Clarice had been the last of them to join, and that seemed forever ago now.
This morning, however, an old truck had rattled up the track. James insisted that Lauren and Andy stay well back, despite them arguably being the ones best suited for a fight if it came down to it.
That was something they had noticed.
Their powers seemed to be way, way above what any of the others here could do. Perhaps it was simply luck of the draw, who they had ended up with. The mutants who attacked the cities must have been powerful after all.
It did worry Lauren sometimes though. James had told them once, after watching them train, that he'd never seen anyone with their power level.
And they were still only teenagers.
She'd read mutant powers could become more powerful with time and age.
The truck pulled to a stop. A large, muscular, dark haired man climbed out. James kept his rifle trained on him. Lauren's hand itched next to Andy's. That was a last resort of course.
"We don't mean you any harm," the man shouted.
"Speak for yourself," muttered the woman stepping out of the back of the truck.
"What do you want?"
"We just want to talk. You guys are mutants, right?"
"What is it to you?"
"We're mutants too."
The woman held a hand out and one of the metal bracelets slithered from her wrist and floated lazily around her.
"We're hoping for your help," replied the man.
James glanced over at Lauren and Andy before slowly lowering his rifle.
There were four of them, and apparently they thought they were the X-Men, introducing themselves as Eclipse, Thunderbird, Polaris and Dreamer. James invited them inside. Lauren stayed close to Andy.
Apparently, the four of them had once been part of what they called the Mutant Underground, an organisation dedicated to helping mutants and smuggling them out of the country.
"If we can prove to the humans we're not dangerous, we can start rebuilding," Thunderbird said.
"Good luck with that," Adam snarled. Chance's death had bittered him, and he seemed to resent even the mere mention of humans who weren't mutants.
"It sounds like an excellent way to get yourself killed."
Thunderbird sighed. "Not all mutants are dangerous, and not all humans want to kill us."
He spoke like they were two separate species.
Maybe they were.
"We just need to communicate."
Lauren leant against Andy's shoulder and rubbed her arm absent mindedly. Maybe once upon a time that had been true, but now it sounded like a distant dream. A nice one, but far away – maybe even too far away to ever be reached.