pg. 545- end

he has a clear shot, a clear shot to end the very source of what caused the most discord in this new universe. but he can't even think about taking it. he sees just what Jack saw in Andrew the day of his disappearance. everything fades around him, like everything freezes. his mother's voice is now the only thing he can hear. but he refuses to listen to her, and Jack didn't even tell him how to beat it. she tells him to come with him repetitiously, that he can finally get out of there, but again he refuses. and then Caine comes into the conversation, asking questions, but this mother is not answering any of them, she just keeps insisting on the both of them to come with her. Caine is talking to Sam now, he wants him to go with her, he wants to rule. This mother keeps insisting, but they both keep saying no. and just then she turns into some sort of monster. the monster says: I'm your future. You'll come to me on your own in the dark place Caine. You will come willingly to me." and just then the monster fades, and they survive, they survive the disappearance.Back to the battle, but Sam still can't kill Caine. he lets him go, telling him to go back to Coates. go back where he belongs and that he could easily get to him.The book ends with Drake following Pack leader somewhere out into the desert into the darkness.this book is weird... i know. i'm not sure if i will be continuing the series.

pg. 522-544

Caine leaves to meet Sam in the plaza, but on his way there he sees tons of coyotes running away from there saying that "whip hand gone" meaning Drake is no where to be seen. Caine strikes up a deal with the coyotes and tells them to come back to the plaza and because of their hunger, they can have as many kids as they want. they come of course.

Howard goes to where Orc is and immedietly sees that what once was just pieces of gravel, has now turned Orc into a super human and mutated him. This immedietly reminded me of the fantastic four. and the one rock dude. i don't know his name, but it is pretty much just like that. He is suddenly really strong, but he does not care, he thinks all of this is a punishment of his murder of Bette and all he cares about is getting more beer.

most of the rest of this is Caine and Sam battling it out. Sam fires, Caine resists and uses his power to throw something or shield himself. it is an endless battle. they are both hurt in the end. the thing is, they do most of this fight, in the already burnt down building so it is already unsteady.

After Caine told the coyotes they could just have any kid they want, they basically attack everyone.

The end of this chapter ends with Sam having a clear shot at Caine, so close to the exact moment of his disappearance.

pg. 494- 522

At the beginning of this, it is made known that Astrid screwed up and now all the coyotes are running towards the preschool, which is great. little kids and big talking hungry animals.

Quinn is stationed on top of the church with a gun so he can shoot drake or whoever he can see, but he never budges, even when he has a clear shot. it is actually really infuriating. Drake is in prime view and Quinn is just standing there holding the gun up. sigh..

At the daycare, the coyotes come rushing in, snapping at the kids and they are all under Drake's control. Mary tries to defend herself, but drake and his knew whipping hand get her in a choke hold and nearly kill her. He tells them that the coyotes wont eat the kids until Drake tells them to.

a proposal is given to Sam asking to unveil all of his hidden people and lay down all of his weapons on the church steps so him and Caine can have a "fair" duel. Sam accepts, but he has a plan smarter than just giving up.

At the daycare, one of the girls with powers breaks down one of the walls and releases the hostages.

pg. 452- 494

where i left during these endless snow days, drake had just received this whipping arm he now uses as a weapon. like he needs another weapon.

At the beginning Sam is wondering where Lana has gone, not knowing that she has been taken by Caine and the coyotes. He is also wondering where Caine is because Sam is all ready to take him on and he is no where to be seen. They also go to visit Orc which they find probably wasn't the best idea. all he does is drink beer anymore and they find that after being dragged by the coyotes, and who knows what, he is covered in patches of gravel. gross.

Sam collects all the machine guns from the nuclear plant for the war that is about to come, also to keep them away from Caine. They all get ready for battle, they take their positions sort of i mean. Astrid goes on top of the church where you can basically see everything that is about to come and they get walkie talkies so they can communicate. Sams day to disappear is not too far away, actually its hours away, but he wont go down without a fight.

Sam also says something that he suspects Astrid has some sort of power. Diana said she was a two bar and Astrid confesses that whenever she touches a person's hand, she sees something in her mind. in Sam's case, a streak of fire. my guess is, that Astrid can tell what powers each person has by the touch of the hand, but its just a guess.

Also, Diana asks Jack to go to Sam and tell him what he can do to save himself from disappearing. Jack starts driving off, but he finds that drake and panda are following him so he drives into the forest to hide. As he emerges the next day, he thinks he is being followed again by a huge semi truck being driven by Drake, but it is really two children, unaccounted for who have been living in hiding and have threatened to kill him. luckily, he saved himself after promising to fix the boy's wii.

Sam sees a whole bunch of Coates kids reach the school so he goes there with some of the kids with powers. After destroying half the school and terrorizing the two kids the are inside, they find that it is a trap... great.

pg. 392- 452

im taking advantage of these snow days to finally finish this book...

it's getting kind of weird. i mean weirder than it already has. after Sam and Lana and them escape from the cabin, they follow the wall home, but they happen upon this girl whose hands are encased in cement. she is basically dying from starvation and exhaustion in the forest which is sick. we get a little clue prior to this that Drake is actually the one who has been doing this to people, but only people with the power. but they show compassion to this girl, give her some food, and try to carry her back to Perdido Beach, until they get stopped by Drake and Caine who were driving along because they saw the fire that Sam had caused.

They get brought back to Coates academy where Lana is introduced as the healer and Drake encases Sam's hands in cement like the girls. They also meet at least a dozen people in the same situation who are basically being held hostage because they can't going anywhere due to lack of food and exhaustion. After being encased in cement, something happend and Little Pete uses his power, causing the cement blocks to disappear not only on Sam's hands, but on everyone elses too. it is kind of weird how his powers come and go. after Sam's hands are free, he burns Drake's arm off, causing a big diversion and they escape back to Perdido Beach.

They basically have to chop Drake's arm off after they leave which causes a big scene. Drake refuses to let them, but they do it against his will and with the power of Caine's power.

When Lana finally reaches Perdido beach she is invited to stay in this house where she gets cleaned up, but its not long before she is basically abducted by Drake himself. They don't get far. there car, also with Howard in it, gets surrounded by coyotes and they are forced to get out and are lead to see that darkness that the pack leader always talks about. When they get there it's kind of creepy. the darkness speaks through Lana but then when it finds out that Drake is there, it thinks that Drake is more suitable for the position that it has been looking for, to kill humans, so it takes him in, healing his arm, not regrowing it with human flesh, but with some sort of tentacle.

It is also learned in this section that Little Pete was the one which caused this whole situation. he was in the control room of the nuclear power plant in the day it happened with his dad when a whole bunch of alarms went off. to my understanding, the alarm that was going off was about to destroy every human on earth, with the help of Little Pete and his power, he sort of saved everyone by putting them in this situation.

pg. 351-392

In this section, Caine is reminded of a boy named Andrew, still living at Coates with the power, who has a birthday today. he gathers a whole bunch of camera equipment so Jack can film when or if he goes at the time he turns fifteen. He wants to know if the theory he has that people with the power do not go, is true or not. After they arrive at Coates, they finally track Andrew down, and tie him to a chair so he does not mess up the filming experience. Jack counts down to what he thinks is the exact time he is supposed to poof out, but then he ends up going over in time. Andrew is doing is power and going nuts, thinking that maybe he might survive and then after twenty seconds, he disappears. Luckily, they got it all on film and they actually saw something at the time of his disappearance. after slowing down the footage considerably, they see that right before Andrew disappears, he smiles and starts extending his arms as if he is reaching our for a hug. They also saw some sort of green blob. they say that for Andrew this whole experience was lasting a whole lot longer than than it was for anyone else, that that green thing, looking like a monster to them, must have looked like something positive to Andrew. They say that this whole experience is a trick and that if it was just possible to say no...

Sam and everyone as they are walking back to Perdido Beach, hear coyotes which gathered are Lana leading all of them to the cabin. Sam happens up the same cabin and then sees Lana running towards him for the first time. she tells all of them to run inside very quickly, but they aren't necessarily quick enough. Sam and Quinn, especially Sam receive a fair mount of damage from the coyotes, but luckily, they are safely, inside eventually and that Lana has healing powers. They all introduce themselves, about time Lana meets another human. Lana fixes all of Sam's wounds and amazes the whole crowd. They discuss the mutations of the coyotes and the snakes. But the coyotes are angry that Lana never taught them anything. dozens of them surround the cabin, making it impossible for them to escape. They keep having to reinforce the door because the coyotes keep knocking it. After a while, Pack leader catches the cabin on fire forcing them to come out. Sam uses his power to break the barricade in front of the door to get out also kills many coyotes this way. It sets of this huge inferno of flaming coyotes, some of them running through the forest engulfed in flames.

pg. 317- 351

this book has gotten rather strange.

Lana has started living with the coyotes that abducted her. they talk and stuff so she can sort of understand what they want and need. shes dirty all the time and she and her dog, patrick are constantly running around with them. The pack doesn't necessarily like running with a human and a dog. they slow them down considerably and nip at Lana's heal causing her to bleed more than she already is. good thing she has healing powers.

Lana doesn't want to be there at all. if anything she wants to be in the comfort of that cabin with food and gold bars. so she decides to lead them there. the coyotes want Lana to teach them the ways of the human so Lana tells them she will teach them if they lead her to that house.

we also find out in this section about Diana and what she did to land her in Coates Academy. Apparently, after finding out her dad was seeing another woman, she pushed her down the stairs and blamed it on her father, ruining his business and career. Also, we find out that computer jack has powers. Jack is super strong. he found out that he had powers by stubbing his toe and grasping a chair and squeezing it to the point that his imprint was left. He makes Diana promise not to tell.

Sam continues to find an exit along the barrier and they find out that that there really isn't any hope in finding an exit in the timeframe that they have so they decide to head back to the Perdido beach to fight Caine.

pg. 295-316

This section is basically a boat chase between Sam and Orc. Drake is no where to be seen after burning down Astrid's house. which is extreme yes. Caine is on the radio talking to Orc telling him basically if he doesn't catch Sam he's dead. Guess who doesn't catch Sam?

Sam thinks ahead and realizes that the barrier( which crossed through the ocean) could be to their advantage if they crashed the two boats. So Sam slows down his boat and Orc goes full speed and crashed right into theirs. Luckily, Sam's boat was not damaged to the point where it was no longer drivable. no one ended up hurt on Sam's side except Astrid with a gash in her leg.

But Orc still gets to Sam eventually. they get into this big violent fight, Orc just using his fists, but Sam actually using is brain. Sam pushes Orc up against the barrier which burns anyone who touches it and you can clearly tell who has won this fight. for now.

Caine go ahead and warns Sam through the radio transmitter that he will kill him. Sam has now decided to escape. where to? I have no idea.

Lana on the other hand, has found herself in a pretty sticky situation. She reaches a bunch of buildings after walking for a while and finds no one to be there. but that is no where near the weird part. while she is there, she sees dozens of coyotes flow down the mountain whispering "food...food" yeah whispering coyotes, remember those? that has to scare the heck out of her. the thing is, once they reach her, they can actually communicate somewhat... the coyotes say that there are no humans here, and tell her to come out of the building she had run into from fear. the coyote says: "go out, die fast. stay, die slow." which i am inferring to mean that if she stays here without the adults, she will die a slow and painful death...

Lana finds a dead body in the building and finds out that the coyotes were the ones who killed the MAN.

The coyotes attack Lana, but they stop for some reason.

the coyotes lead Lana into a dark cave, her dog running off from fear, they reach what might be the end and she falls over. she collapses in impossible pain, the coyotes dragging her out into the night not knowing if she is alive.

i really don't know what to make of this, i am extremely confused. from the book, it makes it seem like Lana reaches Hell. I have to keep reading because right now, i am just as lost as it sounds.

pg. 263- 294

not much has really happened, i'll tell you that much.

Astrid and Little Pete disappear from Drake to Astrid's house, but they quickly realize they can't stay because that is the first place Drake will look. Astrid quickly thinks of somewhere to go and thinks of Clifftop, this country club thing, they wen there the first night. It's special to her because its the first night Sam and Astrid spent together and she is hoping Sam will make the same connection.

Sam, while looking for Astrid, gets ahold of a boat, but unfortunately is spotted by Orc and some others. Sam knew where Astrid was which was great and Sam had told Quinn who was in the boat with Sam to tell Orc that they were heading towards the power plant. Orc wasn't Smart enough to make the connection. but unfortunately, looking down from on top of the church, Drake saw Sam make a U-turn which is not so good. now Drake knows where they are going and will get there before they do. sigh.

Astrid sees the boat turn around and she knows they are coming to get her. unfortunately, Drake does get to her first, but Astrid and Pete are able to slip down on floor from the balcony. but drake finds them and as soon as he is about to shoot, Sam uses his power on him.

meanwhile, Lana, while hiding out in a secluded cabin, remains alone, and unaware of anything thats really happening. but luckily, she does decide to start walking to Perdido Beach.

While Sam and them are in the boat, they decide to see if the barrier ends under the water...

"When he reached the end of his air he stabbed toward the barrier. The screwdriver hit nothing, and he felt a momentary surge of excitement that disappeared when his next thrust stopped against solid resistance."

So there is some sort of opening down there? Either way, it's going to be dangerous to get through. good luck Sam.

pg. 223- 262

after retrieving my book from school, i can finally blog about it.

basically, this section started off with Caine revealing that Sam and him are brothers. they both didn't know their real father. Caine didn't know his real mother. Sam knew his mother, but his mother had worked at Coates Academy, the school Caine was attending. it was suspected that she knew that Caine had a certain power and knew they two of them were related. earlier in the book when Sam had first figured out that the adults disappeared, Sam had found that when his mother disappeared, she was in the middle of writing a journal entry on the computer that read:

It happened again last night. I wish I could take this to G. But she'll think i'm crazy. I could lose my job. She'll think i'm on drugs. If i had a way to put cameras all over, i could get some proof. but i have no proof, and C's "mother" is rich and generous to CA. I'd be out the door. Even if i tell someone the whole truth, they'll just put me down as an overwrought mother.

Sooner or later, C or one of the others will do something serious. Someone will get hurt. Just like with S and T.

Maybe I'll confront C. i don't think he'll confess. would it make any difference if her knew everything?

Sam has interpreted this to be C standing for Caine and CA for Coates Academy, the rest is unknown. But with the news of Caine and Sam being Twins and their birthday being in five days, Sam is now determined not to end up like Anna and Emma.

When Astrid, little Pete, and Sam all go shopping for food, they get stopped by Drake( if i haven't told you, he doesn't have powers, he just likes violence and trouble). by this time, Quinn has betrayed Sam and has told Caine that Sam has the Power, as he calls it.

Anyway, they get stopped, Sam gets captured, brought to Caine. Astrid and Pete get captured and brought to Drake and Diana. It is here where Caine's powers are revealed. he seems to have the ability to inflict pain on people, kind of like Jane in twilight...But Caine's is a little more involved. he raises his hand, and by doing so, raises Sam's body, and then Caine makes a fist, dropping Sam hard to the ground. he can basically do this with any movement, and he does, Sam is in a great deal of pain after they get through with him and they tie his hands up so he cant burn a hole through anything.

meanwhile Astrid and Pete are in some vacant room accompanied by Drake and Diana. Diana has the power to measure how much power someone has in the form of bars. She says Caine has four bars. anyway, she tests Astrid and doesn't really get anything, and doesn't bother to test Pete because he is autistic. Drake then begins to taunt Astrid and makes her say that her brother is a retard ans slaps her cold in the face. Astrid doesn't know how this happens, but Pete can teleport people from one place to another, and in that instant, they were in her bedroom.

maybe Diana should have tested Pete? HA

pg. 152-222

okay, so the first thing that really stands out in this section is at the end of it. Sam catches up with these two twins: Emma and Anna who have a birthday on that day. He wonders what will happen to them when they turn fifteen until he figures it out. the first to go is Emma. she disappears into thin air and Anna screams for dear life because 13 minutes later, she know she will go to, and she does while she is in Sam's arms. what a way to go huh? except, no one knows where they go. Sams birthday is in five days along with Caines. Maybe when they disappear, we will follow them.

We also learn that Sam killed his dad with his firey power. maybe its his stepdad... i don't remember. but his mom was in the room when it happened and she obviously knew all about it and lied for him when they went to the hospital. apparently, now the poor guy has no hand.

oh, do you remember Lana? well she found this cabin, after she healed all her broken bones and gangrene and stuff. she stays there for a while but comes across something extremely scary and odd. Astrid had said something prior about mutations and such happening with the seagulls. well Lana happens upon something similar. She is sitting in the cabin and heres something like a whisper saying "come out" which is creepy within itself. After going through that whole fracas of running away from the coyotes outside who supposedly whispered this to her, she later finds one dead outside with a snake in its mouth. "it was a snake no doubt, And yet she was sure she had seen it fly. Lana put that out of her mind. And along with it she dismissed the whisper she had heard because flying snakes and whispering coyotes the size of great danes, well none of that was possible."

so what if there really is mutations? then this book could really get interesting... it could be an even cooler randition of spy kids 2. you know, the spider monkey and well... i forgot the other animals... but i can't wait to read on!

pg. 99-153

wow. this is getting intense. thank goodness i was given consecutive snow days to read this or i would have been dying to know what was going to happen next. but seriously, you think you know what is going to happen then BAM they throw you another curve ball. its fantastic.

basically what has happened since the last section is that the three main kids: Sam, Astrid, and Quinn accompanied by Edilio, a 9 year old. all head to the nuclear power plant in Perdido Beach where Astrid's mom works to look for her autistic brother. Luckily they do find him in the control room of the plant along with a TV screen with the map of the land they are on. on the screen that shows, it shows the barrier that goes around the island, and that everything that lie inside the barrier, is radioactive. it's really confusing as your reading trying to sort all the information out that they are spitting at you because there is so much.

Do you remember that girl Lana who got in that car wreck because her grandfather disappeared behind the wheel. he arm had been severely broken and he leg had been broken and the rest of her body was just mutilated. well she laid there for days inside that car with her dog, Patrick, just waiting to die and watching the vultures circle above her, until a mountain lion came. Luckily, Patrick scared off the mountain lion, but not without getting bitten in the neck. anyway, she fell asleep with her hand on Patrick's wound, and when she woke up he was miraculously healed. Lana did the same for her broken arm, and it turned out to be healed too. Do you remember how i said how some of the kids developed powers? Sam being the fire. Well Lana's is some sort of healing power. wowza.

Theres this school, Coates Academy, where mostly the rich kids go in the area. parents also send their kids there because they cause trouble and such. Sam's mom works there as the school nurse. well anyway, a whole bunch of the Coates kids come to Perdido Beach, with their leader being Caine. Caine just automatically proclaims himself as leader i guess because he makes this big speech about the future and the future plans he has. he also asks from the Perdido beach kids if he could talk to some people that they think could best represent them so they can figure out a way to make their new life run the smoothest as possible i guess. Sam, Astrid, and Quinn are chosen along with the bully Orc. Mary, the one who runs the daycare also attends the "meeting."

Nothing is really accomplished by this meeting, except for the fact that Cookie, one of Orc's crew, is tackled by a fallen crucifix and is severely hurt. oh, did i mention the meeting was held in a church?

Oh, and the space within the barriers, is now being called the FAYZ which is made up by Orc. it stands for Fallout Alley Youth Zone. Fallout being the radioactive material brought to you by the nuclear power plant.

if this ever happened, like for real. i don't think i would want to be alive to watch it unfold. things are changing. animals are mutating. i don't want to be caught in the crossfire of anyone's problems. so if this happens, i am glad i am over fifteen years old. although, i am still very curious on where the parents have gone. i think it would be funny if they were like outside the barriers just watching their kids. maybe it's like a reality show, like in The Hunger Games. but even then, all the kids kill each other... i don't think parents would want to watch that.

i wouldn't want to be in it. let alone watch it.

Pg. 63-99

wow. just wow. these should be movies. not just because it would get me out of reading them, but i think they could pull it off. it's kind of weird actually. like i can see why this is a series because i have made a quite a dent in this book and its still within like the first hours of the disappearances, but it will just give me an incentive to keep reading which i guess is good for the mind. (;

but even though its only been like 10 hours, ( i know this for a fact because each chapter counts down from 300 hours for some reason) the kids have found out quite a bit. While Astrid is searching for her autistic brother at some country club i think, they find like a barrier that that an through the tennis court. it wasn't like a brick wall, no, but like a glowing type of wall where you could see the other side. instinctively, Sam touches it and it burns him which is a little odd i think because it shows no marks. But then the kids figure out that the barrier runs around their whole city, Perdido Beach. They are trapped inside. Astrid suggests that possibly the sky they are looking at isn't the sky, that inside the barrier too, that they are in a dome, which i think is probably correct.

Later on that day, Astrid happens upon a bird that must have run into the stupid glowing barrier. But she seems to think ( because she is a bird expert or something) that it isn't just a regular seagull. She says this bird has talons which they normally don't. She says : "this bird is either a solitary freak, a random mutation, or a whole new species that suddenly appeared. evolved."

this is kind of alarming to me. even though i am not there. but still. this is getting intense. they are trapped inside a dome full of mutated animals and they cant get out. no adults. only so much food. this is not good. but it's good reading!

pg. 1-63

i'm really enjoying this book. it actually is pretty suspenseful like i said it would be. Basically what has happened is exactly what the back of the book said. everyone over the age of fourteen has disappeared which is kind of an odd cut off in my opinion. this book focuses so far on a few main characters: Sam, Astrid, and Quinn who are all fourteen. There is also Orc and his gang who is supposed to be this big scary, tough guy but he pretty much just comes off stupid and dumb.

After everyone disappears people start like going on a search to find their parents and relatives and such, it is a while until they realize that they are gone... if they would only read the front of the book.

What is really awful about this whole situation is that adults just disappeared while they were cooking and driving and doing other important tasks, causing fires and car crashes. a certain chapter focuses on a girl names Lana whose Grandfather was driving and disappeared. the truck she was in ran off the road and rolled over into a ditch several times, but the worse part is she is just laying there in the middle of nowhere, arm severely broken, everything else in critical condition, without any help.

Going off of that, as the three main characters reach the plaza in the middle of town, they come across a fire. Sam automatically steps in to help, or i guess he was kind of expected to, but he does, since everyone thinks there is a person in there. When he goes in the burning building, he finds a little girl.. but this isn't any normal little girl, "the terrified, panicky little girl, raised both of her hands, palms out, and from those chubby little hands came a blast, an explosion, jets of pure flame." Sam doesn't know what he sees, but he can somehow relate to this little girl...

Sam explains earlier in the story that two nights prior to the disappearance there has been a storm and the lights had gone out leaving him in total darkness. he had managed to fall asleep but lightening had woken him up leaving him scared in the night. he cried out for his mother and "reached out his hand, pushing at the darkness." when a light appeared inside the closet. the light was just hovering there and had simply appeared when he had needed it the most.

The little girl had reminded Sam of this, but without thinking just reacting at the little girls flaming hands, Sam extended his arms at her causing the same fiery explosion to happen that she did.

i'm probably going all over the place, there is just so much detail in this book that is probably important to the rest of the story.

Gone

i got a new book today. it should be good. i am excited about it. there are three other books in this series so if i like this book, i should be set on reading for a while. this is what it is about:

In the blink of an eye.

Everyone disappears.

Gone.

Everyone except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to get help.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen and war is imminent.

The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, gone is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way.

doesn't sound good? i think it sounds suspenseful and cliffhangerish.