Freegans part 26

Cara again
I lay on the ground, trembling as the last wisps of the terrible cloud left my brain. I saw the others around me, looking as white and shaky as I was. Lucy seemed to be the worst off, but even she was coming around. Slowly I managed to sit up. It was then that I noticed Madiza. She was standing up, with her back against the door of the room, almost like she was trying to keep something from coming out.

"What are you doing?" I asked. My voice came out sounding like a croak.
"Got to hold it in. Can't let it out, or it'll hurt you again!" said Madiza.
"What, the smoke?"
"Yes! Radix pedis diaboli!" Madiza dragged her chalk out of her pocket and drew a picture on the door. It looked like a combination of a foot and a hoof.
"That's what it looks like before it's ground up. When burned, the stuff stimulates the part of the brain which controls fear. Whoever is exposed to it for too long either goes cuckoo like me, or kicks the towel!" I assumed by that last phrase that she was using a combination of 'kick the bucket' and 'toss in the towel', but decided to let it go.

"So how come it didn't effect you?"
"I don't know. Maybe because I've already lost my marbles. And it couldn't have; I wouldn't have been able to get you out otherwise." Madiza grinned at me.
"You saved us?"
"Of course I did, silly! You're my friends! I didn't want you to become Looney Tunes, or get rattled!"
"Rattled?" asked Matt, who had by now recovered.
"Death-rattled. Hee hee!"

I suddenly felt a wave of affection for her. "Thank you, Madiza," I said softly. Then I got up, and helped Matt.
"We need to go. The Junkmen are probably going to come back soon. Ben, Lucy, can you walk?" Ben stood up, and Lucy staggered to her feet, but she looked unsteady. Without warning, Ben picked her up and slung her, piggy-back style, onto his back. Well, that worked.
"Right, let's go." I started to head to the left, but Madiza said, "No, no! Not that way! The camp of the trashy people is over there! We need to go right!"

"How do you know?"
"I can smell them! We need to go this way! Trust me!" She headed down the right branch. I looked at Matt and Ben, who shrugged.
"Who are we to argue with a nutcase who knows more than we do?" asked Matt.
"Good point," I said. So, we went after her. I just hoped she knew what she was doing.