Return of the Titans

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

So before I go into how I got shot by a bolt of lightning, let me explain something.

I've never been in a fight before. The closest that I've gotten into a confrontation with anyone was when a street dog took my Big Mac and I chased him down to get it back. I didn't and the chase tuckered me out enough so where I passed out on a street bench. When my mom found me, she practically locked me inside our shelter room. If it wasn't for the television that we shared with other shelter occupants, I would have lost my mind.

But as Jay and I approached the walls, I could see what awaited us. The bodies of fallen students outnumbered the Lion-men from three to one. We crossed a man's body whose back was littered with arrows, and yet he still twitched with life. He held a boulder twice the size of his own gargantuan head, and underneath it, I saw the hoofed foot of a satyr.

For Jay's sake, I put on a brave face. His eyes flashed across the bodies, and he looked like he was going to run at the drop of a dime. I squeezed his hand to assure him that I was there, and I was staying there. I forced myself to acknowledge that as we climbed up to the ramparts.

The first person that I didn't expect (nor wanted to see) was the one that met us when we reached the top. Pretty Boy was wielding a bronze sword, and he was pretty good with it. He stopped in chopping off the grimy fingers of a Lion-man when we came up the stairs. His face twisted when he saw me.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Headmaster sent us," I said. It was partially true, but did he need to know that? "Now, are you going to stand around and spit at us, or are you going to help us?"

"Gallagher!" a girl suddenly shouted. She was on the far side of the wall and was using her weapon -- a silver javelin -- to shoot bolt after bolt of lightning at the enemy. Her armor was just her aviator jacket, but with the level of expertise that she was attacking, I doubted if she even needed it. "Quit screwing with those kids and show them what to do!"

Pretty Boy's name was Gallagher? No wonder he was so arrogant. The boy had a name that sounded like gallbladder if you weren't listening well enough. I forced down a snicker.

Gallagher clenched his jaw, but he pushed aside an SST. "Get them some weapons," he told him and forced him down the stairs.

When the SST came back, he brought with him a short sword and a spear. Jay took the sword, giving it a few hacks, but stopped when he almost cut off my head.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Just be careful," I said.

I was too busy weighing the spear in my hands to pay it much mind. It was heavy, and as I looked around, I noticed that everyone else held theirs with power. If they weren't launching them over the walls and into maned heads, they were forcing them into awaiting chests. Electricity wrapped around their weapons' shafts to explode once met with contact. I winced when a Lion-man's gut burst, sending its blood everywhere and on everyone.

"Feeling squeamish, Beast?" Gallagher sneered after noticing my disgusted face. "There's plenty of enough time for you to run home to your room. I'm sure nobody'll notice."

I shook my face, blood splattering to stain the walls. Not that it wasn't already stained crimson. "Screw off, Gallbladder," I spat back.

Jay stepped out of the way from another Lion-men and into me. The monster had decided to try and fling himself across the walls, but his ascent was short lived. All it took was one slash from Jay's sword, followed by a jab between the ribs with my spear, and the monster died on impact.