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

anyone.
    When the noise of the crowd fades away behind us, I look back and see Jimmy following along with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his head down.
    “Where are you taking me?”
    “Home,” Mrs. Hightower says, without turning back.
    We arrive at the door and she throws it open and pushes me inside. Then she lets Jimmy enter before stepping inside herself and pulling the door closed.
    “What was that about?” she asks.
    “What was what about?”
    “You know damn well what I mean,” she insists. “What were you thinking, saying what you said?”
    “You heard me?”
    “Of course, I did.”
    “Then why aren’t you shocked?”
    She sighs. “There’s a lot you don’t yet understand.”
    “Well, why don’t you fill me in?”
    “I can’t,” she says. “Not here.”
    “Where then? When?”
    She glances at Jimmy. “How does he fit in?”
    “He’s with me,” I say. “He’s my best friend.”
    “So, he knows?”
    “Yes, he knows everything.”
    “Fine,” she replies. “You two stay here. Keep low profiles. Don’t talk to anyone. We’ll come and collect you at midnight.”
    “Who’s we?”
    “You’ll see,” she says. “You’ll see.”
    Then she steps to the door, pulls it open, and looks back.
    “Not a word to anyone. Got it?”
    I nod that I do.
    “You too,” she says, glancing at Jimmy.
    “Yes, ma’am,” he replies.
    She looks at us one last time, as if to be sure, and then she stoops through the door and pulls it shut behind her.

CHAPTER 8
BethAnn, the Beach, and the Vote
    “What the hell?” Jimmy asks.
    “I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head. “I tried to tell the truth at the last minute, but the microphone cut off, and then Mrs. Hightower dragged me from the stage.”
    “I dun’ trust her.”
    “Neither do I. But what can we do except wait for her or whoever to come back?”
    Jimmy flops on the couch and pulls the ball that Finn gave him from his pocket, tosses it into the air, and catches it.
    “What do you think woulda happened?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean,” he says, “If you’d got off the truth.”
    “I don’t know,” I admit, taking the only other chair in the small living room. “Maybe Hannah was tuned in somehow and would have flooded us on the spot. Maybe we’d be drowned by now. Or maybe the people would have been angry enough to do something for once. The only thing I know for sure is that I was wrong to lie to them. Eden is a slaughterhouse.”
    “But why does this high-legged lady seem to know?”
    “Mrs. Hightower? That I don’t understand. It’s a mystery. And what else has me curious is why is she down here if she knows? Do you think she’s working for Hannah?”
    “I wouldn’t put nothin’ past her,” he says.
    We each fall quiet with our own thoughts. I sit and watch the ball rise and fall as Jimmy lies on his back playing catch with himself. It’s hypnotic to watch, and I begin to sort through all these mysterious pieces of information. Hannah betrayed us, blowing up the Isle of Man. Red accidentally betrayed Hannah to Holocene II with a note to his girlfriend. Hannah sent us down here to fix it. I try to tell them the truth and am stopped from doing it by Mrs. Hightower, who already knows. It’s puzzle enough to make me dizzy.
    “That was sad about Red’s girl,” Jimmy says.
    “I know,” I reply, happy to free my mind from the maze of questions there. “And I promised Red that I’d tell her he was okay. That he was thinking about her. And I kind of did, but not really. I should go find her and reassure her that he’ll be fine. You want to come with me?”
    “But that lady said to stay here.”
    “Yeah, but midnight’s a long time from now. And besides, maybe they’re just coming to kill us anyway, whoever they are.”
    Jimmy tosses me the ball and I catch it.
    “I’m in for whatever,” he says. “Jus’ lead the way.”
    We stick to the edges of the valley and the mostly empty living quarters,