Losing Love (And Lyres) {Private for Beanie}

Posts : 159 Join date : 2011-04-13

Kenz wiped her brow as she slowly looked around the Ares cabin. She had finally managed to lull Lucas into a nap and find a kind-enough camper to look after him if he woke up before she returned. She had sneaked out the back door with the excuse that she was going to get more food from the mess hall. She didn't believe that anyone would take her seriously if she told them her real reason.

She had to find her lyre.

She had to. It had been a gift from Erato herself, custom-made out of an incredibly strong turtle shell, with beautifully-crafted strings and a hidden compartment for her dagger, which had been blessed by Demeter herself. It could carry the echoing resonance of a tune for as long as Kenz willed it to, and was able to lull some monsters to sleep. The dagger carried all the power of nature. Kenz didn't exactly know what that entailed, but it was certainly a useful tactic against the unnatural.

The sunlight was barely visible over the treetops. She had to hurry, unless she wanted to become zombie food.

She ran across the camp, her sneakers squishing as they hit the blood-stained earth. She was very careful to avoid any heads, arms, or other appendages that would make her lose her dinner.

Even with all of this carnage, I still haven't gotten used to blood... or hearts... or those gods-awful moans...

Kenz was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes. She swiped them away with her left hand. She finally made it to the Athena cabin.

She thought she heard a rustle behind her, and then footprints. She turned quickly, a battle cry ready on her lips. It died before leaving the confines of her mouth.

It wasn't a zombie. It was a demigod. An honest-to-god demigod. Kenz had suddenly forgotten how to properly shut her jaw, and it just rested there, completely unhinged.

Malcolm,

Malcolm was running for his life. This was a stupid idea. He thought to himself. The girl ahead of him, the one he was chasing after, seemed to be intently running through the swarms of zombies into the Athena cabin. Malcolm pushed his way through the awful hoards of zombies, moaning their heads off, literally.

He had left seconds after her, but yet the zombies seemed to be closing in as night approached.
”Wait!” Malcolm screamed as fast as he could, hacking and slashing his way through the mob of the undead. His sword slashed through as many zombies as Malcolm could find. Although Malcolm killed most, he wasn’t aiming for their heads like he should in a real fight, which he was in.

After years of hacking training dummies to pieces, Malcolm had a pretty good aim. Yet, as he fought his way across the courtyard, Malcolm realized that bones weren’t as easy to destroy as the straw figures that were used during training. Malcolm had continually more difficulty pulling his sword out of the now permanently dead undead.

Malcolm didn’t have much experience with zombies. In the last few hours, he had barely had to do anything but run. As he was in the cabin when the zombie attack struck, Malcolm had a fair amount of time to grab all the things he needed and head over to the Ares cabin before he became in danger of being killed.

Finally, after around 20 yards of being outnumbered by an army straight from hell, Malcolm was almost able to reach out and grab the girl who so stupidly had run out of the Ares cabin.
”You forgot your weapon!” He said, drawing another sword from his belt with his left hand and attempting to hand it to her.

Posts : 159 Join date : 2011-04-13

Kenz just stared at the boy, then the weapon, then the boy again, until the moans of zombies reached her ears. Her eyes switched to battle mode, and she grabbed the sword. It was a bit heavy, likely meant for a stronger fighter, but it would have to do. She weighed it with her hand for a moment, tightened her grip, and proceeded to run forward and slash the head off of a zombie.

How did I mess this up? I should have known it was getting too late...

She hacked and slashed through the ranks, some being ones that Malcolm had not completely destroyed. The soul-crushing moans still crashed against her sanity, nearly causing her to cry. Tears welled up. She wiped them away quickly so they wouldn't impair her vision. As she fought, she looked around, desperately trying to find her lyre.

It must be inside the cabin! Crap. Will this guy...uh, whatever his name is, help me?

She turned to finally get a good look at him after dealing with her handful of zombies. He was a bit preoccupied with attacking zombies, but Kenz got a decent look at him. He had medium-length blond hair that whipped in front of his face. He seemed very good at slashing through the zombies, although the perspiration dripping down his face and the look of strain in his eyes told Kenz that he was beginning to tire. She leaped over to his side, slashing as quickly as she could.

"So," she began as she bashed in a zombie's head with the hilt of her sword. "What's your name? Why did you come here to rescue me?"

Malcolm,

Why was he here? Why did he follow a girl that he barely knew across a camp full of the undead? This was the question that was eating away at Malcolm as he stared at the girl. She was pretty, he realized. Malcolm didn’t normally take note of appearances, since he normally looked like he had been asleep right until that moment, but in this dire situation, Malcolm started noticing little things that wouldn’t normally matter to him.

He didn’t want to play hero. Malcolm didn’t believe in fairy tales, and this most certainly wasn’t one. That wasn’t it. As he sliced through the zombies, Malcolm thought. In his heart he knew why he was here. It wasn’t anything to do with the girl standing to his left on the porch of the cabin. It was about the goddess who’s presence dominated this tiny portion of camp. Athena.

Her words from the solstice visit at the beginning of the summer still rang in Malcolm’s ears. ‘You will always be ruled by your heart and not your head. You will not be able to overcome your impulsive nature.’ Malcolm could picture the pitied expression that Athena had given him. He wasn’t good enough for her. He needed to prove himself to his mother. Malcolm knew that one clever situation wouldn’t be enough for Athena. Malcolm desperately needed his mother’s approval. And, yet again, he had proved her words to be right. Running after some random girl and putting both of their lives in danger.

Malcolm didn’t know why he still put so much faith in a goddess that barely answered back. He told his mother tons of things, muttered as a good night message. He hoped that she could hear him. She was all he had, and even if she was a crappy mom sometimes, Malcolm still believed in her. That, and his few friends (namely Annabeth), was the reason he was still at camp and not with Kronos.

”I’m Malcolm.” He bashed the head of a zombie that was getting far too close to him to be safe. ”And you?”