Mark Reads ‘Feed’: Chapter 26

In the twenty-sixth chapter of Feed, you all tricked me into reading this, and I will never forgive you. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Feed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

You’re not supposed to do this.

And to Mira Grant’s credit, that’s why I’m hoping this works. I’m not optimistic for the sake of it; after this, I really should just prepare for the worst. If Grant’s willing to kill off her narrator in the first book, then the stakes here are just… well, unprecedented for Mark Reads. And life. Yeah, that, too.

Jesus, what the fuck do I write? I’m sad? I’m upset? I’m completely emotionally destroyed? This is one of the more draining reading experiences I ever had, especially since I put so much stock into the idea that something, anything, any sort of deus ex machina would swoop in and save the day. It had to save the day. Georgia is the life of this goddamn book. As fun as Shaun is, as reliable as Rick has proven himself to be, this is Georgia’s story.

But I suppose the signs were littered throughout Feed anyway. Shaun’s blog post from a future date saying that this journey was absolutely not worth it. The constant fear that a blood test would hit all red lights, something I picked up on myself. Mahir’s fear that he’d never get to meet Georgia in person. (AND I THOUGHT MAHIR WOULD DIE. HELP ME.) Georgia’s ongoing commitment to the news, putting herself in danger in order to report the truth.

What’s the “truth” anyway? The implications of what happened in this chapter are so far-reaching that I can only speculate about the future. Did Georgia’s post get published? Was Tate outed as being complicit in the attacks? I don’t even know if Rick or Shaun survived. What about Peter Ryman? Who in the government was involved? Was this all a ploy to get Tate into office? Oh my god, I have so many terrible, awful questions, and I can’t concentrate. I’m still in shock. I keep thinking that I’ll turn the page next week when I start the next batch of reviews, and there will be a twist, and Georgia will totally have survived. But I know better than this. I know that this story had to unfold like this. I guess that’s pretty weird, right? As horrified and upset as I was when I first read this chapter, there’s a strange and unsettling sense of poetry to Georgia’s death. She died to save the world. Well, she died to try and save the world. It’s not like her death guarantees a world of puppies and joy. She died for a concept she devoted her whole heart to. Central to this is the fact that Georgia discovered that the entire country was being lied to, that they were being fed an alternate reality, and she died to expose that.

How is Shaun going to move on? I don’t even want to think about this. I don’t. In a way, I’m glad this is the last post I’m writing this week. Will it be agonizing to not know how this book will continue? Sure. But I’m also relieved that I get a momentary reprieve from this horrible chaos. I imagine that things are going to get bleak as fuck for the remainder of Feed, and while I’ll be ready for it when the time comes, right now, I’m not ready.

Fuck, y’all, I’m so devastated. I truly never saw this coming, and it hurts.

R.I.P, Georgia Carolyn Mason. FUCK.

Part 1

Part 2

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