Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. BTW: 'Halcyon' is the name I gave Luke's sword. (I admit, I totally forgot about it until I was going over the story again.)

Chapter Eleven

Zombie Shootouts

We'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

Unsurprisingly given the fact that I was wearing my favourite (old and patched) leather jacket and a camp t-shirt, I was freezing by the time we got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As we walked, I told Grover about my conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told me to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

"We will," I replied smoothly. Truthfully, though, I had my doubts.

I didn't want to jinx us by mentioning it, but I knew we had huge deadline looming if we wanted to save Artemis and Ana in time. The winter solstice was on Friday, only four days away. And the General had said something about a sacrifice. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

In my opinion, the best decision ever made by humanity was to get rid of living sacrifices. Give me burning my dinner to a deadbeat father any day. At least beef doesn't know what's happening to it.

We stopped in the middle of town to get our bearings. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store. Probably smaller than the entire camp grounds. Ana, always so free-spirited and claustrophobic, would have hated the place.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" Grover pointed out brightly.

"Yes," Zoe nodded. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed, flinging her hands up in a silent gesture of 'seriously?'. I decided to intervene, least bloodshed break out between anyone.

"Okay," I clapped my hands together briskly, hoping to warm them up. Why were my gloves fingerless again? "Zoe, Grover, could the two of you go get us some food while the rest of us check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions to the nearest train station, or car rental."

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.

Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and (most importantly of all) there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk suggested doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

Mental Ana commented sympathetically on how lonely the clerk looked, so I bought a rubber rat on her urging, absently wondering when I'd gotten so used to being insane. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia hissed grumpily. I stepped slightly to the side to avoid any electrocutions. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—" Bianca began.

"I know," she snapped back at the huntress. "I'm checking anyway."

I waved her off, giving Bianca a look, silently telling her to stand down. I knew how it felt to be restless. What half-blood didn't? We couldn't stand just waiting around, it went against our inborn battle reflexes. And I knew Thalia better than anybody else. I knew when she needed some space to think.

Bianca and I stood together awkwardly. Truthfully, if I'd had to choose between spending time with Zoe alone, or with Bianca, then I would have chosen Zoe.

Zoe, at least, had a genuine reason for joining the Hunters. She had been betrayed, and seen the trauma that many young girls had suffered due to whatever events had led them to join the Hunters. Zoe, and most of her surrogate sisters, were utterly devoted to Artemis.

Bianca, however. She'd had no reason to become a Huntress, save for the fact that she wanted immortality, and she had been sick of her (seemingly self-appointed) role as her brother's caregiver. She'd only known of her heritage for a few days, and had yet to properly prove herself in battle (during the fight with the Nemean Lion, she had barely grazed the monster twice. Several of her arrows, were they not spelled to pass harmlessly through mortals, would have at best badly injured mortals.) I didn't approve of her presence on the quest when she was so new to this life, and it was hard for me to bite my lip when I compared Nico's expression as he'd pleaded with me to keep his sister safe, and her utter indifference to the young boy.

"Nice rat," Bianca said at last, maybe wanting to break the silence.

I set it on the porch railing, giving a shrug. I cast my gaze over the snow-coated town, trying to think about what our next step would be. I didn't think that we could afford to spend the money (or the time) needed for a taxi. Maybe I could hotwire a car?

"You're mad at me for joining the Hunters, aren't you?" she pressed.

I bit back a huff, trying not to roll my eyes to the sky. Really? What did it even matter if I was? We were on a world-saving quest, our personal differences made no impact, as long as we could put them aside. Still, it was obvious that Bianca wouldn't let me keep to my thoughts, so I shrugged.

"It's really none of my business," I replied briskly.

"Nico didn't understand my decision," Bianca murmured. She looked at me like she wanted assurance it was okay. Too bad for her.

"You're his only family," I told her. "He loves you." Okay, so I was probably being unfair. But she had been selfish, and the son of the god of lies I may have been, but I didn't give people false platitudes. I didn't approve of her decision, that was it. I wasn't going to waste my breath pretending otherwise.

She looked down at the railing, biting her lip.

Sighing, I threw her a bone. "He'll be okay," I offered. "Camp Half-Blood takes in a lot of kids without family. Ana and I for example."

Bianca nodded. "I hope we find her. Ana, I mean. She's very lucky to have a friend like you."

"Lot of good it did her," I muttered darkly, Ana's scream as she fell over the cliff echoing in my mind all over again. Bianca gave me a sympathetic look, which only irritated me further.

"Don't blame yourself Luke," she urged me. "You risked your life to save my brother and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were people like you there, Nico would be fine. You're a good guy."

I pursed my lips. A good guy. Hah, showed what she knew. I didn't answer, instead returning to my silent contemplation of the landscape. Fortunately, she didn't try and draw me out of my thoughts this time.

A couple hundred yards away, Grover and Zoe came out of the coffee shop loaded down with pastry bags and drinks. Good, I was starving. For whatever reason, that reminded me of Bianca's strange comment back in D.C.

"So what's the story with you and Nico?" I asked her. "Where did you go to school before Westover?"

She frowned. "I think it was a boarding school in D.C. It seems like so long ago."

"You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?"

"We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school."

"Why?"

She knit her eyebrows. "We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We travelled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then… I don't know. One day a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C. Then up into Maine. And we started going to Westover."

It was a strange story. Then again, Bianca and Nico were half-bloods. Nothing would ever be normal for them.

"So you've been raising Nico yourself pretty much all your life?" I asked. "Just the two of you?"

She nodded. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad," she explained, eyes wide and imploring. "I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico—don't get me wrong—I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister twenty-four hours a day."

The thing is, I got where she was coming from. I had been acting as 'older brother/caregiver' for years. Ever since meeting seven-year-old Annabeth on the streets. But I had never complained about it, even when I was angry and bitter because the cabin was overfilled. Or when I was nursing ten-year-old Julia through pneumonia. Last year, Ana had willingly taken on the responsibility of caring for her Cyclops half-brother, never uttering a word of upset, although Tyson had the mental capacity of a mentally ill two-year-old, and the ability to break her arm in half during a temper tantrum.

I got where Bianca was coming from alright. But I could never understand it, and I sure as Tartarus could never do it.

I was saved from trying to figure out how to reply to her when Zoe and Grover arrived with the drinks and pastries. Hot chocolate for Bianca and me. Coffee for them. To eat, I got a blueberry muffin.

I'm sure Grover meant well, but the sight of it wiped away any vestiges of cheer I had left. Ana loved to bake, and add food dye made from blueberries for some reason to do with her mother. Jokingly, Travis and Connor had made her a certificate for 'Best Blueberry Baker' last Christmas.

The muffin from the shop sat like a log in my stomach, though under other circumstances I'm sure that I would have enjoyed it.

"We should do the tracking spell again," Zoe said as she dabbed away a few crumbs from her croissant. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"

"Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to—"

He froze.

I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else—almost like a voice, trying to say something. A warning.

Zoe gasped. "Grover, thy cup."

Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. The rubber rat I had bought squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers.

Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We all gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.

"Hey!" Thalia called as she ran up the street. "I just… What's wrong with Grover?"

"I don't know," I replied, as I went through the standard check. "He collapsed."

"Uuuuuhhhh," Grover groaned.

"Well, get him up!" Thalia snapped. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. She probably was, in fact. "We have to get out of here."

We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of grey camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent grey skin and yellow eyes.

They drew their handguns. It was intimidating, I have to admit. I'd never stared down the barrel of a gun before, though the police had aimed them in my direction a couple of times. I decided that I preferred swords. More chance of survival, and less. Impersonal, I guess.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiralled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into me.

I drew my sword, though I wasn't sure what good it would do against guns.

Zoe and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.

"Back up," Thalia ordered.

We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.

I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.

"It's near," Grover moaned.

"It's here," I corrected him. "See the zombies all around us, dude?"

"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight. Grover wasn't exactly a fighter in the first place, but in this case, he'd be pure dead weight, harsh as it sounded.

"We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia decided. "Four of them. Four of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way."

"Agreed," said Zoe, possibly the first time ever that she and Thalia had been accord about something. Shame there was no time to alert the press.

"The Wild!" Grover moaned.

"Shut up," I muttered back.

A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons. I felt myself slip into that zone, where every move was instinctual, and the world was all in slow-motion.

And then I charged.

The first skeleton fired. Time slowed down. I won't say I could see the bullet, but I could feel its' path. I deflected it off the edge of my blade and kept charging.

The skeleton drew a baton and I sliced off his arms at the elbows. Then I swung Halcyon through his waist and cut him in half.

His bones unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at me and tried to fire, but I knocked his gun into the snow.

The two behind me tried to shoot me in the back, but with a cry from Thalia, I managed to jump aside. One of the bullets tore through my left forearm, but it was a through-and-through. I'd gotten sparring in the arena.

Thalia charged the second skeleton. Zoe and Bianca started firing arrows at the third and fourth. Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to hug them. Blood poured from my arm, making me dizzy and causing pain to fog my mind.

I deflected another bullet, stumbling and falling. Mental Ana screeched like a banshee in my mind, cursing and demanding I get up. I fumbled for the emergency ambrosia that I kept in my pocket, shoving it into my mouth and struggling to swallow.

There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving. I got to my feet and ducked a police baton. The skeleton I'd cut in half was already fully re-formed, coming after me. The ambrosia had helped a little, though. I could think again, but my mind wasn't giving me much hope for our survival.

There was no way to stop them. Zoe and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through their empty skulls. One lunged at Bianca, and I thought she was a goner, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest. The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.

"How did you do that?" Zoe demanded.

"I don't know," Bianca answered nervously. "Lucky stab?"

"Well, do it again!"

Bianca tried, but the remaining three skeletons were wary of her now. They pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length.

"Plan?" I asked as we retreated.

Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking loudly, the noise making my stress increase.

"A gift," Grover muttered, still dazed.

And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I'd ever seen came crashing into the road. It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. Its' back bristled with brown hair, and its' eyes were wild and angry. I took one look at it and swore violently. Zoe went white with horror.

"REEEEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its' tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bones twirling everywhere. That was the good part, but it was the only good part.

Because that's when the pig turned on us.

Thalia raised her spear, but Grover stopped her. "Don't kill it!" he yelled.

The boar grunted and pawed the ground, getting ready to charge at us.

"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I do not believe that we can kill it."

"It's a gift," Grover insisted. "A blessing from the Wild!"

What the Hades was wrong with him?

The boar bellowed out another "REEEEEEET!" and swung its' tusk. Zoe and Bianca dived out of the way. I had to push Grover to the side so that he wouldn't get launched into the mountain on the Boar Tusk Express.

"Yeah, I feel really blessed!" I snorted. "Scatter!"

We ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.

"It wants to kill us!" Thalia cried.

"Of course," Grover said. "It's wild!"

"So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked.

It seemed like a fair enough question to me, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was faster than I'd realized. She rolled out of the way of its' hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its' tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign.

I racked my brain, trying to think of how to deal with it. There was no record of it ever being killed, as far as I knew. But Heracles had managed to subdue it somehow. Though, of course. That was Heracles, and I couldn't remember how he had done it anyway.

"Keep moving!" Zoe yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him. But Thalia and I won the prize for bad luck. When the boar turned on us, Thalia made the mistake of raising Aegis in defence. The sight of the Medusa head made the boar squeal in outrage. Maybe it looked too much like one of his relatives. The boar charged us.

We only managed to keep ahead of it because we ran uphill, and we could dodge in and out of trees while the boar had to plough through them.

On the other side of the hill, I found an old stretch of train tracks, half buried in the snow.

"This way.'" I grabbed Thalia's arm and we ran along the rails while the boar roared behind us, slipping and sliding as it tried to navigate the steep hillside. Its' hooves just were not made for this, thank the gods.

Ahead of us, I saw a covered tunnel. Past that, an old trestle bridge spanning a gorge. I had a crazy idea. It was one that had a high chance of killing us, but it was the only one either of us had.

"Follow me!"

Thalia slowed down—I didn't need to ask why—but I pulled her along and she reluctantly followed. Behind us, a ten-ton pig tank was knocking down pine trees and crushing boulders under its' hooves as it chased us.

Thalia and I ran into the tunnel and came out on the other side.

"No!" Thalia screamed.

She'd turned as white as ice. We were at the edge of the bridge. Below, the mountain dropped away into a snow-filled gorge about seventy feet below. For Thalia, who was deathly afraid of heights, it was a nightmare come to life. A monster behind her, and the two of us standing on the edge of a cliff. But now wasn't the time for fear to rule us, cruel as it was. The boar was right behind us.

"Come on!" I said. "It'll hold our weight." I didn't add the 'probably' that went through my thoughts, but I'm sure she knew what I was thinking anyway.

"I can't!" Thalia yelled. Her eyes were wild with fear.

The boar smashed into the covered tunnel, tearing through at full speed.

"Thalia, we have to!" I pleaded, tugging at her.

She looked down and swallowed. I could see her turning green, and it genuinely broke my heart. But it was our only chance, and I knew it.

The boar was charging through the tunnel, straight toward us. Plan B. I tackled Thalia and sent us both sideways off the edge of the bridge, into the side of the mountain. We slid on Aegis like a snow-board, over rocks and mud and snow, racing downhill. The boar was less fortunate; it couldn't turn that fast, so all ten tons of the monster charged out onto the tiny trestle, which buckled under its weight. The boar free-fell into the gorge with a mighty squeal and landed in a snowdrift with a huge POOOOOF!

Thalia and I skidded to a stop. We were both breathing hard. I was cut up and bleeding. Thalia had pine needles in her hair. Next to us, the wild boar was squealing and struggling. All I could see was the bristly tip of its' back. It was wedged completely in the snow like Styrofoam packing. It didn't seem to be hurt, but it wasn't going anywhere, either.

Thalia and I met each other's gazes, but said nothing. We just rose to our feet and dusted ourselves off.

"Your arm," she muttered instead. Glancing down at it, I saw that the wound had been worsened by the fall. Without a word, I held it out to her so she could begin to tend to it. She fumbled through her pockets for a second before pulling out a small first-aid kit, complete with gauze and ambrosia.

"Helloooooo?" Grover called from above.

"Down here!" I shouted back, as Thalia began wrapping my arm.

A few minutes later, Zoe, Bianca, and Grover joined us. We stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow.

"A blessing of the Wild," Grover said, though he now looked agitated.

"I agree," Zoe nodded. "We must use it."

"Hold up," Thalia said irritably. "Explain to me why you're both so sure that this pig is a blessing."

Grover looked over, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

"Fast," I guessed wryly, though Grover didn't seem to pick up on my cynicism.

He nodded. "We need to get aboard. I wish… I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now."

"What's gone?"

Grover didn't seem to hear me. He walked over to the boar and jumped onto its' back. Already the boar was starting to make some headway through the drift. Once it broke free, there'd be no stopping it. Grover took out his pipes. He started playing a snappy tune and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and the boar went nuts, straining to get it.

"Automatic steering," Thalia murmured. "Great."

She trudged over and jumped on behind Grover, which still left plenty of room for the rest of us.

Zoe and Bianca walked toward the boar.

"Wait a second," I said, because I still didn't understand why any of them thought riding a monster would be a good idea under any circumstances. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"

"Of course," Zoe said. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong… I never thought that I would sense that presence again."

"What presence?"

She stared at me like I was an idiot. "The Lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."