Day 0

Molly had strange dreams. Faces, numbers, shapes, colours, all unnaturally bright and confusing. The dreams seem to last a long time.

Gentle voices started to infiltrate them, Molly realised she was waking up. She opened her eyes and saw two pairs of eyes looking back at her, one she recognised, the other she didn't.

"Molly, are you alright?" Astrid asked, moving back slightly.

"Astrid?" Molly murmured, her head feeling heavy as if she was in water.

"Yes, and this is Sam, Sam Temple. Do you want to sit up?"

"Yeah, where's Pete?"

"He's in the corner, playing his game. Get up slowly." Astrid warned, Molly nodded and then Sam and Astrid helped her sit up, she pushed herself over to the sofa and leaned back onto it. She rubbed her eyes and felt the back of her head where she was unsurprised to feel a bump.

There were two other unfamiliar boys in the room, both looking stressed and rather tired. They had to be the same age as Astrid, what on earth were they doing in the powerplant?

"What are you kids doing in here? Where is everyone?"

"Something weird has happened." Sam said, looking unsure and scratching his elbow in a nervous way.

"What do you mean by weird?" Molly's entire career was based around weird things, they had lost their appeal.

"Something you can definitely use in your research, Molly." Astrid said, a brave stab at humour.

"I'm Quinn, this is Edilio." Quinn said, pointing his thumb towards Edilio who nodded at her.

"I'm Molly, Molly Winter." She replied, rubbing her head again. She noticed Little Pete sat in the corner, absorbed by his game.

"Can you remember what happened? When you were knocked out? Or before it?" Sam asked, passing Molly a can of Coke, she opened it and gulped greedily. Normally she preferred Diet Coke but she was too thirsty to be fussy.

"Thanks. Yeah, I was sitting here, Andrew was making a cup of tea when the alarms went off. He asked me to watch Pete and then ran off. Pete started screaming, I went over to him. I tried to talk to him but it was so loud I didn't think he could hear me so I went to put my hand on his shoulder, then…" Molly tailed off, trying to this past the contact.

"What?" Quinn asked, urgently.

"Nothing…I can't remember anything else, it's just a blank, where are the plant workers? How did you lot even get in here?"

"How old are you?" Edilio asked, quite randomly.

"Umm…haven't you been taught that it's rude to ask a woman her age?" Molly replied, smiling slightly.

"He's Mex…Honduran, anyway, that must be a British thing. How old are you?" Quinn pressed.

"Twenty two, why?" Molly replied, taking another slurp of Coke.

"Because yesterday morning, everyone over the age of fourteen disappeared, everyone, except you." Sam said, looking at her with relief evident in his eyes. Molly thought it was a joke, a prank on the outsider, but then she saw Quinn turn to cry.

"What?" Sam repeated his claim.

"Oh, and also, Sam here can shoot light out of his hands, I forgot that part!" Quinn said, turning back and looking angry.

"Are you winding me up?" Molly asked, looking at Astrid who was the only one she had met before and had any reason to trust.

"No, seriously, something impossible has happened…"

"It's just kids, and you." Edilio said. "Oh, and there's a big wall, I mean huge wall that we think is covering the town, twenty mile radius with this at the centre." He added, throwing up his arms.

"I…" Molly stopped because she had no idea what to say. This was impossible.

"Have you…?"

"Called the cops, tried. The TV, radio and internet are all down, we still have power though." Said Sam, looking around at the control room.

"So, you're saying that all the adults in town have vanished…"

"We like to call it, poofed. One second the teacher is talking about the civil war and then…poof!" Quinn said, clicking his fingers.

"Cars have crashed all over the place, there was a fire in an apartment and a little girl died, she could produce flames of light as well, didn't save her though. Only a toddler!" Sam said, sitting down and sighing. Molly started to feel scared, something about these kids told her that they weren't joking.

"When did this happen? How long have I been out of it?"

"Yesterday morning, I went to Clifftop yesterday to see if Petey was there and then this morning we came here and found you, I thought there might be more of you…" Molly wished there were more of her, or not her at all.

"Sorry, just me I guess, have you searched the rest of the buildings, this place is huge?"

"Yeah, everywhere, while Sam and Astrid were trying to wake you up."

"Fuck, oh sorry, I'm not really used to being around children." Molly winced at her swearing but the boys laughed and even Astrid gave a weak smile.

"Well until we get rescued, you're it." Edilio said, shrugging.

"Can you drive us back to Perdido Beach?" Sam asked, Molly nodded.

"Let me eat something first, I'm starving." They raided the vending machines, Molly discovered that American chocolate tasted different, and then walked into the car park.

"Which one's yours?" Quinn asked.

"The blue fiesta. Pete will have to sit on your lap, Astrid." She nodded and they piled into the car.

"Ready, seat belts on?"

"Seat…" Quinn started but Edilio cut across him.

"Safety belts."

"Yeah, I guess if there are no other cars I can drive on the right side of the road though." Sam laughed and nodded.

"So, what are the kids doing? Freaking out?"

"Yeah, crying, looting, it's a blast!" Quinn snapped, Sam gave Molly a shaky smile from the passenger seat.

"Marvellous, probably a bad time to point out that I'm not great with kids, I mean teenagers, fine, under three's fine, anything in between…"

"Noted." Said Astrid with a laugh.

"We better get rescued quickly, how many kids are we talking about?"

"About three hundred." Astrid supplied.

"Three hundred scared kids, any of you ever read Lord of the Flies?"

"The one with Gandalf?" Quinn asked.

"No, that's Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys that get stranded on a desert island and turn into savages." Astrid said, nodding at Molly.

"Well, at least we've got girl power on our deserted island. Let's go."

As they drove into the town Astrid confided that she knew that her brother had started showing impossible powers, such as transporting himself into Astrid's room when he was scared.

"Could he have created this?" Sam asked, looking at Molly for answers.

"I think we're outside the realm of possibility, anything can happen. I wouldn't tell anyone about Little Pete though, Astrid. The rest of you keep it to yourselves, scared people do crazy things and I'm doubting children will be any different."

They passed a few crashed cars, and an upturned lorry that Molly scrapped the car getting past.

"There goes my deposit." She muttered. Edilio laughed behind her.

"Where am I going?" She asked, as they reached the outskirts. She already had the creeps and they'd only passed a few children, all of which ran after the car at the sight of an adult.

"Town centre, most kids are there." Sam said, he directed her and when they reached the plaza there were so many kids around the car that Molly struggled to open the door.

"Let us get out!" Sam yelled, kids moved back respectfully and Edilio climbed out and then opened the door for Molly.

"Thanks."

"No problem, guys back up!"

"What's going on?"

"Are you the police?"

"My mummy's gone!"

"Where is everyone?"

"Guy's shut up, let's go into the church, it will be easier to talk to them in there." Molly nodded at Sam's words and then led the flock of children into a large Catholic church. Astrid bowed and crossed herself and then led Molly up to the stage.

"Okay, quiet!" Sam yelled. There was instant silence. Sam had some unknown power, one that Molly thought had little to do with an ability to produce light.

"Thanks Sam. So, my name's Molly and…" What was she supposed to say to these kids, she thought with a panicked mind?

"Who are you?" A tall black kid asked.

"Are we on the TV? Is it a hidden camera show?" One girl said, looking around and straightening her hair.

"No, listen! My name's Molly. I've just been in America for a few weeks, working at the power plant. I'm not sure what's happened, I don't know where the adults are but…"

"You're the only adult here?" A weedy boy asked, looking as if he was sizing Molly up. Molly knew that she posed no threat, some of the older kids were taller than her and if she were chased she had little desire to run away, her knees hating movement at the best of times.

"Yeah, and although we don't know what's going on we're going to have to figure out a way to get along and stay friends until we're rescued, okay?" Some of the younger kids looked reassured and Molly wished she had someone to reassure her.

"What about…?"

"Hey, cars are coming!" A boy yelled, running in from the outside.

"Thank fuck." Molly muttered, only loud enough for Sam to hear, he snorted and they started to walk outside.

By the time Molly left the church there was a teenager, probably fourteen, speaking to the crowd.

"…all have the same problems now. And we should work together to deal with our problems, don't you think?"

"Do you know what happened?" A voice from behind the cars asked.

"No. I don't think we probably know any more than you. Everyone fifteen and over disappeared. And there's the wall, the barrier."

"We call it the FAYZ." The same boy that had asked if Molly was the only adult, said.

"The phase?" The boy in the car asked.

"F-A-Y-Z. Fallout Alley Youth Zone." Molly wondered how long she had until someone remembered she was here. That she was an adult. The boy's exchanged compliments.

"…sense of humour when the world seems to have suddenly become a very strange place. What's your name?" This boy was too confident, too prepared.

"Howard. I'm the Captain's number-one guy. Captain Orc."

"I hope you and Captain Orc will join me and anyone else who wants to sit down and talk about our plans for the future. Because we do have plans for the future." Definitely too prepared. These kids knew something. A lot more than Molly knew.

"I want my mom!" A small boy cried. The boy jumped down from the car and walked over, at that moment a girl a few feet in front of Molly turned around and pointed at her.

"We have Molly!"

"Molly?" The new boy asked.

"Yeah, she's a growned up!" A boy, no older than seven said.

"What?" A girl from behind the newcomer said. She had long dark hair and in control features.

Molly stepped forwards and she saw the faces of the new kids pale, as if they had been caught doing something wrong.

"Hey, I'm Molly."

"You're an adult?" A nerdy looking kid asked, Molly could see relief sweep through him.

"Yep."

"You're older than fifteen?" The pretty dark-haired girl asked.

"Definitely." Molly replied confidently.

"How old are you?" The boy demanded.

"Seriously, don't you know it's rude to ask a British woman their age?" Edilio said, from behind Molly, she smiled but answered anyway.

"I'm twenty two, and no, I don't know what happened and where the other adults are. I was at the power plant, I got knocked unconscious, I woke up and suddenly I'm the responsible adult!" It was hard to keep the slight hysteria out of her voice and she hoped that the kids hadn't detected it.

The new kids did not reply, clearly completely blind-sided by her appearance.

"So?" Molly said, "You were saying, working together, making your families proud…?"

"Yeah, I'm Caine, Caine Soren. We're from Coates Academy."

"Which is … a school?" She asked, looking at Astrid who nodded.

"Yeah, up the hill. Umm…perhaps we could have a meeting…with the older kids." Caine said, hesitating and unsure now.

"What an excellent idea, any volunteers?" Molly said, clapping her hands to denote a time for action.

"Sam should do it!"

"Yeah, Sam Temple!"

Sam looked very reluctant, even as the children were singing his praises and telling Caine about him charging into a burning building.

"Temple? Are you related to our school nurse, Connie Temple?"

"She's my mother."

"I'm not surprised that she would have a brave son. She's a very good woman. I see you're humble as well as brave, Sam, but I … we…" He gestured to Molly as an afterthought, "we need your help."

Fifteen minutes later fifteen children and Molly walked inside the church and sat on the front rows.

The introduced themselves quickly.

Sam Temple.

Quinn Gaither.

Astrid and Little Pete.

Albert Hillsborough, a black boy with determination in his eyes.

Mary Terrafino, who had paint all over her clothes and looked exhausted.

Elwood Booker, a tall athletic boy.

Dahra Baidoo, a small and cute black girl with a slightly lopsided smile.

Orc, a tall and large kid who looked slightly dim.

Howard Bassem, walking so close to Orc that they were practically stepping on each other's feet.

Cookie. Molly wondered if that was actually his now, America was a strange place.

Caine Soren, the enigmatic would-be leader.

Drake Merwin, who looked at Molly in a way that made her feel ridiculously uncomfortable. She had to remind herself that these people were just kids, scared kids but kids nonetheless.

Jack, Computer Jack as he said everyone called him.

Diana Ladris, standing close to Caine and looking at him with shrewd eyes. There was definitely a history between those two.

"Right, who's going to tell me what you know?" Molly said, looking at the Coates kids.

"What makes you think we know anything?" Diane shot back, folding her arms.

"Don't play games with me, you're just a tad too prepared." None of them replied so Molly sighed and signalled to Caine. "So, tell us your plan, your plan that was rudely interrupted by my clearly very unexpected existence." Caine took a moment to reply, but when he did it was rehearsed.

"We need to work together. I think we should organise so that things aren't destroyed, and problems can be handled. I think our goal should be to maintain. So that once the barrier comes down, and once the disappeared people come back, they will find that we've done a pretty darn good job of keeping things together."

"The Captain is already maintaining."

Molly watched the conversation unfold, it seemed that Caine had forgot she was even there. It was only when they started discussing the pre-school that Molly was brought back into the conversation.

"…we need help. Molly, would you be able to?" Mary said, looking desperately at her.

"I think, if I'm the only adult in the FAYZ-plus-one then I need to be available to more than just the younger kids. Do you have pastoral jobs at your schools here? Someone who deals with problems that aren't related to schoolwork?"

"Yeah, like counsellors?" Sam said.

"Exactly. I need to be impartial. I can see that you're setting yourself up to be in charge Caine, and I'm not going to challenge that, but I want to be known that I'm not going to get involved with leadership squabbles should they arise." And Molly knew they would.

"You'll let him be in charge?" Albert said, clearly distrustful of the Coates kids.

"I'm just one adult, if you were all to charge at me now, I couldn't do a thing about it so I'm opting out. I want to find out about all the kids, be organised, make small 'family' for want of a better word, groups."

"That's a good idea, we've got toddlers living alone, it's dangerous." Mary said, biting her lip.

"Exactly, we don't know how long this is going to last, but I want to minimise the tragedy. You guys can work for the town, or the FAYZ, but I'll work for the kids and you'll let me, got it?" Caine looked unsure so she continued, "Do you seriously want to deal with petty arguments about whose turn it is to make dinner every night?"

"No." Said Caine quickly.

"Well then, let me."

"Okay, I understand." He replied, nodding slightly.

"You'll need some help, to get to know the kids." Quinn said, Molly nodded and Astrid stepped forwards.

"I can do that, I'll get the school files and the town records, so we know which houses should have kids in."

"Deal, Mary can deal with the pre-schoolers, with supervision from Molly, and Molly can help with the older ones. You all have absolute authority to draft whatever people you need, and demand whatever supplies you need. If anyone argues, Drake and his people, including Captain Orc, will make sure you get what you need."

"Say what, now? I let it go before, but are you saying Orc works for this guy?" Howard said, pointing at Drake. "We don't work for anyone. Captain Orc doesn't work for anyone, or under anyone, or follow anyone's orders."

Molly was about to step forwards when Caine sighed and smoothed down his hair.

There was a rumble, a sound of ripping, and then the crucifix pulled away from the wall, as if a giant hand were pulling it away.

Caine dropped his arms and the cross fell, straight onto Cookie, the blow struck his shoulder and Molly was frozen at the sight.

Molly looked up at Caine and he held her gaze, daring her to say anything.

She looked away and walked over to where Dahra and Elwood were helping Cookie.

"I know some first aid." Dahra said, frantically.

"I guess we have our new nurse. We'll adjourn this meeting until Cookie is stable."

The Coates kids left quickly.

"Do you have a hospital?" Molly asked, kneeling down next to the flailing kid.

"Yeah, well a medical centre with a few beds, we'll get him there." Said Elwood.

"I'll be there once I've been to the day care." When Molly looked up she realised that Astrid, Sam and Little Pete were gone, Quinn as well.

Molly walked to the day care with Mary, both of them in a shocked silence.

"How many kids have you got?" Molly asked.

"Umm…I don't know…maybe thirty, but some must still be in their homes."

"Okay, what about the ages?"

"Most of them are toddlers but we've got some littlies, I'm trying to get into the filing cabinet but I've had no time. I've not slept!" Molly nodded and looked around to see a group of three girls, standing and watching them.

"You three, come here." They obeyed.

When they arrived in the nursery she tasked the girls with watching, what seemed like a herd of, kids and walked with Mary and her little brother John into the office.


A/N So the FAYZ-plus-one has begun, what do you think? The part with LP choking Sam has been taken out for a reason.

TheZombieWolf- Thanks.

HopeAndFaithAndCharity- There may be spoilers but I'll try to put a warning in for you. Read the rest of the books, I read them in a week, I couldn't put them down!