UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,91
come to see himself as human. It was a struggle to get there—to truly believe it. How much harder will it be for these rewinds, who do not have the advantages he had? They were not made from hand-picked parts. They were not created from the best of the best—they were hashed together from a random pool of Unwinds, without regard for anything other than their ability to hold a weapon. They were to be the start of a slave army—for when you’re a collection of parts, you’re not a person. You’re property.
At least that’s how General Bodeker saw it. Well, he’s in prison along with Roberta, and now the world has been left to deal with their prototype army of rewinds.
Cam, now a hero, volunteered to tend to them, and the military was more than happy to put them in his hands. Although Cam was just a cadet, everyone agreed that there was no one more suited to oversee the rewinds on Molokai.
The military sees him as a glorified babysitter—keeping the rewinds under guard and out of public sight. They don’t care if the rewinds ever find peace and purpose. But Cam does.
“That was a good speech,” says the military doctor catching up with him as he exits the rewind dormitory building. “I’m not sure they understood any of it, but it was very . . . inspirational.” They head for the main complex nearly half a mile away. A golf cart is available to take him, but Cam would rather walk.
“Most of them understood,” Cam tells him.
The doctor dons shades to guard his eyes from the harsh Hawaiian sun. “Yes, I suppose you would know.”
Dr. Pettigrew clearly resents Cam’s presence here. Good. Let him resent it. The man’s orders were clear—he is to answer to Cam as if Cam is his superior officer. His resentment is a nuisance but not an obstacle. Cam will do what he needs to do here.
“The females seemed more attentive,” the doctor says as they take the path leading toward the mansion, which is still the center of operations.
“The girls,” corrects Cam. The doctor might see them as animals, but Cam won’t let that mentality take hold in the way he speaks of them. There are fewer girls among the rewinds, reflecting Proactive Citizenry’s bias in the creation of this prototype army. Cam is even more sympathetic to the girls than he is to the boys. Seeing them nearly brings him to tears each time. He has to remind himself that it could have been worse. Roberta could have created them all sexless.
Cam stops walking halfway between the rewind building and the mansion. Tall cane and bamboo rise behind him, hiding the rewind building from view. Before him are taro plants, to the edge of the cliffs—even from here he can hear the pounding surf. Molokai was once a leper colony, as isolated as a place could be. The world would be happy to make this a rewind colony and never think about it again. People can’t abide the thought of killing them—but they do want to make the rewinds go away. That won’t happen on Cam’s watch.
“Planning a picnic?” asks the doctor, impatient at Cam’s moment of reflection.
“I want you to set up appointments with each of the rewinds,” he tells the doctor, who stares at him as if he hasn’t heard correctly.
“Appointments? You can’t be serious. With all due respect, they have the cognitive capacity of chimpanzees right now.”
“And if we want to change that, we will start treating them as human beings, not a mob of apes.”
Still the doctor hesitates.
“Or maybe you don’t want that to change,” Cam suggests, reading the man more deeply than he’d want to be read. “Maybe it’s easier for you to see them as less than human.”
The man bristles. “Spare me the psychoanalysis.”
Cam smiles. The doctor is pushing forty, and he’s being given orders by someone half his age. Cam allows himself a moment—but only a moment—to gloat over his position. “Appointments with each of them,” Cam repeats, before continuing on to the mansion. “Beginning at nine tomorrow morning. And you’ll be there with me for each interview.” And he strides off, knowing the doctor has no choice but to make it happen.
• • •
Cam lives in the wing of the mansion where he first came to consciousness. Even with all the negative memories, this is, and has always been, home.
He finds Una out back, sitting in a lawn chair in the expansive yard overlooking