The Darkest Minds

When Ruby wakes, her body is shaking badly enough that her cabin calls for help, and she is taken back to the Infirmary. Her point-of-view is fragmented, and she falls in and out of consciousness. She becomes aware of Dr. Begbie waking her up and asking her to dress in another young female doctor’s blue scrubs. The other doctor, Dr. Rogers, allows herself to be tied up with duct tape and left behind. Obscuring Ruby’s face with a surgical mask, Dr. Begbie helps her out of Thurmond. She tells the PSFs that Ruby is Dr. Rogers, and she is sick with a virus and needs to go home. One PSF helps Dr. Begbie take her to her Jeep. Dr. Begbie begins to drive off the camp. When she touches Ruby, Ruby gets a flash of her memories—a man spinning Dr. Begbie around. Ruby falls asleep.

Ruby wakes again, and she observes she is in a different car. It is still night. Two hours have passed, and there is another boy asleep in the back seat, Martin, who also kept his abilities secret and was given away by his reaction to the White Noise. Dr. Begbie, who tells Ruby to call her Cate, explains that she and Dr. Rogers work for the Children’s League, an organization aimed at helping the children in the camps, founded by a man named John Alban. Ruby immediately feels guilt that she and Martin were the only ones saved, but Cate tells her that the camp taught her to survive, and “part of surviving is being able to move on” (71). Cate shares a word in Portuguese (“saudade”) that means “when you realize something you once lost is lost forever, and you can never get it back again,” although it also can mean a fresh start (72).

Cate gives Ruby a panic button if she needs League agents. She tells Ruby there are very few children left in the United States now, since nearly 98% of the child population died of IAAN, and there are fewer children in camps now. Cate says her organization estimates there are about 25,000 left under the age of 18. This news upsets Ruby, although she is also grateful to Cate. When Cate reaches to comfort her, Ruby sees a memory: A girl in a highchair in a room on fire, and Cate’s hand trying to open a silver door with 456B stamped on it. Cate doesn’t realize Ruby can see this.

On the radio, they hear mention of President Gray, whom Cate says is still president after extending his own term using wartime powers. Ruby remembers that the president's son, Clancy, was held up at Thurmond as evidence the children could be reformed. Martin, now awake, mentions his dad was killed in one of the riots against Gray. He asks where they’re going, and Cate says they’re meeting up with the League in the south but staying with them is their choice. Martin keeps watching Ruby, and she feels him try to use his abilities on her, making her uneasy. He tells Cate he is powerful and seems excited to join the League, but Ruby feels more ambivalent.

They arrive in Marlington, West Virginia, and Cate asks Ruby and Martin to crouch down in the back seat. Martin seems inappropriately eager to be physically close to Ruby, and she recalls the limited chances for cross-gender contact at Thurmond. As they discuss whether their escape has been noticed, Cate tells them that the Calm Control used the other day contained frequencies only Oranges and Reds could hear, which was why they were going to be identified. Martin tells them he has the ability to make other people feel what he wants them to, and that he passed as a Green by manipulating another kid’s emotions into switching places with him. With his ability, he tries to get Ruby angry enough to use her powers on him, but she resists.

Marlington is deserted and broken-down. They meet a man in a run-down gas station; Ruby recognizes him as the man from Cate’s memory. Cate introduces him as Rob, and Ruby notices red spots on his cuff. Rob seems happy to meet Ruby and Martin, and Cate says he is going to travel with them. Ruby sees a gun in Rob’s jeans. As Ruby is going into the gas station to change, she touches Rob and sees his recent memory: him shooting two kids in camp uniforms in the head, the blood splattering his cuff. She feels immediately in danger.

Inside the gas station, Ruby takes some food and makes a plan. She realizes she can’t trust Cate, and she can’t risk involving Martin. She decides even if they only want her to be a weapon, she doesn’t want to do it. Martin goes into the bathroom, and she sneaks out a door with an Employees Only sign. When she does, she runs into another kid.