Ariana stares in fear as David's barely able to hold off the flying creatures, which are only a few feet away. Numerous UEF helicopters are appearing from all sides and are firing armor piercing shells in many directions. While the bewildered Arn stares at the helicopters, his attention's quickly pulled away as the tree they're resting in begins to sway violently. The large ground monster they evaded is slamming its 120 ton body against the trunk. Ariana screams as the tree snaps and the two begin to plummet toward the ground. Just managing to slow their fall, David's struck by a leg from the large beast. Barely remaining conscious, he slams into another tree and the two begin to plummet toward the ground. Still reeling, Dave manages to break their fall only a few feet from the forest floor. Before he can completely come to his senses, the large creature's made its way to David's side and rapidly starts to attack him. The Arn lets out a painful scream as his right arm's bitten off forcefully. While the creature quickly consumes that arm, Dave's managed to stop his bleeding. Frantically holding on to Ariana with his remaining hand, he narrowly escapes another attack from the huge beast. David quickly moves them from the area. Noticing a relatively quiet spot nearby, he hastily travels in that direction.

Ariana stares at David with apprehension

Ariana: Can't you heal yourself?

David looks where his arm should be and shakes his head with displeasure.

David: No! I have no trouble putting matter back where it was. You know, like when I break a leg. But, that's totally different from replacing matter. Those large creatures have some type of super dense skin, which my powers can't seem to penetrate. Otherwise, I could just pull my arm back out of its body. Unfortunately, that's not gonna happen. I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do. If we don't get out of here fast, we might not make it. I'm gonna try and follow the path of least resistance out of this place. We're gonna need some luck.

Ariana: Why don't we try and get into one of those helicopters?

Dave shakes his head as he frowns.

David: No! It's the same problem then if we tried to fly above the trees. The flying creatures would be able to see us from all around and they'd attempt to converge on our position. I don't think I could hold too many of them off and they can fly much faster than I can. They'd swarm all over the chopper if we got in. It would be a death trap! And, I'm not strong enough to hold on to the outside of a moving vehicle yet; so, that strategy's out. Instead, I'm gonna try and get Taschin's ship over here. I can sense a clearing about a mile to the west. If I can land his vehicle, we can get the hell out of here! He's not gonna be happy!

David's forced to split his attention between taking control of the ship and trying to fly toward the clearing. It's a struggle, but he's making some progress as they head in a westerly direction at close to 25 mph. Dave's amazed that he's able to do all this while having to fend off the flying creatures and repair wounds from occasional friendly fire. Out of desperation, he's managing to focus some attention on making himself stronger. It's starting to work and his overall power's starting to increase slightly.

Taschin's noticing his ship start to move and becomes quite pissed off when he figures out what's happening. Immediately, he begins to chastise Dave.

Taschin: What the hell are you doing!

David: I'm really sorry guy! We've got to get the hell out of here, now! I'm in serious jeopardy of dying!

Taschin: Unfortunately, those Auto Builder ships are moving faster than I would've thought possible for them. They'll be on us in a couple of minutes! I have to stay up here in orbit and coordinate your planets defense. Couldn't you find a way to survive down there?

David: I've already lost an arm! At any second, an armor piercing shell could come whipping through my head and it would be all over. It's pretty nasty down here! Besides, there's no way I can try and hack into the Auto Builder ships if I'm preoccupied down here. There's just too many things going on. This is nuts!

Larva are beginning to emerge from the ground and are rapidly turning into creatures. David and Ariana are under serious attack as they get to within a quarter mile of the opening. He's darting back and forth between trees in an effort to avoid the numerous attacks from the large monsters. Smaller trees are being snapped in half and are flying in many directions. A 9-inch-thick one slams into David's back, sending him flying onto the ground; he and his sister roll to a stop. Repairing his shattered back, Dave flies toward Ariana and embraces her. A monster's leg grabs hold of him and he's forced to let go of his sister. With a burst of energy, David forces himself out of the creature's grasp and wastes no time in rapidly flying toward its face. Making an effort to kick it in one of its eyes, his foot slams through the left one and the creature screams out of each mouth. Before Dave can even appreciate his success, another monster jumps on him and manages to chew off his right leg. Barely managing to escape, he races toward his sister, who, fortunately, was left alone amidst the creatures' preoccupation with him. With all the strength he can channel, Dave races toward the opening at 40 mph. Speeding past the last ground monster, they reach the small field and head for the center, which is about 200 feet from the trees.

Suddenly, Taschin's vehicle takes a few shots from the UEF ground cannons as it approaches within 20 miles of David's position. Taschin's thrown his hands up in the air in disbelief. He'd been speaking with Logan about the Auto Builder ships and can't believe the UEF's firing upon him.

Taschin: Why are you firing on me!

Logan: We're not! They went off by themselves! I don't know what's going on!

Taschin: My shields are down to 29%! David, you've got to release my ship, now!

With a morbid look in his eyes, the distraught Arn forces Taschin's vehicle back into space and relinquishes control to the annoyed alien.

David: Those Auto Builder ships must have commandeered the cannons somehow. I know for sure that something foreign's at work on those vehicles. There's some kind of advanced energy field blocking my attempts to hack into their computers. It reminds me of the shielding on that Tarx droid ship we helped destroy. The situation seems to just keep getting worse!

Taschin: Yea, and they'll be here in twenty seconds! I'm probably not going to be able to fight them with my shielding problems. At least I finished the transporter overhaul way ahead of schedule. I can start getting rid of some of the garbage.

One of the ground monsters is running toward David and Ariana in the open field. It reaches within 50 feet of them and instantly disappears. The two manage a brief smile, which fades rapidly as they watch hundreds of trees along the field perimeter snap violently. Well over a hundred ground monsters appear all along the edges of the opening. A wave of thousands of flying creatures fills the sky from several hundred feet away as they rapidly approach. Instantly, David realizes there are way too many monsters for Taschin's transporter. While Dave uses Taschin's cameras to watch the multicolored Auto Builder ships fly over the Atlantic Ocean in the direction of the US, he can't help but feel finished as his options seem nil.