Chapter Title: I May Not Know Who I Am, But I Certainly Did Not Ask For Amnesia
(A/N: This is the first published chapter of the story (here on Wattpad). Odd spot for sure, but then again, it probably would make sense to start off with Colton and then Kayla for the first two chapters since this is a fanfic about them.)
I am honestly so going to punch someone right now. Or maybe a Gorgon in the face. Who knows. Don't know how I remember that the two weird ass creatures behind me and the three other guys - and the old lady on Percy's shoulders - running for our lives right now are called that, and I don't intend on stopping to find out. Not when they are literally expressing their intent to have us for dinner - basically saying that they want to kill us for gods know what reasons they might have.
If you're confused already, let me explain.
My name is Colton Reynolds. For the past week, me and three other guys named Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan and Michael Yew have been trekking south through gods know where after waking up at a gray house without having a clue of what happened prior to now or who we are and being told by a wolf lady - yes a fucking wolf lady, I cannot even make this shit up - to go south. Oh.. and all four of us are apparently demigods too. How or why, I have no clue.
I have no idea who I am, only know my name, but I remember things that I have no idea how I even remember them and the name "Kayla" is stuck in my head. I have no clue who this person even is, but I can't help but blush every time I think of her name for some reason. I really do not know why. Anyways, this morning, the four of us had ran into this old lady who said she needed a lift to some place, and Percy offered to help her out.
Right after she got on his shoulders though, these two Gorgons or whatever these creatures behind us are - Gorgons, you idiot. Gorgons! - attacked us and now here we are, running for our lives through the woods with these two hot on our heels, taunting Percy for things that I don't think he has any memory of, I think.
A shadow flew over us. "Clever boy!" yelled one of the two Gorgons, probably referring to Percy. "Found a goddess to carry, didn't you?"
I was confused. Goddess? What the fuck is she talking about? That old lady on Percy's shoulders was a goddess? Again though, I wasn't going to stop and think about it, not with them still on our tail.
"Head for the tunnel, friends!" called out the old lady on Percy's shoulders, pointing straight ahead.
I gazed through the woods. Across the clearing starting about 150 yards ahead of us and the highway was a maintenance tunnel, that was guarded by two figures that seemed to be wearing some sort of armor. What type it was.. I didn't know and couldn't tell.
"Why there?" Michael burst out. "There are guards there!"
"Oh, they'll let you in, friends.." the old lady responded, even as Percy ducked down to get her out of the way of a swipe by one of the Gorgons. "..you can trust those who have a similar fate as you." I did not like the sound of that statement at all to be honest. But what choice did we have?
I glanced at Luke. "Probably the best choice for survival.. if what she says is true.." he shouted, and I nodded. So it was.. the four of us were all aiming for the tunnel. Hopefully, we could get there alive with the old woman and not die.
We burst out of the woods, running like crazy. The two guards noticed us burst out of the woods and race across the highway like insane maniacs. I ducked out of the way of another Gorgon swipe, just as the old lady cackled and hollered, "Whoops!" and the sounds of another car screeching very fast to a stop could be heard.
The tunnel was now less than fifty yards away, but it seemed now that Percy was slowing a little bit. Not good.
One of the guards yelled. The dude on the left, who had a bow, nocked an arrow and quickly shot it. It nailed the Gorgon right behind me and Michael that was about to take another shot at us, and it wailed in pain. The second guard, the girl on the right, readied her spear, gesturing frantically at us to hurry.
"You don't have to tell us twice.." Michael shouted. "..or me even once!"
We were now bunched up a bit, all aiming for the door.
Sixty feet.
Fifty feet.
Every step felt like an eternity flashing by in an instant.
"Gotcha!" shrieked the another gorgon just before the dude with the bow shot another arrow that whizzed close by as it past by me to the left and judging from the sound of the Gorgon screaming, must have nailed her hard, which was definitely a relief. I thought one of us was going to be a goner when she yelled out "gotcha!" there.
Luke was the first to reach the door, followed shortly by me and Michael, and lastly Percy with the old lady still on his shoulders.
"Thanks.." Percy said to the guards. "Good shot."
"That should have killed her!" shouted the one with the bow, meaning that both of the Gorgons were unfortunately not dead.
"Now you know how I feel.." Percy muttered.
"Frank.." said the girl. "Get them inside, quick! Those are.."
"Gorgons.." I finished for her, and she looked at me surprised. "..I don't know how I know that, but I do somehow."
"Gorgons?" squeaked the voice of the archer. I wasn't really paying attention to either of the two guards, but the one on the left looked like a high school quarterback or something. "Will the doors hold them?"
The old lady simply cackled in response. "No, no it won't.." she said simply. "Onward, Percy Jackson! And you too lads! Through the tunnel to the river!"
"Percy Jackson?" asked the female guard.
"We're demigods.." Luke muttered.
"I can see that, but who's..?" she asked, glancing at June, before shrugging her head. "Never mind. Just get inside. I'll hold them off!"
"Hazel.." the boy said. "Don't be crazy!"
"Frank, just go!" she shouted, just as a couple of shrieks behind us indicated the two Gorgons were coming on again.
"You heard the lady!" shouted Michael. "FUCKING GO!"
Frank simply just cursed in another language that sounded like Latin or something - again, I do not know how I know that - and opened the door. "Come on!" he shouted, and the four of us with the old lady in tow, didn't waste any time in starting to burn rubber once more.
The tunnel was.. to put it bluntly, a weird one. Cut through solid rock, about the width and height of a school hallway, at first it looked like a typical maintenance tunnel, with all the electrical cables, warning signs, and fuse boxes and breakers on the walls that you would expect to see in one, with lightbulbs in wire cages along the ceiling. As we burned more rubber, it suddenly changed entirely. We were still moving through the tunnel, but now, the cement floor changed to tiled mosaic. The lightbulbs were now replaced by reed torches, which burned but didn't smoke.
"I SEE THE END!" called out Luke, and up ahead of us, I could see a glimmer of sunlight. Just then, we heard the sound of the Gorgons in the tunnel, and a chill ran down my spine. There were shouts from Hazel, and then the entire tunnel shook with a rumble of falling stone. A squawking sound filled the air, just like the Gorgons made when Percy dropped a crate of bowling balls (A/N: I can't make this up) on them in Napa.
"Shouldn't we check on Hazel?" Percy asked Frank. I didn't bother to spare a glance at where we had come from.
"She'll be okay - I hope.." Frank said, which didn't sit well with me at all. "She's good underground. Just keep moving! We're almost there!"
"Almost where?" Percy asked.
Michael groaned in frustration. "Where do you think, bozo?" he said in an annoyed manner. "Somewhere that can give us help!"
The old lady chuckled. "He has a point, dear. All roads do lead to Rome, child. You should know that."
"Rome?" Luke asked, confused. "This is the USA, not Italy."
The old lady didn't respond, and we kept running. The glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter and brighter and finally, we burst into sunlight. Just after I made it out of the tunnel, before I could take a look at my surroundings, I caught a glint of something in the ground.
I saw the glittering steel of what felt like a very familiar - somehow - gun barrel laying off to the side when we booked it out of the tunnel. Without hesitation, I reached down and grabbed it, and this thing alongside it. It looked like a Whitworth rifle from the days of the American Civil War, and it looked like it was still in good condition.
"Camp Jupiter.." Frank said. "We'll be safe -.."
I was about to take a look at what was in front of us, when footsteps echoed in the tunnel behind us. A few moments later, Hazel burst into the light. She was covered with stone dust and breathing hard, taking big, deep breaths. She lost her helmet, so now I noticed she had curly brown hair that fell around her shoulders. Her armor had long slash marks on the front side from the claws of the Gorgons. Apparently, one of the two monsters had somehow managed to tag with a 50% off sticker.
A little bit amusing, I will admit.
"I slowed them down.." she said, after catching her breath. "But they'll be here any second."
Frank cursed in Latin again. "We have to get across the river."
I looked at what I had picked up - the rifle - and what I had slung over my shoulder - it was a cartridge box. Something clicked inside my head, I don't know what.
And at that moment, before the old lady spoke, muscle memory - I don't know how I even knew this - just kicked in. I took a cartridge out from the box, bit the end off, and started loading as rapidly as possible. "GO!" I shouted, a grim and firm determination filling me like none I had felt before.
"COLTON, are you insane?!" Michael asked, concerned.
"I'll deal with both of them! JUST GO!" I shouted, ramming the round firmly down with the ramrod. I could hear screeches coming from the tunnel and rushes of air. The Gorgons were coming and fast.
Michael, Percy, Luke, Hazel, and Frank took the hint and started off again, and I quickly fitted a percussion cap to the nipple of the lock of the gun after returning the ramrod. Cocking the hammer back all the way, I took about fifteen steps back.
I leveled the rifle straight at the exit of the tunnel, just about both Gorgons flew out of it, one behind the other. Perfect.
Without a moment of hesitation, I pulled the trigger.
BLAM!
The bullet flew out of the end of the gun into the heads of the two Gorgons, the front one staring on in horror when I fired. The bullet pierced the forehead of the first one, passed through the brain, exited the first one and then went through the middle of the forehead of the second Gorgon, through her brain, and out the back of the other one's head.
Both of them fell to the ground, and then after a while, simply vanished into a glittering of gold dust. I had killed both Gorgons with a single shot. I don't know where I had learned how to do that, but honestly, I really wanted to know how. Finally, I took a look back to gaze upon what lay before me.
It definitely took me by surprise.
The geography of what lay before me could have been anywhere in Northern California - with live oak and eucalyptus trees, golf hills and blue skies. Before me lay a bowl shaped valley fitted with these features, and which was several miles wide. The floor of the valley - or basin, whatever you wanted to call it - flowed with smaller hills, golden plains, and a couple stretches of forest. A small clear river added more to the scenery cut a winding course from a lake in the center of the valley and around the perimeter like a capital G. A big inland mountain - I believe it is Mount Diablo, I'm not sure - rose in the distance, right where it should be.
That wasn't all that was there, however. What else was there felt so familiar, yet so very different at the same time.
About two hundred yards away, across the river, was some sort of encampment.. definitely military related. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides like a fort, the tops lined with sharpened spikes and abatis. Outside the ramparts ran a dirt moat, that was also studded with spikes at the bottom of it. Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized mounted crossbows - and all of them were staring straight at me. Purple banners hung from the towers.
There seemed to be more off to the right of it, but my attention was distracted from it from what was coming up toward me.
A girl in armor.
What seemed like an about sixteen year old girl, with piercing black eyes, glossy black hair worn in a single braid, brown skin, and with a regal and gorgeously beautiful appearance of what was probably Puerto Rican descent - in armor - was coming up towards me. I placed the musket in the shoulder arms position - once again, I don't know how I know that or even how I did that - and just stood there, silent. She had a very surprised look on her face.
"H..How.. in.. the world did you bring down two Gorgons with a single bullet?" she asked, sputtering a bit. "..bullets aren't enough to kill monsters!"
I feel like I knew why this had happened, but since most of my memory was gone, the answer eluded me.
"Most of my memory, like my companions Percy, Michael, and Luke.. is gone.." I told her honestly. "..so I don't exactly know why, but I did kill them with a single bullet."
Her shock wore off and she just smirked a little. "Well.." she said, rather coldly as she examined me warily with a cold, hard gaze that could make the bones in your body go stiff. "..aren't you.. interesting. You're Colton then, aren't you?"
I nodded. "Colton Reynolds indeed.." I replied. "..at your service."
"I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion. Welcome to Camp Jupiter, home for Roman demigods."
Now it was my turn to be in shock.
Wait a minute there.. Roman demigods? What in the absolute fuck is this?