Unwind: Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis

Every crate, including Risa’s, experiences the same conversation that Connor’s does. This forms bonds among the kids, though Risa only feels close to a girl named Tina, who also grew up in a state home. The plane touches down and Risa hears banging. Someone pulls the crate open a crack and asks if everyone is okay. It’s a kid about Risa’s age. Outside the crate, Risa looks at her traveling companions and realizes that they look very different from how she remembered them—they’re not as ugly or overweight as she first thought. Risa gets in line to exit the plane and learns that there was one crate of five boys that died. She hopes one wasn’t Connor.

Risa steps out into bright sunlight and intense heat. There are planes everywhere, many from airlines that no longer exist. Risa realizes that this is a plane graveyard: when a plane is decommissioned, whoever runs this operation loads kids into it. She looks around and sees both Connor and Roland, but she wishes Roland had suffocated. A golf cart driven by a kid rolls toward them, but the passenger is an older adult. He introduces himself as the Admiral and welcomes everyone to the Graveyard. He says that everyone will follow his rules while they’re here, and nobody will be unwound on his watch. The crowd cheers and Risa notices that the Admiral makes eye contact with every kid. Risa allows herself to hope.