Summary

Connor Lassiter’s life is being stolen from him at sixteen. Ariana tells him that he’s smart and can survive to eighteen. Sitting on the ledge of a freeway overpass atop the rumble of the traffic has been his safe haven. Ariana embraces Connor with tears in her eyes. She says they should run away together and kick AWOL. It would take real commitment on Ariana’s part to run away with an Unwind. He tells Ariana that AWOL is an old military term that means “absent without leave.” Her parents don’t like Connor.

Connor’s parents don’t know that he knows he’s being unwound. He accidentally found the order signed by his parents in his father’s desk. At two in the morning, Connor dresses all in black, looks in on his little brother and heads out...