Chapters 15, 16 & 17

[Opinions bolded, since I like to do a lot of recap. Have fun.]

Sophie drags David into the Forest, only she's all grown up now. Sophie asks if the spider man wants Rosalind and if she can give him children. They talk and David explains his telepathy. Later, Sophie says that if the Rosalind can give the spider man children, then he will leave her. David assures her that this can not happen, since Rosalind won't let it happen. This shows how hard Sophie's life was after she was caught. She expresses the fact that making her infertile is far worse than killing her.  David makes contact with Micheal and reassures him that he's still alive. Then he and Sophie sneak around the camp to her small cave in the side of the red cliff. David notices that her living conditions are very poor but are probably luxurious for the Fringes. He and Sophie talk, detailing that Sophie's life is not a fun one to have. Micheal and David converse, discussing the fact that nothing has been heard from Mark in a long while. Later David communicates with Petra and Rosalind finding out that the spider man has gone and that they have a large albino guarding them. Rosalind comes in very distressed about how the spider man is not at all like them and that she'll kill herself before letting him attempt to extend his lineage with her aid. Micheal metaphorically knocks her to her senses. David tells Sophie about the guard situation and she decides to go and kill the guard and bring them back to her cave, which she does.

They then all sit down and Sophie immediately starts looking over Rosalind, showing her insecurity. She notices that she has a few new stains on her bodice and take sit off to start cleaning it. I think that this shows how much life in the Fringes has affected her; she doesn't care if she's not covering the top half of her body while she's with company. Why is this always the way that authors or director's show barbaric culture? Surely everyone degenerated into village life is not a closet nudist?  She tells Rosalind and Petra to get rid of the crosses on the front of their dresses, as they are a dead give-away and don't do any good. David then asks if they should be trying to get out, but Sophie says that they'll be searching the forest for them and that they will have to stay in the cave for two to three days. Rosalind then asks why she's doing all this for them, prompting David to fill her in on the situation. Rosalind and Sophie then look each other on until Sophie drops the bodice, stands up, and then bends towards Rosalind, Damning her and telling Rosalind to leave her alone. The air of aggression subsides, but Sophie continues on in despair, eventually dropping on to her bed, sobbing. Petra then decides that Rosalind and David are useless and goes to comfort her. This allowed me to realize something very important: I like Sophie more than any of the other characters, since she actually gives some feelz.

David awakes all sore from sleeping on the hard ground, just like any other wimp would. Micheal informs him that they've already battled and routed the Fringes people. The Sealanders inform them that they are eight and a half hours off. She talks about how the badlands here are far worse than anything they've ever seen, exclaiming and questioning how this could have happened. She says that, if it weren't for Petra, they would probably have turned back. David then asks Petra too ask Rachel about Mark, since they are too far away to do it themselves. She reports that nothing has been heard. We also find out, through a discussion between Petra and David, that Micheal and Rachel are in some sort of relationship. This comes out when Petra says that she could feel what Rachel was thinking and NOT communicating. In other words, Petra could potentially read minds.

Sophie then wakes up and prepares porridge for breakfast. She says that they found the body and went searching early in the morning. She also says that men from the front are arriving little by little and asks why. David tells her and she asks how far they are, David asks Micheal, Micheal tells David, and David tells her. She makes the only useful conclusion stating that they are probably just under three hours away from the river. While eating, Petra asks Micheal if her father is there, catching everyone off guard, and causing him to involuntarily answer yes. This causes Rosalind to comfort David, whizzes right over Petra's head, and causes David to get a flashback about his father's interactions with his aunt as well as ask himself what sort of man would go on a hunt like this. This should not surprise him at all since everyone in the Northern Hemisphere knows his father as a purist zealot prick. Sophie asks what's up, Rosalind tells her, and she reacts very sympathetically. David then asks if he should forgive him or kill him, prompting a reply from the Sealand woman. She goes off on a tangent on how their only job is survival and how both his father's kind and way of thinking will survive long. At this point, I think we all know how this is going to go down. Some of you probably denied it, but you knew it none the less. She also talks about how life is change and denying evolution is wrong and leads to bad ju ju. Basically, she says that both the Old People and David's people think that they are the end form of human, and that it did not work out so good for the Old People. She also talks about independence and how the telepaths have a whole world to conquer and the norms have a lost cause to lose. Yep, we know what's up.

Sophie tells the that they make telepaths uncomfortable and ask what happened. David, being his usual self, forgets that he has not informed Sophie about the largest part their plan, a whole stinkin' race of telepaths, and duly does so.  Sophie goes to see what's going on in the camp. She comes back and says the they are planning an ambush on their side of the river. David tells this to Micheal so that won't be deadened. Micheal later says that Fringes people botched and showed themselves. The army has council of war and decides on a classic bottle of 1897 Pincer Movement. David tries to think of how to warn the Fringes people, but he can't because they'll shoot him. Twice. Each. In the knee. A gun goes off to da' leff, to da' leff, followed by several others. This causes the whole Fringes army to abandon the ambush and converge on the location of the shots. Including Sophie, just so ya' know. The poorly equipped Fringes soldiers are quickly sent back to the camp for cover. They start shooting from behind the tents and such when arrows star raining from the right. The Fringes people start running to the caves for shelter. Horse men appear from the right and David notices the spider-man by his tent holding a bow and watching the riders. He shoot Davids dad in chest, causing him to be dragged by his horse. YAY! He then drops the bow, picks up Sophie and runs but is quickly downed. Sophie gets up and starts to run but is hit by an arrow in the upper arm. Sophie don't care! She keeps going but hit by an arrow in the back of the neck mid stride, sending her dragging in the dirt. NO! Those ******** killed Sophie! I will watch them burn! Their only remembrance a shadow left by the blast! Their skin will melt and they will die. I don't need no telepathy, as long as they suffer. DIE!!! DIE!! DIE!!!

Anyway, a mysterious object descends from the heavens above. Hallelujah! A strange mist with a fish shaped shiny thing. Strange cob web-type things begin to fall. The attacking force begins to retreat. David then calls Micheal forward. Micheal sees them and starts toward them but notices something shiny on his arm. He touches it and his hand sticks to it. He begins panicking, but the Sealander woman tells him to calm down, stay still, and lie on the ground. The vehicle lands and the cobwebs start to blow into the caves. David, Rosalind, and Petra start to panic, but listen to the woman. David closes his eyes and realizes the he can't open his eyes or mouth. The machine shuts down and there are only muffled sounds. The woman calls out to Micheal to start counting. He does so and she finds him, freeing him of the cobwebs. She then frees David and David sees a suited figure matching the description of a type of radiation suit. He looks out of the cave to see the entire clearing covered in the material. A few trees and bushes rip out of their roots. Once the others are free, the woman takes of her mask, revealing a B-E-A-utiful face so clean and fresh that the primitive bunch can't believe it. But what surprises then most of all is her short hair cut [Yep, it's the 50's]. Petra and the woman converse in a way that the others can't understand. The woman says out loud that the trip was worth while, but the poor Canucks can barely understand her Kiwi. She wants them to go, but Micheal wants to go back to Waknuk for Rachel. The woman explains that they do not have enough fuel. The conversation pauses, allowing the extreme silence to become known Rosalind gasps and asks if everyone is dead. The woman confirms that they are dead in a very nonchalant attitude. This shows that the cobweb material is a weapon of mass destruction. The woman then talks about how killing anything unwanted but necessary, talking about the ending of life cycles. Specifically referencing the extinction of the dinosaurs and talking about species superseding one another. She goes on, and on, and on. David reflects on the deaths he has witnessed and how they could have been Petra's. Micheal then decides to go back and fetch Rachel, using the logic that the world is round so he can get to Zealand without crossing the Badlands.They then leave in the magical flying machine.

The city is exactly as David saw it.  So beautiful and awe-inspiring. He grabs Rosalind's hand to check that it's not a dream. Rosalind tells him to open up his mind, he does so and senses the thought patterns of the city. David then talks about the real Rosalind and stuff. They are interrupted by Petra's boiling over excitement, a jerk of the aircraft, and complaints from the crew and city in general. Then they went to live happily ever after in their Nazi Utopia. Also, over a hundred people suffocated or were crushed to death; a pregnant woman hung herself; a woman was killed and her baby rendered non existent; several people were neutered; and we don't know what happened to Uncle Axel. But hey, at lea... SOPHIE DIED!