Death Reminiscent Of Us

Maps were so out-dated, at least in a world where they had GPS, but it wasn't exactly the most safe thing to use. Not when it would alert monsters from miles around. Robert shuffled around the small pile of maps, he was good with geography, but none of these maps were even somewhat similar. "One of these looks like it was probably drawn up in the 1600's. Did you know that the first established slaves in America were white slaves, Irish, to be specific?" Robert asked, though to no one specifically. He shuffled through the maps layed out on the hood of the car. They'd parked in the mid-fields of some campground; it was much safer than being in the breakdown lane. Robert had suggested they drive further into a populated city or town to make an effort to blend in better. Andrew wanted nothing to do with any detour that wasn't necessary.

The hunter had made himself scarce when they'd made the stop, not making any effort to communicate with everyone. It made Dimitri angry. With no contingency, Andrew could just die and nobody would ever know, yet he still insisted on wandering off whenever they weren't dead on the trail. It was his sister who was kidnapped, but Dimitri still didn't feel Andrew was using his head. He hadn't even brought his wolf with him. Dimitri was beginning to wonder just how bad Andrew's loss was effecting him.

Dominika didn't even know he was out here. It made him feel guilty in a way. If he died looking for Dakota, would Dominika react the same way that Andrew was? At least she would still be alive, either way. Dimitri looked to Joan, they had hardly had talked at all, the trip so far had been gathering their bearings. Dimitri had a thousand questions he wanted to ask about what was coming next. He figured whoever, or whatever, was snatching demigods, wasn't going to hand them over peacefully. "Hey, Joan. D'ya know anyone named Dominika Orlov?"

"My dad was actually possibly a quarter Irish, actually. Tracing the tree through a paper trail gets wicked tricky after a while." Robert noted. He traced around a small spot on a large blank area on the map. "We're right here, but the camp grounds weren't founded until after this map was drawn, I assume." Robert said. "We came from the east. So, we're looking for the curved road near Yellowjacket lake." Robert suspected that whoever had taken their people didn't give them an exact address so that they couldn't plan any sort of takeover or invasion. He was just hoping this wouldn't turn into a dead drop after dead drop scenario.

Dimitri took a longer look at Joan's facial features, but still had a difficult time placing the face of the girl. If she had done the amputation, he must have seen her before. "Didja? I'm very sorry I didn't recognize you. Every time I think of that night, it's just one bad vision after another." Dimitri looked up to meet Joan's eyes and put a hand on her shoulder.; he wanted her to know how grateful he was. "I'm awfully grateful for what you did for her. She's doin' good. We're doin' good. Last week was the first time we'd separated in a month. She's doin' good with the prosthetic, though. Lotta times she gets it stuck when she takes her pants off, but other than that, you couldn't'ver tell it ain't the original." Dimitri finished with a smile.

"Good on her, if someone's doing good with a prosthetic. I couldn't ever live with an amputation." Robert chimed in. "The statistics are clear. Higher suicide rate, insane depression rate, drug abuse, you name it. Seems like a lack of life is a lot better than what that life can become." Robert continued to scan the map, though it wasn't giving any luck quite yet. "But like I said, I'm happy some people have the strength to pass that. I just wouldn't."

Robert couldn't help but be distracted from the map when Lia began to search through her bag. He was genuinely curious as to what supplies she had brought. If something went down, it looked like Joan and Dimitri would be their best fighters. The only other demigod who had fighting experience was off doing something. So, what supplies had Lia possibly brought. An eyebrow raised while he watched her sketch a campsite on the old map. An eyebrow raised, she sure was a whimsical one. Then, only a moment after she had finished, she spotted Yellowjacket. He glanced up at Lia, then back down at the map. "You're good at this. Ever considered majoring in geography? You could be a modern day Lois or Clark. Or Sacagawea, if that's more your style." Robert commented. He drew a few routes on the map just in case detours were needed. He really hated defacing maps, but it was necessary.

Dimitri could feel the smirk from the son of Athena when Joan made the joke, and she matched it as well. "I, uh..." Dimitri fumbled. His cheeks flushed a red color, something extremely rare, he'd thought only Dominika had the ability to make him blush. Though, the demigod figured, he was only blushing because Joan was right. He didn't want to lie anymore; it just wasn't who he wanted to be. "We spend a lotta time together. I love her." Dimitri replied, simply. He felt a sense of worry; he hadn't meant to let this slip. Dominika wouldn't mind, would she? He hoped not.

Robert glanced at Joan, from the map. "According to July's issue of Cosmo, a majority of women found conflicting opinions to be one of the top three problems in a relationship." Robert said, matter-of-factly. He didn't even realize that he completely sidestepped Joan's question. Robert began to shuffle the rest of the maps into their folded states and gather them in a pile.

Some gentle shuffling could be heard briefly in the bushes. Dimitri immediately reached for his dagger, and in an instant it was no longer concealed. A figure made itself shown, it was a boy with a bow on his back, Andrew. He didn't make any comment on the state of any of them, his expression remained unchanged. "We got a trail yet?"

Robert noticed Lia's demeanor change. He actually felt relatively guilty, though he couldn't figure out why. He valued his anonymity too much to act anything like Lia. She was so bright and cheery, quick to help everyone, it was refreshing to see someone in camp look out for other people. Even so, Robert still wasn't keen on sticking around camp for too long. He'd planned to see this summer through and then he hoped to head off to Harvard, and live a normal life again. If he could just remember how. Robert sighed at the thought, and he opened the passenger side door to the car, placing the rest of the maps back into storage, in case they needed them later on.

Dimitri took the keys from Joan, a small smile played across his lips when she made the comment on adjusting the seat. "Yes I will." Dimitri commented back to her. His first impressions of Joan were all good, and he felt he could trust her based off of the history her and Dominika have; if one could call it that. The only person here he didn't know was Robert; though he did enjoy having his head around. Anything Dimitri could have ever asked was tucked away in that skull. Sometimes the sword wouldn't always do the trick, sometimes you needed the pen.

Dimitri spotted Andrew when everyone else did. His expression grimmed ever so slightly at the sight of him. Andrew had done what he could to help set him up with Dominika, and now it felt like Andrew was far away from being close to anyone. "I was startin' to worry somethin' coulda happened to you, y'know." Dimitri said. In truth, he did feel he needed Andrew to help him and Joan protect the other two if things went down. Lia was all heart and Robert was all brains, but everything else up until the hand off required anything but heart and smarts.

"Yeah, don't. I can handle myself." Andrew shrugged any meaning of the words given to him. Andrew gave the other demigod a short look, and held back a hurtful comment on the Cold War. He hated knowing what Dimitri had. Andrew had helped him, and now that he had his girlfriend, there was nothing left to say between the two. Andrew opened up the door to the backseat and got in the car, his expression didn't move whatsoever.

Dimitri opened his door, the seat was so high Dimitri could barely fit in. Robert sat next to Andrew, figuring that the best way to keep anonymity was to sit next to someone who acted as though they were invisible.

Lia was silent for the majority of the time while everyone packed their stuff up so they could get going on the road. She shoved her coloured pencils back into her bag. In her bag there wasn't a whole lot. It had a bunch of random things in it, some would be useful in certain events too. She had a rope, battery pack, flash light, various snacks, her coloured pencils, some water bottles, a small medical kit, one blanket, and a few other things. Lia tried to be prepared for anything that could happen.

Finally she got into the passenger side of the car in the front seat and waited for everyone to get in. She watched as Dimitri adjusted the seat and smiled a bit. Soon they would reach their destination, and hopefully they could find who they were looking for and be able to get them back to camp.

Joan waited for everyone to get settled in the car before she decided to get in on the drivers side, behind Dimitri. It only made sense as she had the shortest legs and would probably be the only one besides maybe Lia that would fit there.

As she got buckled in, she noticed Robert was over beside Andrew. She was going to pick his brain soon for an opinion, but not just yet. "So Robert, you're a very factual guy, you seem to know your books, are you putting that to use at camp or are you planning to leave?" Joan inquired trying to get to know a bit more about him. She knew conversation wouldn't go far with Andrew, and she didn't want to distract Dimitri while he was driving.

The group had settled in, and Dimitri had turned the key into the ignition. He'd never imagined he'd end up driving as much as he had to lately. He changed the clutch into drive and they began the drive. He took a glance over to the map. When he saw the camp drawn in, his eyes spotted Lia in the peripherals. He hadn't gotten the chance to speak to her yet. Seeing the dagger on her but the picture on the map made him feel mixed on if they should have let her come out with them. She was strong, but he didn't know if she was the type of strong they were going to need.

"It was just something I was good at, growing up. Learning and applying that knowledge later on." Robert replied with a shrug. "Facts don't lie, and when you need them, they're there." He explained, though he avoided the semantics. "The Athena cabin is always working on something or other, but it seems like it isn't anything that I feel would help us in our lives as demigods. We don't typically do research on what DNA or specific genetics generate the scent that attracts monsters, or what genetics give us the ability to see through the mist. I'd do it myself, but the training, equipment, test subjects, and the time needed, isn't exactly something I would have access to. If we could all put our heads together back there, we could potentially change how demigods live. If all went well." Robert explained.

Andrew didn't care much for the talk Robert gave. Scent or not, Andrew suspected that life as a demigod would never be easy. Sometimes it wasn't even monsters that would destroy you. The demigod sat dead still in his seat. He kept his eyes peeled, just in case something came out from their sides.

"That's a big "what if" scenario. Did you know that's how the Wright Brothers invented flying? Regardless, I plan to leave camp and try to stick to as normal of a life as I can. Follow what I wanted to do before. I got my scholarship to Harvard. For the next few years of my life, all I have to do is remain hidden and enjoy the luxuries of an Ivy League school." Robert finally finished. It wasn't usual he explained it, but with the recent acceptance letter, he couldn't help but be excited over it. "What about you? I hear New Rome is a demigod-dream."

Robert actually enjoyed the spirits that Lia carried with her. Having someone around who could make light of such a dark situation could be an advantage if things didn't go well down the road. Of course, Joan's tone wasn't hostile, and he wouldn't speak out on anyway. With everyone around, he just wanted to be only known as the kid who knew things. Letting out too much emotions or feelings would start rumors. He'd gotten through camp so far without any unneeded attention. Maybe he could do that with the monsters, make it through Harvard, play in the NHL, get married to someone who was for some reason okay with not seeing him for many months a year, have a kid at some point who would also for some reason be okay with only seeing him so often, retire after at least five Stanley Cups. That was the dream.

"An opinion is a view or judgement pertaining to a subject that is not necessarily based on any factual knowledge of said subject. Or, did you want Webster's definiton of it? That would be 'a belief, judgment, or way of thinking about something: what someone thinks about a particular thing' in the actual dictionary." Robert concluded, taking her question literally instead of figuratively. "Opinions, however, can be very misleading. So I often choose not to develop them until I am entirely educated in a subject. For instance, many people believe George Washington was pro-slavery, but did you know he pardoned all of his slaves at some point of the Revolutionary War?"

There was no way this guy was for real, Andrew thought to himself. Andrew kept his breathing in check, thought the chatter around him was beginning to annoy him. If Netha was here, he'd feel like he had real company. Instead he was stuck with the a**-kisser of Putin herself, a gender-bent House before her leg had surgery, a living Tumblr post, and then the pretty boy version of Eugine from The Walking Dead. He hated being bound to Abigail. It wasn't like she'd come find him is roles were reversed.

Robert replied without having to scan his head much. "I'd rather not be known for any theories or opinions while at Harvard. I just want to take my classes, earn my grades, play my hockey, and feel normal again. After that, I'll see about doing something above average." Robert offered his plan, though Ivy League schooling was generally considered above average, Robert supposed that it was a natural step for most children of Athena. "If you want my opinions, talk to me about something that we can't get facts on."

Andrew looked puzzled at the girl's kindness. What was the point of being kind? "No, I only... share food with my wolf." Andrew had paused in the middle of the sentence. Though his eyes quickly narrowed again afterwards. The gesture was somewhat appreciated, though he didn't dwell on it. He yearned to be out of the car again. The sooner he could have Abigail free, the sooner he could get back to living his life and not having to listen to people talk about their Ivy League dreams.

Dimitri knew something was even worse judging by how Andrew hadn't brought his wolf. Anytime he'd seen Andrew, the wolf was always by his side. When that wasn't the case, Dimitri suspected that things were worse than he originally thought. They were getting closer now, and Dimitri took a turn to the right, slowly, and left the road entirely. He drove around the base of some trees until he felt the car was hidden from plain sight well enough. Dimitri turned back to face the rest of the people with him. "We should walk the woods the rest of the way. Lord only knows when the last time this road was public. And we don't know who we're dealin' with, who they really are. Play it safe, otherwise we'll just end up sorry."

"Information about history and about people pertain to the same style of knowledge. To say Adolf Hitler liked art is a fact. To say World War II ended on May 8th, 1945, is also a fact. Besides, the danger rate of a poor girl would be astronomical if I married her. There's no way I could get married unless I had some sort of assurance that I count insulate my scent." Robert explained. The car stopped shortly after, but he did want to answer Lia's question still. He stepped out of the car, though he didn't feel much of a need to stretch his legs. Before he could open his mouth, a folded map was put in his hands. He nodded to Dimitri and turned back to Lia. "I'm double-majoring, actually. Geoengineering and history." Robert said. He put the map in his pocket. He was designated to navigate, after all.

Andrew began trailing away from the group immediately. His bow was slung in his arm once more with an arrow notched. "Hey, what are you doin'?" Dimitri asked, calling back for him. Andrew didn't bother turning back, he just kept walking. "Easier to go on my own. We'll make more ground, find what we're searching for quicker." Dimitri followed behind him, making his pace quicker to catch up to the short distance between them. "Hey, you could die out here. And if you ain't with one've us, we wouldn't even know." Dimitri kept his voice low, he didn't in particular want to keep everyone with them on edge with this. "Then what'do we do when we find your sister?" Dimitri asked.

Andrew glanced back to the rest of the group, the three others. He almost wanted to pick the son of Athena, he seemed like he wanted in and out, but he certainly wasn't going to be lectured on the wonders of history. Joan seemed like she knew her stuff, but there was no way in hell he was going to have his back to the Roman. "Alright, fine, come with me and don't talk." Andrew proposed, bitterly. Dimitri sighed, he didn't want to turn Andrew down, especially while he knew he had lost something he loved. "I-I can't, y'know it's a lot better to have you and I on separate sides. If you want, y'can take Joan, she's more than capable-" Andrew never let Dimitri finish his sentence.

"Hey, Fruity Pebbles, you're with me." Andrew decided. He said his piece with enough volume to be heard, though there wasn't any real malice in it. Dimitri and Andrew shared one last look, their emotions on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. Andrew looked dreadful, and just wanted to move on with the day. Dimitri felt worried this could be the start of something else.

Dimitri approached Lia, leaving Andrew in wait. He had to be sure he wasn't sending her out to something she couldn't handle, but he had faith in her still. He stopped in front of her, the worry in his expression was hidden. "Are you up for this? We can make it somethin' else." Dimitri assured her.

Robert almost felt slightly bummed that Lia wouldn't be with his group. Though, ideally, he also had to acknowledge that him and Lia were both at the bottom of this food chain as far as he knew. Being in literally anyone else's group was a win for him, in the sense of surviving. "So, we should be looking for abnormalities somewhere, where they could be hiding. Try to find if they were here?" Robert asked, looking to the two others in his group for confirmation.

Dimitri wanted to call out for them to yell if they needed help, but Andrew wasn't going to yell no matter what happened, Dimitri knew that for a fact. He was just going to have to trust that Lia would have his back, and do whatever it took. "No, they gave us the clues. Whatever it is we're lookin' for, we're gonna know it when we see it." Dimitri stated, with bitter thoughts hanging over him from the previous times he'd gone through these situations. "Let's take this way, keep closer to the creek by Yellowjacket, just'n case. If that sounds like a plan to you two."

-----

Andrew made it a point to square the girl up. Sure, she had rainbow hair and she acted like she didn't have a care in the world, but Andrew remembered that Abigail as a kid once wanted to dye her hair rainbow. She was short, but she did carry a dagger on her belt. "Yeah." Andrew said, plainly, to the girl. "C'mon." Andrew gestured for her to follow him. He set off on the path he'd originally wanted to scout. Having Netha around would have been nice to break the ice with a stranger around. That, and, she was just good company in general. Plus, she could carry out one hell of a scent trail.

"That knife you have on your belt, how well do you know how to use it?" Andrew asked, his voice now more quiet than usual. He almost despised how cheerful and kind she was; people like that didn't get to live once they stepped outside of camp. Andrew suspected that she would be no different.

She was right; clean water almost always led to civilization of some sort. Though, in their case, Robert suspected that they weren't looking for civilization. He wasn't sure what they were going to find out here, exactly. For all he knew, these people could be ill equipped and it would be a walk in the park. It had taken Robert a load of self-convincing to do this, but he decided he needed to do this with the experienced demigods. He knew he might have to do it on his own one day; and the experience was important. Besides, if Lia could make it, surely he could too? It would be an important entry in the book, at the very least.

Dimitri wasn't in part thrilled over what was coming next. He didn't believe Lia would find a way to talk it over with the kidnappers. The general consensus was that it was at least worth the shot. Even Joan's whistling made Dimitri somewhat more on edge. Who knows what power they held, in both numbers and skill? He had the desire to seem them before they could see him. He suspected that that wasn't possible, however. Dimitri didn't speak, he only continued on the path. His boots silently padded across the dirt, his crossbow slung on his back, and all of the gear he needed hung on his belt and in his bag.

-----

Andrew kept his focus on the woods around him, attempting to ignore the presence of the girl. She looked like she didn't belong here. Her expression was utterly cheerful, her hair was colorful, and her voice reeked of sweetness as though her lungs were made out of bubblegum. He wondered if she was the kind of person he would have tried to date when he was still regularly attending a normal school while he had a normal life. He'd forgotten what that was like. He preferred life being just him and Netha anyway, over it being him and forty kids who didn't actually care.

She asked if he was okay, and it was almost like he could feel Lena dying all over again. "More dandy than the day you were when Obama legalized equal marriage." Andrew sheepishly replied, putting in no effort to actually sound happy. "Speaking of marriage, I notice you've been walking around with the human ink blotch a lot. You two gonna start taking pictures and sending them to Tumblr soon?" Andrew mocked. He hoped to get her to keep off of him.

When Andrew began to talk full sentences, Lia seemed to be a bit more happy about it. She had gotten more than one word out of his mouth so far, although they weren't the most pleasant ones, she would take it.

"I wont press on about it, but if you ever need to talk I'm here. You might not take me up on it, but it will always be on the table." Lia said with a smile still plastered on her face as they continued to walk on. It wasn't long before he mentioned the bit about Andy, and her smile slowly slipped off her face.

"You mean Andy? He's actually quite a nice guy. I think he's lonely in life, but it seems he sort of isolates himself mentally. Yea he's always around others a lot, but I don't think he ever opens up much or engages in conversation." Lia started as she just stared off in the direction that they were in. She had a lot of thoughts tied to the son of Hecate, but unfortunately none of them were her sharing mutual feelings towards him. "What's Tumblr? Either way, probably not posting pictures on there or getting married. I don't really share romantic feelings for him. I tried, but you can't force yourself to love someone. Just the same as the reverse I know he can't help but have those feelings towards me, and he can't just let go of them, but one day, he'll find someone good for him." Lia said just thinking out loud. The daughter of Iris had been rambling off again. It was what she typically did in conversation when she got into the words that she was saying.

___

Joan continued on, she could feel the consistency of the ground. It was just dirt for what was a while as the trio walked on in silence. She was surprised at the silence, Robert didn't seem like a quiet kid. Joan was actually shocked he wasn't pulling facts out of no where and just mentioning them. She figured she'd have to endure some sort of boring history lecture.

It was a couple more minutes when she could feel the ground get softer beneath her feat. She knew the creek wasn't far if they were already hitting mud. She cocked her head to the right and tried to listen carefully. It took a few moments, but finally she heard a small trickle of water running. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Getting closer, she gripped her sword a bit tighter, hoping that she wouldn't have to use her sword in a few minutes, "So Robert, on a scale of one to ten, how much skill do you have in combat?" She asked curiously as they got closer to the creek, being able to hear it much more now.

"On a scale of one to ten? It depends on what areas you mean. I could beat up a lot of kids my age brawl style, but I'm not an archer. I've fenced before, but some variables change when you're fighting monsters." Robert replied. He'd gotten into surprisingly few fights ever, though he had the very occasional fight on the ice. That is to say, when he played on ponds. "Five. No, four... what about you guys?" Robert asked hesitantly. Surely, with all their experience, they must have known a thing or two.

"You're in good hands." Dimitri replied in a simple tone. He didn't feel like discussing his own details. He didn't want to make much noise to begin with, let alone talk about the details of his previous nightmares called adventures.

-----

Andrew shrugged off her offer to talk. "Pft." Andrew replied out in somewhat of a hiss. Mental isolation? What a joke. He didn't say anything else to the girl, not at the moment. Survival first, trashing trashy views after. he really couldn't believe just how silent the woods were. To the average person, it would seem normal, but Andrew knew the science of the wilderness better than any science he ever learned about in school. No squirrels, no sounds. It was almost like the forest had been riffled through by someone. Someone with a lot of time and resources. "I was really hoping to surprise you with the "he's into another guy" card. Guess it wouldn't bother you if Woody's human is playing with other toys. But hey, guy is actually lonely, right?"

"We'll be fine, I promise Robert." She said. Joan hadn't realized until Dimitri was silent, that being quiet was probably the best thing right now. It would be one thing if they were still in the car, or even just in a populated area, but out here, if they weren't careful with volume control on their voices, that could be the difference between life and death.

Finally the trio came upon the creek. It seemed like a pretty, but Joan could see the water didn't go to where it normally did. It could just be a dry season right now, with it being August and all, but Joan had a weird feeling about it. Crouching down the daughter of Carmenta felt the bank, the sides were still quite damp, for the August heat. "We need to go upstream." She said and without anything else she began to walk up stream.

Joan didn't like the feeling that she was getting about this, it didn't seem good. It was about ten minutes of walking upstream when she spotted something up ahead. "Up there, be careful and be prepared. It could be an ambush." Joan said quietly as she continued to move forward.

Birds began to fly away suddenly out of the trees and caw. It left an unsettling feeling in Joan's stomach. This could be an easy task, but she knew deep down, it wasn't going to be.

Finally upon getting there she reached into her bag and grabbed out some gloves they used in the medical ward. Joan didn't want to get her finger prints all over the body, so she slipped them on, and then began to drag the body out of the water. Crouching down again with her index and middle finger she felt his neck for any sign of a pulse, just in case. As suspected there was none.

The face had been covered in a bunch of stuff, so Joan brushed it away. Joan instantly recognized the face and shut the eye lids as she sighed softly. It didn't prevent her from doing her work though. She cut off his shirt and examined the wounds. Most of them weren't enough to have killed him and those seemed healed over a little. There were a few fresh scratches and then she examined a few gashes on the side of the skull, assuming he had been knocked out. Joan was almost certain he was then shoved underwater and drowned.

"Well, one thing is certain, he's dead. Another is, he's a demigod." Joan said aloud to the other two and she stood up. "What do we do with the body?" Joan said as she looked at it, and she could see many bruises on the body as well. The guy didn't go down without a fight.

___

Lia just ignored the noise Andrew had made and she continued to walk. They were in an open area before they entered the forest. It gave more shade a the least, but Lia was thinking, maybe it'd make a good hide out. Although before she could get into her thoughts and have tuned anything out completely, she heard Andrew.

Her mood dropped considerably and she felt something she rarely ever felt. There was something burning in her chest and she felt her jaw clench as she walked beside Andrew. "Another guy, huh? What did you see exactly?" Lia said keeping her calm for the moment and not letting her emotions overcome her. She had to know before she did anything rash. It could be nothing, but it could also be something.

Lia tried to remain composed, but she was slightly...angered by it. That was the word, and the right use for it. She couldn't help but feel betrayed, but at the same time she was conflicted. She didn't want to date Andy, so she shouldn't be mad. At the same time though, the daughter of Iris, felt she was fairly justified. "Tell.Me.Everything." Lia said with a sternness in her voice.

Dimitri kept close to Joan, gesturing for Robert to stay close to him. Common theory among many rookies was that being spread apart would increase individual chance of survival. Dimitri found that to be anything else besides true. If even one rank in a unit collapsed, it could leave the entire tire vulnerable to cave in on itself. Whether it was three demigods or three-hundred, Dimitri had learned to stick together. He'd almost died, and lost people he loved, in the past from it.

To Robert, the sight of a body was a mixture between fascination and being disturbed. Robert didn't touch the body; he knew the standard protocol of a crime scene. All of his dad's old notes were still left behind, and Robert must have read through them a hundred times over every year. "Hand me the shirt. odds are we won't find any DNA evidence on the actual person, unless we're lucky. But the smallest clue on clothing could be the difference between a match and a loss." Robert requested. His voice was somewhat lower than normal. He felt disturbed. But he wanted to be productive. "I don't think they left him to drown in a creek. He's a wicked strong guy; never know what he could have endured and swam away from. I think they brought the body here afterwards."

Dimitri knew who it was instantly. Heath Fairchild, the last time he'd seen Heath, there was a somewhat bloody fight. Dimitri still hadn't told Dominika about it fully; he had gone missing afterwards. It involved Heath making a remark about her that made Dimitri see red. At the time, it might have been best to let Heath potentially try to go steady with Dominika. But when Heath made actual mention of it, Dimitri felt absolute turmoil. One thing led to another, and the fight was not a pretty one. Dimitri still had feint marks and bruising from it. From the looks of Heath, he did too. "If you think the clothes can give answers, we should burn the body. Whatever we do, we gotta do it quickly." Dimitri stated, with urgency.

Suddenly then, a rustle could be heard in the bushes down off of the path. Dimitri grabbed Robert's arm immediately. "Get down, now!" The demigod exclaimed, pulling robber down. Some tiny javelin pierced through the son of Athena's forearm, who promptly screamed in pain.

-----

Andrew had gotten the response he wanted, a grin appeared on his face, which faced away from Lia, so she couldn't spot it. Lena had always been so massively into the gossip at camp. Andrew didn't care much for it, but in the moment, he'd subconsciously decided to antagonize the situation. Whether or not Andrew was simply cruel or was caught in the moment, hurting someone else in his own pain, had yet to be seen. Lena would have initiated the jabs. But she wasn't here to do that anymore.

"Hey, I never personally saw anything that I would consider smooching. But, you've seen the movies. The way you look at the person you have the crush on, right? The way you spend a huge amount of time with them? Could of been nothing, but from the look in Skinny Jean's eyes? Phew, he looked like he was digging my half-brother all the way to the center of the earth." Andrew said, with a simple shrug. He kept his back to Lia, and kept on moving. "Thought you didn't have feelings for him? Maybe you got yourself some extra thinking to do. Do that thinking fast too. You never know when it's going to be your last day on Earth."

A scream could be heard in the distance. Andrew, however, elected to ignore it. "Don't bother. We don't even know if it's them."

Joan heard what Robert said and she nodded as she began to pull the shirt away from the body. Instead of handing it to Robert right away she pulled out a plastic bag to wrap it in. She was so focused on viewing the damage done to the body to see if there were any clues. Along with being a medic, Joan had known about identifying different wounds of all variety.

She wanted to say she knew what happened, but she didn't. It wasn't long before her ears caught the rustling sound and right away she ducked out of the way herself. She quickly shoved the shirt back in her bag in the plastic bag and zipped her bag up collecting her sword again.

Making a quick glance over to Robert and Dimitri, she noticed a javelin stuck in the son of Athena's arm. "Dimitri, now would be the time to use your cross bow." She whispered softly as she concentrated on the one power she knew she had and closed her eyes thinking hard. Tapping into her protective nature and her feelings, within a minute she had up a seven foot by seven foot protective barrier around them. This would hopefully give time to jot down what wounds Heath had, and any speculations, but most importantly, deal with Robert's arm as he was the living.

Immediately Joan went over to Robert and began to pull out her medical kit that took up about half of her bag. She found a cloth and she bunched it up and gave it to Robert. "Put this in your mouth to prevent the screaming. Think of a fond memory and replay it over and over." She said ordering him, and not suggesting.

She examined the wound and decided to get some cloths ready. She had some that came out of a package and would be used to clean anything that could get infected, and she had some wet one in a small bag that would be used. She removed the javelin, and immediately began to soak up to blood from the wound, before she removed that and tried to clean up the would with the sterile cloth.

"I know this stings, but stay with me, please." She said softly as she stayed focused. After that she tossed it to the side and grabbed a damp cloth to put pressure on the wound. She figured that she'd just need to stitch it up, but when she looked at the blood on the cloth she grew concerned. "Robert. What do your facts tell you about possible amputation?"

____

Aurelia heard everything Andrew was saying. She could feel herself getting worse and worse for being able to control her anger levels. This hadn't happened in a long time. The last time she was unable to control them was back when she was about eight years old. At the time her grandmother was over and scolded her big time.

Lia remembered her grandmother back handing her for speaking out of line, and for speaking words of hatred. Any time Lia had misbehaved or acted poorly while her grandmother visited or when she visited her grandmother, she was beat for it. This was a darkness from the past that Lia always forced out of her brain, she ignored it, and just associated anger with physical pain. Her grandmother was the reason, she didn't think anyone had to resort to violence.

Aurelia didn't even realize it, but she stopped in her tracks there at the end. The way she was acting right now, she halted. The scream had brought her back to the memories, and it was almost as if she was eight years old again and she felt the sting of the slap her grandmother gave her. How her ring had cut into her face, and made her bleed.

Lia exhaled softly, and recomposed herself and continued to carry on not saying a word to Andrew. She had nothing to say. She straightened her back put a smile on her face and skipped to catch up to Andrew. "Just forget I said anything okay? Would you like the chocolate bar now?" Lia asked with the usual perky tone in her voice and the regular grin that was plastered on her face, quietly humming tunes to herself.

Dimitri narrowly was missed by one of the javelins on his way down, and only a moment after Joan commented on his crossbow. Had the situation been any less dire, Dimitri might have felt heckled. In this case, he had already began acting in instinct. The crossbow wasn't Dimitri's native weapon, he'd hoped to see them before they saw him, but it was apparent that the plan had fallen through. Moving his head up even a few inches, another javelin flew a foot or so above his head. He spotted six or so shadow-like figures, varying heights from what he could read as four to five feet.

Dimitri ducked again, another javelin flying at him. "No use, too many to pick off while they're all standin' together." Dimitri said, looking at the pair. Joan needed time, at the very least. Surely Andrew and Lia would be on their way, at least, Dimitri hoped so. He did have one advantage he could use though. Dimitri held his arms out to the water, attracting it out of the water and around his person. He stood up now, water surrounding his front and peripherals. A javelin flew at him, losing its velocity when it hit the wall. Dimitri left his crossbow by his feet. "Hey, 'sthere if'ya think y'can use it." The demigod pulled his dagger from his belt. Slow and steady would win this one.

-----

Robert got a hold on himself. He'd sustained breaking bones and plenty of scrapes in the past, but nothing like this. There was an unholy burning in his arm, though he suspected it was just the piercing. He managed to get a hold on his screaming before he bit down on the cloth, but only a moment so. He still bit down on it. According to most survivalists, it was best to leave something that is in your body in your body until you were in a safe and sterile environment-

Robert's pacing thoughts ripped apart as the javelin left his arm. He struggled to get a grip, but when the word amputation was used, he suddenly felt a kick of adrenaline hit him as he backed away in a spur from Joan. "The facts are there's an insane rate of depression and suicide with amputees! Facts are also that amputations have the highest infection rate of wounds when they aren't done in an operating room!" Robert exclaimed both facts. "You aren't cutting off my arm. I'd rather drown in that creek!" Robert stated in a horrifying reality. The demigod was struggling not to shake. This was it for him. He was going to die.

-----

Andrew kept his stride up, and after a short gain, he noticed the girl had stopped moving. He raised a brow. Surely she wasn't that fragile, was she? "Nah." He replied again, firm to the denial of the chocolate bar once more. "Nah, no wolf, no me. It'd be like cheating on her. Couldn't do it." Andrew replied, as though it was a simple statement someone heard on a daily basis. "You don't even know me. For all you know, my favorite pastime is to use girls for their bodies and kick kittens and judge passerbys with my wolf. Hell, at least one of those is true too; good luck figuring out which one." Andrew said plainly. He kept his pace, though he thought it was peculiar that she chose to skip.

"Don't go losing me there, Pebbles. Just keep up." Andrew said. He recognized that the scream hadn't been a girl's. So he knew Abigail was either dead long before he showed up or still just fine. He was hopeful that it would be the later. Some things had to go right sometimes.