Read State of Nature: Book Three of The Park Service Trilogy for Free Online Page A

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