| “ | I'm fast. That's why they call me the Breeze. | ” |
—Brianna to Jack |
||
Brianna Berenson, also known as The Breeze, is a girl appearing in all the books set in the FAYZ. She is rescued from Coates Academy by Sam Temple, and fights for Perdido Beach and Lake Tramonto with her power of enhanced speed. She is killed by Gaia in a superspeed battle, who uses Sam’s light to blast her in the chest, killing her instantly.
Description
Brianna has reddish hair, usually tied back in pigtails, stating this is the best way to keep it out of her eyes when she runs. Brianna likes to call herself "The Breeze" due to her super-speed ability. She is also described as skinny, and she is generally brave, selfish, reckless and cocky. However despite her inflated ego, she herself understands her own limits, often stating that she is "the strongest in the FAYZ,apart from Sam and Caine".
Power and abilities
Brianna's power is Super Speed, a three bar ability focused through the hands that allows her to run so fast she cannot be seen. Her top speed is just under the speed of sound. She runs in an unusual way, turning her palms back as she pumps her arms. It is estimated that her top speed is about 700 miles per hour, just slower than a bullet. This was found out in an experiment done by Computer Jack. Because of this, she is used alongside Taylor as a messenger during emergencies. Since Diana has last read her, her power was at 3 bars. Brianna loves having powers and is very confident about her ability. She calls herself "the Breeze" because of this. She used to only run at this speed but sometime in Lies, that speed translated to the rest of her movements.
Appearances
- Before the FAYZ
Brianna had always been brave. Her parents divorced sometime before her ninth birthday. Her mom remarried- "a jerk" and had twins with him. Brianna liked the twins OK. Brianna was enrolled at Coates Academy because her stepfather stated her grades were too low. Her mother convinced her stepfather to let her move back home, and this was to be her last year at Coates. Next year she was going to be back at Nicolet Middle School, back home in Banning.
- Gone
Brianna first appeared, along with other mutants such as Taylor and Dekka, when Andrew's Poof was being filmed. Her hands are encased in cement, and she is starving to death. She later appears, unnamed, when Drake captures Sam, Astrid, Little Pete, and Lana. When Astrid pretends to crush Pete's Game Boy under her cement-block hands, Little Pete panics and makes all the blocks disappear. She, along with the others, follow Sam back to Perdido Beach. She's the third mutant to pledge herself to Sam.
Brianna carried messages during the battle. She was the first to see Drake's whip hand. Brianna was labeled as a potential threat by Diana - a tribute to her Power. During the battle in the town square, she is fighting alongside Edilio.
- Hunger
Brianna appears with Computer Jack in an open road near the town. Jack fires a bullet, and Brianna races alongside it. The bullet beats Brianna by several feet, but she allows Jack and everyone else to believe she outran it. It is noted that she runs with her hands facing back instead of pumping her arms, so she can run faster.
Brianna goes to the McClub, somewhat inviting Jack to come along. When she is there, Zil tells her to stop showing off while she was dancing, and Dekka stops a fight from breaking out. She offers to teach Jack how to dance, but ends up getting mad at Jack when he leaves to go find Diana.
She goes with Sam, Dekka, Taylor, and several others to the Power Plant to fight Caine. While trying to jump onto a roof, she (foolishly) attempts to fly and knocks herself out, also getting rather bad injuries. Everyone at Perdido Beach believe she is dead, nearly causing Dekka to break down. She later recovers, and discovers her speed allows her to catch birds for food. She catches a pigeon and eats it after cooking it over a fire. Dekka later helps her escape from the roof she was trapped on, and later she lets herself be known to be alive.
When Drake attacks Sam inside the plant, Brianna severs part of his whip arm and saves the FAYZ from a nuclear meltdown. However, she is forced to touch the radioactive pool while diving to save the remote that controls the radioactive pool. Brianna becomes very ill, and Lana later heals her. Sam tells her to fetch Duck, in order to help kill the Gaiaphage. She brings him to the mineshaft.In Hunger, we also find that Brianna's shoes are size six.
- Lies
Brianna has a much smaller part in Lies. She is known to be dating Computer Jack, who moves in with her when he catches the flu. She takes care of him for most of the book. Brianna also brings Sam back to Perdido Beach when the battle starts. Later she rescues Justin from dying when Mary Terrafino leads the little kids off the cliff. She catches the flu from Jack, and they are still living together at the end of the book.
- Plague
Brianna about to cut Drake with wire
Brianna attacks Drake at the church, and seemingly kills him, but he puts himself back together and severely injures her before giving way to Brittney. Drake's part-time henchman, Jamal, then shoots her in the face with a rifle. Edilio finds her later, almost dead, and Lana heals her. Drake escapes. Brianna's main role is in battling with the bugs. She rescues Caine from the bugs after he retakes the town. They fight together, Caine flipping over the bugs as she opens a cut in their vulnerable chin and uses her gun to shoot into the wound, thus killing the bugs. Brianna is the most efficient at killing the bugs.
She's also present when Sam and Lana are trying to heal Dekka. Dekka was infected by the parasitic bugs, and they are attempting to do surgery. Believing she will die, Dekka reveals to Brianna that she loves her. After this, Brianna avoids Dekka.
Brianna is one of the 82 people who follow Sam to the lake, and she urges others to do so as well.
- Fear
In Fear. Brianna is living with Sam at Lake Tramonto and hasn't spoken to Dekka in four months. She goes with Sam to go get rid of the missiles they found in Plague and then when Drake attacks goes after him. She and Dekka have a falling out in the desert after Drake slits Jacks throat, where she admits she doesn't know whether she likes boys or not as she's just a kid. She and Dekka manage to patch up her friendship (Brianna calls them 'bad-ass sisters') and then go after Drake and Penny together.
Penny manages to incapacitates both of them, leaving Dekka in the desert and Brianna at the mouth of the cave where the Gaiaphage lives. She manages to save Justin after he is kidnapped but is rendered powerless when the FAYZ goes dark. She delivers Diana's baby Gaia but is brainwashed into believing the Gaiaphage is a crib and lays Gaia onto it. When the FAYZ wall turns transparent she tells the others Gaia, Diana and Drake are heading towards the desert. She lightens the mood at this stage, by posing for the cameras outside the barrier.
- Light
Brianna's determination to destroy Gaia proves useful in the last book, but ultimately unsuccessful. When the lake was attacked by Gaia, Brianna attacks and cuts Gaia into as many pieces as she can, saving the people at the lake. Later, she fights again with Gaia, but after Brianna's shotgun fires a dud shell at her, Gaia has the opportunity to grab Brianna and blast her with Sam's deadly light in the heart, killing her instantly.
Relationships
- Sam Temple
Brianna has a mild crush on Sam, as he is the leader and local hunk. But this is overshadowed by her incredible commitment to Sam, following his orders and accompanying him to the lake. Sam sometimes seems to be a father figure to Brianna, as in Light Astrid Ellison comments "Why do I get the feeling we have a crazy thirteen-year-old daughter?"
- Computer Jack
Brianna has a slight crush on Computer Jack, seeming to think of him as quaint and cute. They become boyfriend/girlfriend, with Brianna caring for an ill Jack, and Jack considering kissing Brianna. In Light, we learn that their relationship was complicated and that they only made out a couple of times.
- Dekka Talent
Brianna and Dekka were close when imprisoned at Coates Academy in Gone. Dekka had hidden romantic feelings towards Brianna up until Plague, in which she revealed her feelings to Brianna. Brianna responded by avoiding Dekka, straining their relationship. Eventually, they have a confrontation about their relationship, with Brianna admitting that she is only a child, and thus doesn't have full knowledge of her sexual orientation. Brianna and Dekka then mend their relationship, becoming "badass sisters".
- Drake Merwin
Brianna has a special vendetta against Drake, his death being a main goal for her in the later books. Brianna is the enemy of Drake and Drake loathes her, believing she is the only one able to stop him. She does this moving at 200-mph, and cuts him up with a strip of bladed, or cello, wire.
Notes
- Brianna's birthday is early December.
- In Light, she was erroneously said to be twelve when she was in fact thirteen.
- Brianna is based on Michael Grant's daughter, Julia.[1]
- She coughs at superspeed but snores normally.
- Her surname, Berenson, was only revealed in Monster.
- Her grave reads "None More Bold".
- Brianna's stepfather actually did care about her, as he was devastated when he learnt of her death.
- Brianna's surname, Berenson, is a possible reference to Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate's series Animorphs, in which the main protagonist is named Jake Berenson.
- She wears size six shoes.
- It was shown in Hunger that Brianna knows first aid.
Quotes
"When you get to hell, tell the Gaiaphage the Breeze says 'Hi'."
"Who am I? I'm The Breeze, bitch!"
"And you know, of course, that I can slap you eight times before you blink, right?"
"Yes. Yes: I will play myself in the movie. The Breeze is way beyond special effects."
Gallery
References
- ↑ oG1E?t=1m16s GONE Q and A BONUS Question #2 on YouTube
| Coates students |
|---|
| Caine Soren | Diana Ladris | Drake Merwin | Dekka Talent | Brianna Berenson Brittney Donegal | Taylor | Computer Jack | Bug | Penny Andrew | Frederico | Mallet |