A.J

I Falter, and almost run my own self outta there, alone. But Jack wouldn't follow until he was sure he could get as much food as he could get, and he would make sure evey pocket of his was stuffed, which would get him caught, even if he could pull of a lucky escape. Jack is fast, but not fast when he has something to carry.

"LET'S GO!" I holler, shoving one last pile of cans Into my pack. And then I run.

I can't look back, can't take that risk, but I do hear several footsteps with me, which I am going to have to trust is the other's. I run throught the streets almost tripping after every step. Jamaal runs besides me, and passes me in almost a wink of time.

"Jamaal?!" I call, jerking my head back to ask if the others are following. Jamaal nods, and continues to run. Sirens wail close behind and soon enough Jack passes me, and then Stan comes up behind me. As I run, I know we're all criminals now, charged of thievery.

I guess it won't be that much different than being a freak. My side aches and my lungs push themselves very hard. We turn corner and corner, trying to lose the cops by running away from the sirens.

Stopping and breathing sounds very necessary, but I need to push it harder. Can't afford to get caught.

Can't afford to get caught. One thought cicrles as I zoom through urbanage, it drives me, and sooner then later the sirens are off in the distance. Consciousness is almost like a dream...

And then I sit on a bench, panting so hard I might blow out my throat or something. Everyone else collapses.

Jack sits next to me on a bench, jamaal leans on a wall. Stan just falls on the ground face down. Four boys just panting under a streetlight.

" so good to sit down..." Jamaal says, his breath slowing down.

"Yeah," Jack gasps "it does,"

I let my breathing slow down, and then stand up.

"Yeah," Stan murmurs, his voice murmured against the ground.

"Okay," I go back to normal, "Let's go,"

"what?!" Jack grunts in disgust

"We gotta run back." I explain " Cops will come back, "

"No they won't we lost them AJ, they were going the opposite direction. And we Need rest," Jack counters. This is one of those times where I feel like booting Jack in the face so hard that he would fall out cold.

"Jack cops always come back fast and we can't leave Suzie and John alone much longer, we don't know what happens at night," I urge "Let's go," I look at my compass and start making my way down the road south.

"Fine," Jack says "You can go, we'll meet you down at the shelter."

I look around and see no one is following me. Stan is still panting against the pavement, Jacks stands against me, and jamaal sits on the bench, eyes wide and mouth open. I wait for movement.

Luckily Jamaal stands up and comes toward me. "Come on guys don't be selfish," He walks past me and continues. I give one last hard glance at Jack, and turn and start walking.

》》》

When we get to the shelter it is darker, which worries me a bit. I predicted Suzie would be waiting for us, but she probably got too tired.

Jack and the others follow Jamaal and I not far behind, but out of sight. They try and make it look like they're not there, but I can see the shadows every now and then. They tried to be sneaky.

I open the gate, with a groan. I sit on the guard chair to rest, slinging my heavy backpack off, and Jamaal goes into the living garages.

My legs burn and ache from walking all night. Off in the distance shadows flash, which I know are Jack and Stan being their usually creep-selves. I let my eyes close, and I seem to slip away...

"AJ!!" Jamaal yells. I jolt back up. Alerted and aware again.

"What's going on?" I speedwalk to jamaal. He runs out, each arm on the sides of the door.

"They're gone!" He gasps.

"Both of them?" My voice gurgles.

"Yes all!" He answers.

"Where the hell did they go!" I shout.

"If I knew I'd be there!" Jamaal yells. I tromp outside,

"Go look for them!" I yell and start running. Out of peripheral vision I see Jamaal zoom away.

"JACK! STAN! they're gone enough hiding go find them!!" I holler.

"Who" Stan's head pops out "Suzie and John?"

"Yes now GO!" I run past.

I don't know how how I did it again but I ran circles around the Shelter looking for them. I don't know if I am just better at running than I thought or both extreme worry and fear just gives you major adrenaline.

I ran all night all around.

And i never stopped to rest, even until the crack of dawn.

》》》

Eventually I think I passed out, because after a while Jamaal was kicking my body on the ground.

"You good man?" He asks, tapping his foot to my shoulder.

"Yeah," I sit up, noticing the sun is setting.

"Geez A.J, we almost lost you too." He says

"We've bern searching all freaking day," Jack says " and that's saying something because I originally planned on resting all day," Jack winks.

"Well then let's get home," I say. "We all need naps."

No one says anything, because a nap apparently sounds awesome to everybody.

》》》

"I just don't see why it just had to happen last night," I say, a day later. The sun is high and burmimg in the sky, and we have fans set up eveywhere to cool things down. "And where did they go?"

"I don't either, but there isn't much that we can do A.J. I know with all of us combined we searched literally every square foot of the valley," Jack tries to reassure me.

"Well then they must be out of the valley," I say, "we gotta go look out there," I look past the mountains wondering if they are out there somewhere.

Jack sighs " If they weren't in the valley a few hours after their kidnapping, they probably won't be too close by A.J,"

"But they have to be somewhere," I murmur.

"Maybe even not," Jack suggests. " crazy stuff happens these days..."

I look at him with a concerned look.

And then through the air a voice sounds.

"A.J Clayte!?" A voice in the distance calls.

And then Jamaal calls too "AJ? They're here,"

At first I didn't recognize who it was because , and I flipped because it might be the cops. "Who?"

"Them, " He says. It was then when I realized who it was.

We open the gate and three people stand there.

One off to the right stands arms folded, rugged pants and big brown boots with a tank top scarred with sweat and blood stains. Veins strew his muscles and the person is overall Marshawn-Lynch looking. Dreadlocks grow from his head and dark eyes. This dude can sometimes make Jack look unfit.

Desni Shajur , son of Hades.

The other to the left wears jeans and sneakers with a gray shirt over a white one, just to add to his major broadness. He's short but built like a mini tank. A brown shag of hair tops his head with blue eyes.

Ty Armstrong, son of Poseidon.

The third one between the two is tall and actually a little skinny with looking at the two others, but not to the point of being scrawny. Long slicked-back brown hair and blue eyes. He wears rugged pants with an army jacket.

Lance Montana, Son of Zeus. Also the most powerful demigod around.

"Now you guys come?" Anger boils inside of me. If they were just two days earlier Suzie and John could be here. "You could'a come just two days earlier," I grow toward Lance, "They'd be ALIVE!"

"Who?" Lance grows surprised, but of course not scared. Lance is powerful, and he knows it. I'm not that close to as being as powerful as Lance, but I'm not scared either.

"Suzie and John!" I holler. "We needed food and supplies, you were late and so we went and robbed a convenience store down in Provo. When we came back they were gone!"

"Well then where the heck did they go A.J?" Lance asks.

I answer with connecting a full fledged fist into his jaw. I bring my left into to a hook, smashing his cheek. For a split second Lance is disoriented, and I continue to lay a beating on his face. The first blow i layed should have usually knocked out a regular man out cold. In a second or two later Lance responds by laying his hand against my chest.

The electricity shockwaves through my torso and down to my legs and feet, up through my neck and head. I am knocked off my feet and blasted back. I stand up again.

I bound a greatsword, a slow metallic liquid crawling Into its form. The result is a sick looking sword. And I'm gonna kill Lance with it.

I charge at Lance, but a hand grabs my arm. It isn't forceful like Jack's it is suggestive but controlling. I look over and Jamaal starts to hold me back.

"You can't kill him A.J!" He yells, "Even if it was a good reason!"

Jack and Stan comes and they all manage to help me calm.

My growl slows, but I still hate Lance. He knows we are very dependant on him and his group.

His group is made up of the most powerful demigods in today, and they are supposed to help and care for people. And to be there ASAP.

"Do you know where they went or who took them?" Lance wiped the blood below his nose. "Anything that can help?"

"If he did he'd be there Lance," Jamaal explains. "He ran all around the valley looking for them. We found him passed out."

"Don't worry A.J," Lance tries to reassure me. "We'll look for them."

He and Desni drop packs of supplies down at our feet.

And then they were off. And it would be a long time before I heard of my brother again.