Evenfall Read Online Free PDF Page A

walking around the compound were heading in or out of the front doors.
    Hardly anyone gave them a second glance and when Amos and Boyd went through the large double doors of the building, Boyd glanced past the lobby that opened before them.
    A huge staircase dominated the room straight ahead of them while hallways opened up to the left and right. A main desk with a short, circular wall surrounding it sat in middle of the room, where three guards were sitting behind a small set of monitors. Two of them looked up and nodded amiably at Amos, who nodded in return and led Boyd around the set of stairs to an elevator bank just through a hallway behind it.
    Four double-wide elevators in a row lined the wall with a large, open space in front of them, with another elevator at the far end that was smaller and looked to be the only place without a group surrounding it. About ten people waited there in varying moods. Lit signs above each elevator flashed ever-changing numbers, with an arrow next to them pointing up or down. Boyd got more than one odd look when his green visitor's pass was noted but no one said anything once they glanced at the guard holding his arm.
    Boyd found his gaze tracking the people around him. A wide variety was represented, from ethnicities and ages to personalities. Now that he and Amos were stopped, he distantly noticed that something was starting to bother him.
    The press of people gave him a strange sense of anxiety. He hadn't been around this many people for years. He'd spent every moment he could inside his house, barely thinking or moving, and had only left when he'd needed items he couldn't find a way to have delivered. He'd never been claustrophobic but the crowd of people milling around him came as close to that as he'd ever felt, and it took him a moment to understand why.
    He felt exposed in this position. So many eyes all around him, seeming as though they were watching him. Hands that could touch him and potentially hurt him. It seemed more apparent to him in here, where the space was smaller and the people were closer.
    Although he didn't care what anyone thought, it still felt incredibly strange to be noticed at all. He'd felt for so long like part of the woodwork in his home; like a painting that blended into the wall. These people reminded him that wasn't the case and it was an uncomfortable feeling. He shifted closer to Amos, unconsciously seeking some sort of protection.
    Bits of conversation flashed around him; some of it making no sense to him and some of it seeming so mundane. Abbreviations and unfamiliar terminology mixed with people chatting about what sounded like routine business. What they planned to do tonight; where they planned to go. Projects they were working on at home. Lamentations of being tired and wishing the day was already over.
    After years of being in stasis, it was like being thrown into a world on fast forward. He felt alienated by this everyday life even as a part of him wondered what those terms meant.
    He'd been on autopilot for so long. He'd learned to shut everything down and feel nothing in a blank setting and it had worked well for him. It was almost alarming to feel that comforting nothingness bow with the pressure of such an alien environment. Feeling anything at all was a disturbing prospect and yet even when he looked straight at the wall and tried to ignore everyone around him, he still distantly noted their gazes and their words. The third elevator over finally dinged with the sign flashing 'G.' The doors opened and a crowd of people exited. Amos led Boyd into the elevator along with many of the other people waiting, although some of them hung back and seemed as though they planned to wait for an emptier elevator. Small, nearly-hidden cameras discreetly watched their every move from the upper corners of the elevator.
    Boyd stared expressionlessly at the metal doors as different people pressed the button for their correct floor. He was acutely aware of