Connor Lassiter (the "Akron AWOL") is a sixteen-year-old whose parents signed the unwind order because of his constant fighting and getting thrown out of several schools. His escape and shooting of the Juvey Cop with his own tranquilizer gun creates a legend about the Akron AWOL, with stories that continue to become more elaborate with each telling. Connor doesn't admit to being the Akron AWOL until Roland discovers it at the harvest camp. Connor changes from being an uncontrolled fighter to a person who contains their rage enough to rationalize and see what's hidden in many dangerous situations. They find an unexpected loyalty to the Admiral, the leader of a runaway unwind camp where they are staying, when they discover the bodies of The Goldens, some of the Admiral's favorite Unwinds.
Risa Ward is a fifteen-year-old teenage resident at a StaHo (State Home) orphanage in Ohio. She became a ward of the state home when her parents "storked" her directly after she was born. Risa is a very skilled piano player, but was scheduled to be unwound to cut orphanage costs and because the orphanage felt she had already met her full potential. During a private conference with the headmaster, she feels like "her membership in the human race was just revoked." Risa is also extremely smart, resourceful, and tough girl who can take good care of herself. During their escape she manages to get food, clothes, and to get out of many sticky situations. She is very good at taking care of young babies and wounds. She becomes a medic in the Graveyard because of her experiences at the orphanage. Risa sees a great change in Connor when she helps him control his emotions and to think rationally about the situation instead of just fighting.
Levi "Lev" Jedediah Calder is, at thirteen, the youngest of ten children. He is described as angelic, with blond hair and blue eyes. Unlike Connor and Risa, Lev has a good relationship with his family. They are a very religious family and very loving towards each other. Unfortunately, however, as the tenth child in the family Lev is a "tithe," which means that he is slated to be unwound as a religious sacrifice. Lev's family gives ten percent of everything—including their children—as a sacrifice to the church. At the beginning of the novel, Lev understands his role as a tithe and is willing to give himself for unwinding.He always knew that he would be unwound, and understood that it was his life purpose. On his way to the harvest camp, however, Lev is abducted by Connor. The events which follow cause Lev to question every aspect of his life, especially his unwinding. As the story continues, Levi begins to feel that his parents love God more than they love him, which causes him to feel more and more hatred towards his family for wanting to tithe him. He also starts to steal things and begins to trust others. He is also shown to be clever and honorable when he bargains a diamond bracelet for money. His honorable quality keeps him alive at the end of the story.
Cyrus "CyFi" Finch age 15, is introduced just after Lev is separated from Risa and Connor. This character helps Lev learn to scavenge for food in the food courts of malls. Not much is known about him at first, other than he's a proud Umber. "Umber" is explained in the book as a word invented to describe blacks. The inventor of the word was "this artist dude - mixed-race himself, a little bit of this, a little bit of that". CyFi explains that the artist painted darker skin tones with a paint named "Umber," and that "it just stuck". Later on, the reader learns that CyFi was originally a storked child who was taken in by two fathers. Unlike Connor, Risa, and Lev, CyFi is not an Unwind. Rather, he ran away from his family because the thoughts from an Unwind's temporal lobe, which he received after a car accident, spontaneously took over his own thoughts. Because part of his brain once belonged to an Unwind, CyFi considers himself one-eighth Tyler, the Unwind, and seven-eighths himself. He describes himself as an ancestor of the 'Deep South' - this later shows the reader the difference/changing between Cyrus and Tyler. Tyler was Unwound because of his constant stealing, and we learn that the part of his brain that he is alive in, Tyler does not understand that he is no longer living in his own body. CyFi's case is unusual because brain transplants are normally done with tiny pieces from multiple donors. However, CyFi's fathers paid off a doctor to acquire one full piece of the temporal lobe. This helps CyFi maintain his high IQ, but also results in compulsive orders from the donor. Cyrus constantly fights between the disorder he is now dealing with (kleptomania) and being himself. Also, because of the portion of the brain he received, he often feels Tyler's emotions and, on rare occasions, swears he can actually even see the boy in the mirror.
"The Admiral" is a man who used to work for what remained of the United States military during the Heartland War, giving runaway unwinds a safe haven in an airplane junkyard from the "Juvey Cops". It is revealed that he is in fact Admiral Dunfee, father of the supposed myth of Humphrey Dunfee, an unwind whose parents went insane and killed the people that had their son's pieces in order to make him whole again. In actuality, he was a good, though fierce, person who was determined to have each person who received a part of "Humphrey" Dunfee in one place to see his son again, though not technically together in one body.
Roland is a boy Connor and Risa encounter. Roland has a tiger shark tattoo on his arm, and he and Connor clash on many occasions, since both of them like to run things their way and have strong personalities. Roland is malicious and doesn't seem very smart, but this is actually a ploy in order to have things go his way more often- in actuality he manipulates situations in order to get what he wants. He tried to force Risa to like him but failed. He was unwound before Clappers destroyed the "Chop Shop". After being unwound, Connor, not having a choice, receives his arm with the tiger shark tattoo. Connor swears never to touch, or hurt Risa with that arm, but Risa does not take this promise into account, saying that it is not Roland's arm anymore as Roland would never be as kind and gentle as Connor could be.
Hayden is a boy Connor and Risa encounter along with Roland and Mai in Sonia's basement. He is described as "... a lanky blond kid with a faint smirk that seems permanently fixed on his face. He has braces on teeth that don't appear to need them." Connor guesses that he is probably a kid that comes from wealth, which is later confirmed when they each share how they ended up in Sonia's basement. Hayden's parents, extremely wealthy, went through a divorce and decided to have him unwound, rather than the other parent having custody of him. It isn't always clear whether Hayden is being sarcastic or serious, and he tends to make philosophical, "intelligent" comments. Connor also notes that he enjoys thinking "dangerous" thoughts. After they leave Sonia's basement, Connor next sees him when they are transferred to crates on the way to the runaway unwind camp. Connor entrusts him to take charge of the camp near the climax while Connor goes to deal with more trivial manners. At the end, he is seen running the unwind camp alongside Connor and Risa.
Mai is an Asian girl Connor and Risa encounter along with Roland and Hayden in Sonia's basement. She is described to be "nearly as tough-looking as Roland". She is known for her deeply dyed pink hair and spiked collar. Mai is feisty. She has a black eye, indicating that she must have gotten into fights - however, her parents are Unwinding her because they had too many girls in the family, she being the last one, before they finally got the son that she wanted. She hates the world, and eventually follows Cleaver's lead. She helps kill The Goldens after they bury her soulmate, Vincent, with no respect and eventually becomes a clapper, detonating herself alongside Blaine in the "Chop Shop" right before Connor is sent to be unwound.
Emby, also called the "Mouth Breather", is a boy Connor and Hayden first talk to on their way to the graveyard in a crate. He is called Mouth Breather because he tends to "wheeze" out of his mouth most of the time due to his asthma. It is revealed that Emby has the same asthmatic lung as The Admiral's son, causing The Admiral to take Emby away to his home in Texas. Emby tends to freak out when he's scared which causes his asthma to act up and Connor has said that Emby tends to read the same comic over and over.
Amp is one of the five Goldens. We find out his name when Risa explains that "they are quick to find out that the megaphone kid has earned the nickname Amp." Later in the story we find out that Amp and the other four Goldens die of suffocation by Mai, Cleaver, and Blaine to hit the Admiral where it hurts. They also do this because the Goldens paid no respects to Vincent, Mai's supposed soulmate (who died in the same crate as the Goldens did).
Sonia is an older lady that Conner and Risa were told to go to for help. She held them in the basement of her Antique shop. Hannah is a teacher at the high school and tell them to go to Soina.Soina shop is one in many shops and houses that keep unwind AWOLS, after a while there they go so another "safe house" and stay until they can get on a plane to go to the "Graveyard".
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