Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

“Oh and so then we’ll vote on it?” Graham asked. It sounded like he was mocking me.

“And then I’ll decide what comes next. That’s how it’s going to be.”

“That’s fair,” Rihanna said.

“What a surprise, Baptiste,” Graham said, “it’s all up to you again.”

“I thought we’d discussed this,” I told him. “All matters of security…or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then don’t get in the way, Graham. Trust me on this.”

He left it there for the moment, but I don’t think he trusts my judgement anymore.

Matt stayed on shift overnight, so ridiculously eager to play jailer that I didn’t bother to argue; to be honest, I liked my chances of him sleeping right through the meeting. He was still pacing around the living room couch when I went upstairs to sleep, watching over his prisoners as they huddled together with their jackets as pillows, their wrists now zip-tied in front.

I wasn’t sure what I could do for them. No matter what decision I made, someone was going to fight me on it. And I wasn’t sure if these kids were going to make it home in one piece.

By the time everyone started to arrive around seven the next morning, Matt was still going strong.

We met in the dining room, with Alain and Suzanne Tremblay, all of the Porters, and Eva and skinny Robert Marchand. Kayla had taken it upon herself to make breakfast, with a little nervous help from me, but it didn’t take long for the hot food to start running out.

Since it was a meeting about security first and foremost, I chose to run it. Sara sat quietly at the table, pretending that she wasn’t still wanting me dead, but doing it so poorly that I’m sure even those two kids from New Post knew I was on her shitlist.

“So I’m sure everyone knows what’s happening,” I said as I stood from my chair, “but I’ll take a moment to explain it so we don’t leave anything out. These two teenagers from New Post have been caught attempting to steal supplies from the Porters. There have been other thefts, most likely by these kids, too. And I’m afraid that based on what they’re taking it seems pretty clear that New Post’s Chief and Council planned the whole thing. So the question is how we should react to these thefts. We may want to hold onto our prisoners until New Post provides us with adequate restitution.”

“One minute,” Eva Marchand said. “So they give us our food back or we kill their children?”

“No one said anything about killing,” Rihanna said.

“But that would be the threat if they don’t do what we want, would it not? Otherwise there is no reason for it.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Graham said.

“It sounds like a great plan,” Lisa said with a smirk. “Maybe we should cut off an ear to let them know we mean business.”

“That’s enough,” I said. “There’s no room for sarcasm here, okay? This isn’t a joke.”

“It seems like a joke,” Graham said. “This isn’t self defense here, Baptiste…just holding these kids hostage is a violent act. It’s inexcusable.”

“He’s correct,” Eva said. “You held these children here last night…you could try to argue that you did it to keep them safe and out of trouble. But now we need to take them home.”

“This is life or death,” Rihanna said. “Having our supplies stolen could cost us our lives one day. It’s an act of violence.”

“That’s a stretch,” Lisa said.

“We just want our food back,” Justin said. “Is that too much to ask?”

“Then we should ask them,” Graham said. “Let’s go to New Post, bring these kids home, and ask for our food back. That’s all we can do.”

Justin pounded both hands on the table. “That’s bullshit. Those fucking natives have been double-crossing us from day one, letting Stems tromp on through, stealing our hard-earned supplies…and you want to go down there and ask them for a favour?”

Lisa stood up from her chair with so much force that it slammed backwards against the floor. “This fucking native would love you to keep shooting your mouth off,” she said.

“Calm down,” I said. “Everyone needs to take a breath here.”

“Baptiste is right,” Alain Tremblay said. “We won’t all agree on what to do. So let’s figure out what our choices are and come up with some pros and cons.”

“Just shut it, Tremblay,” Justin said. “Just leave this to people who actually contribute something around here.”

Alain rose from his chair, too.

“Easy,” I said.

Justin rose to meet him, giving him a shove.

Lisa hovered around them, too…I knew she wouldn’t hold back for much longer.

I looked over to Sara. She caught my glance and looked away. I stood up from my chair and tried to insert myself between the two men.

Justin pushed me and I pushed back. He then took a swing at me; I dodged it and slapped him across the face.

“Enough,” I said. “Sit back down…everyone.” I could hear in my voice that I was losing my temper; I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to notice.

Justin came close to growling at me, but he didn’t take another shot.

“This is ridiculous,” Graham said. “These meetings have become a farce.”

“That’s because there’s no point to them,” Rihanna said. “If Baptiste is supposed to decide, then he should just decide.” She looked up at me. “Well?”

“Just a minute, please,” Eva said. “Why does Monsieur Baptiste get to decide? There is a vote, no?”

“It’s my call,” I said. “So I’ll ask all of you to sit down and be quiet so I can think for a minute.”

That had the opposite result, and soon it seemed like every person in the room was trying to shout out their opinions at me. So I started yelling too, telling people to calm down and somehow managing to make everyone that much louder.

“Enough!” Sara screamed, as loud as I’ve ever heard her. “Just stop it!” She stood up and glared at me. “This is ridiculous…all of it.”

“Things got a little heated…” Rihanna said as she rose from her chair.

“Just shut up, okay?” Sara looked around the room and then she shook her head. “This is so effing ridiculous. Why do I even bother?”

She turned and walked into the kitchen, coming back out with a pair of scissors. She walked over to the living room and the two prisoners.

“Ridiculous,” she said again as she began cutting the plasticuffs off the native boy’s wrists.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She cut the girl free as well.

The two prisoners grabbed their jackets and ran out onto the side porch. They kept going until they’d disappeared down the path that ran along the lake. I wondered how many deer trails they’d memorized to find their way home through the woods.

Sara turned and went over to the front door. She grabbed her coat off its hook and walked out.

“Where is she going?” Rihanna asked.

“She’s going,” I said. I hadn’t even thought of following her.

“It isn’t safe,” Fiona said. “She can’t go out on her own.”

“Well she just did,” Justin said. “And she just gave New Post permission to keep stealing from us.”

“I think things will be getting a lot worse than stealing,” Lisa said.

“We’ll need to hook up with New Post again,” I said. “Matt…send them a message that we want to talk things through.”

Matt looked over to Justin, who gave him a nod. Like Justin was his goddamn boss.

“Okay,” Matt said. “I’ll set it up.”

“Baptiste?” Fiona said. “What about Sara? Aren’t you going to go after her?”