After The Fires Went Out: Coyote (Book One of the Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Series)

by Wolfrom, Regan

  I heard the gasps from everyone as Graham rose to his feet. “How many marauders do you believe there are now?”

  Sara bristled, but she didn’t intervene.

  “There are probably six or seven groups left around Cochrane,” I said, “but I’ll bet half of those are copycats, and aren’t doing much killing. I think these three Spirit Animal crews with the Toyota technicals are the only major threat left within thirty klicks of Cochrane.”

  “They’re a pretty big threat, aren’t they?” Graham asked.

  “They are, but it’s no better farther down the highway. We know that Timmins is fully run now by Souls of Flesh. I’ll bet if it wasn’t for the Protection Committee having organized people into patrols in the early days, we’d’ve had them up here. That same thing probably happened in a lot of other towns. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the towns between here and North Bay are being run by criminal organizations.”

  “What are you saying?” Sara asked. “Is there really nowhere left to go?”

  I took a deep breath. “I don’t think there is,” I said.

  “What about Temiskaming?” Kayla asked. “It’s safe there, isn’t it?”

  “We don’t know... there’s nothing to prove that Temiskaming isn’t just as bad as everywhere else. If we could even get there.”

  “They’re pretty quiet,” Matt said.

  “What do you mean?” Sara asked. She’d apparently given up on any semblance of order.

  “On the radio... in the Tremblays’ truck. If you scan the channels you only get a few groups here and there... and none of them talk about Temiskaming.”

  “That doesn’t mean much,” I said, wondering why Matt was spending so much time playing with the radio. “I doubt people mention their location often enough for you to pinpoint it. And that radio is digital; you wouldn’t even pick up on any encrypted chatter.”

  “You think people are using encrypted radio signals?” Lisa asked.

  “We use them on our handhelds, right? And I’d guess The Souls are using them in Timmins... otherwise Matt would be picking up on their conversations. Same for Aiguebelle. You’d probably need an analog scanner to even notice the signal.”

  “Well, there’s no mention of Temiskaming on shortwave, either,” Matt said. “Whenever they talk about us on the BBC or that news station out of Boston they talk about Toronto, obviously, but they also mention Ottawa and even Aiguebelle once in a while. But no Timmins, and no Temiskaming. It’s a black hole out here.”

  “They talk about places that are getting aid,” I said. “They probably have people on the ground in Aiguebelle to distribute food or fuel, and a correspondent here and there. I don’t think they’d bother with a place as small as Temiskaming. It’s probably no different than the way it was in Cochrane before The Fires, just a few dozen families trying to hold on.”

  “They’re out there,” Graham said. “And we can make it to Temiskaming if we go now, before the next attack.”

  “They’re not going to attack,” Matt said. “They’re not strong enough.”

  “They want to attack,” I said. “But they’ll wait until we let our guard down... until we stretch ourselves too thin.”

  “Like this morning,” Lisa said. “We’re lucky it was Stems and not those assholes pretending to be him.”

  “We got back in time... and I won’t let that happen again.”

  “So you know they’re coming for us,” Graham said. “But for some stupid reason you still want to stay?”

  “We’re stronger than they are,” I said.

  “That’s not true.”

  “Trust me. We play it safe and we wait. That’s our best chance.”

  “I can’t let this go,” Graham said. “We aren’t safe here.”

  “We should vote,” Kayla said.

  “It doesn’t matter what everyone wants,” I said. “It matters that we stay safe.”

  “We’re taking a vote,” Sara said. “But you’re still in charge of security, so you’re in charge of whether or not we stay. You’ll make the final decision.”

  “Then what’s the point of voting?” Lisa asked. “He’s already made up his mind.”

  “Someone make a motion.”

  “I’ll do it,” Kayla said. “I move that we stay at McCartney Lake.”

  “Okay,” Sara said. “There’s the motion. Show of hands... all in favour?”

  I didn’t know what to expect. I raised my hand and watched as the other hands shot up, Fiona, Kayla and Matt, four against two.

  “Motion carried,” Sara said.

  “Tell me, Baptiste,” Graham said. “What would you have done if they’d all wanted to leave?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “But I don’t think I would have given up. I don’t think I’d ever be willing to take us on the highway.”

  “So we’ll never agree.”

  “We don’t have to agree on everything. I’m not against looking at this again in the spring.”

  “Whatever,” Graham said.

  “No, seriously,” Lisa said, “I cannot wait until the snow melts so we can talk and talk all over again while you just ignore us and do whatever the hell you want.”

  “I think we should adjourn,” Sara said.

  But by the time she’d said it Lisa and Graham had already left the dining room, on their way upstairs and away from the rest of us.

  “It’ll blow over,” Kayla said.

  “I don’t think it will,” I said.

  “It has to,” Fiona said.

  “I know.”

  I left for my own room, and I think for the first evening since we moved into that cottage on McCartney Lake, the whole downstairs emptied out as everyone went to hide from everyone else.

  Today is Friday, December 28th.

  The weekly meeting was held at our place, which is exciting and wonderful pretty much if you’re Fiona and no one else. She’d baked up something she called a dutch baby, and she’d laid out the fancier plates, alongside cloth napkins folded in triangles.

  Kayla told her to stop trying so hard.

  I hadn’t seen Alain Tremblay since before his brother died. I hadn’t given him my supposed sympathies and I certainly hadn’t apologized for the “accident”. Since he hadn’t dropped by, I was starting to get the impression that he was perfectly content with the idea of never seeing me again.

  But when he showed up with Marc’s wife Suzanne, he smiled and extended his hand.

  I didn’t know what that meant.

  “I hope you’re feeling better,” he said to me. “I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks.”

  I nodded. “It hasn’t been fun for any of us.”

  I heard Fiona’s laughter from the dining room. I turned to see Matt leaning against the table, chatting her up.

  Suzanne came in for a hug and a peck on the cheek. “Baptiste... it’s good to see you,” she said. She smelled amazing, in that way where you aren’t really sure that it’s something that could have come from a bottle.

  “You, too,” I said.

  “Just waiting on Rihanna and Justin,” Sara said as she came over to greet our guests.

  “My nephew’s gone down to babysit,” Alain said. “They should be here soon. It smells wonderful in here... Fiona is a wonderful chef.”

  “And supermodel,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Uh... bad inside joke.” I felt like an idiot.

  Sara was glaring at me.

  “Should we eat?” I asked. “I’m sure the Porters won’t mind.”

  “We can wait a few more minutes,” Sara said.

  I nodded.

  I didn’t know what we were going to do while we waited.

  All I knew was that it would be all sorts of awkward.

  Alain sat down on the couch; Suzanne sat beside him, almost touching but not quite.

  Sara sat down on the rocking chair, leaving me the recliner.

  “That’s my spot,” Kayla said as she appeared out of no
where. “And no... we can’t share.” She threw herself down on the recliner, throwing out the footrest as she landed.

  Sara glared at me again.

  I’m not sure why that was my fault.

  I thought about standing, milling around the living room while everyone talked about whatever, but that would have been even more awkward, so I sat down beside Suzanne.

  She gave me a tap on the thigh.

  I didn’t bother looking at Sara.

  “So you had a visitor yesterday,” Suzanne said.

  “News travels fast,” I said.

  “It does,” Alain said, “whether you want it to or not.”

  “We were going to bring it up at the meeting,” Sara said.

  “Sorry... I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

  “No,” Kayla said, “you have a right to know.”

  “Where’s Graham?” Suzanne asked.

  “Hiding,” I said, forgetting the audience. “Uh... another stupid joke. I think he’s feeding the goats. Lisa’s with him.”

  Suzanne smiled. “He loves those goats.”

  “His family raises goats,” Sara said. Present tense, I noticed. I guess there was no reason to change it. “Boer goats... for meat. I think they have over fifty head.”

  “Graham told me eighty,” Kayla said.

  “He told me one hundred,” Suzanne said.

  “Should be five hundred by New Year,” Alain said with a chuckle.

  The front door opened without a knock.

  It was Justin and Rihanna.

  “Good morning,” Sara called out.

  “Morning,” Justin said.

  “Are we late?” Rihanna asked.

  “We haven’t started eating yet,” I said. “So I guess you’re just in time.”

  “Good... I’m starving.”

  I hate it when people say that.

  We ate breakfast without Graham and Lisa, since even Sara seemed to agree that they had no legitimate excuse for not knowing what time it was.

  Alain handed out a boatload of compliments, mostly to Fiona and her breakfast, but also a comment on Sara’s beauty and a mention of Kayla’s sharp wit. He was trying a little too hard, but I guess that’s better than the opposite.

  Once the last few bites of Fiona’s sweet, doughy contraption were taken, Sara got right down to business.

  Graham and Lisa still hadn’t arrived.

  I think Sara preferred that, after yesterday’s fight.

  “So I’m sure by now everyone’s heard about Stems and his message,” Sara said.

  “Tell us again,” Justin said. “I want to hear it from you.” He looked over to me. “Actually, I’d like Baptiste to tell us, since he’s in charge of security around here.”

  “Stems snuck over the river yesterday,” I said. “And through our gate. He busted the locks and somehow he didn’t set off the alarm.”

  “Somehow? You don’t know?”

  “Actually,” Matt said, “I found something. It looks like there’s a problem with our detection system.”

  It was Matt’s perfect timing. Rather than mentioning something to me beforehand, he had to blurt it out in front of everyone.

  “What kind of problem?” Justin asked.

  “It’s wide open. Anyone on our network has the ability to disable the alarm. And someone did... just long enough for Stems to pay us a visit.”

  “Can’t you figure out who disabled it?”

  “Nope. We didn’t turn on auditing for user actions. Just the event log.”

  “Didn’t turn on auditing? What kind of security system doesn’t have full auditing by default?”

  “It’s better than your non-existent one,” I said.

  “So you’re saying that someone at McCartney Lake is working with Ryan Stems?” Sara asked.

  “I guess so,” Matt said. “My money’s on Graham. He’s not here, right?”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “Don’t just throw out accusations, Matt. You look like an ass.”

  “Ranking from an expert in the field,” Justin said.

  “We need to lock it down,” Rihanna said. “Can you do that, Matt?”

  “I already have,” Matt said. “Only me and Baptiste can change it now.”

  “You and Baptiste?” Justin said. “How does that make sense?”

  “You still have that goddamn dongle, remember?” I said.

  “Why does he have a dongle?” Sara asked.

  “I gave him Ant’s,” Matt said. “I thought it made sense.”

  “Without asking?”

  “Asking who?”

  “Asking me,” I said. “You know... the guy in charge of security.”

  Matt gave me a smirk. “Hey, guy in charge of security. Who knows how to configure the detection system?”

  “This isn’t funny, Matt,” Sara said. “You can’t just ignore the rules whenever you feel like it.”

  “Wow,” Justin said. “Then how about this rule? Don’t leave a couple of young girls unprotected at your cottage while you trounce around on the other side of the lake?”

  “It was a mistake,” Kayla said. “It won’t happen again.”

  Justin groaned. “Let me give you guys some tips, since you apparently don’t fully get the idea of security. Number one: don’t let people sneak in. Number two: use your goddamn dinosaur brains to figure out who caused the breach. Here’s a hint: it was fucking New Post.”

  “New Post?” Matt said. “Why would you say that?”

  “Come on, Matt... we share the hop at Blackwell Road with them. They have access to our network. And they probably have people who are professionals when it comes to things like hops and detection systems.”

  “I’m professional.”

  “I mean trained... certified...”

  “Oh.”

  “Where’s the proof?” I asked. “You want it to be New Post because you hate them. But you can’t prove it.”

  “No, I can’t,” Justin said. “Because apparently we don’t audit things around here. But tell me something, Baptiste... have you taken a drive up to the bridge on 652?”

  “Not yet...”

  “Well I have... and the gate’s intact. Stems didn’t drive his truck over that bridge. And the gate up by the bend in Kennedy Road is intact, too.”

  “It’s a half-ton pickup truck,” I said. “It’s not impossible to off-road a little.”

  “Come on... why risk getting stuck in the muskeg in hostile territory when you can take a nice old rail bridge controlled by your friends at Taykwa Tagamou?”

  “He has a point,” Alain said. “There’s a very good chance that Gerald Archibald let Stems through.”

  “We need to confront him,” Rihanna said.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Ooh,” Justin said, “more indecisiveness... keep it up, Baptiste... you haven’t killed us all, yet.”

  I wasn’t going to take that. “Enough, Justin. I’m not going to put up with your shit for another second. Either you’re a part of this team or you’re not. You can’t sit there sniping at me every thirty seconds and pretend that you’ve got my back.”

  “I don’t ‘got’ your back. I don’t support you. I support the idea of keeping us alive. And that’s pretty much at odds with your leadership.”

  “I think you should go, Justin,” Sara said.

  “That’s your answer to everything. Someone makes a good point? Just kick ‘em out.”

  “Come on, Justin...” Alain said.

  “No, Alain. You need to pick a side here.”

  “That’s not how this works,” Sara said.

  “This doesn’t work,” Alain said. “This is one-man rule and it is failing us.”

  “What one-man rule?” I asked.

  “Who chose to attack the gunmen at Silver Queen Lake?” Justin asked. “And who did it without wanting me to know?”

  “I wasn’t hiding it from you.”

  “I think you were,” Matt said.

  “Shut up,
Matt.”

  “Don’t tell him to shut up,” Justin said. “He has as much a right to speak as anyone else.”

  “Don’t do this, Justin,” Kayla said. “Please...”

  Justin ignored her. “Speak, Matt. Tell us why Baptiste likes to keep secrets.”

  “He doesn’t trust you,” Matt said.

  “But why?”

  “Because you’re using us,” I said. “You came here begging for help, and then you and Marc Tremblay kept on with your little indenture shuttle. That’s why you wanted that goddamn dongle... so you could take the Lamarche daughters and sell them to Detour Lake... so you could rob the Smiths blind in exchange for some indenture contracts. How can anyone trust you?”

  “Calisse de crisse, Justin,” Alain said. “You’re doing it again.”

  “Fuck, Alain,” Justin said. “You drank the booze. You ate the fucking belgian chocolates... you knew what we were doing.”

  “And with Detour Lake again? After what they’ve done? To the Marchands... to Antoine... they tried to kill you. Did you forget?”

  “They weren’t after him,” I said. “They don’t shoot their hired help. They just wanted to put a hole in the Supply Partnership, I’ll bet. Maybe put a hole or two in me.”

  “They wanted us on their side,” Justin said. “They knew what Stems was up to, that he’s going to come for all of us eventually. You needed to pick a side, Baptiste. But that’s always been too hard for you.”

  “I can’t believe you would all betray us,” Sara said.

  “I didn’t know,” Suzanne said.

  Sara shook her head. “You’re lying... you’re all guilty. Every last one of you.”