Unwind

by Neal Shusterman

Synopsis

In a near-future dystopian United States, the conflict between the pro-choice and pro-life movements escalated into a second civil war. In response, the government fought against both sides to stop the war from escalating and closed down schools and other services for children in order to do so. Children, teenagers, and young adults began protesting and rioting against the actions and nearly toppled down the government in an event known as the Teen Uprising. At the same time, technology in organ transplants advanced into a process known as "unwinding"; organs and body parts can be harvested from any acceptable body and used by other bodies without rejection.

As a way to end the war, the government passed a set of amendments known as The Bill of Life. Abortion is banned, "storking" (the act of abandoning newborn babies to be left in someone else's care) becomes an accepted practice, and the Unwind Accord allows families to have their children between ages of 13 and 18 undergo unwinding as an option. Unwinding is justified as legal because the patient is kept alive during the entire process and roughly 99% of the body is harvested. Many parents use it to get rid of unwanted children who have reached their teenage years.

Plot Summary

The story centers around three teenagers who have been scheduled to be unwound: Connor Lassiter, Risa Ward, and Levi "Lev" Jedediah Calder.

Connor is a sixteen-year-old delinquent who discovers his parents signed an order to get him unwound. When his attempt at running away gets him cornered by a Juvey-cop, a law-enforcement officer who serves to round up teenagers signed to be unwound, he holds another teenager hostage, shoots the cop with his own tranquilizer gun, and causes a massive pile up. Connor's action gave him the name "Akron AWOL" and earns him the reputation of being the runaway who took down a police officer. At the same time, Risa, a fifteen-year-old orphan on her way to becoming unwound in order to cut her orphanage's costs, uses the jam to escape from the bus she was traveling on. Lev, a thirteen-year-old who was raised to believe it was his duty to be a "tithe" (chosen member to be unwound as an act of charity or service to a religion) for his family, is also on his way to be unwound and is the teenager who was held hostage. He is then abducted after being tranquilized. Connor and Risa escape the scene with Lev being forced to follow.

Connor picks up a storked newborn girl after remembering a past experience his family had with storking. Risa grudgingly agrees to take the baby in with the group after they are caught holding her. The three enter a nearby high school to hide, and Lev attempts to escape by turning himself and the other two in to the school authorities. Feeling guilty about his actions, Lev decides to escape and pulls the fire alarm to help the other two escape as the police begin to arrive. Risa and Connor are found by a school teacher named Hannah, who helps them escape and tells them to find an antique store owner named Sonia. Sonia runs a safe house for runaway teenagers signed to be unwound. There, Connor and Risa meet Hayden Upchurch, a teen whose parents decided to have him unwound rather than choose who can have custody over him; Mai, a girl whose parents signed her due to the excess of girls in her family; Zachary, who is nicknamed "Mouth Breather" due to his asthma; and Roland Taggart, a bully with a tiger shark tattoo. Before the group is to be shuttled to the next safe house, Sonia has each teenager write a letter to someone they love. The letters would be sent a year after their eighteenth birthday if they were not picked up. Hannah decides to adopt the newborn girl, and the group was sent to a warehouse that serves as another safe house.

Meanwhile, Lev encounters another teenager named Cyrus "CyFi" Finch, who teaches Lev street smarts. Lev learns that CyFi struggles to find closure with his actions, which has caused him to run away and engage in delinquent activities such as stealing. The struggle comes from Tyler Walker, an unwound teenager who has part of his brain in CyFi and is unaware that he has been unwound. As a result, CyFi constantly engages in Tyler's old habits and experiences Tyler's emotions sporadically. Lev helps CyFi and Tyler find peace by allowing Tyler to speak to his parents once again through CyFi, with Cyrus dubbing himself Cy-Ty as a way to represent both him and Tyler.

Risa and Connor realize Roland manipulates, lies, and uses fear as a means to get what he wants and create chaos. The group of teenagers eventually make it to "The Graveyard," an airplane graveyard run by "The Admiral," a former admiral known as Admiral Dunfee. There, teenagers are taught skills and put to work until they turn eighteen or need to be transported elsewhere. Roland, with a new motive to become the new leader, spreads rumors in order to make the teenagers at The Graveyard turn against The Admiral. Connor confronts The Admiral and discovers that the rumors about him are false. The Admiral explains he had his own son unwound out of expectation and created The Graveyard as a way to make up for that mistake. The Graveyard is also acknowledged by the government as a compromise to keep runaways off the streets while allowing them to not be unwound. Connor and Risa decide to side with The Admiral, with Connor serving as his spy. Suspicions against The Admiral's motives led to the death of "The Goldens," a group of five teenagers who help The Admiral run The Graveyard, and Connor suspects Roland to be responsible. Lev arrives at The Graveyard and reunites with Connor and Risa. However, Lev decides to join a secret group within The Graveyard dedicated to destroying Unwinding facilities, known as harvest camps, rather than work in The Graveyard until he is eighteen. Lev becomes a "clapper", a suicide bomber injected with liquid explosive that can be detonated by clapping, alongside Mai and another runaway named Blaine.

A riot ensues when the bodies of The Goldens are discovered, and The Admiral has a heart attack during the resulting chaos. Connor eventually calms the riot down and forces Roland to help him fly The Admiral to the hospital. Risa joins them, and all three teenagers are arrested and taken away to a harvest camp. Risa is forced to play in the harvest camp's band and plays for every teenager about to undergo the procedure. Connor's reputation as Akron AWOL causes the staff to treat him with disrespect and contempt. Lev enters the harvest camp as a tithe, ready to detonate the harvest camp. However, he discovers Connor is also at the camp, and the time planned to self detonate is when Connor will be unwound. He attempts to stop Mai and Blaine, who also came to the camp, but is too late. Roland is unwound first due to his blood type, and the staff prepare to take Connor. The clappers detonate themselves as Connor is about to enter the procedure room. The explosion causes the building Risa and the band were on collapse, and Connor is knocked unconscious as well. The explosion causes chaos as the building begins to collapse. Lev, initially willing to clap, backs out and helps the survivors escape before turning himself in to the police.

Connor wakes up in the hospital, and a nurse saves him from being unwound by purposely misidentifying him as a young Juvey-cop killed in the explosion. Connor ends up with a new eye and arm against his will and learns that the arm came from Roland's body. Risa ends up being paralyzed from the hip down and is wheelchair bound. She refuses treatment, exploiting the loophole that the disabled could not be unwound. Connor and Risa reunite and continue their relationship from their time at The Graveyard.

Lev, because he was a clapper, is also excluded from becoming unwound. The liquid explosive damaged his organs, making them unsuitable for transplantation. His family refuses to take him back, and his older brother Marcus, who spoke out against having Lev being unwound as a tithe in the beginning, is willing to take custody of him.

The Admiral, weak from the heart attack, refuses to receive an unwound heart and resigns from his position at The Graveyard. During his career, The Admiral used his status to find where his son's body parts are being used. The Admiral manages to contact most of the people who ended up with one of his son's parts and organizes a reunion at his home. Connor and Risa return to The Graveyard, with Connor being the new leader and vowing to fight against unwinding.