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about triple the distance past the debris field.”
    Frank raised a hand, and Bill nodded to him. Luckily, by now we had learned to leave out our prosthetic teeth until right before shooting began. “Won’t it look like we’re too far away?” my brother asked.
    â€œThat’s why we’re shooting this scene with a long lens,” Bill replied. “Whenever you see actors running from an explosion, it’s mostly shot with a telephoto lens. The optics compress the scene so it looks like the background is right on top of the foreground.”
    I smiled at Frank. “Cool.”
    He glanced around. “Let’s just keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary,” he whispered.
    â€œYeah,” I murmured. “And what’s more ordinary than a bunch of zombies and an exploding building?”
    â€œWe’re only going to get one shot at this, people,” Bill went on. “So we’re going to rehearse the cues.” He went on to explain just what he wanted us to do. When he was finished, Josh stepped forward.
    â€œOkay, let’s try one,” said Josh.
    â€œRehearsal’s up!” shouted Bill.
    Josh returned to his chair behind the monitors. “And . . . action!”
    All of us zombies clawed at the fence, moaning and pushing ourselves up against the metal links.
    â€œOkay, cue the fire!” Josh shouted.
    â€œThe fire ignites,” barked Bob. He stood by the director and held a small box with wires snaking out of the top. The thin brown wires led to the ground, around the fence, and to the shack.
    As instructed, none of us zombies noticed when the fire ignited. We continued to paw at the fence.
    â€œIt’s going to burn for a while,” said Josh. “A little more . . . and . . . cue the explosion!”
    â€œBoom!” shouted Bob.
    Even though this was just a rehearsal, we zombies flung ourselves at the fence as if we were hit from behind. Then we collapsed in a heap, truly lifeless.
    â€œAnd cut!” shouted Josh. He sprung from his chair. “Let’s get ready to go for real.”
    â€œMeredith,” said Bill. “You want to check your makeup before we go?”
    â€œCopy that,” replied Meredith. She and her team swooped toward the zombies.
    We all laughed as we climbed off one another. I stood and extended a hand to Frank. “I didn’t hurt you too much, did I?”
    Frank groaned as he climbed to his feet. “No, but I think you should lay off the craft service for the rest of the movie.”
    I didn’t really register what Frank had said because I was too busy staring at something bizarre. I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the shack. “Check it out,” I whispered.
    Two figures in brown overalls slunk across the lot toward the shack. But what made the scene truly weird was the fact that the two figures were us .
    We watched ourselves open the front door, look around, and duck inside.
    â€œLet’s go,” hissed Frank. He darted toward the old building.
    I stayed with him as we sprinted across the lot. When he reached the front door, he carefully opened it and ducked inside. I followed him in and quietly closed the door behind me. I didn’t want the saboteurs to know we were in the shack with them.
    Of course, after we were actually inside, I could see that it would have been impossible to remain hidden from anyone already in there. From the outside, the old house looked like it had a few rooms. But since this was a movie set and only the outside mattered, it was essentially just one big room. The wood inside looked new, and several long boards propped up the walls around us. There wasn’t even a floor; bare dirt was beneath our feet. We were also completely alone.
    â€œWhere did they go?” I asked.
    â€œThere!” Frank pointed to a door at the other end of the open room. We hopped over several large pipes as we