Regan Wolfrom - Coyote

“Thank you, Katie,” Kayla said.

She gave Katie a hug.

And then Sky. And Graham. And finally Lisa.

“I love you,” Kayla said.

“I love you, too,” Lisa said. “That means something.”

“I know it does.”

Kayla walked over to me and reached for my hand.

I hoped it wasn’t just for show.

They left just before sunset. Nineteen people total, seventeen of them from McCartney Lake.

They took Tremblay’s truck and the plow, one of the Mossbergs, and one set of body armour and riot gear. They took some supplies, but on the whole we’re left with more per person now that they’ve gone.

Kayla stayed with me as we’d waited for them to leave, and she’s still with me now.

Every so often I run my fingers along her back and she gently moans.

I’m finding it hard to believe that she’s moved on from what I tried to do.

Maybe she just doesn’t know what to do with me.

Today is Thursday, January 17th.

Justin showed up before sunrise with his phone in his hand.

Kayla and I were in the living room.

“Alain left me a message with Marc’s old phone,” he said. “It’s for you, I’d say.”

“They need help,” I said.

“They need help. The Souls have them trapped on 101. Said by the time he saw the roadblock they’d dropped another one in behind them.”

“Let me see.”

He handed me the phone.

“You tried calling him?”

“Signal’s too weak right now. Too much snow.”

“This came through ten minutes ago… now there’s too much snow?”

“Try it yourself. Call him.”

I pressed for Marc’s phone.

“Won’t even ring,” Justin said.

“What will make it ring?”

“Higher ground, maybe.”

“We don’t have any of that.”

“We might,” Kayla said. “And it’s further east… by Norembega… that helps, right?”

Justin shook his head. “So you two want us to waste fuel trying to get a signal from a guy who willingly split from us?”

“That sums it up,” I said. “Isn’t that what your electric shitbox is for?”

“They’ll be dead before we get there.”

“Then we won’t have to feel like we didn’t try.”

The three of us went together toward Norembega, driving in the ruts we’d carved on our cart trips to Helena, with Kayla crammed in the tiny back seat even though she was the navigator. I appreciated the sentiment, as I’m not sure I could have fit back there.

We reached the junction to Norembega and Helena.

“Turn left,” Kayla said.

“We can’t cut through that much snow,” Justin said. “No one’s driven there since the snow fell.”

“We’ll have to walk,” I said. “How far, Kayla?”

“Not far,” she said. “You can see it from here.” She pointed to a rocky outcrop covered in snow.

“You won’t get a signal,” Justin said.

“Just give me the phone,” I said.

“I’m coming with you,” Kayla said.

Together we jogged up the road toward the little mountain.

The road curved to the left. We moved off into the snow and made our way through the trees.

At some points the ground became so steep that we had to grip the pine trees like handrails.

We didn’t stop until we’d climbed to the top.

And there I found a signal.

I pushed for Marc’s phone.

And Alain answered.

“They’re just waiting by the junction with 572,” he said. “They know we’re stuck. I guess they figure we’ll just give ourselves up if they wait long enough. They’re probably right.”

“Are you sure it’s The Souls?” I said.

“I’m sure. There’s at least twenty of them at the roadblock now.”

“At both roadblocks? Total?”

“No. In front of us. Twenty in front and I don’t know how many behind.”

“You need to find out.”

“We need your help, Baptiste.”

“I’m at least two hours away.”

“We’ll try to hold out.”

“Do that.”

I ended the call.

I looked over to Kayla.

“They’re all going to die,” I said.

“We’ve got to try to reach them.”

“I know.”

“Then let’s go.”

She started back down the little mountain.

I struggled to keep up.

“I’m coming with you,” Kayla said as Justin rushed us back to McCartney Lake.

“I can’t let you do that,” I said.

“Well, I’m not going,” Justin said, “so there’s a slot available.”

“You’d turn their back on them?” Kayla asked.

“They turned first. I’m not risking my family’s life on people who chose how they’d die.”

“I think that’s valid,” I said. “I’m not sure I want to die for these people either.”

“So we just leave them there?” Kayla asked.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“When will you know?”

“Hopefully before we get down there.”

When we got back to McCartney Lake I started collecting the gear. Riot suits, vests, helmets… snowshoes to deliver our surprise to The Souls… I’d made sure to include my trusty guitar case; I still had rounds enough to cause some damage.

Kayla went to grab some food and water for the trip.

Once we were packed she asked me to drive over to the shed by Fiona and Gwyneth’s cottage.

We went inside the shed and she started pulling out the tackle boxes.

“Might as well bring all of the explosives,” she said. “If we don’t make it back, it’s not like Fiona’s going to find a use for this crap.”

“I had some of this earmarked for Detour Lake,” I said.

“We’ll worry about that later.”

I nodded.

And I started loading the tackle boxes into the truck.

Fiona came out to see what was happening.

“They need our help,” I said.

“You’re really going?” she asked.

“We are.”

“Both of you?”

“I think I can be of use,” Kayla said.

Fiona walked over to her. “Be careful, Kayla,” she said. She gave her a hug. “I don’t want to lose my arch nemesis.”

“We’ll be okay,” Kayla said. “We won’t do anything stupid.”

“This whole trip is something stupid,” I said.

Fiona walked over to me. “Don’t let anything happen to her,” she said. “Or to you.” She reached up and kissed me on the cheek.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. “I love you, Fiona,” I said. “Don’t ever forget that.”

“Then make sure you get your butt back here to remind me.”

We put on our riot suits and vests and then we went up to Hwy 652, the fuel gauge getting so close to empty that I knew we might get the warning light before we even reached Hwy 101. If that happened, the only way we’d get home would be if we could take some of Katie and Sky’s biodiesel.