The Ark Plan Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    â€œSure.” He nodded. “We better get going. Your work detail starts in fifteen minutes.”
    â€œRight,” I said, getting to my feet and slinging my bag over my shoulder. Shawn shouldered his own bag and turned toward the tunnel that would take me home even though it was out of his way. After leaving the library, we turned left and walked for about five minutes before we came to a hub tunnel that split off in five different directions. Once upon a time there had been signs marking which way things were, but they had long ago broken and worn away and no one had bothered to fix them. These tunnels were our entire world, and we knew them well.
    â€œSee you tomorrow,” Shawn said, heading down the tunnel second to the left, while I took the tunnel straight ahead. “Be on time!” he called over his shoulder.
    I broke into a jog and didn’t slow down until I hit the entryway to the Guardian Wing. Unlike the habitation sector, the Guardian Wing was built in the part of the compound that had originally been the rock quarry; its walls and rooms were chiseled out of granite instead of crafted out of smooth man-made concrete. I still remembered that scary night five years ago when I’d first seen this section of the compound.
    â€œThis is your new home,” General Kennedy told my seven-year-old self after escorting me past the guardian on duty to a tiny room where a small bed and mattress sat along the back wall. “Lights go off at nine o’clock sharp, and you will be locked in at night.”
    â€œLocked in?” I’d asked.
    â€œThe Guardian Wing is for those who don’t have a place with the rest of the community. The doors are locked for safety purposes. Show some gratitude that the Noah allows you to stay here. You are a burden on our society.” He’d turned and walked out, locking the door behind him. I’d looked around the tiny room, and my chest had ached with homesickness for the little apartment in the seventh sector my dad and I had shared. And then the lights had gone out. I’d sat down on the icy floor, too exhausted to attempt to find the bed, and cried myself to sleep.
    The sound of something scratching at my door had woken me, and I’d sat bolt upright in a panic. Before I could scream, my door opened, and a short, stocky boy was silhouetted in my doorway, an odd flashlight clutched in his hand. Holding a finger to his lips to keep me quiet, he’d eased the door shut behind him. He tiptoed over and looked down at me, sitting among the meager supplies Kennedy had given me, my bagstill slung over my shoulder.
    â€œHow did you get in?” I’d asked, blinking tear-swollen eyes.
    â€œLockpicks,” he’d said, holding up two small metal sticks. “I’m Shawn.”
    â€œI’m Sky,” I’d said, wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my gray compound jumpsuit. “Why are you here?” I’d meant my room, but he misunderstood, plopping down to sit opposite me on the cold stone floor.
    â€œSame reason you are,” he said. “Orphaned when my parents died in the tunnel collapse two months ago.”
    I’d wrapped my arms protectively around myself, and felt my chin jut out defiantly. “My dad isn’t dead.”
    â€œIs so,” Shawn argued. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be in the Guardian Wing.”
    â€œIs not,” I said, swallowing a lump in my throat. “There is going to be a mandatory assembly about it tomorrow.”
    That assembly had been awful.
    His picture had been projected up on the wall while government officials explained how one person’s selfishness could jeopardize the entire compound’s survival. They’d itemized the list of things my dad had apparently stolen from the marines’ barracks before he fled, explaining how the loss of those items putthe survival of every inhabitant of North Compound at risk. They’d called him