Percy POV

The water was freezing. My joints felt like ice as I swam through the river. Fortunately, the current wasn't too invasive. Not surprisingly, I was the first one to make it across.

I rubbed my arms as I waited for my friends.

Annabeth gasped as she climbed out of the river bank. The stones and sand stuck to her shoes and pants.

"Gods, that was awful," she shrieked angrily. We both ran towards Thalia who was sputtering as she crawled ashore. She held her stomach assuringly as she laid on the beach.

"Thalia, we made it across. Are you okay?" Annabeth asked urgently.

"I'm fine. I just need a minute," Thalia said in exhaustion. Her whole body was pale and shaking due to the cold.

"We don't have much time," a voice affirmed. Jason and Piper dragged themselves out of the water and started walking towards the woods. I could tell that they didn't want to waste any time.

We only had an hour and 42 minutes left according to the projection in the sky.

"It's all right, Jason. Why don't you guys go ahead? We'll catch up to you guys after a few minutes," I said reassuringly as I rubbed Thalia's back.

Jason and Piper hesitantly disappeared into the forest behind me. Annabeth, Thalia, and I sat on the beach facing the river that we just crossed. The atmosphere was tense and silent as we shivered and suffered together.

"Do you think there's even an escape to this? Any hope?" Thalia asked softly.

"I don't know," Annabeth murmured.

My gaze locked onto Wise Girl's face. She was rinsing the water out of her hair. I remembered our last conversation so clearly. Annabeth was so emotional with her secrets. Out of us all, Annabeth was the most intelligent, yet even she seemed hopeless.

"I refuse to believe that there's no light in this darkness. My mom always says that there's always a solution. We just have to find it and work towards it," I said quietly.

"She seems like a wonderful woman, Percy," Thalia expressed. She was rubbing her stomach to assure the child in her belly.

"She is. I hope that I can make it back to her in time," I whispered.

Thalia and Annabeth gazed at me, but they didn't ask any questions. They could probably sense that I didn't want to talk about it. The emotion in my eyes probably gave off that vibe.

Silence permeated our surroundings. It was actually a peaceful location here. The wind ruffled the leaves and caused the trees to dance. The water flowed smoothly.

However, a loud howl echoed through the air.

"What was that?" Thalia asked suddenly.

"An animal of some sort. We should keep going. At most, we only made it halfway," Annabeth said quickly.

We cautiously walked into the woods to keep moving. I hated this journey. The route became more downhill now, so every step felt like a fall. The wind was ruffling through our wet clothes, which lowered our body temperatures.

We traveled for another twenty minutes in the dense forest when another howl echoed through the atmosphere.

The howl was closer and sounded more dangerous.

Annabeth looked behind us before snapping her attention forward. I instinctually looked behind me and locked eyes with a giant dog. It didn't even look like a real animal. It was huge. It reminded me of the hellhounds that I read about in Greek Mythology.

The dog's golden eyes narrowed on us.

"Guys, we need to run now," Annabeth whispered. "That beast will have no problem tearing us to shreds if it finds us."

We bolted. The dog growled loudly as it ran after us. We were forced to split up. Thalia ran forward while Annabeth and I turned in a diagonal direction. The dog decided to follow Annabeth and me.

After all, we were twice the meat compared to a single Thalia.

We navigated through the trees. I don't think that I've ever run as fast as this. Regardless, Annabeth was faster than me. She easily put distance between us.

Another howl pierced the air before something big collided with me. The dog tackled me to the ground, but I quickly kicked it in the snout. As I scampered behind a tree, my eyes scanned the beast. The dog was at least 8 feet in length and 5 feet tall.

I held my breath as I moved around the large tree. The dog was circling the tree that I was hugging, and I couldn't get found.

My heart hammered loudly. I felt like the dog could hear my heartbeat because of how hard it was pounding. I was alone as well. I grabbed a rock as a weapon. I didn't have any smart ideas (not that I usually do). I had to lose the dog because I couldn't fight it.

The dog paused as his head turned in a different direction. Some noise was buzzing from a distance.

I crouched on the ground and buried into the tree trunk. I prayed that the dog was going to leave and follow the noise. However, no such luck.

I felt thick liquid flow onto my shoulder. My head slowly turned towards my right shoulder to come face-to-face with the large, black dog. Sharp teeth came at my face, and I almost had my head ripped off.

Fortunately, my instincts let me punch the dog with the rock that I was holding.

Once again, I ran for my life. I realized that I've been doing quite a lot of this recently. The dog barked as he chased after me.

The forest became denser, and I could barely see a few feet in front of me. I was more trying to dodge the trees than I was evading the dog, which was still behind me.

Suddenly, I collided with something. Not a tree though.

Red hair flashed before my eyes, which easily revealed who I had crashed into.

"Percy, oh my god," Rachel shrieked. She quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Thanks, Rachel," I panted.

Drew ran into view before ducking behind me. She held my shirt tightly as she used me for protection. Her head rested against my back in fear. My gaze locked onto Rachel before turning towards the brown dog that was chasing them. My black dog came forth as well.

I held my arm out to block and protect Rachel. However, my arm was a measly defense against two giant dogs that wanted to eat us. Regardless, the three of us backed up against a bush as the dogs got closer and closer.

"This is it, huh? This is how we die," Rachel whispered helplessly.

I looked behind me to find anything that could help us. The bush was large, but beyond it was a steep hill. I looked down the hill to see sand and stone.

Another river. It had to be. The dogs probably didn't like water.

"No, we're not going to die," I whispered. My gaze locked onto the dogs as I nudged Drew off of my back. "Run straight back right now."

"We're trapped," Drew shrieked.

"Drew, run through the freakin' bush now," I shouted.

We immediately bolted down the hill. The bush scratched my arms, and I almost crashed into a few trees. Regardless, we ran onto the beach and crashed into the ice-cold water.

I gasped as I swam.

My muscles ached in agony from all the running. Despite the situation, the water made me feel confident again (like I could and would escape this).

This river was a lot wider than the first one we encountered. It took the girls way longer to cross the river, and I waited at the river bank. I stared at the two dogs that were on the other side of the river. We would've been screwed if the dogs swam after us.

"While it was a complete coincidence," Rachel gasped as she climbed out of the water. "I'm so glad that we ran into you, Percy."

"Honestly, me too, Rachel," I expressed.

Surprisingly, her arms wrapped around my neck. I froze for a few seconds before returning her embrace. It was a nice and comforting hug.

"Gods, that was a good hug. I really needed it. Thank you," Rachel whispered as she pulled away. My hands lingered on her waist as I smiled gratefully.

Finally, Drew made it across the river. She looked like an absolute mess as she panted and gasped on the ground. Then, her body collapsed from exhaustion.

"Oh my god, Drew," Rachel shouted.

Rachel ran towards her friend. I could see that she was genuinely concerned. It was a sort of concern that said that they actually connected as friends despite how different their personalities were.

Rachel quickly shifted Drew onto her back. I crouched next to her as I scanned her for injuries. However, Drew was physically fine. Nothing was wrong with her, but her pale body was exhausted causing her to lose consciousness.

"Drew and I are in the same sorority together at UCLA. We both joined as freshmen and realized that we're very similar. Both our dads are famous businessmen," Rachel explained.

"You both knew each other?" I asked.

"Yeah, but you probably guessed that already," she responded.

I nodded as I gazed at Rachel. I did have my suspicions. Rachel was the only one that seemed to be able to tolerate Drew and all her quirks. She gently wiped her tears off of her cheeks.

"Rachel, we have to get going. We only have about an hour left," I said as I stared at the timer in the sky.

"She's unconscious. We can't just leave her," Rachel said sadly. I gently reached forward and took Rachel's hand. She had smooth skin and soft hands. Her eyes found mine as I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"We're not leaving her. I can help you," I expressed.

I rubbed the skin above her thumb softly before pulling away. Drew was a pretty light and slender woman, and it was easy to carry her.

However, I was tired too. I huffed as I hoisted her into my arms and stood up.

"Let's go, Rachel. And, let's just hope that we don't come across any more dogs or cats or slugs or whatever," I said as I fixed how I was carrying Drew.

"Slugs?" Rachel asked softly while chuckling.

"Yeah, I hate those things. Ugh, they're disgusting," I commented.

The journey was silent, but it was comfortable. Rachel and I made small talk, and it was pleasant. Fortunately, there weren't any more animals.

My muscles ached from carrying Drew, and I started struggling after about a half-hour. That slowed us down a bit.

Regardless, at thirteen minutes left, the woods cleared into a large field. It was similar to the grassy field where we started this race from. I stared at the red line that was painted near the end of the route.

Several people were waiting on the other side.

"Oh my gods, Percy, we made it. Wow," Rachel said as she ran forward. I shifted Drew in my arms before following behind Rachel.

Nine members had already finished the race.

Rachel crossed over the line, which elicited a high-pitched buzzer. It was the same buzzing noise that distracted the black dog in the forest a while earlier.

"You guys made it," Jason exclaimed.

Frank and Will came forward, crossing over the line. I guess once you crossed the red line, you were finished with the race. Will immediately inspected Drew who was still in my arms.

"Frank, can you take her? My arms are literally about to drop her," I said quickly.

"Of course," Frank said as he easily took Drew. Will continued checking Drew as Frank walked back over the red finish line with Drew.

"Percy, did you really carry Drew all this way?" Hazel asked.

They stared at me in shock as I nodded. Rachel looked so happy as she hugged Piper and Leo. I stretched and massaged my arms as I approached the finish line.

All of my friends were waiting on the other side. All but One.

I paused a few feet away from the red line.

I wasn't the last one, and that was a very good thing. However, I didn't like who was going to finish last if I passed the red line now.

"Percy, what's wrong? Come on," Annabeth commanded.

"Where's Thalia?" I asked.

A heavy feeling sunk into my stomach as I gazed at their faces. Thalia hadn't made it yet, and there were only ten minutes left. Suddenly, all their gazes shifted behind me. They smiled as they pointed. I turned around to see Thalia emerge through the woods.

She looked horrible, but she was still walking forward. Thalia represented real strength and heart. She was fighting for her baby despite all the pain and hardship.

Her hand was holding her pregnant belly as she walked. She was over fifty yards away, but she's gonna make it.

We all would finish this race. However, that means that the last person would starve for five days. Specifically, either Thalia or I would be forced to go five days without food.

I turned back around and stared at the red finish line. Technically, I had made it first. I was the rightful winner here.

However, if I knowingly crossed the finish line, I'd still be a loser.

"Percy, you made it. Come on," Rachel expressed. Everyone else urged me to finish the race as well, but I couldn't move.

Annabeth held out her hand. Her hand was only a few feet away. Honestly, three more strides, and I could hold her hand. Four more strides and I'd be done.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered. Her gaze locked onto mine. She already knew what I was thinking, and she nodded sadly.

"I can go a few days without food, but a baby cannot," I expressed softly. "I know that I won, but I can't cross over before Thalia does. I'm sorry if that's the wrong choice."

...