Read Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” I think it’s an excellent example of what I’m talking about. Without government the only people who aren’t slaughtered are those that can hide. Arguably even the people in the roving band of murderers aren’t really free since they could be turned on at any moment.
Although I should say there is a different between how things would be if government was to collapse versus how things would be if government never evolved. If we never evolved beyond loose hunter-gatherer bands then freedom as a concept wouldn’t exist. We’d all basically function as advanced, tool using apes who all had roles to fill in our group. Disputes between individuals would probably be settled by violence and/or kicking the least popular individual out of the group (most likely that person would starve to death eventually.)
I don’t think the concept of freedom can really exist until a species is past the point of worrying about subsistence on a daily basis.