Once again Kale was the last one to arrive at the classroom, though not because he overslept. On his way down to the classroom he had stopped in front of the door where he had been in contact with the creature, hoping he would get another hint as to what it was. But, he had heard nothing.

Kale opened the double doors and walked into the room. Ms. Kanole was busy behind her desk as the kids stood around talking to one another. Hage caught a glimpse of Kale and hollered for him to come over, he was conversing with Topaz and Vei.

“We thought you were going to be late again!” Hage said.

“Nope, I slept fine last night. I didn’t hear that creature at all.” Kale said.

The three looked at Kale, seeming to ignore what he just said. Or, perhaps, they were only pretending to ignore it.

“You guys aren’t still afraid of it are you? It didn’t seem to want to hurt us…” Kale whispered.

Their eyes darted towards the floor, and Hage stepped up to Kale. “Shh! Don’t talk about it, even when you whisper, you never know who will hear!”

Vei and Topaz glared at Kale, as his expression sank in reply. He looked around, there was no one around them. Why were they so afraid? As he brought his face back towards them, he noticed Forrest staring at them.

Maybe it was a mistake to speak aloud.

“Sorry…” Kale said.

“It’s fine, just no more.” Vei said with a seriousness Kale had never seen her speak with.

The group’s topic of conversation switched to a more trivial one. Discussing what they planned on eating for lunch and what kind of training they thought Ms. Kanole would prepare for them.

The morning bell sounded and the students returned to their seats. Kale gave another glance around the room, where he froze as his eyes met Forrest’s once again. Kale immediately fixed his gaze to his desk, and then to Ms. Kanole.

*****

“Who are these guys?” Kale asked as he looked around the cafeteria which was full of people he hadn’t seen, older kids.

“Ah, well, our hallways and classrooms may only be used by our class, but we actually share this lunchroom with another class too. We rarely see them and never talk to them though, and we actually don’t know if they are even located in the same building as us or if they just come here on field trips. Maybe they come here to get treatment like us, I heard once that we have the best medicine,” Hage said.

“Wow, I can’t believe this place helps this many people who got infected. There are a lot more of us getting helped than I thought,” Kale said and smiled, knowing he wasn’t in such an odd predicament as he thought. Although, it was sad for him to see so many kids not being able to be with their families.

“Yeah, it’s a good thing they are able to save us,” Topaz said. “So many of us would have died. Montria really isn’t a good place to live…”

“I don’t know why anyone would choose to live there. All I know is when me and my parents finally get all better, I’m convincing them to move somewhere else!” Vei said.

Hage held up his milk carton towards the center of the table. “I agree to that!”

All of them smiled and crashed their milk cartons together. A dash of milk splashed out of Kale’s carton and he shook his head, smiling.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab napkins.”

Kale made his way through the cafeteria to the other side and observed all the older kids that were seated around. Did they go through the exact training? Is this what they would look like soon too?

All of the older children had muscles that seemed unbefitting of their age. Kale glanced down at his arms, which still appeared to be normal, but even from the first doses of medicine he had received from Oren, he had felt his muscles gain a bit of strength.

Kale still couldn’t believe how lucky he got, being treated by all the nice people at this facility on top of their treatment making them become as strong as heroes!

“Why are you always sitting alone?! Forrest, you will always be a loser!” A voice echoed throughout the room. The room froze, and a few clanks were heard from the dropping of silverware.

Kale glanced over, spotting Forrest with his face smashed in his food, his long dull green hair spidering out from the side of his tray. A group of older kids stood behind him, cackling. Forrest didn’t even put up an effort to try and pull his face out of the mashed potatoes.

If they were going to become heroes. This would be the first step.

“What are you doing?!” Kale stood behind the group of boys, being much shorter and scrawnier than them.

One of the boys shoved Kale and shouted, “What do you care for?! Not like anyone has ever stuck up for him before. He doesn’t even talk!”

How had they met Forrest before? Hage had said that they don’t usually interact with the other classes, and he had only been enrolled for a month.

Kale pushed the boy's arm aside. “Aren’t we training here to become heroes!?”

“Of course we are! And Forrest here is just a villain who doesn’t cooperate with anyone. He gets what he deserves!” the older boy said while pushing harder on Forrest’s face.

Kale’s body tensed up and he felt a tingle at his fingertips.