Forgotten

~Four~

There's going to be brief mentions of rape, suicide, and murder in the chapter, so just letting you know now. I hope you like this anyways.

My first thought was: Oh, crap. To me, the biggest gathering of monsters I had ever seen was maybe ten harpies circling my house. This army had at least a hundred monsters easily, and...was that a Sherman tank? They had a freaking tank?! As if we needed something with a metal exterior along with the other monstrosities to attack us.

"You okay, newbie?" Thalia asked, giving me a devious smirk.

I swallowed a lump in the back of my throat, before taking a few deep breaths to calm my erratic heartbeat. "I'm fine. Let's get started with some butt-kicking."

She grinned even wider at that. "You heard the girl, fire at will!"

I drowned out the noise of the oncoming army, completely focused on taking down as many as possible. The girls apparently also had hunting wolves and falcons, because I caught sight of balls of fur and feather leaping in headfirst to the fray.

Knocking an arrow, I pulled back on my bow, aiming for the cyclops driving the tank. Sure, there was probably an inch or two wall of glass in my way, but my bow was something special. Hermes -- back before I had screamed at him -- had enchanted my bow and quiver as a graduation present, meaning I would never run out of arrows, and that my shots would be more powerful than your average bow.

My right arm pulled back, my fingers anchoring to the side of my face like I had practiced. I took in a deep breath, adjusting my aim one more time, before releasing my arrow. The bronze-tipped projectile shattered through the glass, catching the cyclops in its sole eye. The tank began to swerve, effectively blockading one of the three entrances. Monsters that had been following the war machine began spewing curse words as they climbed over the metal, making them easy pickings.

A hellhound the size of a small plane roared in my direction, before bounding over in my direction. I began putting some distance between the glorified dog, shooting its muzzle with at least eight or nine arrows, but with a monster this size, I'd have to either hit something vital or make it a pincushion.

I cursed as it melted into the shadows, appearing not too far behind me. I ducked as it leaped over me, and I could feel, and smell for that matter, its hot, stinky breath that made me wish for a giant toothbrush. The hellhound's tail whipped out at me, slamming into my chest, sending me flying into the walls leading into the tunnel.

My chest erupted in pain, but I bit the inside of my cheek, rising to my feet while grabbing my two daggers from my belt. I slashed out at what I could only describe as a snake-lady, amputating her left forearm and opening a major gash on her stomach. When the hellhound jumped at me, I painfully dove under its stomach, before hastily getting to my feet, shoving both daggers hilt-deep into the hound's flank. It howled in pain before melting into a puddle of shadows.

I spared a quick glance at myself, glad that the worst injury I had sustained was being flattened against a wall. The fight was pretty evenly matched: silver arrows came by the hundreds, disintegrating monsters with every shot, but the monsters would duck under their bronze shields, before marching forward, forcing the other girls into melee combat. If only I could get them from behind...

I shot another arrow at a flying harpy that had tried to rip me to shreds, wincing as I moved to grab another arrow. She had scratched my bicep, and now four parallel lines were oozing blood to the open air. I didn't fret too much about the injury; I wasn't in any danger of dying or in much pain, so I'd suck it up and fight back.

Again, I was thinking that if I could attack from behind, hitting some of the troops from their unprotected side, I could wreak havoc. I surveyed my area quickly, ignoring the broken bodies I saw strewn on the road and the golden dust everywhere. The walls were made of rocks, I realized. And I knew how to rock climb.