Part 2 begins with a news article from November 14, 2008 about a safe-haven law in Nebraska. After this law was passed, 34 children were abandoned.

Chapter 4 begins with parents who have signed an unwind order for their son Noah. They believe the Juvey-cops are a day early, but they eventually begin to realize that the young men are not cops after all.

The fake Juvey-cop is, in fact, Connor—the protagonist of the first book in Shusterman’s series, Unwind. Connor demands the parents tell Noah that they were going to have him unwound. Then, he makes them write down why they signed the unwind order and reads the list of teenage characteristics, like disobedience, aloud. Connor threatens to switch their identities to terrorists if they tell the cops anything other than Noah ran away.

Connor, as well as fellow AWOLs Trace and Hayden, take Noah to the Graveyard, where over 700 AWOL Unwinds live. Hayden first clarifies that they call themselves Whollies and then takes Noah to clean up and get oriented. Connor thinks about Risa, his Whollie friend from the first Unwind book, and the Admiral, who used to run the Graveyard. Trace and Connor talk about Noah.