“Edwin,” came her stern reply. “Quiet down. We may still be in danger.”

Edwin did not want to calm down. He felt his fury building up as he planned to confront her. Yet he felt his anger waning as he looked at her. He was battered and exhausted and Ava looked as fresh as a peach off the branch. She had just leveled up so she would be healed up and re-energized. Despite the torn clothes she looked intimidating. She held a spear casually, the tip still dripping blood.

Edwin struggled with his whirling emotions. His anger warred against the fading feelings Ava had induced in him. No matter how much he wanted to lash out at her he knew it would be a mistake. So he kept his eyes on her as he tried to sort himself out. His teeth clenched and his body jittered. The heady emotional rush had been overwhelming when Ava had emotionally conscripted him. It was intense beyond Edwin’s experience. An emotional zenith that eclipsed anything else in his entire life. While under her thrall Edwin knew he would have done anything for her.

It had been a cocktail of fervent devotion, loyalty and so much more. A love for her beyond reasoning. It evoked a single minded focus foriegn in Edwin. He had lived a life without much passion. Coming down off that emotional high left him in the lurch. His thoughts continually returned to those few moments. A part of him had been changed during those moments. The last several years in Edwin’s life were like a lightbulb before the sun compared to how he had felt when overcharged by Ava.

Edwin wanted to hate her for what she had done. Yet a greater part of him wanted to feel like that again.

“Well?” Ava asked. She had one arm crossed across her chest as the other held the haft of the spear with the other. She had her hips cocked to one side and an eyebrow raised in question.

“I can’t do this,” Edwin said, shaking his head. “Not right now.”

“Why not?” Ava pressed. Edwin did not turn away. Ava was not going to let this go.

“Because you’re dangerous Ava!” Edwin exclaimed. “You just killed those guys without batting an eye. Maybe you’ll kill me next.”

Ava sighed and knelt down. She wiped the tip of the spear clean and then set it on the grass. She stood back up and held her arms out to the side, palms open and facing him.

“Relax Edwin,” her soothing tone filled the air. A gentle smile on her lips. A twinkle in her eyes. “I’m not your enemy.” She caught his gaze as it flickered to the bloody smear in the grass. “You want to know why I killed those men?” She chuckled a bit. “Well, they were our enemy. I silenced them so they would not call out and bring their comrades back; and so that nothing else would come seeking them either.”

Edwin’s expression didn’t change so Ava sighed and continued. “And yes, I wanted the experience points. Call me callous but those men were on their deathbeds. Would you have allowed such a chance to pass you by?”

Edwin sneered. “I don’t know what I’d do. But I sure wouldn’t mind fuck someone into suiciding themselves to save my own life.”

“Ahh, yes. That,” Ava replied reticently. She looked put off to hear him bring it up. “Whatever you may believe, Edwin, I did not wish for you to die for me. I was scared for my life. I was-,” she started to say before she choked up a bit. “I was terrified. I was an inch from death. I wasn’t planning or plotting, I wasn’t thinking. I saw you and I hoped. I hoped that you could save me. Then you did. So, I sincerely thank you Edwin. Because while you may believe I controlled you, I did not. My power is not to mind control someone. I can merely overcharge their emotions. If I were to overcharge the heroic nature of a villain they would still leave me to die in that situation. You saved me because that is the sort of person you can be when you want to be.”

A tense silence settled between them as Edwin took in what Ava had just said. He was still looking for a way to end this conversation. Ava was the one who kept pressing on with it. He wanted to just go lay down somewhere.

Kurt walked out of the lobby, his shirt was stained with his blood and torn apart from wooden shrapnel. “What’s going on out here?” He called out. The standoff ended as both turned to regard Kurt.

“I am glad to see you up and about Kurt,” Ava redirected. “Your injury was quite severe. Daniel’s ability is proving itself miraculous.”

Kurt grunted and crossed his arms. He eyed Edwin warily. Ava picked her spear up and walked forward. She instructed Kurt to assist her in searching for wounded survivors around the buildings. Neither addressed Edwin as Ava engaged Kurt in small talk about how he was feeling post his recovery.

“Edwin!” Someone else shouted from the lobby. The figure rushed over towards him. “Oh my god,” Zoey said as she stopped close to him. “What happened?” Zoey glanced down at her feet, where her foot kicked against the arm of a corpse. “Wait what’s thi-” She started to ask before recognizing what littered the ground around them. Zoey bent over and hurled all over the corpse.

Edwin was stunned. He stood by as Zoey hurled a second time. After she finished she straightened up and looked at him. Her eyes wide as her lips quivered, she wiped at her mouth and spit to the side. Zoey looked around and took in the devastation around them. The slaughtered students and destruction from the battle the wizard fought.

“Oh my god,” Zoey’s voice quavered. “Edwin? Edwin? What? How? That’s. No.”

Tears leaked freely down her cheeks. Her arms came up and sought out Edwin. She clung to his chest and sobbed.

Completely out of his depth Edwin awkwardly patted her on the back without returning the embrace. Without a better plan, Edwin started to describe what had happened. Zoey settled down after a bit and listened to the end of his explanation. Her eyes were red and her face blotchy. Instead of fear or sadness, a focus had filled her. “That guy inside, Dan, he has a weird skill that lets him heal people. If we find anyone he can probably help them. So let’s help search for survivors then,” Zoey said with certainty.

It was grim work. The wizard’s electricity had been thorough and there was no one alive among those blasted. Outside the scorched area’s however Edwin and Zoey had better luck. People were still alive. Two of them had broken bones and terrible bruising. Edwin imagined they had been overwhelmed and crushed beneath the stampede of people fleeing. Others were riddled with shrapnel from the explosions. Edwin sent Zoey to get Dan. Zoey dashed back out a minute later. It would take Dan a minute.. He was still busy with several people inside. Edwin tried to stem any open bleeding he could find. But otherwise there wasn’t a lot he could do for these people.

Dan came out not long after. He nodded to them and got to work forcing food down the throats of everyone they had found.

With their work finished, Edwin turned an eye towards the dead soldiers. Ava was talking to several other people and she looked to be trying to direct people into doing something productive. Zoey was looking towards Ava’s group and shifting around as if she was thinking to head over there. Edwin caught her attention and motioned for her to follow him as he walked over towards a discarded spear.

“Help me gather these weapons up.”

Zoey’s brow scrunched up before she nodded her head and went right into the act.

They found fifteen intact spears and ten usable shields. Either abandoned during their retreat, lost during the explosions or left along with the dead. With danger lurking out there, Edwin was glad to find this much. Though he would prefer guns himself. The strange men had shrugged off point blank pistol shots. There was no guarantee earthly weapons would be as effective as they were used to. Since these guys carried these weapons they were likely useful.

Edwin piled the loot in a spot clear of the bodies. Zoey happened on a discarded crossbow, the string still intact. With that discovery they went around to grab all the loose bolts they could find as well.

Neither the officer or the two fancier dressed men were among the dead.

Edwin picked up a spear and shield. He tested the balance of them in his hands. Edwin heard snickering and turned to see Zoey giggled behind her hand as she watched him. He felt himself blush and tried to play it off with a grin.

“Watcha doing Edwin?”

“Well, we gathered this stuff up to use it after all. I’d rather have a shield in my hands if those owls come looking for us. I’ve been pretty lucky so far. But I believe luck will only get you so far. I want to be as prepared as possible if something attacks me again. Now if in the next hour an Army platoon comes zooming in and tells us all to leave with them,” he trailed off. “I’d be glad to go with them and be protected.”

Zoey sobered at his remark and gazed hard at the weapons piled together on the ground. She walked over and bent down to pick her own set. The spear was half a foot taller than her, and the shield obscured her entire upper body and then some.

“A little big for you,” Edwin commented.

“I’ll make do. As you said, better to have them then not. If we need them anyway.”

Their conversation ended by a large group forming up near the destroyed entrance of White Hall. Tony stood at the center of the group gesturing around and talking animatedly. Every word punctuated with a swinging arm. Around him stood a dozen residents. Ava among them with Roy, and Kurt.

“Edwin, hey, what the hell are you doing?” Tony called out as he caught sight of them. He beckoned them over. “What kind of ren-fair shit is that? Oh, you collected them all up huh?”

Edwin shrugged. “Thought they could be useful. Where’ve you been Tony?”

“I fucking booked it!” Tony exclaimed. “Good lord, Edwin, when someone starts shooting lightning; you’re supposed to run as far away as ya can. Capisce?”

Edwin smiled as the man’s humor lifted the mood slightly.

“Anyway, the sun's going down.” Tony gestured up to the sky. Faint rays of light still crept through the streets but the shadows were long at this point and visibility was growing worse by the moment.

“As far as I can tell, most everyone’s run off,” Tony addressed the group. “Dan’s working on the last one we found that we could save, so it’s just us here and anyone still hiding in the dorm. Way I see it, we can either head out in the dark or we can hunker down in the dorm together. And as the self elected nominal leader I’ve decided to shelter in the dorm for the night. The familiarity should do us all some good.”

No one voiced disagreement, most everyone looked too shell shocked to argue anyways. The violence of the last 24 hours catching up to them. Tony directed the spears and shields to be given out to everyone among the group and he locked the spares up in his office.

Before he sent them off to sleep in their rooms Tony set a rotating watch schedule. He gave himself the first watch, for a couple hours, monitored by a mechanical watch he owned. Ava, volunteered the second watch and got Kurt and Roy to fill the third and final slot grudgingly. The person on watch would sit at the check in desk downstairs with the crossbow nearby and a spear and shield. The lantern Tony had kept on hand from one of the residents when the lights went out during the initial commotion a day ago provided light for the watchman.

The residents dispersed to their own rooms. Zoey snagged the key out from behind the desk to a room on Edwin’s floor. The dorm was quiet as Edwin swapped to some more comfortable clothes and laid down to sleep. Absent were the usual sounds of a large shared building. No electric hum, no water in the pipes, nothing. Just the quiet brush of wind against the windows.

Alone with his thoughts Edwin tossed and turned for a while before the day’s excitement caught up and his fatigue let him fall unceremoniously into unconsciousness.

-Frontrunners-

The morning came early for everyone. Tony stalked through each floor. He used the master key to open and check inside every room. He wanted to speak with them downstairs. Everyone from last night’s meeting was there as well as several others that Tony had scrounged up from where they had been hiding.

“We’re going to Washaki,” Tony announced without fanfare. “Get your spears and shields. If you don’t have one follow me to my office. No buts.”

The newcomers followed Tony while most of the residents had to duck back upstairs to retrieve their new weapons. Edwin scratched his growing scruff with one hand as he used the other to prop himself up with his spear. The shield rested at his feet.

“Alright, I need my morning coffee, no matter what sort of bullshit is hiding in the cafeteria. So let’s go deal with this. Capisce?” Tony asked the group. He got scattered, half-hearted answers but proceeded out the front entrance towards Washaki.

Washaki was a large two story building adjacent to While Hall. It stood right across the lawn where last night’s battle had taken place. It served as the cafeteria for all the nearby dorms. The glass walled entry way was shattered. They stepped gingerly over the shards and entered the sunlit interior. The dark blue tiled floor split in front of them, a wide set of stairs leading up on the left and a set half as wide leading down on the right. Below was a common room with tunnel access to the nearby dorms.

The group took the stairs up. Edwin had his arm through the strap on the back of his shield and gripped the handle tightly with that hand. The spear felt strange in his right hand. It was a long pole and heavy. As he walked up the stairs he found his thoughts drifting to his childhood. Days spent out in the woods mock marching and fighting with large sticks.

“Alright. Let’s get to the kitchen,” Tony directed them. He spoke with a hushed tone. “Look for anything weird and call it out.”

A cold draft swept over the group as they arrived at the swinging kitchen doors. Tony swept the doors open and stepped through. His own shield and spear were raised defensively. Nothing greeted them on the other side. Just an empty kitchen. They spread out and searched everywhere. The freezer was well insulated with a large swinging door. It was stocked up on all manner of frozen ingredients.

With the kitchen secured, they moved out and checked the dining areas. After that they did one final check downstairs. But nothing out of the ordinary revealed itself.

Some of the others were chatting casually when they regrouped. The air of tension had bled out of the group and more people were smiling. The promise of food allowed them to forget their previous worries, if only for a while.

“Let’s use up the more perishable goods,” Ava suggested and the group agreed without argument. Jugs of milk were gathered and they all met at the cereal bar. Edwin opted for a bowl of rice chex cereal and a glass of orange juice. As he sat down, Zoey took a seat across from him, her own bowl was filled with coco puffs. Ava sat amidst a large group of people. Tony sat alone off to the side, he was staring out one of the broken windows the entire time.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Everyone wondered what came next. As more and more people ate their last bite, the quiet grew heavier. The smiles dropped away and the chit chat petered out.

Ava stood up and cleared her throat. Everyone’s gaze snapped to her. A determined look filled her appearance.

“Enough moping,” her voice echoed confidently through the silent cafeteria. “Enough grim looks and sad smiles. What happened last night was a catastrophe. Now we need to focus on what comes next. You,” she said and pointed to someone sitting near her. “And you, and you,” she pointed to others as well. “You’re still alive, and right now that’s what’s most important. If you want to keep staying alive then we need to get moving and take action. We need to band together in this uncertain time. Together we can do more, together we can help each other, together we are stronger. If we wait for the next time something comes to cause trouble we might all die.

“And trouble’s probably going to come. Already in two days we’ve had a lot of trouble. It all started with that huge flying battle. Then the power died. Yesterday we all got attacked at Prexy’s and then again last night right here. Who knows what might happen today?

“So listen to me. You all need to know this. I believe this to be true and will stake my claim on the fact that we got attacked by an actual damn wizard last night. Ok so, it sounds weird; but we can get our own powers. If we fight back against the monsters that attack us we grow in strength. It’s like a videogame. You defeat enemies and you gain experience points. Then when you gain enough experience you level up. When you level up you get given a skill. Edwin,” she pointed towards him. “He can control concrete with telekinesis.” She looked right at him, their gazes locking for a moment. She nodded her head to him. “If you will, Edwin?”

For a brief instance he thought about denying her request. Regardless of who was making the request though, Edwin recognized the importance of stressing to the group the new opportunity they had to defend themselves. He curled his finger in a beckoning gesture and a pinky finger sized shard of concrete peeled itself from one of the bare concrete support pillars along the wall. It zipped over and hovered above his hand. Before he canceled his control of it and let gravity pull it into his palm. Despite himself, Edwin marvelled at the sight of his new skill in action. A smirk crept onto his lips.

“With that power he saved my life from the wizard last night. He gained that power by killing those owls at Prexy’s and levelling up. So, if we want, we can make ourselves strong as well. So that we can fight back and survive whatever comes for us next.”

Quiet murmurs filled the quiet as Ava finished her impromptu speech. Zoey caught Edwin’s eye from across their table. Her green eyes peeked out from behind coppery bangs. “Quite the showman,” she teased him. Her lips quirked to the side in a little grin. Edwin let the concrete roll out of his hand onto the table. It clattered to a stop in the middle.

“Speaking of powers,” Edwin said. “How did your investigation go last night?”

Zoey raised a hand and rotated it back and forth in a gesture of uncertainty. “I got some stuff written down but I used up all my psych pretty quick. It was mostly just boring obvious descriptions. You might get something out of it. You’ll have to check your notebook. It should be on your counter.”

Tony stood up and called out to quiet the growing discussions. “As Ava said. We need to protect ourselves. If help is coming it won’t be for a couple more days. With the blackout it will take a while for the Army to mobilise to get up here. Until then, we need to do what we can. We have a good source of food and shelter with the dorm and Washaki. What we need is more security. More weapons, more residents, and if we can get them, more of these powers. I think the first thing we need to do is go check out Orr Hall. There might be people trapped under the rubble that we can help. So let’s get going. We can plan more later.”

Back out the shattered entrance and a short way down the road away from Washaki brought them to the collapsed ruin of Orr Hall.

The crumbled remains of the building now filled the street where the wizard had collapsed it. The ruins didn’t smoke and Edwin saw no signs of life as they approached. What quickly became apparent however were the signs of death. Limbs and bodies lay splayed around the area. Victims of the collapse.

No one spoke as the grim scene expanded and the scope of the aftermath came into focus. They had seen death and the silent horror left in its wake. The wizard had been a reaper for he claimed many lives last night, both in this dorm and their own.

“See if you can find anyone alive,” Tony directed the group as he stepped forward to begin looking through the rubble. “But don’t walk on top of this or shift too much stuff, if someone’s down there it could kill them.”

For an hour the group combed over the wreckage. More and more casualties were uncovered but the search for survivors was fruitless. As the group made to walk away, a small mousy haired girl suddenly called out, “I think I hear something!” Running to her position near the rubble everyone did their best to quiet their breathing and listen. The ever present wind that blew across Laramie was all anyone could catch though.

“I don’t hear nothing,” someone else sneered. He held his spear over his shoulder and had a dip in his bottom lip. To punctuate his statement he spat a tobacco stained glob to the ground. A chorus of agreements followed his statement and the girl frowned as she herself failed to hear anything a second time.

“I thought I did,” she said and turned her back. “Maybe the wind carried someone’s voice.”

“Perhaps,” Tony agreed. “In any case. We’re done here. Now we need to talk about where we can find more weapons. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“The police station, they got their own guns plus some people store their stuff in there,” said a fat guy near the back of the group.

“That’s possible,” Tony agreed. “But everyone else will have thought of it. Going there is a good way to get in a fight with other scared people. If they already have guns then we definitely don’t want to get on their bad side. Anything else?”

Edwin spoke up, “One of those flying ships crashed down the road. I poked around the wreckage a bit and found a bunch of hatchets. I think there should still be more of them there. Kurt brought some of them back though I think?”

“Good, good. We don’t have enough spears for everyone so more weapons will help.” Tony clapped. “It’s close, yeah?” Edwin nodded. “Ok so you take half of everyone here and go check it out Edwin. How close is it to those owls though? Are you going to run into them?”

“It’s pretty close, we ran into the owls last time so, probably pretty likely.” Edwin shivered. “I don’t really want to get near those owls ever again though. However, if you really want me to go, and if we’re safe about it, we could probably get some other people to level up from it.”

Tony stroked his chin. “If you do go though, can you keep other people safe Edwin?”

Edwin exhaled and tapped his spear but against the ground. “No way. I can barely keep myself safe. You have to cover your eyes to fight the owls, because it seems like their power needs direct eye contact to snare you. That kid, Thomas, got torn up and we had numbers on our side that time. Anyone who comes along is going to need to be able to watch their own back.”

“Well we need to get those hatchets, I think. More people are probably gonna wander back for the food in Washaki if nothing else. If we have more weapons we can arm more of us and everyone will feel better for it. Who will go with Edwin?”

Ten hands went up. Zoey among them. Each of them had a spear but several of them were without a shield. Three large guys pushed through the crowd and came to stand in front of Edwin. The one in the center spoke first, “Aye, so Edwin, yeah? You’re supposed to be in charge.” He paused and Edwin nodded shortly in return. The guy frowned before he continued. “So why do I gotta listen to what you say though? Just ‘cause you can make a little rock fly around?”

“You don’t,” Edwin replied immediately. The crowd shifted and focused more on him. “But you’re here, you’re volunteering. I’m going to be going. So if you want to tag along then come. Otherwise you can go do whatever you want.

The three guys bristled but they stepped back without saying anything else. Edwin relaxed slightly as his apparent new leadership role remained intact.

The fat guy from before raised his hand. He was not one of the volunteers. He stood shorter than Edwin by several inches and had unremarkable features aside from a set of particularly bushy eyebrows. His chin quivered as he spoke up, “Uh yeah.” He rubbed his hands together and glanced around. Edwin watched a bead of sweat drip from his temple. “So, err. Ava was saying something about, like, magic and video games. And well… I didn’t really understand. Why is everyone holding weapons and shields and stuff? Why don’t we just wait for the government to come and fix everything?”

“It’s like Tony said,” Edwin answered. Tony remained quiet and let Edwin establish his fledgling authority. “We don’t know when they will get here. But we need to protect ourselves. We’ve been attacked twice in a single day. Looking to keep ourselves safe is better than sitting around doing nothing all day, just waiting to be attacked.”

“And,” Edwin continued. “As far as I can tell. Things like magic and stat points like in video games are real now. You get experience points for killing things, and you level up when you get enough of them.” He could still see contempt and disbelief on some of their faces. “If that wizard hurling lightning around last night meant nothing to you; and if my own demonstration meant nothing, then you’re just gonna have to go with it or don’t. What’s the worst that could happen if you are a little more cautious just in case?”

No one else spoke up, so Edwin took the volunteers to the side and told them to go get ready. He walked back up to his room to get changed and grab some things. When he got to his room, he started to root through his closet. Edwin replaced his sleep clothes, a pair of basketball shorts and an old tee-shirt with a pair of clean tan cargo shorts and a simple black t-shirt. Along with a fresh set of socks and boxers,

Now freshly clothed, Edwin walked over to the wall length desk near the window. The pocket knife he carried was joined by several pens, a small notebook, and a little multi tool that rested on the desk. He emptied his backpack and stuffed the supplies into it alongside some water bottles and granola bars. He left the notebook Zoey had written in. He would get back to it later.

He hefted his spear and shield made his way back downstairs and outside on to the adjoining staircase that sloped down to the road. Already the other volunteers were congregating there.

Before they set out Edwin took the time to have everyone introduce themselves. The three guys who had questioned him were Jason, Lj and Steve. They each had a spear and shield. The mousy haired girl who claimed to hear a voice had volunteered as well, her name was Teresa and at some point she had claimed the crossbow because she now carried it casually in the crook of her arm. A blue drawstring athletic bag was tied to her belt and carried the bolts. She had discarded her spear in favor of just the ranged weapon.

Felix was an inconspicuous guy, very plain looking, and he had a spear without a shield. In short order, everyone else had a spear and shield and they were Austin and Haley, who were a couple. Shaun and Nick, who were roommates. Shaun had a large build and seemed more comfortable than anyone else with the spear in his hands. Nick looked the most uncomfortable, as he was the smallest among them, besides Zoey. Edwin wondered if he had volunteered on his own or if Shaun had goaded him into it.

They set out once introductions were done. They crossed the intersection and kept to the sidewalk as they walked the straight path to their destination. Edwin quieted a conversation between Jason, Steve and Lj who did not look pleased. But he mentioned the owls and they were subdued.

He lifted the shield up and carried it at chest height, his grip on his spear tightened. The other’s noticed his growing tension and similarly prepared themselves. The mousy haired girl drew back her crossbow and loaded a bolt.

The noise the group gave off was reduced as they started to half creep towards the pile of gear. A quick count let Edwin know that the weapons had not been messed with since he last saw them. He turned to look at everyone behind him. They were all half crouched and shifty eyed. At least they all seemed to understand the significance of where they were located. Stories of the owls had filtered through the dorm buildings over the night and everyone was unnerved by them.

“Half of you watch around us, everyone else go grab as many of those weapons as you can carry and then switch with one of the lookouts,” Edwin instructed with a whisper. “When everyone’s got some we will head back ok?”

A round of nodded heads and several thumbs up answered him as the group went about dividing itself. There were eleven of them all together and everyone quickly paired off while Edwin hung back. Each pair split and sent one to loot. Minutes later, as the task was not a demanding or time consuming one, the group set off back towards the dorms. The unease from earlier forgotten as their moods lifted with their recent plunder. Seven more axes, a dozen knives and daggers, and several random things a couple people had picked up.

Smiles were exchanged and backs straightened as everyone stood up and returned to walking in a casual manner. Edwin remained alert only a little longer than the others did. The dorm was right there, in sight from the crash spot, in a couple of minutes they would be back and he would hopefully be able to ditch these followers. All had been going according to plan, it had been smooth sailing.

A shout and a harsh clatter jolted Edwin from his thoughts. Looking for the disturbance he discovered a fist sized rock rolling quickly away near Felix.

“Watch out!” Someone yelled. This was followed by a collection of shouts and screams.

Looking up, Edwin saw several more rocks hurtling down. Raising his shield he took cover as one of them bounced off his shield boss. Tracking the rocks revealed five hairy, bare chested men peeking out of the windows of the classroom building on the side of the road. Each one was in the process of moving their arm back to throw another rock.

Feet slapped hard against the asphalt as the group scattered. The extra weapons were ditched and Edwin found himself seeking shelter behind a nearby tree. From there he could see another barrage of rocks coming down. He was impressed and relieved that no one had been beaned in the head yet.

His group was spread out now, Jason, Steve, and LJ were running towards the door to the classroom building. When they were about half way there the doors were thrown open and a dozen bodies streamed out. High pitched shouts and warcries came from this group as they charged straight at the trio.

The thunder of hooves covered the three’s surprised exclamations. However, they were too committed to break their charge. Jason recovered from faltering first and when he renewed his stride the other two matched him a moment later.

Edwin’s face paled as he watched the two groups meet head on.