Seek and destroy (7)

When they reached the small campfire, Thalia saw the two teenagers comforting each other. The boy was gently massaging the girl's back as he spoke soothing words to her, while she sobbed softly with her face hidden in her hands.

She watched the scene unfold between them. It was, in a way, touching for her to see two people supporting each other.

Percy watched the teenagers and then looked at the girls with an accusing look.

"What did you do?" he asked questioningly.

"We didn't do anything," said Sammy, offended by the accusation.

Annabeth nodded.

"We were just talking. They told us about... her brother."

"Brother?" asked Thalia, curious.

The girl stopped sobbing and looked up, her eyes red with tears.

"That's the reason why we're here," she said, softly, "Our brother disappeared three days ago."

"When you say "our brother" you mean...?"

"Oh... We haven't met yet... My name is Jessica, and this is my younger brother, Alan. We came here to look for our older brother, Tommy."

"What's your brother doing in these woods," Luke asked.

Jessica took a deep breath to calm her sobs, before retelling the story she had previously told the two girls.

"A week ago, he and his friends decided to come camping so they could `connect with nature´. I told him it was a stupid idea, but he wouldn't listen. They came, and decided to stay for a week. Every day, Tommy would send us messages about the things he was doing. Pictures and videos of the animals he was finding, rabbits, deer, even a bear. But, one day, we stopped receiving messages. No photos, no videos, nothing. That was three days ago, and we haven't heard from him since."

Jessica put her hands to her face to stifle her sobs. Her brother, Alan, gently rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her. She looked at the small group of young people who had listened in silence. Her eyes looked tired and very worried.

"When we didn't receive any news of Tommy, we decided to come and look for him," Alan continued in place of his sister, "We asked Roy for help, he is a hunter who knows these woods very well. We've been looking all day, but we haven't found my brother."

"You didn't find any clues to his whereabouts," Luke asked, "I mean, Roy is a hunter. He should be able to track him to some extent."

"He did. We were able to find the camp where Tommy and his friends were camped, but... we didn't find anyone. The place was a mess. The tents were torn up and full of scratches. Their things were scattered all over the place. It looked like they had been attacked by a wild bear."

'Or maybe...' thought Thalia.

She looked at Percy and Luke and realized they were both thinking the same things. Percy shook his head, implying that it wouldn't be the best thing to say at that moment.

"HELP!"

They all gasped at the scream that echoed through the forest. They began to turn and look around for where the sound was coming from, but it was hard to see in the darkness of the forest.

"What was it?"

"PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

This time, the scream was heard even closer. Roy stepped out of the tent, rifle in hand, and began to search the surrounding area. He looked at the group gathered around the fire and saw how confused and disoriented they were.

"AUXILIUM!"

Roy quickly tightened his grip on his weapon and ran in the direction of the shout, but before leaving the clearing where they were, he turned and spoke urgently:

"Stay here! I'll be right back."

"Roy, wait! It's too dangerous!" shouted Luke, but he was ignored, "Damn it! Stupid mortals-he turned and looked at his group-I'll go with him. This place is not safe. You guys stay here."

He went running in Roy's direction, but Thalia's scream stopped him.

"Luke! Take this!"

She threw her spray can and Luke caught it. He glanced at the camouflaged spear and smiled gratefully at Thalia.

Without pausing, he moved quickly forward, through the bushes and into the density of the forest. It was difficult to advance when your vision was limited by the darkness, but Luke managed to walk carefully. Perhaps it was an advantage for being the son of the god of thieves and travelers. His footsteps made almost no noise and he never stumbled once as he ran over the uneven terrain.

For a few minutes he heard and saw nothing. The forest was uncomfortably quiet, that only caused a sense of dread to grow more and more, causing his hands to tremble around the released spear. He felt someone watching him. He felt their gaze on his neck and, perhaps it was because of the fear, he could have sworn he heard and a respiration only inches from his ear.

Ignoring the fervent desire to flee in terror, Luke kept moving forward. Several meters ahead, he could visualize Roy, who was leaning with his back against a tree, his rifle clutched tightly to his body. When he was close enough for him to catch his presence, he raised his hands in a sign of peace. He didn't want to be shot in error.

"What the hell are you doing here, kid," Roy asked in a low whisper.

"It's dangerous out here alone," said Luke.

"I've got a gun, boy. It gives me more security than you."

Luke wanted to tell him two things. The first was to stick that gun where the sun don't shine. And, second, that a weapon made by mortals wouldn't help if they were up against what he thought they were up against, but before he spoke, Roy leaned out of the tree and pointed his gun beyond the bushes.

"Did you see anything?" asked Luke.

"There's something over there, hiding in the bushes, but it's too big. I can see its fur peeking out."

"A grizzly?"

"Most likely. If it's around here, it's a danger to campers."

Luke looked at Roy, surprised at what his words implied. It was then that he remembered that, whoever was beside him at the moment, was a hunter.

"Are you going to kill him?"

"That's what I do for a living, kid."

Unnoticing Luke's unpleasant look, Roy slowly advanced forward. When he was several yards from the bush where a hidden figure could be seen, he pulled back the gun's latch and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot flooded the forest, followed by a pitiful whimper from the animal in the bushes.

Roy lowered the gun and looked up smugly.

"Ha, that was the easy hunt of my life."

He approached the bush and, there lying in his own blood, was a full-grown grizzly bear. The shot had gone through its chest, causing almost immediate death. As he took a close look at it, Roy's smirk slowly disappeared. Something was wrong. The bear was badly wounded. His body was full of cuts,as if he had been slashed in various parts of his body with a sword, or something shorter like a knife or.... claws.

"Roy, above you!"

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Roy looked up and saw a pair of slender arms move quickly toward his neck. A brutal twist and the sound of bones snapping and popping out of place. In the next blink of an eye, Roy's body fell face first onto the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Luke watched as the scene unfolded in front of him. It all happened too fast, but he was able to process it all in a single second and braced himself, wielding Thalia's spear.

In the darkness of the night, he could see the creature that had easily killed the experienced hunter. It was exactly as Alan had described it. Tall, very thin, with long arms and claws. He could not identify its face very well, but if he had, he would have seen that the creature's eyes watched him with savage malice.

With a speed impossible for a human being, the beast charged in Luke's direction with an animalistic snarl, claws poised to grab him.

Only thanks to the fact that he was a demigod, and possessed slightly superior reflexes to a normal human being, Luke was able to dodge it by the skin of his teeth. He threw himself to the side and rolled in the grass, hitting some rocks and branches, but ignored them and quickly got back up. In an instinctive move, he swung his spear to pierce the creature's heart, but was completely shocked when the spear pierced it without doing any damage, as if he had stabbed a mirage.

The creature, taking advantage of his stupor, struck Luke with the backhand of its long arm and sent him crashing several meters into a tree. It crashed violently and the spear slipped from his fingers. A groan of pain escaped his mouth and he fell face first to the ground.

His head felt foggy, and his back throbbed with pain. The last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was the beast looming menacingly in front of him.

"Luke!"

The shout alerted the beast and it veered in the direction of the sound. There, panting slightly, stood Thalia. It took him only a second to notice Luke, who lay in the beast's arms like baggage. His eyes were closed, and blood ran over his face from a gash above his eyes on his forehead.

An expression of complete fury adorned Thalia's face. Sparks of electricity began to emanate slightly from her body, as she clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. She glared at the beast with obvious murderous intent and pointed her palm at it, where sparks of electricity began to accumulate.

"Let it go, you bastard!"

A powerful bolt of lightning shot out of his hand and struck the tree that was inches from the beast's face. The force of the impact visibly stunned it. With a pitiful whine, the beast dove into the trees, fleeing the scene, Luke in its arms.

"No!"

She tried to chase after it, but only took a few steps before her body failed and she fell to her knees. She felt her head begin to cloud over and her breathing became ragged. Thalia closed her eyes to avoid getting even more dizzy because everything was spinning around her. Although it was not the first time she had summoned lightning, she was still not used to the sensation of the slight dizziness it gave her.

Thalia clenched her fists, clutching a patch of earth between her fingers.

"Damn it... Damn it," she hit the earth hard, "Luke...."