The story starts off with Starkey. His parents have just signed the Unwind order and the Juvey-cops are here to take him away. Although they weren’t his real parents, he has been storked to them, and Starkey is sure that’s the reason they want him to be unwound. So Starkey escapes. He shoots two Juvey-cops, killing them, and after a few weeks he is found by the ADR. They move him around a lot, from safe house to safe house, until he eventually finds himself at the Graveyard. Then the story jumps to Miracolina. Her parents had made a pact with god and are having her tithed. As she is leaving her parents change their minds, but Marcolina won’t let them have their way because “this is her destiny.” The van she is taken to the Harvest Camp in is stopped and she is Tranqed. When she wakes up, she learns that she was being rescued by a group that focuses on rescuing tithes and showing them the wrongfulness of Unwinding. This group worships Lev, but Miracolina hates hims, and doesn’t think that she is being rescued at all. |
Meanwhile, Conner and his crew have been going to houses, pretending to be Juvie cops to save teenagers the night before they are taken away to be unwound. Conner is stressed out from managing the Graveyard and isn’t making the best decisions. He’s put Starkey in charge of food distribution and has allowed him to form a “Stork Club”
The story then introduces Nelson, who is the cop the Conner Tranqed in the first book. He has been tricking runaway kids and Unwinds into traps. He then brings them to someone who sells them on the black market and Nelson gets paid.
The amount of Unwinds arriving at the Graveyard is decreasing. To Conner, this means that either more AWOLs are getting caught or the ADR is getting worse at their job. Conner has a plan to take out Trace who was appointed to the Graveyard by the ADR to be Conner’s adviser and bodyguard of sorts Trace is very well trained though and so he fails.
Trace then reveals to Conner that he is actually working for the government and was sent to the Graveyard to keep an eye on things. But in a way Trace is on their side. He hasn’t told them that Conner is still alive, or much of anything really.
Back at the Graveyard, a boy gets injured and needs to be taken to the hospital. Risa goes along another medic named Kianna, since the other times kids had been brought to the hospital, they died. Risa doesn’t want that to happen again. Kianna had been taking the kids to the same hospital every time, which is illogical considering they could become suspicious. When the nurse comes out to tell them the boy didn’t make it. But Risa knows that the nurse lied, knew that the boy was an AWOL and tried to turn him in. Risa decides to have them take her instead, since she was 17 and therefore could not be unwound. When Risa is taken in, she meets Cam and Roberta offers her a new spine, but she stubbornly refuses. Nelson finds out from the person that he is doing business with, that Conner is still alive. Nelson decides he will be the one to capture Conner. He tells the man that he will bring Conner to him on one condition. He wants Conner’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Lev is living with his older brother Marcus and Pastor Dan. A clapper comes to the house disguised as a Girl Scout. The people in charge of Clappers, whoever they may be, hate that Lev didn’t clap, they want him dead. They think by not clapping he made Clappers everywhere look bad. In the explosion, Pastor Dan was killed and Marcus is badly injured. Lev can no longer stay with his brother and is invited to join the Cavenaugh Trust. When he agrees he is taken to the mansion where rescued tithes have been taken to. Cavenaugh has put Lev on a pedestal and he absolutely hates it. This was all inspired by Lev, the kids look up to him. He thinks what the Cavenaugh Trust is doing is great, but he just doesn’t want to be apart of it. When Miracolina tries to sneak off during a storm, Lev goes with her, but unfortunately they are caught by Nelson. Nelson remembers Lev from the day Conner shot him and he just can’t believe his luck.
The admiral who was in charge of the Graveyard before Conner took over, comes to the Graveyard to check on Conner and see how everything is doing. He tells Conner about a group called “Proactive Citizenry” and Conner asks Trace more about it later. This all leads Conner into looking more into the Heartland warto learn more about it. He begins to realize that Unwinding was more than just a way to stop the war; it was a way to stop the teenagers that had come to be known as ‘The Terror Generation.” Conner than watches a press conference that Risa is in and he’s thrilled to find out that she’s alright. What he’s not thrilled about, is that Risa is actually speaking for Unwinding, rather than against it. One other thing is that Risa crosses her legs during the interview, which may seem small to anyone else, but to Conner it means that she has gotten a new spine.
What Conner doesn’t know, is that Risa has been blackmailed into it all. Roberta talked to Risa and explains that she is with Proactive Citizenry, she knows all about the Graveyard and has ways to keep it safe from as long as Risa Cooperates. And if she didn’t, she would have the Graveyard stormed immediately. So Risa reluctantly agreed to get a new spine. Risa would now pose as Cam’s fake girlfriend, so that the public can put him into a more human perspective. Of course at first Risa hates Cam because he is a product of Unwinding, but after a while they start to bond a little.
As if everything else isn’t enough, Starkey has decided to take on rescuing teenagers from homes just as Conner did. The only problem is that Starkey’s plan is terrible and everything goes wrong. The boy they are trying to save ends up being killed and they set the house on fire. What Starkey has done is sure to draw more attention to the Graveyard and cause a big mess.
So now we get to find out what happened to Miracolina and Lev. Nelson has captured them, tortured and threatened them until Lev lies and tells them that the Akron AWOL is in Pennsylvania. Nelson takes off with this information, knowing it was a lie and allows Miracolina and Lev to escape. Nelson put a tracking chip in Lev knowing he would take him straight to Conner. And of course as soon as they escape, Lev heads to warn Conner.
Conner arrests Starkey for what he has done. Now because of the problem he has caused, the Juvey-cops are planning on storming the Graveyard immediately. Conner is trying to come up with an escape plan as fast as he can. The original plan was that if the Graveyard was ever to be attacked, Trace would fly them out on the only working plane. The problem was that Trace had just been called in to report to his boss. When his boss tells him what they’re planning, he drives back to the graveyard as fast as he possibly can. Conner’s new backup plan is that him and a few other will cause a distraction, giving the other kids a chance to run away. Starkey has a different idea. Breaking out of his handcuffs, he get all the Storks from the Graveyard onto the escape jet.
As soon as the Juvey-cops show up, the Graveyard is in pandemonium. Starkey,literally holding a gun to his head, forces Trace to take off while only the Storks are in the plane. During take off,the landing gear get torn off by a tank they fly over. Trace has to land the plane in a lake in Mexico and the landing doesn’t go very well. Starkey leaves Trace trapped in the pilot's seat to drown. Forty-one Storks died in the crash leaving only 128 alive.
Meanwhile, Risa is doing another press conference. After seeing that the Graveyard has been attacked, during the interview she tells the country that she’s not, never has been, and never will be for Unwinding. She tells how she was blackmailed by Proactive Citizenry. After the interview, Cam helps Risa hide in his dressing room while Roberta is distracted.
Lev arrives at the Graveyard just as the Juvey-cops do, and Lev saves Conner. Miracolina has been found by the cops and were going to take her to her parents. THey knew she was supposed to be tithed, but her parents never signed the Unwind order so they would be taking her back to them.
There’s only fifteen AWOLs left at the Graveyard. One of them is a boy named Hayden, who was part of the team that helped Conner “rule” over the Graveyard. The group of kids decide that they would rather die than be unwound. So as the Juveys wait outside for them to give up, these 15 kids start to suffocate in the metal plane in the middle of Arizona. They’re dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke, and they would still rather die than be unwound.After the youngest of them dies, Hayden begins hallucinating and decides he can’t take it anymore and shoots the windshield of the plane. As they are dragged out, Hayden speaks out to the news crew about Unwinding.
It’s the next morning now, and Lev has taken Conner to a model home. They watch the news together and see Hayden shout to the reporters about how kids are more than just parts. They also see Risa’s interview.Conner learns about a man named. Jason Reinschild. He was the one who created the technology that made Unwinding possible; however Unwinding was not at all how he had wanted it to be used. He just wanted it to be used for better organ donation. He had started Proactive Citizenry to make sure that no one would abuse the technology he created, but somewhere along the way things got flipped around. Proactive Citizenry became for Unwinding and erased Jason Reinschild from history. Conner realizes that he knows Reinchilds wife and that he and Lev will have to go to their hometown to find her.
Lev and Conner are at a diner when cops come in looking for any of the escaped AWOLs. A waitress named Karla covers for them and after the cops leave, she gives them the keys to her car so they can leave. She tells them that people are changing and more people are willing to help them then they might think. People are finally beginning to question the morality of Unwinding.
“ ‘We are not just AWOLs! We are not just parts! We are whole human being- and history will look back on these times in shame!’
They shove them into the van, but before they slam the door, Hayden shouts,
‘To the new Teen Uprising!’” page 390
“ ‘You need to know that not everyone’s you enemy.’ Karla says. “Things are changing out there. People are changing. It might not be obvious, but it’s there, and I see it everyday’ “ Page 401
(All information in this section is directly quoted from the book)
Unwinding and The Unwind Accord- America’s second civil war, also known as The Heartland War, ended when the pro-life and pro-choice armies came to an agreement. This agreement made life inviolable from conception to the age 13, but allowed for the “retroactive abortion” or Unwinding of troubled teenagers. Unwinding is a process where the teenager between the age of 13 and 17 is dismantled. The parts of the child is donated to be used by people who need them. By law, 99.4% of a person must be used and kept alive during transport.
The Divided State- When a person is unwound the state they are in is called The Divided State, since virtually all of them is still alive, they are not considered to be dead.
Storking- If a mother does not wish to keep a newborn baby, she has the legal option to leave the baby on someone else’s doorstep. The baby then becomes the legal responsibility of the people in that home. Storking is the common term used for leaving the baby. These kids are usually called “storks” and are often looked down on in society.
Clappers- These young terrorists have introduced an undetectable chemical into their circulatory system that makes their blood explosive. They get their names because they detonate by bring their hands together in a powerful clap.
Juvey-cops and “Tranq’ing- Juvey-cops are the law enforcement officers who work for the National Juvenile Authority and are responsible for Unwinds. Tranq’ing is the act of chemically rendering someone unconscious by the use of bullets or darts.
AWOL-Originally a military term meaning “away without leave” now more commonly used for referring to runaway unwinds
The ADR or Anti-Divisional Resistance- This organization fights unwinding by rescuing AWOLs. They keep AWOLs in safe houses until they get to their final location; The Graveyard. This organization is not actually very ‘organized,’ and is slowly becoming less and less productive. No one is really sure why.
Characters:
Conner- Also known as the Akron AWOL, Conner is now the leader of over 700 AWOL’s hiding out in the airplane graveyard. The stress is driving him insane. Conner ass the qualities of a good leader, like always putting others before him. But putting others before himself, along with his responsibilities, get in the way of his relationship with Risa. And as if everything else wasn’t enough, Conner has found out that the Juvey-cops know all about the graveyard, but chose to leave it alone. Conner can’t help but wonder why.
Risa-In the same explosion that took Conner’s arm, Risa lost her ability to walk. Unconscious, Conner had been given a replacement from an Unwind. Risa on the other hand, was conscious and able to refuse a new spine knowing it would have came from an unwound. She is now wheelchair bound, but refuses to let anyone take pity in her. Now, she is the head medic at the Graveyard. She doesn’t see much of Conner since he had taken over the Graveyard. Even when they do spend time together, Conner’s thoughts seem to be elsewhere.
Lev- An ex-tithe, the clapper who didn’t clap. Now, disowned by his family, Lev lives with his ex-pastor Dan and his older brother Marcus. Lev was born into a very religious family. The whole reason he was born, was to be unwound at age 13. The day he was supposed to be unwound, he was ‘rescued’ by Conner, who was trying to escape his own unwinding. At the time Lev hadn’t seen it as being rescued, but since he had been scared of being unwound to begin with, he quickly began to see how wrong unwinding was. Then he had become a clapper who, at the last second, changed his mind and didn’t clap. After the chemicals had been removed from his body, he was put on house arrest, probation and taken out of the news as soon as possible.
Cam-Cam is a product of unwinding. He was not born, but rather created. His creator took the best parts from the best unwinds and pieced them together to create Camus Comprix, or as he prefers ‘Cam.’ His legs came from the best swimmer, and his hands from the best guitar player. He is himself, but not a single part of him is his own. It all belonged to someone else first. Cam accepts what he is and wants others to accept him too. More importantly, he wants Risa to accept him. Cam is a character that will make you realize what your opinion is on what can be considered life, and whether a soul is what makes a person a person. What makes you a person?
Starkey- Starkey was storked, and he’s sure that’s the reason his ‘parents’ signed the unwind order. After escaping and killing 2 juvey-cops, he ends up at the Graveyard. Conner was someone he used to look up too, but when he meets Conner and finds out he isn’t the bad-ass Starkey thought he was, he soon begins to dislike him. He begins his time at the Graveyard trying to take Conner’s leadership position, because he’s confident that he would make a better leader. He forms a stork club, gaining respect among a fourth of the Graveyards population.
Nelson- Nelson, an ex Juvey-cop turned parts pirate. After becoming the laughing stock of the police force when conner shot him with his own trang-gun, Nelson turned to a dirtier business. He tricks runaway kids and AWOLs into traps, then sells them on the black market. He had thought conner was killed in an explosion, but when he hears a rumor that he’s still alive, he puts his entire focus into finding Conner and getting his revenge.