The Lucky Ones

The Lucky Ones is a collaborative story by Odst grievous and Hazelcats

Chapter 1
''A black forest with corpses every few feet. All of which torn apart and dismembered in various ways. He didn't care. All he cared about was running. He needed to escape. To get away. He didn't know where the monster was, but he knew it was close, and that it was coming for him. He turned a corner and screeched to a halt, the monster standing before him, a look of insatiable hunger in his eyes. The very sight of the thing was enough to make most people go mad. It was the shape of a man, but with the head of a snake and the claws of an eagle. He whirled around, trying in vain to get away. The creature was upon him in seconds. The claws entered his back and picked him up, lifting him into the air and then pulling him down so the thing could whisper in his ear.''

"You're next."

Zack Johnson shot awake, gasping. When he realized he was alone in The Questers Headquarters, he calmed down and looked around. He was holding one of his swords in his hands by instinct, but the room was empty, save for the lone tarantula in the corner. He shook his head and sighed. He knew what the dream meant. It meant that one of his kind, mortals or demigods or demititans who were fused to the soul of a demon, a small species that all had the urge to kill each other, was coming for him.

His reaction was immediate. He had to kill his opponent first. He knew from prior conversations with his other half that this one was number six on the list of twenty, numbered in descending order by how powerful they are. He knew he should be worried, he had never encountered one of his kind before. Luckily, he also knew the location of number six's various nests across North America. They all had nests, and Zack's was Camp Half-Blood.

He got up, knowing that he had to move, and fast. He scribbled a note saying Sorry guys. to his team, and he was packed in five minutes, and began taking his bag to his truck, which was parked outside camp. He got in, and just before he started the truck, he stopped to think through what he was doing. ''If he's challenging me and is a higher number, that means he has help. So I will need help myself.'' He thought.

Not Ava. was his immediate decision. He knew that he would never take his girlfriend anywhere near someone like him. His friend Natalie would be good to have, but taking her with him struck him as a bad idea for their group, The Questers. She planned out everything, and the others would just be lost without her. Taking Kyra or Michael put the two of them at risk, and if one didn't come back ok the other would torture him for eternity.

That left The Heroes Organization. He wouldn't take the entire group, that would be a disaster. Better to work with one alone. That would be manageable and provide him with enough help. He quickly did the calculations in his head to check who would be best to have with him. He came down to two conclusions, and decided the other would be safer to bring along. He drove down to the empire state building, in the dead of night, waited outside until five-thirty in the morning, and entered.

He walked up to the security guard and made the arm tattoos of his demonic bat-wings appear on his arm. The guard handed him a key and hey took the elevator up. He utterly hated the music, and suffered throughout the entire ride up. When he arrived, he started by making his way to The Heroes Organization headquarters. He groaned as he remembered their security systems. He knew he could get past them, it was just likely for him to be either shot or badly burned in the process. He put on a "do or die" face and made his way forward.

Once had made his way past the security systems with only a burned hole in his hoodie, which he took off and tossed away, deciding to get a new one, he found a window, used a his wiiblade knife to cut the entire frame out, and slipped inside for putting the frame back on. He landed quietly in the kitchen, and looked around. A clock said six-thirty, so he had some time to kill before people started waking up. He had to admit, he looked forward to some people learning of him being able to sneak inside their base.

At about seven, he found some bread and put it in the toaster. Once he popped it (before it popped itself, in his experience, bread always burned too easily), he found some honey in the pantry and put it on in the toast to start eating. As he finished the second piece, he looked up and saw a small boy watching him. The moment Zack locked eyes with him, he ran away, and Zack realized Seth.

About five minutes later, he could hear quiet voices. He recognized them both. One was Stella Lohse, a rather beautiful daughter of Zeus and a Seth's sister. He also heard the voice of Lucian Lohse, Stella elder brother and someone who hated Zack, though Zack wasn't totally sure why. He silently prayed that Stella would walk in and not Lucian, and luckily, his prayers were answered.

"Hey Zack, uh...why you break in?" She said, seeing him. He realized he had toast in his mouth still, and swallowed.

"I need to talk to Rachel."

"Must it be at seven in the morning?" She asked. He remembered English wasn't her first language, and resisted the urge to smile.

"I was going to wait until people got up and just hang out here, but I forgot about Seth." She sighed and shook her head.

"I'll go get her, she'll be a grump." She said and walked out. A few minutes later Rachel walked in, hair disheveled, wearing shorts and a tank top, and looking sleepily annoyed.

"...Heyyy.....Whatcha doing there?" She said groggily.

"Currently, trying your bread for toast." He said trying to lighten the mood a little.

"It burns too easily. They bought some off-brand BS. Now what could possibly be so important you felt inclined to wake me up at such an ungodly hour?" She replied, and he had to feel slightly nervous about asking.

"I was going to wait, I didn't count on Seth." He said, sheepishly.

"You must take all possible variables into account, Johnson. Now what do you want?" She said, like a strict teacher while grabbing something to eat from the pantry.

"I was hoping to ask you when you were in a better mood, but I need your help." He said, almost positive he was going to get rebuffed.

"Depending on what it is, I'd be happy to help." She replied, surprising him.

"You know the other side of me?" He said, making the tattoos on his arm appear again.

"Well, kinda hard not to notice." She said sarcastically.

"Trust me, it gets worse. Anyway, I'm not the only one." He confessed. Not many people knew about the fact that he wasn't alone.

"'Course you're not. You guys probably have your own little club you meet at once a week for football and underage drinking, right?" She asked, confusing him. He cocked his head to the side before answering.

"Can't agree on a sports team? I wouldn't know, I hate football, but you know, still." He was even more confused, and smiled, confused but amused, before answering.

"Anyway, there's one in particular that is somewhere on North America that has made a death threat to me. I need to kill him first, and need your help." He summed up.

"Sounds fun. This place was getting boring, anyway. No offense to your current place of living, but I was getting sick of the constant being on-call for Camp medics." She replied, amazing him.

"Sorry about that, half of those were my fault." He said. It was true, hardly anyone could last in a fight with him, and he was pretty sure he held a camp record for being responsible for the most broken bones.

"Yeah, kind of figured that. No worries, though." She said.

"You sure you want to come? It will be long term, weeks on end, maybe months, and dangerous. Worse than a lot of things you've faced." He had to check, to be sure.

"But not the worst thing I've faced, either. Yes, I want to come. I'll have to talk about it to the others, but...yeah, I'll go. As long as we're back by Christmas. I don't want to spend Christmas day in a small town, dirty motel with a cheap breakfast and no decorations." She replied, saying the last bit as though it were of the utmost importance.

He smiled before saying: "I'll try to have you back by then."

"Quick question, though. Why not take any of the Questers? Sure would be a lot less complicated, and I don't think your girlfriend will be pleased with you being gone for gods know how long." She asked, and he was glad he thought of the answer already.

"Without Natalie the group is kinda screwed for any and all plans, Kyra and Michael would torture me into insanity if either didn't come back ok, and the thought of Ava fighting something like me makes me want to cry." He said, and the last part was totally true.

"So why just me then? I mean, we're The Heroes Organization. Lots to chose from, lots of skills. Skills that are better than my own."

"Lucian and I would kill each other, Arcana scares me, I don't know Cal, Annie, or Kat very well, I think the Parkers would hate me by the end of it, and I feel like I'll be unfaithful if I bring Stella." He said quickly, so quickly she had to pause to sort it all out.

"I'm sure Matt would totally agree with you on that last matter. But yeah, I get it. Alright, I'll do it." She responded.

"Ok, awesome. We need a place to meet for lunch before we head out, that should give you some time to pack and get ready." He mouth the words "sneak out" and "Lucian", as Lucian was her boyfriend, and known to be very protective of those he cares about. She gave him a tired and slightly annoyed look.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll deal with...packing." She said, getting what he meant.

"Bring a pillow and a sleeping bag, you'll need em." He said, as he predicted many a night sleeping in his truck.

"I was planning on it, definitely. I'll go get packed and, ah...I'll just call you when I leave, I guess."

"Where should we meet?" He asked her.

"Nowhere shady and nowhere overbearingly unhealthy. So, not McDonald's." She said, and he laughed.

"I'd risk bringing Stella if I thought you wanted to eat there." He'd had many a bad experience in a McDonald's restaurant.

"Good, we're at least in the same chapter on restaurant locations, then." She said, sounding relieved. Hr grabbed a piece of paper from the counter and found a pen before scribbling down an address.

"Meet me here?" He said, handing it to her.

"No problem. I'll meet you as soon as I can."

"Thanks, good luck. "

"Thanks." She then added in a quiet mutter "I'm going to need it." He clambered out the window, made his way back down to New York, parked his truck outside of the restaurant he had named for Rachel, and leaned his head back to nap.