Back at the streets crossroad, as faraway strays of dark smoke were started to cover the sky, assisted by an ominous glare from behind the line of building on the horizon, the four kids were about to leave, waiting for Adele to recover.

Jonathan had passed out after being quickly calmed down by Sam, Adele was talking deep breathes to recover from her short fight, and Alice was trying to self-convince herself everything was fine. However, she might have been the only one trying to think that at this very moment.

Sam had just spotted the library, and part of him was dying to go there and check for Naomi.

As he was about to tell Adele about it, she rose her finger up, showing him to remain silent.

“Wait… I’m hearing something… I think more are coming. I completely recovered, we should move right now.”

Following those words, she tossed Jonathan on her back, showing no fatigue at all despite the previous slaughter she perpetuated. The surrounding environment was far from being noiseless, but given her superhuman abilities, which conveniently included earing, it didn't cross Sam's mind she could be mistaken.

“Everyone is ready? Let’s run for it.”

“Wait!”

Without thinking, he shouted, attracting the surprised eyes of the girls on him.

“Sam?”

“I… I think we should split up. There might be other kid in danger…”

“We can’t do that! We are not heroes! We are victims! We are getting out of this hell!”

“I… Just one. I have to check something.”

“Sam?! What do you…”

A salve of gunshots interrupted her.

There was no one around, but the sounds were pretty close.

“Sam! They are coming! We have to go! Now!”

“I…I…”

“Sam?”

They knew each other for two years, and yet their personalities were so alike they could understand one another no matter the situation. Adele could see in his eye something was wrong, but she had Alice and Jonathan to take with her, and other soldiers could arrive at any time.

“Sam. I’m willing to bring you by force if…”

“No. I… I have to go. Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

"No, you won't! You're a level 1! You'll be killed if left alone!"

“I’m going anyway!”

“I… fine. I’ll drop them somewhere safe and come back for you.”

“…I’m sorry. See you soon.”

As fast as he could, Sam...

…

…

“What? Why are you stopping? What happens next?”

"Wait a minute… I… Adele didn't let me go… she was right. I was level 1 at that time, she would have never let me on my own. Instead, she would have punched me in the stomach and put me on her back with Jonathan."

“But… you did go to the library. Right?”

“Yeah… wait. I’m starting to remember. She did let me go…”

“Sam. I’m willing to bring you by force if…”

“No. I… I have to go. Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

"No, you won't! You're a level 1! You'll be killed if left alone!"

"You know it's not true! You of anyone should know."

“I… fine. I’ll drop them somewhere safe. But I’ll still come back for you.”

“…I’m sorry. See you soon.”

“That doesn’t make sense. You are stronger than her?”

“Of course not. I wasn’t talking about strength, I think. I… I remember teasing her a lot about something like that. Something like me having a better talent than her…”

“But you were a level 1, right? And you also said yourself you’re only a level 2 now.”

"I… something is missing… I remember thinking level were worthless, but..."

“You know what… we might be touching the root of the problem. Continue the story, we might get down to it.”

“You’re right. So… Adele left with Alice and Jonathan, and I went to the library.”

“Naomi was there?”

“Well… yeah. But… she was… unconscious.”

“…is that it?”

"Sigh… I'll spare the details. There were two corpses beside her when I arrived, it was gruesome, so much I almost threw up."

“Wait… what? When you say two corpses…”

"At the time I didn't care much. I swallowed my disgust, took Naomi on my back, and left the place. But of course, there was more to it. First, Naomi did kill them, in self-defence, and second, the library was spared by the explosion because these two adults were inside."

“So, it was a planned extermination after all.”

"Not only that. One of the men was Naomi's uncle, he knew she was likely to come to the library early that day."

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah. He took advantage of the situation to get to her. He tried to rape her. And trust me, he wasn’t the only one.”

A few minutes after getting in, Sam left the library with an unconscious girl on his back. She wasn’t that heavy, but he had no super strength to count on, and knew well he wouldn’t be able to carry her outside the town easily.

As expected, Adele had left the place, and it would be pointless to go after her. Firstly she was too fast, and secondly, Sam could distinguish people coming in sight near the crossroad they found Jonathan. It was a group of around ten soldiers, and from what he could see, they were well equipped for war.

Without wasting time, Sam turned around and started running. At the same time, a blunt sound resonated from behind the soldiers.

A part of a crumbling building had fallen on the ground.

The sound conveniently covered Sam escape, as he turned the corner a few seconds later, putting him out of their sight.

“You’re shitting me, right?”

“What?”

"You were, like, tens of meter away from a group of armed soldiers that wanted to kill you, and not only they didn't see you, a piece of falling building covered your escape…"

"I told you, I am lucky. And even more so in a dire situation."

“Man. There something strange about your talent. This is too much for it to just be luck…”

"I don't have any other explanation. It's not like I can control everything that happens. It's like… things are going my way, but I don't have total control…"

“You just said it worked better under stress, right?”

“Yeah… so what?”

“Doesn’t that mean it comes from you?”

“It’s not that simple…”

“Okay… hum… do you remember what you were thinking when you left the library?”

“Not really… it was 6 years ago.”

“Yeah, but, were you afraid? In panic, or…”

“No. Now that you mention it, I don’t remember being afraid at all. Unlike when I choose to go after Naomi instead of sticking with Adele…”

“Hum… this is fishy.”

“What if… never mind.”

Mytown wasn’t a big city, but Sam wasn’t a fast kid. Adding to that the girl he had on his back, it would take him at least an hour to leave the city.

As he was running on the paved street, letting his ‘instinct’ avoid the dangerous places, he started to get exhausted. Fortunately, before that, he came upon another building.

His old school. Without realizing it, he ran all the way back to his old school.

And it was untouched, meaning there might be someone inside.

At the very least, it was what Sam thought. Of course, it was a place sparred by the adult in order to trap the kid, however, when Sam entered, he did found what he was looking for.

The survivors, dozens of kids that survived the explosions. They must have looked for a place to hide, so here they are.

“Sam?”

At first, Sam was alone in the darkness of the empty hall, but a few seconds later, a kid his age went to his encounter. And it was none other than…

“Xavier?”