Percy Jackson and the Dark Elites

XXXXVII

Jason

There was nothing but a high-pitched sound ringing in his ears. Jason assumed it was nothing, he was just waking up, barely becoming aware of his own conscience. 

He didn't want to get up, though. He wanted to stay exactly the way he was. His body was completely warm and relaxed. He knew that the second he opened his eyes he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. His spine hurt, which was normal considering his injuries, but he must've slept weird because it was throbbing. 

He moved his hand to his back. A sharp stinging sensation erupted in his hand on the way. He drifted his fingers to his lower back and touched cold stone. 

Sharp, jagged, cold stone. 

He hesitantly opened his eyes and took a couple seconds to register his surroundings. 

It was night and the sky was raining ash. The room he had been staying in was blown up. Chairs, beds, and slabs of brick laid out across the floor. He was lying far from his hospital bed and on several chunks of rock. 

He moved to pull himself off the rock and he screamed aloud. The pain flared in his bones until his vision was gone. He laid down, no longer processing his surroundings, until the pain ceased.

He had rolled onto the floor face down. The bright side was that he was no longer on his back. Unfortunately, he would have to engage his back muscles to get up.

Like ripping off a band-aid, Jason pulled himself from the ground. When he stood up, his head spun so fast he fell onto his side. 

Jason's head wasn't thinking as clearly as the situation demanded, but he knew he was in danger. 

Should he call the doctor? Or is he capable of escaping on his own?

It seemed easy. He could easily lay here until the enemy found him. He could easily close his eyes and sink back into the warmth of sleep. 

But the faintest voice in his head urged him to get back up. As he acknowledged it, it grew louder and became harder to ignore. The urgency behind it grew. He had to leave. He didn't know why. He couldn't figure out how. But gods of Olympus, he needed to run. 

Jason wasn't sure at what point he had jolted back up, but he was suddenly on his feet and taking cautious steps over the debris. 

Jason's eyes swept back and forth in a desperate search for bodies, evidence, weapons... 

No dead enemies. 

Jason saw a glimmer of light from across the wreckage. He waddled over to it. A broken mirror laid on the ground. Jason's energy was waning. He focused his eyes on a sign not much farther than the mirror had been. He put all of his energy into making his way to it. He spotted a small fire and hobbled to a spot two feet from it. 

He continued this little strategy until he no longer had to think about it. His mind just wandered to the next thing on its own. He walked to the edge of the compound, the moon shining brighter than before, and actively resisted the urge to sit down. 

His eyes drifted to the floor. He waved on his feet. 

A small radio poked out from the wreckage. Jason tried to bend down and grab it, but pain in his back flared up again. He crouches on his knees and tried lazily to pull the radio from its hiding spot.

Once he got it free, Jason wondered what to do. He needed Leo's abilities. His eyelids fell back down.

Leo. Something about his dead friend was bothering him. Did Piper say something? Did Percy?