Okay, I have an announcement to make to everyone and anyone who is reading this. I am going on vacation soon and/or am on vacation now as you read this. This is both good and bad for you. It means that I will be able to write A LOT during the ten hour car ride there and then ten hours back again, but I may not be able to post the chapters soon.

Chapter 3 - Continuing On

I wake up to see Parker standing over me and trees behind him in the background. It is dark out now, so I don't know how much time we've lost but I'm guessing that it's a lot.

"What time is it?" I ask Parker. He doesn't answer right away, but instead hands me my MP3 player. The time on it says . . . WHAT THE FRICK! IT'S SEVEN THIRTY ALREADY! How long was I out after that creepy fire giant guy? Wait, that reminds me, how am I still alive after being set on fire?

Parker seems to be reading my mind or something similar because he then proceeds to explain about how the giant guy was a Laestrygonian or something like that. I think he said the term in English would be, like, Canadians or something similar. Anyway, he has no idea why I survived that giant walking fireplace but I'm burned pretty badly. Oh well, it's better than being dead I guess!

I start to stand up, but it really hurts when I move. Honestly, I've never gotten into a fight where I almost lost with any of the mythology that I've met in the past few years. This is a new thing for me, trying to recover.

Hoping that I can get past the pain and speed up the healing process a little bit, I attempt to sit up again. This time, it doesn't hurt nearly as much, and when I look down I can see that some of the burns aren't as bad as they were before. Hmm, that's never happened before!

Parker gasps, so I look down again to see that some of my old scars are fading. The scar I still have on my arm from the Nemean Lion attack from three years ago, but it seems to be the only one left. It's almost as if it's a reminder of what happened to my mom and what ruined my life, not that I needed one.

Hoping that this means I'm healed, I stand up. This time, I actually manage it and only need to lean on Parker for support a tiny bit. He helps me hobble for a little while, until I get used to walking again. By then, we have officially managed to pass the border into New York.

Letting Parker take the lead again, I pull out my headphones and MP3 player once more. Putting the song Keep Your Mind Wide Open on, I followed my little satyr . . . acquaintance. I don't know if what we've been through on this totally annoying journey makes us friends or not, but I think I'm sticking with acquaintances!

We had only walked for a few hours when Parker complained that he was hungry again. I mean, seriously, we are walking on a long road trip; you can't expect to be eating at five-star restaurants three times a day. How many people living on the streets do you know that can afford that?

"Dude, I should still have some ham and Twizzlers left, but that's all we can afford! Unless you know a quick way to make some money, then we have nothing!" He looks really dejected after that announcement, so I share some of my food with him. All we have left is about fifteen Twizzlers and a can of ham.

We both eat a tiny bit and then we continue to move on. I hope it isn't too long before we get to this camp place; Parker is starting to get on my nerves, and I can tell the feeling is mutual. If we have to travel like this for much longer, we will end up killing each other before we can finish the trip!

Sooo what did you think? Please tell me!

~monkeypicklez