When Caroline reached the corridor on the 66th floor, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from upstairs. There were shouts and loud thumps, as if someone was fighting above. Because Handsy had gotten too big to be comfortable indoors, everyone had worked together last night to carry him up to the rooftop. It happened right before the three men in hazmat suits arrived. These guys were from a newly formed mutant organization nearby. They had all been ordinary survivors from the area, but after discovering their abilities, a dozen of them came together to form a group. But despite their abilities, they were broke. Before awakening their powers, they'd just been regular people. And for various reasons, they'd refused to go to the shelter, scraping by with whatever supplies they could scavenge. Now that they had abilities, they didn't want to keep living like that, so their minds turned to darker schemes. They started out by robbing a few isolated survivors nearby. But those few who'd made it this far barely had anything left for themselves. They were on their last legs. Naturally, the loot was disappointing. That left them frustrated and hungry for a bigger score. Then, they heard about the terrifying plague spreading nearby. Among them, there was one member, William Martinez, who had the ability to fly. He usually acted as their scout. During a routine check, he found signs of the deadly plague close by. Anything that caught it died in no time, be it humans or animals. Even the flies that carried the plague didn't survive a day. The sheer deadliness of this plague shocked them. At first, William just wanted to warn the group to stay far away. But other members got another idea—they wanted to use the plague to wipe out everyone in the shelter, then take all their supplies. They just needed to make sure none of their own group caught the disease.So they found a few desperate people, suited them up in hazmat gear, and had them spend the night with corpses who'd died from the plague. They found out that, as long as the suits were airtight, they'd be safe. So they put the plan into action. Several members suited up and dropped more than a dozen sedated infected right at the shelter entrance. They knew the army would never just leave people outside to die. By exploiting that compassion, they managed to get the plague inside the shelter. And it worked. William flew them all to the rooftop of Building A, the 66th floor, where they sat back to eat, drink, and wait for everyone to die. Later, with the help of their teammate with spatial ability, they'd grab every bit of loot in the shelter. It was risky, but the potential reward was huge, so it was worth it in their eyes. What they didn't expect was, as they relaxed up there, listening to the sounds of chaos, a massive shadow started creeping toward them. They all froze. No one had been up here when they arrived. There was just a giant, odd-looking tree growing in the corner. But in the apocalypse, even a rooftop tree didn't seem too out of place. The man with the flying ability, William, was the first to sense something was off. When he turned back to check, a huge shape suddenly swung straight at his face. He didn't even have time to react. One blow from Handsy sent him flying. His other two teammates were James Griffin, who had a spatial ability, and Chris Lawson, who had a strength-based ability. They, too, were attacked out of nowhere. Only after dodging and looking back did they realize that the thing attacking them was actually the tree that had been in the corner. This tree can move ... and it can even attack people! James, whose power wasn't useful in a fight, quickly darted to the side and left Chris to deal with it. With William sent flying who-knows-where, Chris and James were trapped up on the roof.Chris roared and charged straight at the bizarre tree. Handsy swung one of the giant leaves at Chris's face. Chris dodged most of the blows but still took a hit. Last time, it was his left cheek. This time, it was the right cheek. Now, both sides of his face were so swollen he was unrecognizable. Meanwhile, William, who'd been sent flying, managed to make it back, flapping what looked like wings under his arms. He looked almost like a bat.