A/N Thank you so much to everyone who's read the fic so far- it means a lot to me that people are actually reading it. If you read the last chapter on Thursday or Friday I'd advise you to re-read because I've added a bit more to it since then. Originally, I was planning on making it two chapters but it felt too short so I combined them into one. This one is on the shorter side but don't worry they will get longer. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything by Rick Riordan.


Luke

We'd been trekking through the countryside for days now. With no destination in mind, we just walked around aimlessly, from shelter to shelter, fighting monsters almost everyday. I could tell that Thalia was tired too, but she was trying to hold it together for us. Annabeth was absolutely exhausted. Her ashen face showed signs of hunger. It broke my heart to see her like this. Even though we tried to give her whatever food we had, there was no reliability of us finding our next meal or becoming it for the monsters. Just then, I heard a low growl.

"Hellhound," I whispered. "Annie, get behind us."

Thalia and I stood side by side facing the monster. Then, I heard another growl on my left. Oh no, I thought. One, we could manage, but two, no way. Especially with the kid to protect. Still, we each launched ourselves on a hellhound.

Thalia had her spear and her shield, Aegis, but I had no weapons that could harm a monster. Nevertheless, I picked up a stick from the ground and charged at the other hellhound. I was hoping to keep its attention while Thalia killed the first one.

"Come on and get me ugly!" I shouted. The beast snarled and launched itself toward me, but I dodged. I continued playing with the hellhound, but I knew it would soon get tired and move onto Annabeth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Thalia wasn't doing well either. The beast had her on the ground and her left leg seemed to be hurt. In my momentary lapse of concentration the hellhound sunk its fangs into my right arm. The pain was blinding and I gritted my teeth to stop myself from screaming out. But now, both of us were injured. It would only be a matter of time before we became the monsters' next meal.

"Annie, run. RUN!" I screamed, hoping she would listen and get out of danger. Thalia was now on the ground, defenceless. I would never be able to defeat even one of them, with no weapons and an injured arm. We're going to die, I thought. Then, a silver arrow whooshed past me and turned the hellhound into dust.