How It All Goes Down
- Once in the Flat Trans, everyone counts off—all 20 kids are there.
- It's pitch black in the Flat Trans.
- The kids decide to travel through the Flat Trans by putting their hands on the walls to guide themselves and walking forward. Boy, this sounds tough.
- Then a burst of weird whispering fills the air, and everyone's all like, Well that's spooky.
- Then the kids hear the whispering again. Winston points out that somewhere in the middle, the whispering said, "Go back."
- The boys all shut up for once, and they all hear it clearly: "One-chance deal. Go back now, you won't be sliced" (14.36).
- Huh, sounds promising.
- The kids all think about whether they should go back or not, but they remember that they can't trust anyone or anything, so they keep moving.
- The voice whispers again, saying they're all going to be sliced, but the boys keep moving in silence.
- After a mile or so, Thomas hears a boy shrieking ahead of him. Like, bloody-murder shrieking. Which makes sense: when Thomas gets to him, the boy is convulsing uncontrollably. Oh, and he has no head.
- Yep, instead he has a cold metal ball for a head.
- How's that for a surprise?