Eian was awake sitting down on the floor, reflecting on his most recent near-death experience.

The pouring of spirit into his core and his reminiscent memory of rushing energy, like an amped suger rush, he was too into the fight to focus on what he had done immediately.

He had not checked his QI reserves directly after the fight, but the more he pondered the surer he became, he had combined Qi and Spirit.

That was the only explanation he had for the unexplained surge of power, he had not gotten a clear feeling for that energy, full of adrenaline as he was, but the brief explosive feel was unlike either Qi and Spirit.

Pressure, saliva and a low growl from a greedy throat, the shaking of his armored head, the inability of his spirit to hold againast the monster.

Strong jaws clamping down on as he was unable to fight back, Eian's closed his eyes, his ears hearing the crunch of armor again.

His spirit unable to go further, only dwindling in strength as he struggled, his Qi reinforcing only his body when he needed it for something else.

Desperation, it had clicked then, as he desperately needed his inner power to work, to meld, the violent unexpected backlash expanding outwards as uncontrolled pressure.

As he felt the energy once more, he wasproven right when the energy far exceeded the amount of Spirit which entered his core, it was out of the norm, his core violently expelled the new-found chaotic energy which seeped into his muscles and burned itself out a few minutes later.

'What can I do with this?' That was the question in Eian's mind as he focused.

He could ask Russel, and if he did not figure it out soon he would, as getting stronger, to help the girls, was still the most important objective, but he toyed with the idea of learning by himself.

Deciding that was enough thought without action Eian stood up, grabbed some food, and went out to begin his day. Deciding he would experiment a bit today, on weaker monsters first, this was something new to him, and he wanted to test the limits.

Eian was taking Susan along today, she was steadily advancing, it was annoying to Eian as his progress was stagnant, but there was a vast difference of power between them still, it was expected that Eian would advance slower, as frustrating and bitter as that truth felt.

She had been calmer of late, she had either been scared of him or had learned her lesson to not mess around when there was a lot of important work to be done, she had opted to remain quiet most of the time now and for that Eian was grateful to whichever god had seen to that up until recently, but now she seemed nervous.

Eian had noticed the tension in the group growing, even among the friends Russel had brought along, a few wanted to get in contact with family, he could sympathize with them but rushing off without information was idiotic, a point Russel had drilled into his people.

Speaking of family, Eian was on speaking terms with his mother, cordial and inquiring about each other's wellbeing mostly, while she was apologetic, that did not mean she had changed so Eian waited and watched ensuring she got the hint.

Russel was bust almost too busy, he had to try to keep everyone focused on the mission, he seemed to have stopped hunting which relaxed his training to keep things running smoothly, and while it was admirable, Eian was not sure he could have stood to do the same in his position, still someone had to do it.

Edward and his father had secluded themselves from Eian, occasionally Eian would see Ed and he looked as if to say something but chose to remain silent and leave, evading him every chance they got, Ed spoke to Russel sometimes.

Eian had caught them speaking, but Russel had always kept a distance from Ed since a while back and Eian wasn't about to meddle, Ed likely wanted to know when they would be getting the girls back.

Today Eian decided would be the day he venture further, almost out of the city near a few mountains, the wilderness outside the confines of civilization might have stronger monsters, something he was eager to see.

A lot of California was barren, hills and mountains which sometimes held forest, but the closest forest reserve was a twelve-minute drive away or so, that was before everything went to hell and some streets became blocked.

If there was nothing nearby, then he could simply drive back into the city and keep killing the weaker monsters, that would be a hassle however.

Eian recalled a retreat his school had held when he was a kid, it was not too far off, although back then the class had simply been running around having fun in the park.

They were driving through back roads as most main streets usually had accidents blocking portions.

"You expect anything in particular?" Susan looking in direction briefly, since his difficult fight she seemed to become nervous.

"No. The forest means more animals, more animals means more monsters. I'm going with that." Eian shrugged.

"I can't ever recall anything much being around here," Susan answered.

"Bears?" Eian asked, he thought he had once heard of bears somewhere, but he could be wrong.

Eian for his part was completely in the dark towards what these parts held, birds and raccoons maybe.

"I never went outside the city limits to explore." Susan kept pushing her hair back behind her hear, nervous.

The car slowed, and Eian spotted several vehicles blocking the road, the vehicles surrounded a distinct building, the blockade was assembled there clearly on purpose.

The building was clearly a church of some sort, and although it was quiet it was not the same quiet as the rest of the deserted city.

Eian watched, wondering who was within, the building had clearly been reinforced and had to be the work of several people, a large group of survivors.

He wondered if they would be hostile at first, he usually would not think people taking residence in a church could be dangerous, but that did not necessarily mean they had to be religious.

"Eian, you want to go around?" Susan looked at the church.

"Yeah..." Eian rubbed his jaw and motioned for her to reverse.

To further add to his hesitation Eian noticed how some vehicles were propped sideways and supported from behind, held together by chains and rope, a single opening on the barricade appeared to lead to a choke point, perfect for funneling intruders.

Eian already had problems with the first group of people he had encountered, for all he knew these people were zombie cultists.

As Susan began to reverse a man came out of the building, he raised his voice in a casual greeting, he was wearing a Kevlar vest and wearing a policeman's uniform.

The man had his hands in the air as a peace gesture, walking slowly and watching them closely as he approached.

"You think we should go?" Susan asked him.

"I'll see what he wants first." Eian exited the car, copying the man's posture.

The man had his hair trimmed short, almost bald with a big boned body, with muscles that would have stood out before the dream, he had a neutral half-smile.

"Good morning to you young man. You couple passing by?" The 'policeman' asked, looking from Eian to Susan in the car.

"Yeah," Eian didn't feel like explaining.

"Oh..., well it's nice to see other people...... Listen son, mind me asking a few questions? Haven't had much contact with others." The man asked nicely, he was looking around Eian searching for something.

"Are there more officers in there?" Eian asked skeptically, there were definitely more people hidden, he almost asked him if he was an officer.

The man's smile became a neutral face, but he wasn't giving off hostile intentions.

"Don't think I'll be answering any of 'those' questions until I know more about you. Sorry son." The man added the last part as he raised his hands a bit higher, showing Eian he meant no harm.

"I don't know you either." Eian pointed out, unwilling to give random trust.

"Understood, but if you're looking to come in, then I have to ask you to leave," The man watched Eian expectantly.

Eian stared at him, looking at his eyes, he was taller than Eian, standing at about six feet, and they both considered each other for some time.

"...please be on your way. Don't want any trouble." The man shrugged, looking back to the church quickly.

Eian nodded not wanting to further aggravate the man, Eian watched as he walked away backward slowly in his uniform, keeping his hands raised but eyes focused on Eian intently.

"He wasn't looking at you too happy," Susan responded plainly.

"I doubt anyone is 'happy' right now," Eian stated at the hidden barb.

"Maybe next time I'll have a turn?" Susan smiled at him, causing him to frown.

They reversed backward out of the lane and went a different direction towards the forest.

"You think he knew a good place to evacuate towards? Anywhere heavily defended?" Susan asked, a trace of hope entering her voice.

"Since he's hiding in a church, I doubt it," Eian answered looking out the window briefly.

Their conversation stopped when they beheld the forest from afar, even from the distance, it looked far more spread out than Eian ever remembered.

He had noticed the trees, lawns, and shrubbery had been overgrowing in the actual city, now it was clear it was much worse inside the forests.

A herd of white-tailed deer was grazing between the forest and themselves, the herd boasted a few specimens of abnormal size and the largest of there were the size of horses, with his eyes Eian could make out little details he could not have seen before.

The animals all had their necks straight, looking in the direction of the forest, during this time Eian wondered what held their attention.

As one, the animals set off towards the town, Susan backpedaled immedietly to move out of the way, in full reverse Eian felt a jolt as a wheel hit something.

Luckily for them, a few seconds later the first of the herd fled around them, ignoring the vehicle completely.

"Fuck! Move the damn car." Eian ordered.

Susan pressed the gas and the vehicle groaned forward at a snail's pace, the wheels screeched and the car refused to move quickly.

"Fucking hell! Stay here," Eian hit the side of the door and got out.

One of the back wheels was flat and the rims bent, there was smeared goo under the car and they had run over some form of beetle-monster with shattered remains of its hardened carpace, its insect body was crushed but pieces of it had punctured their transport, which would not move without replacing a wheel, maybe not even then.

That was all he got to see before a pair of antlers almost gored him, and after some last minute-dodging the buck immediately stood upright on its rear legs then kicked him in the arm and chest with its two front legs.

Stumbling backward Eian exploded in motion a second after, tackling the overgrown animal with his shoulder, he felt bones snap and the buck fell on its side while several others rushed in.

He managed to grab another buck by the antlers and hold it at bay, another came from the side trying to gore him, throwing himself to the side dragging the buck along with him.

A sharp snap of a neck later and Eian was sure the second buck was dead, he got up quickly and watched as the third buck joined the retreating herd.

'Smart bastard.' Eian massaged his bruised arm, where the buck attempted to trample him with an amateurish punch.

"What are they running from?" Susan's head peeked out from the shattered window on Eian's side.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Eian brushed himself off.

His Qi flowed through him as easy as his breathing, shooting forward Eian kicked one of the smaller doe in the shoulder before it knew what hit it.

As it hit the floor, the herd attempted to trample him, Eian activated empower and earth armor as they surrounded him.

Startled by his transformation, the deer halted with little distance, some running into him, then he smashed into them, swinging his armored fists wildly and stamping the injured.

Each blow broke bones, and lucky hits outright killed his foes, following animalistic instinct the uninjured herd members fled, leaving their dead and condemned behind.

As the herd cleared Eian let his powers drop to conserve power, the armor crumbled off him immediately.

The remaining enemies were too injured and mewling in pain, Eian watched them with a trace of pity, but he needed this.

"You kill those off. I'll look for wheels." Eian gestured at the injured with his chin and turning his gaze to search for cars..

"Were they running from something?" Susan stressed again.

Eian turned and saw something in the distance, it gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, and there was definite movement coming from it.

He caught sight of a pair of bucks surrounding the large slender figure, but they soon dropped from its swift attacks.

His eyes adjusted to the gleam and at first, he thought snake, then he realized it had limbs, a dark chocolate-red snake with taloned limbs.

It then bit into the dead buck, surprisingly it crunched off the animals head, Eian would have expected it to try to swallow it whole.

Instead, the reptile tore at it by stretching its gaping maw wide as if to swallow large chunks before clampings its jaws and severing large portions of the dead white-tailed buck.

"E-Eian, that's a big snake..." Susan shrunk away.

"It has four legs. Four. Another mutant?" Eian wondered why everything was growing extra parts.

As he inspected the animal, Eian noticed the animal had a slightly wider torso than he would associate with snakes.

"What do we do?" Susan asked him, speaking in a hush.

"I'm not sure if I have something that will pierce its scales..." Eian wondered if the animal was as powerful as his last opponent.

Still, he came all the way here to test out his new experience with his power of Qi and Spirit, and this might be the perfect opponent, lucky how his spirit was only a bit used.

A large reptilian monster, he wondered if they could drag it to base after it was dead, the scales or perhaps other body parts might be useful.

Snake and crocodile leather was tough and Eian imagined this thing would be no different, or perhaps stronger, not that he knew a thing about working it.

Still, there was no harm in trying, while he was at it he may as well take a few dead deer.

"Take cover," Eian advised, eyeing the distance between him and the monster.

"YOU be careful... making my way back alone will be terrible." Susan gave him an encouraging half-smile.

"Ha-ha whatever," Eian shrugged her callous-remark away.

He was unwilling to fuse Qi and spirit until he was closer, the last time the combined power exploded outwards until it drained itself.

Channeling Qi toward his limbs was second nature, Eian charged as the snake-thing fed upon its prey, it soon turned and saw him charging.

A hiss emerged from its open maw, its serpentine neck tensing and straightening, poised to strike, Eian saw it coming and veered to its left.

The biting motion missed, but its tail caught him by surprise acting as a whip, the scaly flesh momentarily pushed all the air from his lungs, Eian hit the asphalt shoulder first.

Cursing his amateur mistake, Eian encased himself quickly in rock-armor, the follow-up strike of its tail barely budged him but shards of stone broke off.

From so close Eian could make out the stripe pattern of the repitile, it flowed horizontally and alternated between a thin white line and followed by thicker crimson line then a chocolate lines.

The serpent-like-monster moved as a blur, its jaws snapping at him, Eian put his armored arm between him and the teeth.

Quickening his thoughts took but a second and Eian realized this monster was on the level of the boar-bull, it was a danger.

The teeth were quickly clamping down on his arm, punching its face only made it shake his arm, unable to fully concentrate he then pain shot up his arm.

Angry he got a clear shot at its scaly throat, the reptile's arms blew him backward a few steps in a hasty defensive push, armor and all.

On the floor, Eian experimented, once more he guided his spirit and crammed it into his core, which promptly exploded with power.

As the serpentine hissed and came at him jaws agape, he felt his armor tighten, the rock around his arm reformed.

Full of power, he felt as weightless, his actions flowing by near-instant thought, his next punch snapped the bastards face and elongated neck meters away.

The monster's body trembled as it swayed unsteady, Eian followed up kicking at its torso, the most of its body skidded a few steps.

Then he was hit, presumably by its tail, and Eian staggered to the side until he was lifting himself from his armored elbow.

The monster jaw was unhinged, its jaw hanging limp.

Eian shoved himself to stand and the monster lunged around him, instead of at him, Eian kept its face within sight.

Arms out and ready he then took a crack at its face, the neck of the monster swayed, dodging his attack while hissing.

Eian felt something around his legs, looking down he saw the tail wrapping around him, he tried jumping but his legs failed to take off fully.

Then he was being squeezed, the monster had fully wrapped around him, his armor resisted the constriction, and the reptile's eyes stared at him from outside his range.

Struggling out of its grip Eian wiggled and shoved out of its attempt to crush him by constriction.

Precious seconds passed in what felt like a futile struggle for Eian, periodically punching, kneeing or elbowing the monster's body, eliciting sharp hisses of pain.

Despite his clearly superior strength, it was tricky to slip the monster grasp due to it's large, long and heavy body.

Also, Eian's muscles periodically locked up, before he had to force it to obey, his breath was heavy and his body sweating from exertion.

Throughout the encounter, the monster kept its face well away from him, fearful of his hits.

When finally he staggered out of its coils, Eian threw himself away, none too gently, unwilling to get caught immediately after.

He caught a tail-lash on a leg, sending him to the floor on all fours, he dashed away and turned to face it.

It lunged sideways, trying to encircle him with its body again, expecting just that Eian took off at its face, the monster tried dodging but Eian tackle-hugged its neck.

The weight of his armor took him and the serpentine neck to the floor, the enemy thrashed as it tried dislodging him, Eian moved upwards without letting go.

The creature's body rolled, taking Eian with it as it attempted to dislodge him, Eian squeezed the neck, which felt as thick and tough as lumber.

But too much time had passed and he could feel the explosive power dwindling, his thoughts felt slow and his limbs were trembling.

Once more he guided what remained of his spirit to his core, this attempt was severely more complex, his earth energy slipped his grasp a few times.

On his third attempt he met success, the energetic explosion much more subdued, but it worked, and he felt it reinvigorate him.

Gritting his teeth, he felt his face, back and chest soaked full of sweat as he squeezed, he felt the veins on his forehead throb, his back and arms tremble from strain.

Eian blocked out sound, even the monsters thrashing movements as it clawed and choked, nothing mattered but the squeeze.

...

He became acutely aware of someone speaking his name distantly, he was unarmored and he felt dainty arms pull at him.

Desperate eyes, panicking eyes, watched him, he felt something change, his breathing became easier and he tried to speak, mumbling incoherently.

He felt tired, he figured he could rest, someone was clearly next to him and so he could take a break, he could always think later.

He let his head sag and drifted off to a turbulent sleep.