A drumbeat sounds, and light explodes around us, strobing into my brain. It’s a moment before I realize that I’m only two rungs from the bottom, that Tanq, Trey, Wyatt, and Emmaline are waiting for me in a cement corridor that’s bright with fluorescent lights. Wyatt stands by a wall, his hand on the giant switch he used to light the place up.

I hop the rest of the way and land lightly on my feet.

“This way,” Wyatt says, his voice echoing. “Hurry. We’re low on power, and I need to turn off the lights as soon as possible.”

We follow him down the cement corridor. Dampness mars the edges where the walls meet the floor, and the fluorescent lights buzz above us. It’s a little warmer down here than outside, which I did not expect.

“How did you know where to find us?” Trey asks. “Did you see us coming?”

“Yeah, we were watching on the vids. Hoped you’d figure out the manhole yourself, but then the drone came.”

“You distracted it somehow,” I say. “I watched it dart away.”

“We set off some fireworks over by Cedar Point. Had them rigged remotely. That trick will only work once or twice more, though, before they get smart.”

“I can’t believe that worked even once,” Tanq says.

“They seem really keyed to motion and light,” Wyatt says. “We’re not sure why. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a drone or one of their walkers—if you find yourself a decent shadow to hunker down in and keep real still, you’re almost invisible to them.”

That’s why we escaped the one in the hospital by diving behind the gurney. Or how we avoided notice by crouching down in a basement entrance right after we found Tanq.

“The broadcast said not to travel at night,” I point out. “Because it would put us at a disadvantage.”

“They see better at night. Like maybe light is a distraction for them? I dunno, but during the day the shadow thing really works. Here we are.” The corridor ends at a metal door. He reaches for the knob and opens it, and ushers us all inside.

We enter a huge hexagonal room with a lofted ceiling. High shelves full of supplies stretch along one of the six walls, bunk beds poke out from two others, and a threadbare couch and a coffee table huddle up against another. In the very center of the room is an array of flat-screen monitors, all showing various live feeds around Sandusky.