Brandon

We saw the enemy coast by as we hid in the alleyways. Talk about stressful. One glance to the left or the right and we would get spotted.

Thankfully, the didn't notice us and we were able to look down the street where Big Luke and KATE were surrounded. We pretty much had two choices: compromise the ambush and open fire on the hoard in front of us or wait and let Big Luke get out of the situation by himself.

"Hawkeye to Red 5: I hate to say that you're caught, but you're caught," I heard David's message over the comms.

"Negative. I got this," Big Luke replied. I could imagine a big toothy grin on his face as he said it.

All of a sudden, the Charger started spinning in circles, tire smoke creating a screen around the car. I had seen tire smoke before and it was nowhere this thick. "Flirtin' with Disaster" was still screeching through the car's speakers. Big Luke must have been using KATE's smoke screen function in combination with the tire smoke. Just as soon as it had started, The tire-squealing came to a halt yet the smoke still lingered.

Big Luke and KATE were nowhere in sight. It was hard enough seeing over the soldiers who had their weapons drawn down on the massive black cloud in front of them. KATE's engine was revved several times, progressively getting louder until it hit top-end and the headlights turned on. The lights were so bright that they blinded us a good block and a half away.

We heard more tire screeching and watched as the Charger punched through the smoke and into the air. KATE has the ability to jump into the air without a ramp. I'm not sure how Big Luke got it to work, but it almost always put a smile on his face. Big Luke and KATE soared through the air for about a block before the car finally met the Earth again. Sure enough, the kid-at-heart Marine was grinning from ear to ear.

He yanked the parking break and spun the car back around to face the mass army behind him, letting the car coast back to between David and I. We waited to spring our trap until the advancing forces got a little too close for comfort. Then David and I shouldered our rifles and popped around the corner. KATE's headlight covers flipped down only to flip back up. Twenty-four barrels stuck out of the four holes and started to spin up. Those Vulcan miniguns were the ultimate force multiplier. Unlike last summer when I was high off my ass on pain killers, they didn't look like fire hoses spewing lead.

Muscle-memory kicked in when the bolt locked back on my 416. I caught the mag in my left hand and discarded it in my dump pouch on the back of my plate carrier. I nabbed another mag as I brought my arm back around and slotted it into the magwell. I had a BAD lever attached to my 416's bolt catch, so I pushed on that through the trigger guard to send the bolt home. I put my reticle back on the mass of bodies, monsters and modes of transportation down the street and yanked the trigger to the rear of the weapon.

David was laying prone with the M240 up against the corner of a building. He was letting loose with that as well. Big Luke had the driver side door opened to ninety degrees and his M16 resting on top of the door, as if it was really needed. If "Flirtin' with Disaster" was still playing, it couldn't be heard over the four buzz saws under the hood.

I had figured that the enemy had started to retreat because of the casualties they were taking, but I was wrong.

We heard the draken before we saw it. It bumped into a building as it weaved through Manhattan, flying silently over the pavement below. The flying school-bus with teeth rounded the corner a few blocks ahead of us. Big Luke's smile was gone now.

"We gotta roll! Let's go! Let's go!" he yelled.

I didn't argue. I started a sprint for the Charger. It wasn't necessarily the right time or place to do it, but I leaped and slid across KATE's hood anyways. KATE popped her doors on the passenger side and flipped the front seat.

"Oh you're cool," David told me sarcastically as he climbed in the back seat.

"Hehe," I chuckled as the front seat flipped back into position.

KATE never turned off the engine so once Big Luke had his door closed, he crammed the shifter into reverse. The dashboard was pulling me into it against the seat belt as the monster was just feet from the Charger's grill. Big Luke used the rear view mirrors to drive as he weaved the car from side to side.

"You know, he's not too bad from in here," he said before pulling the emergency brake and pulling a perfect Rockford turnaround.

I never did like Big Luke's erratic driving style. It always made me car sick. I started to feel my stomach crawl up into my throat as Big Luke slid the Charger around a another corner. "KATE, I'm gonna need a barf bag."

The glove box dropped open with one of those blue, tubular bags that they give people at hospitals, sitting on the back side of the lid. It had measurement marks and a plastic ring in the open end.

Big Luke got on Fifth Avenue and gunned the throttle for the Empire State Building. I couldn't really tell but I think he grabbed seventh gear as the speedometer crept up passed 225 mph. Going straight, my stomach started to settle down but I didn't dare turn my head around to see where the draken was.

We overshot the Empire State Building where a bunch of ally demigods were setting up defenses. Big Luke locked up all four wheels and spun the car around. Then we started to drive the one block back to the defense line. Big Luke broadsided the Charger in front the space between a concrete barricade and semi-crushed Toyota Camry. He threw the transmission in Reverse again and backed up to seal the gap.

"KATE, reload the M61's. We might need them but I don't want to give anything away that we don't have to. The enemy already knows but the other campers don't," Big Luke instructed the car.

"Yes, Jon Luke," KATE replied in her monotone voice.

We got out of the car again only to notice that Percy was walking towards us. Non-surprisingly, he didn't look happy to see us, however, he didn't look angry at us. He looked to be almost nervous or scared. We knew it wasn't the case, but he looked cowardly since he wasn't bleeding from anywhere. Just a scratch or two would have put my nerves at ease.

"Listen, I need you three to help keep monsters out of the building. We can't let them get to Olympus. Annabeth and I are going to find a way to kill the draken," he told us.

"Roger that," Big Luke replied.

"OK, god luck," Percy said before turning around to go meet up with Annabeth.

We took up defensive positions. I took cover behind the concrete barrier, I figured it would be more bulletproof than the crunched Camry. I rested my rifle on the top as I knelt down behind it. Big Luke and David took cover behind other pieces of cover. KATE had the trunk open so we could access all our spare ammunition. It was going to be a long fight.

I had never seen so much war. Chaos only controlled by the ludicrous. Bodies were being tossed around like empty burger wrappers. Blood was spilled and brains were scattered. Lives were taken away, monster and demigod. It was all I could do without passing out from the slash in my right thigh. Our ammunition-surplus was quickly turning into a shortage.

Big Luke was wearing himself to death constantly watching Brittany's back who had taken cover with him. David was trying to keep up with his M110. He had already expelled all the ammunition for his MP7. His sprained ankle wasn't going to get him over to KATE to swap out for something more fitting for the situation.

A dracaenae broke my perimeter. She came in on my right while I was engaging a target at my ten o' clock. She yelled as she raised her sword. I had just enough time to turn with my rifle only to feel the trigger hit the back of the trigger guard. No bang.

Her sword arm came down and I was forced to drop my rifle. The sling caught it as I caught her wrist. I fell over backwards on purpose with my foot on her armor. The expression of shock on her face told me that I had surprised her. The dracaenae landed with a thud above my head and I rolled over to my stomach as I drew my M9 from my hip. I was just about to get stuck by her sword when I dropped the safety and put two rounds in her face.

Since I was on the ground, the enemy was about to charge into my field of fire. I rolled back over to my back to shoot at the hellhound that was about to maul me like a lion. More enemy forces started to encircle me.

I was starting to think that this was the end. I would die on my back fending off monsters, down to my sidearm.

Thank the gods, I had friends that loved me.

.45 caliber holes spontaneously appeared over the enemy's armor and they started dropping like joint butts when the cops show up. I didn't even have to turn my head to say thanks to Big Luke. I had to get back to feet to continue shooting at the enemy. "Thanks" can wait.

The fight continued to rage on. We had to cover Percy and Annabeth as they went back up to Olympus as we continued to defend the front doors of the Empire State Building. We literally fought to the point of total exhaustion. Even with the help of the Hunters of Artemis and the Party Ponies, we were heavily out manned. Even KATE had ran out of ammunition in the M61's. Plus, they rolled her over on her roof, which really pissed Big Luke off and he charged the group of giants who promptly knocked him unconscious.

We had an unconscious Marine, a track-star who had damn near ran his last four-by-one-hundred, and a sniper who couldn't walk right. And one six-foot blond that was... gone. Shit!

Author's Note:I fully expect this book to be longer than the other two. At Least three, maybe four more chapters. Plus the epilogue.