Kale used the night to his advantage. The headlamps on the hover-bikes crossed back and forth more slowly through the snow covered trees as they searched for him. His black uniform perfectly suited the dark. Several hover-bikes grouped together. Kale decided to become the predator in this scenario.
Kale's kemstick flashed on and off as he jumped on behind the rider of one of the bikes passing nearby. He pushed the body off and took the controls of the speeder-the snow swallowed the rider whole, leaving no trace. Kale steered the hover-bike toward the other speeders still searching for him.
He lined it up and slammed the throttle forward. The hover-bike sped away on a collision course. Kale guided it almost all the way to target-long enough to see the expressions of horror as the headlamps spotlighted the faces of the other hover-bike riders before the impact. Kale leaped away and sailed through the tree limbs to a perch nearby as the speeder collided and ricocheted across several of the vehicles huddled together.
Shots rang out through the darkness into the trees around Kale as another Guardian spotted him. The blasts became more focused. He bolted away. The hover-bike came almost on top of him when he dropped to the ground below and sank completely into a drift of cold powder. As the bike sailed over, Kale flung an ignited kemstick up through the bottom of the vehicle piercing the under plating and severing the left leg of the rider. He wailed and lost control. The whole mess crashed into a nearby tree and burst into flames.
Then Kale sensed his adversary, Elam, and he was on the move. He's inside Juli's home!
Kale ran as fast to save them from the Guardian leader. Then he did not sense Elam anymore. More than that, he did not sense Juli or her parents either. Had they already been killed? Kale began to panic as he approached the stump where he and Olson had been cutting wood earlier.
The whole house suddenly burst up and outward into a fireball. Kale felt completely numb throughout his body. He had the sensation of weightlessness-his body being thrown. He surrendered to the overwhelming force of it then crashed down into the snow somewhere away from the destroyed structure.
Kale only heard ringing in his ears. His blurred vision took a moment to bring the grizzly scene back into focus. The Barone home was completely engulfed in flame. His senses reeled. He knew no one could have survived the inferno.
Kale tried to stand, but he was almost too weak to accomplish the task. Then a pain shot through his head-intense but he couldn't discern its origin. It felt strangely familiar, like the first contact with the symbyte organism as it had fought to infiltrate his body and seize control of his mind and will, but stronger. Kale collapsed to his hands and knees in the snow and gasped for precious breath. He thought he might vomit.