Children of the Atom: Chapter Four

Third Person POV/James Centered

He had lost basically everything, his father disappeared when he was young, and he had no idea what happened to his aunt. As for his half-siblings, he didn't know, but if they kept to the side then hopefully they would have survived. That's how he did, just helping people along the way, hoping that some good would come out of it.

And it did. For once, whatever was remaining of the gods seemed to smile down upon him. He had joined their group with some reluctance, after all it meant to fight whatever was out there, but he at least had people who cared for him, for each other. It was the closest to family he could get—and technically they were related, even if they were Greeks; he could fight, too, if it really came down to that.

Unlike the others, he hesitated when the howl echoed and the sound of breaking glass broke the silence. He hesitated, so in a normal battle that would cost him his life. The girl, the green haired one, seemed only a fraction of the bit worried. And the little girl—was it Kyra?--seemed too scared to move. Of course, that should have been normal for her, appearing to only be nine or ten. But for a Roman like him to hesitate it was unnatural, it wasn't Roman. It was a mortal action, maybe even a Greek action.

Yet, looking at the green haired girl it didn't seem that was very Greek either. In fact, barely any of the group had hesitated. Just him, the boy whose father told him to be fearless. He had been with mortals too long, and then this happened. Try being fearless after that.

The hellhound—or it used to be a hellhound, because it was mutated beyond belief. Its fur was bloody and matted in several places, and it appeared to have grown a few extra legs. Or maybe that was just a trick of the light. He certainly hoped so.

Layla slowly stepped forward to the hellhound, careful not to attract too much attention and careful not to look it in the eyes. It seemed more like a guard dog now, the usual ferocity lost. And if you treated it like a guard dog perhaps you could sneak by as long as you didn't make eye contact, or if you did, as long as you didn't look away.

He watched as she took one step forward, but in doing so the blade of her sword glowed, attracting the hellhound's attention. It growled, stalking forward. Definitely like a guard dog now, or perhaps more like a tiger.

He could have helped with just the flick of his hand but he decided to wait. Layla knew what to do, or in most situations she did. Yes, she would know how to act towards it, but she would need help to kill it.

The other members stayed back, watching the scene unfold. Esther looked as if she would rather be the one about to kill it. ”You're too reckless,” he had told her once. Apparently, that hadn't been the wisest thing to say, but it was true. She didn't think ahead, but when she did she wasn't all that bad. Even if she was reckless she was a brilliant fighter, definitely better than him. Nearly everyone in the group was a better fighter than him.

Layla took a step backward, attempting to hide the sword out of view. The hound already knew of its presence and leaped towards her, causing her to dive out of the way. The others began to go forward, but James stayed back along with the small girl who was lying on the ground. He looked at her, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. He smiled reassuringly at her and took a small step forward. Josh was trying to distract the hound while Layla crept away. Normally, this should have been a simple task, but nothing was truly normal now.

He winced at the hound stepped back to it was facing all of them, and so it could keep an eye on all of them. There was nothing they could do; James had to do something now. He waved his hand slightly and ivy vines shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around the hound's legs. His legs buckled slightly; he was wasting too much energy. He had only done this once in his life, for he would rather grow fruits and vegetables. Much easier.

The hound broke free of the binds on his front legs, but by then Layla had skewered the beast with her sword. All that remained was a dead dog covered in the remainder of ivy leaves. She looked at him, their eyes locking for a fraction of a second. “Good work.” she told him and he simply nodded. He looked back at the young girl who still seemed to rather not talk. She had the same look of fear in her eyes. “It's okay, we'll protect you.” he reassured her, but the young girl only looked past him, as if there were something creeping up behind him. Because of nerves, he turned to look over his shoulder but saw nothing. For a split second he thought of his father, he would know what to do in a time like this but he had disappeared when James was young. He had just vanished in the blink of an eye, that was how it seemed to happen. He didn't even know if his father was alive or not. He didn't know if his mother was still alive, and she was a goddess.

Esther walked up to him, a scowl formed on her face. Her curly green hair seemed to be more matted than usual, and more dark. However, she didn't seem to direct her anger at him. Instead, her face seemed to soften slightly. Through her torn black jacket James could see the various tattoos on her arms and shoulders. “We're moving on. Josh decided we should travel deeper into Manhattan.” James guessed she wasn't happy about this, considering her scowl. She looked at the young girl but said nothing, and as a response the young girl shied away from her. Leave it to Esther to scare little kids.

Esther started to walk ahead when James called out to her. "You knew someone here, didn't you?" he asked. Again, the wrong thing to say because her arms tensed, her fingers gripping her double-sided axe so hard the knuckles were white. She said nothing, so at least that was an improvement.

"I'm sorry." he added but there was still no response. He sighed and turned to the younger girl and held out his hand. She stared at him, neither taking it nor shrinking back.