Love & Chaos 2: A New Pharaoh for Egypt

Chapter 26

Already Winning

Zia

It had been six days since they arrived in Rashid, and they were still fighting. So much for the Circle's base not being the difficult half of the mission. Everything was going just fine at first, of course. They scouted out where the base was, and it showed that Alex was right. They made a plan to storm it and it was supposed to be fast. Unfortunately, they had made some errors in their calculations. Rather than only encountering the supporting cast, they were faced with some of the worst beings Chaos had to offer.

Many of them were humans, actually. Normal mortals who just liked to cause problems for a cause they thought that they believed in. Zia supposed maybe that was all terrorists were. Fools who thought they were right. But they were unlike monsters and demons. They had to instant killing spots. What set humanity apart was how much harder they fought to stay alive. Frankly, Zia would've done just fine if they gave up after they were knocked down. She believed that they could be helped, maybe. But every time they were knocked down, they got up, and she had to forsake magic for a gun, praying to the gods of Egypt that she would make it through the day.

She sat beside Carter behind a rock. It was still the early hours and Ra had yet to pull the sun up from its slumber, but she dared not rest another moment. Soon, Chaos's forces would be back to the scene of the fight. She had to be ready. There was a troop depending on her.

Thus far, they had had no deaths but several injuries, and she was beginning to worry that their luck was running out. If they couldn't end it today, she feared it would never end.

The first day of fighting wasn't so bad. There had been plenty of up close and personal action. Zia even kicked a monster in the face. It was a good day. Then the first night came, and they realized that they had made close to no progress. Swords were replaced by machine guns, and there was nothing to do but hide and hope that they got tired eventually.

They never got tired.

"It's going to be okay," Carter comforted her. "By the end of today, we'll be with the others in Tanta."

Right, that was the other thing. Liz and the rest of them had been at the rendezvous point for four days.

"Zia," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "Come on. I can feel it, it's almost over."

"Even if it is, it's like it's just beginning," she sighed. "You were right. From here on out, it's nonstop."

As if on cue, gunshots filled the morning silence. The Circle was awake.

Zia tried not to think about her sleep deprived crew fighting for their lives against a seemingly unbeatable army and instead loaded the gun that she so loathed having to use. Regular mortal weapons were so destructive. Still, it was that, or die. There were other magicians there, sticking to magic, but she was desperate.

She lined up a shot from being the behind the rock and fired. "I hate this."

"What?" Carter asked. It wasn't so much a question of what she hated as which hated thing she was referring to.

"Hiding behind a rock and shooting into the enemy's army. I enjoyed the battles where we got to fight more closely."

"I did too, but I also don't want to take a walk into shrapnel city. Unfortunately, regular mortals play by there own set of rules."

"There are no rules anymore."

"Exactly."

There were some monsters to fight, which Percy, Annabeth, and Frank were handling. Octavian may have been helping, but she wasn't entirely sure how. She wished he wasn't there. There wasn't anything she wouldn't give to trade him for one of the other Romans. As for gods, there were some Egyptian deities on both sides, but they were more involved with fighting each other than in the actual battle. For those opposed, Zia didn't mind, but it was rather aggravating for those who were on their side.