|| Runaways ||

|| Chapter 7 ||

Thalia let out a grunt as she slid into the crumbling 'safe house'. It was part of an old log cabin with dirt floors, but most of the wood had rotted away leaving virtually no shelter. The room they were in was more intact than the rest of the cabin, but extremely small and cramped with all three of them inside. It was no larger than a small bathroom, though by judging by the state of the rest of the cabin, there was no plumbing.

"This is as comfortable as last time," she grumbled sarcastically as she dropped the broken backpack onto the dirt ground.

"Hey, be grateful that we're in a shelter," Luke chided. "It looks like rain."

"It's not going to rain," Thalia promised.

"You never know. It smells like rain."

"Rain doesn't have a scent, dummy."

"Well it doesn't smell like sunshine and roses out their, either," Luke shot back. "I've smelled rain before. It smells like... rain."

"Very descriptive." Annabeth rolled her bright gray eyes. "And hey, this isn't a bad shelter."

"It seems bigger to you, you're the size of a groundhog," Thalia teased playfully. "I'll take first watch?"

"Like hell you are," Luke blocked her path to the entrance. "Your leg is pretty much dead right now, and the best thing to heal it up is sleep." his brow furrowed. "I think. Or was that for colds?"

"Does it matter?" Annabeth asked. "Thalia's pretty hurt right now, and I doubt that she could hold a knife in her condition."

"I'm right here, you know," Thalia grumbled.

"Yeah, and you should be over there, sleeping." Luke kicked the ratty backpack to the side, making an area that might fit Thalia if she curled up into a fetal position. Which she was in no condition to do.

"You took the first watches for the past week or so--" Thalia began, but was cut off by a shrill scream that rang through the cabin.

"SP-- SPIDER!" Annabeth screamed as she scrambled away from the relatively large black dot that was crawling towards her, slowly creeping across the floor. She backed into the wall with a hard thunk, and the rickety wood trembled.

"Annabeth! Calm down!" Luke hurried over to steady the shaking beams.

"KILL IT! KILL IT!" Annabeth was pressed up against the wall, her face slack with terror.

"Okay, okay!" Thalia scooted over and smacked it with her shoe. When it left the ground, it revealed the disgusting smear of a spider crumpled on the dirt ground.

Annabeth let out a long-lasting shudder. "Luke, you can sleep there tonight," she said. "I'll be over here." She slumped in the corner, not looking at the spider smear.

"Alright--" Luke began, when all of a sudden Thalia let Aegis spring to full height.

"Duck!" She shouted, and Luke, ever trusting, dropped to the ground as a massive boulder came sailing through the ruins, whistling over Luke's head and smashing into the foundation.

An earthborn appeared, bottom four hands clenched as the top two held another massive boulder, prepared to throw. Behind him stood three more earthborn, all growling menacingly. And if that wasn't enough, two cyclops stood by like bodyguards.

Thalia cursed under her breath and got up, handling her spear with ease. Annabeth adjusted her grip on her knife, and stood next to Thalia defensively. And Luke grabbed his sword, wielding it like someone who had decades of training.

Together, they charged.

Almost immediately, another hail of rocks came crashing down. Thalia deflected one away with her shield and stabbed at the nearest one, disintegrating it into clay as Annabeth and Luke dodged the other three. One grazed past Luke's shoulder, but a jagged edge caught on it and threw him sideways. Perhaps it was the jolt that saved his life because a cyclops lunged forward and tried to grab where Luke's head was. He rolled sideways, behind Annabeth, and slashed with his sword. It cut off an arm before Luke stood balanced on both feet and decapitated the monster. He took a step backwards and bumped into a mass of rock, who was battling Thalia. Thalia's spear was holding him at bay, but her leg was a lot more painful than she let on. Luke didn't hesitate and whirled his sword around, slicing the monster cleanly in half. It melted into a puddle of lumpy clay.

Annabeth was taking on the last cyclops and two other Earthborn on her own, going more defense than offense. Lucky for her, the three monsters were all clumsy and not that bright, and the cyclops kept punching the earthborn every time Annabeth ducked out of the way. Dozens of small wounds littered the monsters, and monster dust seeped out of the cyclops's ear-- or where it should've been. But the twelve arms of the earthborn had caused more damage to Annabeth than she had the others, and she was forced to retreat into the ruins of their two-minute safe house.

Then Thalia and Luke were there, and they took care of two of the monsters just as Annabeth finished of the last one. It exploded into clay with a howl, showering them in the lumpy gray sludge.

"Eulch." Annabeth spat out clay and tried shaking it off. Thalia began to walk forward with an amused smile on her face, when her expression contorted into one of pain and she let out a small cry.

"Thalia!" Luke caught her just as she began to sway, her eyes rolling up in her head. "Hades, Thalia." He turned to Annabeth, his face drawn. "Come on, we're almost there. How far did we go since two days ago?"

"Eighteen miles," Annabeth said immediately. "Remember, you hijacked that truck."

"I did not," Luke protested. "The driver was a dracaena, and the keys were still inside of the car. I had a full right to drive you guys down the highway."

"Until the tire blew," Annabeth muttered. "Thalia," she reminded him again as the daughter of Zeus threatened to fall from where Luke was supporting her.

Luke cursed. "Right. It's not far." He snatched the backpack from the ground, where a now squished box of graham crackers and other miscellaneous snacks lay, and began to lug Thalia behind him. Annabeth pulled her massive jacket over her shoulders-- the huntress one was destroyed by the empousa-- and set off after him, her face drawn with worry.