| “ | Maybe nothing will ever change for us.
But don't you want to be around just in case it does? |
” |
–Chubs to Ruby, in The Darkest Minds | ||
Charles Carrington Meriwether IV, better known by his nickname "Chubs," is a blue man in the books, and a green in the movie. He is one of the few survivors of the Caledonia and East River attacks. He is also one of the many people who helped attack the camp system.
Biography (Books)[]
Early Life[]
Chubs was amongst the few IAAN survivors in the United States. Since his parents were afraid of what would happen to him in a camp, he was sent to live at a old cabin. He would be picked up by a skip tracer and would be sent to live in Caledonia. He would meet three people who would become his friends; Liam Stewart, Suzume (Zu) Kimura, and Jack. When Liam makes a plan to escape, Chubs and Zu are some of the few to make it out alive with him. The three friends band together and steal a minivan they name Black Betty. They stay together avoiding PSFs and skip tracers.
The Darkest Minds[]
Two weeks after Chubs escapes from Caledonia, Chubs, Liam and Zu stop at a gas station to find gas and food, when he thinks he sees Lady Jane. He and Liam immediately head back to the van unaware that Ruby Daly, a orange girl who had just recently escaped from Thurmond with the help of the children's league, is hiding in the back of the van. Because the two Children's Leagues agents, Rob and Cate, wanted to keep Ruby in their possession, they chase after her. Martin, another orange pulled from the same camp as Ruby, follows with them. Since Ruby had been hiding in the back of the van, Liam almost crashes when she reveals herself. When the league agents finally catch up to Zu and her companions, Liam throws a tree in front of their vehicle so they could no longer keep up the group.
Liam and Zu take pity on Ruby, but Chubs wants to drop her off at the nearest bus station. Chubs and Ruby have an estranged relationship through most of the book, but they bond when Ruby discovers the location of East River. They become close friends, and they find comfort in one another, but they still bicker at times. At the end of the book, he is shot in the left shoulder by Jack's father when he attempts to give him a letter. This results in Ruby pressing her panic button given to her by Cate who works for the Children's League. Once they arrive, they take the weak and dying Chubs to the hospital, while Liam and Ruby agree to go with Cate.
Never Fade[]
Chubs first appears in Never Fade when Ruby goes to Liam's house. Chubs had been looking for clues as to where Liam could be. He is surprised to find Ruby and Liam separated and Ruby must confess what she did to Liam to make him leave her with the Children's League. Chubs survived the gunshot wound he received at the end of The Darkest Minds and had been traveling as a skip tracer to avoid being caught himself. Chubs travels with Ruby, Jude, and Vida to find Liam. When the group is captured by a tribe of hostile blues, Chubs gets to use some of his medical knowledge to help treat the kids they find at the fake East River including Liam.
Once the group is reunited and again hit the road, Liam and Chubs make plans to leave the three Children's League members and strike out on their own. They never go through with their plan, however, and end up going back to Children's League HQ to help with the crisis situation there.
In The Afterlight[]
Chubs, with Liam and the rest of what's left of Children's League, relocate to their new base where Cate and other forces are waiting for them due to the previous events of the last book. Shortly after they arrive, Cate declares to go back to former Children's League forces, explaining that they've raided the HQ completely dry out of ammunition and supplies, and that she could be able to change their minds about leaving. Though their new organization together is unnamed and only developing, Chubs and Liam contribute anyway to gathering forces and supplies for their big attack plan on Thurmond.
After finding out that Cate and the other agents with her have been captured by other forces, Chubs volunteers to go on an operation to capture Lillian Gray, Clancy's mother, for Ruby to reverse what Clancy did to her for more Intel on the IAAN disease and the cure. If that didn't work, they would trade her back for Cate and the other agents – and, hearing that, Vida volunteered as well. When Chubs and Vida came back from Kansas HQ, they brought Lillian back and formed what turned out to be a relationship between each other during the operation. At the end of the series, the relationship seemingly strengthens and becomes official by the last chapters.
Personality[]
At first to strangers and newcomers, Chubs may come off a bit rude and unwelcoming, but once he gets to know you, he is really sweet, caring, and loyal. He is very smart and cares about his friends very deeply. He is also very sarcastic.
Physical Description[]
Chubs has dark skin and hair with brown eyes. He is described as tall, thin, and having big ears. He wears thin, silver framed glasses. According to Liam, he used to be very chubby, but lost a lot of weight while he was at Caledonia, which is why he was nicknamed Chubs.
Quotes[]
"Oh, I'm sorry," Chubs said, "Apparently the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. Do continue."
"...crackers..." a voice breathed out behind us. "Yesss..."
Relationships[]
Liam Stewart[]
Chubs first met Liam when they shared a bunk together in Caledonia. (An old school the government turned into a rehabilitation camp when the bigger camps overflowed.) He had Liam and Jack Fields to plan a mass breakout at Caledonia leaving 148 kids shot dead by PSFs, including Jack (something Liam greatly regretted). Later Chubs traveled with Liam and Zu to find East River, meeting Ruby Daly on the way. Chubs is very loyal to Liam, although they don't show it when they're together. Liam is definitely one of Chub's best friends, maybe even his first considering his poor social skills.
Suzume (Zu) Kimura[]
Chubs and Liam rescued Zu (Suzume), during the Caledonia breakout when they found her trampled on the ground after disabling the electric fence. Chubs cares a great deal for Zu, although does not believe in 'lying' to her about how things will get better as Liam does. After Zu declared that she would be leaving East River for her cousin Hina's beach home in California, Chubs becomes especially worried and reluctant to let her go.
Ruby Elizabeth Daly[]
Chubs first saw Ruby after she rolled out from where she was hiding in Black Betty, (their minivan), and was not happy with her joining the crew when the gang voted two-to-one for letting her ride with them to East River after mysteriously saving them from the PSFs they had crashed into while driving from a sketchy park in Virginia. He was all but kind to her until they had figured out the EDO clue in a warehouse after talking and playing card games while staking-out a tribe of blues they had come across earlier on. The both of them bonded more while at East River, when they sat alone together watching Zu and Lee make new friends, knowing they both lacked social skills as their friends did. Ruby secretly looked at the book Chub's was reading, and found it was the same book that she used to love as a young child (Watership Down). This brought her a little closer to him. The best Chubs-and-Ruby moment though, might be after Ruby came crashing into him on her search for Liam. And after seeing that he was still alive from being shot in the chest, she cried uncontrollably after missing him for the months prior. Ruby has become one of his closest friends.
Vida Bautista[]
Chubs first met met Vida in relation to the Children's League traveling with Ruby and while warming up to Vida, he seemed to have a strong dislike for her due to them both having very headstrong personalities. However, after going on a mission with her, Chubs and Vida come back as "love interests." (They did the nasty in a closet)