Chapter One

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Gods I hate mornings... At least I do most of the time. Today is special though, the hunters of Artemis visit our camp in DC once a month and update us on the well being of the rest of the camps and to make sure we are well provided for.

"Dam, you're slow in the mornings" My best friend James teased, his gray eyes alight with amusement.

James was another son of Athena with me and we lived in the same room together for the past 4 years, and was easily the best friend I had. We had been through the thick and the thin together and come out on top on multiple occasions. No matter the foe or how bad the odds, we both relied on each other for a lot, and we both delivered in full

"Ugh. You realize you're the only person I'd do this for, right?" I complained jokingly, as I got up, stretching my long legs, and ruffled his light brown hair.

"Yea, yea. Let's just go, we can't let Doug get there before us or he'll reserve the whole thing for his little posse" James said, with a sudden seriousness in his voice, although that was just his style. you could always depend on James to get focused when the time was needed.

Doug was another son of Athena and he was the kid that bullied everyone else without remorse. He was easily the most skilled fighter in our camp, but he took that as his right to subject us to whatever he saw fit to sate his enjoyment. 

"Wait, why do I feel like we're forgetting a couple people" I said confusedly, the thought all of a sudden coming to me.

"Hehe, we're right here" Someone behind me said, with a definite note of amusement and pride.

I turned around and discovered Danny and Adam standing there, both keeled over in laughter, their gray eyes shone with tears of laughter. No matter how many times they did it, they still found it just as hilarious.

"Gods you gotta stop doing that! You're mind control is no fair!" James said emphatically. They especially loved doing it to James because he never failed to give them the reaction they wanted.

Danny and Adam were both also sons of Athena. They had lived with us for about 2 years, after their only other previous roommate had been killed by zombies. James and I took them under our wing whenever possible, often including many training sessions so none of us would have to lose anyone anymore.

Danny was only 14, but he was still the most powerful Athenian I knew. He was born with the rare gift of implanting ideas into others minds and being able to read their minds. Adam was his everwilling accomplice; his Clyde to Danny's Bonnie, his Cas to Danny's Dean.

"Well now that we have everyone, let's get going!" I said, as I opened the door and stepped out right into the face of a dozen zombies.

We were shocked to say the least, but what you couldn't say about us is that we weren't prepared. This was a little larger group than we were used to, but we had had to defend ourselves time after time, and I have to say, i think weve gotten pretty good at it. Our eyes were so accustomed to the dark, that i might have as well been fighting at midday with a blazing sun, as we had to get used to the usual times of attack.

I drew my two daggers that had been blessed by Hephaestus and Zeus and started hacking and slashing at them. James rolled out his chess piece, Chrysaor, and it turned into a gleaming sword. Danny and Adam stood back and shot arrows at the zombies at the back of the pack.

Me and James did everything we could to keep the zombies back because we knew that even though Danny and Adam had been living through the zombie apocalypse for most of their life, they were still scared and I'm not sure if they could react in time. Sure we took whatever time we could to train them, and most of us were pretty good, but nothing can prepare you for battle and especially when most encounters resulted in death.

We all make mistakes though, despite whatever precautions we try to make.

I leapt to the left to stab one zombie that tried going around and not through us. It was smart for a sombie ill give it that. Its probably because, at that moment, i realized the zombie was Khloe, one of our now dead sisters. For a split second I thought of Khloe, i faltered. She was my mentor and was everything to me and protected both James and I in our time of need, easily the best reason were alive today.But that thought took one moment too long and left the middle open for longer than it should have and one got through.

It went straight for Adam and he was petrified. Danny tried to remove his dagger to stab the zombie but he was just as scared so he didn't get it out in time.

The zombie reached Adam and bit his arm as he tried to swipe at the zombie with his bow and delay him. Adams reaction was instant, he knew he was going to be dead fast, unless he acted faster. Adam always had a knack for the medical field so even as he cut through his arm to stop the progress of the infection, he was yelling structions to Danny on how to stop his now gushing arm. 

Danny worked furiously to cater to Adams every instruction, small hands flying deftly across the scattered contents of Adams backpack looking for jus the right materials.

Just as Adam dropped to the ground, losing concioiusness, another girl rushed up and stabbed the last  zombie with a sword. It was Ava.

Ava was a daughter of Athena who me and James had been friends with since she had arrived several years prior.

"Guys go. I'll catch up later" Danny said, fixated on the task at hand. Ava looked sadly over at Adam, but a look to me disproved her thought that he was dead. trusting Danny with his task, we took up ours, and ran off to the open market where the hunters always came to with their goods.

We finally reached the cart but Doug, Emilio, and Kyle had already gotten there ans lounged up against the wooden beams that held up the purple hoods of a streetside cafe "Gus' Coffee".

"You ready to miss out on all the goods Vande?" Doug taunted. I just ignored him. It wasn't worth taking the time to respond. We all knew the best items were in the third cart so it was no use trying to convince him otherwise.

As soon as the carts pulled up we launched into action. The girls pushing htem knew we would be there so they quickly moved out of the way and got in a good position to enjoy the fight. Our little skirmishes were always a welcome enjoyment to them. James attacked Kyle while Ava battled Emilio and I faced off with Doug.

Right as we began to fight, Danny came and took over the battle between Ava and Emilio so Ava went and battled Kyle with James. Danny used his mind control to keep Emilio from moving anywhere.

I used my daggers to fight Doug and his celestial bronze sword. We circled around the hunters carts as they stood and watched to see who would win this time, I spared a look to the side and saw many encouraging gestures, liftin gmy spirits immensely. I had almost forgotten how much they disliked Doug.

"Push your cart and run, I'm almost to the goods" I heard in my head. That must be Danny. I knew this was going to get us in loads of trouble, but by the looks of the goods, it would be worth it. 

What the hell. It's the apocalypse, you gotta live life on the edge sometimes.

I pushed the cart over and the contents spilled all onto Doug, and fortunatwly for me, the large produce was in this cart so Doug was momentarily knocked back, his short arms flailing to retain his balance. I was tempted to burn the cart with my dagger, but I figured that wouldn't be wise. As soon as I pushed it over, Danny released Emilio from his mind control and ran off with me, as we grabbed as much as we could from the cart.

"James, Ava! Run!" I yelled because they were too engrossed in their battle to notice we had left.

We all ran in different directions throughout the city to get back to our hideout. I ran past the Jefferson Memorial, Iwo Jima, and a dozen other monuments as I zigzagged throughout the city.

Finally we arrived at our storage shed far away from Doug and could figure out what we had gotten.

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