UnWholly

A teen named Bennett Garvin goes out looking for cigarettes and falls into a trap in an abandoned warehouse. When a man appears with a ladder and pulls Bennett out of the hole he fell into and gives him water, Bennett believes he is being rescued. However, the man turns out to be Nelson, a former Juvey-cop turned parts pirate. Once Bennett realizes this, Nelson pretends to give him a chance to escape by running away. While he tries to run, Nelson shoots him with a tranquilizer (tranq) dart.

Nelson thinks about how Connor ended his career as a Juvey-cop by shooting him with his own tranq gun. After losing his job and wife, he turned to selling parts of AWOLs and runaways. Eventually, he started replacing his eyes with the eyes of the teens he captured.

Nelson meets with Divan, a rich trader on the black market, in Canada. Divan pays Nelson for Bennett in cash. Nelson thinks about how the Unwind Accord passed when he was just a child. Divan, hiding something from Nelson, requests redheads and other ethnic minorities. While driving back to America, Nelson ruminates on his path to becoming a Juvey-cop and how he gets more respect as a parts pirate. Like most people, he also believes Connor is dead.

A new plane arrives at the Graveyard, hiding only a few Whollies in beer barrels. Connor gives his welcome speech and sends them off for assessment. Connor and Trace look over the 787 plane and form a plan to use it as an escape vehicle—they will pretend it has gone to salvage but actually keep it operational.

Connor misses Risa, who supported Trace becoming Connor’s bodyguard. As Trace drives Connor around, they talk about how the Graveyard keeping AWOLs off the streets drives up the price of unwound parts. In addition to being upset by playing a role in the economics of unwinding, Connor learns that Trace is working for the government as well as for the ADR.

Connor visits the arsenal, a bomber plane named Dolores. The Admiral gave Connor the only key when he left. Connor retrieves a pistol and bullets.

Connor attempts to arrest Trace by staking out the portable lavatory outside the plane where Trace sleeps. Trace is expecting this, and they fight. Trace takes out the two teens that were Connor’s backup, and then gets the gun away from Connor. Connor gets the gun back and interrogates Trace.

Trace says he has kept Connor’s identity a secret and that he works for the people who run the Juvey-cops, Proactive Citizenry (the same people who employ Roberta and funded the creation of Cam). Also, Trace says he prefers Connor over the company and wants to keep helping the AWOLs. Connor decides to align with Trace and keep him in the Holy of Whollies.

Risa chats with her friends and disapproves of the schism that Starkey is perpetuating with the storks. Connor talks to her, but everyone is distracted by a television report about the first composite human being (the rewound Cam). Everyone is horrified, and Connor wants to perfect the escape plan.

Cam looks over his body as he spreads expensive healing cream on the lines between the different skins he has. He feels his mind is still scarred and fragmented, but he’s able to speak somewhat and use metaphors at will. Roberta takes him to a press conference.

He thinks about their preparation for this conference. Despite the practice, he still feels nervous. Roberta takes him to a living room where reporters are gathered. After Roberta’s introduction, Cam enters, and the crowd is shocked. Some of the questions are civil, but eventually there are accusations that he is not human. This angers Cam, and he asks if they all think he’s subhuman. About half of the 30 reporters raise their hands. Then the shouts and questions about the unwound teens used to create Cam become more aggressive. Cam shouts and becomes less coherent. Roberta eventually intervenes and gets him off stage.

Away from the crowd, Roberta holds and comforts Cam. They joke about grafting him a thicker skin and laugh. Cam, overwhelmed by exhaustion, wants to sleep.

The narrative is interrupted with an advertisement from a Consortium of Concerned Taxpayers. It is propaganda against the ADR.

When the narrative returns to Cam a few weeks later, he has regressed mentally and emotionally. He refuses to talk and eat, so Roberta has him put on an IV in his bed. When Roberta chides him, he pulls out the IV. She reconnects it, forbidding him from dying by suicide.

Cam finally talks, saying he won’t face the public again. Roberta suggests getting him a companion. This inspires Cam to get out of bed. He agrees to Roberta’s plan, with the condition that he chooses his companion.

A girl named Kiana wakes Risa in the middle of the night to help Whollies who hurt themselves by messing with an engine. One kid, Dylan, has injuries so severe that he needs to go to the hospital. While Risa administers shots of adrenaline and painkillers, Starkey asks if he can help. Risa says no.

Risa tells Connor that Dylan needs to go to the hospital. She then lets Starkey help fix a flat on their ambulance. After fixing the vehicle, Starkey questions why Connor is not going to the hospital. Connor replies that he has to stay to make sure the Graveyard is functional. Starkey calls Connor’s decision cowardly, which inspires Risa to go to the hospital. Connor tries to talk her out of it, but she insists.

On the way to the hospital, Risa remembers the other Whollies from the Graveyard who reportedly died after going to the hospital. She believes her presence will change the outcome for Dylan. At the hospital, Risa lies, saying Dylan is her brother, and presents fake documents.

A nurse tells Risa that Dylan died, and Kiana says it is just like the times Risa didn’t come with them. Risa learns they always went to the same hospital and saw the same nurse. She wheels back to Dylan’s room and finds that he is alive. The nurse and Risa argue until a Juvey-cop arrives. Then, she offers herself in Dylan’s place, admitting her true identity. She lies by saying that she has a suicide pill embedded in her palm. After she references Nelson being shot with his own tranq gun, the Juvey-cop decides to take her.

Cam interviews hundreds of teen girls to be his companion but does not accept any of them. Roberta and Cam argue about the role his companion will take—Cam is lonely and looking for love, while Roberta simply wants someone who will help Cam with public appearances. Cam has a bit of an existential crisis, but Roberta is not interested in discussing philosophies of the soul and being.      

Cam continues his physical therapy, which is now more like athletic training. Kenny the therapist supports Cam’s desire for love. Later, he searches through photos of the candidates. Roberta comes in and offers the photo Cam is looking for—the one that caught his eye weeks ago—and several others of the same girl, who turns out to be Risa.

Nelson traps two AWOL teens that fit Divan’s requests and brings them to Divan. At dinner, Diva tells Nelson the rumor that Connor, the Akron AWOL, might not be dead. Divan offers him a large sum of money for Connor’s capture. This increases Nelson’s desire for revenge; he agrees, demanding Connor’s eyes in addition to the money.