Chapter 1
Sam Temple was staring at the one place that haunted his nightmares every night. Except this time, he was really there.
Astrid Ellison gripped his arm with her own and looked up at him. In the three years since the FAYZ finally ended, they both were still abnormally skinny and had strangely sunken eyes for kids their age. And that was nothing compared to their mental state, which the doctors had warned would never be quite normal again.
Still, Astrid looked quite pretty. Her blonde hair was sleek and professionally curled, and she wore a white sweater over a white dress. She wore two crystal earrings in each of her ears and dabbed a little makeup on her face. Sam was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his hair combed. They looked much older than eighteen-year-olds.
"Are you ready?" Astrid whispered.
No. Sam didn't think he'd ever be ready, which was why he had made up excuses for three years. At first, he put effort into scheduling different appointments and whatnot on the days they recommended. But lately, he had flat out refused. PTSD had become his number one answer.
Then he watched Dekka visit. He had seen her on TV, watched her stroll through the empty streets. Seen her smile at Toto's house, where they had found all that Nutella. The sweet, sweet Nutella. Seen her weep at Brianna's gravestone. A picture of all of the kids who had passed away had been broadcast to the entire world. Brianna was second to last, her smile wider than ever. It had been taken before the FAYZ, at Brianna's first race…
The last picture had been of Drake Merwin. His Coates Academy yearbook picture, because no one could track down another one. Sam had to look away when he saw that picture. Had to turn the TV off and start repeating the words his therapist told him.
I'm okay. I will get through this. It's not real. It's just a memory.
It's over.
"It's not going to be over, Sam," Astrid had told him the night before. That had been the third anniversary of the day the FAYZ began.
November tenth.
"It isn't going to be over without closure," she explained as she sat beside him. "You need to go back. You need to see that it truly is over. It isn't going to happen again?"
So Sam had agreed, but the only person he wanted to visit with him was Astrid. He didn't want the cameramen there, sticking cameras in his face to capture his reaction. He didn't want interviewers blabbing away trying to peel away his focus.
"Ready," Sam replied, taking a deep breath.
The FAYZ has been isolated ever since the kids had been rescued. It was a memorial of sorts. Tourists ate it up, booked special visits just to see what Perdido Beach had become. Sam had heard of them taking pictures beside the McDonalds, the church. It was sickening.
A Carl's Junior was within walking distance. Walking distance...kids had starved, had been forced to eat their own pets, and there were hamburgers and milkshakes less than a mile away. Astrid gripped Sam's arm tighter.
"Let's go, then," she said. They began to walk.
They were where the graves were. It was hardly where Sam wanted to start, but there wasn't another option.
He tried to read the lids and other things they used for stones, but he couldn't quite make them all out. Bette, one read. The girl who was killed by Orc. Hanna. Jason. Sam didn't remember some of the kids and felt a pang of guilt. He should have made more of an effort. All these things he should have done…
"Sam," whispered Astrid. "Let's-let's keep moving, okay?"
The FAYZ, normally cluttered with visitors, had been cleared out specifically for Sam and Astrid to visit. On days where survivors visited, no one else was allowed inside.
"There's the McDonald's," Astrid said softly.
The McDonald's where Albert had become a leader. He had fed kids before the patties and fries ran out. From there he had created the 'Berto, the FAYZ currency. Sam had only seen Albert a couple of times since the FAYZ, and as far as he knew, he was doing alright. As alright as he could be.
"There's the daycare," Sam pointed. They walked like this for at least an hour, one of them pointing out a memory and the other nodding. They never let go of one another.
Finally, Sam could take it no longer. "Can we leave?" he asked Astrid.
Sensing what Sam was feeling, she nodded. "Of course," she told him. "Let's just call the crew, and they'll pick us-"
The "up" was lost in a sudden gust of wind that knocked Astrid onto the ground. Sam hurriedly helped her up, her dress smudged with dirt.
"Sam?"
"Dekka?"
"Astrid?"
"Edilio?"
Sam was gaping incredulously at the faces he hadn't seen in months. Dekka, with her straightened hair and face full of makeup; Edilio, in a freshly ironed polo shirt; Lana, who had grown quite tall and now towered over him. Diana, who lived in the same apartment building as he and Astrid, was crinkling her eyebrows, gazing around at everyone.
"How did you all get here?" Astrid demanded.
Dekka held her hands up as if surrendering. "Don't ask me. I was in class like always, when suddenly…"
"Poof," Edilio supplied.
"Don't," Sam and Astrid snapped together. The word "Poof" still gave him shivers, along with the words "Drake", "light", and "hungry". He never used the word hungry anymore.
"Sorry, man," Edilio said, eyebrows raised.
"Hey!" someone yelled. A younger voice. Astrid met Sam's gaze.
"They're not all here," she said in a hushed whisper. "It's impossible."
"Well, are we just going to stand around?" Lana cut in. "Let's see if anyone else is here."
No one bothered to argue. Sam, his head pounding, followed the rest of them through the streets.
Sure enough, spaced out almost perfectly, were groups of at least five kids. None were younger than five or six. And all of them were at least vaguely familiar…
"Sam!" they cried.
"Astrid!"
"Lana! What's happening?"
"Just wait," Sam would tell them all. Each kid looked well put together; they all had been given fair amounts of money and care. The boys had expensive haircuts and the girls wore stylish clothes, and everyone had an iPhone or some other high tech device.
"What just happened?" Astrid asked the group. Dekka turned to them all.
"Can we get out?" she asked no one in particular. No one answered.
Suddenly, Sam couldn't take it anymore. He took off in a sprint towards where he and Astrid had answered the FAYZ. He heard footsteps coming after him but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until he reached the sand.
Something like an invisible wall had hit Sam and made him fall backwards onto the dirt. "No," he whispered. Then he shouted. "NO!"
He held a hand up to the air. The barrier was back.
"Sam," breathed Edilio, who had clearly been the fastest after Sam. He was bent over, hands on his knees as he fought to regain his breath. "You can't do that, man."
"Feel it," he ordered Edilio, pointing at the seemingly normal air. Edilio pressed a palm against the barrier and yanked it back.
"Are you saying…" he croaked. The two boys' eyes met. Sam felt the sudden urge to break down in tears, and he guessed Edilio felt the same way.
"How?" Edilio asked him, his voice cracking. "Why?"
Sam glanced out at the hotels. The Carl's Junior. Did anyone notice? When would they send help?
Could they even be helped now?