Lies

Lies by Michael Grant

In the book, Lies by Michael Grant, people 15 and older have been gone for months.  Some people have turned into ‘freaks’-or people who have special powers, others have turned human, either way, they all starve and fight to survive. It’s especially hard because humans like Zil and his friends are beginning to feel that the FAYZ-the Fallout Ally Youth Zone, which is a nickname for it-should only belong to the humans only. Sam, being the leader of the FAYZ, is beginning to feel under a lot of pressure, as food, water, and all those basic needs of life runs out, kids begin to demand, complain, and harass the council. What’s even worse?  One of Sam’s worse enemies, Drake, who died in a mining accident, is back. And he wants revenge on everyone, especially Sam.  And these are just the basic outline of the problems with the FAYZ; people are desperate to try anything to get out, even if it means dying.  

The FAYZ demands a leader, and they have one. Sam Temple.  But there are things stopping him, saying he should things for them, not the FAYZ altogether. Even Sam’s friends are demanding him what to do. 

For example, Sam’s so-called girlfriend, Astrid. People describe Astrid as ‘manipulative, selfish, and bossy.’ That’s how Sam describes her when they’re fighting over the council and the FAYZ again, and how Sam blames Astrid for putting him under this pressure of everything.  ‘You will use anyone to get what you want. Say anything to get your way. Why was I ever even in charge? Because of you! Because you manipulated me into doing it. Why? So I would protect you and Little Pete. That’s all you cared about. You know it’s the truth. And now you don’t bother to manipulating me, you can just give me orders. Embarrass me. Undercut me. But as soon as some problem hits, guess what? It’ll be, oh, please, Sam, save us.’ Astrid used to seem nice to Sam, she looked hot and out of his league, but as they got to know each other, he begin to feel like she was just using him, they’re relationship has changed since the FAYZ began. Before, Sam looked up to Astrid, respected her, would basically do anything for her, but now? Well. Now he wasn’t sure if she was really caring for him or just herself. 

The effect that Sam’s finding out about Astrid isn’t good. Why? Because, it just doesn’t affect him but the FAYZ too. Sam, well, he’s hot tempered, strong willed, defiant, his relationship with Astrid is just making him angrier. He just wants to get out, forget the FAYZ, and forget everything, which is bad, since the FAYZ is at the midpoint crisis here-especially with Drake here.  Sam doesn’t want to take of anyone, just himself, he’s beginning to not care if the others die, he’s just like: Yeah, I don’t really care anymore, we’re gonna die, Astrid and the others can take of them, why? Cause, Astrid’s so smart and the others have power. Who needs a guy like me who just kills when he gets angry?
 

But on the other hand, this sorta has a positive effect on Sam too. He’s more willing to fight the bad guys here; he’s more willing to fire at anyone who wants to hurt the FAYZ. The kids there don’t have time anymore; they need every second of their lives if they wanna live.  With Sam being impatient with people he’ll just kill the guys who wanna hurt and then they won’t need to deal with it anymore.  Astrid is sorta pushing Sam into fighting more, since before he didn’t want to, he hesitated-I mean who wouldn’t? Why would you wanna kill people just like you? Where’s the good in that? But here, it doesn’t matter if the enemy is your own friend, your best friend even, if they wanna hurt the kids, if they wanna hurt everyone; Sam needs to take them down. So Astrid is having a good and bad effect on Sam, she’s his protagonist and helper too.

Another problem bringing Sam down is the way everyone feels. It’s just how Sam tells Astrid, one minute they’re all like Sam, we need you! Help us fight off the bad guy! Other times they’re like: Jeez, Sam, let go, you were the hero, yay! Now let it go, we can take care of ourselves thank you very much. Sam doesn’t really know what to do, what’s he supposed to do? Just come out when needed? Like a toy for a kid? Kid only take it out when they wanna play with the toy, then put it back when they’re bored or don’t want to play with it anymore? Sam’s not the kinda guy to be like that, he feels he’s either needed at all times, or just not needed so he can go and rest. He decides to not to help for a few, and the town hates on him why weren’t you there to help Sam?! It’s your JOB! But when he helps as much as possible, they get annoyed. This is misleading Sam, especially with his anger problems, so it’s not having a good effect on him. there is no good effect, he feels like he’s just a toy, and that’s what’s bringing him down, that’s what he wants to stop, or he’s just gonna end up leaving

It’s just like how some people feel. How used people feel. They’re just a pawn for the bigger things, people just bring them out to get what they want, not caring what the ‘pawn’ feels. Not caring if the pawn wants to leave or wants it to stop. As long as the pawn does what they need to do, everything is okay. But, what people don’t think is that there are consequences with using. The FAYZ and Astrid are good examples of this, they use Sam to fight until they think it’s safe and that’s it. They don’t really care if he hates it. They don’t think of the main consequences. What if Sam leaves? What if Sam goes and never comes back? What if he gets sick, or dies, of this? Then who will fight for the FAYZ? Sure, there are people who can help, but they’re not as strong as Sam, they don’t know how to lead, they don’t know how to anything but just watch Sam fight…if that happens, where is this gonna lead the FAYZ too? What is gonna happen to everyone? Who will die for this? Who will die for no reason? What will happen overall?