BLACK CLOUDS BILLOWED out from behind the Newstead Tesco. The air turned grey and each breath tasted of charcoal and burned Carla Hay's lungs. She skidded to a halt at the edge of the car park, having sprinted from the high school.

Taylor and Jeremy had tailed her there, while some of the fifth years were already on the scene. There were a lot of kids milling around the area, but it looked as though the fifth years were in charge.

One, a girl wearing a vice- house captain pin and skinny jeans instead of proper school trousers approached them. 'I've sent someone to fetch a fire engine. He says he can drive a tractor but I'm not hopeful. I'm Bella, by the way,' she said, putting her hand out.

She shook it. 'Carla Hay.'

'I thought so. Good job organising everything back at the high school. And setting up the meeting in the morning. The library, was it?'

'Town hall, ten sharp,' Carla replied. Ever since she picked up that very first book, she hadn't been able to stop thinking: what would I do if the FAYZ happened here? And now it had, and she was going to do everything she could to avoid the catastrophes in the series. When the barrier comes down, people will congratulate her for her quick-thinking and for keeping everyone safe.

Bella was tall and pretty, with tanned skin and brown hair kept back in a neat ponytail. She tended to a hipster look, which might explain why she was on the pupil council and still thought she could pick and choose what aspects of the uniform policy she would follow. Carla also recognised her and her brother, standing in the crowd behind her, as waiters in the Italian restaurant on Commercial Road. It must belong to their parents. She might also have a crush.

She turned back to the supermarket. She'd anticipated a fire. With as many houses in town as there were, it would be foolish to assume there wasn't a case of forgotten candles or faulty wiring. But she'd forgotten all the businesses in town.

'We can't wait for it to burn down,' she said. 'There's food and– oh my god, I sent people in here to fetch supplies and stuff!'

Bella rested a hand on her shoulder. She felt butterflies in her belly.

'Don't worry, Oscar led the evacuation. But you're right, we can't afford to lose any of the stock, so what are we going to do about it?'

She wrought her hands. 'We go in and stop it.'

Bella lowered her voice. 'Do you have the power?'

'No,' she said. 'Do you?'

She shook her head, then gathered everyone around. 'Listen up! We're trying to get a fire engine down here, but it's going to take some time. So, Carla and I need volunteers to go inside and put this fire out now. Anyone?'

Taylor put his hand straight up, as did Bella's brother. There was a long pause where everyone just looked at one another. Running into a burning building was for highly trained adults and the suicidal, after all. Then she spotted Eva, from Miss Sinclair's geography class, hug her little sister before putting her hand up, too.

Carla nodded for them to come forward and they crossed the car park together. Soon the wail of the fire alarm pounded her eardrums.

Eva took a scarf out of her bag and tore it into pieces that Bella's brother soaked with his water bottle for everyone to tie around their faces, like Sam had in Gone. She hoped none of the others had Sam's power. She didn't want to end up like that little girl. They were still twenty feet away, but Carla's eyes stung from the smoke.

'It's coming from that side, must've started in the café kitchen,' she said.

Taylor coughed.

Bella pointed at him. 'You and I will sweep the store, make sure there's no one still inside. You three look for a fire extinguisher or six, then we all tackle it together, clear?'

Everyone nodded.

'And stay together,' she added.

The automatic doors still worked. All Carla wanted was to turn on her heel and run, but still she went inside. She wondered if everyone else felt the same. Even firefighters.

Inside, the air was black. The heat, intense. The fire alarm, constant. She sensed, rather than saw, Bella and Taylor leave to sweep the customer toilets.

She swallowed her nerves. She knew which way to the café and signalled the others to follow her.

Visibility was low. She could hardly see the overhead lights, or the ceiling at all. She couldn't see the rest of the store past the checkouts. She couldn't see back the way they came. But they found the café. Smoke and orange light poured out from the kitchen. She went down to the table end where the air was cleaner. A broken window explained where the smoke was leaking from. It also provided them a quick escape.

She found the fire extinguisher in the corner and grabbed it. When she turned around, she realised that she was alone.

'Eva?' She called. 'Eva!'

Carla forced herself to walk back into the thick smoke, still calling out.

'We're here!' She heard them call.

She coughed, and then she thought she couldn't stop. She bent over, chocking on the poisonous gases.

'Carla!' Eva shouted. She grabbed her by the shoulders and slapped her back.

Her airway cleared and she heaved, spitting into the scarf tied around her face. 'Where're the others?'

'I don't know!' Eva shouted back.

The fire was getting bigger, louder. The alarms continued to assault her ears, and she could see less and less. This was sensory overload, she began to understand.

'We have to put this out,' the boy yelled. He had another red can in his hands.

'She said wait and do it together!' Said Eva.

'We don't have time!' Carla told her. 'The fire is still contained to the kitchen, we can put it out. But we have to do it now.'

Eva hesitated.

'You don't have to,' Carla said. 'You can leave. We've got this.'

'I'm coming!' She said.

Carla and the boy stood in front ready to put the fire out, with Eva to the rear to find the emergency power switch. There'd be one, she was sure.

There were two ways into the kitchen: one from behind the counter and another from the seating area. They tried the latter first, but the door was stuck shut, so they were forced to go behind the counter where the door was wedged open with by a tray on the floor.

She fumbled with the lever, but a second later they were both spraying down the counters and the walls. They found the source of the fire- a chip pan, just as they were running out of whatever stuff was in the cans.

The flames would start to spread again if they didn't act soon.

'I found the switch!' She called. 'Put that fire out!'

'With what?' Eva asked.

'Fill a bucket with water or something,' she told her. She fumbled with the torch on her phone so she could get the cupboard door open, then climbed up onto the counter to get a better look. She coughed again.

'Wait- what are you doing?' She heard the boy yell. 'Eva, no!'

Eva emptied the bucket over the fryer.

Steam and fire erupted out of the pan, engulfing the others and blinding Carla. Heat seared her back and lower leg.

She knew she was screaming, but she couldn't hear it. Not that or the alarm or the crackling fire. She and Eva and the boy and the ceiling all fell to the floor, bringing darkness.

A light shone into her eyes, obscuring the faces of the people looking down on her. Angels, Carla thought. No, doctors.

No, she corrected herself again. No doctors in the FAYZ. There were no adults at all.

'She's alive! Help me get her out!'

They dug her out of the debris, then lifted her onto a sheet and carried her out. The fire was out. It was still dark, but it was a blue dark, not an orange one.

She swayed uneasily in the sheet until they were out of the kitchen and she felt the urge to be sick. The kids hauling her stopped and helped her sit up, so she could empty her lunch onto the floor. Someone brought her water and she chugged it down. Then they got her back into the makeshift stretcher and took her outside.

Carla had forgotten how sunny it had been outside. It had been a lovely day until the adults vanished. Now the sight of the sky burned her eyes. They let her down and cut away her burned clothes, washed her burns and lay cold compresses on top.

She knew who most of the first aiders were but couldn't think of their names. What she needed was a Lana, a healer.

She took in her surroundings. She was back in the car park, and the fire engine had made it down the hill. A white sheet was laid out on the tarmac. A girl was screaming and crying while older kids restrained her. She saw Taylor kneel in front of her, his head low.

She heard a great bellowing, just out of sight.

'Who's that?' She tried to ask. Her voice was hoarse.

The girl with her— Aminah— looked over her shoulder. 'Oscar. He's really bad.'

'Eva?'

Aminah bit her lip. 'She didn't make it.'

Carla closed her eyes. Four hours into the FAYZ mark 2.0, and she'd already failed.