The Wilderness Shooting

Aftermath

Percy's POV

Once they had gotten the text from Piper they had been worried as hell. 

The group tried to text her back on the way to the school. But she or Leo wasn't responding. Hazel had tried to lighten the mood and say that they were hiding and that they couldn't respond so they couldn't expose themselves. But that just made everyone more worried. 

Jason had been a wreck. The two people he cared for most were in utter danger and there was nothing he could do to help them. 

Within a couple of hours the group had made it to the Wilderness school. They all filed out of the mini van in a hurry. They had called the emergency services as soon as they got the text. 

Outside the school were tents that had been set up by all the emergency services. There were some ambulance and police cars. 

The seven and co rushed into the gym. And what they saw was a living nightmare. 

Blood stained the floor. Outlines of bodies were shaped on the floor where some people had been shot. Percy mentally counted them. 9 in total. 

"Where are they?" Asked Frank. Worry was etched onto his face. Percy was sure that it mirrored his own. 

Annabeth scanned their surroundings. She then pointed to a supply closet. "There," she stated, "Piper said that they were hiding, and that's the only real place to hide in here." 

The group eyed each other and rushed towards the closet. Jason knocked on the door and they heard whimpers inside. 

Jason and Percy made eye contact and Jason nodded. 

"Hey guys." He whispered. "It's me. Jason. You can come out, the shooting's over. The bad guys are in jail, it's all OK now." 

They heard sobbing inside and some muffled shh's. 

Jason gestured for Percy to go next and he did. Percy wasn't much for sentiment, he didn't really know how to comfort Leo and Piper. He barely knew them. But he was determined to get them out of the supply closet and to help them. 

"Hey, hey, it's OK. It's us. It's Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Will and Reyna. It's OK. You can come out. The shooting is over." 

There was a moment of silence until Leo asked: "Coach Hedge?" 

The friends all looked at each other. As if on cue Coach Hedge hobbled into the gym. "Cupcakes! You're here! We can't find Piper and Leo, they seemed to have disappeared-"

"See Coach Hedge is here." Percy whispered into the door, cutting off Coach. 

There was another moment of silence. Then Piper's voice called out the door. "Come in." 

Percy and Jason locked eyes and nodded, they both then proceeded to lift the door to the supply closet. 

Once the door was open the friends burst into the room. Piper and Leo seemed to be hiding under a pile of hay. The former was hunched over protectively over the latter and the latter seemed to be shaking and was rolled up in a ball. 

The crew then began sweeping the hay off of their friends. Jason and Reyna came forward and helped Piper out of the hay. But Leo wasn't ready to let go of his friend. As soon as Piper stood up Leo began to scream. 

"Piper! No nonono come back, come back, COME BACK!! PIPER!!" 

Percy's heart broke when he heard his friend. He was clearly distressed and he seemed to be traumatized. 

A tear slipped onto Percy's face as he helped the trembling boy out of the pile of hay. 

Leo's face was soaked with blood. Percy didn't know whose. He seemed to have a giant gash on his forehead and his nose was bleeding like a waterfall. 

Will came forward with a handkerchief and pressed it against Leo's nose while Hazel came over to wipe the blood from his face. The small Latino was crying, hard. His body was physically shaking and tears were leaking down his face faster than Percy could count. 

While cleaning his wounds both Hazel and Will held Leo's hands and Leo gripped them like they were the only things keeping him together. And they probably were. 

The group lead their disturbed friends out of the gym. Piper kept her eyes shut tight, as if she didn't want to see what had happened in the gym. But Leo kept his eyes trained on one spot. It was a spot under some chairs, it looked like an outline of a body had been drawn there. 

"Leo?" Hazel asked. The group stopped and looked at their friend. 

"D-D-Daniel." He muttered. 

Jason raised an eye brow and walked over to Leo. "Who's Daniel?" He asked soothingly. 

Leo's trembling increased. "H-he took a bullet to the chest for me. I-I was a-a-about to be s-shot a-and he...he stepped in front of me so I-I wouldn't get hurt a-and-" Leo burst into tears. "H-He was a really good friend of m-mine." 

The friends looked at each other and Piper squeezed her way through to give Leo a hug. Percy had never seen the son of Hephaestus so distraught. And it pained him to watch Leo like that. 

Leo squeezed onto Piper and cried into her shoulder. 

Percy took one last look around before he realised that his friends would probably never be the same.