Flip (The Slip Trilogy Book 3) (27 page)

One year later

B
enson’s read the article three times already, and he still finds it hard to believe. Not that the headline on his holo allows for any ambiguity or confusion:

The Department of Population Control Officially Dissolved

Benson shakes his head. He supposes the world seems like an impossible place sometimes, until you stand up and make it possible. That’s what they did—all of them. Even Lola, the unexpected hero.

A note in fine print at the bottom of the article catches Benson’s eye:
In accordance with recent updates to the Freedom of Speech Act, comments will no longer be monitored.

Beneath that, there are more than twenty thousand comments, none of which have been removed for disciplinary action. Some are against the dissolution of Pop Con, but the majority are overwhelmingly in favor of the change.

Benson thinks back to all that has happened since the night of the concert. Minda participated in a government investigation into alleged food surpluses. As it turns out, food wasn’t as scarce as everyone was made to think. Instead, the twenty percent surplus was being sent overseas, to the United Asian States, who’d been blackmailing the RUSA with threats of nuclear attack. Hence the “nuclear testing” in the Pacific, which was really a reminder to President Ford Jr. to continue his illegal exports. When Ford died, the arrangement was flipped upside down and the UAS retaliated, mounting a nuclear assault. Most of the missiles were shot down, but others hit their targets, destroying several major cities which will likely never be rebuilt. The tragedy continues to weigh heavily on everyone’s minds these days, and Benson knows the country will mourn for years, as they should. Ford’s successor, President Anderson, was brought in after a series of emergency elections. Benson thinks she’s a good woman, although he wasn’t eighteen yet so he couldn’t vote for her. Michael and Janice Kelly did though. Minda too. The new president’s first act was to promptly rejoin the United Nations with a promise to make international relations a priority for her presidency. Her approval rating soared in her first week. The war with the UAS continues, but with most of the world against them, they aren’t firing as many nukes. From what Benson’s been reading, a ceasefire is likely to be reached in days, not months.

After an anonymous tip, a separate investigation uncovered President Ford’s super soldier program, which was immediately shutdown. All of the data pointed to major concerns about the psychological impacts of the technology, which had been ignored by President Ford and his scientists.

So much good, but a whole lot of bad, too. That’s just life, Benson knows. There will always be evil and wrongness in the world, but that’s why it’s even more important to stand and fight for what you believe in.

Benson understands that things aren’t perfect, and never will be, but they’re getting better. There’s a surplus of food, and according to the article he just read, the notion of an “Ideal Population” will also be ended. There will be no more Death Matches, no more Birth Authorizations, no more UnBees, and no more Slips. He’s the last of an unwanted generation, and that’s fine by him.

It’s a better world because of people Benson is related to, and people he met along the way. And a little because of him, too.

In his own little slice of the world, Benson’s been enjoying school, as weird as that is. Rod has managed to get in a few fights—it will take a long time before everyone accepts the fact that Jumpers and Diggers are just people, like the rest of them—but Check and Benson had his back. Harrison did too, and now Benson’s twin wears his black eye proudly to detention with the rest of them. The guys who started the fight were expelled when a couple of witnesses came forward and told the truth.

Benson has at least one class with each of his friends, including Destiny. Although he’s still ahead of her by a percentage point or two, she’s giving him a run for his money for valedictorian. He never fails to remind his brother that he’s lucky to have a smart girlfriend to balance out his own mental deficiencies. They can both laugh at that because Harrison is also in the top ten percent of their class.

Although his twin has resumed his rightful position as star of the guy’s hoverboard team, Destiny is already getting some serious attention on the girl’s hoverskating circuit, winning two races out of three. The local press is calling them ‘the hover couple’ or ‘HC’. Along with Benson, his mom, and Lola the WonderBotDog, Michael Kelly never misses one of his son’s matches or Destiny’s races. Though Lola barks like crazy, Michael’s cheers are always the loudest.

Geoffrey still has his demons, and he faces them every week with a therapist, but he’s doing better and better. Michael and Janice Kelly already love him like he’s their own flesh and blood, as if he’s not even adopted. And he’ll always be Benson’s kid brother, even if Benson has trouble swallowing sometimes when he sees shades of Luce in the boy’s familiar eyes.

Simon has gone back to Canada to be close to his extended family. According to the holo-messages he sends every week, he’s doing well, and has learned to enjoy the peace of his daily visits to his wife’s grave. He meditates every day now, instead of just once a year. He’s back in the security business, and Benson knows he’ll flourish—you’d have to be crazy to go up against him.

Benson’s mother still has her eccentricities, but then again, she always did. Maybe she’ll never fully recover from the trauma that made something snap in her mind, but that doesn’t seem so important to Benson anymore. She still has more good to bring to the world than most people, and she’s even taking a teaching course on the holo. He thinks she’ll be fantastic in a classroom, although her unique style might take some getting used to.

Michael Kelly has become somewhat of an enigma to the nation. The hero recluse, they call him. There has already been interest in him running for office in three years. There are reporters out front every day hoping for an exclusive, but Benson doesn’t think his father will ever give them one, nor reenter the political arena. From the satisfied look in his father’s eyes, he knows Michael Kelly is happy just being with his family, at least for now.

If not for his father’s impossible decision almost eighteen years ago, to switch Benson for Harrison, things might’ve been different. Although he knows Harrison continues to harbor some level of resentment toward their father for what he did, Benson never will, because it was the right thing to do. One choice can change everything in this world, and in this case, the paths his father sent them all down led to something good. Once they got past the trials and heartache, they reached this world.

This world
, Benson thinks, lost in his memories.

In this world, he found love, and family, and friends, and a surprisingly happy childhood, and a strength inside of him that no one can ever take away. In this world, he found something good.

So as broken and wrong as this world sometimes is, Benson knows it’s still worth living each and every day to the fullest. The future isn’t set in stone for anyone, so he might as well help make it the way he wants it.

~~*~~

Keep reading for a sample of
The Moon Dwellers
, which Buzzfeed calls “One of 15 Series to Read if you Enjoyed The Hunger Games”, available NOW!

A personal note from David…

If you enjoyed this book, please, please, please (don’t make me get down on my knees and beg!) considering leaving a positive review on
Amazon.com
. Without reviews
Amazon.com
, I wouldn’t be able to write for a living, which is what I love to do! Thanks for all your incredible support and I look forward to reading your reviews.

My wife, Adele, says this is my best series, and she’s really hard to please, which is why she’s my editor in chief. First and foremost, I want to thank Adele for supporting me during this massive life change, which has taken me from a consistent-income career as an accountant, to the up and down rollercoaster-income of being a fulltime author. I couldn’t have done any of it without you, nor would I have wanted to. You’re my partner in all things.

Thank you to my agent, Andrea Hurst, for fighting for me and my books every step of the way, and always having my best interests at heart.

For another series of covers that blend perfectly together, thank you to Tony Wilson at Winkipop Design. Your work is art, and I love how you’re always thinking about how my books’ spines will look on a bookshelf, even though they aren’t in bookstores (yet).

Thank you to my beta readers, Terri Thomas, Karen Benson, and Anthony Briggs Jr. You three have taken the word ‘support’ to a level that leaves me breathless with appreciation. This book is at least a thousand times better because of your constructive feedback.

To my two favorite groups of people in the whole world, my Street Team (Estes Angels) and my official Goodreads Fan Group (David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite), THANK YOU for being YOU. Never change. I love you all.

And last but not least, the biggest thanks of all goes to all those readers who have taken a chance on any of my books. Without you, I’m just a guy writing stories. But with you, I’m an author.

~~~

The saga continues in other books by David Estes available through the author’s official website:

http://davidestesbooks.blogspot.com

or through select online retailers including Amazon.com.

Young Adult Novels by David Estes

The Dwellers Saga:

Book One—The Moon Dwellers

Book Two—The Star Dwellers

Book Three—The Sun Dwellers

Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

The Country Saga (A Dwellers Saga sister series):

Book One—Fire Country

Book Two—Ice Country

Book Three—Water & Storm Country

Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

Salem’s Revenge:

Book One—Brew

Book Two—Boil

Book Three—Burn

The Slip Trilogy:

Book One—Slip

Book Two—Grip

Book Three—Flip

I Am Touch

The Evolution Trilogy:

Book One—Angel Evolution

Book Two—Demon Evolution

Book Three—Archangel Evolution

Children’s Books by David Estes

The Adventures of Nikki Powergloves:

Nikki Powergloves—A Hero Is Born

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Council

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Trappers

Nikki Powergloves and the Great Adventure

Nikki Powergloves vs. the Power Outlaws

Connect with David Estes Online

David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite

Facebook

Blog/website

About the Author

David Estes was born in El Paso, Texas but moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was very young. He grew up in Pittsburgh and then went to Penn State for college. Eventually he moved to Sydney, Australia where he met his wife and soul mate, Adele, who he’s now been happily married to for more than two years.

A reader all his life, David began writing novels for the children's and YA markets in 2010, and has completed 21 novels, all of which have been published. In June of 2012, David became a fulltime writer and is now travelling the world with Adele while he writes books, and she writes and takes photographs.

David gleans inspiration from all sorts of crazy places, like watching random people do entertaining things, dreams (which he jots copious notes about immediately after waking up), and even from thin air sometimes!

David’s a writer with OCD, a love of dancing and singing (but only when no one is looking or listening), a mad-skilled ping-pong player, an obsessive Goodreads group member, and prefers writing at the swimming pool to writing at a table. He loves responding to e-mails, Facebook messages, Tweets, blog comments, and Goodreads comments from his readers, all of whom he considers to be his friends.

Available NOW!

Prologue

Adele

7 months ago

H
ands grope, men shout, boots slap the rock floor.

Clay dishes and pots are smashed to bits as the Enforcers sweep recklessly through our house. There are more bodies in the tiny stone box that I call home than ever before. The walls seem to be closing in.

My mother’s face is stricken with anger, her lips twisted, her eyebrows dark. I’ve never seen her fight like this. I’ve never seen her fight at all.

It takes three bulging Enforcers to subdue her kicking legs, her thrashing arms. For just a moment I am scared of her and not the men. I hate myself for it.

I realize my sister is by my side, watching, like me. I can’t let her see this—can’t let this be her last memory of the ones who raised us. I usher her back into the small room that we share with my parents, and close the door, shutting her inside alone.

When I turn back to the room, my mother is already gone, taken. Undigested beans from our measly supper rise in my throat.

My father is next.

The Enforcers jeer at him, taunt him, spit on him. As he backs his shoulders against the cold, stark, stone wall, five men corner him. Smart. They don’t underestimate him.

He makes eye contact with me; his emerald-green eyes are hard with concentration. Despite the inherent tension in the room, his face is relaxed, calm, the exact opposite of his eyes.
Run
, he mouths.

My feet are frozen to the floor. My knees lock, stiffen, disobey me
and
my father. I am ashamed. After all that my father has done for me, when it counts the most, I fail him.

One of the men lifts an arm and a gun. I hold my breath when I hear the shot, a dull
thwap!
that doesn’t sound like a normal gun. The man moves backwards slightly from the force, but his legs are planted firmly and he maintains his balance.

Father slumps to the floor. I feel my lips trembling, and my hand moves unbidden to my mouth. My frozen feet melt and I try to run to him, but a big body bars my way. I kick him hard, like my father taught me. My heel catches the Enforcer under his chin and his head snaps back. Like most people, he underestimates me.

The next Enforcer doesn’t.

The Taser rips into my neck and tentacles of electricity slam my jaw shut. My teeth nearly snap off my tongue, which is flailing around in my mouth. They don’t take it easy on me just because I’m a kid, or a girl—not after what I did to the first guy. Still stunned by the Taser, I barely feel the thump of their hard boots as they kick me repeatedly in the ribs. My eyes are wet, and through my blurred vision I see the arcing nightstick.

Strangely, it feels like destiny, like it was always going to happen.

I hear my sister’s screams just before I black out.

Tristan

A brief history of the Tri-Realms

T
hey say the meteor was enormous. Any life left on the surface of the earth when it hit was wiped out by either the shockwave caused by the collision, or the resulting tsunamis unleashed across the world’s oceans. Humans were forced to move underground. Or so the story goes.

Secretly, government scientists expected it for years, using covert teams of miners to dig the world’s largest caverns in preparation for the inevitable. But still: There wasn’t room for everyone. It would’ve been terrible: the Lottery. Families ripped apart; friends lost; blossoming relationships cut off at the knees. Of course, key individuals, like politicians, doctors, scientists, and farmers received a free pass, but all others just got a number. The number gave them a one in a hundred chance of getting selected to move into the underground facilities.

All the rest were destroyed.

And that was just the United States. No one knows for sure what happened to the rest of the world. Perhaps they weren’t so prepared. Perhaps they were all dead.

Year Zero would have been difficult for everyone. Losing relatives who didn’t make the cut; eating from the rations of rice and beans and hoping it wouldn’t run out before the leaders and their teams of advisors could come up with a way to grow food underground; most people becoming miners; living in darkness.

Now all of that is just a part of everyday life.

These days, time is measured from the day the meteor hit. It’s 499 PM (Post-Meteor). Time before Armageddon is referred to as Before-Meteor, or BM. The funny thing about Armageddon: we survived. Well, some of us anyway.

Year Zero’s first president was Stafford Hughes. Things were run much like before Armageddon, albeit in a slightly more haphazard manner. The U.S. Constitution was upheld, laws were revised as required for our new living situation, new laws were created.

But it didn’t last. It couldn’t last.

Things were too different. People were too scared. There was too much chaos.

More structure was required.

The first Nailin was elected to president in 126 PM. His name was Wilfred Nailin. He was my great-great (and a lot more
greats
) grandfather. At that point elections were still held regularly. Congress decided that given the state of America, elections should be held every five years instead of four, with the opportunity for reelection after the first term. But Wilfred wasn’t satisfied with ten years in power, so after his first reelection he pushed a new law through Congress that allowed for a third presidential term, but only if supported by the people, of course.

There were rumors of ballot-rigging.

After his second reelection, he passed a law that allowed him to remain in power indefinitely, assuming he obtained approval from Congress every five years. At the same time he passed a law that also permitted Senators and Representatives to maintain their elected positions indefinitely, unless the president released them from service. It was a circular system, one where bribery and deep pockets ruled. Who you knew meant much more than what you knew.

The people had lost their voice.

That wasn’t the end of it.

Wilfred’s next move was to secure his family’s future. He had one son, Edward Nailin. With the full support of Congress, Wilfred managed to pass a law that allowed positions to be handed down from generation to generation within each family, so long as Congress and the president unanimously approved it. Public elections continued to be held, but they were fixed so that no new contenders could infiltrate the inner circle of the government, which was holding all the cards.

It worked for a while. In fact, people seemed to like the more rigid and consistent structure. Soon, however, the gap started to widen between the classes. The wealthy began to take more and more liberties, much to the middle and lower classes’ frustration. The complaints started pouring in from those who were being disadvantaged, but they were largely ignored. It got to the point where fights were breaking out in the streets. “Elected” officials couldn’t walk down the street without being accosted by the poor and depressed. Something had to be done!

The Tri-Realms were created from 215 PM to 255 PM. First the Moon Realm was excavated, using the advancements in mining technology to create massive caverns deep beneath the original caverns, to build more cities in. Natural caves were used as a starting point, widened and heightened to the extensive size required to house thousands of people. Heavy beams of rock were used to support the caverns’ roofs, which were prone to cave-ins. Middle and lower class citizens were used to do the work, having been convinced by large salaries and the opportunity to “advance our civilization for the good of humankind.”

Once the caverns were complete, the workers were forced to take their families to live in them. Then the work on the Star Realm began, digging even deeper below the earth’s surface. Fewer resources were allocated to excavating the Star Realm, and therefore, the caverns were smaller, more confined, more densely populated. The poorest citizens were sent to live in the deepest caverns.

The top level was given the name of the Sun Realm.

Each of the Tri-Realms was split up into eight chapters, and each chapter into between two and six subchapters depending on its size, each of which was populated by between ten and a hundred thousand people.

Over time, taxes were increased annually for the moon and Star Dwellers, as those living in the Moon and Star Realms were called, until the Sun Realm was receiving significant resources to improve their own caverns. Life was good for the Sun Dwellers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for anyone else.

The U.S. Constitution was legally abolished in 302 PM.

A Nailin has been in power for more than 350 years.

My father told my brother and me the whole story when we turned twelve. I still remember the smug smile on his face when he finished. He’s proud of what Wilfred accomplished.

I’m disgusted by it. Sometimes I think about it, and it makes me sick. Like now, lying in bed and wishing my mother was still around. I don’t know why I’m thinking about history right now, but I am.