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crossed the seam. Something nearby exploded so loudly, she thought for a moment the explosion was closer than it was.
    Ana dared to look back and stumbled, falling face first into the snow.
    Ana rolled over onto her back to make sure the zombies weren’t still on her trail.
    Then she saw them, charred black bodies caught within the fiery curtain, screaming as they died again. However, one of them refused to die, stumbling out from the screaming blaze, still on fire, its arms reaching out and waving madly as it awkwardly stumbled toward her.
    Ana forced herself to get up and run toward the woods as the burning monster followed. But before she’d made it 20 feet, she heard the creature hit the ground, surrendering its charred remains to fate.
    Ana stopped in her tracks and turned back, desperately scanning along the Fire Wall for any sign of Liam.
    A lump hardened in her throat.
    Oh God, what if he was caught in the flames?
    Ana swallowed, feeling sick to her stomach when she spotted a dark shape in the fire, a body.
    Oh God! Liam!
    Then she heard a scream above the fire. “Ana!”
    “Liam!” she screamed back, looking up and down the flaming wall for him.
    “Are you OK?” he asked.
    “Yeah, they’re dead!” she shouted over the loud flames.
    “Face the fire and look to your right!” he screamed. “Are you?”
    “Yes!” she yelled, “Why?”
    “That’s south. Stay in the woods and head south. I’ll find you where the fire ends!”
    “OK!” Ana cried, swiping at her stinging eyes.
    “Be careful!” he shouted. “I’m going now, moving away from the fire. We won’t be able to hear each other again!”
    “OK!” Ana screamed. “I’ll meet you where the fire ends!”
    She waited for a reply.
    None came.
    After 10 seconds, she retreated into the forest, glad to know Liam was alive and looking to help, however temporary that assistance might be.
    As Ana trudged deeper into the woods, she tried to ignore the constant buzz from the Network orb, hovering above and broadcasting her every move.

CHAPTER 11 — Adam Lovecraft
    T he TV hall inside Chimney Rock erupted as the horn signaled the coming Fire Wall.
    Adam’s emotions were balled up and thick in his throat, trapped between fear, terror, and numb humiliation as the many spectators inside the orphanage’s TV hall had one eye on the spectacle on the screen and the other on his reactions. Some pretended they weren’t watching him, but most didn’t bother to hide it.
    And he refused to give them anything more than the blank mask he gave the TV as he chewed on his inner cheek and dug his nails into his leg.
    While he’d managed to hide most of his emotions, it wasn’t like they weren’t tearing him up on the inside.
    Ana was barely gone, and Adam would never see her again. Every time he saw her on the screen and the camera closed in on her face, he saw the fear and terror, and it tore right through him.
    His new friends were all around him; Tommy, Morgan, and Daniel, each dividing his attention between the oversized monitors blanketing the long length of the wall and trying to talk to him. Fortunately, they were also talking to some girls in the front of the hall, which kept most of their attention.
    Adam kept his face blank, showing them nothing as one side of each monitor showed Ana running from the fire and the other showed a near-frantic Liam running behind her.
    Ana cleared the Fire Wall as Liam’s feed went temporarily dark, heightening tension as the producers liked to do. Ana had just barely escaped, momentarily safe as flames swallowed the three zombies. Then one of the monsters emerged from the Fire Wall, completely on fire but still walking.
    Adam sank into his chair, glad he was near the back corner of the room. He sighed, still trying not to cry as he watched his sister narrowly escape both zombie and fire.
    Once Ana was safe, the whispers surrounding Adam grew louder. He could see several kids staring from the far sides of his peripheral vision and felt the bristles of others watching him.
    Being watched was worse than being invisible — how he had spent his time at Chimney Rock, and most of life, thus far. When he and Ana first arrived at the orphanage, Adam was happy to wear his usual cloak of invisibility. The last thing he wanted was what he’d always had — people laughing at his expense, making fun of him and his “weirdness.” He was content to just go to class, spend time with his sister, and keep to himself.
    But