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    UnWholly
    UnWholly
    UnWholly
    Ebook489 pages7 hours

    UnWholly

    By Neal Shusterman

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Rife with action and suspense, this riveting companion to the perennially popular Unwind challenges assumptions about where life begins and ends—and what it means to live.

    Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished.

    Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he’ll have to question humanity itself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
    Release dateAug 28, 2012
    ISBN9781442423688
    UnWholly
    Author

    Neal Shusterman

    Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty books, including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award; Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Dry, which he cowrote with his son, Jarrod Shusterman; Unwind, which won more than thirty domestic and international awards; Bruiser, which was on a dozen state lists; The Schwa Was Here, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; and Game Changer, which debuted as an indie top-five best seller. He is the winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for the body of his work. You can visit him online at storyman.com.

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    Reviews for UnWholly

    4.5/5

    463 ratings47 reviews

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    • 4/5
      If I had never started the Scythe series, this would easily be five stars. But, in my opinion, Scythe is a bit stronger of a series. Of course, that could also be because I am DYING for the third book to be released!

      UnWholly is a fantastic continuation of the story started in book 1. Lev makes a strong comeback in this novel as he comes into his own and learns what he believes for himself.

      Miracolina is introduced as a new character. She is a tithe who feels even more strongly about her tithing than Lev did.

      Starkey appeared in the first book. He becomes someone you learn to hate, a lot! His quest to take over Connor's job is his sole, selfish purpose.

      Cam, another new character, I won't go into detail on him so I don't spoil anything. He is about as complicated as can be. I hated him, then I loved him, then I wasn't sure, but in the end, I think he is going to play a very critical role in the series.

      Connor continues to do his best to lead the kids at the base. Leading becomes harder and harder as things fall apart.

      Risa makes a big move that she thinks will help everyone. Of course, it is not that simple. Luckily, she is street smart and knows how to deal with life. Again, I don't want to spoil anything here, but her story continues to be a good one.

      I am already on the wait list for book #3!
    • 4/5
      Disturbing, chilling, dark, and sickly dystopian, Unwholly is a tour de force. This is the second book in the Unwind series, and Shusterman is superb!

      Captivating but broken characters carry the plot along. Unwholly is set in the not so distant future where medicine can cure just about anything. Parents who can no longer “parent” turn to a system that can take their errant teen off their hands. The kids get shipped off to a facility where they are unwound, or basically taken apart and sold for parts. One arm here, one eye there, one spinal cord over there. Of course, the parents think they’re doing the right thing—allowing their broken teen to live on in many other people. Imagine, a blind boy getting new eyes, a cripple walking, a car accident victim given another limb. What a great program, the parents think.

      Some teens are able to escape and form a resistance movement. Led by the Akron AWOL, or Connor Lassiter, the teens live in the Phoenix desert holed up in an airplane graveyard. Connor is getting nervous. He knows the Juvies, sadist cops who turn in Unwinds, know about the graveyard and know that there are hundreds of kids living there. Why aren’t they making a move, Connor wonders. Why are they leaving us alone, he asks. When he finds out there’s a traitor in his own camp, he realizes that the kids may have to make a run for it.

      Risa, Connor’s sometime girlfriend, is captured and becomes the face of Proactive Citizenry—the organization responsible for thousands of teens’ unwindings. Not only that, Proactive Citizenry has a new project on its hands—it’s produced the very first artificially developed human Camus. Camus is a scientific and genetic miracle to behold. He is made from over 100 different Unwinds and was developed to show the public what the future holds. Cam falls in love with Risa but she turns on him; he promises he will never let her go; he will search for her forever.

      The camp is compromised and the kids are in for a huge fight. Just when Connor and Lev think it’s over, they see the milk of human kindness. Unwholly sets up nicely for book 3—where some important questions will be answered and the plot will UNWIND (pun definitely intended).

      Shusterman belongs in the ranks of sci-fi giants George Orwell and Ray Bradbury. Unwholly is wholly great! I raced through this book, and teens will, too. Don’t pick this one up unless you’re ready to stay up until the wee hours.

      Highly, highly recommended grades 7-up. No sex. One g-word.
      FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my library. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.
    • 5/5
      Grrrrrrrreat
    • 5/5
      This book series continues to be an emotional one, I appreciate that its more focused on the characters trying to survive and less of the usual teenage drama and sex fest that some novels are typical of doing.
    • 5/5
      It's been awhile since I read the first book in this 4 book set. I loved Unwind and shared it with my then 13 year old grandson! He read all 4 books and loved them. He's now 17 and too old to be unwound now! Neal Shusterman does an amazing job with his world building, so good in fact that it's easy to believe we live in that world. Of course, with what's going on in the world, it makes these books very frightening.
    • 5/5
      Perfectly written and great plot!!
    • 5/5
      Brilliant.
    • 5/5
      I love this trilogy so far. It is twisted at times, exciting, and captivating. I can't wait to read #3.
    • 4/5
      I love to start a book review with this word: WOW! I finished the first in the series, Unwind, and went straight to this one. It did not let me down.

      The characters from the first are in this one, with a few new faces. The action is fast, furious, complete and extremely suspenseful. I loved the new characters, even the ones I loved to hate. I am anxious to see what happens in the last of the series.

      Some favorite passages:

      "And why? Because of words? Words don't hurt you. " Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain.

      History is written by the victors - and when there are no victors, it all winds up in corporate shredders.

      He remembers feeling so sick for so long, after a while he had forgotten what being well even felt like. Could it be that way for an entire society? Does a sick society get so used to its illness that it can't remember being well? What if the memory is too dangerous for the people who like things the way they are?

      High recommended.
    • 5/5
      kapan terjemahannya ada
    • 4/5
      Fast paced intriguing sequel to Unwind. Much better world building and things are becoming even more clearer. Some nice .development and a couple of interesting new characters added have fleshed out this series and has me looking forward to reading the next installment. Love the discussions you could have about the moral issues in the story. Once again I highlight that this series is perfect for teens as most of the adults are useless
    • 5/5
      This book made me late to work. Books don't usually make me cry, but this one managed it. Well done, Mr. Shusterman. Well done.
    • 4/5
      The first half of this book didn't grab me and keep me reading like I thought it might, since I had been so taken with the first book UnWind. The first half dragged a bit. However, the second half of the book flew by. I usually enjoy reading about what some people think will be our futures as human beings. This particular idea of unwinding teenagers chilled me when I first came across it, and here in this second book we start to get some more clues as to how exactly the world got to the point of excepting such a horrific practice. I'm looking forward to more on this angle in the next and last book of the series. I'm also looking forward to seeing where the characters go from here. The end of the book was a big turning point for them all I think. I'm very interested in Cam now. Recommended if you enjoy dystopia novels.
    • 5/5
      I was sucked in by these books, I couldn't put them down, I started them randomly when I found a article about distopian novels like the hunger games. I was surprised how good they were, strange, bizarre, and I can see it happening in the future. But I just couldnt put them down, everyone should read these.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Like the first book in the series, Unwind, the writing was less than great in this book, but I found this 2nd installment more action-packed and overall mildly more enjoyable than the first. UnWholly gives the reader some more background information regarding the War and other associated aspects that are helpful. I'll probably continue on with the series, just because that's how I am.
    • 4/5
      The plot is really predictable, but still can keep your attention. Good reading while you're on vacation/on the plane/ any other places, that don't require 100% attention on the book.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed the second book, not as much as I did the 1st one though. The constant switching of POV's was a bit draining and confusing. Already got the 3rd one on hold and really look forward to continuing the series.
    • 4/5
      I always have difficulty when books jump from character to character to character but I loved Unwind so much, I suffered through it. It was so worth it.
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing! Neal Shusterman never ceases to surprise me. Some things that occurred in the book seemed to be too convenient and not reasonable, but other than that the book was great. The characters (both new in this book and present in the last book) were very well developed. The plot is amazing. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series when it comes out.
    • 2/5
      Plot: 2 stars
      Characters: 2 stars
      Style: 1 stars
      Pace: 1 1/2 stars

      I slogged through this one. If I weren't in the middle of trying to cram a bunch of books into this month, I wouldn't have even finished this one. The constant POV shifts, the "and they laughed, not knowing danger was in the car behind them" sort of cliche, trite junk. I'm disappointed.
    • 5/5
      #BBRC #middleofaseries
      #Booked2020
      #Popsugar
      #Beatthebacklist

      Shusterman has done it again. Unwind ripped my heart out. It had me in tears and hopeful for a better future. This sequeal has brought so much more depth to the story but left me with a more happy heart which is amazing considering the death count.

      I am glad they changed the covers. The original cover was all dark with a man with a scared face on the cover. It’s too dark. That man is Cam and while is jealous and territorial, he is not dark...at least not yet. Cam is an expirament. He was purposefully made parts of 99 different unwinds. Nothing but the best. It is interesting to watch him become a person and learn to be real. Just this aspect of the story could keep a book club talking for days.

      Connor is now in charge of the airplane graveyard and all the kids there. Risa is in charge of medical until she is blackmailed into a new role. I love to see these two develop as characters. Lev is still here as well, but he is lost. He is on house arrest, but not really sure what to do or where to go in life from here. At points he is given “god like” qualities that he knows he can not live up to, but at the same time we get to see him try to find a new truth for himself between a former tithe and a regular teenager given celebratory.

      We get a few new characters. The main one to consider is Starkey. Towards the beginning of the book, I feel for him. I see him as the next Connor, but the further the story progresses the more we have to ask ourselves if Starkey is a hero or a villain. What are his actions and why?

      As always Shusterman writes a universe I DO NOT want to live in, but am fascinated to watch. There are still 2 more complete books to go and a collection of short stories. Being that I am living in the Covid-19 quarantine timeline, I see many things that resemble our current society and am fearful that Shusterman has a Wells-like quality of predicting the bad things of the future. For all our sakes, I hope not.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      UnWholly (Unwind, #2) I honestly did not enjoy UnWholly nearly half so much as I did Unwind. I'm a little disappointed about that. I don't really understand how a story with such an intense topic as Unwinding could be so utterly boring, but that is exactly what it was for the first 3/4ths of the book. The last 1/4 was much better and exactly what I was hoping for in this sequel. Unfortunately the last quarter did not make up for the majority of the book which was less than average. One of the aspects I enjoyed about this book was that each chapter began with a news report or public service announcements that gave a perspective about what living in this world would be like. For example, there are several public service announcements that talk about the people whose lives were enhanced by Unwinding and the benefits to the community. It's disturbing, but it really shows how the people in this world view things. The writing itself was very bland and lifeless for most of the book. While there were at times a bit of action taking place in the story, it was told in such a way that it was almost as thrilling as watching someone play chess while talking you through each move. There was a lot of angst and worrying and whining among the characters but I felt I had lost any connection I had with any of the characters from the first book.UnWholly nearly redeemed itself in the last quarter when all of the set up of the previous chapters finally began coming together into a coherent story. It was almost too little too late but I will likely continue on to the third book in this series solely on the strength of how much I loved Unwind.
    • 3/5
      UnWholly (Unwind, #2) I honestly did not enjoy UnWholly nearly half so much as I did Unwind. I'm a little disappointed about that. I don't really understand how a story with such an intense topic as Unwinding could be so utterly boring, but that is exactly what it was for the first 3/4ths of the book. The last 1/4 was much better and exactly what I was hoping for in this sequel. Unfortunately the last quarter did not make up for the majority of the book which was less than average. One of the aspects I enjoyed about this book was that each chapter began with a news report or public service announcements that gave a perspective about what living in this world would be like. For example, there are several public service announcements that talk about the people whose lives were enhanced by Unwinding and the benefits to the community. It's disturbing, but it really shows how the people in this world view things. The writing itself was very bland and lifeless for most of the book. While there were at times a bit of action taking place in the story, it was told in such a way that it was almost as thrilling as watching someone play chess while talking you through each move. There was a lot of angst and worrying and whining among the characters but I felt I had lost any connection I had with any of the characters from the first book.UnWholly nearly redeemed itself in the last quarter when all of the set up of the previous chapters finally began coming together into a coherent story. It was almost too little too late but I will likely continue on to the third book in this series solely on the strength of how much I loved Unwind.
    • 3/5
      I may have read one too many YA books in a row but I'm getting tired of the teenage "too cool" attitude. There are some provocative ideas tossed up in this book no doubt...ethical issues about ownership over one's life, others' lives, minorities, human nature...but I didn't feel like there was any follow through. It's kind of like this review...I can mention a lot of interesting themes but unless I get into the meat of it (as you should in a BOOK) it's lacking. And on a side note, I found some of the outrage on part of certain characters a little hard to buy into. It seemed a little manufactured. All in all, the book didn't deliver up to potential but I admit to finding it moderately engaging as I was reading it.
    • 4/5
      I liked "Unwind" so it was natural to continue with the series. Problem teens are unwound to harvest organ and tissue parts for medical use. In "UnWholly", the unwind age has been lowered from 18 to 17 creating a shortage of tissue thus creating a huge black market and vicious bounty hunters, in addition to the parents, juvie cops and state institutes trying to unwind troubled teens. Then there is Cam, created from the best of the best. The problem is each of those parts have different memories, languages and backgrounds. The future does not look good for teens.
    • 5/5
      The first book of Neal Shusterman’s dystopian series stood well on its own, but Unwholly adds intriguingly, not just to the tale but also to the questions arising from the tale. Morality skewed by history and politics; religion skewed by peer pressure; good intentions skewed by cruel lies… It’s a book that invites readers to ponder the meaning and value of life, by showing what might happen if lives are devalued. But of course, the lie is that the devalued lives will gain value in being “divided.”

      While one character struggles to believe he is human, others are told their only worth is their body parts—and some even believe it. Plausible characters, fascinating dilemmas, and unpredictably intersecting story arcs draw the story together, while newspaper articles (most scarily, those real articles that label “feral teens”) offer a larger and haunting worldview. How easily deception becomes the norm (think Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale).

      A dystopia that might not be so implausible, a wealth of human mystery and worth, great characters and great plot—I really enjoyed the read!

      Disclosure: I was given the set as a gift and I love them all.
    • 5/5
      This book is about a company called Proactive Citizenry. They were a group designed to keep unwinding under control. They turned into a group that supported unwinding, and made it worst. A new creation is created, and his name is Cam. He is a creation of unwind parts thrown together. Connor, Lev, and Risa are running towards answers this time instead of running away. Risa is seperated and meets Cam, and is scammed into supporting Proactive Citenzry. The Juvenile Authority comes and destroys the Graveyard.

      This book was less exciting than the first book, but it was still good. My favorite person was Nelson the cop. My least favorite person was Cam. My favorite part was when Risa dissed on Proactive Citenzry. My least favorite part was when the Graveyard was destroyed. I can't wait to read the third and fourth book. They will probably be better than the first and second book combined.
    • 4/5
      Connor is now in charge of the Graveyard. Risa is paralyzed form the waist down. Lev is...somewhere. One day some stupid kids get hurt and Risa joins them on a trip to the hospital. At the hospital some really complicated set of events take place and Risa sort of gets kidnapped by some people and is forced to have her spine replaced. Risa meets a boy named Camus, Cam for short, and is horrified because Cam wasn't born, he was made entirely from unwound teens. Later in the story, Connor get betrayed by a double-agent-type-person and Risa is blackmailed and forced to support unwinding on television.

      The book wasn't too great in my opinion. But on the other hand, there were several cool moments. There were a few parts that were really sad and i kind of liked that. The reasons that i didnt like the book were that there were several slow parts and boring plots. There were also so charaters and situations that i did not think were necessary.
    • 5/5
      Another book to rock me to my very core. I was horrified at some of the things going on in this installment of the series. Particularly the events unfolding around Cam. My heart breaks for some of the kids at the Graveyard and especially for Risa and Connor as they continue their journeys. From the start something was off with other characters for me and I was sad to see that I was correct. I'm anxious to see more of this world and these stories. I want to hear more about Lev, Risa and Connor specifically. I encourage fans of dystopian and fans of Shusterman to read this series!
    • 5/5
      4.5 stars

      *****SPOILERS if you haven't read Unwind*****
      Conner is running The Graveyard, where hundreds of kids who were supposed to be unwound have escaped to. Risa is there with him. Lev is under house arrest.
      *****END SPOILERS*****
      Starkey is a new AWOL unwind who has arrived at The Graveyard and is chomping at the bit to climb high and run the place. Cam has just woken up and is trying to figure out who he is and what's happening, while a woman, Roberta, tries to guide him through. Miracolina is a tithe who's parents decide at the last minute not to send her to be unwound, but she's believed all her life that this is her purpose and insists on going, anyway.

      Starkey will meet up with Conner, Risa with Cam and Miracolina with Lev when things take a turn for the dangerous.

      Wow! Another roller coaster ride, this one! I listened to the first book on audio, and it was amazing, but it was really one particular part in the audio (a very creepy thing to listen to, actually: the process of someone being unwound, from their point of view!) that made me want to find this one on audio, as well. However, after a few years, I gave up and read the hardcover. I'm actually glad I did, as there were so many different points of view to follow, I think the print did make it much easier to follow than the audio would have been. I was at a solid 4 star rating for this one, until the last quarter of the book or so, when everything hit the fan! Very exciting at that point. That upped my rating, in the end.

    Book preview

    UnWholly - Neal Shusterman

    1 · Starkey

    He’s fighting a nightmare when they come for him.

    A great flood is swallowing the world, and in the middle of it all, he’s being mauled by a bear. He’s more annoyed than terrified. As if the flood isn’t enough, his deep, dark mind has to send an angry grizzly to tear into him.

    Then he’s dragged feetfirst out of the jaws of death and drowning Armageddon.

    Up! Now! Let’s go!

    He opens his eyes to a brightly lit bedroom that ought to be dark. Two Juvey-cops manhandle him, grabbing his arms, preventing him from fighting back long before he’s awake enough to try.

    No! Stop! What is this?

    Handcuffs. First his right wrist, then his left. On your feet!

    They yank him to his feet as if he’s resisting—which he would, if he were more awake.

    Leave me alone! What’s going on?

    But in an instant he’s awake enough to know exactly what’s going on. It’s a kidnapping. But you can’t call it kidnapping when transfer papers have been signed in triplicate.

    Verbally confirm that you are Mason Michael Starkey. There are two officers. One is short and muscular, the other tall and muscular. Probably military boeufs before they took jobs as Juvey-rounders. It takes a special heartless breed to be a Juvey-cop, but to specialize as a rounder you probably need to be soulless as well. The fact that he’s being rounded for unwinding shocks and terrifies Starkey, but he refuses to show it, because he knows Juvey-rounders get off on other people’s fear.

    The short one, who is clearly the mouthpiece of this duo, gets in his face and repeats, Verbally confirm that you are Mason Michael Starkey!

    And why should I do that? Kid, says the other rounder, this can go down easy or hard, but either way it’s going down. The second cop is more soft spoken with a pair of lips that clearly aren’t his. In fact, they look like they came from a girl. The drill’s not so hard, so just get with the program.

    He talks as if Starkey should have known they were coming, but what Unwind ever really knows? Every Unwind believes in their heart of hearts that it won’t happen to them—that their parents, no matter how strained things get, will be smart enough not to fall for the net ads, TV commercials, and billboards that say things like Unwinding: the sensible solution. But who is he kidding? Even without the constant media blitz, Starkey’s been a potential candidate for unwinding since the moment he arrived on the doorstep. Perhaps he should be surprised that his parents waited so long.

    Now the mouthpiece gets deep in his personal space. For the last time, verbally confirm that you are—

    Yeah, yeah, Mason Michael Starkey. Now get out of my face, your breath stinks.

    With his identity verbally confirmed, Lady-Lips pulls out a form in triplicate: white, yellow, and pink.

    So is this how you do it? Starkey asks, his voice beginning to quaver. You arrest me? What’s my crime? Being sixteen? Or maybe it’s just being here at all.

    Quiet-or-we-tranq-you, says Mouthpiece, like it’s all one word.

    A part of Starkey wants to be tranq’d—just go to sleep and if he’s lucky, never wake up. That way he won’t have to face the utter humiliation of being torn from his life in the middle of the night. But no, he wants to see his parents’ faces. Or, more to the point, he wants them to see his face, and if he’s tranq’d, they get off easy. They won’t have to look him in the eye.

    Lady-Lips holds the unwind order in front of him and begins to read the infamous Paragraph Nine, the Negation Clause.

    Mason Michael Starkey, by the signing of this order, your parents and/or legal guardians have retroactively terminated your tenure, backdated to six days postconception, leaving you in violation of Existential Code 390. In light of this, you are hereby remanded to the California Juvenile Authority for summary division, also known as unwinding.

    Blah, blah, blah.

    Any rights previously granted to you by the county, state, or federal government as a citizen thereof are now officially and permanently revoked. He folds the unwind order and shoves it into his pocket.

    Congratulations, Mr. Starkey, says Mouthpiece. You no longer exist.

    Then why are you talking to me?

    We won’t be for much longer. They tug him toward the door.

    Can I at least put on shoes?

    They let him go but stay on their guard.

    Starkey takes his sweet time tying his shoes. Then they pull him out of his room and down the stairs. The Juvey-cops have heavy boots that intimidate the wood of the steps. The three of them sound like a herd of cattle as they go down.

    His parents wait in the foyer. It’s three in the morning, but they’re still fully dressed. They’ve been awake all night anticipating this. Starkey sees anguish on their faces, or maybe it’s relief, it’s hard to tell. He hardens his own emotions, hiding them behind a mock smile.

    Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! he says brightly. Guess what just happened to me? I’ll give you twenty guesses to figure it out!

    His father takes a deep breath, preparing to launch into the Great Unwinding Speech that every parent prepares for a wayward child. Even if they never use it, they still prepare it, running the words through their minds while on lunch break, or while sitting in traffic, or while listening to some moronic boss blather on about price points and distribution, and whatever other crap that people in office buildings have meetings about.

    What were the statistics? Starkey saw it on the news once. Every year the thought of unwinding passes through the mind of one in ten parents. Of those, one in ten seriously considers it, and of those, one in twenty actually goes through with it—and the statistic doubles with every additional kid a family has. Crunch those juicy numbers, and one out of every two thousand kids between the ages of thirteen and seventeen will be unwound each year. Better odds than the lottery—and that doesn’t even include the kids in state homes.

    His father, keeping his distance, begins the speech. Mason, can’t you see that you left us no choice?

    The Juvey-cops hold him firm at the bottom of the stairs, but they make no move to get him outside. They know they must allow the parental rite of passage; the verbal boot out the door.

    The fights, the drugs, the stolen car—and now being expelled from yet another school. What’s next, Mason?

    Gee, I don’t know, Dad. There are so many bad choices I can make.

    Not anymore. We care enough about you to end your bad choices before they end you.

    That just makes him laugh out loud.

    And then there’s a voice from the top of the stairs.

    No! You can’t do this!

    His sister, Jenna—his parents’ biological daughter—stands at the top of the stairs in teddy bear pajamas that seem too old for her thirteen years.

    Go back to bed, Jenna, their mother says.

    You’re unwinding him just because he was storked, and that’s unfair! And right before Christmas, too! What if I had come storked? Would you unwind me also?

    We are not having this discussion! yells their father, as their mother begins to cry. Go back to bed!

    But she doesn’t. She folds her arms and sits at the top of the stairs in defiance, witnessing the whole thing. Good for her.

    His mother’s tears are genuine, but he’s unsure whether she’s crying for him or for the rest of the family. All these things you do, everyone told us they were a cry for help, she says. So why didn’t you let us help you?

    He wants to scream. How could he possibly explain it to them if they can’t see? They don’t know what it’s like to go through sixteen years of life knowing you weren’t wanted; a mystery baby of uncertain race storked on the doorstep of a couple so sienna-pale, they could have been vampires. Or to still remember that day when you were three years old and your mom, all doped up on pain medication from your sister’s cesarean delivery, took you to a fire station and begged them to take you away and make you a ward of the state. Or how about knowing every Christmas morning that your gift is not a joy, but an obligation? And that your birthday isn’t even real because they can’t pinpoint when you were born, just the day you were left on a welcome mat that some new mother took too literally?

    And what about the taunts from the other kids at school?

    In fourth grade Mason’s parents were called into the principal’s office. He had flipped a boy off the top platform of the jungle gym. The kid had suffered a concussion and a broken arm.

    Why, Mason? his parents had asked, right there in front of the principal. Why did you do it?

    He told them that the other kids were calling him Storky instead of Starkey, and that this was the boy who had started it. He naively thought they’d rise to his defense, but they just dismissed it as if it didn’t matter.

    You could have killed that boy, his father had reprimanded. And why? Because of words? Words don’t hurt you. Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain. He would have gladly taken a concussion and a broken arm if he never had to be singled out as a storked child ever again.

    In the end, he got sent to a different school and was ordered to have mandatory counseling.

    You think about what you did, his old principal had told him.

    And he did what he was told, like a good little boy. He gave it plenty of thought and decided he should have found a higher platform.

    So how do you even begin to explain that? How do you explain a lifetime of injustice in the time it takes the Juvey-cops to herd you out the door? The answer is easy: You don’t even try.

    I’m sorry, Mason, his father says, tears in his eyes as well. But it’s better for everyone this way. Including you.

    Starkey knows he’ll never make his parents understand, but if nothing else, he’ll have the last word.

    Hey, Mom, by the way… Dad’s late nights at the office aren’t really at the office. They’re with your friend Nancy.

    But before he can begin to relish his parents’ shocked expressions, it occurs to him that this secret knowledge could have been a bargaining chip. If he had told his father he knew, it could have been ironclad protection from unwinding! How could he be so stupid not to have thought of that when it mattered?

    So in the end he can’t even enjoy his bitter little victory as the Juvey-cops push him out into a cool December night.

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    The Juvey squad car leaves the driveway with Starkey locked in the backseat behind a bulletproof barrier. Mouthpiece drives while Lady-Lips flips through a fat file folder. Starkey can’t imagine his life could have that much data.

    It says here you scored in the top ten percentile in your early childhood exams.

    The mouthpiece shakes his head in disgust. What a waste.

    Not really, says Lady-Lips. Plenty of folks will get the benefit of your smarts, Mr. Starkey.

    The suggestion gives him an unpleasant chill, but he tries not to show it. Love the lip graft, dude, Starkey says. What’s the deal? Did your wife tell you she’d rather be kissed by a woman?

    Mouthpiece smirks, and Lady-Lips says nothing.

    But enough lip service, says Starkey. You boys hungry? Because I could go for a midnight snack right about now. Some In-N-Out? Whaddaya say?

    No answer from the front seat. Not that he expects one, but it’s always fun to mess with law enforcement and see how much it takes to irritate them. Because if they get ticked off, he wins. What’s that story about the Akron AWOL? What did he always say? Oh yeah. Nice socks. Simple, elegant, but it always undermined the confidence of any figure of false authority.

    The Akron AWOL—now there was an Unwind! Sure, he died in the attack on Happy Jack Harvest Camp almost a year ago, but his legend lives on. Starkey longs for the kind of notoriety that Connor Lassiter has. In fact, Starkey imagines Connor Lassiter’s ghost sitting by his side, appreciating his thoughts and his every action—not just approving, but guiding Starkey’s hands as he wriggles his handcuffs down to his left shoe—just low enough to fish out the knife from the lining. The knife he’s saved for special occasions like this.

    Come to think about it, In-N-Out Burger does sound good right about now, says Lady-Lips.

    Excellent, says Starkey. There’s one up ahead on the left. Order me a Double-Double, Animal Style, and Animal fries, too, because, hey—I’m an animal.

    He is amazed that they actually pull into the all-night drive-through. Starkey feels like the master of subliminal suggestion, even though his suggestion was not all that subliminal. Still, he is in control of the Juvey-cops… or at least he thinks he is until they order meals for themselves and nothing for him.

    Hey! What’s the deal? He pounds his shoulder against the glass that separates their world from his.

    They’ll feed you at harvest camp, says Lady-Lips.

    Only now does it hit home that the bulletproof glass doesn’t just separate him from the cops—it’s a barrier between him and any part of the outside world. He will never taste his favorite foods again. Never visit his favorite places. At least not as Mason Starkey. Suddenly he feels like hurling up everything he’s eaten, backdated to six days postconception.

    The night shift cashier at the drive-through window is a girl Starkey knows from his last school. As he sees her, a whole mess of emotions toy with his brain. He could just lurk in the shadows of the backseat, hoping not to be seen, but that would make him feel pathetic. No, he will not be pathetic. If he’s going down, then it will be in flames that everyone must see.

    Hey, Amanda, will you go to the prom with me? He shouts loud enough to be heard through the thick glass barrier.

    Amanda squints in his direction, and when she realizes who it is, she turns up her nose as if she’s smelled something rancid on the grill.

    Not in this life, Starkey.

    Why not?

    A, you’re a sophomore, and B, you’re a loser in the back of a police car. And anyway, don’t they have their own prom at the alternative school?

    Could she possibly be any denser? Uh, as you can see, I’ve graduated.

    Pipe down, says Mouthpiece, or I’ll unwind you right into the burgers.

    Finally Amanda gets it, and suddenly she becomes a little sheepish. Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, Starkey. I’m really sorry.…

    Pity is something Mason Starkey can’t stand. Sorry for what? You and your friends wouldn’t give me the time of day before, but now you’re sorry for me? Save it.

    I’m sorry. I mean—I’m sorry that I’m sorry—I mean… She sighs in exasperation and gives up, handing Lady-Lips a bag of food. Do you need ketchup?

    No, we’re good.

    Hey, Amanda! Starkey shouts as they drive away. If you really want to do something for me, tell everyone I went down fighting, will you? Tell them I’m just like the Akron AWOL.

    I will, Starkey, she says. I promise.

    But he knows she’ll forget by morning.

    Twenty minutes later they’re turning into the back alley of county lockup. No one goes in the front way, least of all the Unwinds. The county jail has a juvenile wing, and in the back of the juvey wing is a special box within a box where they hold Unwinds awaiting transport. Starkey’s been in regular juvey enough to know that once you’re in the Unwind holding cell, that’s it. End of story. Even death row inmates don’t have such tight security.

    But he’s not there yet. He’s still here, in the car, waiting to be transferred inside. Right here is where the hull of this little ship of fools is thinnest, and if he’s going to sink their plans, it has to happen between the car and the back door of the county jail. As they prepare for his perp walk, he thinks about his chances of breaking free—because as much as his parents may have imagined this night, so has he, and he’s made up a dozen valiant escape plans. The thing is, even his daydreams are fatalistic; in every anxiety-filled fantasy, he always loses, gets tranq’d, and wakes up on an operating table. Sure, they say they don’t unwind you right away, but Starkey doesn’t believe it. No one really knows what goes on in the harvest camps, and those who find out aren’t exactly around to share the experience.

    They pull him out of the car and flank him on either side, grasping his upper arms tightly. They are practiced in this walk. Lady-Lips grips Starkey’s fat file in his other hand.

    So, says Starkey, does that file show my hobbies?

    Probably, says Lady-Lips, not really caring either way.

    Maybe you should have read it a little more closely, because then we’d have something to talk about. He grins. You know, I’m pretty good with magic.

    That so? says Mouthpiece, with a twisted sneer. Too bad you can’t make yourself disappear.

    Who says I can’t?

    Then, in his finest Houdini fashion, he raises his right hand, revealing the cuff no longer on it. Instead, it dangles free from his left hand. Before they can even react, Starkey slides the penknife he used to pick the lock out of his sleeve, grips it in his hand, and slashes it across Lady-Lips’s face.

    The man screams, and blood flows from a four-inch wound. Mouthpiece, for once in his miserable life of public disservice, is speechless. He reaches for his weapon, but Starkey is already on the run, zigzagging in the shadowy alley.

    Hey! yells Mouthpiece. You’re only making it worse for yourself.

    But what are they going to do? Reprimand him before they unwind him? The Mouthpiece can talk all he wants, but he’s got no bargaining position.

    The alley turns to the left and then to the right like a maze, and all the while beside him is the tall, imposing brick wall of the county jail.

    Finally he turns another corner and sees a street up ahead. He charges forward, but just as he emerges into that street, he’s grabbed by Mouthpiece. Somehow he made it there before Starkey. He’s surprised, but he shouldn’t be, because doesn’t every Unwind try to run? And couldn’t they build a twisting alley specifically designed to waste your time and give the Juvey-cops an advantage that they never really lost?

    You’re through, Starkey! He crushes Starkey’s wrist enough to dislodge the knife and brandishes a tranq gun with trigger-happy fury. Down on the ground, or this goes in your eye!

    But Starkey does not go down. He will not humble himself before this legalized thug.

    Do it! says Starkey. Tranq me in the eye and explain to the harvest camp why the goods are damaged.

    Mouthpiece turns him around and pushes him against the brick wall, hard enough to scrape and bruise his face.

    "I’ve had enough of you, Starkey. Or maybe I should call you Storky. Then Mouthpiece laughs, like he’s a genius. Like every moron in the world hasn’t already called him that. Storky! he snorts. That’s a better name for you, isn’t it? How do you like that, Storky?"

    Blood boils hotter than water. Starkey can vouch for that, because with adrenaline-pumped fury, he elbows Mouthpiece in the gut and spins around, grabbing the gun.

    Oh no, you don’t.

    Mouthpiece is stronger—but maybe animal-style beats strength.

    The gun is between them. It points at Starkey’s cheek, then his chest, then to Mouthpiece’s ear, then under his chin. They both grapple for the trigger and—Blam!

    The concussive shock of the blast knocks Starkey back against the wall. Blood! Blood everywhere! The ferrous taste of it in his mouth, and the acrid smell of gun smoke and—

    That was no tranq bullet! That was the real thing!

    And he thinks he’s microseconds away from death, but he suddenly realizes that the blood isn’t his. In front of him, Mouthpiece’s face is a red, pulpy mess. The man goes down, dead before he hits the pavement and—

    My God, that was a real bullet. Why does a Juvey-cop have real bullets? That’s illegal!

    He can hear footsteps around the bend, and the dead cop is still dead, and he knows the whole world heard the gunshot, and everything hinges on his next action.

    He is partners with the Akron AWOL now. The patron saint of runaway Unwinds is watching over his shoulder, waiting for Starkey to make a move, and he thinks, What would Connor do?

    Just then another Juvey-cop comes around the bend—a cop he has never seen and is determined to never see again. Starkey raises Mouthpiece’s gun and shoots, turning what was just an accident into murder.

    As he escapes—truly escapes—all he can think about is the bloody taste of victory, and how pleased the ghost of Connor Lassiter would be.

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    To be an AWOL Unwind is one thing, but to be a cop killer is another. The manhunt for Starkey becomes more than just your typical Unwind chase. It seems the whole world is put on alert. First Starkey changes his look, dying his straggly brown hair red, cutting it bookworm-short, and shaving off the little victory garden goatee that he’s been cultivating since middle school. Now when people see him, they might get a feeling they’ve seen him before, but not know from where, because now he looks less like a face from a wanted poster and more like someone you’d see on a Wheaties box. The red hair is a bit of a disconnect with his olive complexion, but then, being a genetic hodgepodge has served him well all his life. He’s always been a chameleon who could pass for any ethnicity. The red hair just adds one more level of misdirection.

    He skips town and never stays anywhere for more than a day or two. Word is that the Pacific Northwest is more sympathetic to AWOL Unwinds than Southern California, so that’s where he’s headed.

    Starkey is prepared for life as a fugitive, because he has always lived in a kind of protective paranoia. Don’t trust anyone, not even your own shadow, and look out for your own best interests. His friends appreciated his clear-cut approach to life, because they always knew where they stood. He would fight to the end for his friends… as long as it was in his own interest to do so.

    You have the soul of a corporation, a teacher once told him. It was meant as an insult, but he took it as a compliment. Corporations have great power and do fine things in this world when they choose to. She was a glacier-hugging math teacher who got laid off the following year, because who needs math teachers when you can just get a NeuroWeave? Just goes to show you, hugging a chunk of ice gets you nothing but cold.

    Now, however, Starkey’s one with the huggers, because they’re the kind of people who run the Anti-Divisional Resistance, harboring runaway Unwinds. Once he’s in the hands of the ADR, he knows he’ll be safe, but finding them is the hard part.

    I’ve been AWOL for almost four months now and haven’t seen no sign of the resistance, says an ugly kid with a bulldog face. Starkey met him while hanging out behind a KFC on Christmas Eve, waiting for them to throw out the leftover chicken. He’s not the kind of kid Starkey would hang with in real life, but now that real life has flipped into borrowed time, his priorities have changed.

    I’ve survived because I don’t fall for no traps, Dogface tells him.

    Starkey knows all about the traps. If a hiding place seems too good to be true, it probably is. An abandoned house with a comfortable mattress; an unlocked truck that happens to be full of canned food. They’re traps set by Juvey-cops for AWOL Unwinds. There are even Juvies pretending to be part of the Anti-Divisional Resistance.

    The Juvies are offering rewards now for people who turn in AWOLs, Dogface says, as they stuff themselves sick with chicken. "And there are bounty hunters, too. Parts pirates, they call ’em. They don’t bother with collecting rewards—they sell the AWOLs they catch on the black market—and if you think regular harvest camps are bad, you don’t wanna know about the illegal ones. The kid swallows a mouthful so big, Starkey can see it going down his gullet like a mouse being swallowed by a snake. There never used to be parts pirates, he says, but since seventeen-year-olds can’t be unwound no more, there’s a shortage of parts, and AWOLs fetch a huge price on the black market."

    Starkey shakes his head. Making it illegal to unwind seventeen-year-olds was supposed to save a fifth of the kids marked for unwinding, but instead it forced a lot of parents to make their decision earlier. Starkey wonders if his parents would have changed their mind if they had another year to decide.

    Parts pirates are the worst, Dogface tells him. Their traps aren’t so nice as the ones the Juvies set. I heard this story about a trapper who got put out of business when fur was made illegal. So he took his heaviest animal traps and retooled them for Unwinds. Man, one of those traps snaps around your leg, and you can kiss that leg good-bye. He snaps a chicken bone in half for emphasis, and Starkey shivers in spite of himself. There are other stories, Dogface says, licking chicken grease from his dirty fingers, like this kid in my old neighborhood. His parents were total losers. Strung-out druggies who prolly shoulda been unwound themselves, if they had unwinding back in the day. Anyway, on his thirteenth birthday, they sign the unwind order and tell him about it.

    Why would they tell him?

    So he’d run away, Dogface explains, but see, they knew all his secret hiding places, and they told a parts pirate where to find him. He caught the kid, sold him, and split the fee with the kid’s parents.

    Son of a bitch!

    Dogface shrugs, and flicks away a chicken bone. The kid was a stork-job anyways, so it was no great loss, right?

    Starkey stops chewing, but just for a moment. Then he grins, keeping his thoughts to himself. Right. No great loss.

    That night the dogfaced kid takes Starkey to a drainage tunnel where he’s been hiding out, and once the kid falls asleep, Starkey gets to work. He goes out into a nearby neighborhood and leaves a bucket of chicken at some strangers’ front door, rings the bell, and runs.

    There’s no chicken in the bucket, though. Instead there’s a hand-drawn map, along with the following note:

    Need money? Then send the Juvey-cops here, and you’ll collect a fat reward. Happy holidays!

    Right around dawn, Starkey watches from a nearby rooftop as Juvies storm the drainage tunnel and pull out the dogfaced kid like so much earwax.

    Congratulations, asshole, he says to himself. You’ve been storked.

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    "When my parents signed the unwind order, I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen to me. I thought, ‘Why me? Why am I being punished?’ But once I got to BigSky Harvest Camp, all that changed. I found other kids like me and was finally accepted for who I was. I found out that every single part of me was precious and valuable. Thanks to the people at BigSky Harvest Camp, I’m not afraid of my unwinding anymore.

    The divided state? Wow. What an adventure!

    Every AWOL Unwind will steal. It’s an argument that the authorities like to use to convince the public that Unwinds are rotten apples from skin to core—that criminality is part of their very nature, and the only way to separate them from it is to separate them from themselves.

    Theft, however, is not about predisposition when it comes to Unwinds. It’s simply a matter of necessity. Kids who would never steal a penny find their fingers stickier than molasses and full of all sorts of pilfered goods, from food to clothes to medicine—the various things they need to survive—and those who were already prone to crime simply become even more so.

    Starkey is no stranger to criminal activity—although until recently most of his crimes were misdemeanors of the rebellious sort. He shoplifted if a shopkeeper looked at him suspiciously. He tagged bits of his own personal philosophy, which usually involved some choice four-letter words, on buildings that stood for the very things that ticked him off. He even stole a car from a neighbor who always made his young children go inside whenever Starkey came out. He took that guy’s car on a joyride with a couple of friends. Fun was had by all. Along the way he sideswiped a row of parked cars, losing two hub-caps and a bumper. Their ride ended when the car jumped a curb and mounted a very unresponsive mailbox. The damage was just enough to have the car labeled a total loss, which was exactly what Starkey wanted.

    They never could prove it was him, but everybody knew. He had to admit, it wasn’t one of his shining moments, but he knew he had had to do something to a man who didn’t think Starkey was good enough to breathe the same air as his own children. The guy simply had to be punished for that kind of behavior.

    All of it seemed to pale now that he was a murderer. But no—It would do him no good to think of himself that way. Better to think of himself as a warrior: a foot soldier in the war against unwinding. Soldiers were given medals for taking out the enemy, weren’t they? So even though that night in the alley still plagues him in moments of insecurity, most of the time his conscience is clear. His conscience is also clear when he begins parting people from their wallets.

    Starkey, imagining himself as a big-time Las Vegas magician someday, used to amaze friends and terrify adults by making their watches disappear off their wrists and turn up in other people’s pockets. It was a simple parlor trick, but one that had taken lots of time to perfect. Making wallets and purses disappear followed the same principle. A combination of distraction, skilled fingers, and the confidence to get it done.

    On this night, Starkey’s mark is a man who comes stumbling drunk out of a bar and slips an overstuffed wallet into the wide pocket of his overcoat. The drunk fumbles with his keys on the way to his car. Starkey strolls past, bumping him just hard enough to dislodge the keys, and they fall to the ground.

    Hey, man, I’m sorry, Starkey says, picking up the keys and handing them to him. The man never feels the fingers of Starkey’s other hand in his pocket, lifting the wallet at the same moment Starkey’s handing him the keys. Starkey strolls off whistling to himself, knowing the man will be halfway home before he realizes that his wallet is gone, and even then, he’ll think he just left it at the bar.

    Starkey turns a corner, making sure he’s out of sight before he opens the wallet, and the second he does, a jolt of electricity courses through him with such power his feet fall out from under him and he’s left semiconscious on the ground, twitching.

    A stun-wallet. He’s heard of such things but never saw one in action until now.

    Within seconds, the drunk is there, not so drunk after all, with three others whose faces he can’t make out. They lift him up and shove him into the back of a waiting van.

    As the door is pulled closed and the van accelerates, Starkey, only barely conscious, sees the face of the drunk/not-drunk man looking down at him through an electrically charged haze.

    Are you an Unwind, a runaway, or just a lowlife? he asks.

    Starkey’s lips feel like rubber. Lowlife.

    Great, says the un-drunk. That narrows it down. Unwind or runaway?

    Runaway, mumbles Starkey.

    Perfect, the man says. Now that we’ve established you’re an Unwind, we know what to do with you.

    Starkey groans, and some woman beyond his limited peripheral vision laughs. Don’t be so surprised. Unwinds all got this look in their eye that lowlifes and runaways don’t. We knew the truth without you saying a thing.

    Starkey tries to move, but he can barely lift his limbs.

    Don’t, says a girl he can’t see from somewhere behind him. Don’t move or I’ll zap you even worse than the wallet did.

    Starkey knows he’s fallen for a parts pirate’s trap. He thought he was smarter, and he silently curses his luck… until the man who pretended to be drunk says, You’ll like this safe house. Good food, even if it does smell a little.

    Wh-what?

    Laughs from everyone around him.

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