Chapter Title: I Turn Into A Monster Myself

((Series Related Note: If you see something like "(** _ **)" at a certain point in some of these chapters coming up and in other fanfics I'm doing, it's a sign that I have some music from another fandom that I think fits really, really well with what is happening in the chapter it is placed in. Highly recommend you read that part of the chapter with said music playing if you see one of those in the chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Back to the chapter-scheduled content below.))

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We ran through the woods and the rain, the sound of what sounded like a car slamming into the asphalt on a nearby road as if it had been thrown by something making us pick up the pace further. There was also the sounds of sparks flying off and skidding as the object moved along the road behind us for a while before it stopped, which was then followed by the sound of an explosion, which made me jump in fright.

"That doesn't sound very good at all.. I pray to god that it isn't.. him.." Dawson said nervously as we continued running through the woods. Judging from the way he said that last word, I had a bad feeling as to what was out there right now. I hoped I didn't have to find out exactly what he meant.

Lightning continued to flash, and thunder continued to rumble as the rain kept falling, illuminating the landscape ahead of us from time to time. After some time, one flash of lightning gave us a quick appearance of the clear slope of a hill ahead of us.

"Finally!" Dawson shouted, even as the same flash revealed to me three figures running up said slope. "We're almost there! Keep it going, kid!"

We kept going and had only just cleared the treeline into the clearing when we heard another monstrous roar to our right, and the sound of feet stomping up the hill. Dawson's face morphed into one of pure horror. "UP THE HILL KID, NOW!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "RUN!"

Like before, I didn't stop to ask him anything about it. We took off, up the wet and slippery slope of the hill, following after the three figures I had seen earlier, who through squinting, I could just make them out at the crest of the hill, by this large pine tree.

Another roar sound behind us, and I turned around to look at what was behind us, just as another flash of lightning lit up the area. I found myself staring at the same bull head creature that along with the cyclopes, had attacked me and Dawson earlier. I had only seen its head through the trees back then, but now in this brief flash of light, I could see him fully and my god, was it fucking terrifying as hell.

This dude was about seven feet tall, coated in fur, wearing nothing except Fruit Of The Loom underwear for some reason. I think I now understood exactly why Dawson was so terrified of this guy now. Because when I saw him, since my 5th Grade teacher had taught us some Greek Mythology, I had a pretty good idea of exactly what was stomping up the hill behind us.

It was the Minotaur.

This made it a pretty shitty week for me honestly.. this whole trip just to get to Camp Half Blood, wherever it was.. probably pretty close to where we were now from what Dawson had said. First, my parents get killed by a Lydian Drakon.. and now, on the slopes of a hill over a thousand miles away from home in Long Island, I come face to face with the damn Minotaur himself. What a load of horse dung this hand life has dealt me with this week is right now. There were no other words to even describe this rotten luck.

We were running, but the Minotaur was faster.

"Duck, kid!" Dawson yelled, pushing me out of the way as the Minotaur took a swipe at both of us from behind. I fell to the ground, getting covered in mud a little bit as I rolled a few feet.

Yuck.

This was disgusting. Really disgusting.

The Minotaur barrelled past us, going straight for one of the figures I saw running up the hill. Another flash of lightning revealed a lot about this one. He was about my age, maybe slightly older. He had disheveled, curly blonde hair that swept to one side almost as if this kid had gone to the beach, as well as sea-green eyes. If I didn't know any better, I would have definitely mistook this one for a young version of Poseidon.

The kid jumped sideways out of the way, and the Minotaur bellowed with frustration and turned, towards the other goat man and a figure who possibly was the kid's mother. This was not good. Not at all.

I looked at Dawson, who was nearby on the ground. "I take it that's the guy you were worried about?" I shouted over to him. He just gave a grim nod as both of us got back up on our feet.

"No wonder.." I muttered, as the Minotaur grunted and kept pawing the ground, eyeing the other satyr and the other figure.

Dawson put a hand on my shoulder. "I'll take a chance on you, kid. I'll go get help. You just make sure Grover, the kid, and probably his mother stay alive." He didn't give me a chance to protest as he just ran off.

Great. Now I am stuck trying to make sure three other people don't die from a 7 foot beast that could turn me into mincemeat easily before I can even get into the safe zone.

Just fucking great.

Oh well.. might as well make my entry a memorable one, given that this kid is already having one too.

It was a tall order though, given that you know, I have nothing to use as a weapon other than my own fists, but hey.. you gotta do what you gotta do. You know?

Anyways, moving on.

The other satyr brought this instrument up to his lips and began to play music, which seemingly caused plants to grow up out of the ground and wrap around the monster, trying to tangle and trap it. At first it worked, but then with a mighty roar, the Minotaur broke free of them as if they were just paper in a paper shredder and charged both of them.

Shit.

"Run!" she cried out to the other satyr. "I can't go any farther!"

(** Colton Rage Theme starts here from 3:56 in Vogel im Kafig **)

The other satyr did as he was told or tried to as he started to but then realized that the Minotaur was going after the other person so he tried to block it only to get swatted aside as if he was a mere fly, and I could only watch in horror - and hear some other people's screams, which meant that Dawson had clearly succeeded in getting help, only to watch me fail at my task right now - as the kid's mother tried to sidestep out of the way, only for the Minotaur to grab her by the neck. The other satyr, Grover, went flying into a tree and was knocked out cold, not getting up as the Minotaur lifted the kid's mother off of the ground, the woman struggling, kicking, and pummeling it in a desperate, yet futile attempt to get free.

I could hear the kid running over, screaming "No!" but the Minotaur didn't hear him. He simply knocked the kid aside flat on his back with his other arm, causing the other kid to be knocked out too and for his mother to scream "Percy!" before the Minotaur closed his fist around Percy's mother's neck, causing her to simply vanish into thin air, dissolving into a shimmering golden light, as if she was just a holographic projection.

Now, I knew this wasn't Star Wars or anything, but let me tell you, seeing that was weird.

The next moment after that, however, I was seeing red - like literally, my entire field of vision was now colored red, everything was red. Don't know how, don't know why, but I didn't really want to know, because that whole scene just pissed me. The. Fuck. Off.

That kid was probably now basically like me, an orphan or worst, stuck with a bad parent because of this shit when they went home if they had to go to school. He didn't fucking deserve this at all, just like I didn't deserve to have to witness both of my parents being killed by a drakon.

"The hell is he doing?" someone shouted behind and to my left as I now charged at the Minotaur, fist clenched and wound back, rage and fury boiling through my system like crazy. I felt like I was someone a million times more powerful than I currently was at that moment, like some sort of King. Like some sort of hidden monster inside me was now emerging. Like I was a Monster King.

The beast wasn't looking in my direction, even though I was in its field of view. He was staring straight at the knocked out kid, clearly winding up for another charge. Before he could do so however, with a howling roar at the top of my lungs, I socked the Minotaur with a right hook in the jaw, somehow so hard even for my size that the beast lost his balance, spun around, and landed flat on its back, the wind clearly knocked out of it.

But I wasn't done.

No, not by a long shot. I got on top of it, using my legs to pin his arms to the ground and just started repeatedly punching its head left and right. I lose track of how many blows I landed, as I screamed in rage and took it out on the monster.

Finally, with an incredible amount of force, I tore off one of its horns using only my bare hand, and sliding back a little, stabbed it in the lung. The beast roared and hollered in pain, now too weak to even to try to get up because of all the blows - possibly over 100 - that I had landed to its face. But I still wasn't done, so I stabbed it again, and again.. and again.. possibly as much up to 60 times all over its stomach, legs, and arms. Pure overkill.

Blood flew everywhere, and I probably was now covered in monster blood, no doubt.

Yet that still didn't kill him. So just as I was about to stab him again, raising the horn up in the air, someone took me out of my hand. I was flabbergasted to see the kid who had gotten knocked out earlier in a fit of rage land the final blow as he came out from nowhere to my right and stabbed the horn directly into the Minotaur's neck, finally killing it.

The Minotaur let out one, final weak gasp before it disappeared, transforming into nothing but golden dust and leaving behind only the horn I had torn off and that the kid had used to finish him off, letting me plop down to the muddy ground as I temporarily felt nothing but air. My vision now returned to normal, and I for a moment wondered what the fuck had taken over me.

(** Music ends here **)

I turned to look at the kid. He was crying, as if he only now realized what had happened to his mother. He went over to Grover, picked him up - man was that kid strong - and started to haul him up the hill. He hadn't gone about 20 yards or so before he then collapsed, apparently passing out. I ran up the hill towards him, slipping and sliding in the muddy earth.

I looked to my left. Other than Dawson, who also ran over towards me, on the crest of the hill, there was nobody there now, which was weird. I had heard the screams earlier.

Dawson looked at me as if I was another person. "Gross, kid. You got blood all over yourself.." he told me. I took a look down at myself.

My suspicions were confirmed.

"So.." I told him as thunder and rain echoed and fell all around. "..this place we're going got some spare clothes and possibly a shower?"

Dawson nodded. "Well.. I'll carry the kid, you can carry Grover.." I told him, but he grabbed my bloody shirt and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Kid.. what the hell came over you out there? You just turned into a monster out of nowhere.." he said, obviously concerned over my display of brutality that I had unleashed upon the poor Minotaur. I simply shrugged my shoulders.

"To be honest Dawson.." I replied. "..I have no clue what even came over me."

And believe me, I honest to gods' rights didn't have a damn clue about why the hell I suddenly starting seeing red and became full of violent, brutal rage over the death of the mother of a kid I didn't even know. It was so confusing.

But with the Minotaur dead now, as I picked up the kid and Dawson picked up Grover, and both of us walked up and over the crest of the hill, I at least could feel after passing by the large tree at the crest, that I was now safe.

Finally.

Finally, I could get answers.