Regan Wolfrom - Coyote

Kayla nodded to Alain Tremblay.

I didn’t know which way he’d go.

“My brother is dead,” he said. “He died just across the river. Maybe if he’d slipped and fell two years ago instead of last month, he’d have been picked up by an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Maybe he’d still be alive. And when it’s my turn to have an accident, there won’t be any ambulance for me up here, either. Then his kids and mine won’t have a father or an uncle. Maybe in Temiskaming we won’t have to worry about dying so easily.”

“But you very well could die on the way,” I said.

“It’s not your turn,” Kayla told me. She pointed at Rihanna.

“The road isn’t safe,” Rihanna said. “And even if we could somehow get through, there’s no reason to believe Temiskaming has it any easier. International observers, a trickle of foreign aid… what makes it any better than a refugee camp? Twenty people at McCartney Lake are easier to feed and shelter than twenty thousand somewhere else. We have farm equipment now, don’t we? And a way to keep that equipment running? We can plant crops in a few months.”

“We need more than crops,” Graham said.

“We let you talk,” Rihanna said. “Now it’s my turn. The risk of staying is far less than the risk of leaving. No one can argue differently.”

Kayla nodded to Lisa.

“I’m arguing differently,” Lisa said. “There will be a war. Detour Lake will run out of food, and they will come. They will take everything we have and then they will push through toward New Post and the Walkers. Even if Ryan Stems drives them back… even if he kills every last one of them, it’ll be too late for us.”

“They’re preppers,” Kayla said. “They probably have several years’ worth of supplies.”

“I’m still talking,” Lisa said.

“Sorry.”

“We don’t know what they have up there. And they don’t know what we have. No one knows anything.”

“That’s not exactly true,” Justin said. “I know what they’ve got.”

Lisa shook her head. “Yeah, right.”

“It’s no secret that Marc and I ran some people up to Detour Lake. We ran them up… all the way up.”

“You’ve been to Detour Lake,” I said. “You’ve seen their setup.”

“You guys know they’ve converted the plant into a refinery for biofuel… they’re not hiding that. Back in September we let the Walkers bring up how many loads of wheat flour and canola seed?”

“At least ten truckloads. Not sure of the breakdown…”

“They took some lye up there, too. And they trucked back who knows how many barrels of diesel from Detour Lake.”

“So they have flour,” Lisa said. “But how long can that last?”

“A long time,” I said. “That plus what they have in storage, and what they can find in the forest and pull out of the lakes… sounds like it could be awhile before they start starving.”

“They’ll come sooner,” Graham said. “They’ll come the moment they feel they have the advantage.”

“They don’t have the advantage. Stems is stronger.”

“Stems has an entire district to defend. He can’t be everywhere at once.”

I knew Graham was right. Stems wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Neither were we.

“What about Sara?” Fiona asked. “Are we just supposed to pack up and leave without her?”

“We’re no good to her dead,” Graham said. “We’ll get to Temiskaming and then we’ll regroup. We’ll come up with a way to get her back.”

“We’re not forgetting about her,” Lisa said. “She matters to all of us.”

“I don’t believe you,” Fiona said. “We won’t see her ever again if we leave.”

Lisa looked upset. “That’s not far, Fiona. Sara is my friend, too.”

“You have friends?” Justin asked.

“More than you.”

“We’re getting off-topic,” Kayla said.

I stood up from my chair. “It’s my turn to speak,” I said.

Kayla nodded.

“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “I’m not going. It’s that simple.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Lisa asked.

“It means that I’m not going.”

“So you’re going to stay here by yourself?”

“I’m not going, either,” Fiona said. “Not without Sara.”

“I guess you want to vote, then,” Kayla said.

“Don’t I get to speak?” Justin asked.

“Might be better for everyone if you don’t,” I said.

He spoke anyway. “Baptiste is right. It’s a stupid idea to go.”

“So we vote?” Kayla asked.

Some nodded; most of us didn’t say or do anything.

“Okay…” Kayla said. “A vote. So… um, all in favour?”

“In favour of what?” Lisa asked.

“In favour of leaving.”

“So all in favour of leaving raise your hand?”

“Yeah.”

Lisa’s hand shot up.

So did Graham’s… and Alain Tremblay’s… and Suzanne Tremblay’s… and Eva Marchand’s…

I counted the votes.

The Tremblays and Marchands were four. The Porters were on my side.

“Five to six,” I said. “The motion fails.”

“Learn to count,” Lisa said. “Six to three.”

“Where are you getting these numbers?” Kayla asked. “Six hands up, but a very large number of hands down.”

“Every cottage gets two votes,” I said. “Except ours. We get three.”

“That’s right,” Lisa said. “Graham and I say ‘go’. That’s two votes. That plus the Tremblays and Marchands equals six.”

“You and Graham get one vote. And you’re forgetting Fiona’s cottage.”

“Fiona doesn’t get two votes.”

“I know. Sara, Fiona and Gwyneth get two votes. And I know how Sara would vote.”

“You can’t split into two cottages and grow your vote,” Alain said. “You had three before, you have three now. And Lisa and Graham voted with us.”

“I’m the chair,” Kayla said. “I’ll count the votes.”

“Sounds good,” I said. I knew Kayla would see things my way.

Kayla took out her tablet and turned on the calculator pad. She started typing on the keys lit against the pinewood table. “Five in favour,” she said after almost a full minute. “Four against. Motion carried.”

Those words kicked the shit right out of me.

“Bullshit,” Justin said. “You have no authority anyway, Kayla. I don’t remember agreeing to that particular ruling.”

“Which ruling?”

“That the chair is automatically the last person Robert Jeanbaptiste pounded in the ass.”

“That’s uncalled for,” Kayla said. “You lost the vote, guys. Fair and square.”

“You can’t just make up the rules.”

“No one’s making up rules,” Lisa said.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re not going.”

“We voted.”

“I’m exercising my veto.”

“You don’t get a veto,” Lisa said. “Not this time.”

“It’s the will of the people, Baptiste,” Graham said.

“Half the people, maybe,” I said. “Probably less than half.”

“Five to four,” Lisa said.

“I don’t want to leave,” Fiona said.

“I don’t want to, either,” Kayla said. “But we took a vote.”

“And I vetoed it,” I said. “Or did you not hear me?”

“Maybe there’s a compromise,” Matt said. “Maybe we can split up. Those who want to go can, well, go. And the rest of us will stay.”

“No one’s splitting up,” I said. “We’re staying put. All of us.”

“I’m leaving,” Lisa said.

“We’re willing to take anyone who will come with us,” Katie said. “The stronger we are, the better.”

“It’s suicide,” I said. “You’d be better off just eating a gun right here. Then at least we’d have a place to bury you.”