Alvin kicked Rowan lightly out of the room.
"OUT."
The three shuffled away, arguing amongst themselves.
The door closed.
Silence settled.
Alvin sat alone at his desk, turning the obsidian key in his fingers.
For a moment—just one—his chest tightened sharply.
As if someone far away was calling him.
As if someone was missing him.
Alvin exhaled slowly.
"…What am I forgetting?"
---
A month had passed on Earth since Alvin's death.
Thirty days on Earth since Alvin's body went cold in Xavier's arms. Thirty days since the world seemed to tilt off its axis and never tilt back.
The apocalypse world had seen horrors—cities collapsing, continents rotting under swarms of the undead, powers awakened and corrupted—but nothing struck like the loss of one man.Not to Xavier.Not to the base.Not to the children.
Xavier had changed first.
