The Running Man
by Stephen King
Contents
…Minus 015 and COUNTING… McCone looked at him for a long seco
Overview
Donahue’s intervention neutralizes McCone, but Killian uses the moment to prove that Richards’s supposed explosive threat is false. Richards tries to sustain the bluff to the last possible second, yet Donahue’s seizure of Amelia’s pocketbook strips him of his only leverage.
The chapter marks a decisive power shift back to the Network: Richards remains psychologically steady, but his tactical position collapses. His final mock explosion underscores both his defiance and the loss of the lie that kept him alive.
Summary
After Donahue reveals authority over McCone, McCone drops his gun and retreats to second class in frustrated defeat. Donahue assures Richards that McCone will not interfere again, but Richards insults Donahue, provoking a brief flash of dislike before Donahue returns forward.
Richards resumes speaking with Killian over the Free-Vee. Killian explains that knowing Richards is bluffing weakens Richards’s position and strengthens the Network’s credibility, because it proves the Network could have destroyed or controlled the plane at any time. Richards remains outwardly calm and detached, realizing that death has become ordinary to him.
Richards tries to keep the bluff alive by insisting that everything will explode if Killian pushes him. Killian, confident now, exposes the bluff directly by ordering Donahue to remove Amelia Williams’s pocketbook from Richards’s coat, specifying that Richards is not to be harmed.
Donahue approaches Richards with mechanical obedience. Richards threatens him as if the pocketbook still contains a working trigger, then considers escape and dismisses it as impossible. To test Donahue’s nerve one last time, Richards makes a pulling gesture; Donahue instinctively flinches, then becomes angry when nothing happens.
Richards finally throws Amelia’s pocketbook to Donahue, who checks it and returns it to Amelia. Losing the bag feels to Richards like losing an old companion, because it was the symbol of his last leverage. Richards ends the exchange with a soft, bitter “Boom,” acknowledging that the bluff has collapsed.
Who Appears
- Ben RichardsFugitive contestant whose bomb bluff collapses after one final act of defiance.
- DonahueGames Council Control agent who disarms McCone and retrieves Amelia’s pocketbook.
- KillianNetwork executive who exposes Richards’s bluff and reasserts control through Donahue.
- McConeArmed Network man forced to retreat after Donahue overrules his attack on Richards.
- Amelia WilliamsHostage whose pocketbook serves as Richards’s fake explosive trigger and is returned to her.