Chapter 6

Timothy walked out of cabin five's shower, his black hair sticking up all over the place with a wet white towel draped over his shoulders. He felt great, a warm shower seemed to be all he needed to feel like himself again. Even better, he heard dinner was soon, the promise of a hot meal drove him forward like jet fuel.

Sherman was waiting for him near the front of the cabin.

"Hey." Timothy said, walking up to him.

"So, how'd you like the shower?" Sherman asked.

The truth was, he did like the showers, a lot. The bathroom of cabin five was more like a gym's restroom. He was surprised to find the showers actually had hot water and the water pressure was amazing. Even more surprising, the restrooms were actually clean, even the porcelain toilets were pure white, there wasn't a single smudge or mark.

"It was pretty good actually." He admitted, "You guys shower like that every day?"

"Of course!" Sherman said, "There's a reason the military focuses on hygiene so much, we gotta take care of ourselves if we want to fight at our best, that goes for you too." He motioned for Timothy to follow him, "Before we leave for dinner, let me show you your bunk."

Timothy followed him to the very back of the cabin. Some bunks were messy, like their occupants didn't really care about being neat, personal items scattered across them while the sheets were left unmade. Then there were bunks that were neatly folded and put together in a military way.

Some Ares campers were sitting on old ammo cans and olive-green footlockers, either playing cards or video games while others crowded around a TV, watching some action anime that Timothy could've sworn was Black Lagoon. Other Ares campers were at their wall lockers, changing their clothes or organizing their things.

Timothy noted the cabin smelled like deodorant, not at all what he was expecting. He thought the place would smell like smoke or gunpowder but instead it smelled like someone went crazy and sprayed the place with Old Spice.

Sherman stopped at a double bunk bed, "Alright, here's your bunk."

"The fuck?" Scarlett appeared from behind the bunk bed, "There's a bunch of empty bunks around here and you put him with me."

"Nuh-uh, you stood up for him so he's your problem!" Sherman laughed as he walked away, "Dinner's in thirty minutes, don't be late or I'm kicking your ass!"

Scarlett's face turned…scarlet. She gritted her teeth as she stared at Sherman's retreating figure. She turned to look at Timothy, who backed off, he didn't like that look in her eyes. This girl was terrifying, were all the girls at this camp this scary?

Scarlett wasn't at all like his sister before, she looked much rougher. Her eyes were a scarlet red, which would've terrified anyone else, but Timothy thought they fit her perfectly. Her red hair was messy and went down past her shoulders. He didn't see it before but noticed she actually had a tattoo on her left arm of a Greek war helm. She couldn't have been a year older than him, he found it weird that she had a tattoo considering the fact that he was fourteen and she couldn't have been any older than fifteen.

Unlike when he first saw her, she didn't have her guns. She wore a pair of dark red athletic shorts and an orange camp tank top, which actually made her look like a normal teenaged girl.

"The fuck you staring at?" She asked.

Timothy put his hands up in surrender, "Nothing. Sorry, I didn't mean to piss you off already."

Scarlett sighed, "It's not you. It's fucking Sherman, that dumbass has been on my nerves since I got here."

He watched as she climbed into the bottom bunk and laid there. She reached underneath the bunk and pulled out her rifle. She pulled the bolt back to reveal it was unloaded before she started playing with the bolt.

"So, your name's Timothy?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said, walking over and sitting on the floor next to her.

"Scarlett." She offered him her hand.

When Timothy shook her hand, he was surprised to find her palm was smooth, he expected her hands to be rough.

Scarlett adjusted the scope on her rifle before sighing, "This sucks, now I actually have to share with someone. I used to put all the shit I didn't want in the extra wall locker."

She looked over at him, only to find him staring at her rifle. He'd never seen a gun like that before, not that he saw many guns to begin with, his stepdad was firmly against weapons in the house.

"No, you can't test fire it." She said.

Timothy shook his head, "I wasn't about to ask that."

"Well, you keep staring at it so what do you want?"

"Where'd you get that thing? I've never seen a gun like it before." He asked.

Scarlett looked down at her rifle. She showed it to him cautiously. Now that he could look at it closely, he noticed that it was indeed a hunting rifle but with a few modifications on it. The bolt was a yellowish metal, not the standard steel color that most guns had.

"This rifle is a gift from our dad." She said, "Told me that he took a hunting rifle from…someone and converted it for demigod use. This thing can shoot regular bullets and celestial bronze bullets."

"Where do you get the ammo?" He asked.

She smirked and reached under her bed, pulling out a leather pouch with a strap on it. She opened it, revealing rows of different bullets. Some of the bullets had black tips, others had green, then there were regular bullets.

"What are those?"

Scarlett started pointing at the bullets, "Well, the black ones are rubber bullets, non-lethal just in case I need to hit someone without killing them. The green ones are actual bullets, .308 caliber so it's very lethal. Then there's the regular ones made of celestial bronze meant for monsters. The rubber bullets and regular green-tips won't do jack-shit against a monster."

"What happens if you run out?" He asked, surely she had to have run out of bullets at some point.

Scarlett closed the pouch and put it under her bed, "The pouch magically restocks after midnight. That means if I run out in the middle of a fight, I'm fucked."

"What about those pistols?" Timothy asked, "The ones you had strapped to your legs?"

Scarlett pulled out the pistols from under her bed, at this point he was wondering what else she had stashed under there. He noticed the holsters had a single back up magazine each.

She dangled the pistols in front of him, "These are meant for close quarters fighting. I have eight bullets each and those back up mags are the same deal, restock at midnight."

"Why midnight?" He asked.

"I don't really know." She admitted, rubbing her back of her neck, "I tried figuring it out but I just can't."

He watched as she hid all her guns and ammo under her bed. As she was doing so, he noticed a photograph slid out from under the bed. He only caught a glimpse of it but from what he saw, it was of Scarlett when she was younger and some older woman, they were both smiling in the picture in front of some hunters lodge.

"What was that?" He asked.

"None of your business." Scarlett said, as she quickly threw the photograph back under her bed.

Timothy knew better than to push her when she clearly didn't want to talk. So, he figured changing the subject would be the safer option.

"Hey, you said dad gave you that gun. Did he give you those pistols too?" He asked.

Scarlett nodded, she looked a little relieved though that may have just been him, "Yep, he gave me those when I complained about my rifle running out of ammo. I was hoping he'd give me something other than a gun but when I asked for something else, he just gave me a second pistol."

"You don't have a sword or anything?" He asked, he kind of felt bad for her, he couldn't imagine being that limited.

"I have a sword but its one of the basic ones from the armory." She said, "Everyone else in this cabin has some sort of magical weapon and I'm stuck using guns."

"I mean, guns are pretty cool." Timothy said, "You don't have to get close to anything you wanna hit." He still remembered the fight between him and the monster in the woods.

"You don't get it." She said, "Every time I run out of bullets, I feel like the most useless person in the whole cabin. The few times I get close enough to use my sword, someone takes my kill, so I don't even bother anymore."

"But you're not useless!" Timothy protested, "If you kill a monster then you helped!"

He couldn't fathom how someone like Scarlett could consider themselves useless unless she was a lousy shot or something. Judging from the reaction of everyone else when she aimed her rifle, she didn't miss often.

"I mean, you know how to shoot, right?" He asked.

Scarlett scoffed, "Of course. I can't afford to miss. When you have limited ammo like me, you learn real quick."

Timothy couldn't help but stare at her, she was easily one of the coolest people he had ever met. He couldn't imagine his stepsister with a gun, she probably wouldn't even know how to fire one, but this chick was a whole sharpshooter.

"You should probably get ready for dinner." Scarlett told him.

Ω

Timothy scooted in next to Scarlett at the Ares cabin. His new orange camp shirt fit him perfectly, now he looked like any other camper. There were dozens of guys sitting at the Ares table, so he should've blended in, right?

Wrong. He didn't say anything, but he knew people were looking at him, he was the new kid after all. The Aphrodite girls who passed him earlier were making kissy faces at him and winking, yet he kept Alexander's advice in mind, they were modern day sirens, and he wasn't going to fall for their tricks.

"You gonna eat your chicken nuggets?" Scarlett asked him as she glanced down at his plate.

Timothy glanced down at his plate, he didn't care what anyone said but the food at Camp Half-Blood rocked. His plate was full of food, he had everything from a medium rare steak to chicken nuggets to a salad, he could eat like that for the rest of his life and never get tired of it.

"Yeah, but I'll share." He said, smiling at her.

Scarlett smiled back and took half of his nuggets, which made him cringe, he was only going to give her like three, not half.

He had gotten along pretty well with Scarlett, she was acting more like a sister to him than his actual stepsister did. Maybe it was because they were so similar and that's why he got along with her. They were both children of Ares, they both were insecure about something, and they both seemed to enjoy some of the same things.

"You know, there's a monster hunt coming up." She said while cutting off a portion of her steak.

"Monster hunt?" He asked.

"Camp event." She said, "Basically the goal is to get three red silk packages. Each package is attached to each monster, which you have to kill to get each package. Once you get all three, you win. The only problem is that it's kind of hard to do that, I only know a few people who actually got all three packages."

"Who?" He asked as she took a bite out of her food.

She swallowed, "Well, Clarisse did at one point." She said, her eyes growing nostalgic, "I was way too young at the time to play."

"Wait, how long have you been at camp?" He asked, "I thought you were only here for a couple of years."

Scarlett's face grew dark and he knew he asked something he shouldn't have. Maybe it brought up some traumatic memories for her.

"I was 9 when I came to camp." She said quietly, he almost didn't hear her over the sound of everyone else talking, "My own cabin mates said I came here too young."

"Why did you come so young?" He asked, "You don't have to tell me, I just—"

"I'll tell you later, okay?" She said with a pained smile.

"Alright." He said, "So, why'd you bring up the monster hunt?"

"Well," She said with a sly look, "I was hoping you and me could partner up."

"HA!" Sherman butted in, "Timothy, my man, you partner up with Ms. I'm-louder-than-a-tank over here, and you'll never win!"

"No one was fucking talking to you, Sherman." Scarlett snapped, her face almost growing as red as her hair.

This was a very inconvenient time but now Timothy was wondering why everything about this girl had to do with the color red, even her name was a variation of the color.

Sherman nudged him, "Dude, the second Scarlett lets off a round with that rifle of hers, she'll scare everything away."

"Can you go away?!" Scarlett exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, fine, but remember what I said." Sherman warned Timothy as he went back to his other conversation.

Timothy looked over at Scarlett, he kind of felt bad for her. He wondered how long she'd been made fun of prior to his arrival.

"Well, I don't know how useful I'll be, but I'll be your partner." He said.

Ω

Timothy opened his wall locker and looked at all his belongings. His dad's knife was hanging off a small mantle in the locker. So far, no one knew that he even had that thing, not that it really mattered if they knew.

His locker had a couple pairs of jeans, a dozen camp shirts, and a red hoodie that had a black boar on the back, the Ares cabin's symbol. His red shirt was folded neatly at the bottom of the locker. Other than that, his locker was pretty bare. The other lockers had some personality to them, like pictures or artifacts from their quests.

Timothy wondered if he would ever go on a quest. He was still the new guy, he doubted that anyone would want to send him on a quest.

Just as he closed his locker, he was startled when his eyes landed on Scarlett, who was leaning against her locker. He noticed she was dressed for sleep with a pair of shorts and a tank-top, her hair was free and flowed down her shoulders.

"Fuck, don't scare me like that!" He hissed at her.

Scarlett laughed at him, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just coming to finish what we started at dinner."

At first, Timothy didn't know what she was talking about. Then he realized what she was talking about. A pang of discomfort filled his chest, he shifted uneasily.

"You don't have to tell me." He said, he really didn't want to push her into anything.

"No, I want to." She said, "Let's talk on my bunk."

Timothy sighed as he looked at his closed wall locker before following her to her bunk. He climbed in, sitting cross-legged from her as she took a sip from a water bottle. She sighed and looked around, most of the bunks were empty since mostly everyone was at the bonfire. He would've joined but Scarlett told him that Chiron set up his wall locker for him, so he wanted to check out what he got.

"Alright, first, don't tell anyone about this." She ordered.

"Got it." He said.

She took a deep breath to prepare herself, "Well, everything started just before my first day at this new elementary school I was supposed to start attending, my mom chose it because they offered field trips to a bunch of natural museums and nature spots. Now that I think of it, it was more like a wilderness school."

Timothy had never been to wilderness school, he'd heard of them, but he never went to one. He'd never gone on a field trip either, his parents either didn't sign his permission slip or his horrible disciplinary record would pretty much forbid him from going.

"Anyways, the morning of my first day, I don't want to explain what I saw in any detail but let's just say that I never saw my mom again after that day." She said, "That day was easily the worst day of my life."

Timothy had a feeling he knew what happened, but he wasn't sure if he should say it.

Scarlett's eyes took a darker turn, "After that day, I went on the run. I was on my own for a few months until some campers found me in a storage unit down in Georgia. They took me here and well, I've been here ever since, I have to be a year-rounder, there's no where for me to go home to."

Timothy couldn't hold his curiosity back any further, "This thing with your mom, it was a monster, wasn't it?"

Scarlett closed her eyes, he thought she was about to start crying but when she opened them, they were full of hate. He shifted a little, maybe he'd crossed the line and now she was going to kill him.

"Yes, it was." She answered, "A hellhound killed her in her sleep."

"I don't get it, the orientation film said that monsters usually ignore mortals." He said.

"They usually do but my mom told me a story about this black wolf she shot in the woods. She said that she got a couple .308 rounds in it, but she didn't kill it. If I had to guess, that hellhound was the one she shot, and it wanted revenge." She said grimly.

"That doesn't make any sense, I thought normal bullets don't effect monsters."

"They don't. I didn't realize it until Ares told me, she lied to protect me. She knew that it wasn't a wolf, she knew it was a hellhound and she tried to kill it before it sniffed me out." Scarlett said, "Ares told me that he left her some bullets just in case she needed to protect me."

"Wait a minute, that rifle—"

"Belonged to my mom." She finished, "I left it behind when I ran away from home, Ares went back and got it for me."

Timothy didn't show any pity towards Scarlett, not because he didn't have any, he did, but because he knew she wouldn't want any. At the end of the day, she was a daughter of Ares and if he were her, he wouldn't want some guy she just met today sniveling and crying on her behalf.

Then he noticed Scarlett rubbing her tattoo, he figured since they were on the topic of stuff that was clearly hard to talk about, he minus well ask her about that too.

"What's up with the tattoo?" He asked, "When'd you get that?"

"When I was twelve." She said with a bitter tone, "That asshole Sherman gave it to me."

"Huh?"

"I tried to fit in, I tried to pass their stupid tests. Their final test was branding me, so they gave me this." She pointed to her tattoo, "They told me that no matter what I'd do, the tattoo would be there to remind me that I was always a daughter of Ares first. I hated this thing, I didn't want it."

Timothy watched as she looked down at it with an accepting look.

"But after a while, I learned that it wasn't so bad. It didn't hurt me at all, it didn't even hurt when they gave me it." She smiled, "Even better, it scares off any guys that want to get lucky with me."

Timothy could definitely see that, the tattoo made her look rugged and less girly. She sort of reminded him of Revy from Black Lagoon, just a little more mentally stable.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two as he took in the fact that the girl in front of him had been through so much even though she was so young.

"I can tell you had a better life than me." She said, catching his attention.

"What?" He asked.

"You had an easier life than me." She said, "It's in your eyes, you aren't anywhere near as fucked up as some of us in here are. I can tell when someone isn't mentally there, that's not you."

He didn't think it was that obvious that he didn't have any underlying mental trauma. Sure, he could've mentioned the fact that his parents just let him get taken away or the fact that he was bullied every year in school but compared to her story, his life seemed like heaven. He couldn't imagine being so alone at only 9 years old.

"Listen to me and listen well." She said seriously, "Make sure you don't lose yourself. You're in control of yourself, if you lose control, you'll never get it back. Some of these guys will never make it in the mortal world, they're too addicted to war, you have the opportunity to be different. Don't turn out like us." She put a hand on his shoulder, "Now, get off my bunk and get some sleep, you start training tomorrow."