Katya's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Two days after she sent the last contestant away, Katya heard boots on her cabin steps. She opened the door to find three lodge staff members with clipboards and a printed list of complaints. They wanted to see her records, her supply inventory, and her pricing structure. Katya pulled the manila envelope from her desk drawer and handed it over. Inside were the cash receipts and her handwritten notes: two hundred per frostbite treatment, three hundred for anything requiring antibiotics, fifty for bandages alone. The lead auditor's face went still as he read through the numbers. He asked if she understood this was a survival competition, not a business opportunity. She told him she understood perfectly—she was surviving by charging what the market would bear. They could take her supplies if they wanted, but then the next person with frostbite would have nowhere to go. The auditor looked at his clipboard, then at her cabin's payment box. He said they'd be monitoring her prices from now on and walked away. Katya closed the door and counted what remained in the envelope. Still more than she'd made in three months back home, but now every treatment would be watched. She'd have to find another way to build her lead.