Drake Baylor and the Curse of Death: Part 1; Race to Camp (PJO, HOO spin-off)

Chapter 4: Doughnuts Anyone?

When I woke up, the floor was now the ceiling and the ceiling now the floor. It was hard for me to tell because my seat belt kept me in place. I was dizzy from being held upside down. Out of the seven of us in the van, only four of us maintained consciousness. Percy, Henry, myself and one of the other rescues. 

Percy and Henry had both managed to get a door open to get out. They made sure everyone was still alive and after they had, they closed the doors they used to get out and started to assess the situation. Several minutes later the R.V. stopped by and checked up on us. That's when all of the underworld decided to break loose. 

The event happened in two waves. It started with bronze mechanized animals. Almost every natural land animal you could think of that lived in the United States and that could have violent tendencies, such as snakes the size of cars with the length of trains and deer and wolves the size of elephants. It was a miracle that they beat those. Percy was able to short circuit a few by summoning water from a nearby stream. Annabeth was able to find control panels on a few and shut them down. Piper managed to get a wolf and a deer to attack and dismantle more and themselves. The real problem was the snakes. There were only two of them but they were huge and that isn't even the worst part after all of the other automatons, a term I heard the team outside yell a couple times while referring to the animal machines, were defeated, they just suddenly stopped. They were still active, because, even from inside the van, their joints and pistons could be heard moving, grinding, and steaming. 

The snakes apparently were built like trains. The head being the engine and the tail being the caboose. How we all figured that out? Every compartment between the head and tail opened to reveal a small group of black suited men, and a few women, stashed inside. They charged out and I had a gut feeling that the five of our rescuers were not enough to take down that many. I got the shaggy blonde kid that was still awake and got him to help me get out of the van. We managed to get the passenger door open since the sliding door was welded shut from the explosion. We were unarmed so we went to the R.V. to grab weapons. There were a few swords and we each grabbed one. He grabbed a celestial bronze katana and I grabbed a standard celestial bronze short sword. Well, it would have been considered a short sword if I was taller and in my late teens, but it would have to do. 

We rushed into battle and it was pretty much a blood bath filled with glitter. Somehow all five of on our side were still alive and so many on the other side had fallen. No deaths, but some serious injures were present. Also, the women looked off. One of their legs was very hairy and the other looked like it was a metal limb. Their hair was also completely on fire. Despite those horrific features, they managed to still look like super models on beauty steroids. 

As we approached our group, Henry's eyes widened in shock. Percy shook him out of it and when we made it to the group, Henry took the sword from me and handed me Runo. The blade magically fit my height and style. It was the perfect length and weight. After a few quick directions on what to do, we split up to face the wave of men and monsters. The empousai, as Annabeth called them, were the misshapen women scattered among the enemy ranks. Of course, with my luck, I ended up having to face one. 

She approached me as if I was some bug that she was going to squash. "Move out of the way runt. I have a date with Percy, don't we dear?" She yelled the last part catching Percy's attention. 

His eyes widened in absolute terror. "Drake! Get away from her! She's dangerous!" He shouted as he tried to make his way through the chaos, but was not succeeding very well. "Kelli! Don't touch him!"

With my blade raised, I prepared for battle. I couldn't rely on anyone at the moment. Percy was too far away and everyone else was caught up in their own fights. After the first couple moments of my fight. Kelli got annoyed and began to stop going easy. Percy was getting closer but he still wasn't close enough to help. Several moments later, she knew that despite being so young, I wasn't going to go down as easily as she thought. My instincts and impulses took over and kept me alive.