Unwind (43 page)

A stun-wallet. He's heard of such things but never saw one in action until now.

Within seconds, the drunk is there, not so drunk after all, with three others whose faces he can't make out. They lift him up and shove him into the back of a waiting van.

As the door is pulled closed and the van accelerates, Star-key, only barely conscious, sees the face of the drunk/not-drunk man looking down at him through an electrically charged haze.

“Are you an Unwind, a runaway, or just a lowlife?” he asks.

Starkey's lips feel like rubber. “Lowlife.”

“Great,” says the un-drunk. “That narrows it down. Unwind or runaway?”

“Runaway,” mumbles Starkey.

“Perfect,” the man says. “Now that we've established you're an Unwind, we know what to do with you.”

Starkey groans, and some woman beyond his limited peripheral vision laughs. “Don't be so surprised. Unwinds all got this look in their eye that lowlifes and runaways don't. We knew the truth without you saying a thing.”

Starkey tries to move, but he can barely lift his limbs.

“Don't,” says a girl he can't see from somewhere behind him. “Don't move or I'll zap you even worse than the wallet did.”

Starkey knows he's fallen for a parts pirate's trap. He thought he was smarter, and he silently curses his luck . . . until the man who pretended to be drunk says, “You'll like this safe house. Good food, even if it does smell a little.”

“Wh-what?”

Laughs from everyone around him. There may be four or five people in the van. But his vision still isn't clear enough to get an accurate count.

“I love that look on their faces,” the woman says. Now she comes into his field of vision and grins at him. “You know how they tranq escaped lions so they can bring them back to safety before they get themselves in a heap of trouble?” she says. “Well, today you're the lion.”

Neal Shusterman
is the author of many novels for young adults, including The Skinjacker Trilogy, and
Downsiders
, which was nominated for twelve state reading awards. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows such as
Animorphs
and
Goosebumps
. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California. Visit him at
storyman.com
.

Also by Neal Shusterman

NOVELS:
Antsy Does Time
Bruiser
The Dark Side of Nowhere
Dissidents
Downsiders
The Eyes of Kid Midas
Full Tilt
The Schwa Was Here
The Shadow Club
The Shadow Club Rising
Speeding Bullet
Unwind
UnWholly
What Daddy Did

THE SKINJACKER TRILOGY
Everlost
Everwild
Everfound

THE STAR SHARDS CHRONICLES
Scorpion Shards
Thief of Souls
Shattered Sky

THE DARK FUSION SERIES
Dread Locks
Red Rider's Hood
Duckling Ugly

STORY COLLECTIONS:
Darkness Creeping
MindQuakes
MindStorms
MindBenders

Visit the author at:
storyman.com
and
Facebook.com/nealshusterman

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by Neal Shusterman
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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IMON
& S
CHUSTER
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OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Book design by Al Cetta
The text for this book is set in Fairfield
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shusterman, Neal.
Unwind / Neal Shusterman.—1st ed.
p. cm.

Summary: In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs—and, perhaps, save their own lives.
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1204-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1205-7 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9496-1 (eBook)
[1. Fugitives from justice—Fiction. 2. Survival—Fiction. 3. Revolutionaries—Fiction.
4. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S55987Unw 2007
[Fic]—dc22
2006032689