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She seemed so sure of herself. Maybe this was doable, I thought. Maybe all the people Jessica had heard of actually did find a way to the other side, and maybe all the rumors back in Free America were true. Maybe we really could do this.
    By the time I was ready to start back, I’d made up my mind to follow her the whole way.
    I rounded the old live oak that sheltered our campsite and was about to step into the circle of fading firelight when I heard voices. Jessica’s and someone else’s. A man’s voice.
    I froze, my hand dropping to the pistol tucked into the front of my jeans.
    I could only make out snippets of their conversation, but from the little I could hear I realized that I’d made a mistake. That wasn’t a man’s voice. It was a boy’s. A teenager. He sounded like he was fifteen or sixteen, a kid, but still close enough to a man to be dangerous. I had my hand on the pistol when I heard something behind me.
    I spun around to see an older man and a dog staring at me.
    “ There’s no need for your gun, miss,” the man said. “I’m sure you ladies have seen your fair share, but my grandson and I are harmless. We’re not armed.”
    “ That doesn’t seem very smart.”
    “ Why in the world would I need a gun?”
    The question caught me by surprise. I didn’t quite know what to say. I looked from him to the dog and back to the old man. I had nothing.
    “ What’s your dog’s name?” I finally said.
    “ Guthrie,” he said.
    “ Named for Arlo or Woodie?” It was the first thing that came to mind, but evidently, it was the right thing, for his smile grew wide.
    “ Both, actually. Nice to meet somebody who remembers the joys of good music.”
    “ My Dad,” I said. “He was kind of an old hippie.”
    “ Sounds like someone I would have liked,” the man said. “My name is Frank. That’s my grandson over there talking to your friend. His name is Will.”
    I nodded. I was starting to like this man, though my hand hadn’t gone far from the pistol tucked into my pants. It didn’t matter how nice his smile was. And certainly not after what had happened earlier.
    “ You mind if we go over to the campfire there?” he asked. “I’m a bit chilly.”
    “ Sure,” I said, turning to allow him a path to the fire. “Lead the way.”
    We entered the campsite and I took up a position next to Jessica. I could tell from her body language that this was a good thing, that she wasn’t afraid of these men. It wasn’t like before, when she spent long stretches of silence trying to shrink into herself, contemplating whatever lay beyond her death. This was different. There actually seemed to be mirth in her eyes as she listened to the old man tell of what had led them here.
    They were coyotes. That they admitted from the start. In fact, they told us they had just come from a successful trip across the wall, for they knew of a good spot to cross.
    Frank liked to talk, and as he was the first coyote I’d met who wasn’t a drunken rapist with bad teeth, I started asking him questions. I was worried he’d be offended, but I think he was actually kind of amused by the whole interview process.
    “ Wasn’t much of a stretch for us,” he said. “Will here was living with me on my ranch about twenty miles from here. I’ve had a flag flying off my doorstep since I came back from Vietnam, and when the government started building the wall, Will and I, we did our part. We even helped those sons a bitches put up some of it. The way I saw it, it was my patriotic duty.
    “ Course then everything went to hell. I figured even an officer coulda told we wasn’t infected, but they locked us up anyway. I couldn’t believe it. I stood there on the Zone side of the wall and carried on a twenty minute conversation with a major, and all I got was fucked.”
    He looked at us then and actually blushed.
    “ Er, I’m sorry about my language, ladies. I don’t usually talk that way in front of women. But it gets a fella awful