Juliette opens up this chapter, for no reason that I can see, reminding us of all the things she can remember from her presumably good childhood.  It’s basically our normal modern day.  And then the next paragraph:

I remember being 10 years old when we couldn’t ignore the food shortages anymore and things got so expensive no one could afford to live.

Humans develop early memories at around 3 or 4.  If we’re generous, we can assume Juliette goes back as far as 2.  So this change could, presumably, be taking place over eight years, if we assume all her Norman Rockwell memories came from the earliest parts of her childhood.  But the juxtaposition of these two paragraphs makes it seem like we jumped straight from “everything’s fine” to “shit on fire.” 

And…the more I think about that, the more okay I am with it. I don’t know if it was intentional.  I don’t know if the author meant to imply that climate change really is that fast.  But it kind of does strike me as the very sort of thing Americans would do: playing at the good life until the very last minute, clinging to denial, and then falling completely apart when that’s no longer possible.  I really doubt we’d let it get that bad first, this is certainly hyperbole, but the basic concept/image is at least a good one.

So, Juliette mopes about how Adam doesn’t like her anymore because of the no-touching thing.  She continues to think vague thoughts about her pre-prison time when everyone called her a monster for whatever it is that her touch does.

Psychological cross-examinations failed.

It’s very clear that her touch does something physical, something abnormal, something paranormal.  So what’s with the treating it like a mental illness?  She and Adam both even call this place a mental institution, so what?  Do people in this world thing you can shoot fireballs out of your mind, but only if you’re crazy?

Then, OMG YOU GUYS, SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS!  Guys with guns run into the room and tell them both to stand up and shut up.  Also, these guys with guns are real assholes.  This is some crazy amounts of overkill.  For a book that had nothing happening, there’s now too many people in a small cell yelling and kicking people.

And then…Juliette blacks out?  And wakes up in another cell?  I despair, but then another guard comes in to save me from the thought of more time alone with Juliette.  At least there’s only one this time.

A guard with 2 rifles strung across

…why? You can only use one, and rifles are heavy and cumbersome objects.  A second one would just slow you down.

Then Adam shows up again and he’s a guard, too.  So the first six chapters were a ruse?  Ugh, and I can’t even find that interesting, because he accomplished fuck-all with that. Anyway, the guards take her to go see some guy that’s in charge of…something.

And, wouldn’t you know it, he’s a beautiful teenager!  In charge of shit!  Because this is dystopian fiction and, damnit, we don’t need your logic here!  We’re going to have teenagers in charge of stuff because that’s the trope!

So this guy’s name is Warner, and he laments that she “wouldn’t even play nice with your cellmate.”  This would have more meaning if we knew what it was that Adam was trying to get her to do. 

Oh, and all this time, that second guard is randomly hitting her and shit, because this book is DARKER and EDGIER and NONSENSICALIER.  All you need to be gritty and real is random violence thrown all over the place.

Warner wants her on his team in some war something.  He’s been studying her records and such and knows all about her.

“I sent Adam to stay with you as a final precaution. I wanted to make sure you weren’t volatile, that you were capable of basic human interaction and communication. I must say I’m quite pleased with the results.”

Well then why did you go on like the whole ‘send in Adam’ plan was a bust?

Someone is ripping my skin off.

You’re being very calm about that.

Anyway, Juliette is angsting in her head about Adam the whole time that Warner is taunting her over…something.  Guh, it’s weird how long this guy can talk without actually saying anything worth summarizing.

Warner decides to go for a carrot-stick approach and instructs Adam to “show her what she’s been missing.”

And then his very next line is:

“That is an order, soldier.” Warner’s eyes are trained on me, his lips twitching with suppressed amusement. “I’d like to break this one. She’s a little too feisty for her own good.”

The fudge is going on?  Is he trying to woo her or torture her?  It’s hard to tell when that damn third guy keeps randomly assaulting her and yet all of her inner narration is about the world bleeding and shit.  I can’t tell if she’s just having emotional angst over Adam, physical pain over that jerkoff with the kicks, or what.

Stuff is happening, and all of it is so weird that I still can’t care.

And Juliette, SHUT UP.