Unwind by Neal Shusterman

alive that binds them.
    The moon has left the sky now, but there’s a faint glowpromising a quick arrival of dawn. By now their faces would be everywhere. Have you seen these teens? Do not approach. Considered extremely dangerous. Call the police immediately. Funny how Connor had wasted so much time in school trying to convince people he was dangerous, but when it came down to it, he was never sure if he was all that dangerous at all. A danger to himself, maybe.
    All the while, Lev watches him. At first the boy’s eyes had been lazy and his head lolling to one side, but now those eyes are sharp. Even in the dimness of the dying fire Connor can see them. Chilly blue. Calculating. This kid is an odd bird. Connor’s not quite sure what’s going on on Planet Lev, and not quite sure he wants to know.
    â€œThat bite’s gonna get infected if you don’t take care of it,” Lev says.
    Connor looks to the spot on his arm where Lev bit him, still puffy and red. He had tuned the pain out until Lev reminded him. “I’ll deal with it.”
    Lev continues to study him. “Why are you being unwound?”
    Connor doesn’t like the question for a whole lot of reasons. “You mean why WAS I being unwound—because, as you can see, I’m not being unwound anymore.”
    â€œThey will if they catch you.”
    Connor feels like punching that smug look off the kid’s face, but he restrains himself. He didn’t rescue the kid just to beat him up.
    â€œSo, what’s it like,” Connor asks, “knowing all your life you’re going to be sacrificed?” He meant it as a jab, but Lev takes the question seriously.
    â€œIt’s better than going through life without knowing your purpose.”
    Connor’s not sure if that was intentionally meant to makehim squirm—as if his life has no purpose. It makes him feel like he’s the one tied to a tree, not Lev. “I guess it could be worse,” says Connor. “We could have all ended up like Humphrey Dunfee.”
    Lev seems surprised by the mention of the name. “You know that story? I thought they only told it in my neighborhood.”
    â€œNah,” says Connor. “Kids tell it everywhere.”
    â€œIt’s made up,” says Risa, having just woken up.
    â€œMaybe,” says Connor. “But there was this one time a friend and I tried to find out about it while surfing one of the school’s computers. We hit this one website that talked about it, and how his parents went all psycho. Then the computer crashed. It turns out we were hit by a virus that wiped out the entire district server. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
    Lev’s taken in, but Risa, fairly disgusted, says, “Well, I’ll never end up like Humphrey Dunfee, because you have to have parents for them to go psycho—and I don’t.” She stands up. Connor looks away from the dying fire to see that dawn has arrived.
    â€œIf we’re going to keep from being caught, then we should change direction again,” Risa says. “We should also think about disguising ourselves.”
    â€œLike how?” asks Connor.
    â€œI don’t know. Change our clothes first. Haircuts maybe. They’ll be looking for two boys and a girl. Maybe I can disguise myself as a boy.”
    Connor takes a good look at her and smiles. Risa’s pretty. Not in the way Ariana was pretty—in a better way. Ariana’s prettiness was all about makeup and pigment injections and stuff. Risa has a natural kind of beauty. Without thinking, Connor reaches out to touch her hair, and gently says, “I don’t think you could ever pass for a guy—”
    Then suddenly, he finds his hand tugged behind him, hiswhole body spins around, and she painfully wrenches his arm up the small of his back. It hurts so much, he can’t even say “Ouch.” All he can say is, “Eh-eh-eh!”
    â€œTouch me