Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

“I know. It’s not something we can handle on our own.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to say that. I thought you were coming here to convince me that we needed to go back today.”

“There’s no way you’re going back,” Sara said.

I sighed. “We need to get those supplies somehow.”

“I think you guys know about my phone,” Justin said.

“The phone you won’t let us use?” Lisa asked.

“I called everyone’s numbers. You know that. The networks were down all over the continent. I can barely get a signal, and we’re a lot closer to the Eastern Hemisphere than most people.”

“That was two months ago,” Graham said. “I’m sure someone’s working to get things going again.”

“Then we’ll try again soon, okay? But that’s not really the issue right now.”

“What is the issue?” I asked.

“I got a call from Dave Walker. Nice long message.”

“I didn’t know you two were phone buddies.”

Justin sighed. “There are around a dozen people in the district with working phones. I talk to all of them.”

“And keep the details to yourself,” Lisa said.

“So what did Dave Walker want?” I asked.

“He made us an offer,” Justin said. “He told me that they’d be willing to work together with us to retrieve the supplies…that we could split everything up 50/50.”

“That’s hard to believe,” Lisa said, her hand covering a mouthful of grilled cheese.

“They’ve decided to take over the Smiths’ old roadblock,” Rihanna said. “They brought up a camper and a couple of trucks.”

“I placed a call to D’Arcy at Detour Lake,” Justin said. “He’s already gotten back to me with a nice counter-offer.”

“No,” Sara said. “We’re not working with Detour Lake.”

Justin shook his head angrily. “You’re not in charge.”

“We’re not working with them,” I said. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

“You need to rethink that policy, Baptiste.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

“Wait,” Graham said. “If we team up with the Walkers we’re pissing on the Supply Partnership. We shouldn’t even be talking to them at all after the stunt they pulled. Not until we get our fair share of their inventory.”

“Good luck with that,” Justin said.

“When do they want to start?” I asked. “ASAP?”

“They don’t want to start emptying the cottages until we can get up there with a couple trucks of our own. They want two of us to help man the roadblock, and two to help with the loading. And they want you on the roadblock, Baptiste.”

“It isn’t right,” Graham said.

“And we’re going to somehow split everything up without any arguments or dirty tricks?” I asked.

“What’s the other option?” Lisa asked. “We either take what we can get or we’re left with nothing.”

“But I don’t understand,” I said. “Walker said he’d never work with me…what’s changed?”

“He must have been struck with a rare bout of common sense,” Rihanna said. “You and Justin are the most highly-trained guys in the district.”

“I think Stems has me beat.”

“I know I have you beat,” Justin said.

“We’d be betraying our friends,” Sara said. “The Marchands and the Girards. The Lamarches…”

“There won’t be any Marchands or Girards or Lamarches soon,” Justin said.

“So you’re planning on some more people snatching?” Lisa asked.

“Fuck you.”

Lisa stood up from the table. “How about I grab a broom handle and we see just who gets fucked?”

“Easy guys,” I said. “We all know you hate each other. There’s no reason to keep reminding us.”

“We can’t agree to this,” Sara said. “They betrayed all of us by dropping out of the partnership. We can’t reward them for that.”

“Come on,” Kayla said. “No one cares about the stupid Supply Partnership.”

Sara groaned. “No one asked you, Kayla.”

“Maybe someone should start asking me…maybe you guys should stop treating me like a goddamn child.”

“What are your thoughts, Kayla?” I asked. I had to start somewhere.

She seemed surprised at the question. She looked around as though she was waiting for someone to jump in. “We need to show the Walkers that we’re not people they can take advantage of,” she said. “As long as we keep on with this stubborn attitude that we can’t do business with Detour Lake, the Walkers will know that we don’t have any choice but to deal with them.”

“That’s it,” Justin said. “Exactly.” He was almost bouncing in his chair; I guess he’s not used to people agreeing with him around here.

“If we teamed up with Detour Lake we’d be stronger than the Walkers. We’d be stronger than New Post, too…and probably Stems.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “Underestimating Stems is a bad idea.”

“Do you even know what you’re talking about, Kayla?” Sara asked. “Those people up there are incredibly unbalanced. We can’t trust them.”

Kayla groaned. “They’re unbalanced, are they? Just because they were smart enough to plan ahead?”

“From what I’ve heard,” I said, “they have a whole lotta men and a handful of women. That’d make any group unbalanced. Add on some cabin fever and the various mental…uh…conditions that come from being a prepper…”

“No,” Kayla said. “That’s not fair. These guys weren’t up there waiting for the Rapture or something. They knew what was happening and they acted. That’s not crazy…that’s smart.”

“I think you wish you’d been a prepper,” Justin said.

“I was a goddamn prepper.”

“You were?” I asked. “For real?”

“Yeah, alright? A full-on survivalist nutjob. And if I hadn’t caught my boyfriend humping the town skank of Kapuskasing I’d be living up at Detour Lake right now.”

“Some rivalry there, eh?” Sara said. “You couldn’t let that bitch get away with it…Kayla the town skank of Cochrane has to represent.”

We all turned to see what had just happened. I’d never heard Sara speak like that before.

Kayla gasped along with the rest of us.

“If you guys are going to call the Walkers,” Sara said, “do it on the radio in the Tremblays’ truck…not on Justin’s phone. No more phone calls behind people’s backs.”

“What about the message this sends?” Lisa asked. I couldn’t tell if she was honestly wondering, or just trying to poke Sara.

Sara slammed her hands down on the table. “I don’t care about the message! I am so sick of carrying this. If you guys don’t think the Marchands and the Girards matter…then fine. Do what you want to do.”

She stood up and walked to the kitchen. The pans started clattering; she was pretending to do the dishes.

“What is her problem?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “A lot of bad news and not much good, I guess.” I turned to Kayla. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Whatever.”

“It’s not too late to do this right,” Justin said. “We team up with Detour Lake and send Walker packing.”

“We’re not starting a war,” I said. “We team up with the Walkers and we go from there.”

“I’d rather be the one who starts the war than the poor bastard who’s caught by surprise.”

“There won’t be any surprises. I don’t trust the Walkers any more than I trust the guys at Detour Lake. We get in and get the supplies and we get out. No one’s getting married here.”

Kayla stood up from the table. “We might as well be marrying them,” she said. “They’ve already got us on our back with our legs in the air.”

As she walked out, Justin smiled at her.