Part One: Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

In The Girl Who Owned a City, a virus has killed off everyone over twelve. Ten-year-old Lisa Nelson takes on a leadership role, finding stores of food and organizing Grand Avenue for protection against gangs. After the local gang burns down her house, she gets the idea of making a defensible castle, and Lisa leads the way in turning the local high school into her own castle, a new city that she fights to run and keep.

As the novel begins, a fifth-grade girl whose life has suddenly, horribly changed breaks into an empty house. She tries to calm her fears by reassuring herself that the occupants are gone, and probably dead. She almost flips the light switch but realizes that there's no electricity. She takes a purse, canned foods, toiletries, and a can opener. She sees...