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For the leader of the coyotes, see Pack Leader. |
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| “ | All dogs go to heaven. Coyotes go the other way. | ” |
—Brianna in Fear |
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The coyotes make an appearance in almost every book in the Gone series. They are allied with the Gaiaphage, and act as his servants. However, they are not completely loyal, and will sometimes let their animal instincts take over. They are led by Pack Leader, but the leaders have changed three times.
When the FAYZ happened, some coyotes were mutated by the Gaiaphage or, as they called it, the Darkness. This gave them flat jaws and a change in anatomy, allowing them to speak in basic, distorted English. However, their intelligence was boosted only minimally, to the necessary amount required to learn basic English. They also grew in size until they were as big as Great Danes.
Appearances[]
- Gone
When Lana Lazar is sleeping in Hermit Jim's shack, she hears a coyote speaking outside, telling her to come out, but she dismisses it as her imagination. Later, when she explores the mineshaft, the coyotes make her and Patrick join them as the Gaiaphage wants her healing power. She meets Pack Leader, and an unmutated coyote she names Nip becomes her guard. Lana is forced to live with the coyotes for two days before Sam, Quinn, Astrid, Edilio and Little Pete find Hermit Jim's shack, and she manages to get inside before the other coyotes catch up. However, Nip and another coyote get inside, and she bludgeons them to death with a gold bar. Another pack joins the first, and Pack Leader is given fire by the gaiaphage. When the shack starts burning, Sam unleashes his power and several coyotes are killed.
When Drake, Howard and Orc go into the desert with Lana on their way back to Coates, due to Drake wanting Lana to reattach his arm (which was burnt off by Sam), the coyotes are sent by the Gaiaphage to take Lana. Orc and Drake, however, try to stop them. Orc is devoured and given fatal wounds (this causes him to become a gravel monster, but this was nothing to do with the coyotes), but Drake isn't defeated so easily. Howard, knowing that Drake will kill him if he gets angry and that the coyotes will also kill him if they don't get Lana, proposes a deal - the coyotes take Lana, but then they work for Drake. After this, Howard sneaks away.
In the mineshaft, Lana gives Drake his whip hand, controlled by the Gaiaphage. The coyotes then go back with Drake to Coates, and are part of Caine's attack on Perdido Beach. They invade the day care, but Drake orders them to not attack. However, their animal instincts take over when Taylor teleports in with food, allowing the kids to escape. After this, Caine and Drake allow the coyotes to eat the children, including Tanner Donegal, until they are stopped by Diana and Quinn.
At the end of the book, Pack Leader leads Caine into the desert to meet the Gaiaphage.
- Hunger
The coyotes are still loyal to Caine, although they have returned to the desert. When Lana and Cookie go to the mineshaft, Pack Leader and several others try to get Lana to stop, although they do not attack Cookie when Lana orders him to walk away. Lana also shoots Pack Leader, killing him, so a second coyote takes over. The coyotes fail to stop Lana from driving into the mineshaft, but the Gaiaphage succeeds. The coyotes also don't attack Edilio, Orsay and Bug when they drive up. When Edilio is later shot, Dekka tries to stop them from eating him, but is overwhelmed and nearly killed.
When Caine, Drake, Diana, Jack and two gunmen arrive, the coyotes are implied to eat the gunmen. However, two of them are killed by Jack, who is disgusted. The coyotes do not attack Duck or any other kids who arrive.
- Lies
The coyotes do not appear in Lies, but are mentioned by Hunter Lefkowitz when he tells Sam that he and the coyotes don't bother each other because they hunt in different places due to an agreement.
- Plague
In Plague, the second Pack Leader has become infested by the greenies. In return for death, he tells Sam, Dekka and Jack where the greenies live. Later, the bugs that rose from Hunter eat the coyotes by the mineshaft, except for one, who remains unnamed. This coyote joins the attack on Brianna when she arrives.
- Fear
The coyotes play a larger role again in Fear.
Only seven coyotes remain, including a new Pack Leader. The gaiaphage has not been allowing them to kill humans in case they kill someone important, such as Lana or Diana. However, by this point the coyotes have grown more intelligent, and spotted the loophole - they can eat humans that are already dead. Drake kills Howard, who is eaten by the coyotes, and in return they lead him to Lake Tramonto and find him a hiding place.
When Orc accidentally finds them, Brianna chases them (although by this point, there are only four, so the other three presumably went back to the mineshaft when Drake no longer needed them). She kills three, although Pack Leader is not one of them, but the fourth waits her out. She also spots another pack further ahead.
When Sanjit and many other kids are headed to the lake, the coyotes attack them, killing many and eating what they can.
- Light
The coyotes are believed to have been wiped out by Brianna, which is untrue. One of them, a mutated one, makes a brief appearance trying to eat a defenseless Dahra, but Orc arrives and the coyote runs away.
It is unknown what happened to the coyotes after this. Since creatures that were modified physically were able to survive, the coyotes wouldn't have been killed when the FAYZ Barrier came down, but they were possibly killed in the fire that burnt down most of the forest. The coyotes lived in the desert, but one was seen in the forest earlier in the book. Their ultimate fate remains unknown, as they were not seen in Monster.
Notes[]
- In Gone, they refer to Sam as "fire fist", but in later books they refer to him as Bright Hands.
- They refer to Drake as Whip Hand, the Gaiaphage as the Darkness, Brianna as Swift Girl and Orc as Rock That Lives.
- The only character they refer to by name is Hunter, but this is because their name for him is his real name.