Caroline and Tyler hurried through the gate and into the yard. But to their surprise, Denton and Nelson weren't home. According to Jet, the two had gone out to find a housewarming gift for Caroline. Tyler immediately frowned, his brows knitting tight. "Denton's being reckless! We haven't even finished scouting the area, how could he take Nelson out with him? What if he can't protect him on his own?" Caroline tensed up at that, starting to feel the urgency too. She quickly told Jet to search the area and try to find them. Just as the tension in the room was rising, they suddenly heard a knock at the door. Both of them went on high alert. Denton and Nelson had keys, so they wouldn't be knocking. Which meant ... whoever was outside wasn't one of them. As Caroline and Tyler kept their eyes trained on the door in silence, the knocking suddenly became faster, more frantic. Then came a man's panicked voice, shouting, "Please! Open the door! Help me! I'm begging you, let me in!" Neither Caroline nor Tyler said a word. They didn't even make a sound. The area was pretty isolated—so how had this guy even gotten here? The mobile base hadn't triggered any alerts. That could mean the man wasn't hostile, or it could mean he had some kind of ability that masked malicious intent. "Please, open up, I'm begging you! The insect disaster is coming! Those things are coming down the mountain! Please, I'm begging you!" The man's voice cracked with terror as his pounding grew louder and more frantic. Caroline and Tyler exchanged a glance. Insect disaster? Just then, the man outside suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream, like something had bitten him. His voice was filled with agony. "Help me! Please! I'm begging you! Ahhh—bugs! So many bugs! The insect disaster is here!"He wailed in panic, and at the same time, Caroline and Tyler felt the ground start to tremble beneath them. It was like something massive—a whole swarm—was rushing toward them. The air was filled with the flapping, slapping sound of wings—thud-thud, thud-thud. "We have to go find Denton and Nelson," Caroline said, frowning deeply. Whatever was out there, it wasn't just dangerous. It was deadly. Without hesitation, Tyler stepped forward and yanked the door open. The moment the door swung wide, two shapes lunged straight at them. Caroline and Tyler barely had time to register—two mutant mantises, each one longer than a grown person's entire arm, came flying at them. They were easily twice the size of the mutant mantises Kay had sent Caroline before. And mantises weren't just creepy, they were brutal. Even a regular mantis, barely bigger than a finger, could snatch birds midair—birds larger than themselves. Their massive, powerful forearms could punch straight through a bird's skull in a blink. Now imagine one of these things—at this size ... Caroline and Tyler spotted a man collapsed at the gate, his head drenched in blood. He wasn't moving—he had to be the one who was knocking earlier. As the two mantises tried to force their way inside, Caroline and Tyler struck fast, taking both down before they could get through. But outside the gate? There were dozens more. But the scariest part? The earth-shaking rumble that was rocking the entire shelter wasn't coming from the mantises. It was something else, something bigger. A lot of somethings. And they were heading this way. "Medusa! Handsy!" Caroline shouted. Immediately, the sound of two massive trees walking echoed from behind her. When it came to fighting oversized mutant mantises, Medusa and Handsy were actually the better fit. Caroline and Tyler quickly activated their abilities, taking out the surrounding mantises one by one. Raven and Snow jumped in too. Raven's ability, in particular, was a game-changer in group fights. All those mantises that had been flying around like they owned the skies, but the moment Raven's power activated, they dropped out of the air like dead weight. The only catch? Raven's ability had a time limit—just a few seconds per burst. Any longer and he'd collapse from exhaustion. While they were busy fighting, the man who'd been lying unconscious outside—head soaked in blood—suddenly stood up. Caroline was about 15 feet away from him. And just then, she felt a sharp sting at the back of her head. Her reflexes kicked in instantly, and she bolted forward over 30 feet. That was the standard effective range of most abilities. But even as she reached up to touch her head, her fingers came back with blood. "Well, well, didn't expect you to be that quick," the man sneered. His face was covered in blood, streaked with dirt and grime, but his eyes shone with an eerie brightness. "Look, I was being honest earlier. I did come here for help. I wasn't trying to fight you, and I wasn't even trying to hurt anyone," he said.