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"We're gonna suffocate! I know it!" announces the Mouth Breather
"Will you shut up?" says Connor "I'h 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 E 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 aand 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 tuet co? What's happening?" cries E 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 seeht 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'spattern of their own uneasy thoughts The plane hits so 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 s It could just as easily have been any one of the this trip is, it still could be
Finally, after what feels like forever, the quietest of theo 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 cra to be answered
"Not o 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, ould want theo?" Diego asks Emby
"Because Unwinds aren't really dead They're still alivesort of I ht? That's the law"
Then Hayden asks the question Not a question, the question Asking it is the great taboo a 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 elseare you alive or are you dead?"
This, Connor knows, is Hayden bringing his hand back and forth across the flah 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 E is bad," he says "I just don't want it to happen to nore hi that Connor can't abide, it's an Unho 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 therow sharper
"Soyou heard that story too?" says Diego "Just because there are stories like that, doesn'tis 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 ht 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 certainlyme stupid?" says Ehs "Hey, the Mouth Breather is right-- unwinding does help people If it wasn't for unwinding, there'd be bald guys again--and wouldn't that be horrible?"
Diego snickers, but Connor is not the least bit amused "Emby, why don't you do us all a favor and use youruntil we land, or crash, or whatever"