The Twelve: Part VII: The Outlaw.

[Carol/Bonadie]

The Twelve by Justin Cronin. This is the second in the trilogy begun in The Passage.

Since spoilers are allowed please only post contents related to the part referenced in the title. The first person posting might want to do a brief summary of what happens in the section, so we can be reminded of when to start (and stop) posting, contents-wise.

[Ann]

VII The Outlaw
Chapter 41 A military cover-up / who is that Woman?
Chapter 42 Grey "lives"
Chapter 43 Texas Hold-em
Chapter 44 Alicia's orders, "do not engage"
Chapter 45 Sara in the Dome
Chapter 46 Amy in what used to be Houston
Chapter 47 Her last memory was of kissing a boy
Chapter 48 Carter's Lair

[Ann]

We wonder no longer, a search party reveals a battered Michael survived the oil road attack along with Peter and Lore. The military cover-up begins, but through Colonel Apgar, Peter learns this has happened before in the massacre at the Field. Will Peter's path cross with Amy's? I liked that Peter getting a nudge from his Colonel is going AWOL and finally getting back on track to find the Twelve.

Grey imprisoned by Guilder and his minions is taunted and drained over and over again. Grey's fate seems terribly unfair considering how he tried to protect Lila, this obviously didn't work out so well for Grey as Lila, still in la la land and oblivious to those around her, is not exactly causing no harm to her attendants. All is not well at the top of this heap of red-eyes.

Lore has revealed an understanding of the underworld commerce in H-town; helping grease the way to find Hollis. The old friendship rekindles but it takes Peter's encounter with "Sheila", releasing her from her fate, to dispel a deep cloud of suspicion when they meet Tilty. (chapter 47) That was a stunning turn of events when Peter stares into her eyes, sees all of her memories and her soul and releases her to death with her willing and grateful. I am thinking something like this happened in the first book that I don't remember but they allude to it when Michael makes Peter doubt what happened the last time happening again. Very moving

Alicia scouts the compound; she feels her evolution into a different sort of being and sees what appears to be slaves and guards in a loose environment unlike a prison but effectively a prison none the less. Do not engage sounds good on her order papers, but when faced with the cruelty of the cols, engage she does. And left us hanging as to what her fate is.

Sara's new role with the insurgents and ascent into the Dome reveals much about the inner workings of the Red Eyes and Guilder's kingdom. But the biggest revelation is Kate, I was not surprised that Sara and Hollis's daughter was alive, and it was quite moving to see them together at last.

Amy and Greer find Carter's lair, we wondered what was awaiting her on the ship, the Chevron Mariner. Amy finds what she seeks, but what is it?. Wolgast tells Amy he is one of his... (Carter's) What this means and what happens to Amy is still shrouded in mystery.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Yes, I found the whole piece with Wolgast and Carter very confusing.

It was quite the coincidence that Lila's "baby" winds up being Sara's daughter Katie. This was a little too far fetched for me.

The whole business with Peter and the viral Sheila was creepy. Why was she tracking him with her eyes when he came in? I thought it was going to be the case that she knew him from another life, but no.

There was no suspense when Peter went into the cage, you knew he had to survive, it was just a matter of how. I thought he was going to distract her with the mirror.. wasn't that a trick from The Passage? They can't look at themselves in the mirror or something? But instead he did kind of a mind meld and read her thoughts, willing him to put an end to her mystery. That was a bit too neat, but it worked.

[Ann]

Carol: Yes, it was extremely creepy, and Peter's plan worked. I realized with a feeling of horror that the people who were infected and turned into Virals might still be trapped inside, and still partly human. This had come up before when one of the Father's of a baby in the nursery of the complex in California came and stood over the crib instead of attacking everyone indiscriminately back in the Passage, and when Amy called the mass of Virals to her and led them with docility to peace. scary stuff, reminding us that this is a horror story after all...
Carol/Bonadie wrote: " But instead he did kind of a mind meld and read her thoughts, willing him to put an end to her mystery. That was a bit too neat, but it worked. "

[Barry]

As much as things came together in this section, more questions emerged. We finally know beyond any doubt that "the woman" of the earlier sections was Lila, who seems to hold sway over the virals even though she is batty herself.
Grey, on the other hand, is imprisoned to be milked for his blood components. This leads to the possibility that the "hybrids" may not be stably viral, and perhaps could revert.
Amy is surely changing, we shall surely see what this means, though the interchange between her and Carter looks less than hopeful at this point, as does the status of Wolgast, who seems to be one of the 'good' hybrids.

[Ann]

The Hybrid Red Eyes in the compound using Grey imprisoned under the Dome to maintain their "viral-ness" and assumed immortality on the backs of humans as slave labor was pretty awful. We were left with the impression that Guilder was in charge of all of them, but he seems as unstable, as Lila is batty. Sorry in advance if my impression comes from an accumulation of Guilder's actions throughout, some of which might have been after this segment, but I don't think any segment had us thinking this guy was working with all of his marbles intact. I hadn't really thought about what might befall them if they stopped milking Grey, Barry!
hmm, an interesting story line to that..