Avery Dixon regularly slept in Luke Ellis’s room, acting as a telepathic “mailman” to deliver messages from Kalisha Benson in Back Half. Kalisha reported that, unlike Front Half’s tests and punishments, Back Half subjects were being actively used and gradually worn down. Repeated exposure to flashing-dot sessions, “hurty” injections, and movies caused worsening headaches among the kids, including a new arrival named George, who deteriorated after several days.

Kalisha described the screening setup: classic cartoons as a preface followed by short films. One recurring film focused on a red-haired chauffeur in a black suit driving a black car around Washington, D.C., with regular passengers who were mostly older white men and a younger man with a cheek scar. Scenes later showed the redhead in domestic settings with a child, and each film ended with Dr. Hendricks holding up an unlit sparkler.

A second recurring film featured a man in a keffiyeh in various public and family scenes, including a speech and a TV appearance, and also ended with Dr. Hendricks holding the sparkler. The Back Half schedule alternated cartoons with short segments of these two men, followed by shots, flashing lights, and finally crash films capped again by Dr. Hendricks and the unlit sparkler.

Kalisha reported a possible blackout episode during the crash films: she and other kids, including Nicky Wilholm, Iris Stanhope, Donna, Len, and others, stood together in the dot field, arms around one another. Dr. Hendricks appeared, lit the sparkler this time, and although it frightened them, huddling together relieved their headaches. She awoke back in her locked Back Half room, leaving uncertainty about whether it was a dream or induced event.

Processing this, Luke used his laptop to search news archives and found a headline about Representative Mark Berkowitz, a presidential hopeful with a cheek scar, who was critically injured in a Lincoln Town Car crash and died the next day. The details matched the red-haired driver film, convincing Luke that the Institute’s programming was tied to real-world incidents. He inferred that the man in the keffiyeh might be connected to another imminent death or attack.

Luke concluded the children were being conditioned for deployment as “psychic drones,” including gentle Avery. This realization began to pull Luke out of paralyzing grief. The chapter closed by noting that an upcoming event involving Harry Cross would fully awaken Luke to the horror of the Institute’s actions.