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“That’s all?” I joked, looking at the anatomy of my weapon, getting a feel for it in my hands.

Sigrid smiled, and I almost thought she was going to laugh, but Cal’s panicked yell came from behind us, cutting off the humor.

Cal lunged toward Simon as Simon fell to his knees, a yellow-tinged hole blown through his head where his face should have been.

A gasp of horror escaped my lips as I stared at his faceless body.

The magma had killed him instantly, the yellow goo still frothing along the singed outline of flesh and bone.

It seemed Decodons weren’t the only enemy to worry about on One.

I raised my gun, focusing on the trees.

The shot had come from the opposite side of the woods Leo had emerged from.

The attackers had us surrounded.

And Simon had been the easiest target, his size causing him to stick out.

Sigrid tracked movement at the same time I did, both of us firing as two men appeared.

Our magma left holes through their torsos—human windows to the woods beyond.

“Get her on a fucking horse!” Leo bellowed to Sigrid from the fire, the man he’d been dragging now bound and face down in the dirt, his gun discarded in the fire.

Sigrid looked at me apologetically.

I glared at her. “Don’t you fucking dare,” I said, my anger misplaced on her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She didn’t challenge me, only nodded, before a peppering of neon painted the sky in front of us.

I dove to the left, rolling behind the trunk of a fallen tree, watching as darkness devoured the magma before it could touch anything, or anyone.

Leo’s darkness.

A large group of men, dressed in green and brown camouflage, ran toward our camp, with patches sewn on the left breast of their uniforms, the men too far away to make out the detail of the patches. But one thing was certain: their matching attire meant this was a coordinated attack.

Leo ran to my side, sliding down low behind the fallen tree. He looked angry at first, but when he saw I was okay, the muscles in his forehead relaxed, a little bit of his anger subsiding.

More magma filled the sky as the men ran closer, and Leo’s face turned from brief relief to rage.

He stood tall, the ground shaking beneath his feet.

When he opened his hands, black essence poured from them, dancing its way along the ground, toward the men who meant to harm us.

The men aimed their weapons at Leo, sensing the threat, and I panicked.

I wouldn’t let them hurt him.

I propped my gun up on the trunk of the fallen tree and fired repeatedly, each of my bullets finding its mark.

One body fell.

Then two.

Three.

More men dropped before Sigrid and Cal as their shots landed, all while Leo’s shadows swirled through the air around us, making it impossible for the magma to touch us.