was right, but it still felt terrible to leave Jason here like this. He’d helped save those kids from the canners and had always been very loyal to his people.
“Could you leave me out here like this?” I asked. It was a loaded question, but I had to hear the answer.
“Of course not. Get in the canoe,” he said, not looking at me.
“The canners are going to pay for doing this,” I said, getting in while he steadied it. I prayed Rob, Winky, and Paci had gone directly to the ranches and not tried to go through here first. I didn’t want to find anymore friends like this.