State of Nature: Book Three of The Park Service Trilogy (5 page)

Breathe, Aubrey, breathe. You’re not like them.

I slide open the other drawer and pull out my Holocene II zipsuit. I remember wearing it when we went down to get the mastercode, and again when we started our journey for the Isle of Man, because my shirt was wet from drying Junior. I strip off Finn’s clothes, fold them neatly, and place them in the drawer. But I can’t seem to put the zipsuit on. I look at myself in the mirror. My head is shaved, my eyes tired. Just go down and get this over with, I tell myself. Go sell the people of Holocene II and buy Jimmy and Red and yourself your freedom. But what if Hannah doesn’t keep her end of the deal? I ask myself. What if she betrays us again?

“Aubrey,” Jimmy says. “You okay, buddy?”

I snap out of my thoughts and realize I’m standing naked in front of the tiny mirror, with my hands touching my chest and the Park Service symbol that Finn carved there. The scabs are mostly gone now, leaving wide, red scars.

“Does it hurt?” Jimmy asks.

“Only when I see it,” I say.

He nods, a look of painful understanding on his face. And if anyone could understand, I guess it would be him. My need to cover up the enemy’s emblem on my chest overcomes my trepidation over donning a zipsuit again, and I step into the legs, slip into the sleeves, and zip it up to my neck. Then I look in the mirror. Jimmy stands beside me. He’s already changed into one of the professor’s zipsuits, and with our shaved heads and matching outfits, we look like a couple of brothers heading off to war. Then again, maybe we are.

“I guess now you get to see where I grew up,” I say.

“Guess so,” he says. “I still ain’t sure what we’re doin’.”

“We’re bartering for our freedom.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“I just have to convince the people to get back to business as usual. That everything’s fine. Then we get to go free.”

“But is it?” Jimmy asks.

“Is it what?”

“Is ever-thin’ fine?”

“I don’t know about fine. But business as usual is better than being flooded.”

“Whatever you say, then.”

“You think what I’m doing is wrong?”

Jimmy doesn’t answer; he only sighs. He sits on one of the bunks and pulls the game ball that Finn gave him from his pocket and bounces it off the curved submarine wall.

“Jimmy, I asked you something.”

“I know ya did.”

“Well, do you think what I’m doing is wrong?”

“I dunno, Aubrey,” he says. “I dunno what’s right and what’s wrong no more.”

I reach and intercept the ball, forcing him to look at me.

“Listen, Jimmy. This is our only shot. We tried to do the right thing. We really did. But who knew that this is what we’d find when we got back? Hannah was going to kill you, Jimmy. Worse. Enslave you in Eden. And me and Red too. Not to mention kill everybody in Holocene II as well. She’s got control of the drones; she’s got these stupid tunnelrats eating out of her hand. We’ve got to do this. It’s our only chance.”

“I guess so,” he says. “I jus’ get a feelin’ if we go down there, we won’t be comin’ back up. Maybe I’m jus’ nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous,” I say, doing my very best to sound reassuring, “because I can handle this.”

Jimmy looks at me and smiles, but it’s not very convincing.

Before heading to meet Hannah at the train platform, we bring some broth back to the room and sit Red up in bed and help him drink it. He’s getting better by the hour, but he’s still sleeping round the clock. He lost a lot of weight locked in that room, and the thin blanket wrapped around his wasted frame gives him the appearance of some unearthed mummy with a shock of perfectly preserved red hair.

As I’m tucking him back in, I notice cuts on his forearm.

“What happened there, Red?”

He stretches his arm out for me to see. The cuts form a crude message, undoubtedly gouged in his skin with unclipped fingernails in the dark. The message reads: I’M SORRY BETH.

“Is Beth your girl down below on Level 3?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. “It’s actually BethAnn, but I ran out of arm. I was sure I was going to die in there, Aubrey. Just sure. But now it seems silly because I can’t recall why I thought she’d see the note if I did. Maybe I am dumb, like Hannah says.”

“You’re not dumb, Red. And I’ll get BethAnn the message and let her know you’re fine and thinking about her.”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course, I will.”

“You’re the best, Aubrey. Thank you.”

“If you say so, Red, but you had better thank Jimmy there too. He’s the one that saved your life.”

“How’d you do that, Jimmy?”

“You might not want to know,” Jimmy says.

“Well, thanks anyway,” Red replies. “I owe you both.”

Seeing him lying there in bed, with his lips swollen and his eyes sunken into his head, I feel guilty for not having pressed Hannah harder to let him come down with us. But then again, she’s probably right about the risk.

As if reading my mind, Red asks, “Will you be gone long?”

“Nah,” I say, trying to convince myself. “Couple days, maybe. We’ll be back before you know it. Just relax and stay away from Hannah. She assured us that you can have anything you need and that no one will lock you away again.”

Red nods that he understands.

I stand from the edge of the bed where I had been sitting and lead Jimmy toward the door so we can start our journey.

“Aubrey ...” Red calls from his bed.

I stop at the door and turn. “Yes, Red.”

“I did what I promised. I kept an eye on Hannah for you while you were gone.”

“I know you did, Red. I know.”

“And I’m sorry how things turned out,” he adds.

“You’re a good man, Red.”

A smile rises on his gaunt face, and he almost looks once again like the boy I said goodbye to all those months ago at the elevator platform in Holocene II.

“You really think I’m a man now?”

“I know you are, Red.”

“It’s Alex,” he says.

“Alex?”

“Yeah. I know everybody always called me Red, but Alex is my real name.”

I smile to think how far he’s come from the boy bully who always buried me in sand.

“Take care, Alex.”

Hannah awaits us on the train platform—impatiently tapping her foot, of course.

Several tunnelrats inspect the subterrene. They look a little tipsy yet from their afternoon milk; I hope they’re not driving.

“You’re holding things up,” Hannah says.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “What’s the rush about anyway?”

“They’re expecting you below.”

“That’s great, but I have a few questions before we go.”

“Of course, you do,” she says.

“How do I know that you’ll let us go when we get back?”

“You’ll just have to trust me,” she replies, with a smile.

Jimmy laughs so loud it echoes in the cavern.

“But that’s just it,” I say, “I don’t trust you. Not one bit.”

Hannah steps closer to me and lowers her voice.

“Listen, Aubrey. I know things have gotten all mixed up. But I’m not a cold-blooded killer. You know that.”

Jimmy laughs again.

Hannah turns to him. “You better knock it off, Jimmy, or you can stay here, and I’ll give you something to laugh about.”

Jimmy turns away and spits on the ground.

Hannah turns back to me. “Now when you get back, we’ll get you three all snipped up, and I’ll happily have you dropped off up above. The drones still steer clear of the lake, and you can make a home somewhere near its shores. Sound fair?”

“And what should I tell the people of Holocene II again?”

“Just what we rehearsed together: that Eden is undergoing improvements and will be up and running in no time. Tell them that their loved ones are still here safe and waiting for them. Tell them that they’ll have even more bliss to enjoy when the new and improved Eden comes back online.”

“And what if they ask about Red?”

“They know he snuck around to see his girl, right? Isn’t that why we bumped into him in the first place?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, just tell them that he snuck into a train car headed for the Foundation and that he was somehow exposed to an unsterilized location. Tell them he’s contagious.”

“Contagious with what?”

“They don’t care, Aubrey. All they know is that the closer to the surface you go, the more dangerous it is. Don’t you get it yet? They’ve been down there all this time, and they don’t want to ask questions. The answers might scare them. They just want to work their twenty years and then enjoy their retirement. And all you have to do is assure them that they will. That’s it.”

“And you think they’ll believe me?”

“Of course, they’ll believe you,” she says. “You’re their favorite son. The boy who was called up to Level 1. You might as well even take some credit while you’re down there for these new
improvements
we’re making to Eden.”

The entire time we’re talking, Jimmy stares at the ground and I can tell that he wants to cut in and tell Hannah off. And I can’t blame him, because I do too. But I have to do this. For Red, for him, for all of the people down in Holocene II.

“Okay, I’ll convince them.”

“Great!” she says, patting me on the back. “I knew you were a smart kid, Aubrey.”

She reminds me so much of her father that I can’t believe I didn’t see the similarities before.

“They have a supply train ready to come up that they’re holding,” she continues. “You can return on it as soon as you convince them to send it. Here’s a keycard to allow you to pass between the levels, but you shouldn’t need it. I’ve arranged for you to give a talk on Level 3 tomorrow that will be streamed to the other levels. Just seeing you back there should be all the reassurance they need.”

Jimmy throws me a look. “You two done talkin’ yet?” he asks. “I’d like to get on with it already.”

Hannah turns to face him.

“And no funny business from you, Jimmy. Just keep your mouth shut and let Aubrey do the talking. You’re only going because he bargained for it, and if anything goes wrong down there, you’ll all be flooded before you can fart. You got that? And drowning isn’t a fun way to die, as you well know from rounding up the floaters when we came here after the wave.” Then she turns back to me and grins. “Good luck.”

She twirls her finger in the air and a tunnelrat opens the subterrene hatch and calls something to another inside. The machine fires to life and winds up with a screech and whine that climbs in pitch until it’s almost deafening. Then it either passes beyond the frequency audible to the human ear or ceases entirely as the cavern falls silent again. The metallic cone glows, pointing into the dark tunnel through the open cavern doors, as if it were some manned missile preparing to dive into the earth.

Jimmy and I are about to drop down onto the tracks and head for the hatch when I hear the professor shout.

“Wait! Hold them there!”

He comes bumbling up the path, juggling something in his hands as he mumbles profanities to himself. He’s breathless by the time he joins us on the platform.

“Hold them,” he says. “I’ve got the bracelets ready.”

“I told you we don’t need them,” Hannah replies.

“Oh, yes, we do,” he insists. “I’ve been out there with these two weasels. We need the insurance.”

Hannah takes one of the bracelets from him and looks it over. “Couldn’t you make them smaller?” she asks. “This will never do. It’s much too large and obvious. We don’t need to give these people anything new to wonder about.”

“What about him?” the professor asks, pointing at Jimmy. “They won’t be looking at him. He’s just along for the ride, isn’t that what you said? These two might as well be Siamese twins, so shackling him is as good as shackling both of them.”

“Fine,” Hannah says, handing him back the bracelet. “Put one on Jimmy, then. But only on him.”

“You want
me
to put it on him?” the professor asks.

“It’s your idea,” Hannah says.

The professor inches toward Jimmy, his head held back as if to keep from being hit.

“Let me see your ankle,” he says.

“What’s that thing do?” I ask, stepping between them.

“It’s an incentive,” the professor says.

“An incentive for what?”

“To come home, of course,” he answers. “If this isn’t back here to be deprogrammed in a week, it will detonate.”

“Detonate?”

“It’s just a precaution, Aubrey,” Hannah interjects.

“No way,” I say, shaking my head.

“I’m not giving you an option,” she replies.

“So? I said no.”

“Then no deal,” she says, hooking her hands on her hips. “It shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t plan on escaping.”

“You’re crazy. There’s no way you’re putting that on him.”

“Fine,” she says, turning her back and calling down to the tunnelrats. “Trip’s off. Come and take them back to the hole.”

“I dun’ care,” Jimmy says. “Let ’em put it on me.”

“Are you sure, Jimmy?”

He nods and sticks out his foot.

The professor steps closer, kneels, and clamps the bracelet around Jimmy’s ankle, locking it. When he goes to stand again, Jimmy feigns kicking him, and the professor throws his hands up and screams, lurching backward and falling on his ass.

Jimmy and I laugh.

“I wouldn’t be so brave if I were you,” the professor says, picking himself up off the ground. “I’ve got a remote way to detonate that thing.”

Jimmy takes a step toward him, and he runs and cowers behind Hannah for protection. She just shakes her head.

“Don’t worry,” she says, as if she were somehow on our side. “Just make sure you’re back here in less than a week, and I’ll take that stupid thing off myself.”

We turn for the subterrene.

As Jimmy steps inside, I pause and look back.

Hannah stands on the platform with her red hair pulled back, and the professor stands next to her with his gray hair more frizzed than ever. They’re an odd pair, that’s for sure, but a pair nonetheless. I wish we were leaving for good and that this were the last image I’d ever see of them. I just hope I can trust her to keep her word when we return. I know I shouldn’t, but I have no other choice.