Chain Gang All Stars

In the present, Reporter Tracy Lasser’s speech on Sports Central has reinvigorated a small backlash about the inhumane CAPE program. Now, the Coalition to End Neo-Slavery hosts a meeting to prepare for an upcoming protest, which is projected to be larger than usual. Sunset’s daughter, Mari—the young woman who gave Thurwar the note about Season 33’s new rule—is there with her aunt, Kai, the Coalition’s unofficial leader. When Mari graduated three years prior, the commencement address was about how becoming a capitalist is awesome, but Mari doesn’t want to go into business—many companies also own prisons, and she thinks profiting off of others’ incarceration is immoral.

A-Hamm marches and camps for three days. Thurwar’s knee aches. She has kept this injury secret from others; it happened during a fight with ReckLass, who jammed another of Melancholia Bishop’s former weapons into Thurwar’s leg. Thurwar reflects that ReckLass must have purchased the gear with Blood Points after Bishop’s death—another way to get equipment other than winning it in battle.

They march until the anchor announces a melee—a group fight between A-Hamm and another Chain, which ends whenever one person dies. The team that does not experience a death wins.

During a board meeting for the GameMasters of the CAPE program, a man named Kyrean wants to discuss what Tracy said on the news. No one is interested: They’ve analyzed the public’s response and concluded that she doesn’t pose much of a threat—if anything, she inadvertently encouraged some people to watch hard action sports even more. Kyrean thinks they should get rid of the new Season 33 rule that would force teammates, friends, and even lovers to kill each other. Micky Wright, surprisingly, agrees that the new rule is objectionable. A GameMaster named George, whose son, Forest, is also on the board, wants to keep the rule. Forest was friends with Kyrean in college but reflects that they could easily replace him if starts arguing too much with George.

Mac explains to Rico that once it starts, they need to kill one person from the other team before any A-Hamm members are killed. Once one person dies, the melee ends and both Chains continue toward their original destinations. It’s Thurwar’s 20th melee. To participate, she forces herself to pretend like the people she’s meant to kill aren’t humans.

In melees, Thurwar and Staxxx select one person on the opposing Chain to tag-team; this way, they can end the melee before too many others are injured. Now, they pick a woman who looks new and confused, thinking she’ll be easy to kill quickly.

The other team’s leader and strongest fighter, Raven Ways, tries to speak to Thurwar as the anchor counts down the seconds until the melee starts. Thinking that he is doing this to distract her, Thurwar ignores him. The melee begins. Thurwar and Staxxx rush toward their target but soon realize that Albin Lofgren, also known as Alley Bye-Bye, has decided he wants to die. He sacrifices himself, dying by suicide and thus ending the melee.

The novel flashes back. Simon J. Craft is still in solitary confinement, being subjected to frequent abuse by Officer Lawrence (whom Craft calls Angel 2) and his Influencer. Another guard, Officer Greggs, or Angel 1, urges Lawrence to stop. After each Influencing session, Simon forgets more about his past, his crimes, and even his identity. He keeps repeating his name, Simon Jeremiah, to help himself remember. Simon has cause to file a legal complaint against Lawrence, but since his complaints would have to go through Lawrence, this isn’t really feasible. However, Greggs lets Simon know that there is another way out if he can keep himself together—which, for now, he can.

Later, Lawrence guides Simon to the general population area of the prison and forces him to fight another incarcerated man, Angelo Ruiz. Lawrence promises that if Simon wins, he won’t be Influenced for a week, but after Simon kills Ruiz, Lawrence Influences Simon again. Greggs again tells Simon about a way out, and Simon says he’ll do anything to escape the Influencer.

The Influencer was created using technology developed by Dr. Patricia St. Jean, who was not trying to create a torture device but a way to ease pain. When Patty was 11, her father got bone cancer. His treatment got rid of the cancer but damaged his nervous system, leaving him with chronic pain that had no cure until he died. In medical school, Patty’s professors thought her goal of eradicating pain was silly and juvenile, but she persisted, working in the lab of Rodger, her boyfriend’s father. She ran experiments manipulating rats’ nervous systems, but what she developed worked the opposite way of what she intended: Instead of curing their pain, she caused them to feel more pain than their brains could naturally process at once. Patty did not want this research to be used for anything, but Rodger thought it was groundbreaking, with the potential to make a lot of money. To prevent Rodger from using her creation, Patty burned the lab down and was arrested for arson. She was Thurwar’s prison cellmate before Thurwar joined CAPE.

The novel flashes back. Hendrix Young, also known as Scorpion Singer, marches with his Chain, which includes Young’s friends Razor Edgerrin, Bells, and Eighty; it also includes the Eraser Triplets, who are white neo-Nazis and not friendly to Young (who is Black), and LouBob, who keeps to himself. Young was incarcerated for killing a romantic rival. He questions whether CAPE is bettering the world in any way, even if he and/or others deserve to die. When he killed his first BattleGround opponent, he felt remorse, but this wasn’t meaningful since he didn’t know what the opponent was incarcerated for or if he was even guilty. Young thinks the marches are a pretty easy part of CAPE life: GameMasters don’t want Links dying because of weather, climate, or wild animals—deaths that are less entertaining for audiences—so they create the March routes in areas that are rural, temperate, and not super dangerous.

In the present, we learn that Staxxx killed Sunset because he asked her to.

Staxxx was incarcerated for killing a man who was sexually assaulting her. She thinks of her pre-CAPE self as Hamara and her current self as Hurricane Staxxx, whom she understands better. She wants to spread love and not be defined by someone who harmed her or by her family that disowned her.

Staxxx chats with Randy while fighting off intrusive thoughts and anxiety. She dreads losing Thurwar or being apart from her once Thurwar is either High Freed or dead.

For once, Thurwar is glad Staxxx is with Randy because she wants to be alone. She worries that Staxxx will be mad that Thurwar didn’t tell her about the Season 33 rule that they have to fight each other. Thurwar considers letting Staxxx kill her during their fight: Her original plan was to die in the CAPE program—plus, she loves Staxxx.

For now, Thurwar and Staxxx focus on training for their doubles match, which will likely be their hardest yet. They’ll be fighting against men with different fighting styles, both strong fighters.

In a flashback, Simon tells himself to go ahead and jump.

The Sing-Attica-Sing Chain marches on, having lost three members to BattleGround matches in the Hub City they just left: Eighty, LouBob, and one of the Eraser triplets. The anchor leads them to their campsite. Another man is already there: Simon. J. Craft, who is now a new Link on their Chain. He methodically kills everyone but Young, who is able to calm Simon down. Young commands Simon not to kill him, and Simon agrees.

In the present, Emily and Wil watch old footage of Sing-Attica-Sing on LinkLyfe. Emily is horrified that Simon murdered four people so quickly—she has never seen this clip from the show before. Emily feels like the Eraser triplets were clearly evil and deserved to be on Chain-Gang All-Stars, which, to her, justifies its existence. However, she’s so upset watching people die “basically in her own living room” that she hits Will before having sex with him (223).

A-Hamm marches and meets Jerry, who will transport them to the Hub City. Jerry is stressed out because his bosses are nervous about the protests.

In the back of the van, Gunny Puddles thinks pessimistically that the Chain members deserve this program.

The narrator notes that people who murder white people are more than four times as likely to receive the death penalty; Puddles doesn’t think this is likely to change.

A-Hamm arrives at Old Taperville, which is Staxxx’s hometown. They are escorted through crowds of protestors and fans to a press conference. Staxxx is struck by protestors using her real name, Hamara Stacker; their screams sound very different from fans screaming “Hurricane Staxxx.” She recognizes one woman: reporter Tracy, who was Staxxx’s friend in high school.

There are more protestors than fans present, which the GameMasters didn’t expect. At the press conference, reporters ask Thurwar about Sunset’s death, her upcoming doubles match, the no-violence rule that she implemented for A-Hamm, what she’s proud of, and what the families of those she’s killed might feel about her impending release from incarceration. She gives short answers to these questions before Rico graciously takes the attention off Thurwar.

Thurwar remembers regular prison, where she started a hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions. Some other incarcerated women joined Thurwar, including Dr. Patricia St. Jean. Though Patty burned the lab down to prevent her Influencer technology from being produced, it still happened. In prison, Thurwar was subjected to torture with the Influencer.

Mari, Nile, Kai, and others from the Coalition to End Neo-Slavery travel to Old Taperville for the large protest organized by Tracy. A reporter asks Mari why she would want to release murderers and rapists back into society. Mari responds that incarcerating individuals does not solve the systemic issues that contribute to crime, such as poverty, mental health issues, and addiction. Instead, prison and the death penalty are inhumane and actually worsen the problems they were allegedly supposed to fix. She thinks the prison industrial complex needs to be dismantled and replaced with something that supports restorative justice. The reporter becomes combative, so Kai comes over and ends the interview.

Kai says Mari shouldn’t feel obligated to speak to reporters, but Mari wants to. Kai is proud of who Mari has become. She notices Mari and Thurwar exchange a glance.

Even though Thurwar does not use a special nickname for Chain-Gang All-Stars, she notices that protestors chant her name differently from how fans say it. Suicide is prevalent in Chain-Gang All-Stars, as well as in prisons. Thurwar spots Mari in the crowd of protestors but doesn’t react, so the guards don’t realize Mari is important to her.

For their service duties, the members of A-Hamm will work at a farmers market. Thurwar and Staxxx will be at a family-owned ice cream stand called Deane’s Creams. Staxxx jokes about being lactose intolerant. Thurwar appreciates that Staxxx always has a sense of humor despite their horrific lives—this reminds Thurwar that, although their bodies may be currently chained, their souls and minds can still resist. Staxxx autographs a boy’s hammer.

There’s a barricade set up between the protestors and the farmers market. Randy Mac works at a cheese stand and is recorded by a random fan. Sai Eye Aye sells lemonade and correctly anticipates being pestered about being trans. When this happens, the narrator notes that trans people are more than twice as likely to be incarcerated as cisgender people in the US. A fighter named Bad Water is selling good water. Rico, working at a tomato stand, wonders if the other Links are secretly terrified all the time like he is, even though they act tough. Ice Ice the Elephant sells cotton candy and jokes with fans that if they are so excited to hang out with him, maybe they should help him escape. Gunny helps sell woodcrafts and complains about the protestors.

One of the GameMasters, Mitchell Germin, goes undercover as a fan to spy on people attending the farmers market. He’s been telling the other GameMasters not to worry about public opinion or legal backlash, but he is secretly worried about the thousands of protestors and about how not everyone who bought a ticket to the celebrity farmers market actually showed up. Mitchell invented Blood Points and had the highly profitable idea to dehumanize the All-Stars to make the audience care less about them dying. He also thinks it’s advantageous to have more Black people in the league and to highlight them because research shows the audience cares less about their deaths. Mitchell is furious that Tracy has drawn the public’s attention to all the problems with CAPE.

Mitchell almost didn’t approve Dean’s Creams because the owner’s son, Bill, is anti-CAPE; Mitchell only allowed it when the owner, William, wrote a letter saying how much he’d appreciate it. Now Bill is telling Thurwar and Staxxx that they don’t have to do any work. When Mitchell can’t hear everything the women say in response, he thinks maybe they should record even more of the Links’ lives. Bill climbs up the barricade, and protestors pull him over it so he can join them.

William runs after Bill, demanding he come back. Bill refuses, so William swings a fist and hits a random woman. This triggers a violent brawl. Mari, Nile, Kai, and associates create a huddle around Thurwar and Staxxx. During the chaos, when nobody can hear them, Thurwar tells Staxxx about the new Season 33 rule. Staxxx says she has more to say about Sunset and implies that she already knew about the rule change that would require her to fight Thurwar.