Free State of Nature: Book Three of The Park Service Trilogy by Ryan Winfield Page A

civilization.
    Dry and clean, we don our zipsuits again and head for the lift to the valley. There’s a crowd gathering again in the square, so we duck behind buildings and work our way up to where we can watch from the safety of a breezeway. After several minutes waiting, Mrs. Hightower steps to the microphone.
    “Welcome, Level 3 residents and those watching below.”
    I nudge Jimmy and whisper, “They must be streaming this to the other levels as well.”
    “After Aubrey’s speech today,” Mrs. Hightower continues, “I confirmed with the Foundation everything he said. Eden will be back online within the week if we begin sending up supplies again. You’ve been called here to vote, since it was a vote that put us all on strike in the first place. I’d encourage you to think about your fellows who are already overdue for retirement, and of yourselves, and the implications more delays might have on your own retirement plans.”
    “Why is she lying?” I ask.
    “I dunno,” Jimmy says. “I told you I dun’ trust her.”
    “You can bet I’m going to ask her tonight,” I reply.
    “So,” Mrs. Hightower says, “all those in favor of ending this silly strike and returning to business as usual, please raise your hands now.”
    She steps back from the microphone and is the first to raise her hand high. Another hand goes up in the crowd. Then another. And another. Then, almost all at once, every hand in the place rises until the crowd assembled there in the square looks like some underground army returning the salute of their giant queen standing tall before them.
    “I’ll be damned,” I mumble. “They bought my lies.”

CHAPTER 9
A Midnight Meeting
    The knock comes softly on the door at exactly midnight.
    I toss the ball to Jimmy one final time, concluding our long game of catch, and rise to answer it.
    When I open the door, a hooded stranger stands with his or her back to the door, looking nervously left and right. When this visitor turns to face me, I’m shocked to see that it’s Bill.
    “What are you doing here, Bill?”
    “There’s no time for that now,” he says. “You have to follow me. Fast and quiet. No talking, no questions. Got that?”
    I nod that I do.
    “Do you have something to cover your face with?”
    “I have an old hoody upstairs.”
    “Grab it,” he says.
    “What about Jimmy?”
    “He’s fine; nobody will recognize him.”
    Leaving him at the open door, I race upstairs and grab my gray hoody and pull it on. Then I check to make sure I have my father’s pipe in my pocket before heading back down.
    “You ready for this, Jimmy?” I ask.
    “As ready as I’m gonna get,” he says.
    “Okay, let’s do it.”
    We leave the apartment and follow Bill across the dark valley. I have a strange feeling that this may be it for me, that I may never be coming back here again. I pull my hood lower over my face and walk beside Jimmy, my steps rhyming his. Wherever we’re going, at least we’re going there together.
    Bill leads us to the elevator platform and swipes his card to open the door. We step inside and ascend to the transfer station on Level 2. When the elevator stops we all three suck in the disinfectant gas like pros and wait for the door to open.
    The transfer station is empty, the dim lights casting the waiting train in shadow, but Bill doesn’t lead us to the train like I expect him to. Instead, he steps into the waiting elevator right next to the one we just got off.
    “Doesn’t this elevator go to Level 4?” I ask.
    Bill glares at me and draws his hand across his neck, telling me to be quiet. I look at Jimmy, but he just shrugs.
    The ride down to Level 4 takes longer than the ride up from Level 3 did, and by the time the elevator finally stops, I’ve almost forgotten about the gas. It eventually clears and the door opens. Bill pops his head out, looks left and right, and then motions for us to follow as he exits the elevator.
    Nothing I thought I knew about Level 4