Disclaimer: I don't own Class of the Titans!
"Jay!" Theresa muttered, touching their leader's shoulder lightly.
"What?!" Jay shouted, sitting straight up in his seat, "I'm awake! Just resting my eyes for a second."
Theresa shook her head in disbelief, although there was a smile crossing her lips. Josh sat on her lap, curling a lock of the girl's ginger hair between his tiny fingers.
It was five thirty in the morning, and the group had only gotten up a half-hour earlier in order to catch their bus. Now practically all the kids were fast asleep, and the team wasn't doing much better. Herry jumped every time the bus pulled over to a stop, asking if they had crashed. Odie kept falling asleep onto his book, which was annoying considering he was chewing gum and managed to get his mouth stuck to the pages every time he aroused. Archie and Atlanta were leaning up against each other, their eyelids slowly drifting closed. The only one who was wide awake was Neil, who had chugged down a whole pot of coffee before the others could even get a sip.
And as you can imagine, Neil on caffeine wasn't a good thing.
"Hey. Hey, Archie?" Neil whispered, poking the purple-haired boy in the arm, "Archie? Archie? Archie, Archie, Archie, Archie, Arch…."
"WHAT?" Archie roared at him.
"Are we there yet?" Neil asked.
"NO!" Atlanta shouted. Neil stared at her, his eyes going so wide that you could see the veins in them. He grabbed Atlanta's wrists and began shaking her.
"Whoa, Atlanta!" Neil screamed, "Something's happening! I can see RIGHT THROUGH YOU!"
"Stop it, Neil," Atlanta warned, pushing him away.
"Oh my God, guys! The sky is HUGE!" Neil squawked, looking out the window.
"Seriously, shut up," Archie told him. He could have used the excuse that Neil was pissing off the other passengers, but they seemed to be the only ones crazy enough to ride a bus so early in the morning.
"The bus is shaking!" Neil screamed, beginning to rock back and forth on his seat.
"SHUT UP!" the whole team shouted. Neil stared at them and then slumped into his seat, his eyes snapping shut. Odie walked over to him and started waving a hand in front of the blonde's face.
"Neil?" Odie said quietly, "Neil? Hello?"
Neil rolled over and began to snore.
"And THAT'S what happens when you drink too much coffee," he said to Lily (who was now awake from Neil's screaming) as he sat down beside her.
Lily giggled and clapped her hands.
The bus driver pulled over again. Herry shouted in terror and covered his head.
"We didn't crash, Herry," Jay yawned, stretching his arms into the air.
"But why aren't we moving?" Theresa asked, peering over Jay's head, "We're not at a stop, are we?"
"Not unless we're picking up a bear," Atlanta said, observing the trees and mountains that surrounded them.
"What's the holdup?" Archie shouted at the bus driver. The middle-aged, black haired man was staring out of the windshield in pure horror. Then he screamed loudly and ran out of the vehicle.
"That's not good," Odie muttered. Archie stood up and slowly walked to the front of the bus. His face turned white when he saw what had scared the bus driver so badly. He turned around and motioned for his friends to get out. The others looked over and saw that Cronus and three of his giants were standing just outside the shuttle.
"We need to go," Jay said, "Everybody out the emergency exit."
The teenagers nodded and each picked up a kid. Herry got Scott as well as Christy since Neil was in no condition to carry anyone. Archie quickly ran over and grabbed Tara and followed his friends out of the bus.
Cronus's giants began to shake the large transport, still thinking the kids were inside.
"Oh crap," Jay muttered.
"What?" Odie asked, trying to calm down a crying Lily.
"Neil's still inside," Jay answered. The others gulped as they watched the monsters begin to push the bus towards a nearby embankment.
"I'll get him," Atlanta said, handing Tommy to Archie.
"No, you won't," Theresa told her, pulling on the red-head's arm, "That's suicide."
"Maybe," Atlanta said, "But I'm faster than all of you. I'll be in and out. I promise."
Theresa bit her lip, but let go off the girl nonetheless.
Atlanta smiled gratefully and raced towards the bus.
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"Neil!" Atlanta shouted, trying to shake the boy awake, "You have to get up now!"
Neil murmured a few words under his breath about needing more beauty rest and continued to sleep away.
Atlanta let out a small gasp when she realized that the vehicle was almost to the ledge.
"I am NOT carrying you Neil!" Atlanta barked. But it looked like she was going to have to. She hooked one of Neil's arms over her shoulder and began to drag him towards the exit.
But just when the two were about three feet away from their freedom, Atlanta felt the bus tip and begin to roll down the steep hill.
"ATLANTA!" Archie cried, beginning to run after the bus, still clutching the two kids in his arms. The others followed him, their shouts able to be heard from miles away.
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"You IDIOTS!" Cronus screeched at his giants, "The children weren't in there! What's the matter with you? Didn't you see that they'd escaped?"
The giants hung their heads. Cronus gazed down to where the teenagers had arrived at the bus.
"Rest well tonight, kids," the god smiled. "Tomorrow is another day."
Cronus threw his head back and laughed, then opened a black portal to which he and his giants disappeared into.
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Down at the bottom of the hill, the team was freaking out that two of their friends were potentially dead. The vehicle had rolled over on its back, and several of the windows had smashed.
"I'm going in," Archie said, walking towards the bus. He lifted one of his legs over one of the broken windows and slid himself inside. The tall boy whacked his head on a piece of chipped glass posed right over him, slicing into his skin and making blood drip down onto his hair.
"Mother effing frigger," he muttered, feeling the place where he had been cut. The warm red liquid shot from the wound and ran through his fingers. He was about to curse again when he noticed Neil and Atlanta off in a corner. Neil was still, amazingly, asleep. He was also completely unharmed.
"Lucky son of a bitch," Archie said to himself.
Atlanta didn't have it so lucky. She was conscious, but her right leg was pinned by a fallen seat cover. She too had been cut by some broken glass, and the front of her shirt was completely stained by blood.
"Archie!" she shouted when she saw her friend, "Help me!"
Archie immediately ran over and pulled the seat off his companion.
"Do you feel okay?" he asked, helping Atlanta up.
"Don't think so," Atlanta said, clutching her stomach, which had ceased bleeding but still looked pretty bad.
"Let's get you two out of here, alright?" Archie smiled.
"Okay," Atlanta said quietly. She felt….dizzy. Probably from lack of blood.
Archie groaned in aggravation as he dragged Neil to the nearest door. Atlanta followed, still holding her wound.
Archie dumped Neil onto the ground outside the bus and helped Atlanta out. The others ran over to her.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened to your stomach?"
"Does it hurt?"
"Should we call Chiron?"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz." (That came from Neil)
Scott leaned over besides Neil and positioned his mouth right near the teenager's ear.
"WAKE! UP!" he screamed. Neil shrieked and sat straight up.
"What's happening?" Neil asked, his head darting around, "Where's the bus? Where are WE? What happened to you, Atlanta?"
"The same thing that's gonna happen to you if you don't shut your trap," Atlanta grumbled, holding up a fist. Tara giggled and ran over to hug her friend.
"Ooof, not to hard, okay squirt?" Atlanta asked as Tara buried her face into the girl's middle.
Archie stared over at Atlanta with empathy, and then slid off his sweatshirt and the white muscle shirt beneath it.
"Here," he said, tossing Atlanta the white one.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"Your shirt's stained with blood," Archie pointed out. Atlanta peered down.
"So it is," she said.
The red-head began to slide off her T-shirt, but stopped when she realized the boys were still looking at her.
"Well, turn around!" she barked. The boys quickly covered their eyes and turned to face the other way. Atlanta murmured some curse words under her breath as she slid the clean shirt over stomach. It was pretty long; almost going a quarter's length down her jeans.
"Thanks," Atlanta smiled at Archie. She slid her stained T-shirt under the muscle shirt and tied it to make a sort of bandage for her injury.
"Isn't anyone concerned about me?" Neil whined, "I was in the bus too!"
Everyone ignored him.
"C'mon, you guys," Jay ordered, "I think we can find this cabin by nightfall. It can't take us too long."
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Unfortunately, Jay was wrong. It did take a long time. Fourteen hours to be exact. So by the time the heroes did find the shelter Hera had provided them, the sun had set and the team could hear wolves howling in the distance. All the kids had to be carried, but none of them were tired enough to actually go to sleep.
"Are we there yet?" Christy asked, her head resting against Herry's chest.
"There! There!" Danny cheered happily from the top of Jay's shoulders. He pointed at the small house in the distance.
"That's it?" Theresa asked. She dropped Josh, who instantly began to run up to their home for the next few days. "You have got to be kidding me. That wouldn't even fit three of us."
"Well, the rest of us could always sleep outside if you need your own space," Archie suggested sarcastically. Theresa smirked and stuck her tongue out at him.
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"Home sweet home!" Odie announced as he swung the door open to the house. Dust immediately sprung from the wooden floor and off nearby furniture, which made Odie start to cough.
"This place is gross," Neil complained as he came inside. Jay walked past him and began to walk around the house.
"There are two bedrooms," he called from down a small hallway.
"What about a bathroom?" Herry asked. He looked down at Christy, who looked like she really had to pee.
"Nope," Jay answered, walking back to the main room, which had a living room and kitchen.
"EXCUSE ME?" Neil shrieked, "You mean, we have to go outside?"
"Looks like it," Atlanta said, coming in after Archie, who was carrying both Tara and Tommy since Atlanta couldn't support either of them against her gash.
"Bed time, guys," Jay said to the kids, picking up Danny and carrying him to one of the rooms.
"I don't wanna go to bed," Tara pouted, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, you're gonna," Archie told her, following Jay into the kid's room.
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Putting the kids to bed proved more difficult than its worth. Christy held on as tight as she could to one of the bunk bed's steps, and when Herry tried to pull her off, they wound up breaking it off with their combined strength. Tommy wouldn't stop crying and Tara had escaped out of the cabin and it took the team an hour before they found her up a tree almost a mile from the house.
"What have we gotten into?" Jay asked as he slid into one of the lower bunks.
"Tell me about it," Theresa groaned, climbing in the bed above his.
Atlanta stepped into the room and slid across the floor, wearing only the shirt Archie had given her that morning. She paused for a minute, and then kneeled down onto the ground.
"Are you okay?" Archie asked, leaping off of his bed and going over to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Atlanta told him. Another wave of dizziness hit her again and she laid her body against the ground. Odie walked over and placed the back of his hand against Atlanta's forehead.
"You're not okay," he told her, "You've got a fever.
"A fever?" Herry said, "From what?"
"Does she have an infection?" Jay asked, "But how is that possible? Her cut couldn't do it that fast."
"There have been some cases where an infection spreads rapidly," Odie said, "And unfortunately, this is one of those cases."
"Oh my God," Archie muttered, brushing Atlanta's sweating bangs out of her face, "This is bad, guys. This is really bad."