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Gone (series)
Encyclopedia
Gone is a young-adult dystopian science fiction book series
written by Michael Grant
. The first novel in the series, also entitled Gone, was originally published in 2008. The second book, Hunger, was released a year later, followed by the third book, Lies, on May 4, 2010. Book four, released on April 5, 2011, is titled Plague. Books 5 and 6 will be entitled Fear and Light respectively. Fear is to come out on April 3, 2012 and information on Light has not been updated yet.
, everyone fifteen and over mysteriously disappears in the blink of an eye. In school, no one knows what to do and there is mass chaos and confusion among the remaining population. Sam Temple steps up and tries to save a girl from a burning building. She does not survive, but Sam reveals that he has the power to shoot beams of light from his hands (the girl had the power to shoot streams of liquid fire from her hands). Not fully understanding the situation he is in, he decides to look for Little Pete, the autistic little brother of Astrid (the local kid genius and Sam’s love interest in the story).
Along with Astrid Ellison and Quinn Gaither, Sam’s best friend, the group discovers an energy barrier that cuts off the kids from the outside world. Along the way, they find Edilio Escobar, who decides to join them. The group later comes across town bullies Orc and his sidekick Howard, who have nicknamed the barrier the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). They find Astrid's brother Little Pete in the nuclear power plant (Astrid and Pete's father's workplace) in which there was a major accident 13 years ago when a meteorite hit and caused an explosion, hence why Perdido Beach is nicknamed Fallout Alley. They also find a map of radiation patterns. The fallout radius from the nuclear power plant lines exactly up with the energy barrier. Later, Sam scares Little Pete and Pete uses strange powers to choke Sam. It is revealed Sam has his own powers (he can shoot green-white light from his hands when scared/angry). Astrid reveals she's known about Little Pete's powers for a while, and Sam tells the group he once accidentally used his light to burn off his step father's hand, thinking he was going to attack his mother with a knife.
When the group returns to town, vehicles arrive in Perdido Beach being driven by the students of Coates Academy, a school for the wealthy and troubled, where Sam's mother worked as a nurse. Leading the act is Caine Soren, who gains the townies’ trust by promising better leadership and life. But after using the local church for planning with other elected kids, the building suffers minor damages by a strange force, nearly killing one of the local bullies, Cookie.
Apparently, Caine also has powers. Some of the other kids have powers, but all of them are different. Along with the psychopathic sadist student Drake Merwin, Caine soon takes command by using the local bullies to work for him and making Sam the fire chief because of his previous actions, soon resulting in the beating and death of a townie named "bouncing" Bette, killed by Orc who was unaware of his own strength.
Soon Caine and his lackeys steal Sam’s mother’s laptop and secret chest, and find out a powerful secret between Caine and Sam. They find out that Caine and Sam are fraternal twins and that Caine was given up for adoption soon after his birth.
Meanwhile, a girl named Lana is with her grandpa, driving through the desert when the "poof", or disappearance, occurs. The truck falls down a gulch. Lana is badly injured while Patrick, her dog, is mostly fine. Soon a mountain lion attacks Patrick, who was protecting Lana and Patrick is left dying slowly. Lana puts her hand on his neck hoping he will be okay and Lana falls asleep. In the morning she finds Patrick perfectley fine with no injuries. She tries to heal herself, and it works after hours of resting her hands on her injured spots. Her power will later develop to work almost instantly. She soon gets to "Hermit Jim's" shack, but is then captured by a pack of coyotes, led by Pack Leader. The coyotes had been mutated by the FAYZ so that they are now more intelligent and can speak. They take Lana to a strange creature in a mine shaft in the desert, who they call the Darkness. The Darkness orders her to teach the coyotes human ways. She does as they say for a while but eventually escapes back to the shack.
Sam and the gang leave the town when Drake attempts to kill Astrid on Caine's orders. They escape to the far side of the FAYZ. They travel across the desert and encounter mutant rattlesnakes with wings. They meet Lana and become trapped in a shack and attacked by Pack Leader and the coyote
s. Sam kills several of the coyotes and flying rattlesnakes.
Meanwhile, Caine and his group return to Coates Academy to witness the disappearance of one of their classmates, discovering that those who vanish are confronted by a monster that takes the shape of those they long to see the most. Sam's gang then meet Lana in the shack, but the shack is set on fire by the coyotes. They manage to escape thanks to Sam, who uses his power at his own will for the first time. However, they are then captured by Drake, who takes them to Coates and shows them what he does to the freaks who oppose Caine. He traps their hands in cement bricks to prevent them using their powers. He "plasters" the gang but Astrid persuades Little Pete to make the cement disappear by attempting to smash his GameBoy with her plastered hands. A brief fight takes place and Sam shoots off Drake's arm.
Sam and the gang, along with the victims of Caine and Drake's evil "plastering" return to town where they attempt to organize the townies to fight Caine. Drake arrives at Lana's and says he wants her to heal his arm. They drive off but the coyotes arrive. The coyotes mutilate Orc, nearly killing him. The coyotes take Lana and Drake to the Darkness which uses Lana's power to give Drake a new arm, shaped like a long red python which he can use as a deadly whip, and he is raging for revenge.
Caine attacks the town with the help of the coyotes and attempts to use the children in the day care as hostages. This is averted when one of the freaks, Taylor, teleports into the center of the room and throws hamburgers in the air. This distracts the coyotes long enough for Dekka (a mutant who can suspend gravity in certain areas) and several others to rescue the children.
Caine then attacks the town center and damages the church considerably. There is a battle between the townies and the Coates kids, who also have the help of the coyotes. Drake is prevented from joining the battle by a newly mutated Orc who has doubled in size and his injuries (all of his body apart from a small patch of his cheek) are covered in a hard substance that looks like wet gravel. He attacks Drake because Drake ordered him to attack a freak who later died of her injuries (Carmela). He thinks the gravel is God's punishment for him. Sam and Caine fight in the town square and Sam successfully burns Caine's side. Sam then poofs because Caine waited for their birthday to attack. He is confronted by his mother who tells him to take her hand. Caine then poofs as well and joins Sam and their 'mother'. Caine knows that it is actually a monster due to a experiment he did earlier and refuses. Sam refuses as well, even though he does not know what Caine does, and their mother is revealed as a hideous and bloodthirsty creature. They pop back into reality and Caine retreats from the town.
Somewhere out in the local desert, Caine follows Pack Leader to the mine - and to the Darkness.
Meanwhile, Albert Hillsborough, who ran the old McDonald's before the food ran out, starts a dance club, where kids must pay an entry fee of toilet paper or batteries in order to get in. Sam and Astrid arrive, but Sam decides to let the McClub, as it's called, stay open. Meanwhile, Quinn Gaither starts a fishing business with Albert, also charging toilet paper and batteries. Albert eventually ponders on creating a monetary financial system.
Caine Soren, Sam's enemy and twin brother, has spent months in a state of insanity due to his interaction with the gaiaphage, also called the Darkness. Diana has nursed him back, though Drake, who serves the gaiaphage willingly, attempts to undermine her. Caine then resumes command of the Coates' kids, although he must put up with Drake's planned rebellion.
Almost immediately after he awakes, Caine devises a plan to break into the nuclear plant to control the electricity of Perdido Beach. Caine also has Diana go to town and get Computer Jack to assist them. They succeed but become trapped in the plant after Sam's soldiers surround them and Caine realizes that he has barely any food. Diana then begins to question what this plan was meant to accomplish. Caine then receives a message from the gaiaphage telling him to feed it. Caine has the horrible realization that his entire plan may have just been him unconsciously obeying the gaiaphage.
Meanwhile, Lana has also been receiving messages from the Darkness telling her to come to it because it has need for her. She devises a plan to destroy the mine shaft using Hermit Jim's truck. She goes to the mining town with Cookie and manages to back up the truck to the cave mouth and kill Pack Leader, but is stopped by the gaiaphage before she can blow it up and is brainwashed. She then is Lead to the Darkness.
While this is all going on, a mutant called Hunter, who is able to fire waves of heat from his hands like a microwave, has a fight with his roommate Zil Sperry and accidentally kills their mutual friend Harry. Zil sets up a group called the Human Crew, who are all normals and believe all freaks are evil and should be killed. They capture Hunter and try to hang him in the plaza. Astrid, with Little Pete in tow, try to stop them but are captured and Little Pete receives a blow to the head. Orc eventually prevents the execution, and saves Astrid, Little Pete, and Hunter. Because Hunter killed Harry he is banished and cannot enter the town so he decides to live up to his name and hunts for the kids in the town. He received brain damage being hit over the head with a bat by the human crew and, although perfectly sane, has trouble remembering (especially words) and is more simple minded than before
During this Edilio Escobar and Dekka are on their way to destroy the mine shaft. They arrive and are met by Lana, under the control of the gaiaphage, who tells them to stop and then shoots Edilio. She then retreats into the cave and leaves Dekka to the coyotes, who attack her. It is then revealed that the gaiaphage plans to use Lana's powers to create a new body for itself, one that, if destroyed, reveals an even more deadly monster, like a nesting doll. It will achieve this after Caine arrives and feeds it the fuel rod. Astrid discovers the gaiaphage is in contact with Little Pete, using him to give it the idea of a near-invincible body. She also works out that the gaiaphage is the result of an accident at the plant thirteen years ago, when a meteorite hit. She theorizes that a virus may have been alive on the rock when it hit, and that virus + radiation = mutation. The accident might have affected the kids as well, giving them their powers.
Thanks to the distraction in town Caine is able to use his powers to levitate a uranium rod to the mine shaft, with Diana and Jack. Drake stays behind to deal with anyone who follows. Sam receives this news and heads to the plant to fight Drake. He arrives but Drake tells him that with a push of a button he can release the radiation and destroy everyone, unless Sam lets Drake do whatever he wants to him. Sam, who is in the process of being tortured by Drake, is saved by Brianna, who cuts Drake's whip hand off; as well as stopping the radiation. Drake then flees to Caine.
Sam, who is gravely injured and barely alive, tells Brianna to take Duck Zhang to the mine shaft. Duck Zhang is a mutant who can control his density, and may be the only weapon they have that the gaiaphage does not know about. He then gets picked up by Quinn and gets taken to the mine shaft where he sees Dekka and Edilio, both of who are near death, as well as Caine, Jack, Diana and Drake. Diana is injured by Drake and in a fit of rage Caine hurls the uranium rod at Drake's chest, knocking him into the mine shaft, and then collapses the entrance.
Brianna then arrives with Duck and together they devise a plan to get Lana. They climb over the shaft and Duck uses his powers to make a hole in the ground to the gaiaphage. Duck, Caine, and Sam go in and Caine uses his powers to throw Duck into the gaiaphage. While Duck is flying through the air, he becomes heavier than a mountain and smashes into the gaiaphage, creating a massive hole that drags him and the gaiaphage down to the bottom of the bubble surrounding the FAYZ, however, Duck dies in the process. Quinn then enters and finds Lana dazed, Sam passed out, and Caine stunned. They then use Lana's powers to heal Diana, Edilio, Dekka, Brianna, and Sam. Diana and Caine then head back to Coates.
In the aftermath they mourn Duck who saved them all. Zil and his gang run wild, the kids negotiate with the zekes, and Albert reveals his new system of money. Sam and Quinn then head out into the ocean on their boards, with Dekka on a boat, who uses her powers to create waves for them. The book ends with Brittney, a girl who was killed during the fight for the power plant and has the power to not die, alive in her grave with a pale slug (the end of Drake's whip hand) attached to her while she asks her dead brother to pray for her in Heaven.
Meanwhile, a young girl called Jill who lives in the part of town Zil Sperry has declared a no freak zone is kicked out of her home because she is like a Siren: when she sings people can do nothing but listen. Sam discovers her gagged and bound in a hole in the ground, in the graveyard. He gets his second in command, Edilio Escobar, who tells him Jill was in the grave of a girl called Brittney, who appears to have escaped, even though she's been buried for over a month.
The next day in the "Mall", a boy called Francis tells Sam and Sam's girlfriend, Astrid Ellison, that he's going to step out of the FAYZ on his fifteenth birthday. Before Sam can say anything, Francis disappears. Astrid calls a meeting of the newly appointed council: Sam, Astrid, Edilio, Dekka, John Terrafino, Albert Hillsborough and Howard Bassem. Astrid is furious Sam lied to her about Orsay. The council agree to tell everyone Orsay is lying. Sam and Astrid later have an argument and Sam moves out of the house they both live in. Afterward a girl called Taylor, who can teleport, tells Astrid that someone claims to have spotted Drake Merwin on the beach, the evil boy with a whip hand who nearly killed Sam. They also find a boy with Drake's whip marks all over him. Later on she tells Sam that the supposedly dead Brittney is alive and in Howard and Orc's house. Sam, not knowing what else to do, asks Brianna a.k.a. The Breeze, who has the power of enhanced speed, to look after Brittney.
Meanwhile Sam's corrupt brother, Caine Soren, and the rest of the Coates kids are getting weaker and weaker, slowly starving. A camouflaging freak called Bug tells Caine there might be an island off the coast of Perdido Beach, where there might be food. Desperate, Caine strikes a deal with Zil Sperry. If Zil sets fire to Perdido Beach, it would cause enough distraction for Caine to be able to steal some boats. Caine does not expect Zil to have the courage to actually go through with it, but he does and Caine sails to the island, along with Bug, Diana and Penny; who makes people think they are seeing monsters. Sam discovers it is Zil who set fire to the town and sets out to kill him, ignoring both Edilio's and Astrid's warnings. However, he soon finds himself back at the power plant, where Drake had tortured him, and knew that's where he'd end up all along.
When Caine gets to the island, he discovers kids living there; the adopted children of the mansion's owners. A boy called Sanjit gives them food but it's drugged and they all fall unconscious. When they wake up, they see Sanjit is trying to use a helicopter to escape with the other children. Caine nearly kills them, along with Penny, but Diana falls off the edge of the cliff and Caine has to release his hold on the helicopter in order to save her. Sanjit escapes and, flying the best he can, heads to Perdido Beach.
In Perdido Beach, the inhabitants manage to stop the fire but many kids are killed. At a cook off in the plaza, Mary Terrafino claims she saw Drake, who soon arrives and causes mass panic. At the same time, Nerezza convinces Mary to take the children to the cliff over the beach. Nerezza then tries to kill Little Pete, Astrid's autistic little brother and the person who caused the FAYZ, but she fails. Astrid arrives at the cliff and sees Mary and a line of children holding hands at the cliff edge. On the moment of her fifteenth birthday, Mary sees her mother and steps off the cliff to try to get to her, pulling the children with her. Sam arrives, but no one can help because they are rendered helpless by Nerezza, who tells Jill to sing. However, Sanjit's helicopter arrives and drowns out the singing. Mary vacates, but the children are saved by Dekka and Brianna. Then Brittney arrives, slowly transforming into Drake. Drake attacks Sam but Sam uses his power to burn Drake. However Drake soon turns into Brittney again and Sam is not able to kill the innocent girl. He asks Brianna to grab some ropes and chains to hold Drake. At the same time, Little Pete finds that his GameBoy, the favourite thing he owns, smashed on the ground. He reacts by screaming and causing the FAYZ wall to disappear for a split second. Astrid sees adults staring on the other side before the wall returns.
It is finally revealed that the evil creature called the gaiaphage is behind everything. It needed both Brittney's immortality and Lana Arwen Lazar's healing powers to bring Drake back from the dead. However, Brittney's willpower stopped Drake taking over the body they shared completely. Nerezza is not human at all; she's the gaiapahge's avatar, brought to life using Little Pete's impossible powers, who was tricked into thinking he was playing a game. The gaiaphage had used Nerezza to try to kill the young children Mary pulled after her, which would have broken the kids of the FAYZ, but the tactic failed. Brittney/Drake needs no food or water to survive, so Sam locks them in Howard and Orc's basement. In the end Sam catches the flu, which is a hint as to the plot of the fourth book, Plague.
Sam Temple is revealed to be drunk after seeing Brittney/Drake earlier in the day and feeling particularly low about his and Astrid's relationship decline. Sam had obtained the alcohol previously stating that he was "confiscating" it from Orc and Howard, he did not intend to drink any but invariably ended up consuming the entire pack when he is at the clifftop that Mary Terrafino committed suicide from. In blind drunken rage he attacks the FAYZ wall but his efforts yield no result; whilst he is up on the clifftop Taylor "bounces" up to see him and they end up kissing. In the end, Sam feels guilty and pulls away. Taylor tells him to come back when he is done with the ice princess.
The next chapter focuses initially on Diana at the island home, who has qualms about what she has done and decides to become a better person and perhaps reform Caine as well. The second half of the chapter deals with three previously unknown girls Jennifer B,Jennifer H and Jennifer L; all three Jennifers are suffering from the new epidemic of flu that was mentioned in the last book, however the flu has escalated and mutated into a new strain which causes the victims to literally cough up their lungs. After Jennifer H dies from the flu, Jennifer B crawls to the make-shift hospital to warn Dahra Baidoo of the deadly disease, however Dahra mistakes her warning as feverish hallucinations. Lana the healer also finds that her healing powers are ineffective against the flu virus and she is helpless to prevent it spreading.
Meanwhile, Hunter the brain-damaged hunter has been stalking a lion to kill "for the kids" but he is hampered by a small growth on his shoulder: "The thing on Hunter's shoulder squirmed. It was growing. Moving."
Soon enough Perdido beach is running out of water, and so Albert sends Sam on a mission to find new water supplies over at Lake Tramonto, almost directly opposite Perdido beach. Sam and a few others thus embark on their walk, however on the way they encounter Hunter who is attempting suicide with his microwave ability in order to kill the insects hatching inside of him. It is revealed that Jack and Brianna are 'kind of going out' in this book after continuing living together during the epidemic in Lies. Dekka and Hunter pray together and Sam burns Hunter with his light; but far from destroying the insects with him he finds that his ability is ineffectual against them. A new pack leader, who is also infected by the insects, is at the scene and Sam commands pack leader to take them to where "the Greenies"(described as snakes with leather wings that excrete a green liquid, Hunter earlier was infected with this liquid) cave is situated; pack leader willingly leads them there on the premise that Sam will burn him afterwards.
Orc has been left alone by Howard so that Orc can guard Brittney/Drake; whilst Howard is out Jamal (Albert's personal bodyguard) comes round to visit Orc for alcohol. Jamal accidentally provokes Orc and as a result of the ensuing melee Brittney/Drake is release, currently in Drake's form. Drake ensures that Jamal will serve him and involves him in his plan to see the Gaiaphage.
On their way to the lake and after battling off the giant insects, Sam, Jack, and Dekka come across the military base nearby and search it in hope of food. When they enter the offices they finally find Nutella, however Sam realizes that there must be someone currently there and goes off to investigate. They find a strange individual named Toto (numbered Test Subject 1-01) who has the ability to discern truth from lies, however he is somewhat different in that he insists on speaking to a Spider-man bust and continues to talk to the imaginary Spider-man even when not near. Toto does though lead the group to a derailed train whose containers reveal many things among which Nutella, Apple i Macs and Mac Books, Pepsi and missiles are also found.
Meanwhile the situation in Perdido beach has declined, and now many more children have contracted the flu, leaving Dahra on a manic shift; however later Sanjit and Lana appear to assist her. Edilio is forced into a dilemma after it is realized that a kid named Roscoe is being eaten from the inside by an insect parasite, and henceforth Edilio has had to confine him to a room that has been locked and secured for the safety of the other inhabitants, at the same time the entire town has been quarantined so as to stop the spread of the flu virus.
When Sam and his friends finally reach the lake they are confronted by the insects once more, but insects that are described as being "the size of SUVs", they are also attacked by the Brittney/Drake being who is in Drake's form.
As the water supply is reaching a desperate level and the kids have already reached desperation point, so much so that former Human-Crew members Turk and Lance go and attack Albert, leaving him so close to death that everyone except his housemaid Leslie-Ann believes that he is. Meanwhile, Pete has been in a coma with flu for a time and has unintentionally destroyed the top floor of the house that he and Astrid were living in. Little Pete creates a rain cloud and kids come flocking towards it to get water for themselves and others.
Previously, the heavily drunk and enraged Orc had gone around town in a blinding fit of anger towards everyone and everything and accidentally murdered a sick boy, and an anguished Orc had gone in search of Astrid for redemption. At the point that it starts raining, Orc finds Astrid, however the situation is complicated further by the appearance of Turk and Lance, who intend to wound Astrid and murder little Pete. Edilio turns up at the scene and a stand-off ensues, but instead Edilio mortally wounds Turk and Lance and Orc takes Astrid and Pete to the Coates Academy.
Back up at the cave, Brianna has brought a garrote and slices Drake into small fragments, however Drake easily reassembles himself and Brianna only narrowly escapes. Meanwhile down at Perdido beach Edilio has contracted the killer flu and sends for Brianna to deliver a message to Quinn and his fishing team who have been quarantined up away from the beach. The message requests for Quinn to call for Caine on the island to come back due to Sam's absence and no help seeming to be coming from other sources. Caine sees this as an opportunity to take complete control of the town and become a totalitarian king. Diana however, does not wish to go and wants them to stay on the island. Caine then forces her to come with him.
Back at the lake Sam, Jack, Dekka and Toto formulate a plan to get back to Perdidio beach using Dekka's anti-gravity power, by which they would take the container full of missiles and catapult themselves back and thus use the missiles to kill the insects.
Meanwhile at Perdidio beach the town is under attack from the now completely insane Brittney/Drake remotely directing the invasion, who earlier witnessed the Gaiaphage itself who in turn persuaded Brittney that It was God, and also the giant insects. Along with Brianna, Caine manages to defeat the bugs and save the people of Perido Beach, however, many bystanders are killed in the process.
Soon enough Drake travels up to the Coates academy and confronts Astrid, little Pete and Orc in the intention of viciously murdering Astrid and taking Pete (also named Nemesis by the Darkness) to the Gaiaphage; Orc attempts to attack Drake but is too drunk to finish the job and falls out of the window to a pack of hungry insects. Jack appears at the scene to help, providing distraction for Astrid to disarm Drake and throw Pete to the insects. The sense of danger alerts Pete and all the insects disappear, however so does Pete's body; Astrid, overcome by guilt, has completely lost her rationality and reason.
Down in the town Caine and Sam come to an agreement: anyone who wants to go with Caine stays and anyone who wants to go with Sam goes to the lake, Sam suspects that the majority of the kids only want to go with him due to the food and water up there but does not complain. Diana unexpectedly chooses to go with Sam and reveals that she is pregnant with Caine being the father.
The book ends with a view from Pete's mind, who is apparently alive but without a body to inhabit.
Unlike the Previous books, 'Plague' contains no excerpt from the next book: to be entitled 'Fear'
'Which was originally going to be called Darkness, however it would not fit on the front cover. The front of the U.S. cover includes Quinn and Diana, with Sam and Dekka on the back. The UK cover will be purple. This has been confirmed by Michael Grant'.
The characters powers will grow and a new character by the name of Sally, who can freeze things by touch will be introduced.
Fear will be released April 3, 2012 (US).
Description of the book. (from chapters/indigo.com)
As the young residents of Perdido Beach begin to better comprehend the truths of who they are and their relationships to one another, the Darkness finds a new way to be born, bringing their understanding of fear to a new level.
Fear is now available for pre-order at chapters. Fear has very high expectations among fans.
After being asked what caused the mutations, Michael Grant has said here, "Without giving everything away . . . It would be fair to guess that the power plant and the Darkness both play a role. And one more element I'm not going to tell you except to say that it's been mentioned as a story element and never fully explained."
pointed to the series' "rave reviews, most of them posted on websites by teenagers," though noting that such success stemmed from literary sacrifices that made characters into "crude two-dimensional digitisations."
The Book Smugglers have taken to a more positive note, saying " The GONE books are some of the darkest, most violent, deliciously horrific and provoking dystopian series’ out there. Since I was introduced to Michael Grant’s Stephen King-esque work, his novels have consistently made my top 10 favorite reads of the year of their publication."
Astrid Ellison: A fifteen year old girl dating Sam Temple and is the sister of "Little Pete". She is nicknamed "Astrid the Genius" because she is a brainiac and knows everything. Astrid has the power to see peoples fates "like a stream of light across the sky".
Peter "Little Pete" Ellison: five-year-old autistic boy. He is described as being pretty like a girl, and more than a bit strange. He is a Freak with strong but unknown powers. It has been shown that he has the power to teleport others and himself to other locations, the power to choke someone telepathically, create illusions, imagine things and make them come to life, levitate, create rain clouds and many other abilities. In Gone Pete is measured as an eight bar by Diana even though he can't control his powers properly. Sam and Edilio see via a security tape at the power plant that he is the one responsible for the FAYZ; he is said to be the most powerful Freak in the FAYZ by far. Unfortunately, Pete only reacts to trigger words such as "window seat", "munchy munchy" and "walkie walkie"; otherwise, he is almost completely unresponsive and keeps his attention focused on his Gameboy system. In Hunger Pete's dreams come to life as real beings. He is also in contact with the Darkness, who thinks of him as “Nemesis” - “Nemesis with infinite power held only in check by the twists and turns, the blind alleys and sudden high walls inside his own damaged brain”. He plays "games" with the Darkness who uses these "games" to make Pete do what he wants. Pete goes to the Darkness in his head to escape the overly bright real world. At the end of Plague, Astrid throws him to the bugs, and Pete and them vanish. However, it is stated that Pete is still alive but without a body to inhabit. Which makes the world less painful for him and causes the Gaiaphage to be afraid of him.
Caine Soren: Caine is the main antagonist of the story. He is described as charming and charismatic, able to easily obtain whatever he desires. He leads the kids of Coates Academy on a rampage to attack the power plant, thus leaving the kids of Perdido Beach in the dark. The first book reveals that Caine is Sam's fraternal twin brother. Like Sam, he is a Freak. He is telekinetic, which means he is able to move things around with his mind. Caine struggles with his mental health after meeting the Gaiaphage. The creature appears to have nested inside his head and is quickly driving him to the brink of insanity. He shuts down the nuclear power plant to steal uranium fuel rods to feed the gaiphage, but changes sides when Diana is injured by Drake and on the brink of death. He's in love with Diana, but seems to have no problem with hurting anyone else. Caine has impregnated Diana by the end of PLAGUE but it is unknown if the baby is more powerful than its father, Diana currently reads it at a "two bar" unlike Caine and Sam who are "four bars". Sam's, and thus Caine's, mother was a non-observant Jew (GONE, chapter 14).
Diana Ladris: Caine's chief assistant, with the power to read power levels of other teens and children. Though described as beautiful at the beginning, she's depicted as giving Caine and everyone else a hard time and snarky remarks and she is usually called a witch by Sam's people. Caine seems to be in love with her despite this. Diana nurses Caine through his insanity and tries to keep him from succumbing to the will of the Darkness, out of her own love for him. Drake attempts to kill her, but is stopped by Caine. She barely survives, and is left dead, resulting in her not looking nearly as pretty, though that does not bother Caine. She reveals she is pregnant at the end of 'Plague' and it is revealed that Caine is the father. She leaves Caine and goes with Sam to the lake.
Drake Merwin: A psychopathic teen with shark-like features, nicknamed "Whip-Hand" because one of his arms becomes replaced by a red whip-like tentacle by the Darkness with Lana's help after Sam burns his arm off. Drake willingly serves the Gaiaphage, frequently challenging Caine's authority and taking advantage of his mental instability. Drake almost kills Sam after threataning to flood the FAYZ with radiation, but part of his arm is severed by Brianna (a.k.a. Breeze), one of the Mutants loyal to Sam. He later attempts to betray Caine, badly injuring Diana (whom he seems to have a sadistic fixation on). Drake is killed by Sam and Caine, but is resurrected by the Gaiaphage using Brittney's immortal body as well as Lana's healing powers. After unsuccessfully attempting to take over Brittney, they keep switching over control and are captured and imprisoned by Sam and his team. Drake later escapes and takes Brittney to the Gaiaphage. He then leads the army of bugs against Sam. Drake fails and heads back to the Gaiphage.
Quinn Gaither: Sam's best friend, who is described as giving off a "cool-guy vibe" with the way he dresses and acts. Quinn is a surfer and despite being bigger and supposedly stronger than Sam, he is not mentally able to handle devastating events. He breaks down quite frequently and in his fear, he does not think too clearly and turns on his friends to save them. However, his conscience comes back to haunt him and keeps him wavering on the brink of insanity while he's in the FAYZ. He relies on Sam's guidance most of the time; whenever he does things for himself, he ends up getting confused or scared. In spite of all this, he proves to be helpful during situations in which he is too afraid to do anything. He discovers a knack for fishing and begins to catch fish and sell them to Albert. Quinn helps Sam after he is severely injured by Drake. Though he wants to go with Sam to the lake, Quinn Stays in Perdido Beach at the end of PLAGUE with his fishing crew.
Edilio Escobar: A Honduran
boy who is Sam's second in command. He is in charge of the Perdido Beach security. He has a team loyal to him who he trains in using weapons. He is also the main source of transportation for Sam as he has learned to drive. He is shot and seriously wounded by Lana in HUNGER but she eventually saves him. He makes up one of the six members of the law determining counsel and is the Sheriff of Perdido Beach. So far into the series he has no known powers. He also had very honorable morals and is respected when Sam tells people to, though some doubt his abilities since he does not have the Power. He is also the one responsible for digging graves in the plaza, which causes mental stress. Gets dangerously sick in Plague but manages to survive and accompanies Sam to the lake.
Lana Arwen Lazar: Lana, aka the Healer, was driving with her grandfather and her dog Patrick when the FAYZ occurred. The truck veered off the road into gully and left her too injured to think, but it is because of this that she soon discovers she has the power to heal with her touch. Lana secludes herself from the town to avoid being constantly asked to heal minor injuries. Like Caine, she is influenced by the Darkness, and plans to kill it by blowing up the mine it dwells in. She ultimately fails and is completely taken over by it, shooting Edilio under its will, and attempting to kill herself through radiation poisoning, but is freed by Caine, Duck, and Sam, who send the gaiaphage to the bottom of the bubble surrounding the FAYZ and bury it. However, the contact with the Gaiaphage has started to shatter her metal stability, and by the end of LIES she (with Patrick) flees from Coates Academy and goes to Cliff Top.In PLAGUE Lana has a love interest, Sanjit, the boy with a horrible past. Sanjit knows he likes Lana, they have a connection. She is addicted to nicotine.
Dekka Talent: An African American Mutant girl from Coates. She can remove gravity from a limited space, causing everything in that area to be lifted into the air. She is loyal to Sam and shares many battles with him. She is mauled by coyotes but is saved by Lana. Dekka tends to be the person that deals with any problems that Edilio is unable to solve, at least partially because she is an exceedingly powerful Freak. Dekka doesn't like to talk about herself much so other kids tend to think of Dekka as a fearless and a scary person. Dekka is also a lesbian, and is (unrequitedly) in love with Brianna, who seems to be unaware of Dekka's feelings. In PLAGUE she is hit by a greenie. Sam, Lana and Quinn save her. At the end of PLAGUE it appears that she confesses her feelings to Brianna and accompanies Sam to the lake.
Brianna aka "The Breeze": A 12-year-old mutant with the ability to run at incredibly fast levels of speed. Her top speed is unknown (she claims to have run over 600 mph when she beat a bullet) but she can cover a few thousand feet in the blink of an eye. She saves Sam's life when he is on the verge of being beaten to death by Drake by cutting off part of Drake's snake-like arm. She is known to be talkative and seems to be the person who embraces their powers the most. She likes to be powerful and is the last to back down from a fight. Because of her speed she is responsible for delivering messages throughout Perdido Beach. She seems to have feelings for Computer Jack, though to a significantly lesser extent in Lies. It is confirmed she is dating Jack in Plague, and is angry when he leaves town without telling her. When Dekka confesses her feelings towards her Brianna starts avoiding her.
Computer Jack: Jack is a Freak with super strength. He is also the tech guru of Perdido Beach. Originally from Coates, Jack has joined Sam and his team in Perdido Beach. Despite his strength, he lacks confidence and is very easily manipulated. He is responsible for removing the uranium core from the Power Plant and turning off the electricity. He had a crush on Diana that was later transferred to Brianna, though he still seems to have feelings for Diana. He tries to help Sam avoid the poof during the final battle in GONE, however only did so on Diana's bidding, as well as fighting Drake in Plague and giving Astrid enough time to throw Petey to the Bugs. He reveals that he is dating Brianna in Plague after living together because of the epidemic in Lies, and is considering asking her if she will 'make out with him'. He is the least secure with his powers and often forgets that he even has any. He goes to the lake with Sam at the end of Plague.
Albert Hillsborough: An African American boy who originally kept the McDonald's open in town until he ran out of supplies. In its place he opened McClub a place where the town kids can party and have fun for the price of batteries or toilet paper. After no one in town wants to work, he comes up with the idea of establishing the pay system because he believes no person will work for no money. Uses the gold in Hermit Jim's shack and bullet molds and long forgotten McDonald's monopoly game cards to bring money to Perdido Beach (Six cards equals one gold bullet). The currency, although named "slugs" by Albert was called "berto's" by Howard and the name stuck. He is highly respected in town. He is also one of the Town Council members. Is shot but survives in Plague and remains in Perdido Beach, on several conditions. Despite having no mutant powers it transpires that Albert is the most powerful and influential person in the FAYZ.
Zil Sperry: A non-freak boy, who constantly makes fun of Mutants. He threatens Hunter which leads to the death of Harry. He decides that chuds (a derogatory name he calls kids with abilities) get all the breaks and food, and comes up with the Human Crew in an attempt to take over the town. With the Human Crew he finds Hunter and strings him up at the church in an effort to hang him. He is stopped by Orc and thrown through the air. Later he is found with four broken ribs. In LIES, Zil, along with the Human Crew, burns down much of Perdido Beach before the fire is stopped by Edilio and his crew. At the end of LIES, he is killed by Dekka. His girlfriend is Lisa.
Charles "Orc" Merriman: A half-human, half gravel-like boy. He became like this when he was attacked by mutated coyotes. Gravel started to replace the parts where they attacked him so his only remaining section of skin is a small patch on his cheek. His tough exterior makes him invulnerable to most physical damage and also gives him superhuman strength. He developed an alcohol problem and will only do assignments in exchange for beer. Orc plays a major part in gathering food from the fields because he is tough enough to withstand the zekes that are there. He plays a minor part in trying to take the Power Plant back from Caine and his crew. He also saves Astrid and Hunter's lives when the Human Crew befriends them. In PLAGUE he saves Pete from the remnants of the Human crew and defends Astrid from Drake in Coates in the end of PLAGUE. He thinks of Astrid as his only real friend. Whilst attempting to drink himself to death, Orc tore off the human side of his face.
Brittney Donegal: Brittney has a Regenerative ability. She was originally part of Edilio's soldiers but was killed in HUNGER. However she came back to life thinking herself as an avenging angel. She is in the same body as Drake. She believes she was sent back alive to kill Drake by her dead brother Tanner (who appears as an angel), who was actually a hallucination made by the Gaiaphage. In PLAGUE she meets and is manipulated by the Gaiaphage and helps Drake to try to kill Sam, Jack and Dekka. She was very Christian but now believes that the Darkness is actually God and that she must follow His orders.
Gaiaphage/Darkness: Astrid believes it is an alien bacterium which came from the asteroid that impacted the nuclear plant. It feeds on nuclear energy and when it comes into contact with Freaks it co-opts their power, particularly that of Lana, Caine and Drake. It uses Lana's power to create Drake's whip-hand, to create Nerezza and to resurrect Brittney. The gaiaphage is locked in battle for supremacy over the FAYZ with Pete, the autistic five-year-old.
Mary Terrafino: Known to all as 'Mother Mary,' she is the main caretaker for the littles. The kids of the FAYZ, especially the younger ones, look to her as a mother figure and she is highly respected throughout the FAYZ. Despite her good nature, Mary struggles with depression, an eating disorder, and the inevitable stress of being responsible for too many other children. She has one younger brother, John, whom she leaves behind when she attempts a mass murder, by attempting to hold hands with all the day care children, and jumping over a cliff. All of the children are saved, but Mary 'poofed'.
Hunter: Accidentally killed his friend Harry in HUNGER with his power to shoot heat waves from his hands and cook things from the inside-out. He was prosecuted by Zil Sperry, causing Zil to create the Human Crew. He ran from the group but was caught and nearly hung by the Human Crew and suffers severe brain damage. Afterwards, he was forced into exile for killing Harry. Takes up the job of hunting for the town and becomes very skilled at this. He is killed in PLAGUE when the large insects from the 'greenies' start to eat his insides out and he uses his own powers on his head, to try to kill himself. When this does not work he asks Sam to kill him, which Sam does unwillingly, to stop Hunter from being eaten completely by the bugs.
Orsay Pettijohn: She first appears in Hunger. She has the power to see inside others' dreams. She is controlled by Nerezza, a creature created by gaiaphage. She is murdered by Nerezza (the gaiaphage's avatar) in Lies. The Gaiaphage made her believe that the only way to get out of the FAYZ, besides turning 15, was to die.
Nerezza: First appears in Lies. She is the vehicle of the gaiaphage, and attempts to control Orsay, but when Orsay decides to call it quits Nerezza murders her. Sam attempts to kill her, but before he can, she vanishes.
Bug: A freak with the power of camouflage (invisibility), Bug mainly plays the role of spy for Caine; however, he appears to be loyal to himself before all others.
Taylor: With the power to teleport, or 'bounce,' Taylor is a loyal supporter of Sam and his doings in the FAYZ. She is also known to openly have a crush on Sam, which is a source of hostility between her and Astrid. At the beginning of PLAGUE Sam gets very drunk and fools around with her but it doesn't go far. Her main role is the relay of messages around Perdido Beach. At the end of PLAGUE, Taylor was offered to be rowed to Caine's island, so she could teleport there and enjoy it whenever she wanted. This causes her to switch to Caine's side. At the end of PLAGUE she stays with Caine.
Penny "the Monster Bringer": Introduced in LIES, Penny is a twelve-year-old girl from Coates Academy with the power to cause others to hallucinate and see monsters. She is extremely useful to Caine, and is loyal to him above all others (likely due to her crush on him). When Diana is trying to help Sanjit escape from the island, she tries to stop her. Caine holds her over the helicopter, and when Diana falls he throws her onto the island, breaking both her legs. She has to be taken care of in PLAGUE. Caine plans on getting her legs fixed by Lana when they get back to Perdido Beach.
Sanjit: Brother to Virtue ('Choo), Peace, Pixie and Bowie. Flies the helicopter from his house to the mainland at the end of LIES with his siblings. Sanjit has a big crush on Lana, and finally by the end of PLAGUE they are going out. Sanjit has a "class clown" attitude. Helps out with the plague victims at the hospital in PLAGUE. Before being adopted by the famous actors and living on the island, he and his adopted siblings each lead hard lives in different poor countries and lived on the streets.
John 'Brother John' Terrafino: The younger brother of Mother Mary, John Terrafino cares for the littles alongside his sister. He is commonly called "Brother John" by the littles. When the council is established, John is one of six members (because Mary does not have the time). Against his better judgement, John lies to Mary about Orsay's powers of prophecy with hopes of stopping Mary from 'stepping out' on her birthday.
Howard
Orc's follower, usually does negotiating for him. He came up with the term FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) in GONE, and came up with the slang for money ('Bertos). He was an original council member. He is sarcastic and rude, he also runs a "black-market" for drugs and alcohol in the FAYZ and made a still at the deserted Coates. He doesn't seem to care about peoples' lives as shown in PLAGUE where he saves Albert, but demands a reward from him. Astrid openly despises him. He doesn't appear to have any friends but in PLAGUE it is revealed that he not only controls Orc but thinks of him as a friend. It has been indirectly mentioned that Howard is African American.
"Gaiaphage"
Its name revealed to mean "World eater" in Plague, it is a strange organism, possibly known to have made the FAYZ built of Alien DNA, Human DNA, and raw radiation. It has been described as "Thousands of crystals revolving over one gravitational center, suggesting a sphere". It has questionable power over everyone in the FAYZ- though almost total power to anyone who has been touched by it.
Duck Zhang:
Duck is a freak Asian boy who is not very attractive nor socializes with girls. He has the power to control his density, meaning he can make himself so light that he floats into the air or so heavy that he can drill through the ground. At first he hates his power, but at the end of the book, it is his power that is essential in defeating the Gaiaphage. He very hesitantly accepts the duty of drilling into the mineshaft to allow the others to save Lana from the Gaiaphaige, and admits honestly that he does not want to be a hero. Yet, he decides to stay and venture on to encounter the Gaiaphaige with Caine and Sam—a heroic offer that does not even make sense to himself—and then sacrifices himself to defeat the monster. He realizes in the end that he had wanted to be a hero. Edilio makes a memorial for him because they did not have his body. He is regarded as a hero by the end of the book HUNGER.
Bette was known as Bouncing Bette, but dies in the first book, GONE, by Orc's relentless beating; her death is a major source of guilt for Orc, who began drinking heavily in order to cope. The personality changes her death provokes in Orc lasts throughout the series.
Hank:
Member of the Human Crew. Described as violent. He assaults Hunter, who suffers partial brain damage. Killed by Caine in LIES by going face first into the ocean.
Lance:
Member of the Human Crew. The most socially acceptable and attractive of the Human Crew. Killed by Caine in PLAGUE after he attempted to kill Albert. Zil Speery always talks about his 'good looks'.
Antoine:
Member of the Human Crew. He is known to be a druggie of sorts, smoking marijuana when he can get it and using other methods to get high. Sam injures him with his power in LIES, and is dumped on the beach by Hank who refused to help with the injury, and left to die.
Lisa:
Member of the Human Crew, often unkindly likened to a cow by her boyfriend Zil Sperry. She creates the stylized logo for the Human Crew.
Turk:
Member of the Human Crew. He as a weak, gimpy tag-along that Zil makes fun of. After his role in the attempted murder of Albert, Caine makes him his servant.
Virtue, Peace, Pixie and Bowie:
The adopted children (with Sanjit)of celebrities who lived on the island that Caine and Diana go to in search of food. Sanjit flies them away in a helicopter when Sanjit realizes that Caine is evil and dangerous. Sanjit has a big crush on Lana, and finally by the end of PLAGUE they are going out. Sanjit has a "class clown" attitude. Virtue is the serious one. They both help Dahra Baidoo with plague victims. Bowie was deathly sick in PLAGUE, but was later cured by Lana.
Jamal:
Introduced in PLAGUE. 'Friends' with Howard and Orc, but only stops by their house for alcohol. He is originally Albert's bodyguard, but is scared into working for Drake. When Drake finds out the bugs are hungry, he sacrifices Jamal.
Toto (subject 1-01):
Introduced in PLAGUE. He is found by Sam, Dekka and Computer Jack and has the ability to tell if someone is telling the truth or not. He also talks to a foam Spiderman head called Spidey and appears to be crazy.
Darla(subject 1-02):
An eight year old girl who had the ability to walk through walls(intagibility)according to Toto.She tried to escape and was tasered halfway through the wall, causing her to die.
Emily:
Emily is a girl who lives in a farmyard ranch with her brother Brother, although we know hardly anything about her, she seems to have the power to make other things disappear or appear around her or other people. She and Brother brought Zil to see Caine about the fire in LIES.
Brother:
Emily's brother. Secretly afraid of her, and made Computer Jack stop to fix his Wii in GONE.
"The Artful Roger"
A boy who is injured during the burning of the town by Zil. Nothing is revealed about him except that he is artistically gifted
Pack Leader:
Leader of the mutant coyotes. Takes orders from the gaiaphage. Captured Lana in GONE. He tried to get her to teach him human ways. When Lana escapes into the hut with Sam, Quinn, Edilio, and Astrid, he burns the hut down. At the end of GONE, he takes Caine to the gaiaphage. In HUNGER, he tries to stop Lana from releasing the gas that she is trying to kill the gaiaphage with, but Lana shoots him. The next Pack Leader came to Hunter but when discovering that he is dead asks Sam to be killed in PLAGUE because he was being eaten internally by the bugs from the greenies (flying snakes). There have actually been multiple pack leaders
The Jennifers:
Three girls, Jennifer B, Jennifer H, and Jennifer L, who live together are introduced in PLAGUE. They are the first known people to have the deadly disease. Jennifer H dies of the deadly cough while Jennifer B and Jennifer L watch in horror. Jennifer B manages to crawl to the hospital and tries to warn the people of the FAYZ of the disease but no one believes her.
E.Z A 6th grader who listened to his iPod. Killed in HUNGER by mutated worms also called Zekes.
Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....
written by Michael Grant
Michael Grant (young adult author)
Michael Grant is the co-creator and co-author of the Animorphs and the Everworld book series, and also the creator and author of Gone and The Magnificent 12 series. Michael was raised in a military family, attending ten schools in five states, as well as three schools in France...
. The first novel in the series, also entitled Gone, was originally published in 2008. The second book, Hunger, was released a year later, followed by the third book, Lies, on May 4, 2010. Book four, released on April 5, 2011, is titled Plague. Books 5 and 6 will be entitled Fear and Light respectively. Fear is to come out on April 3, 2012 and information on Light has not been updated yet.
Gone
In the small town of Perdido Beach, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, everyone fifteen and over mysteriously disappears in the blink of an eye. In school, no one knows what to do and there is mass chaos and confusion among the remaining population. Sam Temple steps up and tries to save a girl from a burning building. She does not survive, but Sam reveals that he has the power to shoot beams of light from his hands (the girl had the power to shoot streams of liquid fire from her hands). Not fully understanding the situation he is in, he decides to look for Little Pete, the autistic little brother of Astrid (the local kid genius and Sam’s love interest in the story).
Along with Astrid Ellison and Quinn Gaither, Sam’s best friend, the group discovers an energy barrier that cuts off the kids from the outside world. Along the way, they find Edilio Escobar, who decides to join them. The group later comes across town bullies Orc and his sidekick Howard, who have nicknamed the barrier the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). They find Astrid's brother Little Pete in the nuclear power plant (Astrid and Pete's father's workplace) in which there was a major accident 13 years ago when a meteorite hit and caused an explosion, hence why Perdido Beach is nicknamed Fallout Alley. They also find a map of radiation patterns. The fallout radius from the nuclear power plant lines exactly up with the energy barrier. Later, Sam scares Little Pete and Pete uses strange powers to choke Sam. It is revealed Sam has his own powers (he can shoot green-white light from his hands when scared/angry). Astrid reveals she's known about Little Pete's powers for a while, and Sam tells the group he once accidentally used his light to burn off his step father's hand, thinking he was going to attack his mother with a knife.
When the group returns to town, vehicles arrive in Perdido Beach being driven by the students of Coates Academy, a school for the wealthy and troubled, where Sam's mother worked as a nurse. Leading the act is Caine Soren, who gains the townies’ trust by promising better leadership and life. But after using the local church for planning with other elected kids, the building suffers minor damages by a strange force, nearly killing one of the local bullies, Cookie.
Apparently, Caine also has powers. Some of the other kids have powers, but all of them are different. Along with the psychopathic sadist student Drake Merwin, Caine soon takes command by using the local bullies to work for him and making Sam the fire chief because of his previous actions, soon resulting in the beating and death of a townie named "bouncing" Bette, killed by Orc who was unaware of his own strength.
Soon Caine and his lackeys steal Sam’s mother’s laptop and secret chest, and find out a powerful secret between Caine and Sam. They find out that Caine and Sam are fraternal twins and that Caine was given up for adoption soon after his birth.
Meanwhile, a girl named Lana is with her grandpa, driving through the desert when the "poof", or disappearance, occurs. The truck falls down a gulch. Lana is badly injured while Patrick, her dog, is mostly fine. Soon a mountain lion attacks Patrick, who was protecting Lana and Patrick is left dying slowly. Lana puts her hand on his neck hoping he will be okay and Lana falls asleep. In the morning she finds Patrick perfectley fine with no injuries. She tries to heal herself, and it works after hours of resting her hands on her injured spots. Her power will later develop to work almost instantly. She soon gets to "Hermit Jim's" shack, but is then captured by a pack of coyotes, led by Pack Leader. The coyotes had been mutated by the FAYZ so that they are now more intelligent and can speak. They take Lana to a strange creature in a mine shaft in the desert, who they call the Darkness. The Darkness orders her to teach the coyotes human ways. She does as they say for a while but eventually escapes back to the shack.
Sam and the gang leave the town when Drake attempts to kill Astrid on Caine's orders. They escape to the far side of the FAYZ. They travel across the desert and encounter mutant rattlesnakes with wings. They meet Lana and become trapped in a shack and attacked by Pack Leader and the coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s. Sam kills several of the coyotes and flying rattlesnakes.
Meanwhile, Caine and his group return to Coates Academy to witness the disappearance of one of their classmates, discovering that those who vanish are confronted by a monster that takes the shape of those they long to see the most. Sam's gang then meet Lana in the shack, but the shack is set on fire by the coyotes. They manage to escape thanks to Sam, who uses his power at his own will for the first time. However, they are then captured by Drake, who takes them to Coates and shows them what he does to the freaks who oppose Caine. He traps their hands in cement bricks to prevent them using their powers. He "plasters" the gang but Astrid persuades Little Pete to make the cement disappear by attempting to smash his GameBoy with her plastered hands. A brief fight takes place and Sam shoots off Drake's arm.
Sam and the gang, along with the victims of Caine and Drake's evil "plastering" return to town where they attempt to organize the townies to fight Caine. Drake arrives at Lana's and says he wants her to heal his arm. They drive off but the coyotes arrive. The coyotes mutilate Orc, nearly killing him. The coyotes take Lana and Drake to the Darkness which uses Lana's power to give Drake a new arm, shaped like a long red python which he can use as a deadly whip, and he is raging for revenge.
Caine attacks the town with the help of the coyotes and attempts to use the children in the day care as hostages. This is averted when one of the freaks, Taylor, teleports into the center of the room and throws hamburgers in the air. This distracts the coyotes long enough for Dekka (a mutant who can suspend gravity in certain areas) and several others to rescue the children.
Caine then attacks the town center and damages the church considerably. There is a battle between the townies and the Coates kids, who also have the help of the coyotes. Drake is prevented from joining the battle by a newly mutated Orc who has doubled in size and his injuries (all of his body apart from a small patch of his cheek) are covered in a hard substance that looks like wet gravel. He attacks Drake because Drake ordered him to attack a freak who later died of her injuries (Carmela). He thinks the gravel is God's punishment for him. Sam and Caine fight in the town square and Sam successfully burns Caine's side. Sam then poofs because Caine waited for their birthday to attack. He is confronted by his mother who tells him to take her hand. Caine then poofs as well and joins Sam and their 'mother'. Caine knows that it is actually a monster due to a experiment he did earlier and refuses. Sam refuses as well, even though he does not know what Caine does, and their mother is revealed as a hideous and bloodthirsty creature. They pop back into reality and Caine retreats from the town.
Somewhere out in the local desert, Caine follows Pack Leader to the mine - and to the Darkness.
Hunger
The FAYZ has been slowly starving, because of the initial waste of food. Sam Temple, the mayor of the town, tries to find various ways to solve this through agriculture. However, his efforts are hampered by the fact that no one wants to work, and that food is distributed evenly. His attempts are further harmed when mutated, territorial worms with razor sharp teeth are found hiding in the cabbage patch, a main supply of food. Sam eventually has to bribe Charles "Orc" Merrimen, who is mainly made of stone and may be invulnerable to the worms, or "zekes", with beer so that he will gather cabbages.Meanwhile, Albert Hillsborough, who ran the old McDonald's before the food ran out, starts a dance club, where kids must pay an entry fee of toilet paper or batteries in order to get in. Sam and Astrid arrive, but Sam decides to let the McClub, as it's called, stay open. Meanwhile, Quinn Gaither starts a fishing business with Albert, also charging toilet paper and batteries. Albert eventually ponders on creating a monetary financial system.
Caine Soren, Sam's enemy and twin brother, has spent months in a state of insanity due to his interaction with the gaiaphage, also called the Darkness. Diana has nursed him back, though Drake, who serves the gaiaphage willingly, attempts to undermine her. Caine then resumes command of the Coates' kids, although he must put up with Drake's planned rebellion.
Almost immediately after he awakes, Caine devises a plan to break into the nuclear plant to control the electricity of Perdido Beach. Caine also has Diana go to town and get Computer Jack to assist them. They succeed but become trapped in the plant after Sam's soldiers surround them and Caine realizes that he has barely any food. Diana then begins to question what this plan was meant to accomplish. Caine then receives a message from the gaiaphage telling him to feed it. Caine has the horrible realization that his entire plan may have just been him unconsciously obeying the gaiaphage.
Meanwhile, Lana has also been receiving messages from the Darkness telling her to come to it because it has need for her. She devises a plan to destroy the mine shaft using Hermit Jim's truck. She goes to the mining town with Cookie and manages to back up the truck to the cave mouth and kill Pack Leader, but is stopped by the gaiaphage before she can blow it up and is brainwashed. She then is Lead to the Darkness.
While this is all going on, a mutant called Hunter, who is able to fire waves of heat from his hands like a microwave, has a fight with his roommate Zil Sperry and accidentally kills their mutual friend Harry. Zil sets up a group called the Human Crew, who are all normals and believe all freaks are evil and should be killed. They capture Hunter and try to hang him in the plaza. Astrid, with Little Pete in tow, try to stop them but are captured and Little Pete receives a blow to the head. Orc eventually prevents the execution, and saves Astrid, Little Pete, and Hunter. Because Hunter killed Harry he is banished and cannot enter the town so he decides to live up to his name and hunts for the kids in the town. He received brain damage being hit over the head with a bat by the human crew and, although perfectly sane, has trouble remembering (especially words) and is more simple minded than before
During this Edilio Escobar and Dekka are on their way to destroy the mine shaft. They arrive and are met by Lana, under the control of the gaiaphage, who tells them to stop and then shoots Edilio. She then retreats into the cave and leaves Dekka to the coyotes, who attack her. It is then revealed that the gaiaphage plans to use Lana's powers to create a new body for itself, one that, if destroyed, reveals an even more deadly monster, like a nesting doll. It will achieve this after Caine arrives and feeds it the fuel rod. Astrid discovers the gaiaphage is in contact with Little Pete, using him to give it the idea of a near-invincible body. She also works out that the gaiaphage is the result of an accident at the plant thirteen years ago, when a meteorite hit. She theorizes that a virus may have been alive on the rock when it hit, and that virus + radiation = mutation. The accident might have affected the kids as well, giving them their powers.
Thanks to the distraction in town Caine is able to use his powers to levitate a uranium rod to the mine shaft, with Diana and Jack. Drake stays behind to deal with anyone who follows. Sam receives this news and heads to the plant to fight Drake. He arrives but Drake tells him that with a push of a button he can release the radiation and destroy everyone, unless Sam lets Drake do whatever he wants to him. Sam, who is in the process of being tortured by Drake, is saved by Brianna, who cuts Drake's whip hand off; as well as stopping the radiation. Drake then flees to Caine.
Sam, who is gravely injured and barely alive, tells Brianna to take Duck Zhang to the mine shaft. Duck Zhang is a mutant who can control his density, and may be the only weapon they have that the gaiaphage does not know about. He then gets picked up by Quinn and gets taken to the mine shaft where he sees Dekka and Edilio, both of who are near death, as well as Caine, Jack, Diana and Drake. Diana is injured by Drake and in a fit of rage Caine hurls the uranium rod at Drake's chest, knocking him into the mine shaft, and then collapses the entrance.
Brianna then arrives with Duck and together they devise a plan to get Lana. They climb over the shaft and Duck uses his powers to make a hole in the ground to the gaiaphage. Duck, Caine, and Sam go in and Caine uses his powers to throw Duck into the gaiaphage. While Duck is flying through the air, he becomes heavier than a mountain and smashes into the gaiaphage, creating a massive hole that drags him and the gaiaphage down to the bottom of the bubble surrounding the FAYZ, however, Duck dies in the process. Quinn then enters and finds Lana dazed, Sam passed out, and Caine stunned. They then use Lana's powers to heal Diana, Edilio, Dekka, Brianna, and Sam. Diana and Caine then head back to Coates.
In the aftermath they mourn Duck who saved them all. Zil and his gang run wild, the kids negotiate with the zekes, and Albert reveals his new system of money. Sam and Quinn then head out into the ocean on their boards, with Dekka on a boat, who uses her powers to create waves for them. The book ends with Brittney, a girl who was killed during the fight for the power plant and has the power to not die, alive in her grave with a pale slug (the end of Drake's whip hand) attached to her while she asks her dead brother to pray for her in Heaven.
Lies
Electricity is out in the FAYZ and the water supply no longer works. Sam Temple, the former mayor of Perdido Beach, is walking the streets at 2a.m. Down on the beach he sees Orsay Pettijohn, a mutant who can see other people's dreams. She's with a group of other kids and claiming she can see the dreams of those on the other side of the FAYZ wall. Sam also sees a girl called Nerezza, who he does not recognize. Orsay tells Sam that she's dreamed of Sam's mother, who wants to tell him that there's a time when the world no longer needs heroes. And then the true hero knows to walk away.Meanwhile, a young girl called Jill who lives in the part of town Zil Sperry has declared a no freak zone is kicked out of her home because she is like a Siren: when she sings people can do nothing but listen. Sam discovers her gagged and bound in a hole in the ground, in the graveyard. He gets his second in command, Edilio Escobar, who tells him Jill was in the grave of a girl called Brittney, who appears to have escaped, even though she's been buried for over a month.
The next day in the "Mall", a boy called Francis tells Sam and Sam's girlfriend, Astrid Ellison, that he's going to step out of the FAYZ on his fifteenth birthday. Before Sam can say anything, Francis disappears. Astrid calls a meeting of the newly appointed council: Sam, Astrid, Edilio, Dekka, John Terrafino, Albert Hillsborough and Howard Bassem. Astrid is furious Sam lied to her about Orsay. The council agree to tell everyone Orsay is lying. Sam and Astrid later have an argument and Sam moves out of the house they both live in. Afterward a girl called Taylor, who can teleport, tells Astrid that someone claims to have spotted Drake Merwin on the beach, the evil boy with a whip hand who nearly killed Sam. They also find a boy with Drake's whip marks all over him. Later on she tells Sam that the supposedly dead Brittney is alive and in Howard and Orc's house. Sam, not knowing what else to do, asks Brianna a.k.a. The Breeze, who has the power of enhanced speed, to look after Brittney.
Meanwhile Sam's corrupt brother, Caine Soren, and the rest of the Coates kids are getting weaker and weaker, slowly starving. A camouflaging freak called Bug tells Caine there might be an island off the coast of Perdido Beach, where there might be food. Desperate, Caine strikes a deal with Zil Sperry. If Zil sets fire to Perdido Beach, it would cause enough distraction for Caine to be able to steal some boats. Caine does not expect Zil to have the courage to actually go through with it, but he does and Caine sails to the island, along with Bug, Diana and Penny; who makes people think they are seeing monsters. Sam discovers it is Zil who set fire to the town and sets out to kill him, ignoring both Edilio's and Astrid's warnings. However, he soon finds himself back at the power plant, where Drake had tortured him, and knew that's where he'd end up all along.
When Caine gets to the island, he discovers kids living there; the adopted children of the mansion's owners. A boy called Sanjit gives them food but it's drugged and they all fall unconscious. When they wake up, they see Sanjit is trying to use a helicopter to escape with the other children. Caine nearly kills them, along with Penny, but Diana falls off the edge of the cliff and Caine has to release his hold on the helicopter in order to save her. Sanjit escapes and, flying the best he can, heads to Perdido Beach.
In Perdido Beach, the inhabitants manage to stop the fire but many kids are killed. At a cook off in the plaza, Mary Terrafino claims she saw Drake, who soon arrives and causes mass panic. At the same time, Nerezza convinces Mary to take the children to the cliff over the beach. Nerezza then tries to kill Little Pete, Astrid's autistic little brother and the person who caused the FAYZ, but she fails. Astrid arrives at the cliff and sees Mary and a line of children holding hands at the cliff edge. On the moment of her fifteenth birthday, Mary sees her mother and steps off the cliff to try to get to her, pulling the children with her. Sam arrives, but no one can help because they are rendered helpless by Nerezza, who tells Jill to sing. However, Sanjit's helicopter arrives and drowns out the singing. Mary vacates, but the children are saved by Dekka and Brianna. Then Brittney arrives, slowly transforming into Drake. Drake attacks Sam but Sam uses his power to burn Drake. However Drake soon turns into Brittney again and Sam is not able to kill the innocent girl. He asks Brianna to grab some ropes and chains to hold Drake. At the same time, Little Pete finds that his GameBoy, the favourite thing he owns, smashed on the ground. He reacts by screaming and causing the FAYZ wall to disappear for a split second. Astrid sees adults staring on the other side before the wall returns.
It is finally revealed that the evil creature called the gaiaphage is behind everything. It needed both Brittney's immortality and Lana Arwen Lazar's healing powers to bring Drake back from the dead. However, Brittney's willpower stopped Drake taking over the body they shared completely. Nerezza is not human at all; she's the gaiapahge's avatar, brought to life using Little Pete's impossible powers, who was tricked into thinking he was playing a game. The gaiaphage had used Nerezza to try to kill the young children Mary pulled after her, which would have broken the kids of the FAYZ, but the tactic failed. Brittney/Drake needs no food or water to survive, so Sam locks them in Howard and Orc's basement. In the end Sam catches the flu, which is a hint as to the plot of the fourth book, Plague.
Plague
The Book starts with a short chapter about Pete Ellison which describes life from his point of view.Sam Temple is revealed to be drunk after seeing Brittney/Drake earlier in the day and feeling particularly low about his and Astrid's relationship decline. Sam had obtained the alcohol previously stating that he was "confiscating" it from Orc and Howard, he did not intend to drink any but invariably ended up consuming the entire pack when he is at the clifftop that Mary Terrafino committed suicide from. In blind drunken rage he attacks the FAYZ wall but his efforts yield no result; whilst he is up on the clifftop Taylor "bounces" up to see him and they end up kissing. In the end, Sam feels guilty and pulls away. Taylor tells him to come back when he is done with the ice princess.
The next chapter focuses initially on Diana at the island home, who has qualms about what she has done and decides to become a better person and perhaps reform Caine as well. The second half of the chapter deals with three previously unknown girls Jennifer B,Jennifer H and Jennifer L; all three Jennifers are suffering from the new epidemic of flu that was mentioned in the last book, however the flu has escalated and mutated into a new strain which causes the victims to literally cough up their lungs. After Jennifer H dies from the flu, Jennifer B crawls to the make-shift hospital to warn Dahra Baidoo of the deadly disease, however Dahra mistakes her warning as feverish hallucinations. Lana the healer also finds that her healing powers are ineffective against the flu virus and she is helpless to prevent it spreading.
Meanwhile, Hunter the brain-damaged hunter has been stalking a lion to kill "for the kids" but he is hampered by a small growth on his shoulder: "The thing on Hunter's shoulder squirmed. It was growing. Moving."
Soon enough Perdido beach is running out of water, and so Albert sends Sam on a mission to find new water supplies over at Lake Tramonto, almost directly opposite Perdido beach. Sam and a few others thus embark on their walk, however on the way they encounter Hunter who is attempting suicide with his microwave ability in order to kill the insects hatching inside of him. It is revealed that Jack and Brianna are 'kind of going out' in this book after continuing living together during the epidemic in Lies. Dekka and Hunter pray together and Sam burns Hunter with his light; but far from destroying the insects with him he finds that his ability is ineffectual against them. A new pack leader, who is also infected by the insects, is at the scene and Sam commands pack leader to take them to where "the Greenies"(described as snakes with leather wings that excrete a green liquid, Hunter earlier was infected with this liquid) cave is situated; pack leader willingly leads them there on the premise that Sam will burn him afterwards.
Orc has been left alone by Howard so that Orc can guard Brittney/Drake; whilst Howard is out Jamal (Albert's personal bodyguard) comes round to visit Orc for alcohol. Jamal accidentally provokes Orc and as a result of the ensuing melee Brittney/Drake is release, currently in Drake's form. Drake ensures that Jamal will serve him and involves him in his plan to see the Gaiaphage.
On their way to the lake and after battling off the giant insects, Sam, Jack, and Dekka come across the military base nearby and search it in hope of food. When they enter the offices they finally find Nutella, however Sam realizes that there must be someone currently there and goes off to investigate. They find a strange individual named Toto (numbered Test Subject 1-01) who has the ability to discern truth from lies, however he is somewhat different in that he insists on speaking to a Spider-man bust and continues to talk to the imaginary Spider-man even when not near. Toto does though lead the group to a derailed train whose containers reveal many things among which Nutella, Apple i Macs and Mac Books, Pepsi and missiles are also found.
Meanwhile the situation in Perdido beach has declined, and now many more children have contracted the flu, leaving Dahra on a manic shift; however later Sanjit and Lana appear to assist her. Edilio is forced into a dilemma after it is realized that a kid named Roscoe is being eaten from the inside by an insect parasite, and henceforth Edilio has had to confine him to a room that has been locked and secured for the safety of the other inhabitants, at the same time the entire town has been quarantined so as to stop the spread of the flu virus.
When Sam and his friends finally reach the lake they are confronted by the insects once more, but insects that are described as being "the size of SUVs", they are also attacked by the Brittney/Drake being who is in Drake's form.
As the water supply is reaching a desperate level and the kids have already reached desperation point, so much so that former Human-Crew members Turk and Lance go and attack Albert, leaving him so close to death that everyone except his housemaid Leslie-Ann believes that he is. Meanwhile, Pete has been in a coma with flu for a time and has unintentionally destroyed the top floor of the house that he and Astrid were living in. Little Pete creates a rain cloud and kids come flocking towards it to get water for themselves and others.
Previously, the heavily drunk and enraged Orc had gone around town in a blinding fit of anger towards everyone and everything and accidentally murdered a sick boy, and an anguished Orc had gone in search of Astrid for redemption. At the point that it starts raining, Orc finds Astrid, however the situation is complicated further by the appearance of Turk and Lance, who intend to wound Astrid and murder little Pete. Edilio turns up at the scene and a stand-off ensues, but instead Edilio mortally wounds Turk and Lance and Orc takes Astrid and Pete to the Coates Academy.
Back up at the cave, Brianna has brought a garrote and slices Drake into small fragments, however Drake easily reassembles himself and Brianna only narrowly escapes. Meanwhile down at Perdido beach Edilio has contracted the killer flu and sends for Brianna to deliver a message to Quinn and his fishing team who have been quarantined up away from the beach. The message requests for Quinn to call for Caine on the island to come back due to Sam's absence and no help seeming to be coming from other sources. Caine sees this as an opportunity to take complete control of the town and become a totalitarian king. Diana however, does not wish to go and wants them to stay on the island. Caine then forces her to come with him.
Back at the lake Sam, Jack, Dekka and Toto formulate a plan to get back to Perdidio beach using Dekka's anti-gravity power, by which they would take the container full of missiles and catapult themselves back and thus use the missiles to kill the insects.
Meanwhile at Perdidio beach the town is under attack from the now completely insane Brittney/Drake remotely directing the invasion, who earlier witnessed the Gaiaphage itself who in turn persuaded Brittney that It was God, and also the giant insects. Along with Brianna, Caine manages to defeat the bugs and save the people of Perido Beach, however, many bystanders are killed in the process.
Soon enough Drake travels up to the Coates academy and confronts Astrid, little Pete and Orc in the intention of viciously murdering Astrid and taking Pete (also named Nemesis by the Darkness) to the Gaiaphage; Orc attempts to attack Drake but is too drunk to finish the job and falls out of the window to a pack of hungry insects. Jack appears at the scene to help, providing distraction for Astrid to disarm Drake and throw Pete to the insects. The sense of danger alerts Pete and all the insects disappear, however so does Pete's body; Astrid, overcome by guilt, has completely lost her rationality and reason.
Down in the town Caine and Sam come to an agreement: anyone who wants to go with Caine stays and anyone who wants to go with Sam goes to the lake, Sam suspects that the majority of the kids only want to go with him due to the food and water up there but does not complain. Diana unexpectedly chooses to go with Sam and reveals that she is pregnant with Caine being the father.
The book ends with a view from Pete's mind, who is apparently alive but without a body to inhabit.
Unlike the Previous books, 'Plague' contains no excerpt from the next book: to be entitled 'Fear'
Fear
Penultimate book in the series.'Which was originally going to be called Darkness, however it would not fit on the front cover. The front of the U.S. cover includes Quinn and Diana, with Sam and Dekka on the back. The UK cover will be purple. This has been confirmed by Michael Grant'.
The characters powers will grow and a new character by the name of Sally, who can freeze things by touch will be introduced.
Fear will be released April 3, 2012 (US).
Description of the book. (from chapters/indigo.com)
As the young residents of Perdido Beach begin to better comprehend the truths of who they are and their relationships to one another, the Darkness finds a new way to be born, bringing their understanding of fear to a new level.
Fear is now available for pre-order at chapters. Fear has very high expectations among fans.
Light
Light will be the conclusion to the series.After being asked what caused the mutations, Michael Grant has said here, "Without giving everything away . . . It would be fair to guess that the power plant and the Darkness both play a role. And one more element I'm not going to tell you except to say that it's been mentioned as a story element and never fully explained."
Critical reception
Reviews have generally been Mixed to positive, though many note Gone's success in its intended demographic. Mal Peet of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
pointed to the series' "rave reviews, most of them posted on websites by teenagers," though noting that such success stemmed from literary sacrifices that made characters into "crude two-dimensional digitisations."
The Book Smugglers have taken to a more positive note, saying " The GONE books are some of the darkest, most violent, deliciously horrific and provoking dystopian series’ out there. Since I was introduced to Michael Grant’s Stephen King-esque work, his novels have consistently made my top 10 favorite reads of the year of their publication."
Main characters
Sam Temple: A fifteen-year-old boy named Sam is the main character. He was nicknamed "School bus Sam" after saving a group of school kids when their bus driver had a heart attack, and he took the wheel and steered the kids to safety. He is described to be good-looking, but not so much that girls would call him a "hottie." He is tall, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He has a crush on Astrid Ellison throughout the entire novel and eventually becomes a leader among the "townies" while in the FAYZ. Like others he has developed a freak (mutant) ability; he can shoot green beams of energy from his hands. It is also revealed in Gone that Caine is his fraternal twin brother. After the Thanksgiving battle (Gone), Sam is officially elected the leader of the children of Perdido Beach. However, with the new title comes a whole new batch of responsibilities. Sam is shown to be falling apart due to the vast amount of stress placed on him through the next two books (appearing to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder). Though a council is established at the end of Hunger, he is still ineffectively running the entire town but becomes tired of the constant pressure, demands and blame for anything that goes wrong. Sam's mother was a non-observant Jew, and his fathers name on the birth certificate is Teagen Smith.Astrid Ellison: A fifteen year old girl dating Sam Temple and is the sister of "Little Pete". She is nicknamed "Astrid the Genius" because she is a brainiac and knows everything. Astrid has the power to see peoples fates "like a stream of light across the sky".
Peter "Little Pete" Ellison: five-year-old autistic boy. He is described as being pretty like a girl, and more than a bit strange. He is a Freak with strong but unknown powers. It has been shown that he has the power to teleport others and himself to other locations, the power to choke someone telepathically, create illusions, imagine things and make them come to life, levitate, create rain clouds and many other abilities. In Gone Pete is measured as an eight bar by Diana even though he can't control his powers properly. Sam and Edilio see via a security tape at the power plant that he is the one responsible for the FAYZ; he is said to be the most powerful Freak in the FAYZ by far. Unfortunately, Pete only reacts to trigger words such as "window seat", "munchy munchy" and "walkie walkie"; otherwise, he is almost completely unresponsive and keeps his attention focused on his Gameboy system. In Hunger Pete's dreams come to life as real beings. He is also in contact with the Darkness, who thinks of him as “Nemesis” - “Nemesis with infinite power held only in check by the twists and turns, the blind alleys and sudden high walls inside his own damaged brain”. He plays "games" with the Darkness who uses these "games" to make Pete do what he wants. Pete goes to the Darkness in his head to escape the overly bright real world. At the end of Plague, Astrid throws him to the bugs, and Pete and them vanish. However, it is stated that Pete is still alive but without a body to inhabit. Which makes the world less painful for him and causes the Gaiaphage to be afraid of him.
Caine Soren: Caine is the main antagonist of the story. He is described as charming and charismatic, able to easily obtain whatever he desires. He leads the kids of Coates Academy on a rampage to attack the power plant, thus leaving the kids of Perdido Beach in the dark. The first book reveals that Caine is Sam's fraternal twin brother. Like Sam, he is a Freak. He is telekinetic, which means he is able to move things around with his mind. Caine struggles with his mental health after meeting the Gaiaphage. The creature appears to have nested inside his head and is quickly driving him to the brink of insanity. He shuts down the nuclear power plant to steal uranium fuel rods to feed the gaiphage, but changes sides when Diana is injured by Drake and on the brink of death. He's in love with Diana, but seems to have no problem with hurting anyone else. Caine has impregnated Diana by the end of PLAGUE but it is unknown if the baby is more powerful than its father, Diana currently reads it at a "two bar" unlike Caine and Sam who are "four bars". Sam's, and thus Caine's, mother was a non-observant Jew (GONE, chapter 14).
Diana Ladris: Caine's chief assistant, with the power to read power levels of other teens and children. Though described as beautiful at the beginning, she's depicted as giving Caine and everyone else a hard time and snarky remarks and she is usually called a witch by Sam's people. Caine seems to be in love with her despite this. Diana nurses Caine through his insanity and tries to keep him from succumbing to the will of the Darkness, out of her own love for him. Drake attempts to kill her, but is stopped by Caine. She barely survives, and is left dead, resulting in her not looking nearly as pretty, though that does not bother Caine. She reveals she is pregnant at the end of 'Plague' and it is revealed that Caine is the father. She leaves Caine and goes with Sam to the lake.
Drake Merwin: A psychopathic teen with shark-like features, nicknamed "Whip-Hand" because one of his arms becomes replaced by a red whip-like tentacle by the Darkness with Lana's help after Sam burns his arm off. Drake willingly serves the Gaiaphage, frequently challenging Caine's authority and taking advantage of his mental instability. Drake almost kills Sam after threataning to flood the FAYZ with radiation, but part of his arm is severed by Brianna (a.k.a. Breeze), one of the Mutants loyal to Sam. He later attempts to betray Caine, badly injuring Diana (whom he seems to have a sadistic fixation on). Drake is killed by Sam and Caine, but is resurrected by the Gaiaphage using Brittney's immortal body as well as Lana's healing powers. After unsuccessfully attempting to take over Brittney, they keep switching over control and are captured and imprisoned by Sam and his team. Drake later escapes and takes Brittney to the Gaiaphage. He then leads the army of bugs against Sam. Drake fails and heads back to the Gaiphage.
Quinn Gaither: Sam's best friend, who is described as giving off a "cool-guy vibe" with the way he dresses and acts. Quinn is a surfer and despite being bigger and supposedly stronger than Sam, he is not mentally able to handle devastating events. He breaks down quite frequently and in his fear, he does not think too clearly and turns on his friends to save them. However, his conscience comes back to haunt him and keeps him wavering on the brink of insanity while he's in the FAYZ. He relies on Sam's guidance most of the time; whenever he does things for himself, he ends up getting confused or scared. In spite of all this, he proves to be helpful during situations in which he is too afraid to do anything. He discovers a knack for fishing and begins to catch fish and sell them to Albert. Quinn helps Sam after he is severely injured by Drake. Though he wants to go with Sam to the lake, Quinn Stays in Perdido Beach at the end of PLAGUE with his fishing crew.
Edilio Escobar: A Honduran
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
boy who is Sam's second in command. He is in charge of the Perdido Beach security. He has a team loyal to him who he trains in using weapons. He is also the main source of transportation for Sam as he has learned to drive. He is shot and seriously wounded by Lana in HUNGER but she eventually saves him. He makes up one of the six members of the law determining counsel and is the Sheriff of Perdido Beach. So far into the series he has no known powers. He also had very honorable morals and is respected when Sam tells people to, though some doubt his abilities since he does not have the Power. He is also the one responsible for digging graves in the plaza, which causes mental stress. Gets dangerously sick in Plague but manages to survive and accompanies Sam to the lake.
Lana Arwen Lazar: Lana, aka the Healer, was driving with her grandfather and her dog Patrick when the FAYZ occurred. The truck veered off the road into gully and left her too injured to think, but it is because of this that she soon discovers she has the power to heal with her touch. Lana secludes herself from the town to avoid being constantly asked to heal minor injuries. Like Caine, she is influenced by the Darkness, and plans to kill it by blowing up the mine it dwells in. She ultimately fails and is completely taken over by it, shooting Edilio under its will, and attempting to kill herself through radiation poisoning, but is freed by Caine, Duck, and Sam, who send the gaiaphage to the bottom of the bubble surrounding the FAYZ and bury it. However, the contact with the Gaiaphage has started to shatter her metal stability, and by the end of LIES she (with Patrick) flees from Coates Academy and goes to Cliff Top.In PLAGUE Lana has a love interest, Sanjit, the boy with a horrible past. Sanjit knows he likes Lana, they have a connection. She is addicted to nicotine.
Dekka Talent: An African American Mutant girl from Coates. She can remove gravity from a limited space, causing everything in that area to be lifted into the air. She is loyal to Sam and shares many battles with him. She is mauled by coyotes but is saved by Lana. Dekka tends to be the person that deals with any problems that Edilio is unable to solve, at least partially because she is an exceedingly powerful Freak. Dekka doesn't like to talk about herself much so other kids tend to think of Dekka as a fearless and a scary person. Dekka is also a lesbian, and is (unrequitedly) in love with Brianna, who seems to be unaware of Dekka's feelings. In PLAGUE she is hit by a greenie. Sam, Lana and Quinn save her. At the end of PLAGUE it appears that she confesses her feelings to Brianna and accompanies Sam to the lake.
Brianna aka "The Breeze": A 12-year-old mutant with the ability to run at incredibly fast levels of speed. Her top speed is unknown (she claims to have run over 600 mph when she beat a bullet) but she can cover a few thousand feet in the blink of an eye. She saves Sam's life when he is on the verge of being beaten to death by Drake by cutting off part of Drake's snake-like arm. She is known to be talkative and seems to be the person who embraces their powers the most. She likes to be powerful and is the last to back down from a fight. Because of her speed she is responsible for delivering messages throughout Perdido Beach. She seems to have feelings for Computer Jack, though to a significantly lesser extent in Lies. It is confirmed she is dating Jack in Plague, and is angry when he leaves town without telling her. When Dekka confesses her feelings towards her Brianna starts avoiding her.
Computer Jack: Jack is a Freak with super strength. He is also the tech guru of Perdido Beach. Originally from Coates, Jack has joined Sam and his team in Perdido Beach. Despite his strength, he lacks confidence and is very easily manipulated. He is responsible for removing the uranium core from the Power Plant and turning off the electricity. He had a crush on Diana that was later transferred to Brianna, though he still seems to have feelings for Diana. He tries to help Sam avoid the poof during the final battle in GONE, however only did so on Diana's bidding, as well as fighting Drake in Plague and giving Astrid enough time to throw Petey to the Bugs. He reveals that he is dating Brianna in Plague after living together because of the epidemic in Lies, and is considering asking her if she will 'make out with him'. He is the least secure with his powers and often forgets that he even has any. He goes to the lake with Sam at the end of Plague.
Albert Hillsborough: An African American boy who originally kept the McDonald's open in town until he ran out of supplies. In its place he opened McClub a place where the town kids can party and have fun for the price of batteries or toilet paper. After no one in town wants to work, he comes up with the idea of establishing the pay system because he believes no person will work for no money. Uses the gold in Hermit Jim's shack and bullet molds and long forgotten McDonald's monopoly game cards to bring money to Perdido Beach (Six cards equals one gold bullet). The currency, although named "slugs" by Albert was called "berto's" by Howard and the name stuck. He is highly respected in town. He is also one of the Town Council members. Is shot but survives in Plague and remains in Perdido Beach, on several conditions. Despite having no mutant powers it transpires that Albert is the most powerful and influential person in the FAYZ.
Zil Sperry: A non-freak boy, who constantly makes fun of Mutants. He threatens Hunter which leads to the death of Harry. He decides that chuds (a derogatory name he calls kids with abilities) get all the breaks and food, and comes up with the Human Crew in an attempt to take over the town. With the Human Crew he finds Hunter and strings him up at the church in an effort to hang him. He is stopped by Orc and thrown through the air. Later he is found with four broken ribs. In LIES, Zil, along with the Human Crew, burns down much of Perdido Beach before the fire is stopped by Edilio and his crew. At the end of LIES, he is killed by Dekka. His girlfriend is Lisa.
Charles "Orc" Merriman: A half-human, half gravel-like boy. He became like this when he was attacked by mutated coyotes. Gravel started to replace the parts where they attacked him so his only remaining section of skin is a small patch on his cheek. His tough exterior makes him invulnerable to most physical damage and also gives him superhuman strength. He developed an alcohol problem and will only do assignments in exchange for beer. Orc plays a major part in gathering food from the fields because he is tough enough to withstand the zekes that are there. He plays a minor part in trying to take the Power Plant back from Caine and his crew. He also saves Astrid and Hunter's lives when the Human Crew befriends them. In PLAGUE he saves Pete from the remnants of the Human crew and defends Astrid from Drake in Coates in the end of PLAGUE. He thinks of Astrid as his only real friend. Whilst attempting to drink himself to death, Orc tore off the human side of his face.
Brittney Donegal: Brittney has a Regenerative ability. She was originally part of Edilio's soldiers but was killed in HUNGER. However she came back to life thinking herself as an avenging angel. She is in the same body as Drake. She believes she was sent back alive to kill Drake by her dead brother Tanner (who appears as an angel), who was actually a hallucination made by the Gaiaphage. In PLAGUE she meets and is manipulated by the Gaiaphage and helps Drake to try to kill Sam, Jack and Dekka. She was very Christian but now believes that the Darkness is actually God and that she must follow His orders.
Gaiaphage/Darkness: Astrid believes it is an alien bacterium which came from the asteroid that impacted the nuclear plant. It feeds on nuclear energy and when it comes into contact with Freaks it co-opts their power, particularly that of Lana, Caine and Drake. It uses Lana's power to create Drake's whip-hand, to create Nerezza and to resurrect Brittney. The gaiaphage is locked in battle for supremacy over the FAYZ with Pete, the autistic five-year-old.
Mary Terrafino: Known to all as 'Mother Mary,' she is the main caretaker for the littles. The kids of the FAYZ, especially the younger ones, look to her as a mother figure and she is highly respected throughout the FAYZ. Despite her good nature, Mary struggles with depression, an eating disorder, and the inevitable stress of being responsible for too many other children. She has one younger brother, John, whom she leaves behind when she attempts a mass murder, by attempting to hold hands with all the day care children, and jumping over a cliff. All of the children are saved, but Mary 'poofed'.
Hunter: Accidentally killed his friend Harry in HUNGER with his power to shoot heat waves from his hands and cook things from the inside-out. He was prosecuted by Zil Sperry, causing Zil to create the Human Crew. He ran from the group but was caught and nearly hung by the Human Crew and suffers severe brain damage. Afterwards, he was forced into exile for killing Harry. Takes up the job of hunting for the town and becomes very skilled at this. He is killed in PLAGUE when the large insects from the 'greenies' start to eat his insides out and he uses his own powers on his head, to try to kill himself. When this does not work he asks Sam to kill him, which Sam does unwillingly, to stop Hunter from being eaten completely by the bugs.
Orsay Pettijohn: She first appears in Hunger. She has the power to see inside others' dreams. She is controlled by Nerezza, a creature created by gaiaphage. She is murdered by Nerezza (the gaiaphage's avatar) in Lies. The Gaiaphage made her believe that the only way to get out of the FAYZ, besides turning 15, was to die.
Nerezza: First appears in Lies. She is the vehicle of the gaiaphage, and attempts to control Orsay, but when Orsay decides to call it quits Nerezza murders her. Sam attempts to kill her, but before he can, she vanishes.
Bug: A freak with the power of camouflage (invisibility), Bug mainly plays the role of spy for Caine; however, he appears to be loyal to himself before all others.
Taylor: With the power to teleport, or 'bounce,' Taylor is a loyal supporter of Sam and his doings in the FAYZ. She is also known to openly have a crush on Sam, which is a source of hostility between her and Astrid. At the beginning of PLAGUE Sam gets very drunk and fools around with her but it doesn't go far. Her main role is the relay of messages around Perdido Beach. At the end of PLAGUE, Taylor was offered to be rowed to Caine's island, so she could teleport there and enjoy it whenever she wanted. This causes her to switch to Caine's side. At the end of PLAGUE she stays with Caine.
Penny "the Monster Bringer": Introduced in LIES, Penny is a twelve-year-old girl from Coates Academy with the power to cause others to hallucinate and see monsters. She is extremely useful to Caine, and is loyal to him above all others (likely due to her crush on him). When Diana is trying to help Sanjit escape from the island, she tries to stop her. Caine holds her over the helicopter, and when Diana falls he throws her onto the island, breaking both her legs. She has to be taken care of in PLAGUE. Caine plans on getting her legs fixed by Lana when they get back to Perdido Beach.
Sanjit: Brother to Virtue ('Choo), Peace, Pixie and Bowie. Flies the helicopter from his house to the mainland at the end of LIES with his siblings. Sanjit has a big crush on Lana, and finally by the end of PLAGUE they are going out. Sanjit has a "class clown" attitude. Helps out with the plague victims at the hospital in PLAGUE. Before being adopted by the famous actors and living on the island, he and his adopted siblings each lead hard lives in different poor countries and lived on the streets.
John 'Brother John' Terrafino: The younger brother of Mother Mary, John Terrafino cares for the littles alongside his sister. He is commonly called "Brother John" by the littles. When the council is established, John is one of six members (because Mary does not have the time). Against his better judgement, John lies to Mary about Orsay's powers of prophecy with hopes of stopping Mary from 'stepping out' on her birthday.
Howard
Orc's follower, usually does negotiating for him. He came up with the term FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) in GONE, and came up with the slang for money ('Bertos). He was an original council member. He is sarcastic and rude, he also runs a "black-market" for drugs and alcohol in the FAYZ and made a still at the deserted Coates. He doesn't seem to care about peoples' lives as shown in PLAGUE where he saves Albert, but demands a reward from him. Astrid openly despises him. He doesn't appear to have any friends but in PLAGUE it is revealed that he not only controls Orc but thinks of him as a friend. It has been indirectly mentioned that Howard is African American.
"Gaiaphage"
Its name revealed to mean "World eater" in Plague, it is a strange organism, possibly known to have made the FAYZ built of Alien DNA, Human DNA, and raw radiation. It has been described as "Thousands of crystals revolving over one gravitational center, suggesting a sphere". It has questionable power over everyone in the FAYZ- though almost total power to anyone who has been touched by it.
Duck Zhang:
Duck is a freak Asian boy who is not very attractive nor socializes with girls. He has the power to control his density, meaning he can make himself so light that he floats into the air or so heavy that he can drill through the ground. At first he hates his power, but at the end of the book, it is his power that is essential in defeating the Gaiaphage. He very hesitantly accepts the duty of drilling into the mineshaft to allow the others to save Lana from the Gaiaphaige, and admits honestly that he does not want to be a hero. Yet, he decides to stay and venture on to encounter the Gaiaphaige with Caine and Sam—a heroic offer that does not even make sense to himself—and then sacrifices himself to defeat the monster. He realizes in the end that he had wanted to be a hero. Edilio makes a memorial for him because they did not have his body. He is regarded as a hero by the end of the book HUNGER.
Minor Characters
Bette:Bette was known as Bouncing Bette, but dies in the first book, GONE, by Orc's relentless beating; her death is a major source of guilt for Orc, who began drinking heavily in order to cope. The personality changes her death provokes in Orc lasts throughout the series.
Hank:
Member of the Human Crew. Described as violent. He assaults Hunter, who suffers partial brain damage. Killed by Caine in LIES by going face first into the ocean.
Lance:
Member of the Human Crew. The most socially acceptable and attractive of the Human Crew. Killed by Caine in PLAGUE after he attempted to kill Albert. Zil Speery always talks about his 'good looks'.
Antoine:
Member of the Human Crew. He is known to be a druggie of sorts, smoking marijuana when he can get it and using other methods to get high. Sam injures him with his power in LIES, and is dumped on the beach by Hank who refused to help with the injury, and left to die.
Lisa:
Member of the Human Crew, often unkindly likened to a cow by her boyfriend Zil Sperry. She creates the stylized logo for the Human Crew.
Turk:
Member of the Human Crew. He as a weak, gimpy tag-along that Zil makes fun of. After his role in the attempted murder of Albert, Caine makes him his servant.
Virtue, Peace, Pixie and Bowie:
The adopted children (with Sanjit)of celebrities who lived on the island that Caine and Diana go to in search of food. Sanjit flies them away in a helicopter when Sanjit realizes that Caine is evil and dangerous. Sanjit has a big crush on Lana, and finally by the end of PLAGUE they are going out. Sanjit has a "class clown" attitude. Virtue is the serious one. They both help Dahra Baidoo with plague victims. Bowie was deathly sick in PLAGUE, but was later cured by Lana.
Jamal:
Introduced in PLAGUE. 'Friends' with Howard and Orc, but only stops by their house for alcohol. He is originally Albert's bodyguard, but is scared into working for Drake. When Drake finds out the bugs are hungry, he sacrifices Jamal.
Toto (subject 1-01):
Introduced in PLAGUE. He is found by Sam, Dekka and Computer Jack and has the ability to tell if someone is telling the truth or not. He also talks to a foam Spiderman head called Spidey and appears to be crazy.
Darla(subject 1-02):
An eight year old girl who had the ability to walk through walls(intagibility)according to Toto.She tried to escape and was tasered halfway through the wall, causing her to die.
Emily:
Emily is a girl who lives in a farmyard ranch with her brother Brother, although we know hardly anything about her, she seems to have the power to make other things disappear or appear around her or other people. She and Brother brought Zil to see Caine about the fire in LIES.
Brother:
Emily's brother. Secretly afraid of her, and made Computer Jack stop to fix his Wii in GONE.
"The Artful Roger"
A boy who is injured during the burning of the town by Zil. Nothing is revealed about him except that he is artistically gifted
Pack Leader:
Leader of the mutant coyotes. Takes orders from the gaiaphage. Captured Lana in GONE. He tried to get her to teach him human ways. When Lana escapes into the hut with Sam, Quinn, Edilio, and Astrid, he burns the hut down. At the end of GONE, he takes Caine to the gaiaphage. In HUNGER, he tries to stop Lana from releasing the gas that she is trying to kill the gaiaphage with, but Lana shoots him. The next Pack Leader came to Hunter but when discovering that he is dead asks Sam to be killed in PLAGUE because he was being eaten internally by the bugs from the greenies (flying snakes). There have actually been multiple pack leaders
The Jennifers:
Three girls, Jennifer B, Jennifer H, and Jennifer L, who live together are introduced in PLAGUE. They are the first known people to have the deadly disease. Jennifer H dies of the deadly cough while Jennifer B and Jennifer L watch in horror. Jennifer B manages to crawl to the hospital and tries to warn the people of the FAYZ of the disease but no one believes her.
E.Z A 6th grader who listened to his iPod. Killed in HUNGER by mutated worms also called Zekes.