"What do we have here?" The man leaning against the tree asked. His arms were crossed across his chest and there was a smile on his face that made Piper feel uneasy.
"Nothing. I was just getting some water." Piper replied as she quickly slipped her shoes back on, sensing that things were about to go south rather quickly.
"That water's ours." The man told her. Piper had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him. This wasn't the first time she had run across people like this. She started feeling a cold chill sweep over her, and she was pretty sure it wasn't just from her soaking clothes.
"Sorry. But I didn't see a plaque with your name on it, or anything." She retorted, bending over to quickly pick up her bag. "I can pay you, though. I just really need it." Piper opened the bag and rummaged through it.
"Oh, I know you'll pay for it." He said. Piper didn't look up, but she heard the footsteps of the two other men as they drew closer to her. "But not with anything from that bag, you know?" Piper finally found what she was looking for when she felt a hand on each of her arms. She could feel herself starting to panic, but braced herself for what was about to happen.
"I'm sorry." She said. Her bag fell to the ground and she swung her arm wildly at the man on her right. He let go and cried out in surprise. He stepped back a few feet as blood seeped from a gash on his hand. Piper turned her attention to the man on the right, who was caught off guard by the sudden outburst. She quickly stabbed the blade into whatever part of his body she was able to reach. It turned out, that so happened to be the man's abdomen. He let out a wail and fell to the ground, clutching his wound.
"Bitch!" The man with the bloody hand hissed behind her. Before Piper could turn around to face him, she felt an arm around her throat. He squeezed her tightly, cutting off her air supply. With his other arm, he tried to restrain her hands behind her back. But Piper was struggling too much for him to get a good grip.
Running on adrenaline and fear, and some self preservation, she managed to flip the blade in her hand to face the man behind her. Her vision was slowly tunneling into blackness and her left arm had started to go numb. With as much strength as she could muster, Piper drove the blade back into the man's flesh. Instantly, he slumped to the ground and cried out in agony. Not wanting to take any chances, she turned to face him and blindly stabbed him in the chest.
He fell to the ground in a heap. Blood poured out of his wounds and he made painful grunting noises. Piper looked at the man she stabbed before. He was crawling along the ground with his arm covering his abdomen. She rushed over to him and stabbed him once more in the back. He let out a strangled cry of pain, and stopped moving. Piper watched as he took a few breaths before he stopped moving all together.
In adrenaline fueled panic, she scanned her surroundings in search of the third guy. It seemed he had just disappeared. Piper knew he wouldn't just leave his buddies. He was determined to get something from her, and he wouldn't just leave without a fight. She rushed towards her bag and picked it up quickly. No sooner than she did, she found herself face down on the ground.
"You put up a good fight, you know?" A voice rasped close to her ear. Piper recognized it as the man who was leaning against the tree. She struggled underneath him and swung wildly behind her. She couldn't see, but she felt a hand grab hold of her wrist and twist it painfully. He pried the knife from her grip and stabbed it into the ground right beside her head. Piper inhaled sharply in fear before gathering herself and making for the knife with her free hand.
"No, no, no." The man snatched the knife from her grip once more and tossed it aside. Piper whimpered as she felt him manipulate her arms into an uncomfortable position behind her back. She squirmed and kicked her feet into the ground in a vain attempt to try and get free.
"Fighting will only make it worse." He warned her, putting pressure on her arms. Piper cried out, feeling like her arms were going to break. The man scoffed in satisfaction before roughly turning her over on her back. Her right arm was pinned underneath her in an awkward position, but she was able to swing wildly at the man with her left hand.
"I'll kill you!" Piper yelled at him. She dug her heels into the ground and was able to push herself upwards about an inch. It didn't do much to help her out. In fact, it seemed to just annoy her tormentor. He roughly smacked her across the face. Piper yelped in pain as her head jerked to the side. She saw stars for a moment as she lay underneath him feeling dazed and disoriented.
"You're not gonna do shit, little girl." The man chuckled. Piper felt her body jerk roughly, and there was the unmistakable sound of tearing fabric. She blinked several times to clear her vision, feeling another tidal wave of panic wash over her. That feeling spurred her into fight or flight mode. Again, she wildly, and blindly, swung her hand at her attacker again. Her hand made contact with something, and the man hissed in pain.
"Get off me!" She screamed. Her vision was less hazy, and she briefly saw two scratch marks on the man's cheek. "I'll kill you like I did your friends!" She threatened before the man wrapped his hands around her throat.
"I told you! Fighting will only make it worse for you." He squeezed his hands tightly, pressing his thumbs against Piper's windpipe. She gasped for air as she struggled to reach up towards his face. She drug her nails down his arm, leaving more scratch marks behind. The man grunted in pain, but ignored it. His sole focus was strangling the life out of Piper.
Piper's vision tunneled into blackness for the second time that day. She felt her arm fall weakly by her side as her lungs burned and screamed for air. Her gasps turned into mere wheezes as she accepted the fact that she was slowly dying. She was going to die, without ever finding Annabeth...
Suddenly, air flooded her lungs. She arched her back as she coughed and gasped, freeing her right arm from underneath her as she did. Her vision rushed back, and a surge of blood flooded into her head. She groaned in pain and finally caught her breath. Mustering some strength, Piper rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up on all fours. Her arms collapsed under her weight and she fell back onto the ground again.
"You OK?" A voice asked her. Piper felt a hand on her back and she reflexively cried out in protest. "Hey! I ain't gonna hurt ya!" The voice assured her. It was definitely male. Piper rolled onto her side and took deep, ragged breaths as her vision came into focus. She could see a guy staring at her, almost like he was judging something about her.
"Please...D-don't..." Piper whispered weakly. She heard his words, but they didn't register in her mind.
"I said I ain't gonna hurt ya!" The man said, setting something down beside him. "Calm down. Let me help ya." He said softly. Piper rolled onto her back and groaned. Her vision finally seemed to return to normal, but her head was pounding as it re-acclimated to the normal flow of blood. She slowly propped herself up on her elbows and eased herself into a sitting position.
"Are you OK?" The man asked her again. Piper turned to face him and finally got a good look at him. He looked grungy and was clearly unshaven. His hair was brown, shaggy, and cut in an asymmetrical style. He had a dirty green shirt and a leather vest over it. His jeans were ripped at one knee and covered in various stains.
"I..." Piper's voice cracked. She felt confused, scared, relieved, and exhausted. Unable to find the words to say to him, she hung her head. It was then that she noticed her shirt torn open, revealing her bra. She gasped loudly and quickly drew the torn shirt closer to cover herself.
"You gonna be alright?" He asked before he turned away and walked over to the man that had tried to kill Piper. The young girl licked her lips and winced. She could taste the metallic tang, and knew her lip was busted.
"My...sister..." She whispered weakly. Her eyes locked on the water as it rippled and flowed downstream. "I...have to find her." Piper struggled to her feet, then suddenly fell to her knees. She leaned forward and braced herself by holding her hands against the ground in front of her.
"Whoa! Hang on, now." The man dropped to his knees in front of her and held her shoulders to help steady her. "I ain't seen no other girl 'round here." He said. Piper knew that and shook her head.
"No... No, she's..." She looked down at the ground as she spoke. "We got separated, and..." She paused and took a moment to collect herself. "We got separated, and I've been trying to find her again ever since." Piper bit her lip and gasped in pain.
"You got any bandages in that bag?" He asked. Piper glanced at it, then brought her attention back to him.
"I... Just wanna find my sister." She replied. "I don't care about anything else." The man ignored her and pulled her bag over to the both of them and began rummaging through it. He pulled out a shirt and tossed it into Piper's lap.
"You ain't gonna find her if you don't take care of yourself first." He said as he stood up and turned his back on her. Piper stripped off her ruined shirt and slipped the other one on. She sighed and sifted through the contents of her bag.
"What does it matter to you?" She asked as she fished out a small piece of cloth and dabbed away the blood from her lip. The man turned to face her with a look of suppressed judgement.
"Family's all we got now." He said, then turned away from Piper again. She waited for him to finish, but it seemed like that was all she was going to get. Still holding the cloth to her lip, she forced herself to stand. Even though she was still a little shaky, she slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I know. That's why I have to find her." Piper said. "Before The Slicers do..." She mumbled. The man turned around and looked at her in surprise.
"The Slicers? You guys pissed them off?" He asked in shock. Piper shrugged.
"My sister did. She woke me up when they were after her. We ran until they cornered us and then we got separated." The man headed towards the body of the man that strangled Piper and pulled something out of his neck.
"Come with me. I've got some friends that could help." He said as he wiped the man's blood off whatever it was he took. Piper couldn't see it clearly.
"I don't need... I can't..." Piper looked down at the ground as her hand fell to her side. The man approached her quickly, standing right in front of her. Piper looked up at him.
"Look. You can handle yourself. I can see that." He glanced at the two men that she had killed before the third man took her by surprise. "But The Slicers are gonna outnumber you and surround you once they find you. You won't stand a chance." The man informed her. Piper pursed her lips together.
"They have my sister." She admitted quietly.
"Then that's all the more reason for you to come with me." He replied quickly and turned to head somewhere. When Piper didn't immediately follow, he turned back to face her again. "Now!" He insisted. Piper's shoulders fell, but she started to follow him.
"Fine. But don't blame me when they come invade your camp, or whatever." She sighed as she pulled her, still wet, hair into a ponytail.
"Ain't gonna happen." The man replied confidently as he led her back to the highway. Piper furrowed her brows, but said nothing. "So, who are you?" He asked. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Piper." She said. "My sister is Annabeth. Who are you?" The man stared straight ahead. Piper turned her head towards him, and finally realized he had a crossbow on his back.
"Daryl."
