Listen, Sam, and everyone, you need to know something so it wont freak you out: Pack Leader can speak. I mean, human words. Like Smart-Girl Barbie there was saying, hes some kind of mutant or whatever. I know you think Im probably crazy.She had Hermit Jims tin cup now and used it to scoop up another helping of wonderful, wonderful pudding. BlondieAstridwas opening a can of fruit cocktail.What do you know about the FAYZ? Astrid asked.Lana stopped eating and stared at her. The what?Astrid shrugged and looked embarrassed. Thats what people are calling it. The Fallout Alley Youth Zone. FAYZ.What does that mean?Have you seen the barrier?She nodded. Oh, yeah. Ive seen the barrier. I touched the barrier, which, by the way, is not a good idea.Sam said, As 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.Circumference of 62.83 miles, with an area of 314.159 square miles, Astrid said.Point 159, Quinn echoed from his corner. Thats important.Its basically pi, Astrid said. You know, 3.14159265. Okay, Ill stop.Lana hadnt stopped being hungry. She took a scoop of the fruit cocktail. Sam, you think the power plant caused it?Sam shrugged, and then he hesitated, surprised. Lana guessed that he felt no pain in his shoulder. No one knows. All of a sudden every single person over the age of fourteen disappears and theres this barrier and peopleanimalsLana slowly absorbed this new information. You mean all the adults? Theyre gone?Poof, Quinn said. They ditched. They blinked out. They vacated. They took the off-ramp. They cut a hole. They emigrated. Adults and teenagers. Nothing left but kids.Ive done all I can to strengthen the door, Edilio announced. But all I have is nails. Someone can break it in eventually.Maybe they didnt all ditch, Lana said. Maybe we did.Astrid said, Thats definitely one of the possibilities, not that it makes any real difference. Its effectively the same thing.