It's a book series Michael Grant is writing. The basic premise is that everyone over the age of fifteen suddenly vanishes, and also, superpowers. If you squint at it, you can see faint expies for Jake (Sam), Marco (Howard), Ax (Albert), Rachel (Lana), Cassie/April (Astrid), Billy Weir (Little Pete) and Tobias (Computer Jack).
It's an okay series, very fun and very much a pageturner, but if you stop and think about it too long you start seeing a lot of problems with the plot.