It is the year 2007. The world has been wiped out by a deadly plague that killed all the adults. Without them, children perished of hunger and disease. No more people, no more electricity, no more civilization—just mildewed houses, overgrown yards, and abandoned cars. Yet on a highway strip outside a small town in Florida, the words "We're Still Here" are painted in letters big enough to be seen from an airplane—although no planes ever cross the empty sky. Miraculously, seven children have survived among the ruins. They cannot remember their names, their families, or much else from the Before Time. But they have forged a new family, with new names: Mommy, Hunter, Teacher, Action Figure, Teddy Bear, Baby, and Doll. They must face each day with enough hope to endure and the strength to realize that there may be nothing out there worth living for. Then one day, a new kid shows up on their doorstep and changes everything. He invites them to join him on a dangerous journey to Washington, to find a man called President if he's still alive—and seek the answers to the mystery at the heart of the Fire-us. In this first book of the Fire-us Trilogy, Jennifer Armstrong and Nancy Butcher weave a compelling post-apocalyptic tale, luring readers into a world that is inventive enough to intrigue, yet true enough to believe.

They have found others.Five years after a deadly plague killed all the Grown-ups, the world's population has nearly vanished. But a group of children have survived and forged a new family, a new life, and together traveled up the coast of Florida, looking for answers. To their shock, they've found a group of adults, the only Grown-ups they've seen for years, living in an abandoned shopping mall. It's a world the travelers had almost forgotten—cupcakes, clean clothes, adults to depend on. But something is terribly wrong. The family must find the truth before it's too late.

They are not alone. After most of the world's population was wiped out by a deadly plague five years ago, this small group of children formed a family. They've taken care of each other, scavenging food from deserted supermarkets, fighting off the wild animals that prowl soccer fields and schools. The children thought they were the only ones left. Then they came across the Keepers, the first Grown-ups they'd seen for years, living in an abandoned shopping mall. The Keepers offered fresh food, clean beds, and security. But what looked like safety was instead the worst danger the family had yet faced. Now the family is once again on the road. But if they want to reach the end of their journey, if they want to solve the mystery of what happened and who is to blame, they must head straight into danger—to Pisgah, the heart of the Keepers' power. In this stunning conclusion to the Fire-us Trilogy, Jennifer Armstrong and Nancy Butcher return to the post-apocalyptic world they created in "The Kindling" and "The Keepers of the Flame," as the family discovers the dark secret that changed their world forever.