Drake Baylor and the Curse of Death: Part 1; Race to Camp (PJO, HOO spin-off)

Chapter 3: Across the Desert

After three days of walking, running, monster attacks, paranoia and nightmares, we made it to Arizona. More specifically, we made it to the desert in Arizona. Nothing but red sand and the occasional mountain for miles. My legs were so sore from walking and my mind tired from fighting. I was on the verge of collapsing for the day when Jacie told everyone to stop. I didn't see why. There was nowhere for monsters to hide, no road for the men in black to catch us from. That's when I understood. It was too peaceful. All of a sudden thunder rumbled over head. There was nothing around to catch the lightning if it decided to strike the earth. 

"Oh, great!" Henry said sarcastically. "Dad's trying to say hi."

"Everyone hit the dirt!" Penny yelled.

As soon as everyone dropped to their stomachs, the only person left standing was Henry. He raised his sword to the air and used it as a lighting rod. Sure enough, lighting bolts stuck the metal and I laid there watching him not fry himself to death. Once the lighting subsided, everyone got up and started running.

"What did you do to anger him this time?" Jacie yelled over the rolling thunder.

"That thunder felt different. It's storm spirits not Zeus. Just keep running." He yelled back.

As we kept running, the winds periodically picked up and it was like they looked like people and horses. It really freaked me out but it gave me a second wind. If it wasn't for the fact that I had no idea where I was supposed to go, I would have taken the lead of the group a long time ago. I kept pace with Jacie and Penny for the time being. We eventually reach a road and started to follow it north.

We all stopped running to catch our breath. Penny turned to me, knelt to meet my eyes and grabbed my shoulders. "Drake, I need you to listen carefully. Follow this road as far as you can. We have a friend waiting for us there. She will take you all to camp. Lead them for me. Please?"

I nodded and after Penny and Jacie told the others what to do and caught their breath, they went back to help Henry who was holding off the storm spirits the best he could, but he was outnumbered. Once the two of them were able to help Henry, we took off down the road. Despite my exhaustion, I continued to will my feet to keep moving.

We eventually reached a crossroads and had no idea which way to go. We decided to wait there since none of us had any idea where to go. As we waited the storm cloud of storm spirits was getting closer, but it was slowly getting smaller. Just as our saviors were visible on the top of the hill, a beat up white van rumbled towards us. I knew it wasn't the bad guys's van since they used black vans but it was the same shape and style just older and a different color. It didn't make it any less terrifying thinking about it.

The van eventually stopped and the sliding door opened. A tall man with black hair and a woman with blonde hair jumped out and started to usher the eight of us inside. As they closed the doors, I caught a glimpse of the woman's eyes. They were stormy gray, just like Jacie's, but she was too young to be her mom. Two bangs on the van exterior and the driver revved the engine and drove off. Looking through the back windows, which were not barred, I saw the two adults racing to aid Henry, Jacie and Penny. I had a good feeling that they were in good hands with the help that they received, so he turned to face forward and the girl that was driving had somewhat dark skin. Native American or Indian, perhaps.

The van kept speeding up and eventually a small city came into view. The driver talked to the guard of a small parking garage for a nearby hotel. She handed him a few coins of which he had never seen before. The guard pressed a few buttons and the ramp to go up to the second story started to slope down. Eventually our driver drove down the ramp and into a dark parking lot filled with a variety of beat up cars and other common forms of transportation.