Alternate Ending

Roland

Roland was fifteen minutes in. The medical staff that were abuzz around him wore scrubs the color of a happy-face. Roland almost laughed at the irony. Almost. His heart started to beat frantically, as if it knew that the end was near. Roland began to struggle, but found that his arms and legs were secured tightly to the operating table. But not so tight that it will damage the merchandise, Roland thought bitterly.

"Hello Roland, I am Nurse Yvonne. The doctors will be putting you under shortly; you won't feel any pain throughout this procedure."

"I suppose I should be grateful then, that my death won't be a painful one," Roland replied in a sarcastic tone.

Nurse Yvonne's eyes sparkled as she answered, "Roland, when you are unwound you will still be living, just in a divided state. I am sure you heard all about this when you first came to Happy Jack Harvest Camp."

"Nurse, we are putting him under now," one of the doctors said before Roland could speak.

"Wait aren't I supposed to be awake throughout the whole procedure, and where is my priest?" Roland asked desperately.

The nurse's eyes twinkled once more as she told Roland not worry, and that his unwinding would go smoothly, as if that was what he was worried about. A mask was put over Roland's face and the nurse told him to breathe deeply. He didn't breathe at all.

Roland was once asked a question, long before his parents signed the unwind order; would you rather die or be unwound? He hadn't had an answer then, but now he knew.

"Roland, stop trying to fight it, just breathe, dear, there is nothing to fret about." Nurse Yvonne said condescendingly.

The nurse frowned, and whispered something to one of the doctors, and then came back to stand at Roland's side. Roland looked deep into her eyes and although his vision was blurred, he could still see a faint smile in them. Roland's final thought before he took his last breath was; I bet her eyes were from a tithe.

Lev

Smiles surrounded Lev. Everywhere he looked, tithes were smiling. It disgusted him. How could these people be so happy to have their lives snatched away from them? Lev's only comfort was knowing that he was about to get his revenge on the world.

"Is there a Levi Calder here?" one of the staff members at Happy Jack asked.

"That's me," Lev replied nervously.

"Yes well, hello Lev. I'm sorry to inform you that an unwind is scheduled for unwinding at the same time as your tithing. There are three available dates: one is today at 7:00, another is at 10:00 tonight, and the final one is tomorrow at 3:00."

"I'll take the one at 7:00 today," Lev said. Every second of waiting made Lev have more and more doubts about clapping. "But do you think I have time to say goodbye to some friends I know from home?" Lev asked.

"Of course," the staff member replied.

As soon as the brightly dressed staff member left the room, Lev hurried to find Mai and Blaine. Thankfully they were together; their lunch had just ended.

"We need to do it now!" Lev said urgently.

"Why, do they know?" Blaine asked equally as urgent.

"No they have no clue, but they are unwinding me tonight at 7:00 and we have to do it before then!" Lev replied.

"We could always let them unwind you, it would be an easy way for you to make sure you detonate in the chop shop, and not somewhere else by accident," Mai suggested sneeringly.

"I'm in charge now, and I say we stick together. If the doctors do some freaky tests before unwinding, then they will know that Lev is a clapper and look for others. Your little plan would expose us all!" Blaine said angrily.

"Meet me at the chop shop at 6:30 sharp, I have to go, some of the staff is giving me odd looks for talking to you terribles," Lev said smiling slightly, the staff had no idea just how terrible they could be.

They nodded and split up quickly, hoping that no one paid too much attention to their little gathering.

Mai

Mai was not ready; she thought that she would have had more time to prepare. She took deep breaths, attempting to calm herself. Mai began to think about memories that she had suppressed, memories that led her to this fateful day.

She first thought about the car crash. Mai's parents had been driving her to school, when a drunk driver swerved and hit their car. Mai managed to survive, her parents, however, were not as fortunate. That day changed Mai and showed her how cruel and unforgiving life could be.

The second painful memory Mai chose to explore was her older brother being unwound. He was her anchor, the only thing that kept her from driving herself insane, but no one wanted to adopt him. The day Mai saw him walk out of the orphanage with a Juvey-cop on either side was a day she would never forget.

Mai was adopted by an elderly couple. Her attitude was a nasty surprise for them, and they decided that they couldn't handle her in their old age, so they signed the unwind order. Her escape was a miracle. While the Juvey-cops reassured her adopted parents that she would not be killed, Mai snuck out and ran into an antique shop by her house. There she met Sonia, the first person who thought she had potential since her parents' deaths.

Mai looked at her watch, it read 6:15. She started to panic, sweat dripped down her forehead and tears welled up in her eyes. Desperately trying to regain her composure, Mai walked toward the chop shop. She was ready now. She would clap thinking of her brother, and how she could save others from his horrible fate.

Blaine

Blaine was waiting impatiently by the chop shop. He flinched as he saw a boy he recognized from his hometown being dragged into that horrible building, but knew the boy would never end up being unwound. It was 6:25. Blaine, like Mai, was wondering how he got to this point in his life. When he was born, he was meant to be a tithe. His parents attempted to brainwash him into thinking that tithing was holy, but Blaine wanted his own life.

This may have been the reason why his parents decided not to tithe him, but to unwind him instead. There is no difference in the unwinding process, but Blaine would no longer be able to have the comfort of knowing that he was giving back to God and saving lives or the honor of being a tithe. Blaine hated his parents.

Blaine glanced at his watch. It was time. He saw Mai slipping into the chop shop, with Lev close behind. Blaine started toward the door when he heard a voice.

"HEY YOU, WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" a furious security guard asked, grabbing Blaine's arm.

"Well isn't it obvious, I'm in the band," Blaine answered, trying to sound sure of himself.

"I know who is in the band, and you ain't in it. Now why the blazes would you try to get in there? Most terribles try to stay as far away from that building as they can," the security guard said mockingly.

"You will know very soon," Blaine told the guard mysteriously. Blaine no longer needed to be careful with his words, nothing he said would matter; no one could stop them now.

"What are you-" the guard was interrupted by an explosion coming from the chop shop. Someone had clapped.

"We are sending a message that you have no choice but to receive," Blaine said, backing away from the security guard and moving closer to the chop shop, "and I will make sure you hear this message loud and clear."

Blaine clapped once, and the guard's eyes widened, he started to run, but Blaine clapped once more, and they were both lost in the explosion.

Lev

This was Lev's moment. Mai and Blaine had had theirs, and now it was Lev's turn to get revenge. He lifted his hands slowly, remembering the day he became a clapper.

"We are ready for the next victim- I mean patient," Cleaver laughed maniacally.

"Cleaver! How dare you disrespect the noble deed this young man is doing."

A man wearing dark blue, almost black scrubs entered the room with a worried expression on his face. He walked over to Lev and put an arm around his shoulder.

"Hello Lev, ignore Cleaver. He doesn't know the immense joy that comes from being a clapper."

"And you do?" Lev asked accusingly.

"Well I am the doctor, without me we wouldn't get anywhere. Don't worry Lev, you are safe with me," the doctor said with a warm, yet chilling smile.

The doctor lied. Every move that Lev made, he had to be careful about. Painfully careful. He had to be sure that nothing would set him off. Clapping would be his final move, the only move that he would not have to be careful about. Lev clapped once, with no results. He clapped once more, nothing. He thought about all of the unfair things that had happened in his life, and clapped for the third and final time.

Lev's message was sent.

Connor

Connor was waiting. Risa was supposed to meet him before her dinner at 6:30. It was 6:38. Connor paced back and forth nervously, trying to think of why she didn't show, but he could think of no reasons.

"Connor Lassiter, I am afraid your time at Happy Jack has ended," a harvest counselor said.

Connor was speechless. This was probably why Risa didn't show, she wouldn't want to see this. How did she know that I was scheduled for unwinding today? Why didn't she warn me? Connor thought. It wouldn't have mattered if she had told him. There was no escaping this. Two security guards grabbed Connor and started to drag him towards the chop shop. Connor hung his head and stared at the red carpet miserably.

He took a moment to glance up at the roof so his final memory could be of Risa. She wasn't on the roof, no one was. Connor let out an agonized yell. The roof of the chop shop was no longer there, it had been destroyed.

Connor pulled free from the guards, and ran toward the chop shop. This must have surprised them as well, because they did nothing to stop Connor. As soon as he reached the door he heard a faint clap coming from his left.

"Clappers," Connor hissed. He ducked when he heard an explosion coming from the same place the clap came from. Ducking wasn't enough. There was blood everywhere, Connor's blood, yet he managed to stand up and limp inside the chop shop.

As soon as he entered the building, he found Risa. She was stuck

underneath a metal pole and looked as if she was in very bad shape.

"Connor," she yelled weakly.

"I'm here," he replied, tears streaming down his face.

Connor limped toward her as fast as he could and tried to get the metal pole off of Risa, but it was too heavy, and Connor was too weak. Connor looked for something, anything that could help him free Risa. The only thing that he could find was rubble, but then he saw him.

Lev was standing a few yards away from Connor and Risa with his hands spread widely apart. Lev clapped once. He clapped twice. Connor grabbed Risa's hand, said that he loved her, and when Lev clapped for the third time, Connor and Risa died hand in hand.

However, if they had known of their fates, they would have been relieved to know one thing; they died whole, and that is all that they ever asked for.

Admiral

Hundreds of miles away from Connor and Risa, the admiral was pronounced dead. He had refused to receive an unwind's heart, the only thing that could have saved him. After a few hours of surgery, the doctors gave up.

Admiral Dunfee was unable to die in peace. His last grief-stricken thought was of poor Harlan, and how he would never be put back together again.

His last agonized words were, "I tried to put Harlan together, really I did, but there were just so many bits and pieces and I just didn't have enough time. Please forgive me Harlan, please."

His last moments were pained and filled with sorrow. Admiral Dunfee will R.I.P. He will rest in pain always.