The Warfighter, the Storm, and the Moon

Chapter 4: Evacuation

'Evacuation'

24-Jun-2030, 0030S 

LCDR Percy Jackson, US Navy, Son of Neptune

Joint Operation with Hunters of Diana

Killdeer Mountains, North Dakota, USA

"Moving! Keep me covered!" I yelled as I rushed down the hill to get Thalia, with the five Hunters following me. She was unconscious, lying on her back, unaware of the hellhound closing in on her. I raised my rifle, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The roar of the M4A1 could be heard as I turned the monster to dust with some well-placed rounds of 5.56.

I finally reached my cousin, inwardly panicking.

Come on, Pinecone Face! You're not dying today!

"Provide cover fire! Kill shots only!" I shouted at the Hunters behind me. Surprisingly, they didn't object to my commands.

"Destroy the monsters!" Irene screeched as she and the rest of the Hunters advanced, firing several volleys of arrows. Their suppressive fire was effective, pushing the monster force back as I stood by Thalia's unconscious body, firing rounds from my rifle. To top off my surprise from earlier, the Hunters followed my policy of staying around five meters apart, giving the monsters too many targets to hit.

There may just be some hope for these girls yet.

Once the monsters were far enough away, I quickly knelt and checked Thalia's heartbeat and breathing. Thankfully, she was still alive. However, she had a bruise on her head and a massive gash in her torso's left side, which had blood flowing from it like a river. She was deathly pale, looking a bit like one of our cousins, Nico di Angelo, and she was going to bleed to death unless I sealed the wound fast.

Oh, where's Death Breath when you need him? I could really use some of that skeleton army backup right now!

I opened up my medical kit and brought out nectar, ambrosia, and my XSTAT syringe (which is designed to almost instantly seal a wound long enough until the victim can receive proper treatment; mortals have invented some amazing things), maneuvering myself so that my back was facing the monsters that the Hunters had engaged, putting me between my cousin and the hostiles. No matter what, I was not letting Thalia die.

I ran some nectar over the wound, helping to start the healing process and clean out the cut. I brought out the syringe, aiming it at the wound.

Sorry, Thals.

I injected her with the XSTAT. Within seconds, the wound was sealed by the compound's rapidly-expanding sponges, and she stopped leaking blood. I then force-fed her some ambrosia and nectar, silently praying for her safety the whole time. Thankfully, a little color returned to her face and her pulse and breathing were a little stronger, but she was still in critical condition, almost certainly a CAT Alpha (Alpha category, which refers to casualties that need to be taken to a medical facility for treatment within one hour).

I looked up to notice that the Hunters—while remaining spread out and providing cover fire—were closer to me than before. I quickly realized that the monsters were slowly, but surely, pushing the Hunters back towards my position. We were about to be overwhelmed.

Oh, boy. This isn't good.

Suddenly, a scorpion burst out of the ground. It was as if someone tried to combine Luke's pit scorpion with Greyon's giant scorpions, and this is what they came up with: an arachnid the size of a small trash can that could burrow through the earth. I quickly drew my G19 and put three rounds in it before it could attack me or Thalia.