Among the Brave Read Online Free PDF

said. “The regular stations are off the air. So what else is new.” She flipped through the channels, bringing up momentary darkness, then more patterns of random dots. “Now here’s the first Baron channel.”
    She hit another button, and the screen filled up with a serious-looking man.
    “…continues in virtually all parts of the city,” he was saying. “Our advice to you would be to remain at home until further notice. In other news—”
    Suddenly the man’s voice broke off and his face disappeared, replaced by more of the dots. Trey glanced over at Mrs. Talbot, but she hadn’t changed the channel. She was standing there looking as stunned as Trey felt.
    “That’s odd,” Mrs. Talbot muttered. “They’re usually so reliable.”
    She hit a few more buttons, zipping though channels. None of the stations appeared to be broadcasting. Then suddenly another man’s face appeared, first wavering, with rolling black lines, then solidifying and filling the entire screen. Mrs. Talbot gasped, but Trey was staring so intently at the TV screen that he barely heard her.
    “Good evening, fellow citizens,” the man on TV said. He was wearing a luxurious black jacket, with gold trim on the collar and over the sleeves. “I am delighted to inform you that the old, corrupt Government of General Terus has fallen to the will of the people. General Terus was placed under arrest at seven thirty this evening. I assure you that my squads will restore peace throughout the land quite soon. I am fully in control and I pledge to all of you, my loyal citizens, that I will live up to the trust you have always placed in me. I—”
    Trey missed the next few words, because Mrs. Talbot had begun frantically flipping through the channels again. The man in the gold-trimmed uniform was on every station.
    “—peace and prosperity—”
     
    “—work together—”
     
    “—true to the cause I’ve always believed in—” With the moments of silence between changing channels, Trey could hardly make sense of the man’s message. It didn’t matter. He’d heard enough. Enough to make him delirious with joy.
    “It happened,” he muttered. Then he screamed, “It happened! I’m free! All third children are free!”
    Mrs. Talbot was looking at him strangely. Of course. She wouldn’t have known that he was an illegal third child with a fake I.D. Trey didn’t care. He wouldn’t have to care ever again about who knew the truth.
    “Young man,” she said, almost sternly. “Don’t you know who that is?” She pointed at the TV.
    Trey stopped shouting long enough to glance at the televised man. He had white hair, a mustache, dark eyes, thin lips. And he didn’t look the slightest bit familiar. Trey was pretty sure he’d never seen so much as a picture of him.
    “No,” Trey said. “But who cares? General Terus is gone.”
    “Oh. you should care, all right,” Mrs. Talbot said. “That nian”—and she pointed at the TV screen again, almost accusingly, and her voice shook—”that man is Aldous Krakenaur.”
    “Who?” Trey said.
    “The head of the Population Police,” Mrs. Talbot said.
    And then she bent her head down and began to sob.
     
    Chapter Five
    Trey went numb.
     
    Euphoria to horror in one second will do that to a guy, he thought, and was almost relieved that some part of his brain was still available to think.
     
    He’d always thought he was a pessimist—he’d never fully believed in Lee’s rosy dreams of freedom for all third children. But even Trey had never imagined news this bad.
    ‘Are you sure?” he asked Mrs. Talbot.
    She stopped sobbing just long enough to give him a withering look
    “Well, maybe . . .” Trey was searching for some reason to still hold on to some hope. “Maybe he won’t be any worse than General Terus. I mean, General Terus wanted all third children dead. This guy—what’s he going to do? Kill us twice?”
    Mrs. Talbot wiped her eyes and glared at Trey.
    ‘Aldous Krakenaur is