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orphanage. While the schoolmaster and a few of the counselors lived on the upper floors of the orphanage, most of the staff was away on Sunday, doing whatever it was adults did when they didn’t have to work.
    Ana pushed through the heavy iron doors, eager to get upstairs and alone, so she could read her note.
    She went to the main desk to sign in. As she waved her wrist, and the chip inside it, across the black square glass in the large reception desk, she was greeted by Merta, a large, unfriendly woman who seemed right at home in the long, black, shapeless dresses the staff were required to wear.
    Tonight, however, the woman greeted her with a rare smile.
    “Congratulations, your father really pulled off a stunner!” she boomed.
    “Yeah,” Ana said, trying to be friendly and avoid explaining how she’d wished The Darwin Games were over already, and whether that meant her father dying or winning, she didn’t really care. She just wanted to stop seeing his face on TV every damned day. Ana smiled, suddenly meaning it because she thought about how Michael said her smiles seemed like she was trying to keep her gas in.
    “To Jonah!” Merta said, raising her fist — one of the more annoying ways fans of the show celebrated their favorite contestants.
    “To Jonah,” Ana repeated, playing along and raising her fist halfheartedly.
    Ana smiled again, then left the main desk, went to the elevators, and pushed the up arrow button. From behind, Merta said, “They’re out of order again.”
    Ana closed her eyes.
    Of course.
    Ana began the long trek up to the 25th floor, eager to reach the restroom on her level, the only place where she could find the privacy she needed to read the note. As she ascended the stairs, Ana wondered how Adam was doing.
    He said he’d made friends with a group of boys a bit older than he, and she was happy to hear it. She also knew that her baby brother was too trusting and could be easily taken advantage of. She planned to meet the boys on Sunday and check them out for herself. Ana hoped they’d be as nice as Adam insisted they were. She hated the thought of someone having fun at her brother’s expense, like what used to happen back home and in regular school all too often — kids making fun of the daft kid because they figured he didn’t get it.
    Adam wasn’t daft. He was damned smart. Just quiet, and had some trouble communicating with others in a normal way. That didn’t make him stupid.
    If Ana found out these kids were messing with him, they’d have hell to pay — even if it meant her getting thrown into The Rock’s basement for a spell.
    Ana pushed open the door on the 25th floor and passed two girls chatting in the hall, ignoring their cries of “To Jonah!” along with their fist salutes, and headed straight for the restroom and a private stall.
    Ana went to the farthest stall, sat to pee, then slid the note from her pants pocket and carefully opened the note.
    It read:
    874 Stone Street Church
    Sunday
    Come alone
    And don’t let The Watchers see you.
    It was the address of the small church with the slightly crooked sign, across the street from Ana’s old apartment.

CHAPTER 4 — Jonah Lovecraft
    The Barrens
    the next morning
    J onah felt like his heart would burst. Then it did.
    He stopped, clutching at the burning in his chest. Once he realized nothing had erupted, and that it only felt as if he were going to die, but he wasn’t yet dying, he pushed himself to run faster.
    It had been a while since Jonah had heard any zombies, and even longer since he had felt them. After another 20 minutes, he stopped again, just long enough to catch his breath, sucking fresh, cold air into his lungs like the last swallow in a canteen. Once he caught his breath, Jonah looked behind him, scanned the snow-capped tree line for zombies, then turned back and started walking quickly toward the Final Area.
    He passed a lake, walked the long way around the same wooden shack that had been used as a makeshift hospital, a camping ground, and a last stand more times than he could count, or at least remember, in the more than 36 years since he first started watching The Darwin Games. Jonah didn’t go inside the shack, but as he passed, he smelled something inside that made him want to vomit. Past the shack, Jonah reached the large black wall surrounding a clearing — two empty acres in the middle of the forest.
    Jonah wondered how much longer he could continue breathing. His heart was still