Gone

pudding, that’s what I want. I’ve been dreaming about it.”
    She hauled out a can and feverishly worked the can opener. She didn’t wait for a dish or spoon, but thrust her hand in and scooped some into her mouth. Then she stood transfixed, overwhelmed by the wonderful sweetness of it.
    She was crying when she said, “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten how to be polite. I’ll get you guys your own can.”
    Sam hobbled over and scooped some pudding of his own, following her lead. “I’m way past polite myself,” he said, although she could see he was a little appalled by her wolfish behavior. She decided then that she liked him.
    “Listen, Sam, and everyone, you need to know something so it won’t freak you out: Pack Leader can speak. I mean, human words. Like Smart-Girl Barbie there was saying, he’s some kind of mutant or whatever. I know you think I’m probably crazy.”
    She had Hermit Jim’s tin cup now and used it to scoop up another helping of wonderful, wonderful pudding. Blondie—Astrid—was 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. “That’s what people are calling it. The Fallout Alley Youth Zone. FAYZ.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Have you seen the barrier?”
    She nodded. “Oh, yeah. I’ve 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. “That’s important.”
    “It’s basically pi,” Astrid said. “You know, 3.14159265…. Okay, I’ll stop.”
    Lana hadn’t 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 there’s this barrier and people…animals…”
    Lana slowly absorbed this new information. “You mean all the adults? They’re 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.”
    “I’ve done all I can to strengthen the door,” Edilio announced. “But all I have is nails. Someone can break it in eventually.”
    “Maybe they didn’t all ditch,” Lana said. “Maybe we did.”
    Astrid said, “That’s definitely one of the possibilities, not that it makes any real difference. It’s effectively the same thing.”
    So the blonde was definitely a brain. Lana wondered about her little brother. He was awfully quiet for a little kid.
    “My grandfather disappeared while he was driving the truck,” Lana said, recalling that terrible day. “The truck crashed. And I was dying. I mean, bones sticking out. Gangrene. Then, it was like I could just heal. My dog. Myself. And I don’t know why.”
    From beyond the wooden door came a sudden chorus of excited yelps.
    “Pack Leader’s here,” Lana said. She crossed to the sink and picked up Hermit Jim’s kitchen knife. She turned to Sam, her expression fierce. “I’ll stab him in his heart if he comes in here.”
    Sam and Edilio both drew their knives.
    From outside the door, just inches away, came the strangled, snarling, high-pitched voice. “Human. Come out.”
    “No,” Lana yelled.
    “Human. Come out.”
    Lana said, “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.”
    Astrid smiled. “Nice,” she whispered.
    “Human. Come out. Human teach Pack Leader. Human say.”
    “Lesson number one, you filthy, ugly, nasty, mangy animal: Never trust a human.”
    That resulted in a protracted silence.
    “The Darkness,” Pack Leader growled.
    Lana felt fear contract her heart. “Go ahead. Go tell your master in the mine all about it.” She started to say that shewasn’t afraid of the Darkness. But those words would have sounded false.
    “What’s this about a mine?” Sam asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “Then why is that coyote out there talking about it? What’s this darkness thing?”
    Lana shook her head. “I don’t know.