| UnDevoured | |
| Author: | Neal Shusterman Jarrod Shusterman |
| Publication Date: | December 15, 2015 |
| Published By: | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication Order | |
| Preceded by Unfinished Symphony |
Followed by UnClean (story order) Unwind (chronological) |
UnDevoured is the third installment in the UnBound series of novellas.
Plot[]
This story focuses on Roland's back story. It consists of two separate stories interwoven.
The first consists of memories from Roland's childhood. When he was eight, his abusive stepfather coerced him into jumping off a pier, with the promise that if Roland did it, he would follow. When Roland's nerves got the best of him, his stepfather picked him up and threw him off the pier. When Roland emerged and looked up to wait for his stepfather to join him, he saw his stepfather was too much of a coward and a liar to join him.
To prove he was nothing like his stepfather, he returned to the pier when he was eleven, this time with his sister. He tried to force her to jump off the pier, making the same promise of joining her that his stepfather did. He eventually threw her off the pier, but unlike his stepfather, mustered up the courage to jump in after her.
Later, when he was thirteen, he was swimming in the water and his sister watched from the pier, when suddenly he was attacked by a shark. He got pulled further and further from the pier, until eventually nobody could hear his cries for help. After many futile attempts at trying to escape the shark's attention, Roland finally managed to kill the shark.
The second story centers around Roland at age seventeen. After losing a wrestling match to Zane, an all-state wrestler, and thus not gaining a spot on the varsity wrestling team, Roland vowed to make Zane pay. To rile Zane up, he kissed Zane's girlfriend. When Zane found out, he punched Roland, and Roland suggested a rematch for the match Roland had lost. Zane accepted, but let his emotions get the best of him, and thus Roland won and took his varsity position.
Characters[]
- Zane
- Valerie
- Roland Taggart
- Roland's stepfather
- Roland's sister
- Coach Pratt