lana

Yeah. A feeling. Like the whole point of my life from the alleys in Bangkok to the yachts and private island to coming here like a crazy person trying to fly a helicopter like all of it from birth to here point A to point Z was all some big cosmic trick to get me to meet you. - Sanjit to Lana

I've never been able to grow an organ back," Lana said. "Last time I tried... Let's just hope you don't end up with whip eyes.

So asking you to take a moonlit walk with me, that would totally not work?""What?" Again that glare. "Go away. Stop being an idiot. I don't even know you.""You're healing my little brother Bowie.""Yeah, that doesn't make us friends, kid.""So no moonlight.""Are you retarded?""Sunrise? I could get up early.""Go away.""Sunset tomorrow?" -Sanjit & Lana

No one vinces me, baby

Listen, Sam, and everyone, you need to know something so it won__ freak you out: Pack Leader can speak. I mean, human words. Like Smart-Girl Barbie there was saying, he__ some kind of mutant or whatever. I know you think I__ probably crazy.__he had Hermit Jim__ tin cup now and used it to scoop up another helping of wonderful, wonderful pudding. Blondie__strid__as opening a can of fruit cocktail.__hat do you know about the FAYZ?_ Astrid asked.Lana stopped eating and stared at her. __he what?__strid shrugged and looked embarrassed. __hat__ what people are calling it. The Fallout Alley Youth Zone. FAYZ.___hat does that mean?___ave you seen the barrier?__he nodded. __h, yeah. I__e seen the barrier. I touched the barrier, which, by the way, is not a good idea.__am said, __s far as we can tell, it goes clear around in a big circle. Or maybe a sphere. We think the center is the power plant. It seems like a ten-mile radius from there, you know, twenty miles across.___ircumference of 62.83 miles, with an area of 314.159 square miles,_ Astrid said.__oint 159,_ Quinn echoed from his corner. __hat__ important.___t__ basically pi,_ Astrid said. __ou know, 3.14159265_. Okay, I__l stop.__ana hadn__ stopped being hungry. She took a scoop of the fruit cocktail. __am, you think the power plant caused it?__am shrugged, and then he hesitated, surprised. Lana guessed that he felt no pain in his shoulder. __o one knows. All of a sudden every single person over the age of fourteen disappears and there__ this barrier and people_animals__ana slowly absorbed this new information. __ou mean all the adults? They__e gone?___oof,_ Quinn said. __hey ditched. They blinked out. They vacated. They took the off-ramp. They cut a hole. They emigrated. Adults and teenagers. Nothing left but kids._____e done all I can to strengthen the door,_ Edilio announced. __ut all I have is nails. Someone can break it in eventually.___aybe they didn__ all ditch,_ Lana said. __aybe we did.__strid said, __hat__ definitely one of the possibilities, not that it makes any real difference. It__ effectively the same thing.

Can I get a lock for my tent?Bears can't unzip tents, Lana.Well, chainsaw psychos who wander the woods looking for young girls all alone to chop up into pieces can.There are no chainsaw psychos! I can't believe you've never been camping. It's safe, Lana. I promise.Easy for you to say. You'll be snuggled up safely in the arms of Beau Vincent. I'm more than positive he could take on a black bear.

You're staring," Lana said."Yes. I am. I'm a teenage boy. Beautiful girls in wet underwear have a tendency to cause staring in teenage boys.

Sam,_ Astrid yelled. __uick.__am thought he was too far gone to respond, but he somehow started his feet moving again and went up to where Little Pete was standing and Astrid kneeling.There was a girl lying in the dirt. Her clothing was a mess, her black hair ratty. She was Asian, pretty without being beautiful, and little more than skin and bones. But the first thing they noticed was that her forearms ended in a solid concrete block.Astrid made a quick sign of the cross and pressed two fingers against the girl__ neck. __ana,_ Astrid cried.Lana sized up the situation quickly. __ don__ see any injuries. I think maybe she__ starving or else sick in some other way.___hat__ she doing out here?_ Edilio wondered. __h, man, what did someone do to her hands?___ can__ heal hunger,_ Lana said. __ tried it on myself when I was with the pack. Didn__ work.__dilio untwisted the cap from his water bottle, knelt, and carefully drizzled water across the girl__ cheek so that a few drops curled into her mouth.__ook, she__ swallowing.__dilio broke a tiny bite from one of the PowerBars and placed it gently into the girl__ mouth. After a second the girl__ mouth began to move, to chew.__here__ a road over there,_ Sam said. __ think so, anyway. A dirt road, I think.___omeone drove by and dumped her here,_ Astrid agreed.Sam pointed at the dirt. __ou can see how she dragged that block.___ome sick stuff going on,_ Edilio muttered angrily. __ho would do something like this?

Um, people.__t wasn__ hard to get their attention. They gathered around. Even the littlest ones toned down their giggling, at least a bit.__irst of all, thanks to Albert and his helpers for this meal. Let__ give it up for the true Mac Daddy.__ round of hearty applause and some laughter, and Albert waved sheepishly. He frowned a little too, obviously conflicted about the use of the __ac_ prefix in a way that was not approved in the McDonald__ manual.__nd we have to mention Lana and Dahra, because without them, there would be a lot fewer of us here.__ow the applause was almost reverential.__ur first Thanksgiving in the FAYZ,_ Sam said when the applause died down.__ope it__ our last,_ someone shouted.__eah. You got that right,_ Sam agreed. __ut we__e here. We__e here in this place we never wanted to be. And we__e scared. And I__ not going to lie and tell you that from here on, it will all be easy. It won__ be. It will be hard. And we__l be scared some more, I guess. And sad. And lonely. Some terrible things have happened. Some terrible things_ For a moment, he lost his way. But then he stood up straighter again. __ut, still, we are grateful, and we give thanks to God, if you believe in Him, or to fate, or to just ourselves, all of us here.___o you, Sam,_ someone shouted.__o, no, no._ He waved that off. __o. We give thanks to the nineteen kids who are buried right there._ He pointed at the six rows of three, plus the one who started a seventh row. Neat hand-painted wooden tombstones bore the names of Bette and too many others.__nd we give thanks to the heroes who are standing around here right now eating turkey. Too many names to mention, and they__ all just be embarrassed, anyway, but we all know them.__here was a wave of loud, sustained applause, and many faces turned toward Edilio and Dekka, Taylor and Brianna, and some toward Quinn.__e all hope this will end. We all hope we__l soon be back in the world with people we love. But right now, we__e here. We__e in the FAYZ. And what we__e going to do is work together, and look out for each other, and help each other._ People nodded, some high-fived.__ost of us are from Perdido Beach. Some are from Coates. Some of us are_well, a little strange._ A few titters. __nd some of us are not. But we__e all here now, we__e all in it together. We__e going to survive. If this is our world now_I mean, it is our world now. It is our world. So, let__ make it a good one.__e stepped down in silence.Then someone started clapping rhythmically and saying, __am, Sam, Sam._ Others joined in, and soon every person in the plaza, even some of the prees, was chanting his name.

More than two dozen kids lined a low railing around the gazebo. They were all tied to it by a rope leash that gave them no more than a few feet of movement. Neck to rail, like tethered horses. Each of the kids was weighed down by a concrete block that encased their hands. Their eyes were hollow, their cheeks caved in.Astrid used a word that Sam had never imagined coming from her.__ice language,_ Drake said with a smirk. __nd in front of the Pe-tard, too.__ cafeteria tray had been placed in front of each of the prisoners. It must have been a very recent delivery because some were still licking their trays, hunched over, faces down, tongues out, licking like dogs.__t__ the circle of freaks,_ Drake said proudly, waving a hand like a showman.In a crusty old wheelbarrow to one side, three kids were using a short-handled shovel to mix cement. It made a heavy sloshing sound. They dumped a shovelful of gravel into the mix and stirred it like lumpy gravy.__h, no,_ Lana said, backing away, but one of the Coates kids smashed her behind the knee with his baseball bat, and she crumpled.__otta do something with unhelpful freaks,_ Drake said. __an__ have you people running around loose._ He must have seen Sam start to react because he stuck his gun against Astrid__ head. __our call, Sam. You so much as flinch and we__l get to see what a genius brain really looks like.___ey, I got no powers, man,_ Quinn said.__his is sick, Drake. Like you__e sick,_ Astrid said. __ can__ even reason with you because you__e just too damaged, too hopelessly messed up.___hut up.

No," Lana said, "I'm not going to heal your scratch.""Good," Sanjit said."Good? Why good?""Because when you hold my hand, I don't want it to be work for you.

Lana's going through them one at a time. Healing them. She's amazing."Sam thought he heard something extra in Edilio's voice. "She's cute too, huh Edilio?"Edilio's eyes went wide and started blushing. "She's just...you know..."Sam slapped his shoulder. "Good luck with that.""You think she...I mean, you know me, I'm just..." Edilio stammered his way to a stop."Dude, let's see if we can stay alive. Then you can ask her out or whatever.

Dare to blaze.

Guys, he__ hurt bad.__he blonde scrambled to him. She tore the wounded boy__ shirt open. A river of blood ran down his chest.__h, God, no,_ the blonde cried.Lana pushed her aside and laid a hand against the pumping wound. __e__l live,_ Lana said. ____l fix him.___hat do you mean, you__l fix him?_ the blonde demanded. __e need stitches, we need a doctor. Look at how he__ bleeding.__ana said, __hat__ your name?___strid, what does it matter? He___ She stopped talking then and leaned in close to see. __he bloodflow is slowing.___eah. I noticed that, too,_ Lana said dryly. __elax. He__l be fine. In fact_ She tilted her head to get a better look at him. __n fact, I__l bet when he__ not covered in blood, he__ cute. Your boyfriend?___hat__ not what it__ about,_ Astrid snapped. Then, in a low voice, like she didn__ want the others to hear, she said, __ind of.

Sam, can you, you know, like burn that concrete off her hands?___o. I can__ aim that precisely.___ don__ even know what can be done,_ Edilio said as he fed the girl another microscopic bite of food. __ou try and break that stuff off with a sledge hammer or something, or even a hammer and a chisel, it__ going to really hurt. Probably break every bone in her hands, man.___ho would have done this to her?_ Lana wondered.__hat__ a Coates Academy uniform,_ Astrid answered. __e__e probably not far from there.