David
I felt the flight attendant's hand shake my shoulder and I opened my eyes.
"We're landing, sir," she informed me.
"OK. Thank you," and she left.
I was on a plane that was about to land at the JFK Airport in New York. I had gotten a call from Big Luke earlier before my flight and he had asked if I needed a ride to camp after I landed in New York. I told him I'd take a cab.
I stepped out of the airport with my duffel bag slung over my shoulder. I hailed a cab and gave directions to the country road that goes past Camp Half-Blood. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to take the cab all the way to camp and I'd have to walk part of the way. It was just a matter of time before the cabby asked me to get out and I was on my own for the last few miles of my journey.
I had walked the same route every summer since I was twelve, with the exception of last summer where Big Luke swung by and picked me up at my house. I had my duffel bag slung over my shoulder with my quiver full of arrows on my back and my compound bow in my left hand in case the need arose. I nocked an arrow to save time. There was little to no traffic on the road so I wasn't too worried about anybody stopping me and questioning me on the matter.
It was hot and I was thankful for the baseball cap on my head and the sunglasses over my eyes. My white T-shirt helped reflect the sun. Except my jeans were hot and my basketball shoes were not easy to walk in.
I was looking down on the ground as I came around a corner. When I looked up, I saw something that nearly made me wet myself. There was a pack of about two dozen wolves crossing the dirt road. I saw them and they saw me.
These weren't regular wolves. Most of them were about the size of a full-size bear and had these golden eyes with blood red pupils. They had normal colored fur but the older looking ones had several scars around there faces and on their shoulders like they had gotten in a lot of fights. A good ten or twelve of them started to slowly approach me and bared their razor sharp teeth.
I was still a good mile and a half from camp and was all alone. The wolves started to surround me and back me up against a tree. I was thoroughly screwed if I didn't find something to do. If I drew back the arrow, the wolves would charge and I'd most likely be killed. I would be in less trouble if I had my MP7 sub-machine gun that I had used the last two summers. However, it was always left at camp during the school year since it was hard to get on a plane.
I decided I couldn't stand here the rest of my life and not do anything, so I slowly set down my bow and un-nocked the arrow and held it in my hand. I turned my hat around on my head and bent my knees a little to prepare myself.
I was getting impatient. "Come on!" I yelled and the first wolf came at me.
I stepped to side and dug the arrow head into the wild dog's side, making it explode into dust. I was about to turn back towards the rest of the pack when I was tackled from behind by another wolf. I rolled over and stuck the wolf in the neck and was showered in the monster's dust.
I tried to sit up but the circle around me grew tighter. I was starting to lose hope, it wasn't looking good. But then I heard a noise that I swear, made my day: the sound of KATE's engine roaring through the trees as the Charger grew closer. I couldn't help but chuckle as each dog in the circle closed their mouths and tilted their heads to the new sound.
The Charger came around the corner and I saw Big Luke do a double-take and put a smile on his face. His right arm moved as if he was pulling the parking brake. The car spun around as he jerked the wheel to the left. The car came to a stop with the grill pointing in my direction and dust that was kicked into the air. Big Luke and Brittany both stepped out of the car armed with pistols, Big Luke had his 1911 and Brittany was using a Sig Sauer P226 that was kept in the door. I had seen Brittany shoot before and was not comfortable at all where I was sitting.
I got to my feet as fast as I could and jumped into the forest and took cover behind a tree. The two opened fire and I could hear the yelps of the wolves as they exploded into dust. There were several pauses as Big Luke had to reload his .45.
I took a sneak peak from behind the tree and saw Brittany taking her time with each shot and missing every third one. She held her tongue out the left corner of her mouth and I'm sure that behind her big, bug-eyed sunglasses that her eyes were filled with concentration. Big Luke was double-tapping each dog in rapid succession without missing much at all. His reloads were lightning quick and you could tell that it was all muscle memory for him. He had a small smirk on his face as he played wack-a-mole with a handgun and used the wolves as his moles.
I stepped out from behind the tree after all of the shooting stopped.
"Nice shades," said Brittany.
"Thanks," I said, picking up my bow and duffel bag. "And, uh, thanks for saving my life."
"No problem," Big Luke replied. "How you been?"
"Not too bad," I replied. "Nothing like a fight with a pack of wolves to get you back in the groove of things."
Big Luke offered me a ride to camp and I accepted. He said that I was going to have to put my bag on my lap since the trunk was jam packed with all of the other luggage in the trunk. I held my duffel bag and bow in my lap as I sat in the back seat with Mathew who stayed there during the shootout.
I was kind of hoping that Big Luke had changed his mind about abolishing the Strike Team and would rebuild the Kill House that used to be this big, sixty-foot square, plywood building that we used to train in between operations. It had burned down last summer during an invasion at the camp.
We started down the one lane road that just wide enough to support KATE's wide width. The road led to the concrete platform that used to support the Kill House, apparently he never rebuilt the plywood building.
Under said concrete platform was an underground workshop that Big Luke had built to store weaponry and work on various projects of his, one of which was KATE. I always wondered where the name KATE came from, I just never asked Big Luke.
"So, Big Luke, where did the name KATE come from?" I asked as he drove the Charger down the ramp under the concrete platform.
"My mom's name was Kaitlin," he replied. "Just thought it was a good way to pay tribute to her."
The Charger came to a complete stop and we all stepped out. Big Luke took a seat at a table with his 1911 and the P226 from earlier in his hands. He grabbed a couple cleaning kits and started to clean the weapons, starting with the .45. I picked up the P226 and started to disassemble it. Brittany walked up behind Big Luke with her sunglasses on top of her head, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks for the ride," she told him.
"You're welcome," he replied with a smirk as he continued to clean his handgun.
I waited till Mathew and Brittany were gone to start asking questions.
"What was that all about?"
"I don't know. She's been doing it a lot lately," he replied.
"You seem to be enjoying it," I noticed.
Big Luke just grinned, not confirming nor denying my inference.
About a week and a half later, Brandon came back from Portland. He had graduated high school with a 4.0 and was on a full ride track scholarship to the University of Oregon. He was well off for the next four years of his life, assuming he survived the Titan War.
About two weeks after that, Chiron had called Brandon and I into his apartment at around ten at night. We met up in the courtyard in between the cabins and started walking towards the Big House where Chiron would be waiting for us.
We knocked on the door and Chiron answered. He gestured for us to walk in and we did. Like whenever he called us into his apartment to talk to us about stuff, he offered us a seat and we respectfully refused and stood.
"OK, Chiron. What can we do for you?" asked Brandon.
"Actually, I have a job for you guys. If your looking for it," he replied. "Look, I know Big Luke did not wish to continue operations but the truth is, the camp needs a team that is dedicated to war tasks. I would like you to keep it up."
"I don't know," I replied. "The team isn't quite the same without Big Luke."
"Are we going behind his back or can we tell him?" Brandon asked Chiron.
"I'm going to leave that decision to you guys," answered Chiron.
"You're not seriously considering this. Are you?" I asked Brandon who was looking at the floor.
We were at a serious disadvantage without Big Luke. He had all of the experience and leadership capabilities. Brandon was a great tactician but he lacked the battlefield commanding skills that Big Luke possessed. Not to mention: a third set of hands would, for sure, come in handy.
"Don't tell me you don't want to," he replied. "You and I both know that Big Luke made a mistake by abolishing the Strike Team last summer."
"Alright, fine!" I gave in. "We'll have to break into the underground shop to get our stuff but we should be able to pull this off. What's the job?"
"I need you guys to tie up a loose end. Craig is a son of Ares and an informant for Kronos' army. He had suspected that he was the spy that I was talking about the other day. So, he left to go report back to Kronos. He has a piece of delicate information that I do not want in their hands," Chiron explained. "I need you to eliminate him before he talks."
"What do we do if he has already spilled it to them?" asked Brandon.
"Well, the information that he has will probably compromise your secrecy. They might try to play you and make it look like the monsters that he went to, have taken him prisoner. They will expect you to try and free him. Do so, bring him back and we will expose him as the spy," he explained. "However, if this is the case: expect him to turn on you."
We ended the meeting after getting a location and a picture of the target. We headed out into the woods to the concrete platform, carefully avoiding the group of cabins as not to set anyone off. Brandon pulled on the rope to open the trapdoor and we walked down the stairs. We started to gather our gear together for the operation. We were definitely going to have to borrow KATE for this one.
"Is Jon Luke going to be joining us tonight?" asked KATE, after greeting us casually.
"No, KATE. It's just us tonight," I replied, checking out my M110. "And, uh, we would appreciate it if you didn't tell Big Luke about this."
"Didn't tell Big Luke about what?" I heard Big Luke's voice ask behind me.
I turned around with my best Oh, yeah. About that... grin. "Brandon, help me out here," I whispered.
"Look, Big Luke, it's not what it looks like," started Brandon.
"Oh, don't give me that horseshit. Just because I'm a shine-running-redneck doesn't mean that I'm stupid. Chiron gave you guys a job behind my back," said Big Luke. "What's the job?"
"The case file is on KATE's hood," I answered.
Big Luke walked over and started looking through the manilla folder with all of the paperwork for the op (Yes. Even Camp Half-Blood's elite Strike Team has to do paperwork. We have a filing cabinet with all of our case files and final reports inside). He held the picture up to the light.
"Son of Ares eh?" he asked, probably rhetorically. "This is a bit different than what we're used to."
"Does that mean you're in?" I asked.
"You know, the camp needs a team that's dedicated to war efforts. There is nobody else that Chiron trusts more than the three of us, right here," Brandon put in.
"There is a real good chance that we don't make it out of this war alive. You understand that right? Brandon, does your dad even know that your a part of the Strike Team? Does he know that you got shot last summer? Does he know that you died and we had to restart your heart with a defibrillator?" Big Luke brought up some really good points that I'm sure he had thought of before but he never told us. "David, what do we tell your mom if you got killed? She knows nothing about this war, nothing about the gods or anything."
Brandon always had the perfect comeback, "Well, aren't we going to be sucked into combat anyway? I mean, one way or the other, we are all going to be in that final battle. I don't know about you, but I was never really good with old fashion weaponry."
Big Luke sighed and placed all the paperwork back in the folder. He slapped the folder back down on KATE's hood. He stared at it for a second, then back at us, then back at the folder. He ran his hand through his extremely short hair with his left hand and started fiddling with his 1911 in his holster. He pressed the button and lifted the weapon slightly, then dropped it so the button reengaged.
"OK, fine," he finally said. "You win. Give me a few to run back to my cabin. I gotta get my M16. Maybe the M40, too; considering the objective."
He started walking back up the stairs mumbling "This is fucking insane" to himself several times. Once he was gone, I couldn't hold my excitement.
"Boo-yah! We are getting the band back together!" I exclaimed.
"Calm down, bro. We still need to come up with a plan on how to take out this target," Brandon told me. Leave it up to a spawn of Athena to always want to plan stuff.
Brandon and I continued to pack KATE's trunk and discussed the operation as we waited for Big Luke to get back.