My name is Owen Parker and the last thirty or so minutes of my life have been the closest thing to hell I've ever experienced. Except in hell I don't think you have chicken ladies that chase you relentlessly. I paused and leaned against a tree as I labored to catch my breath, no matter how fast I ran or for how long that thing was always right on my tail. Even as I struggled to breath I could hear branches and leaves crunching as it raced towards me. There was no way I could start running again without suffering a heart attack, so I made the horrible split second decision to stand and fight my pursuer.

"Ah finally I have caught you" the creature sounded satisfied as it came to a stop a few yards in front of me.

"Look I'm sorry for whatever I did chicken lady, can you please leave me alone?" I panted still only just catching my breath

She scowled as I called her chicken lady.
"It's been a long time since I've managed to taste a demigod like you"

"What are you talking about?" I asked arming myself with a fist size rock that lay near my feet.

"You'll need more than a rock to defeat me" She squaked ignoring my question.

"Well it's all I got so bring it" I may have only had a rock to fight with but I was determined to put up a fight. If I was going out I was going out screaming and covered in blood.

The chicken thing charged at my with its sharp dirty nails outstretched towards me. I ducked under her reach and countered by swinging the rock, connecting with her torso. She squealed in pain and seemed to be stunned but only for a moment as she then managed to grab my left arm digging in her rotten nails.

I let out a scream of pain as she created deep gashes in my forearm. She flung me into a tree, knocking the wind out of me. Coughing and wheezing, my eyes welling up with tears as I once again struggled to find oxygen.

I lay helpless on the roots of the tree as chicken lady approached me.

"Brave but foolish" she smiled triumphantly standing over me

"I'm going to savor every last bite of you" she placed her foot on my chest and I groaned as the claws on her chicken feet dug into my chest.

I opened my mouth to make my last words some snarky remark but before I could a loud yelling sounded.

Now I don't know if this man lived in the bushes or what, but he came out of the bushes wielding a metal baseball bat and shrieking like a warrior.

"Hraarrgghh" he swung the bat, and I guess my dear friend the chicken lady was just as stunned as I was because she failed to react as the bat connected with her head and she exploded into a puff of golden dust.

"Phew that was a close one" he sighed as he offered me his hand. I gladly took his help up. "You're lucky I was nearby"

He looked to be only a year or two older than me and had a patchy dark beard and long dark hair that fell to his shoulders.

"Thanks, but who the hell was she and why did she try to kill me?" I asked desperately wanting the answers to so many questions that I had.

"That was a harpy, they're pretty common in this part of the woods" he replied nonchalantly resting the bat on his shoulder.

I was still confused as to what a harpy was but I decided not to ask, even though he had just saved me I still wasn't entirely positive that this guy had good intentions. I didn't want to annoy him too much and make him start swinging his bat around again.

"Your arm looks pretty nasty, we should get you back to camp and get it healed up"

There were three long horizontal gashes that oozed crimson blood on my forearm, and now that he had brought them back to my attention I once again began to feel the stinging pain of my wound.

"There's a camp nearby?" I questioned still not feeling completely safe with the situation.

"Yea, camp Half-Blood. Its a safe haven for Demigods like you and me"

There was that word again 'demigod'. I was beginning to think it was being a bad thing seeing as being one had almost gotten me devoured by a harpy.

"What's a demigod?" I asked confused

A look of pity and understanding showed in his face "I'll let Chiron explain when we get back to camp" he paused to look at the sky "come on the suns going to be setting soon and this is a bad place to be after dark"

I decided to trust what he was telling me since I had no legitimate reason to distrust him. "Lead the way"

"My names Michael by the way" he said smiling

"I'm Owen" I replied returning the smile

I followed Michael through the dense forest hoping that all my questions could be answered by this Chiron fellow he had mentioned.

It took us only about 10 minutes for us to make it to the camp, and it was nothing that I had imagined. I was imagining something like small tents in a messy clearing but this was not a camp at all and more of a small town. There was a large cabin like building positioned near volleyball and basketball courts, and off in the distance there were several Greek styled buildings that had plenty of other kids running around them.

"This is the big house" Michael said as we approached the large cabin. He followed my gaze to the buildings in the distance. "Those are the cabins where everyone here sleeps, I'll make sure to give you a proper tour of the whole camp after we talk with Chiron and get your arm fixed"

The bleeding had stopped considerably but the wound was seeping a mixture of puss and blood each time it throbbed.

"Yea lets get this baby fixed up" I winced touching my arm tenderly.

"Chiron!" Michael called out as we entered the big house.

"Oh hello Michael!" We were greeted by a middle aged man in a wheel chair with a thick beard and long black hair.

"I see you've brought a friend" he continued. An eyebrow was raised as he noticed my wound. "What is your name?"

"Owen"

"Ah well I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me, now come with me I'll patch your arm up and explain things the best I can" He beckoned for me to follow him into another office type room.

"I'll wait for you out here" Michael said to me as he took a seat on a rather battered looking green sofa.

I closed the door behind us and Chiron wheeled himself behind a mahogany wood desk and motioned for me to sit down in one of the plastic blue chairs that reminded of the ones we used at school.

"So why don't you tell me how you got here"

I spent near an hour explaining the events that led up to me being saved by Michael and him leading me back to camp. During this time Chiron treated my arm and wrapped it in a gauze after applying a golden looking ointment.

"What about before the harpy chased you? Do you live nearby?" Chiron asked after he was done bandaging my wound.

That was a good question. I hadn't even realized that I didn't recall anything prior to being chased down by the harpy.

The pause was enough of an answer for Chiron because before I could say anything he cut in.

"Don't worry, its been a while since a demigod has shown up without their memory but I'm sure that eventually it will return to you"

He then explained to me that the stories of Greek mythology were real and that I was a half-blood. The son of a Greek god that we both were unaware of as of now.

"I know it's a lot to take in at once but I can assure you that you'll be safe here"

I felt a little better now that I had things explained to me. It was still hard to believe that the Greek Gods were real though, and it was a little unsettling that I couldn't remember any details about myself other than my name.

"I'll have Michael show you to the Hermes cabin, that's where you'll be until you are claimed by your godly parent" Chiron wheeled himself back around the desk and opened the door for me.

As we exited the office we found Michael exactly where we left him except now he was fast asleep snoring obnoxiously.

Chiron cleared his throat loudly causing Michael to jump awake.

"Ah now that you're awake why don't you show Owen here to the Hermes cabin" He said arching an eyebrow

"Oh sure of course" he yawned and stretched as he stood up from the couch "come on Owen I know you're gonna love the Hermes cabin" he finished his sentence with a large grin that definitely made me feel like I was not going to enjoy the Hermes cabin.

First story in a while. Excited to see where I can take this, constructive criticism is welcome but please don't be a dick.