"Is he okay?" I said.

Azad's caramel coloured eyes stared vacantly beyond Xandra and I.

"I think so," he said, "I watched from a distance when he went into the police station."

"When?" said Xandra.

Her good mood had become serious, and all of her attention was on Azad.

"About three weeks ago," said Azad, "We went into town and my brother Aaron handed himself in. I stuck around outside for a few hours to make sure he was okay. I don't think they did anything bad to him."

A sudden strong indignation built in me.

How could he not know what happened to his brother? How could he just assume he was okay?

I forced myself to keep an open mind. There was surely more to his brother handing himself in.

Azad noticed the firm looks Xandra and I were giving him. He eased back, wincing from the pain riddling his body.

"It was different then," said Azad, "The Pied Pipers had not started killing yet."

I nodded understandingly.

"Was your brother like us?" said Xandra.

"Naw," said Azad, shaking his head, "He's normal."

Azad started anxiously running his hands through the back of his tangly mess of hair.

"My Baba doesn't trust the government. He told me and my brother to go on the run. I wasn't sure if we should but Aaron wanted to do it too."

"'Baba?'" I said, a bit confused.

"My father," said Azad.

"Oh, right, right," I said.

A chill had worked its way inside the den. I hugged myself for warmth, deciding not to tap into the power to off-set the cold. I hadn't realised until I had lost control just how valuable every ounce of mental concentration I had was. Every tiny use of the power moved the needle towards me monstering-out. For that reason it was better to put up with being cold.

"Me and Aaron went on the run," said Azad, "And that was when we started to notice that something was different about me. I could run fast. Not get tired. Didn't need to eat much. But Aaron struggled with all of it. After just a few days on the run Aaron begged to go home. Things were hard, we didn't have much to eat, and nobody would help us – except for that one time with Donald and Sienna. He got desperate to eat so he stole their chicken. I gave it back. I tried as hard as I could to keep my brother with me but it wasn't going to work."

"How old's your brother?" I said.

"Eighteen," said Azad, "A year younger than me."

"What about you?" said Azad, looking from Xandra to me, "What have things been like for you?"

I went first, going into detail explaining the gist of everything which happened to me before, during, and after everything which happened at the Wedder Gorge facility. Azad listened intently, particularly at the instances where fighting was involved.

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"You made the right decision saving those Pied Piper officers," said Azad, "That was the heroic thing to do."

As if he were Japanese, or perhaps just someone who had watched a good deal of anime in his life, Azad gave a slight bow of respect in my direction.

I found myself smiling bashfully, that is, until the fresh memory of stepping on a Pied Piper officer's kneecap and snapping it flooded my mind.

Xandra had started to pay attention to the nails on her right hand, as if she were completely uninterested in the turn the conversation had taken.

Azad noticed this too.

"What about you?" he said to her, "How have things been?"

Xandra sucked in a deep breath and looked up, as if to find a good place to begin her retelling of events.

"So," she said, "I managed to avoid the Peepers for a while on my own."

She didn't go into detail about her parents, her aunt and uncle, or her cousin Ally. Instead she filled Azad in on everything that had happened since she and I crossed paths and worked together to survive. She left out several key details; such as us having fun throwing a rugby ball around, or her being reckless and almost rolling off the edge of the motorway. She seemed to want to steer clear of those more personal details that involved her and me.

Azad listened intently, sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded.

Whilst Xandra told her version of what happened I ate some of the tortilla crisps and drank the rest of my cup of coca cola; I'd sipped at it intermittently whilst telling my story to Azad.

My throat was still sore, causing the fizzy cola to prickle on its way down. It tasted so good I decided then and there I owed Xandra big time for all the kindness she had shown me. She was grateful that I had gone back to save her before, back when a Peeper's grenade had blown her legs off and rendered her helpless; but by the time I had reached her I had already lost control. I wasn't sure if she understood that me returning to help hadn't been worth all that much given the monstrous state I had been in when I arrived.

The only sentiment I could let myself take ownership for was choosing to run back into the fire at the staircase, when I had been in that dusty office. That had been my chance to run and I hadn't taken it. Things had worked out, but only because Azad had come to save me from myself.

Remembering how far Azad had gone to put a stop to the monster I had become, I found myself looking at him with renewed admiration.

"Hey mate?" I said, getting his attention on me again.

"Yeah?" said Azad.

"I just wanted to say thank you, again, for helping us out. I'm sure we would be dead by now if you hadn't shown up and saved us. Things got out of control – I got out of control. I just wanted to–"

Azad grinned and then winced as he sat forward and placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. I could feel his weak arm and fingers on his hand trembling; he was doing a good job of hiding the worst of it, but Azad was clearly still in a great deal of pain.

"It's what heroes do, right?" he said.

"Right," I said, nodding.

I couldn't stop myself from grinning. Azad was a pretty cool guy.

"So!" he said.

He took his hand from me and sat back again, not without wincing some more however. There was something about the way he winced and put a hand to his back that made Xandra and me break into giggles. Azad seemed to find it funny too. He had a sort of effortless, funny charisma about him; an aura of someone easy to like and get along with.

Xandra, laying on her side, said, "Hey, so, if you were on the run. How'd you know the combustion stuff was a load of crap?"

"Huh?" said Azad.

He thought the question over. I had told him about the spontaneous combustions and the Meter devices being a lie when I had told the gist of what had happened to me at the Wedder Gorge facility. Azad had listened at the time, but hadn't said anything when I mentioned that part.

"I found out about that about a week ago," said Azad, "I met some other people who were on the run."

"Really?" said Xandra, "Who?"

"Ah," said Azad, shaking his head as if in disgust, "You don't wanna meet them. They're no good. They're from the Sub-Division."

I raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" I said.

"So you were evacuated," said Azad, looking at me. He then looked to Xandra, "And you were not."

Azad scratched one of the many acne scars pock-marking his face whilst he talked in a hushed voice, "But there are teenagers that were evacuated who have criminal records; some 'juveniles', others not. They were not taken to the evacuation areas like the normal teenagers. They were sent to the Sub-Division."

"Wait," I said, somewhat in disbelief, "You're telling me the Pied Peepers made a special containment zone specifically for teenagers with criminal records?"

"Yeah," said Azad, "And I met some that broke out."

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