Among the Free

'Simone!' the boy scolded her.

'I know, I know,' the girl said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and regaining her composure. 'It's just, I almost sounded like a real TV reporter there for a minute, didn't I? All the real TV people ran away, 'cause they were scared, I guess. 'Cause they used to work for the Population Police, and they don't think they'd be very popular right now. So anyway, it's just me and Tucker here telling you all this, and Jacob behind the camera, of course — hey, Jacob, you're doing a great job.'

'Come on, Simone, get to the news,' Tucker complained.

'Okay, okay.' Simone stood up straighter, serious again. 'This is the official Population Police Network, Poppy News for short, except I think we're going to have to change that, because the Population Police are over. What do you think of 'Freedom News,' Tucker? Think that sounds good?'

'Simone, please, people are watching. .' Tucker was shaking his head and grimacing.

'And they should be,' Simone said, unruffled. 'This is just incredible. This is a historic moment, one nobody would believe. I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my own eyes—'

'We're at Population Police headquarters,' Tucker interrupted, 'where the people have taken over. They took back their own government—'

'Without fighting,' Simone broke in. 'No blood was spilled at all.'

'Well, yeah, I think there was some fighting,' Tucker corrected her. 'Out in some of the villages. In the countryside. Some people are saying there were battles out there, and the Population Police just ran away. Because, you know, a lot of them weren't really into the whole Population Police thing, they just joined up because they had to, to get food. So that's what gave the people here the courage to take over the headquarters. Last night, I think, a lot of Population Police workers just left, so the building was practically empty this morning when this crowd showed up. They've been sharing all the food they found here — I had some really good bread, myself —'

'Tucker! You're not being very professional,' Simone complained. 'I don't think newscasters are supposed to say what they got to eat.'

'But it's an important detail. The Population Police had lots of food here. They were living like kings when everybody else was starving,' Tucker said.

'No more Poppies! No more Poppies!' Someone had started a chant behind Tucker and Simone. 'No more Poppies!'

Simone started to say something else, but the sound was overwhelming. After a few moments, she just shrugged and held her microphone out behind her, to capture the cheers.

'Is this… real?' Luke asked, still in shock.

One of the men sitting in front of the TV actually glanced away from it long enough to answer.

'All the Population Police officials in our town ran away yesterday,' he said. 'That's real enough for me.'

'And the Poppies wouldn't let something like that be on TV if they were still in power,' another man said.

'But — who's in charge now?' Luke asked.

'Looks like Simone and Tucker are, don't you think?' the boy next to him joked.

Luke stared again at the chanting, cheering crowd on the TV screen. Simone and Tucker were clapping along now. Tucker spun Simone around, like they were so happy they couldn't help dancing.

'I have to go there,' Luke said. 'I have to see for myself.'

'Oh, me too!' the boy next to him said. 'I'll go with you!'

'Ricky Everts, you'll do no such thing!' a woman in the crowd burst out. 'It's too dangerous. Any minute now, the Population Police could come back with tanks and guns and — and—'

'I'll take them,' a man said, standing up. 'It's like the girl said — something like this, you've got to see for yourself to believe it.'

'Don, you're crazy!' the woman argued. 'It's not safe—'

'I've been safe the last thirteen years,' the man said. 'Some things are more important than safety.'

He began stalking toward the door.

Luke glanced back at the woman — Don's wife and Ricky's mother, he guessed. Her expression crumpled, and she held her arms out beseechingly. But she made no further move to stop anyone from leaving. Luke wanted to tell her that he understood her fears. She's right, he thought. The Population Police do have tanks and guns. The people only have chants and dances. And hope. And. . freedom?

He didn't say anything to the woman. He just turned around and followed Don and Ricky out the door.

Chapter Nineteen

By the time Don backed his pickup truck out of his garage, more than a dozen others had decided to join them. Don didn't seem to care.

'Hop in,' he said, grinning from the driver's seat.

Three or four people crowded into the truck's cab; Luke was part of the group that jumped up into the truck's bed. He settled near the front, his back against the cab's win' dow, his knees drawn up to his chest because there wasn't room to stretch them out. Most of the rest of the group were men and boys, though a few girls and women had crowded in too. At the last minute, just before they pulled away, Don's wife ran out of the house after them.

'Wait!' she called. 'I'm coming too!'

'I thought you said it wasn't safe,' Don teased her. 'Did you change your mind?'

'No, but if you're going, I am too,' she said.

The truckful of people cheered as she crowded into the cab. Two people got out to make room for her and scrambled into the back instead. Everyone scooted closer together to make room. As they drove off, Luke had one kid's elbow in his ear and another kid practically sitting in his lap.

'At least this way we won't get cold!' someone shouted, and everybody else laughed.

Luke couldn't help remembering another time he'd been crowded with a bunch of other people onto the bed of a pickup truck. That time, his brother Mark had been driving, and Population Police officers had been shooting at them.

Could those Population Police officers have just given up? Luke wondered. And where's Mark now?

Around him, people were singing as they sped into the dusk, giving the whole truck the feel of a traveling carnival.

'Hey, folks, I'm picking up the newscast on the radio,' Don yelled back from the cab. 'You won't believe this — it's Philip Twinings on the air!'

Luke was glad when one of the other kids asked, 'Who's Philip Twinings?'

'He was a famous newscaster when we were kids,' one of the men explained. 'He disappeared after the droughts— everybody thought he was dead.'

'Or arrested by the Government,' someone else muttered.

'That's right — he spoke out against all the new laws they put in place. I bet he's happy now!'

'Be quiet back there and I'll turn it up!' Don yelled again from the truck cab.

The singing stopped. Dimly, over the rushing sound of the wind, Luke could hear a wobbly, old-man voice saying, 'I want to thank Simone and Tucker for inviting me onto the air with them to cover this phenomenal turn of events.'

'Don't mention it. We really didn't know what we were doing.' Simone's voice sounded small and hollow, suddenly.

'You did very well. You'll be telling this story to your grandchildren someday, and you'll have every right to be proud,' Philip said. His voice was stronger now. 'We here at — shall we call it Freedom News, Simone? — are still trying to piece together this rapidly breaking news event. As near as we can tell, today's coup began with many