Once the spiders were all quite thoroughly killed, I stopped and took a moment to take stock of everything.

One of the doors was badly bent and warped from being slammed into a tree and partially wrapping around it. That'd been Karen's first strike and squish.

Ash's door had several dents and the window shattered where somehow a spider had survived being driven into the dirt and managed to break through the glass window to escape.

I'd had two attack me, but I'd batted one jumping spider hard enough to splatter it and impaled the other.

Then I noticed Melissa checking herself over. "You OK?" I asked with a bit of alarm.

"One of them jumped on me, I don't think it bit me though."

Checking her over, there were a couple of tears in the back of her blouse and a superficial scratch running down the back of her arm.

"I don't see any bleeding other than the scratch, and that's pretty much stopped already. I think we got off lucky." I let out my breath.

Melissa sank to the ground with a shudder. "Maybe more than we should have. Did anyone really pay attention to their energy?"

"They had a lot more energy than the crabs or other stuff Brent's been having brought in?" Karen offered, moving to sit on the edge of the now well torn apart car. "Like, about what the geodes have actually." She winced as the car shifted.

"They were cycling energy, not just that they had a lot. I didn't pay attention to how much, but you could feel them cycling." I added.

Melissa shook her head. "They had breakthroughs. Not just that they had a dantian and could cycle energy, they had two breakthroughs. I put everything I could easily cycle into my overflow, two breakthroughs above them and still got caught. I think if they'd ganged up on one of us, only Nicole could have gotten through that." She looked at me. "And maybe not even you, just by dent of numbers."

I paled slightly. "Yeah, where's the radio. I think we need to call the guard and let him know."

"Dropped it in the trunk when we yanked the top off of it." Ash answered. Karen turned and peered into the trunk before pulling it out and offering it up.

I grabbed it and hit the button. "If you see spiders the size of large dogs, shoot first. Or possibly run first. But don't let them catch you. We just lucked into killing six of them that had two breakthroughs."

"I'm sorry, repeat that again. Spiders the size of dogs? Over."

"Yeah. And two breakthroughs. Don't know if those were normal for out here or not." I replied.

"Understood. I'm going to see if we have any bigger guns on the truck, in case you call back and I'm not available. Over."

"Not a bad idea." Ash looked out over our little battlezone. "I don't think we want to try exploring more without something better to take out those spiders. I know I'm never going to not carry something around now, knowing these things exist." He kicked at the mostly broken door. "We're probably lucky the doors were sturdy enough to take us swinging them and breaking the spiders."

Ash then paused, looking into the woods suspiciously. "God, I hope they're top of the foodchain here, I'd hate to see what eats those. Or have to deal with it."

"And now you've jinxed us. All in favor of a fast retreat?" Melissa looked around.

"Aye." "Aye."

"Ay-". I startled, looking deeper into the woods. "Yi-yi.... Uhh, anyone else feel that?"

That being a rather large source of Earth energy, moving towards us. Whatever it was felt like static energy, not cycling at all, but more than anyone else except me. Unfortunately, it was at least somewhat coming from the direction we'd strung out the rope.

"Shit. I did jinx us." Ash cursed. "Nicole, you think we can flip the car at least to be a shield?"

"Electric car batteries, we don't want them to explode on us." Karen hopped off the car. "We need to at least make sure the bottom's not facing us."

"Did you already go through?" I asked into the radio, to no answer. I cursed quietly to myself before helping to flip the car onto its side. "Alright, if it looks like it's slow, we cut and run, follow the rope back out of here. Otherwise..." I took a deep breath, deepening my cycling. "I'll keep whatever it is distracted long enough for you guys to go, then I'll be right behind you."

"This is a shit plan." Karen stated while huddled behind the car.

"Voting's open for another plan, until whatever the hell that is gets here." I offered. Considering we could all feel it getting closer, no one spoke up.

After a moment, I heard heavy steps and it finally got close enough to spot, coming into view as a seriously disheveled person, his shirt ripped into pieces and pants not in much better shape. His face was almost blackened in dirt and as he staggered up holding onto our rope with exhaustion in his frame. I saw a scowl form on his face, pulling at scars, as he took the sight of me in. He held a bent up lug wrench in his other hand, covered in some sort of goo.

"Holy shit, Barry?" I yelped. He wasn't cycling, but he was holding enough energy for five breakthroughs.

"Firen. I shouldn't have hoped to find actual help out here." His scowl deepened. "Even when I find a part of the planet free of the alien's taint, here you are spreading it again. And you've absolutely destroyed my car."

"Screw you, we had to have something to kill spiders. Did you see them? Did you see their size?" Karen stepped out from behind the now less useful barrier.

"I saw them." Barry's fist around the wrench squeezed. "Joe figured since they were Wood and weaker than us, they were guides sent to us by the planet. Why we ended up in here. Nature loves a free meal though."

"Ah, sorry?" I offered. "He was crazy, but he didn't deserve to die."

"He was the one that saw this place, guided us here. And now I see it was a trap, that we sprung in your place. You should have been the one exploring here to spread the alien's energy and the planet would have trapped you instead. At least I can die in this trap knowing you will go with me." Barry slumped down against a tree.

"No one's trapped in here dude, we can get out of here." Ash said, coming from behind the car as well. "We killed the spiders, we can just leave. No problems."

"I killed dozens of them. The planet's defenders only recognize humans as a threat, even those of us who wish to help." He lifted the tire iron, and I saw two of the arms had been bent into a sort of guard and the wrench head was broken off into a point. "If you have a way out, then I should kill whoever of you I can to reduce your numbers. Even if it is just slightly." He staggered to his feet.

"Back behind the car." I waved Ash and Karen back, before they could come out any further. "We already had this fight, Barry. I'm two breakthroughs over you now. It won't be nearly as close a fight this time."

"I'm stronger too, and you don't have useful backup this time girl. Your friends aren't snipers." Within a second, his still energy began cycling and pulling in additional energy from around him. His overflow spilled out and I could actually sense it hardening his body, his skin going dark as the scars on him stood out in stark relief. Then his energy sparked and flowed into the wrench, a bright tang of metal somehow changed from his earth. "And I have a much better weapon."

"Well damn." I took a step back myself, cycling everything I had and trying to point the overflow at Barry to push his own away, to not much effect.

"Not enough, girl. The earth stands with me." He held his makeshift but energy infused weapon in front of him, point leveled at me. "You dodge and I'm going to go straight to your friends."

I'd spent nearly a month at this point in Army Combatives training, funnily enough because of this exact person and this exact reason. Combatives options one and two were never really going to be my goto for dealing with anyone though. No disengaging to regain projectile range, no secondary weapon to utilize. Instead, option three. Close the distance and gain control.

Energy flickered through me in Feathersteps as I dashed forward, feeling like I nearly teleported the twenty feet between us. Startled surprise flickered through his face as well as he drove the point of his makeshift shiv at me.

The blade was longer than the dummy knives I'd trained against, but that just meant stepping to the side a half step earlier. Coming to Barry's out side, I grabbed his forearm and struck his elbow with my palm, with enough force that I would have snapped any of the instructors' bones.

It didn't even jar him and this close I could see the guard was actually wrapped around his wrist so even if he let it go it wouldn't drop. I pulled back to hit again, this time with every bit of force I could.

Barry bent at the elbow, stepping in to try to drive his elbow into my chest, which let me turn and step behind him, grabbing at his weapon guard and pulling his own wrist against his throat.

"Just stop, damn it." I pulled his wrist harder, but whatever his defensive technique was, I couldn't get enough pressure to start choking him out.

He grabbed my wrist with his other hand and I braced to get thrown. Instead, he lifted me just enough to pull me off the ground. "Burn girl."

I didn't have a chance to react or understand what he meant before he charged at the overturned car, weapon awkwardly pointed straight at it. I tried to yank my arm back but couldn't before Barry made it to the car, the pointed end of his wrench weapon plunging into the underside battery and turning to expose me.

In a fraction of a second, I could see the flame sparking forward out of the piercing. I instantly quit fighting to choke Barry, quit trying to hold him back. Instead, I flooded everything out of me towards that spark.

Ash making fire from neutral energy, Barry making metal from earth energy.

Water water water water water!

Then there was white fire.