Empty bullet capsules massed at her feet as she kept shooting but soon enough her ammunition ran out. One of her gunners fell down, arrows sticking out of his chest and stomach. It wasn't long until the rest of her soldiers burst up into gray dust, leaving her alone on her rooftop with her pegasus. However, the monsters were getting tired of shooting up at the intruders and she saw a large number of them starting to climb up the stairs, coming for her. And there was no way she could possibly fight them all off alone. A quick upwards glance showed her Nathan's shrinking shape in the sky. Time to go. Tossing her empty rifles down, she turned and -- stopped.
Five yards from her, a boy was pointing an AK-47 straight at her chest. He looked a bit younger than her; judging from the sweat on his face and his panting, he must've run up here just now.
The daughter of Ares put her fists on her hips and glared at him from under her helmet. So, he thought having an AK-47 would help him against her? She could control weapons, she could rip that thing right out of his arms and pick her teeth with it.
"That was my sister, you fcking sl*t," he said in a slightly quivering voice, and Chiara knew he was talking about the people on the other rooftop -- those she had blasted to bits.
"Oh really? Well, b!tch should've been smart enough to stay out my way." She knew he was about to shoot, and snapped her fingers to disarm him.
Nothing happened.
She snapped her fingers again, a bit nervous.
The rifle stayed in his arms.
With a pang of panic, she realized she wasn't strong enough... She couldn't possibly use her powers again anytime soon. The nectar may have temporarily given her energy, but it wasn't nearly enough to try anything other than normal blade-to-blade fighting.
...Sh!t. That was it.
His finger was about to pull the trigger and she knew her time was up. Spinning around, she slapped her pegasus' flank as hard as she could, causing him to spread his wings and take off. She raced after him and jumped right off the rooftop, keeping her back and legs in a straight line while reaching out for the saddle with outstretched arms -- the rifle opened fire behind her and her body gave a violent jolt in mid-air. Roaring in pain, she fell across the saddle which knocked the breath right out of her chest, but the pain in her leg was so intense she passed out for a moment, coming back to her senses only when she started to slip off the saddle. Oh fck. Trying to hold on to something as she fell, she managed to grab the stirrup at the last moment and hung there, ten meters above the ground with her pegasus' hooves roaming the air above her. The rifle fired again but missed her by pure, sheer luck. But she didn't care. Her leg.....
Hooking her elbow into the stirrup, she tried to breathe again. Her pegasus, unbalanced by her weight on one side, was flying in circles. Pull through, she told herself. Pull. Through. Get the job done. Look at your leg later. But she couldn't, she couldn't... The pain was so strong she couldn't possibly think about anything else.
Think of Hayden, a raspy male voice suddenly said in her head. Think of that spear in his neck.
She didn't know why, but that voice instantly filled her up with a burning anger. Anger so overwhelming she managed to snap her lids open despite the agony in her leg, wishing everything she laid eyes on could burn in the most horrible ways possible. She wanted the whole world dead at her feet.
Clenching her teeth together, she took the grenade belt from her shoulder and ripped the first one free, feeling its heat throbbing in the palm of her hand. Then she took the pin out with her teeth and just as her pegasus was flying back over the rooftop, she dropped the grenade on the monsters. The explosions rippled through the air like lava. Green flames climbed up and rained down, smoke dark like ink swirling into the sky. Screams and shouts could be heard. Angling her horse with her body weight, she dropped the remaining grenades on the other large parts of the compound, not caring for the demigods they put to sleep who were still snoring peacefully here and there, unaware of the mayhem. She caught a last glimpse of the girl curled up in fetal position before her the Greek fire blast ate her up.
It took time but Chiara managed to heave herself up onto the saddle, laying there on her stomach with her arms on one side and legs on another. She managed to strap herself to it before letting all tension go, the compound a roaring inferno of green far behind her. But she didn't care about that either.
Her knee was tattered. The bullets had passed right through it, ripping holes in her bones and ligaments... and she knew what it meant. Her eyes stinging, she buried her face in the leather of her saddle. I don't want to lose my leg.
About two hours later, the pegasi crashed into the cabins' courtyard of Camp Half-Blood, right in front of the Artemis and Aphrodite pavilions. Demigods who were calmly chilling on the grass jumped up, Chiara heard shouts and running echo around but she didn't pay too much attention to it. A couple of seconds later, someone unstrapped her from her sticky, blood-covered saddle and two pairs of arms carried her down carefully, campers flocking to the three demigods as they realized how wrong things had gone.
Then it started. "Look... Hayden..."
"Is he...?"
"Oh my gods....."
Whispers and gasps spread around like wildfire. The people who had carried her down were just now looking at the ripped mass of flesh that was her knee and Chiara opened her eyes with difficulty. The world was a blur of colors, but it started sharpening into precise shapes. It seemed like seconds had passed when someone pulled her up on a stretcher and hurried off to the infirmary. As they were leaving, Chiara caught sight of her cabin counselor looking over to them, and propped herself up on one elbow.
"Clarisse!" she shouted. "Twenty monsters?! Twenty monsters? Tell your scouts they better start running cause once I'm back, I swear by all the gods none of you will find what's left of them!"
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