Stung

The female beast reaches Fo as Fo sleeps and begins choking her through the bars. Jonah rages and tries to get to Fo, bending the bars more. Guards taser both Jonah and the female. It is morning of the day that Fo will fight in the pits. An unsympathetic guard named Lance takes Fo to be scrubbed clean and fully dressed. Then Lance takes Fo past the community swimming pool enclosure; Fo sees crowds of people sitting in bleachers all around it. Lance says he plans to bet on the female Five, as he expects Fo to go “down first” (244). Lance leaves her in a small room alone.

Time passes and Fo hears a commentator announce the start of a double-header match. He indicates that the Governor has arrived and will be watching as well. Through a crack at the side of the door in front of her, Fo sees two young male beasts on the floor of the empty swimming pool. They fight each other—“Scratching. Biting. Clawing” (247)—while spectators cheer and make bets. When one lies dead, guards collect the other in restraints.

Fo’s door opens automatically and the wall behind her shoves her out on to the fighting floor. A giant sheet of plexiglass separates the pit from the spectators, who watch from above. Fo sees Governor Soneschen in the front row. The commentator tries to convince the crowd that Fo is beastly and deadly. The female Five, Jonah, and Arrin are all released into the pit as well. Fo realizes that Arrin is male after all—Arris. Fo sees the Governor signal to Arris to kill Fo for Arris’s own freedom, and Arris nods. Fo recalls street fighting advice from her father and determines that she will try to survive.

Arris attacks Fo first. Fo fights him off and asks why he is trying so hard to kill her. The people in the stands gasp at Fo’s ability to speak and reason, believing her to be an unintelligent beast; the Governor steps in and forces the commentator to cut the sound to the spectators. Arris attacks Fo with his knife, telling her that no one ever helped him the way others help Fo, and that it is not fair that Fo is cured. Fo thinks Arris is about to turn. Jonah drags Arris away, then attacks the female Five as she goes after Fo. Once it is obvious that Jonah protects Fo, the crowd boos, and the Governor calls for Jonah to be restrained. Jonah’s wrist cuffs snap together, then his leg cuffs.

Fo realizes the crowd wants her to die. She loses hope under a fierce beating from the female Five and wonders if life is worth surviving in this world of violence. Suddenly she sees Bowen above her on the plexiglass surface, yelling down at her to fight. He is dragged off. The commentator announces that the militia arrived and will be stopping the fight, but Governor Soneschen intervenes and allows the fight to continue. Bowen shoots at the plexiglass over the pit but it does not break. Fo is losing the fight with the Level Five; she cannot stay conscious much longer. Jonah uses his superhuman strength to pull his wrist cuffs apart, then lets them come together on the neck of the female Five, killing her. Bowen pulls a pin on a grenade as Jonah uses his body to shield and cradle Fo. The plexiglass explodes.

Bowen helps Fo sit up; her body and lungs burn. She touches Jonah; his heartbeat is faint. The commentator is still going; he says in amazement that Fo is protecting the male Ten as if she has feelings. Bowen reaches toward the commentator as if asking to be pulled up and out of the pool, but instead Bowen grips the commentator’s hand and pulls him down into the pit. Bowen takes the microphone chip from the commentator’s mouth and uses it to reveal to the remaining spectators that Fo is cured and that the crowd was cheering for their only hope of survival to be killed at the hands of her own brother. Crowd members leave in guilt and shame. Bowen apologizes to Fo; medical staff are coming because he called the militia to help, and he fears this will surely lead to Fo’s demise. Fo cares only that Bowen is feeling better. They kiss. A doctor with pale blue eyes arrives and Fo remembers him.

Fo remembers waking in the care of this doctor years before. In her flashback, he tries to help her from her bed though she can hardly stand on her weak legs. He carries her. He calls for help on a radio as Fo looks out large windows at the stars. A helicopter arrives. The doctor carries Fo to a laundry room where he hides her in a pile of linens. Fo hears a female voice tell the doctor that she will have to be hidden outside the wall in her “old home from before” (273). In the present, Fo tells Dr. Grayson that she recognizes and remembers him. Dr. Grayson calls for medical help for Jonah and tells Bowen that he is the one who had Dreyden promoted to guardian, in the hope that he would run into and recognize Fo and treat her humanely. Bowen grows faint and Dr. Grayson discovers his wound. He tells Fo to kiss Bowen, as her leftover traces of vaccine can transfer healing properties through her saliva. She kisses him. Duncan Bowen arrives, surprised that Fo is not dead; he indicates that “the Fec” should have killed her. Suddenly Fo realizes that a slash on her arm from Arris’s knife is numb. Dr. Grayson sees that she was poisoned and calls for more help.

Governor Soneschen arrives, threatening Dr. Grayson. Grayson says the militia is taking over. The governor says there is no proof of a cure, then tells Duncan to dispose of the bodies “starting with the girl” (278). Bowen threatens to shoot his brother, reminding Duncan that he abandoned him and their mother. The Governor leaps at Fo, and Bowen turns the gun on him, shooting him. The militia arrives and Micklemoore instructs Tommy to cuff the governor. Another militia man cuffs Duncan. Fo kisses Bowen, exhausted.

Fo wakes in a hospital bed. A nurse cries over her; Fo recognizes her from the treble clef necklace she wears that used to be Fo’s. It is Lissa, her sister, now a nurse and married to Dr. Grayson. They reunite joyfully. Lissa tells her Bowen is doing well but Jonah is barely alive. Fo is in tremendous pain from her injuries and the effects of the poison. Bowen comes in and gently hugs Fo. Dr. Grayson arrives and explains that he discovered the cure to the vaccine a year prior but that every child tested with the cure died. After three months, Grayson discovered that Governor Soneschen murdered the cured children because he did not want a cure to threaten the power he had accumulated. Soneschen also learned that the blood of beasts is “a fountain of youth, increasing health and strength” (285), which he consequently acquired from raiders to drink himself and to give to the Inner Guard. Grayson explains that “health benefits” remain even after a beast is cured.

Fiona asks if she will play piano again with her broken little finger and other injuries. Lissa says they aren’t sure. Bowen asks for a moment alone with Fo. He apologizes for Duncan’s behavior and says he is in prison. They kiss and tell each other that they love one another. Before he goes, Bowen reveals that he still has the commentator’s announcement chip in his mouth, and that Fo should turn on the TV in 15 minutes.

On a small TV screen that Lissa brings, Fo watches Bowen stand on the wall and shout to all those outside that a cure will help the beasts and Fecs. A helicopter films him, then cuts away to show the myriads of people slipping hesitantly from buildings, sewers, and other hiding places. Bowen repeats his message until the people hug and dance.

A flyer announces the escape of former Governor Soneschen and a reward for information.