After The Fires Went Out: Coyote atfwo-1

by Regan Wolfrom

  We didn’t see any obvious footprints in the snow, but that didn’t mean much; we may have wiped them with the horses and the cart, or Gwyneth may have walked in the woods and out of sight.

  We wouldn’t know until we found her.

  “This is my fault,” Fiona said. “I shouldn’t have gone to the meeting.”

  “So Matt and Kayla didn’t notice her leaving?”

  “Matt and Kayla probably don’t care either way.”

  “They both care,” I said. “Kayla because she likes you a lot more than she lets on, and Matt because…well, same story.”

  “Whatever.”

  “We’ll find her, Fiona.”

  I just hoped we’d find her alive.

  We turned onto Birchill Road to avoid the gate at New Post, like she may have done, and by then we still hadn’t found any sign of Gwyneth.

  I had Fiona call on the handheld to see if Lisa and Graham had found anything.

  Nothing.

  “Do you think there are still coyotes out here?” Fiona asked me.

  “Maybe. You remember what we read about them. They’ve got quite a range…they could be anywhere.”

  “They could be following her.”

  “I doubt it.”

  Since Gwyneth was maybe a hundred pounds on the outside, anything more than one coyote wouldn’t have to stalk her long before deciding to make the kill. If they’d tracked her, she was already dead.

  “We’ll find her,” I said.

  That was all I could think to say.

  We reached the green mailboxes that mark about halfway down Birchill Road. There was a little waiting-for-the-school-bus shack that looked like an outhouse with an aluminum door and windows.

  I saw footprints.

  I stopped the cart.

  “I’ll check,” Fiona said.

  I nodded.

  She climbed down and walked toward the shack.

  The door opened and Gwyneth stepped out.

  “You can’t make me go back,” she said.

  “We care about you, Gwyneth,” Fiona said. “You need to come home.”

  “I’m not going home with you.” She looked over and glared at me. “And I’m definitely not going home with him.”

  “We can’t force you,” I said. “If you don’t want to come back with us, you can stay out here and freeze to death.”

  She looked back to Fiona. “I’ll only freeze because they stole my supplies,” she said. “You need to make them give me my stuff back.”

  Fiona looked up at me. “Baptiste,” she said, “we need to bring her home. She’s not thinking clearly.”

  “You can’t force me.”

  “What do you expect me to do?” I asked. “Tie her up?”

  “I don’t know,” Fiona said.

  “I’m not forcing anyone to live with me.”

  Fiona looked back to Gwyneth. She held out her hand.

  Gwyneth took it.

  “Please, Gwyneth,” Fiona said. “Please come back with me.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t go back with him. You shouldn’t go back with him, either.”

  “I trust him. I love him like a father.”

  “He’ll hurt you. They all hurt you in the end.”

  “Let’s go, Fiona,” I said. “She’s made up her mind.”

  “I’m not leaving her,” Fiona said.

  “I’m not forcing her.”

  “Then I’m going with her.”

  I almost laughed. “That’s crazy, Fiona. You’re not even halfway there. You won’t make it.”

  “She’s my friend. I can’t just abandon her.”

  “I can’t let you die out here. I’m not above tying you up.”

  “That’s it,” Gwyneth said, “right there. He’s going to tie you up and then he’s going to rape you.”

  I didn’t even know where to begin. What could I even say to something like that?

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Fiona said. “Baptiste loves me like a daughter.”

  “Ask my father about that,” Gwyneth said. “Ask him what that means. I came up here to get away from him. But I was too stupid to realize that I really needed to get away from all of them. He will hurt you, Fiona. He will rape you. He may even kill you one day.”

  Fiona looked back up to me. “We’re going to keep walking,” she said. “I’d really like you to stay with us. But even if you won’t.”

  “I’ll stay,” I said. “I’ll follow behind.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  Then she and Gwyneth started walking down the icy gravel road.

  I called Lisa on the handheld and told her the story, and I asked her and Graham to catch up with us as soon as they could. Lisa was a nurse and not a psychiatrist, and I wasn’t supposed to know, but I knew that she’d have to have better luck with Gwyneth.

  Or at least better luck convincing Fiona that there was no point in humouring that crazy girl for one more minute.

  The two of them chatted with each other up ahead of me, sometimes even laughing together.

  I kept a good fifty to a hundred paces behind, stopping the cart every few minutes just to keep from catching up.

  Occasionally Fiona would look back and give me another smile.

  Sometimes Gwyneth would look back and give me another glare.

  She was starting to wear on me.

  Lisa and Graham arrived within twenty minutes. Lisa left her snowmobile in the ditch and jogged to catch up with the girls.

  Graham dumped his snowmobile as well, but climbed up on the cart to join me.

  “Fiona’s lost it, too?” he asked.

  “She feels like she’d be leaving Gwyneth to die,” I said. “And she’s right.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We hope to hell that Lisa’s more persuasive than I am.”

  “To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t try and force her to come home.”

  “I don’t want her to come back with us,” I said. “She’s almost as crazy as the fucker I had to shoot.”

  “Fiona cares about her.”

  “You are such a woman, Graham.”

  “Come on, Baptiste. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

  “Of course it matters, idiot. I love Fiona. I don’t want her to be upset.”

  “She’ll be more than upset…”

  “Then go hogtie the crazy so we can get home before Matt decides to try and cook dinner. We don’t need another forest fire.”

  “Lisa will figure it out,” Graham said, sounding like a total fool.

  “Yeah…maybe…”

  Lisa jogged back to the cart.

  “Nope,” she said. “They’re not interested.”

  “Neither of them?” I asked.

  “Fiona seems like she just wants to keep Gwyneth happy.”

  “For how long? Are they going to set up at Helena and start some kind of Amazon collective?”

  “They’re both too short for that,” Lisa said. “Let’s just go with Feminazis for now. I think we should just let them walk for a while. Eventually reality has to set in.”

  “I think Gwyneth left reality in her other pants.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Graham said. “How did I end up being the one who wants to brutalize these two girls and drag their butts home?”

  “You have a dark side,” Lisa said. “And I like it.”

  “I’m not going to put up with this,” I said. “I’m not interested in holding this crazy bitch’s hand.”

  Lisa nodded. “Then go. We can handle this. We’re relieving you.”

  “I stand relieved.”

  “Is that a pee joke?” Graham asked.

  “We’ll keep the cart,” Lisa said. “I don’t want us to have to hump these girls back on the machines.”

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  Graham handed me his key.

  I didn’t wait around. I hopped down and started walking back toward the snowmobiles.

  I went back home.r />
  I didn’t see Sara when I got back, but I didn’t worry about it. If she wanted to hide out at the Marchands or wherever, I wasn’t going to try and stop her.

  Kayla and I made dinner in the kitchen while Matt sat on the chair by the porch, holding the shotgun and looking exactly like the overzealous idiot he is.

  Has he ever seen me on watch with the shotgun? Is that how he thinks this is done?

  It was awkward at first with Kayla, neither of us talking about what I’m sure both of us were thinking. We hadn’t seen each other since she’d been half-naked on my bed, about to let me pull down her pants. I wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I miss apples,” Kayla said as she opened up a can of mandarin oranges for the salad. “More than bananas, even. Probably because we’re just a little too far north to get them.”

  “We’ve got applesauce by the buttload,” I said.

  “It’s not the same. That feeling of biting into an apple, that mixture of skin and the…er…apple guts…”

  “Are we going to talk about it?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there’s no reason to. We’ll just move on.”

  “Move on? Like try and be friends?”

  She laughed. “Move on like the next time we get a chance we’ll fuck like bunnies and that’ll be that.”

  “So that’s still the plan?” I wasn’t disappointed.

  “That’s the plan.”

  “I’ll bet there are apples that can be grown here,” I said. “I’m sure I’ve seen apple trees.”

  “You’ve seen them? But you don’t remember where?”

  “It didn’t seem important at the time.”

  “I didn’t start this because I want to hurt Sara,” she said. “It just happened. Hurting Sara would just be a happy side effect.”

  “She wouldn’t care. She’s done with me.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for apple trees. We ought to have an orchard.”

  “Yeah…our canned fruit won’t last forever.” She stopped making the salad and grabbed my hand. “What happened to those girls, Baptiste? What did they do to them?”

  “They wanted to hurt them,” I said. “To get back at me.”

  “No…before that. When you first found them in that cabin on Silver Queen Lake.”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “I’m asking. Just tell me, okay?”

  “They stripped them down and tied them to a bed.”

  “They tied them? To the bedposts?”

  “With zip ties…why does it matter so much? It’s not going to happen here, Kayla.”

  “Were their ankles tied? Were they blindfolded?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this…”

  “I can’t imagine what that would be like.”

  “Stop it, Kayla, okay? Just change the goddamn subject.”

  “Okay…sorry…I just wanted to know.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  We finished making dinner without talking about much else, and I set the table and wondered why no one was back yet.

  The three of us sat down and had dinner, Matt finally putting the shotgun down.

  With the way Matt still looks at Kayla, I don’t think he has any idea what she and I have been up to; I doubt he’s been given a copy of that plan of hers.

  The three of us sat in the living room after we’d eaten. We hadn’t done the dishes, since we were expecting more diners to show up.

  “Fiona just messaged me,” Kayla said. “They’re on their way home.”

  For a fleeting moment I was surprised she hadn’t messaged me. Then I remembered how I’d left her behind, and it all started to make sense. I was now higher on her shit list than Kayla.

  “Must not be far if she was able to send a message,” I said.

  “They’re on New Post Road. Fiona sent me one earlier, not long after you guys found her, all the way from Birchill. I’m surprised she had a signal out there.”

  “I didn’t even check.”

  “Yeah…apparently Sara’s pissed about that.”

  “What?”

  “She’s pissed. Apparently you didn’t tell her what was happening. She only found out when Fiona messaged her that you guys had found Gwyneth. Personally, I think she’s lost the privilege of being the first person you tell.”

  “Yeah…it doesn’t matter what she thinks.”

  “I don’t disagree.”

  That time I was the one who leaned in for the kiss.

  I heard a snowmobile arrive a few minutes later. I went downstairs to check, leaving Kayla in my room. We hadn’t done much.

  But probably enough for Matt to get the message.

  Justin was the one who stepped into the house, which was odd, since I don’t remember inviting him over.

  “We got ‘em,” he said to me as he kicked off his boots by the door.

  “Where are they, then? You just took off in front of them?”

  “The cart’s a little slow. And you know, I have a family to care for. It’s hard being the support system for two of those now.”

  “So you’re just here to taunt me? Like you’re looking for a fistfight?”

  He smiled. “Come on, Baptiste…I was just messing with you. Don’t be so mopey.”

  “Don’t be such an ass, Justin. Let’s start with that, shall we?”

  “Sure,” he said with a grin. “Sorry about Sara, eh?”

  “What about Sara?”

  “You know…that you two are on the outs. It was a good run, though.”

  “How is this your business?”

  “Well, when Sara starts sniffing around me because you’re not cutting it for her…that makes it my business. I mean, I’m a married man…”

  I stepped up to him and gave him a shove. “Get out,” I said.

  “Easy, guy…the heart wants what it wants…”

  “Get out of my face, Justin.”

  “Sure, pal…I’ve got a place to be.” He turned and headed toward the door. He stopped and gave me a smirk. “Don’t worry…I’ll make sure Sara isn’t…neglected…”

  “Don’t you have some supplies to give away?”

  He walked out onto the porch. He gave me a wave as he left.

  Kayla came downstairs.

  “What an asshole,” she said.

  “You heard all that?”

  “No…I just know he’s an asshole.”

  I laughed. And then I followed her back upstairs.

  I heard the cart coming, and I started climbing off the bed.

  “Don’t,” Kayla said. “They’re fine. They don’t need you right now.”

  She put her hand on my shoulder and started rubbing.

  I laid back down.

  “We can’t do this now,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “What if someone comes up here?”

  “Let them come. As long as I get to go first.” She started kissing my neck.

  I appreciated the sentiment, but I wasn’t really that type of guy.

  I flipped her onto her back and pulled off her shirt.

  “Oh,” she said. “So that’s how you want to do it, Big Daddy?”

  I almost cringed at the nickname. But I held it in.

  The last thing I wanted to do was turn her off.

  I started kissing her neck, like she’d done mine. I listened to her moan…I loved the sound more than anything else.

  Kayla Fucking Burkholder…

  I felt like I was cheating now…on Sara…on Alanna…but I wanted to cheat…I wanted to just do what I wanted, to tell the world “to hell with it”.

  So I took Kayla on my squeaky double bed.

  It was amazing.

  She is amazing.

  I am amazing.

  Today is Saturday, January 5th.

  I woke up with Kayla beside me.

  I guess there are no secrets anymore.

  We dressed and then we went
downstairs together, not clinging like newlyweds, but I’m sure it’d be obvious that we were a couple of sorts.

  There was no one there.

  I pulled out my tablet.

  No messages.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kayla said. “We did sleep in.”

  “By a half hour, maybe…”

  “Message Graham…he still…um…doesn’t hate you…”

  “Thanks.” I queried for Graham’s whereabouts. He was up the road, between the Tremblays and the Porters. “He’s heading to see Justin,” I said.

  “That’s…odd…”

  “They’re going to have a meeting about us,” I said. “What to do with Kayla and Baptiste…”

  She smiled. “Nah…probably just an orgy.”

  I went along. “But you love orgies.”

  She chuckled. “So I’m the one who should be worried.”

  We put on our jackets and boots. I unlocked the chest by the door and found all three sets of vests and helmets. I didn’t put one on, but I can’t say I wasn’t tempted.

  We walked up the road toward the Porters. As we passed the Marchands, I tried to see if I could see anyone through the windows. I couldn’t.

  We passed the Tremblays; I couldn’t make out anyone there, either.

  Then I saw someone, at the Williams’ place, the next cottage up the road. The skinny Marchand kid, splitting firewood just outside the boarded up front window.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him.

  “Splitting wood,” he said. “For the girls.”

  “The girls?”

  He stopped splitting. “Uh…yeah…”

  “Gwyneth’s moving in here,” Kayla said. “Am I right?”

  “That red-haired girl…” the boy said. “And that pretty brunette…Fiona…”

  “That pretty brunette is only sixteen,” I said.

  “So? I’m seventeen.”

  “They’re moving out…fuck…”

  The door to the Williams’ place opened.

  I looked over to see Sara.

  “I’m moving out, too,” she said. “There’s no way I’m going to be living with the two of you.”

  “We can’t afford this,” I said. “We’re going to heat five cottages? This kid’ll be splitting a lot of firewood.”