The car came to a stop as Ale pulled into the parking lot outside a restaurant. It was still snowy and dark outside. The clock on the dashboard read 7:45. Rorik drowsily opened his eyes and looked around. Erin was still fast asleep with her head buried in Rorik's chest. Ale put the car in park and turned to face the two from the driver's seat.
"Hey, Rorik. Get up. We're at a restaurant in Indianapolis. We should probably get dinner. Wake up Tu Amor and we'll head in."
Rorik nodded in confirmation after glaring at him. He gave Erin a light shake. "Erin, wake up. We're going to get dinner."
She rolled over and moaned. "Why ?" She clearly was going to get up anytime time soon.
Ale opened the side door by Erin's feet. "Erin, open your eyes." Erin opened her eyes and realized the position she was in. She sprung up and was out of the car, frantically apologizing
to Rorik. Rorik just waved his hand, signaling her that it was fine. She walked over to Ale and gave him a punch in the gut causing him to double over as she stormed inside.
"And that is why you should have let me wake her up." Rorik said smugly to Ale who was still clutching his stomach.
The restaurant was a quaint, brick building that resembled a pub. A large fireplace built into the wall kept the building warm. They sat down and gave the waitress their orders. Erin pulled a map of the US out of her bag and spread it on the table.
"So, anyone have a plan ?" Asked Erin. Ale nodded at Rorik.
"Yeah, Ale . As of now we are here" Rorik pointed at Indianapolis on the map." And Linkin , or whoever we are supposed to be rescuing, is probably here, at the Anti-Demigod branch of the military's HQ in the Wind River Range in Northwest Wyoming (Google a map of Wyoming, it will help make sense of that). So the only thing that we can do at this point is make our way there. Ale, didn't you say something about Chicago ?"
"Yeah, I'm friends with some other DGs up there. They'll be able to help us."
"Okay, go to Chicago then just book it to Wyoming ?" Confirmed Rorik. The other two nodded in agreement. Erin rolled up the map and dropped it into her bottomless bag. The waitress came back and dropped of their food.
"Rorik" She said, her demeanor turned darker. "You should tell Ale what you told me."
Rorik took a deep breath, as to prepare himself for what he was about so say."Alright. When you were hot wiring the car the Sergeant called me a nord. At first I didn't think about it but then I realized that there is no way he could know I'm a nord. There's only one way he could know. There has to be a spy at camp."
"What !? No, no, no. Th-that's impossible. Why would anyone do that ?" Alejandro was shocked to say the least. But then again, suddenly learning that someone who you considered family had betrayed you is never easy. "There's got to be another explanation. Like, uh, did you tell anyone you were a nordic demigod one your way to camp ?"
"No. I didn't even know that I was nordic until a while after I got to camp." For a moment, the look on Rorik's looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Erin placed her hand on his arm. "Rorik, are you okay ?"
"Yeah… Yeah. Just thought of something but there's no way it's possible." The look on his face passed and he was back to planning. "Let's focus on the task at hand. And let's be honest. We're definitely gonna have at least a few more run-ins with the military. We need to be able to defend ourselves, our greek weapons won't do anything to them. Hades, they probably won't even see them. I say that after this we go check out a gun store. I saw one a couple of blocks back."
The other two looked sullen. The idea of killing was nothing new to them, but killing a human certainly was. As was handling a gun. Swords came second nature to demigods but firearms obviously hadn't been around in ancient times.
"Do you really believe we need guns ?" Asked Erin.
Rorik looked her straight in the eye and replied. "Yes. I know it's difficult, but we would be doing it in self defence. And the people in the military who come after us signed up specifically to kill us. They aren't the regular military. These 'soldiers' are people who simply hate us and want us dead."
"Alright then. I trust you."
"As do I amigo."
They paid the check for the food and headed back to the car. Ale drove them to the gun store that Rorik had spotted before hand. Across the street was a massive construction site, presumably a new skyscraper considering that they were in the heart of the city. As Ale pulled to a stop outside the store Rorik could have sworn he saw a person duck down behind a stack of steel girders high on the frame of the construction site.
Ale parked out front and they withdrew $2,500 from the Camp Half-Blood account. The gods had granted the Camp a bank account with an infinite amount of money so that it could fund quests.
The gun store was called 'Barrels O' Guns'. They dispersed after stepping inside to go look at different pistols, all in agreement that anything else would draw too much attention and would be unnecessarily large.
Rorik found himself staring at a silver pistol that had wood on the sides of the handle. The clerk walked over and smiled at him. He looked around 30 and had long, for a guy, dirty blond hair that was slicked back.
"Nice taste there. I hope you know that I can't sell that to you though, right ?"
"Yeah I know. Just lookin'."
"Well then you might as well know what you're looking at. That there is the Desert Eagle 1911. It packs quite punch." The clerk glanced around the store. "Now I know that I can't sell it to you, but there's nothing that says I can't let you shoot it. There's a firing range in the back. You want to take a couple of shots ?"
"Really ? Yeah, sure. Thanks. Would you mind if two of my friends tried as well ?"
"Eh, why not."
The trio followed the clerk into the back of the store into a large open area that was divided into 4 different lanes. The clerk picked a pistol off of a table that looked identical to the one that Rorik had been looking at and handed him it as well as some ear protection. He showed them all how to load their guns, how to hold them, and how to adjust the targets they were shooting at using the consoles. Each of them took a lane including to clerk who stepped up with a massive looking revolver with a scope on it.
Erin and Alejandro swapped between a couple a guns while Rorik kept to the Desert Eagle, firing round after round, always hitting hitting his target. Eventually he started shooting with one hand the recoil seeming non existent when it should have have bruised his hand. The clerk, Erin, and Ale set down their guns and started watched.
A memory flashed before Rorik's eyes. It was the night that he had been shot in the ear, the night he lost his mother. The soldier shined light in his face. Rorik kicked him in the groin and grabbed the man's sidearm and unloaded it into his chest. Venting all the rage and fear and sadness he had bottled up inside him.
Rorik was firing angrily now, a scowl on his face as he burned through bullet after bullet. He was remembering hearing his mother die, being chased for months on end, no one ever caring to help him ! He slammed the gun down on the table and sat on the floor. He buried his face in his arms, trying to restraining tears. Erin took a seat next to him and put her arm around his back, gently rubbing it.
The clerk looked as if he expected this. "You're all demigods, aren't you ? I've only ever seen that much pain in a DG before." The three all looked up shocked at him. Ale grabbed a gun from the table and pointed it at the man's head. The clerk seemed unphased. "Relax. I'm Tommy, son of Mars." Ale lowered the gun. "You three are the first DGs I've seen in a long time since the military started hunting us down. You greek or roman ?"
Ale was the first to introduce himself "Hola, my name is Alejandro Samuel Munjos Santiago David André Rodrigo Leonardo, son of Hephaestus."
"I'm Erin, daughter of Apollo."
Rorik looked up seemingly composed, "I'm Rorik son of -" before Rorik could finish the door broke down and five men in military uniforms ran in.
"All of you, down on the ground ! You are under arrest for crimes against humanity and for harboring illegal Demigods." The men cuffed all of their hand's behind their backs and forced the four of them to their knees. Each soldier had a shot lined up on one of them except for the fifth. The fifth man walked to the front of the group.
"Why hello there freaks." It was Sergeant Johunas. "Nice to be seeing you around here. Now what would bring a freak like you to a place like this ? I guess that's beside the point though. Command has given me the full right to execute you upon your apprehension. Any last words ?"
Rorik looked the Sergeant in the eye. "Yeah. Fuck. You." The nord spat in the officers face.
Sergeant Johunas growled as he wiped the spit of his face and looked right back at Rorik. "Men ! Fire on my mark. Ten !" The door opened slightly. "Nine !" A person slipped inside. "Eight !" He silently snapped the neck of the first soldier and laid the body quietly on the ground. "Seven !" Next he killed the second soldier the same way. "Six !" He produced a small knife from his sleeve and slit the throat of the third. "Five !" He stabbed the fourth soldier in the back, shredding his heart. The soldier emitted a slight gasp as his life left him. The Sergeant turned around and gasped at the sight before him. He quickly drew his Desert Eagle but the assassin rolled to the side and a bullet broke through the window in the front of the store, passed through the doorway into the back and hit it's mark in the dead center of the Sergeant's head. He crumpled to the ground.
"W-who are you ?" Asked Tommy but the man didn't reply. He muttered a prayed then answered.
"I am Nathe Rioks, and my partner is Nonsi"
Hey guys. Ok, did any of you catch the Mass Effect reference and Swords Art Online reference ? Hint, look at their names and what they did. So yeah, I know that it's two days late but I was emotionally burnt out after watching The Walking Dead and this chapter is 1 ¾ times longer than my normal chapter. So yeah. Cool. If any of you have any ideas for the story I'll gladly take them. See you next week.