Unwind

'We're all gonna die in here,' says a nasal voice, followed by a wet sniff that doesn't sound like it clears much of anything. Connor knows this kid by his mucous. He's not sure of his name—everyone just calls him 'the Mouth Breather,' since his nose is perpetually stuffed. Emby, for short. He's the one always obsessively reading his comic book, but he can't quite do that in here.

'Don't talk like that,' says Connor. 'If the Fatigues wanted to kill us, they would have done it a long time ago.'

The Mouth Breather has foul breath that's filling up the whole crate. 'Maybe they got found out. Maybe the Juvey-cops are on their way, and the only way to save themselves is to destroy the evidence!'

Connor has little patience for whiners. It reminds him too much of his younger brother. The one his parents chose to keep. 'Shut up, Emby, or I swear I'm going to take off my sock, shove it in your stinky mouth, and you'll finally have to figure out a way to breathe through your nose!'

'Let me know if you need an extra sock,' says a voice just across from him. 'Hi, Connor. It's Hayden.'

'Hey, Hayden.' Connor reaches out and finds Hayden's shoe, squeezing it—the closest thing to a greeting in the claustrophobic darkness. 'So, who's lucky number four?' No answer. 'Sounds like we must be traveling with a mime.'

Another long pause, then Connor hears a deep, accented voice.

'Diego.'

'Diego doesn't talk much,' says Hayden.

'I figured.'

They wait in silence, punctuated by the Mouth Breather's snorts.

'I gotta go to the bathroom,' Emby mumbles.

'You should have thought of that before you left,' says Hayden, putting on his best mother voice. 'How many times do we have to tell you? Always use the potty before climbing into a shipping crate.'

There's some sort of mechanical activity outside, then they feel the crate moving.

'I don't like this,' whines Emby.

'We're being moved,' says Hayden.

'By forklift, probably,' says Connor. The Fatigues are probably long gone by now. What was it that one Fatigue had said? Once you're in a box, you're somebody else's problem. Whoever's been hired to ship them probably has no clue what's in the crates. Soon they'll be on board some aircraft, headed to an undisclosed destination. The thought of it makes him think about the rest of his family and their trip to the Bahamas—the one they'd planned to take once Connor was unwound. He wonders if they went—would they still take their vacation, even after Connor had kicked-AWOL? Sure they would. They were planning to take it once he got unwound, so why would his escape stop them? Hey, wouldn't it be funny if they were being shipped to the Bahamas too?

'We're gonna suffocate! I know it!' announces the Mouth Breather.

'Will you shut up?' says Connor. 'I'm sure there's more than enough air in here for us.'

'How do you know? I can barely breathe already—and I got asthma, too. I could have an asthma attack in here and die!'

'Good,' says Connor. 'One less person breathing the air.'

That shuts Emby up, but Connor feels bad having said it. 'No one's going to die,' he says. 'Just relax.'

And then Hayden says, 'At least dying's better than being unwound. Or is it? Let's take a poll—would you rather die, or be unwound?'

'Don't ask things like that!' snaps Connor. 'I don't want to think about either.' Somewhere outside of their little crated universe, Connor hears a metal hatch closing and can feel the vibration in his feet as they begin to taxi. Connor waits. Engines power up—he can feel the vibration in his feet. He's pushed back against the wall as they accelerate. Hayden tumbles into him, and he shifts over, giving Hayden room to get comfortable again.

'What's happening? What's happening?' cries Emby.

'Nothing. We're just taking off.'

'What! We're on a plane?'

Connor rolls his eyes, but the gesture is lost in the darkness.

* * *

The box is like a coffin. The box is like a womb. Normal measures of time don't seem to apply, and the unpredictable turbulence of flight fills the dark space with an ever-present tension.

Once they're airborne, the four kids don't speak for a very long time. Half an hour, an hour maybe—it's hard to tell. Everyone's mind is trapped in the holding pattern of their own uneasy thoughts. The plane hits some rough air. Everything around them rattles. Connor wonders if there are kids in crates above them, below them, and on every side. He can't hear their voices if they are. From where he sits, it feels like the four of them are the only ones in the universe. Emby silently relieves himself. Connor knows because he can smell it—everyone can, but no one says anything. It could just as easily have been any one of them—and depending on how long this trip is, it still could be.

Finally, after what feels like forever, the quietest of them all speaks.

'Unwound,' Diego says. 'I'd rather be unwound.'

Even though it's been a long time since Hayden posed the question, Connor knows immediately what it refers to. Would you rather die or be unwound? It's like the question has hung in the cramped darkness all this time, waiting to be answered.

'Not me,' says Emby. 'Because if you die, at least you go to Heaven.'

Heaven? thinks Connor. More likely they'd go to the other place. Because if their own parents didn't care enough about them to keep them, who would want them in Heaven?

'What makes you think Unwinds don't go?' Diego asks Emby.

'Because Unwinds aren't really dead. They're still alive . . . sort of. I mean, they have to use every single part of us somewhere, right? That's the law.'

Then Hayden asks the question. Not a question, the question. Asking it is the great taboo among those marked for unwinding. It's what everyone thinks about, but no one ever dares to ask out loud.

'So, then,' says Hayden, 'if every part of you is alive but inside someone else . . . are you alive or are you dead?'

This, Connor knows, is Hayden bringing his hand back and forth across the flame again. Close enough to feel it, but not close enough to burn. But it's not just his own hand now, it's everyone's, and it ticks Connor off.

'Talking wastes our oxygen,' Connor says. 'Let's just agree that unwinding sucks and leave it at that.'

It shuts everyone up, but only for a minute. It's Emby who talks next.

'I don't think unwinding is bad,' he says. 'I just don't want it to happen to me.'

Connor wants to ignore him but can't. If there's one thing that Connor can't abide, it's an Unwind who defends unwinding. 'So it's all right if it happens to us but not if it happens to you?

'I didn't say that.'

'Yes, you did.'

'Ooh,' says Hayden. 'This is getting good.'

'They say it's painless,' says Emby—as if that were any consolation.

'Yeah?' says Connor. 'Well, why don't you go ask all the pieces of Humphrey Dunfee how painless it was?'

The name settles like a frost around them. The jolts and rattles of turbulence grow sharper.

'So . . . you heard that story too?' says Diego.

'Just because there are stories like that, doesn't mean unwinding is all bad,' says Emby. 'It helps people.'

'You sound like a tithe,' says Diego.

Connor finds himself personally insulted by that. 'No, he doesn't. I know a tithe. His ideas might have been a little bit out there, but he wasn't stupid.' The thought of Lev brings with it a wave of despair. Connor doesn't fight it—he just lets it wash through him, then drain away. He doesn't know a tithe; he knew one.

One who has certainly met his destiny by now.