Line #132 DarthWiki/GoneAgain


1	'''Gone Again''' is a FanFic of ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' by Creator/MichaelGrant. It has the exact same premise as ''Gone'': All the adults disappear, a dome appears around a twenty-mile radius, and the kids get superpowers. Despite incorporating the same premise and many of the same tropes as ''Gone'', however, it focuses on a completely different group of kids, there's no Gaiaphage, and the adults disappeared for completely different reasons.
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3	The chapters are very, very short (typically between 100 and 800 words), meaning that the author can get a lot to happen very quickly. The fic is divided into several 'books', each spanning fifty chapters exactly. The first book has now been completed, called ''Disappearance''. The second is in progress, and the working title is ''Control''.
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5	The author, gradually, brought a theme out of the story. It's basically an exploration of how horrible violence can be, especially when people who aren't really evil commit it to each other. Throughout the series, we consistently get the POV of both sides of a fight, and we get everyone's reaction to every injury or death - the person being killed, the killer, and the killed person's friends all narrate.
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7	The author started it impulsively one day, and he has no plans for it beyond the next couple chapters. Consequentially, it might not be published if it turns out to suck - even now, he thinks that the plot is rushed and that he's introducing too many characters at once to flesh them out effectively. Nevertheless, he's going to continue writing, just for the hell of it. He just probably won't publish it. However, if you like the looks of it, feel free to give advice on the discussion page.
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9	[[foldercontrol]]
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11	[[folder: Gone Again provides examples of:]]
12	* ADeathInTheLimelight: [[spoiler: The fist half of ''Control'' focuses heavily on Kristopher's character arc, only for him to die halfway through the book.]]
13	* AbortedArc: [[spoiler: Originally, Charlie was going to be a major villain, but the author couldn't figure out how to make it interesting, so he just had Yasuna kill him. At least he managed to get rid of the character without [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropping a Bridge On Him]].]]
14	** There was mention early on of Grady trying to find adults; he presumably fails, but we never find out.
15	* AbusiveParents: Hazel used to have them.
16	* ActionSeries
17	* AdultsAreUseless: Since, y'know, they all disappeared.
18	* AgonyBeam: [[spoiler: David can shoot them.]]
19	* AmusingInjuries: Hazel slamming a door on Grady's fingers, although it does create a genuinely tender moment when she gives him a band-aid.
20	* AntiVillain: All of the villains, pretty much. You'd think David would be the exception, but [[spoiler: only his crazy personality is actually a villain.]]
21	* AnyoneCanDie
22	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Alex, essentially as a zombie.]]
23	* BadPowersBadPeople: [[spoiler: David's AgonyBeam ability.]]
24	* BadPowersGoodPeople[=/=]BewareTheNiceOnes: Gav. His superpower turns out to be [[spoiler: the ability to change how hard or soft an object that he's touching is. This means that he can affect how hard it hurts when he punches you and how much damage it does - if he wants to, he can crush your brain just by patting your head.]] But he wouldn't do that, because he's actually very nice and sweet. Unless you hit one of his [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]], as Cassie learns the hard way.
25	* BelligerentSexualTension: Between Will and Paige, [[spoiler: until Will gets brain damage and can't recognize faces anymore. That puts a pretty big wedge in it.]]
26	* BigBad: David.
27	* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: ''Control''. Some bad things and some good things happened (although mostly bad things).]]
28	** [[spoiler: The good things:]]
29	*** [[spoiler: The daycare was successfully set up, without David finding out.]]
30	*** [[spoiler: Paige, Sarah, Will, Gav, and Kaelyn have all avoided being killed by Rollins.]]
31	*** [[spoiler: Tobias, Rollins, and Cassie are beginning to work on plans to overthrow David and kill Yasuna.]]
32	** [[spoiler: The bad things:]]
33	*** [[spoiler: Jason is trapped in David's basement, at his mercy.]]
34	*** [[spoiler: The protesters failed once again, and both Jobs and Fisher died in the effort.]]
35	*** [[spoiler: Rollins is going to be punished by David at any moment for not killing everyone he was told to kill.]]
36	*** [[spoiler: David has still failed to tell anyone about his SplitPersonality.]]
37	*** [[spoiler: Alex ''[[NotQuiteDead still isn't dead]]''.]]
38	*** [[spoiler: Cary, Charlie, and Kristopher, on the other hand, are dead.]]
39	*** [[spoiler: Micah has run out of pills to treat her bipolar disorder.]]
40	*** [[spoiler: Will has been shot in the head and can no longer identify people by looking at them.]]
41	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Alex, the first character in the entire series to be killed, was black. The author didn't mention his skin color until after his death, and he didn't realize the UnfortunateImplications until after he wrote it.
42	* BloodKnight: David[[spoiler:'s sociopathic personality.]]
43	* BodyHorror: Gav punches [[spoiler: Rollins]] so hard in ''The Control'' that he ''swallows one of his own teeth.''
44	* BoomHeadshot: Justified; none of the characters are trained gun-users, so they all think it's best to aim for the head. (This usually works out pretty well, since so far, almost all the battles have been very close-range.)
45	* ChekhovsGun: Jem has a conversation with Will and Paige about whether or not they're carrying guns. It seems insignificant at first, but it becomes important later: [[spoiler: Jem was trying to find out whether or not Will and Paige could've forced Kristopher to give up his sisters at gunpoint. They couldn't have, and he didn't.]]
46	** Also, [[spoiler: David's gun, which we see give the TouchOfDeath to Grady early on, is what makes Alex a zombie.]]
47	* ContagiousPowers: The TouchOfDeath superpower is spread to Grady and [[spoiler: Alex]] through [[spoiler: David's gun.]]
48	* CrapsackWorld
49	* CreepyChild: Alex, after [[spoiler: he comes BackFromTheDead]].
50	** Also, Charlie.
51	* CruelTwistEnding: We learn that [[spoiler: Cary's mom died of cancer, but that he's going to make an active effort to be strong and move on]] ''less than a hundred words'' before [[spoiler: Rollins kills Cary.]]
52	* CurbStompBattle: Every fight that Gav gets into - he manages to severely beat up Cassie, [[spoiler: Rollins]], and even '''[[spoiler: David]]'''.
53	* CycleOfRevenge: Discussed in Kaelyn's narration in ''Control'', through a borderline AuthorFilibuster:
54	--> What would [Will's family] think if they could see what Will looks like right now? What would they think if they saw any of this? Would they want revenge on whoever did this? Or would they see the value in just ending the violence, ending the deaths? I hope, for Will’s sake, that they would just want an end to the deaths, an end to stupid revenge. Because whoever did this to Will is an evil person, but shooting him in the face won’t make him any less evil. It’ll just put him through pain, make his family mourn him.
55	* DarkerAndEdgier: It's a little less dark than the series it's based on, but it's certainly edgier, being more up-front about cursing and sex.
56	** ''The Control'' is more of both than ''The Disappearance''.
57	* DeadpanSnarker: Will can go to into it, mainly when talking to Paige. Also, Eve.
58	* DeathOfAChild: Kids constantly die in the series, and [[spoiler: David's friends successfully kill fifty-one of the seventy young kids in Grantsville.]]
59	* DeusAngstMachina: The entire series. In particular, the pileup of really terrible events that happen to the daycare - among them [[spoiler: Shelby's death, Cary's death, Jem giving away all of their names except Marco's to David and Kristopher's death]] - were unrealistically tragic, even for a fan fiction of Gone.
60	* DisabilitySuperpower: Everyone gets their superpowers after an injury of some kind, and some of the injuries can be pretty harmful. For example, Sarah gets her superpower after a baby accidentally set her on fire, Grady [[spoiler: and Alex]] get their superpowers from [[spoiler: getting shot with David's gun]], and Gav gets his superpower after he crashed his car into the barrier.
61	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: ''Disappearance'' has one. Nobody except David get what they want ''in the least''. Here's a sum of all the bad things that happened:]]
62	** [[spoiler: Cady's protesters failed to accomplish anything.]]
63	** [[spoiler: Nick, Shelby, and three of Cady's protesters are dead.]]
64	** [[spoiler: Jem, Yasuna, Tobias, and Cassie are forced to kill all the kids in Grantsville except those that were taken to the daycare.]]
65	** [[spoiler: Jem and David know the names of all the daycare workers except for Marco.]]
66	** [[spoiler: All of the babies in the daycare are dead.]]
67	** [[spoiler: Rollins is about to be forced to kill Gav, Kaelyn, Will, Cary, Sarah, and Paige.]]
68	** [[spoiler: The final daycare kids alive have disappeared; the only person who knows where they are is Kristopher, and he doesn't want anything to do with them.]]
69	* DwindlingParty: The kids that Kaelyn and the others rescue. They rescue twenty-seven in total, but eight have already died, and there are plans to kill of many, many more.
70	* EnsembleCast: The closest thing the series has to a main character is David... and he's the BigBad.
71	* {{Expy}}: The author is a ''huge'' fan of both Creator/MichaelGrant and his wife, Creator/KAApplegate, so he sometimes (whether intentionally or not) imitates their characters.
72	** The author admits that David is basically Drake and Caine rolled into one character.
73	** Kaelyn is based somewhat heavily on Cassie from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''.
74	** Cary is pretty similar to 2Face from ''Literature/{{Remnants}}''.
75	* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler: Tobias loses part of his fingers when he touches Alex, not aware that Alex had the TouchOfDeath.]]
76	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lots and lots of it.
77	** [[spoiler: All that talk about the possibility of Kristopher making a HeroicSacrifice? Really, the author didn't even bother trying to hide his fate.]]
78	** This trope also comes in not with what is said, but with what isn't - [[spoiler: Jem is the only teenager that works for the daycare whose POV we don't get early on, because he's TheMole.]]
79	** Hell, that reveal was foreshadowed to hell and back with that technique. [[spoiler: Jem was the only person left off the list that David gives to Rollins of people to kill.]]
80	** It got even more foreshadowing when [[spoiler: Yasuna mentions that someone was missing from the meet-up of David's workers. Jem was the one missing.]]
81	** Both of the above reveals get foreshadowed in the same scene, if you know what you're looking at. [[spoiler: Jem asks Will and Paige if they had guns. This foreshadows both that Jem is The Mole, and that David suspected that Kristopher was lying.]]
82	** David gets a few [[OutOfCharacterMoment Out of Character Moments]] towards the end of ''Disappearance'', foreshadowing [[spoiler: his SplitPersonality.]]
83	* GottaKillEmAll: David is on a mission to kill every person under six in Grantsville. [[spoiler: So far, he's succeeded with all but eighteen.]]
84	** [[spoiler: David also sends Rollins on such a mission, to kill Will, Cary, Gav, Sarah, Paige, and Kaelyn. Needless to say, it doesn't go very well, although he successfully kills Cary before giving up.]]
85	* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: David's plan to kill the kids? So far, he's succeeded at all but eighteen. The problem is, this is a ''huge'' source of guilt for his sane personality.]]
86	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Nobody is wholly good or wholly evil.
87	** Discussed (sort of) by Rollins:
88	-->"Maybe it would just be better to get myself killed by David. Maybe I should just go to him and say, “I can’t do this, just [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] shoot me already.” It would certainly save me some time - I feel certain that if he doesn’t kill me now, he’ll do it later, when he realizes that [[spoiler: I couldn’t kill Gav.]]
89	-->But no. I have to prolong my life as long as possible. Every time I think of telling David to shoot me, of me getting shot, I know that I can’t do it. I have to survive. That’s my goal. Survival. I’ll do whatever I have to, kill whatever I have to, just to stay alive. Does that make me an evil person? Maybe. But it’s what I have to do. Certainly, what I’m doing is wrong, but it doesn’t matter, because I don’t have a choice, not really. The right thing to do would be to make some [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] and let myself get killed rather than kill people, but who would honestly do that? What person would honestly let themselves get killed? Nobody, that’s who. Only a suicidally depressed person would choose death, no matter how horrible the alternative is."
90	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Kristopher changes sides quite a bit.
91	* HeroicSacrifice: Kristopher is in a position where he might have to die in order to protect his sisters, and he's pretty nervous about it.
92	--> There’s just no way [David] will be okay with this. I want to be loyal to him; it might be the only way to stay alive. But I can’t get my sisters killed for that - that’s all there is to it.
93	-->And this is the alternative. The alternative to getting my sisters killed might be to get myself killed.
94	-->I’m not sure if I’m okay with that. I mean, everybody thinks that they’ll be able to sacrifice themselves for the people they love, but nobody ever has to actually do it. And now that I’m in that situation, I’m not sure if I can. I once heard a comedian say something like, There’s no one worth dying for, because then you’re dead, and you can’t know if it was actually worth it or not. It’s like throwing a million dollars on the sidewalk and hoping someone that works for a charity will pick it up.” The guy might be right - if David kills me, that doesn’t necessarily mean Sloane and Maddy will make it out alive. Maybe if I knew for sure that they would, I’d be willing to go through with this. But without that certainty…
95	** In the end, [[spoiler: Kristopher has to go through with the sacrifice, but he manages to save his sisters, at least for now.]]
96	* InstantDeathBullet: To some extent. In this universe, you can be shot without dying - just ask [[spoiler: Will]] - but a direct shot to the head with cause an instant death.
97	* {{Jerkass}}: Exaggerated with David, done to a lesser extent with Tobias, Nick, and Yasuna.
98	* KickTheDog: The series gets quite a few moments.
99	** Gav beating up Cassie for information.
100	** [[spoiler: Gav punching Rollins in the face and knocking him out for two hours.]]
101	** [[spoiler: Yasuna stabbing Cassie in the neck to prevent her from stopping Charlie's capture.]]
102	** [[spoiler: Rollins giving Will brain damage]], although he was attempting to ShootTheDog.
103	* KudzuPlot: The plot introduced several narrators and sub-plots at once, some of which don't interact with each other at all. The author also admits that whenever he doesn't know where to take his current plots, he just adds a new one to give himself more time to think.
104	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Averted when [[spoiler: Will gets shot in the head. He still has all his memories, but he has... other mental problems.]]
105	* LivingBattery[=/=]ShockAndAwe: Sarah's superpower.
106	* MeaningfulName: All of the names are named after a character from something, usually a book:
107	** Gav, Kaelyn --> ''The Way We Fall''
108	** Hazel --> ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars''
109	** Grady --> ''Parrotfish''
110	** Maria --> "[[Music/AllTimeLow Dear Maria, Count Me In]]"
111	** David --> ''Adaptation''
112	** Tobias --> ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''
113	** Will --> ''Literature/WillGraysonWillGrayson''
114	** Sarah, Kristopher --> ''[[Literature/DenOfShadows Shattered Mirror]]''
115	** Paige --> ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', officially, although it could also be ''What Happens Next''
116	** Cassie --> Officially ''Give Up the Ghost'', although it could also be ''Touchstone'' and ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''
117	** Nick --> ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist''
118	** Alex --> ''Ashfall''
119	** Jem --> ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices''
120	** Cary, Sloane --> ''This is Not a Test''
121	** Maddy --> ''And All the Stars''
122	** Tim --> ''Give Up the Ghost''
123	** Connor --> ''Literature/AMonsterCalls''
124	** Peter --> [[Music/FallOutBoy Pete Wentz]], officially, although it could also be ''Literature/{{Gone}}'', ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', or Peeta of ''Literature/TheHungerGames''.
125	** Yasuna --> ''Manga/KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl''
126	** Eve --> ''Literature/EveAndAdam''
127	** Darla --> ''Ashfall'', officially, although it could also be ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''.
128	** Romeo, Jobs --> ''Literature/{{Remnants}}''
129	** Cady --> ''Film/MeanGirls''
130	** Jason --> [[Music/MaydayParade Jason Lancaster]], officially, although it could also be ''Crazy''.
131	** Shelby --> ''Crazy''
132	** Billy --> ''Film/DoctorHorriblesSingalongBlog'', officially, although it could also be ''Literature/{{Remnants}}''
133	* TheMole: [[spoiler: Jem]].
134	* MoodWhiplash: The series can be ''extremely'' dark and heavy-handed, but every once in a while, we get a lighter, comic relief scene.
135	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Jem saves the lives of all the remaining daycare workers by telling them that David knows their names.]]
136	* OhAndXDies: Inverted; in something similar to what Creator/KAApplegate did in ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'', the author has said that he'll do his best to keep Hazel alive, although he can't promise anything. He's also given tentative immortality to three other characters, and marked a bunch of characters that he ''knows'' are going to die.
137	** It's down to two people with tenative immortality; the third already died.
138	* OhCrap: When Jason wakes up to realize that [[spoiler: David has him trapped in his basement.]]
139	* OnePersonOnePower
140	* OnlyFatalToAdults
141	* PlayingWithFire: Jem ends up having to kill a baby because it couldn't control where it was ''shooting fireballs''.
142	* PlotAllergy: One of the little kids that Marco and Sarah were taking care of dies when they give her nuts.
143	* PopulationXAndCounting: The author is keeping track of the population of Grantsville as people die. It started at 151 (not including the adults), but it has since dropped to 130.
144	* PornStash:
145	-->'''Nick''': You don’t have any kids hidden anywhere?
146	-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Eve]]''': I’ve got some porn hidden in the closet.
147	* PosthumousNarration: A few characters, like [[spoiler: Kristopher]], narrate their own death.
148	* PowerGlows: Everyone glows when they use their power, and the way they glow depends on the power. So, for example, Grady can disintegrate things with his hand, so he glows black. The baby that Jem kills shoots [[PlayingWithFire fireballs]], so she glows red.
149	* PowerHair: Sarah's LivingBattery power only comes from her hair.
150	* PowerPalms: Played straight with Grady, averted with everyone else. It's justified in Grady's case - [[spoiler: he got his powers when he got shot from David's gun, and David shot him in the arm.]]
151	* RandomEventsPlot: The author has no idea what he's doing. He's just throwing out new plots for the hell of it to see if he can tie everything together. He's doing far better than he expected, all things considered.
152	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: David has two personalities, apparently, in something the author has yet to explain. Because he doesn't know why it happened.]]
153	** [[spoiler: Jem was TheMole.]]
154	** [[spoiler: David knew that Kristopher was lying about being forced to give up Maddy and Sloane the entire time.]]
155	** [[spoiler: Will got brain damage from when Rollins shot him in the head.]]
156	* ShootEverythingThatMoves: A battle in which this is the only option occurs at the end of ''Disappearance''. The mayor's hall is complete chaos, with protesters, David's workers, and little kids mixed in - nobody can see who they're targeting, they just have to shoot.
157	* ShootTheDog: The series gets quite a few moments; virtually every death in the series was done to someone that was completely unprepared to stop it.
158	** [[spoiler: David and Jem killing the babies in the daycare.]]
159	** [[spoiler: Yasuna, Tobias, Jem, and Cassie killing the kids that David had captured.]]
160	** [[spoiler: Yasuna killing Charlie.]]
161	** [[spoiler: Rollins killing Cary.]]
162	** David shooting Alex in the head.
163	** [[spoiler: David killing Kristopher.]]
164	* ShootTheShaggyDog: It happens in a couple of character arcs.
165	** [[spoiler: Cary dies right after deciding that he'll stop angsting over the death of his mother and get in a healthy relationship with Sarah - he'll never get to do either one.]]
166	** [[spoiler: Kristopher dies before he can know for sure whether or not he protected his sisters successfully. As of now he has, but he'll never appreciate it.]]
167	* ShoutOut: When David awakes to find Maria standing over him and trying to kill him, he says, "[[Theatre/IntoTheWoods Hello, little girl.]]"
168	** There's also this exchange, which is paraphrased from WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries:
169	-->'''Paige''': Alright, which one of you is Sloane, and which of you is Maddy?
170	-->'''Sloane''': I’m Maddy.
171	-->'''Maddy''': No, you’re not. I’m Maddy, remember?
172	-->'''Paige''': Maybe you’re both Maddy.
173	-->'''Sloane''': Yay! We’re both Maddy!
174	** The opening line is done in a similar style to the opening line of Literature/EveAndAdam:
175	-->"[[WhamLine I’m driving my car at full speed on the highway when a wall suddenly appears.]]"
176	** David, of all people, at one point says, "[[Literature/{{Animorphs}} This leader business really does suck.]]
177	** The author does one to Michael Grant himself by naming the town they live in Grantsville.
178	** Kristopher, at one point, quotes a phrase he said he heard from a comedian. It does actually derive from something that was said on ''WebVideo/ADoseOfBuckley'', although the author altered it a lot to suit his needs.
179	--> I once heard a comedian say something like, “There’s no one worth dying for, because then you’re dead, and you can’t know if it was actually worth it or not. It’s like throwing a million dollars on the sidewalk and hoping someone that works for a charity will pick it up.”
180	* [[spoiler: SplitPersonality: David has one.]]
181	** [[spoiler: SplitPersonalityTakeover: He seems to be approaching one by the end of ''Control''.]]
182	* SwitchingPOV: In the eighty chapters so far, the complete list of narrators is as follows: Gav, Hazel, Grady, Maria, David, Kaelyn, Tobias, Alex, Nick, Sarah, Cary, Will, Kristopher, Cassie, Rollins, Paige, Yasuna, Eve, Fisher, Marco, Isabelle, Gerard, Charlie, Bonnie, and Resse.
183	* TeenageWasteland
184	* ThoseTwoGuys: Tobias and Nick, [[spoiler: until Nick dies.]]
185	* TokenMinority: The author tried to make the story just as diverse as Grant's stories are. To that end:
186	** David is AmbiguouslyBrown in-universe, although he's Chinese according to WordOfGod.
187	** Cary is Chinese, although you can only tell from his last name (Chen).
188	** Alex and Maria, brother and sister, are both black.
189	** Kaelyn is half-white and half-black, although it hasn't been mentioned in the story.
190	** Yasuna is Japanese.
191	** Marco is Hispanic.
192	** Eve is disabled.
193	** Tobias is gay.
194	* TouchOfDeath: Grady has it in his left hand, as he discovers when he accidentally kills a cat. Also, [[spoiler: Alex has it in his entire body.]] It turns out that [[spoiler: anyone shot with David's gun gets the power.]]
195	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Where the hell did David get all his sociopathy from? (We get an answer: [[spoiler: he has multiple personalities, and only one of them is evil.]])
196	* UnexplainedRecovery: After [[spoiler: David shoots Maria in the stomach]], the injury disappears with no explanation. The author forgot about it.
197	* VillainousBSOD: ''All'' of David's supporters except Yasuna ([[spoiler: and yes, that does include David himself]]) in ''Control''.
198	* VillainsActHeroesReact: To the point where the series is more about David and his friends than anyone else.
199	* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: David sure seems to think so - any time anyone opposes him, or gets in the way of Grantsville getting food, or lets him down... congratulations, you have just been shot.
200	* WarIsHell: The message is more that violence is hell, since there's no actual war, but the author does indeed believe that war is hell, and that comes through a lot in the writing.
201	* WhamLine: From Jem's narration:
202	--> [[spoiler: I shoot Shelby in the head. She collapses, dead, before she even figures out what’s going on.]]
203	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At one point, the author forgot that Jem was with Kaelyn, Sarah, and Cary, so he had to sort of retcon Jem into having walked off with Kaelyn.
204	* WouldHitAGirl: Surprisingly, not David this time. No, this time, we're talking about ''Gav'', of all people, who beats up Cassie to get into the Mayor's Hall. And he doesn't even give it a second thought.
205	* WouldHurtAChild: Kaelyn, Sarah, Cary, and Jem all struggle with the fact that they have to kill a baby that was shooting fireballs at them uncontrollably. [[spoiler: Well, it turns out Jem didn't mind it too much, but the others did.]]
206	** David shoots Alex in the head. Twice. In front of a large crowd of people.
207	* WritersCannotDoMath: The author went to great lengths to avert this. He's not very good at math, but he still wanted to keep track of Grantsville's population so that he didn't write too many or too few people after he (accidentally) wrote the town to have a population of 151 people. As a result, there are only ten people in each age group (except the fourteen year-olds; they have eleven).
208	* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: [[invoked]] The author started it impulsively one day because he had finished his assignments in his creative writing class early. He has no idea what's going to happen next, no answers to any of the mysteries, and no plans at all, other than an extremely rough synopsis of who's going to make it to the end of the series and who won't. (And he's already broken that synopsis more than once, so there really are no plans.)
209	[[/folder]]
210
211	!!The Character Sheet
212	[[folder: David's Workers]]
213	!!!David
214	The current leader of Grantsville, he is a sociopath who enjoys killing.
215	* [[spoiler: AgonyBeam: His superpower.]]
216	* AntiVillain: [[spoiler: It turns out, he has two personalities, and only one of them is a sociopath.]]
217	* AxCrazy
218	* [[spoiler: BadPowersBadPeople: His Agony Beam.]]
219	* BigBad
220	* BloodKnight
221	* {{Flanderization}}: He seems to get crazier and crazier with each passing book.
222	* {{Jerkass}}: That doesn't even begin to describe it, but it's a pretty nice start.
223	** [[spoiler: JerkWithAHeartOfGold: But only his sociopathic side is a jerk.]]
224	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: 'Really fast' doesn't even begin to cover it.
225	* ShootTheDog: So many times! Moments that count include...
226	** [[spoiler: Killing the babies in the daycare with Jem.]]
227	** Shooting Alex in the head and killing him.
228	** [[spoiler: Killing Kristopher.]]
229	* [[spoiler: SplitPersonality]]
230	* [[spoiler: SplitPersonalityTakeover: He seems to be approaching one by the end of ''Control''.]]
231	* TokenMinority: He's Chinese.
232	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Sam put it best in ''Gone'': "The phrase 'AxCrazy fourteen year-olds' isn't normally followed by 'have a nice day'."
233	* [[spoiler: VillainousBSOD: Due to his constantly changing personality.]]
234	* WouldHurtAChild: Every single one in Grantsville, to be precise.
235
236	!!!Tobias
237	One of David's workers, who has less moral qualms about what he does than most of the rest of them.
238	* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler: He loses part of his fingers when he touches Alex, not aware that Alex had the TouchOfDeath.]]
239	* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Nick, minus the 'heterosexual' part on his end.
240	* ShootTheDog: When he [[spoiler: helps kill the kids that David captured.]]
241	* StraightGay
242	* [[spoiler: VillainousBSOD: After Nick dies.]]
243	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: He's one of the ones that killed the kids that David captured.]]
244
245	!!!Kristopher
246	Kristopher is another worker, who gives his sisters to the daycare and tries to hide it from David.
247	* AntiVillain
248	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: He doesn't seem to know which side he's on.
249	* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: David shoots him in the head once he finds out that he had willingly given away his sisters to the daycare.]]
250	* [[spoiler: PosthumousNarration: He narrates his own death, and says in the narration that he's dead.]]
251	* [[spoiler: RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Namely, with a shot in the head, via David.]]
252	* [[spoiler: ShootTheShaggyDog]]: His goal throughout the series is to ensure the safety of his little sisters without David finding out. [[spoiler: He manages to save his sisters, for the time being anyway, but David knew what was going on pretty much from the beginning, and Kristopher got shot for it.]]
253
254	!!!Yasuna
255	She's another one of David's workers, who justifies what she does by the fact that she has a crush on him.
256	* {{Flanderization}}: Her love for David became ''very'' exaggerated starting ''The Control''.
257	* KickTheDog: When she [[spoiler: stabs Cassie in the neck to prevent her from stopping her from capturing Charlie.]]
258	* ShootTheDog: When she [[spoiler: kills Charlie.]]
259	** The scene where she [[spoiler: helped kill the kids that David captured]] also counts.
260	* TokenMinority: She's Japanese.
261	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: She's one of the ones that killed the kids that David captured.]]
262	* {{Yandere}}: To David.
263
264	!!!Rollins
265	David uses him as a hit man to kill people that he doesn't like. Naturally, he struggles with this quite a bit.
266	* AntiVillain
267	* KickTheDog: When he [[spoiler: gives Will brain damage,]] although he was attempting to ShootTheDog.
268	* ShootTheDog: When he [[spoiler: kills Cary.]]
269	* [[spoiler: VillainousBSOD: After giving Will brain damage, getting beat up so badly that he ''[[BodyHorror swallows one of his own teeth]]'' by Gav, and killing Cary.]]
270
271	!!!Nick
272	Like Tobias, he's one of David's workers, and he has few moral qualms about what he does.
273	* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tobias.
274	* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: He dies when a little kid causes an explosion that causes him to fly across the mayor's hall and land on his head.]]
275
276	!!!Cassie
277	Cassie is one of David's workers, although she has yet to have a distinct personality.
278	* ButtMonkey: Her sole role in the story seems to be so that different people can beat her up.
279	* ShootTheDog: When she [[spoiler: helps kill the kids that David captured.]]
280	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: She's one of the ones that killed the kids that David captured.]]
281	[[/folder]]
282	[[folder: The Daycare Workers]]
283	!!!Kaelyn Crewe
284	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: She certainly sees the world like this, quick to label people as good or evil. The author plans to deconstruct the trope through her.
285	* SoapboxSadie: It's implied.
286	* TeamMom
287	* TokenMinority: She's half-black, half-white.
288	* WouldHurtAChild: She struggles with having to kill a kid that was PlayingWithFire uncontrollably.
289
290	!!!Jem
291	* [[spoiler: TheMole]]
292	* [[spoiler: NiceJobFixingItVillain: He ends up saving the lives of the very people that Rollins was trying to kill simply by telling them that David knew their names.]]
293	* [[spoiler: ShootTheDog: When he kills the daycare babies.]]
294	* [[spoiler: VillainousBSOD: After Kristopher dies.]]
295	* WouldHurtAChild: He struggles with having to kill a kid that was PlayingWithFire uncontrollably.
296	** Also, [[spoiler: he kills a couple daycare babies with David.]]
297
298	!!!Cary Chen
299	Another daycare worker, who seems to be very disconnected and dperessed, except when it comes to his little brother.
300	* BrokenBird
301	* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Rollins shoots him, at David's command.]]
302	* [[spoiler: MauveShirt: His purpose was to show that yes, Rollins really was a threat to the daycare workers.]]
303	* [[spoiler: PosthumousNarration: He narrates his own death.]]
304	* StoppedCaring
305	* TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: He never tells any of the daycare workers that [[spoiler: his mom has cancer.]]
306	* TokenMinority: He's Chinese.
307	* WouldHurtAChild: He struggles with having to kill a kid that was PlayingWithFire uncontrollably.
308
309	!!!Sarah Vida
310	Sarah is one of the daycare workers, with no personality whatsoever. She's implied to have a sort of connection to Cary, but it hasn't been expanded upon yet.
311	* FlatCharacter: Only about a third of the characters are properly fleshed out, but the author didn't even try with her - she doesn't even have a superficial personality.
312	* LivingBattery[=/=]ShockAndAwe: Her superpower.
313	* PowerHair: Sarah's LivingBattery power only comes from her hair.
314	* WouldHurtAChild: She struggles with having to kill a kid that was PlayingWithFire uncontrollably.
315
316	!!!Will Grayson
317	Will Grayson is another daycare worker, with a crush on Paige.
318	* DoggedNiceGuy: To Paige.
319	* [[spoiler: LaserGuidedAmnesia: Averted.]]
320	* [[spoiler: OnlySixFaces: After Rollins shoots him in the head, he can't identify faces anymore.]]
321
322	!!!Paige Fox
323	Paige Fox is yet another of the daycare workers. She has a big personality and a relaxed sense of humor.
324	* GenkiGirl
325	* PrecisionFStrike: She delivers quite a few.
326	[[/folder]]
327	[[folder: Young Kids]]
328	!!!Alex
329	Maria's brother.
330	* [[spoiler: BackFromTheDead]]
331	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: He's the first character in the entire series to be killed, and he's black. The author didn't mention his skin color until after his death, and he didn't realize the UnfortunateImplications until after he wrote it. [[spoiler: But at least he came BackFromTheDead.]]
332	* CreepyChild: [[spoiler: After he comes back from the dead.]]
333	* {{Redshirt}}
334	* TokenMinority: He's black.
335	* WeHardlyKnewYe
336
337	!!!Charlie
338	One of the kids that David captures to kill, with the ability to cause explosions by clapping his hands.
339	* [[spoiler: [[DiscOneFinalBoss Decoy Antagonist]]: The author originally planned to make him a major antagonist, but he couldn't figure out where to take that plot, so he just had Yasuna kill him.]]
340	* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Yasuna slits his throat in ''The Control''.]]
341	* [[spoiler: NotQuiteDead: Everyone assumed that he died in the explosion he caused, but they were all unconscious, so no one really saw. Turns out, he survived.]]
342	* [[spoiler: PersonOfMassDestruction: He kills around ten kids with an explosion he created in the middle of a battle in the Mayor's Hall.]]
343	* PowerPalms: His explosion comes from clapping his hands - he can control the size by clapping his hands harder or softer.
344	[[/folder]]
345	[[folder: The Protesters]]
346	!!!Cady
347	Cady is the leader of the protesters, despite not having any younger siblings among the kids that David captured. She does have a little brother, though, Jason, who she tries to protect.
348
349	!!!Grady
350	Grady is one of the few boys in David's class that didn't ally himself with David. He gained the TouchOfDeath power early on, and since then, he joined up with the protesters to try to throw David out of power.
351	* DoggedNiceGuy: Towards Hazel.
352	* InformedAttribute: We didn't find out that he was one of the protesters until after their major battle in ''The Disappearance''; we don't know if he was actually part of it or not.
353	* TouchOfDeath: His superpower - his right hand (and only the right hand) can disintegrate anything it touches.
354	[[/folder]]
355	[[folder: Everyone Else]]
356	!!!Gav Wills
357	Gav was the first narrator of the series, who crashed his car into the barrier. He then rescued Alex and Maria, and after Alex was shot by David, he dedicated himself to protecting Maria.
358	* BadPowersGoodPeople[=/=]BewareTheNiceOnes: His superpower turns out to be [[spoiler: the ability to change how hard or soft an object that he's touching is. This means that he can affect how hard it hurts when he punches you and how much damage it does - if he wants to, he can crush your brain just by patting your head.]] But he wouldn't do that, because he's actually very nice and sweet. Unless you hit one of his [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]], as Cassie learns the hard way.
359	* BerserkButton: Anything involving a threat towards Maria. The mere implication that he may not be able to rescue her is enough to beat up Cassie and [[spoiler: discover his superpower.]]
360	* CurbStompBattle: Any fight that he gets into ends up being one of these, due to his power.
361	* DemotedToExtra: In ''The Control'', although the author plans on restarting his role in book 3.
362	* KickTheDog: When he [[spoiler: punches a severely traumatized Rollins so hard that he swallows one of his own teeth.]]
363	** The scene where he beat up Cassie for information also counts.
364	* WouldHitAGirl: He beats up Cassie to get into the Mayor's Hall. And he doesn't even give it a second thought.
365
366	!!!Hazel
367	Hazel is one of the fourteen year-olds, who went to school with David. She's currently living on her own - her only sibling was her older sister - and is starting to become friends with Grady.
368	* AbusiveParents: She used to have them.
369	** PervertDad
370	* FriendlessBackground
371	* TheStoic
372
373	!!!Maria
374	Alex's older brother, who Gav has been protecting.
375	* DemotedToExtra: In ''The Control''.
376	* LittleMissBadass: Subverted. She sneaks out to kill David, and at first, it looks like she might succeed. Turns out she has no idea what she's doing, and the only result of her attempts was [[spoiler: getting her nose broken.]]
377	* [[spoiler: UnexplainedRecovery: After David shoots her in the stomach, the injury disappears with no explanation.]]
378	* TokenMinority: Like her brother, she's black.
379
380	!!!Eve
381	Eve is a disabled girl who wants to protect herself without her sister, Darla. (That's it, so far - she's only had one POV chapter.)
382	* DeadpanSnarker
383	** DisabledSnarker
384	* DemotedToExtra: She was never all that important, but she stops appearing entirely in ''The Control''.
385	[[/folder]]
386
387	!!Plot summaries (with spoilers unmarked)
388	The summaries go chapter by chapter, with a new paragraph break for each new chapter.
389	[[folder:''The Disappearance'']]
390	The book opens with Gav driving directly into a wall that suddenly appears in front of him. His mom was in the seat beside him; she's gone now, and he doesn't know what happened to her. He sees another car where the adults disappeared, with two little kids (Alex and Maria) inside it. He takes them with him to go back to town.\
391	Meanwhile, at school, there's chaos. David quickly goes home, brings a gun, and declares himself in charge until the adults return. Grady resists him, so [[DisproportionateRetribution David shoots him in the arm.]]\
392	Grady discovers that he can [[TouchOfDeath disintegrate anything he touches]]... but only with the arm that was shot by David's gun.\
393	David calls a meeting in the gym for all the kids that show up. Gav, Maria, and Alex [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot make it back to town while the meeting is still in progress.]] David [[ShootTheDog shoots]] [[{{Redshirt}} Alex]] [[BoomHeadshot in the head]], [[WeHardlyKnewYe killing him]].\
394	This naturally outrages the other kids, but David basically explains that since he has a gun, there's nothing they can do about it. He wants to kill all the kids under the age of six, because they can't work to make food.\
395	This inspires Kaelyn to take her brother, Aubrey, and anyone else she can find to make a daycare to protect the kids.\
396	Meanwhile, Maria makes plans to get revenge on David for killing Alex.\
397	That night, Tobias and Nick, two of David's friends, go back to the gym to dispose of Alex's body. But he [[NotQuiteDead turns out not to be entirely dead]]... and he can [[TouchOfDeath disintegrate your skin by touching it.]] Tobias and Nick flee in a panic.\
398	Meanwhile, Maria sneaks into David's room (in the Mayor's Hall) and tries to stab him with a butter knife. It doesn't work - he just wakes up.\
399	David starts to beat her up. He probably would've killed her, if Nick hadn't come into David's room to tell him about Alex.\
400	Meanwhile, Kaelyn has recruited plenty of others to get kids for the daycare, including Will, Cary, Jem, and Sarah. A baby that Sarah is holding starts [[PlayingWithFire shooting fireballs uncontrollably,]] almost killing them.\
401	Nick begins to take David to Alex.\
402	Will and a girl he recruited, Paige, are looking for kids when Nick, David, and Tobias come down the street, following Alex. Will and Paige hide as David discovers that shooting Alex results in nothing happening. Will and Paige decide to regroup with Kaelyn and the others.\
403	Gav notices that Maria is missing and he tracks her to the Mayor's Hall. He asks Cassie where she is, but instead of being helpful, Cassie decides to pull a knife on him, as per David's orders.\
404	Kaelyn, Jem, Sarah, and Cary decide that they have to kill the baby that was PlayingWithFire - Jem is the one to stab it. Will and Paige then come back. They all decide to go into separate groups - Sarah and Cary take the kids they already have to the lake, and the others go to find more kids.\
405	David realizes that every time he shoots Alex, his black glow gets stronger. So he and Nick put on gloves (to avoid the TouchOfDeath) and drag him back to town.\
406	Gav [[CurbStompBattle beats up Cassie]] to figure out where David sleeps.\
407	Cary gets all the kids into a car and starts to drive to the lake.\
408	David and Nick lock Alex in a room, but Alex breaks free with his TouchOfDeath.\
409	Will and Paige recruit Kristopher's sisters, Maddy and Sloane. Kristopher works for David, so he makes them promise not to tell David what happened.\
410	Gav rescues Maria and takes her back to his house.\
411	Cary and Sarah discover that the lake is outside the barrier. A little kid named Connor touches the barrier and dies.\
412	David stabs Alex with a knife, and he actually does die this time. David tells Tobias and Nick to take Alex away.\
413	Kristopher tells David that Will and Paige forced him to give up Maddy and Sloane at gunpoint (which is a lie). David tells him that he already knew Will and Paige were taking kids, which makes Kristopher nervous about Maddy and Sloane's fate.\
414	David sees Cassie with a black eye, and asks what happens. After Cassie gives her explanation, David swears to go to Gav's house and kill both him and Maria.\
415	Grady sees Tobias and Nick dragging Alex across the street. When they explain why, Grady gets scared that David will kill him if he reveals his superpower.\
416	Sarah and Cary take the kids away from the barrier and wait for the others to show up. Cary angsts a bit about a nonspecific topic, and Sarah discovers that [[PowerHair her hair]] is a LivingBattery.\
417	Hazel is lying in her bed when her father comes in, despite her father having disappeared with the other adults, and he [[PervertDad molests her]].\
418	David goes to Gav's house, and shoots Maria in the stomach. Gav punches him in the face so hard that he retreats.\
419	Tobias and Nick successfully dispose of Alex's body against the barrier.\
420	Will, Paige, and a new recruit named Marco briefly regroup with Kaelyn and Jem. The former three decide to go back to the camp.\
421	David gives Rollins a list of people that he wants killed, including Will, Paige, Kaelyn, Gav, Cary, and Sarah.\
422	Gav fixes Maria up and puts her to bed.\
423	Jem and Kaelyn show up where Sarah and Cary are waiting with more kids; they all walk to a campsite together.\
424	David goes home and reveals two things to the reader: his father knew the border would appear before it happened, and David has multiple personalities: an evil one and a good one.\
425	Hazel decides not to tell anyone that she saw her father last night.\
426	Everybody finally sets up the daycare at a campsite. Marco and Sarah get the first watch; Will and Paige walk home together.\
427	David's friends all regroup; they all go on a mission to take everyone's food and little kids.\
428	Tobias searches Eve's house.\
429	Nick takes Fisher's little sister away. Jobs comes to Fisher asking if he wants revenge, but Fisher turns out to be too young to join Fisher's rebellion.\
430	Marco and Sarah feed the kids. They give one of them peanut butter, and she has an allergic reaction and dies.\
431	Rollins reports to David a bunch of people meeting in a basement.\
432	Cady is leading a bunch of protesters to try to save the kids that David's friends captured.\
433	Isabelle, a little kid, was captured by David and thrown into the basement of the Mayor's Hall. But an explosion breaks down the door, and she escapes.\
434	It's Jem and Shelby's watch at the daycare. Jem shoots Shelby in the head, revealing him to be TheMole. He and David shoot all the babies in the daycare. However, when they go to shoot the older kids, [[DeusExMachina they all disappear]].\
435	The protesters arrive at the Mayor's Hall and go inside to rescue the kids. David's friends fight back. The kids had already escaped, due to the explosion, creating chaos as everyone tried not to shoot the people on their own side. In the end, an explosion knocks out everyone in the room. Nick is blown across the room; he lands on his neck, which kills him.\
436	David and Jem look around for the kids, but they're nowhere to be found. They decide to head back to town.\
437	David and Jem return to the Mayor's Hall to find Nick dead and everybody else injured. Everybody except for the kids are herded out, and the kids are killed.\
438	It turns out that all the kids that disappeared from the daycare had been teleported by Stella to her older brother, Gerard's house. Kristopher finds them there and vows to save them.\
439	Grady, who had become one of the protesters, goes into Hazel's house so that David can't find him. He starts to show an interest in Hazel, but she tells him to back off.\
440	'''The end.'''
441	[[/folder]]
442	[[folder: ''The Control'']]
443	Rollins reluctantly prepares to kill the people on the list that David gave him.\
444	Tobias swears to get revenge on David for Nick's death.\
445	Cady and her protesters regroup after their crushing loss against David. They make plans to make him surrender that night, and to kill him if he doesn't.\
446	Kristopher walks to Paige's house and tells her where the kids are.\
447	Hazel wakes up to find out that Grady has left.\
448	Cassie, Tobias, and Jem deliver breakfast to everybody in Grantsville.\
449	Rollins goes to Will's house and shoots him in the head.\
450	Paige and Kristopher walk to Will's house and see his unconscious body. They take him inside and tend to his injuries.\
451	Kaelyn walks to the daycare for her shift to take care of the kids, only to find Shelby and the babies dead, with everyone else missing.\
452	Rollins goes to Gav's house with the intention to shoot him; [[CurbStompBattle Gav punches him in the face so hard that he swallows one of his own teeth.]]\
453	Kristopher gets Sarah, and she takes the kids from Gerard's house to the empty house next door.\
454	Charlie, the kid who caused the explosions in the Mayor's Hall, wonders whether or not his mom is alive.\
455	Kaelyn shows up at Will's house. The two of them leave Will and walk to Gerard's house.\
456	David shows up at Kristopher's house and tells him that he knew that he had given up Maddy and Sloane involuntarily the entire time. Kristopher tries to explain, but David [[BoomHeadshot shoots him in the head]], [[ShootTheDog killing him]].\
457	Grady, restless before the attack on David with the protesters, goes to Hazel's house to hang out. She doesn't want to hang out, but she helps him after she accidentally [[AmusingInjuries closes a door on his fingers]].\
458	Rollins picks himself up from Gav's doorstep and goes to Cary's house.\
459	Paige and Kaelyn meet Sarah at the house where she took the kids.\
460	Jem finds out about Kristopher's death and blames himself for it.\
461	Yasuna and Cassie discover Charlie hiding in his house. Yasuna is in favor of killing him, especially after he causes an explosion with his hands, but Cassie is dead-set against it, not wanting to kill any more kids. So, Yasuna [[KickTheDog stabs Cassie in the neck]] and takes Charlie anyway.\
462	Cary decides to make a concious effort to be strong and move past his mother's death. Then, he hears a knock at the door. It's Rollins, who [[ShootTheDog kills]] [[YankTheDogsChain him]].\
463	Paige sees Jem kneeling over Kristopher's body. Jem tells her that he was TheMole, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain alerting Paige that one of David's friends was on the way to kill her and her friends.]] She punches Jem in the face in anger.\
464	Will wakes up, and is in immense pain.\
465	Yasuna takes Charlie and Cassie to David's house, David orders Yasuna to kill Charlie, which she does. The two then eat lunch together.\
466	Exhausted, Rollins goes to Tobias's house. Together, the two agree to find a way to get revenge on David.\
467	Paige goes back to the daycare and informs Sarah and Kaelyn that they have to stay inside the house for the time being. They agree to have Marco get the kids food from the campsite, and to then get Will.\
468	Bonnie, a protester who had lost her little brother in the attacks, prepares to fight David.\

Context DarthWiki / GoneAgain