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Running Out of Time is a fiction novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Plot summarySpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
After leaving Clifton, Jessie is immediately amazed by the technological advancements of the modern world. She discovers fluorescent lights and toilets in her first encounter with the "outside world". She joins a group of middle-school students touring Clifton. After escaping from the touring group who believe that she became separated from her own school's group, she finds herself outdoors. She manages to slip past the armed guards and proceeds to secretly hitchhike on a bread truck. However, she is nearly caught and escapes onto a small grass hill. Here, she takes a break, eats a snack, and almost drinks water from a river, but is stopped by an environmentalist who is on a walk. The environmentalist informs her of the way to Indianapolis, where she will attempt to contact Mr. Neeley. On her way to Indianapolis, she comes across a gas station where she is amazed by telephones, soft drinks, and potato chips. After purchasing herself a drink (which she is amazed cost eighty-nine cents), she attempts to use a telephone to contact Mr. Neeley. After several unsuccessful attempts, she manages to contact Mr. Neeley. She treks to a KFC in the town of Waverly. There, she meets Mr. Neeley, who brings her to his apartment. After being offered water and told to get some sleep, she decides to not drink the water because of what the environmentalist she met earlier said about "poison" water, and instead lets it flow out of the window. She made the right decision, as she eavesdrops on Mr. Neeley talking to someone on the phone about "drugging" Jessie.
After waking up some time later in a hospital, she tries to get her questions answered. In the middle of the night, she awakens and roams the hospital, coming across a television set. In it, she sees Mr. Neeley, who is actually Frank Lyle, talking about the diphtheria. It turns out that Miles Clifton, the founder of Clifton Village, was attempting to create a strong gene pool, one that could resist disease. The individuals with strong genes would survive, and he would use them to create the gene pool. A nurse tells Jessie to return to bed. Several of the members of Clifton Village are also in the hospital. Jessie's mother comes to see her, telling Jessie that her father is extremely distraught by the news of the demise of Clifton Village; as her father still believes in the simplicity of the style of living as though they were in the 1800s. Spoilers end here.
The VillageThe plot of the 2004 M. Night Shyamalan movie The Village is very similar to the plot of Running Out of Time, to the extent that Margaret Peterson Haddix's publisher considered legal action against the makers of The Village.
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