State of Nature: Book Three of The Park Service Trilogy (27 page)

“I want to make a deal with you.”

“Okay, let’s deal then.”

“I know you have friends down in Holocene II, and I want to know who they are.”

My mother was right about why Hannah wanted to meet with me. I hold my tongue and rerun my conversations with her about how I should handle this.

“What are you prepared to give up?” I ask.

“I’ll give you your freedom.”

“We already have that,” I say.

“No, you do not, you silly boy. What you have is a daily reprieve based on my willingness to let you live. A reprieve that I can rescind at any time.”

“Maybe you don’t know this or remember,” I say, “but I shot down your drone.”

She laughs. “We wanted you to, stupid. The professor guessed that the traitor—your mother now, I guess—had a rocket left. That drone was a test to find out and to get you to waste it if you did have one. Now what I have is enough drones circling the area right now that I can scramble them in an hour and blow you all clean off that mountain.”

“If that’s true, then why am I here?”

“Because I’d rather not kill you, that’s why. Believe it or not, Aubrey, I did have feelings for you. Jimmy I couldn’t care less about, but you have potential. And if we really are half siblings like you say, and that’s a big if, then you have even more potential than I thought. There’s no reason for me to kill you unless you make me. So if you agree to tell me who the traitors are in Holocene II, I’ll promise to steer clear of where you are and let you and your mother and Jimmy live in peace.”

“I thought you planned to eradicate all of humanity,” I say.

“Oh, I do. And if it comes down to a time when only you three and those other savages are left, I’ll wipe you all out and then take my own life last of all. But even if that happens, it will take a long time. So this is your choice. Take the years I grant you or die now.”

“I have a better idea that I think will satisfy us both.”

“Oh, I’m excited to hear this,” she says. “Lay it on me.”

“Okay. I want Red. I’ll wait here while you return to the Foundation and get him. Then you let me take him back with me and leave us in peace.”

“And if I do that, you’ll tell me who the traitors are?”

“No, but I’ll do something just as good.”

“Maybe you forget that I’m not just some stupid kid.”

“Just hear me out. You know there are people working against you in Holocene II, and you’ll never sleep as long as they’re there. At any moment they could tell people the truth, and then you’d have an uprising on your hands.”

“And I could drown them all with the turn of a switch.”

“Yes, but who would build your drones? And who would keep you fed? I think we both know you’re not going to go trap animals and eat them, Hannah.”

“So what’s you’re brilliant idea then, Aubrey?”

I get up from my chair and join her at the railing.

“I think I know a way where we both win. You reopen the hole in the Yucatan where we escaped from and let them sneak away. Just them. None of the others who don’t know the truth. I’ll send the drone to pick them up and bring them back to us. Then you close the hole again, and you’ll have Holocene II back without anyone down there who knows. It’s win-win.”

She crosses her arms and looks at me.

“So there are only two of them then,” she says.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. That’s all that will fit in your drone.”

“Whatever. One is too many for you to have down there. The truth spreads like a disease once it’s out. You know that.”

“What I know is that humanity spreads like a disease once it’s out. And you’re asking me to not only let you live, but to send Red and these two mystery traitors off to live with you.”

“Come on, Hannah, you know it’s a fair compromise.”

“You might think so,” she says, “but compromise and fairness are not high on my list of things to achieve. Let’s go inside and eat, shall we? I’m hungry.”

The shelter is quiet, and the air smells stale. She heats water and brews algae tea. The taste sends me right back to Holocene II, making it hard to drink. We sit at the small table and eat meal bars and watch out the window as the surf comes farther up the beach with the tide. We try to make small talk but eventually give up and just sit and eat in silence.

Then out of nowhere, Hannah says, “There is another option, you know.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“You could come back to the Foundation and run things with me. We could be partners.”

“Why would you even ask me that?”

“Because I could use the help. Because it would be better for you than scraping by out there in the wild. And honestly, because I get lonesome sometimes.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed you for the type to feel lonely.”

“That’s a fair thing to say, I guess,” she replies. “But I do. The professor isn’t the best company, as you know. And he’s been crazier than usual lately. I had him in the chair twice just last week. And, of course, the tunnelrats are nothing much to talk to.” Then she reaches out and takes my hand in hers and says, “If this project takes longer than I had hoped, we might need to have some children after all.”

I pull my hand from hers. “Gross, Hannah. Even if you weren’t twice my age, and even if you hadn’t lied to me and then tried to kill me, we’re brother and sister.”

“No, we’re half brother and sister. And so what?”

“So what? Are you absolutely insane?”

The smile fades from her face and she stares at me with calculating green eyes. “Do you want the deal or not?” she asks.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you want to save your friends or not? I offered you your freedom in exchange for the names, but now you want Red and the traitors spared as well. But that’s not how negotiating works, Aubrey. If you want me to give something up, you’ve got to give something back.”

“I don’t understand what you want from me,” I say.

“I want what you already have. It isn’t fair to leave me at the Foundation all alone. I have nobody to talk to. Nobody to love me. Nobody but me. I want some company.”

“Oh, come on, Hannah. Get real.”

“I am being real. I want those things. And I also want somebody who can carry on the cause after I’m gone.”

“I’m not coming back with you, Hannah.”

“You don’t have to,” she says.

“Then I don’t understand what you’re asking for.”

“Come on, you’re not a kid any longer, Aubrey. Can’t you read between the lines? This being your birthday and my dad’s handover date aren’t the only reasons I picked today to meet.”

“Why else did you pick today to meet, then?”

“Because I’m ovulating.”

Her words hit me in the chest like a hammer, and I can hardly breathe. I spring up from my chair and bolt for the door. But I hesitate with my hand on the handle, not wanting to spoil any chance for a deal, not ready to say no.

“I’m going for a walk,” I say. “I need some fresh air.”

“Fine,” she says. “Think about what I’m offering you, Aubrey. I’ll stay here and turn down the bed.”

I walk far enough away down the beach to be out of sight from the bungalow. I sit on the sand and watch the storm roll in. The sky fills with dark clouds, and the wind draws whitecaps upon the dusky water. The sand glows almost white against the surf pushing ever further up the sandy beach. Eventually, the tide comes so high up that I have to scoot back to keep from getting soaked. But the sound of the crashing waves is a welcome distraction from the insane argument taking place inside my head.

There’s no way I can do what Hannah is asking of me. But then there’s no way I can’t do it either. I’m trapped again with an impossible choice. What is wrong with these people, anyway? Radcliffe wanted to exterminate all of humanity, but he loved himself so much he kept having kids with everyone. And here Hannah is doing the same thing. And to think that I’m related to them both, that these people are somehow family. Ugh. The thought makes me want to puke.

Could I even live with myself, knowing I might possibly have a son or a daughter growing up in that dungeon under the lake and being raised by Hannah to hate all of humankind? But then again could I live with myself knowing I was responsible for killing Red and possibly Mrs. Hightower and Jillian too? No matter what I do, my conscience will already be burdened with leaving the others down in Holocene II, letting them die one by one in Eden. I keep telling myself it’s okay because they don’t know any better, but that’s just a lie and I know it.

Then I think about what Hannah said about the drones. She said she had enough of them on standby to kill us all on the mountain at any time. That not only means me; it means my mother and Jimmy. I really have no choice. I have to say yes. And Hannah knows it. That’s why she pinned me into this decision like she did. How bad can it be anyway? I wonder. I was into her once, wasn’t I? Maybe if I just close my eyes and pretend that I never knew we were related.

The first raindrop hits me as I’m walking back. By the time I reach the bungalow, it’s a full on downpour and I’m soaked through. The rain pounding on the porch roof masks the sound at first, but as I reach the door I hear screaming inside. Then a chair bounces off the Plexiglas window. Confused and fearing the worst, I pound on the locked door. The door flies open, and Hannah is staring at me with murder in her eyes. I see the overturned table behind her and the chairs on the floor. Then I notice that the wall-mounted LCD screen is turned on and displaying a familiar head of wild hair above wild staring eyes—a video feed of the crazy professor from the Foundation.

“You little idiot,” Hannah growls. “You just killed yourself and everyone you love.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

The rain slaps harder on the porch roof, and the wind whips at my back. Hannah’s ponytail has come undone and her hair blows around her face as she stands in the open doorway, the professor leering at me from the screen behind her.

“What are you talking about, Hannah?”

She steps aside and turns to address the professor on the screen. “Show him,” she orders.

The professor’s hand fills the screen as he reaches to turn the camera and when he pulls his hand away again, I see Mrs. Hightower hanging limply in the grip of two tunnelrats, her head bowed and her chin resting on her chest. One of the tunnelrats grips her hair and jerks her head upright. She hardly appears conscious. Her lip is bleeding; her eye is swollen.

The professor turns the camera back to his face.

“Good to see you again, Aubrey,” he says. “I’m sorry that your little mutiny didn’t come off exactly as you’d planned it. But I can assure you that your friend here will have a lot of time to think about it while she’s in Eden.”

I step into the room, closer to the screen.

“Don’t you dare—”

“Say goodbye to your little buddy Jimmy for me too,” the professor says, cutting me off. “If you get the chance, that is.” He smiles his lunatic grin, all the more maniacal for his missing front teeth. Then he reaches up and turns the camera off.

“Hannah, will you tell me what’s going on, please?”

“Don’t play dumb, Aubrey. Do you expect me to believe it’s a coincidence that our computer system is hacked so your friend and her tunnelrat pals can make a play to take over the Foundation just when I happen to be away and meeting with you? And I was going to agree to your terms, you fool. But now the deal’s off.”

She storms to the open door and waves me out.

“Hannah, let’s talk about this,” I plead. “Please.”

“Get out now or I’ll lock you in here and let you rot.”

The rain thunders on the porch roof and pours off it in sheets. The wind is catching it and sending sprays of water onto Hannah’s face and across the threshold where she stands.

“I said, GET OUT!” she screams.

The expression on her face sends me flying past her and out into the rain while I still have a chance. She slams the door closed, punches in a code, and storms past me, heading toward the runway and her drone. I run after her on the path.

“Just stop and talk to me a minute, Hannah. Let’s just talk. This is all a big misunderstanding.”

She ignores me and continues marching through the rain, climbing the steps toward the runway. Then she struts across the wet tarmac toward her waiting drone.

“Hannah, stop! You don’t want to do this.”

I race after her and grab her shoulder.

She spins and jabs a Taser into my chest and electrocutes me. I fall to the tarmac and lie on my side, convulsing. Her Taser left behind some kind of electrode stuck in my chest. I clutch and claw to try and remove it as my muscles spasm. My vision fades. My head throbs. My legs kick involuntarily. I’m acutely aware of the rain drops splashing down around me, and I become terrified of them in my delusional agony, as if the drops themselves were shocking me.

I force myself to breath and I watch as Hannah climbs into her drone and closes the glass observation bubble. Her face looks somehow sad, and she reaches forward from her seat and lightly touches her fingers to the glass, as if some small part of her regrets how things have turned out between us.

Then her drone is gone in a flash. Her image lingers for a few moments in the falling rain before fading away as I close my eyes and pass out from the pain.

When I come to, the rain has stopped.

Mist rises off the runway, shimmering in the red sunset.

I peel myself off the pavement and stumble to my drone. My vision is still foggy as I watch the bungalow and the beach fade away beneath me. I know I have a lot to think about at the moment, but I hardly slept on the flight in, and now I can’t keep my eyes from closing. When I open them again, my aching legs tell me many hours have passed, and I’m now far out over the Pacific. But even so, a red rim remains on the horizon, as if the sun had only just now set. I guess I’m racing it west.

The sky above the fading horizon is deep blue and already punctuated with stars. Later, when it’s finally dark, I see a satellite go streaming by overhead. I wonder how long it’s been in orbit. Certainly since before the war. Here a thousand years have gone by, and Earth has erased from its surface nearly all evidence of humankind’s reign, save a few Mayan pyramids, a stretch of ancient Chinese wall, and our leftover satellites circling on the timeless edge of space. I wonder who will be here to see them when we’re all gone.