Chapter Seven

Well… I know this time I've uploaded a chapter on a decent schedule. Not sure if anyone reading this was reading that Legend of the Creators story I wrote a while back (like 2-3 years or something?). Those were the times though. I uploaded like once a week and had an actual decent schedule. (Slight lack of actual writing skill though… wait a minute nothing has changed).

Not sure if Chapter 8 will be coming any time soon. Honestly depends on whether I have time to continue it. I promise I will finish this story though… one day.

Anyways – special thank you to SPQR-Alan for sticking by this story despite my questionable upload schedule and possibly weak excuses. Your reviews are always a delight to read and are a large part of my motivation to write this story despite my… well… lack of motivation (and time).

Something I found amusing; someone (a guest) decided to review with just straight up: "I hated it." Having only read to the end of chapter 2. Anyways thought that was pretty funny, nice and blunt.

On with the story!

Chapter Seven.

Percy groaned as he pulled himself off the hard, cold ground. The Russian's that had been following them were long gone, but so was their hope.

Other demigods were moving about the small, isolated location by the edge of the Russian forest.

"So… what now?" one of them asked. Percy wasn't sure of his name, though judging by the worn bow and nearly empty quiver, it was fairly easy to guess that he was a son of Apollo.

Annabeth, for once, didn't have a plan of escape, or attack. "I don't see any way of us escaping this… there's plains to one side and the forest to the other. We can't even be sure the forest will lead us to the coastline anymore granted how far we've moved."

"I say we continue our mission. Sure… maybe the gods left… but we can still do something. Prove to them that we are worthy of being here. We might be trapped, but I don't see the point of moping. Let's attack something, do something useful. Maybe we'll find a way to assassinate Putin or something." A son of Ares, Percy was fairly certain his name was Matthew, yelled.

A few of the other demigods yelled in agreement.

"At least they're optimistic" Percy muttered, trying to ignore the sense of dread creeping over his shoulder.

"Right… well if you are all insistent on this plan. I say we need to get moving. The plains are too dangerous due to it being easy to spot us. I think we should trace the forest until we have no other choice but to move further inland." Annabeth said, though her voice sounded resigned.

"Why don't we just crawl across the plains?" one of the demigods called out.

"I'm not even going to address that." Annabeth said with a sigh. "Someone else tell him why we can't crawl across the plains."

The demigods walked swiftly through the undergrowth surrounding the forest, senses tingling and on high alert. It wasn't long before one of the demigods spotted something odd.

"There's a village! After the trees!" he yelled. It was the son of Apollo from earlier.

The demigods looked in shock as they saw the village. They immediately dropped to the ground, swords sliding from sheaths with low hisses.

"There's something wrong." Annabeth whispered in surprise. "I think it's… burning." She said, confusion evident on her face.

"You're right. It's likely to be evacuated or abandoned." Percy whispered. "We should check it out. We're nearly out of food, there could be some left there."

"No!" Annabeth hissed. "Whatever burnt that village could be nearby. It's too dangerous."

"So is us starving. There's almost no wildlife out here that we've seen, except for that bear. We need food. If we don't look there, we could be wasting resources we may need to survive. The possible rewards outweigh the risks." Percy responded.

Annabeth shook her head. "Fine, but if we all die, I blame you. I have a bad feeling about this." She whispered back angrily.

The demigods ignored her. They were hungry, and for the most part, agreed with Percy. They crept forward; the village seemed to be empty from their vantage point on the hill. Slipping, the group shuffled down the slope and towards the village, smoke rising from several of the buildings. Demigod after demigod quietly slipped into the shadows of the numerous building's in the village, although there was no sign of life. They slowly made their way inward, all of them jumping at sudden noises.

It was Percy that broke the silence; "I think we're clear."

No response came from the demigods, though a couple relaxed slightly.

"Let's hunt for food and water. It could be a best chance of surviving here." Percy whispered to the line of demigods. They nodded in turn, before they split up and began searching the abandoned houses, carefully avoiding the half of the village which was burning. The fire seemed relatively controlled, though it was likely due to the snowy conditions.

Percy scored with finding a small cupboard full of tinned soup, obviously prepared for the cold weather. He immediately crept out and waved Annabeth over to help him carry the soup. Whilst starting a fire was risky, they knew it would be worth it for the soup. Especially if they lit it in the village, where the fire was far more likely to be dismissed.

A few other demigods also found soup, rice, and other basic food materials.

"Any sign of fresh water?" Percy asked the group.

"There's a river a fair way that way. Not sure how fresh it is, but it's better than nothing." one of them stated.

"Perfect! As long as it isn't saltwater, I honestly couldn't care less about how dirty it is. We need water, and I for one, am not going to be fussy about it as long as I live." Percy responded, grinning for the first time since their arrival in Russia.

"See, Annabeth! Told you this village would be good news." He said. "I'm surprised at the small amount of food though. Wouldn't a village like this, out in the snow, have some kind of warehouse to store food?" Percy asked thoughtfully.

"It does." Annabeth said, pointing her finger at a huge warehouse on the far side of the village, completely engulfed in flames.

"Ah… that makes more sense." Percy said with a sigh.

XXX

Vladimir Putin strolled through the hallways of his safehouse, flanked by four bodyguards armed with automatic weapons. Putin himself wore a bullet – proof vest under his suit.

"General Gerasimov! Take me to the prisoners." Putin called to the general, who was waiting patiently at the end of the hallway.

"Through here." Gerasimov said, struggling to keep the displeasure off his face at the nuclear tactics Putin was currently resorting to.

Putin strolled through, following his most trusted general.

General Valery Gerasimov led Putin down into the dungeons where the ten or so men that had survived the missile that had shot their plane down.

Putin sneered in disgust at the blood – soaked men sitting in the dungeon.

"Why did you attempt to strike my capital city with an atomic bomb?" Putin sneered at them, speaking in heavily accented English.

One, seemingly the general or commander of them, spoke up. "Trump forced us to. His adviser, our second in command of America, even told Trump it was a bad idea. But he won't listen. He sent us to bomb you, against our wishes." The man seemed fairly confident in his answer. Putin glared at him, unresponsive to the statement.

"You could have run away. Why did you not?" Putin finally asked, a sneer back on his face.

"Running away would betray the honour of my country, despite my own moral distaste for the order." He responded.

"You would slaughter millions for your honour?" Putin asked, danger clear in his eyes.

The commander spat. "It's no worse than what you do. Sure, Trump said something stupid. But he does that every other week. You chose to start a war over the offense, you chose to slaughter millions. You think you're better than him? More mature than Trump? You aren't. You're both the same; evil dictators. You sacrifice lives for whatever you think is best. But you don't know what's best. Nuclear warfare will ruin the world, not save it. You're all selfish, the lot of you. And I know I sound like a fucking hypocrite, and I know I fucked up with that bomb, so kill me if you will, I deserve it. But you, you and Trump? You're just as much to blame. I'm just the tool, the tool that he swings. Fuck you, fuck your ideologies and your mentality. Fucking kill me, I don't care, torture me if you will. It'll make me feel better!"

Putin recoiled from the viciousness of the speech, but quickly returned to the sneer he had been wearing before. Angrily he said; "You Americans, you are all the same." He then quickly turned to the guards nearby. Switching to Russian, he snarled: "Torture him. I want every scrap of information he has." Putin then spun and walked out of the dungeons.

XXX

"Kenzie, you're an idiot." Was all Harold said after Putin had left and they were alone with the guards once again.

"I don't fuckin' care anymore. I'm stuck in Russia, in prison, because Trump can't keep his fucking mouth shut and Putin has the temper of a four year – old. We were in the wrong. We should have ignored Trump, fled somewhere. Who cares if people thought we were cowards, or traitors, or whatever? At least we wouldn't have been part of the assassination of over a million people." Kenzie said bitterly.

The guards suddenly opened the door and dragged Kenzie out. 'And so, the torture starts.' He thought, still slightly out of it. He couldn't quite believe his current position. Stuck being tortured in Russia, trapped between two torturous dictators.

He swore he wouldn't give up any information. May as well stick to his stupid honour code if he was going to die anyways. Afterall, Putin and Trump were just as bad as each other.

XXX

Five bomber planes travelled towards America, all with different targets; New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"Gromov! How far out are you from New York?" Raskova barked through the connection.

"About 5 hours, how far are you from Washington?" Gromov responded.

"About the same. Perfect." She responded.

"America is about to get a big surprise." Gromov said happily. "There's no way their radars can sense us from this high. Russia is once again, ahead with the technology. America is going to pay."

XXX

The demigods sat around the fire in the centre of the unburnt side of the village, no one speaking a word. They slurped on cans of tin soup mixed with small portions of rice. The night was dark and cold, each gust of wind threatening to put out the small fire they had created. The fire that had taken half of the village had cooled down due to the temperature and was mostly controlled, although it was still large and bright. The flames threatened to give away their position, although it was likely that no Russians would care for a small, burning village in the middle of a war.

They shivered in the cold. It felt different to the cold in America, colder, for sure, but still different. All of them felt it, and none wanted to explain what they felt. Russia was a curse.

Percy suddenly jolted up from his position on the small wooden chair.

"Did any of you hear that?" he asked, panic clear in his voice.

"No? are you alright?" Annabeth asked, concerned.

"I swear I heard something." He said, glancing around.

Annabeth nodded grimly. "Everyone draw your weapons. I don't care if none of us heard it, there could be something out there, and I don't particularly feel like getting jumped."

The rest of the demigods nodded, all of them standing up quickly. Weapons hissed out of sheaths as they stood, senses tingling.

A twig snapped.

The demigods spun towards the sound. It sounded like it had come from behind the buildings furthest from the fire.

"We need to get behind cover. If its Russian soldiers, which it should be, they have guns. Follow me!" Percy called quickly, immediately running back towards the buildings.

That was when they attacked. The demigods barely got behind cover when what looked like a hundred Greek monsters leapt from the shadows, teeth bared.

"Monsters! How did they get here, in Russia?" Percy yelled.

"Its probably better than fighting guns and tanks from Russian forces." Annabeth said.

"There's still way too many of them for 20 or so demigods. We need to escape." Percy responded, thinking quickly. "Through the fire?"

Annabeth had no time to respond as they followed the rest of the demigods into retreat, towards the flames.

"We need to run in between the flaming buildings! They won't all be able to follow us; we might have a chance!" Percy screamed across the field. So far, all the demigods were keeping pace as they continued towards the flaming buildings.

They continued the panicked rush towards the flames and the houses.

XXX

*BREAKING NEWS*

'This is reporter Olivia Laurence, and I'm reporting from inside one of nineteen nuclear bunkers built around America. Earlier today, five atomic bomb – carrying planes leapt upon America. Thankfully three were shot down by America's atomic defence system. Unfortunately, Washington and New York were both hit by nuclear bombs. Fortunately for the majority of New York, America's high radars and new AAA weapons were able to scare the plane off target, the atomic bomb released landed off target and there were only fifteen thousand casualties, compared to the predicted 250,000. Unfortunately, the fifth plane was able to slip through the defences, and stuck dead on Washington. Thankfully the majority of the armed forces and half of the public were safe in the nuclear bunker at the time.'

*Swish*

"Well, that was certainly exciting." Connor said with a sigh. He and Jonathan had been one of the first to evacuate New York and were currently staying in a hotel in some random town.

"That's one way to put it, I suppose." Jonathan responded dejectedly. "I don't think many people are going to survive this war."

"I hate to say it, but you're likely right. This war is going to far, it shouldn't have even started!" Connor responded.

"We need to figure out how to stop it. I know we have something to do with it, well at least, I think." Jonathan said.

"True, I wish it wasn't like this. But your ability to tell truths from lies must have something to do with it. Maybe we should travel to whatever nuclear bunker Trump is staying in. We know there's one in Washington D.C., which is the one he is likely staying in. But we can't go there because of the radioactivity. Fuck. I really don't know what to do. Maybe there's a tunnel system we can use? If Trump is prepared, he'll have some way to escape the bunker and avoid the radiation above." Connor said thoughtfully. "We'll have to search."

"I agree, it's the best plan we have at the moment. We need to try and get an interview with Trump, maybe we can discern what's happening here. I know everyone thinks Trump is an idiot, but not even he would try to go to war over a comment. Come to think of it… Putin probably wouldn't either. They do act stupid and like huge dickheads sometimes, but this is weird, even for them." Jonathan said.

Connor's eyebrows raised. "You think there could be something else?"

"I'm saying they aren't acting properly. I don't know if they finally snapped at each other or what, but either way, going to war over something so small is extremely… well… extreme." Jonathan responded.

"Something to think about." Connor said, leaning back.

XXX

"America's defence systems still aren't strong enough for Russia's foreign, advanced technology. I want every nuclear physicist, normal physicist, chemists, all the technological scientists, working on our defences. For now, though, we need to strike." Trump said, looking down at General Dunford.

Dunford nodded, not trusting himself to speak up against Trump. He had given up on that after he had sent nuclear missiles after Moscow.

"I want seven nuclear bombs sent at their country. Don't go after Moscow though, it seems its defence is too strong. I want to damage the people, to let them know what happens when Putin goes to war with us. Strike small cities, cities unlikely to be heavily defended with Anti – Air Artillery. I want Russia to hurt, and I want it to hurt a lot." He said.

Dunford's eyes widened. "You want me to target innocent people? People that have done nothing wrong?"

"It is for the good of the war. Or do you want me to send the order myself, and have you executed for cowardliness? I like you Dunford, but you constantly contradict me." Trump responded, eyes narrowing.

"I'll give the order, President." Dunford responded dejectedly, walking out the room with his head bowed.

"Dunford!"

The general turned to look back at the president.

"Choose the cities wisely." Trump said.

"Yes, President." Dunford responded, exiting the room before Trump could say anything else.

XXX

Percy dashed behind a small house, attempting to catch his breath. It had been hit and run for the last half hour, barely denting the force they were being attacked with. They had lost two demigods in trade for about 20 monsters. Percy groaned as he heard a hellhound nearby. He held riptide out in front of him and lunged. The hellhound managed to scurry out of way of Percy's lunge. It spun, growling angrily. Percy quickly swung at its head, forcing it to leap back, receiving a small cut on its nose. Anger filled the hellhounds face as it leapt forward. Percy swung, his sword smashing into the hellhounds head, causing it to fly backwards, a cut as deep to the bone in its neck. It collapsed into golden dust upon striking the ground.

Percy immediately ran to where Annabeth was barely holding off two monsters. Percy managed to get one in the back, causing it to disappear into golden dust, whilst Annabeth caught the other in the side with her knife, sending it back to the underworld.

"Thanks" she breathed, before grabbing his hand and pulling him further back to where the other demigods were.

It seemed they had gained quite some distance on the other monsters.

"We need to get to that forest there without them spotting us." Annabeth breathed, pointing to a forest not far away. "They're searching houses, so we need to go now before they realise that we're just outside the village." She then took off running, leaving the other demigods no choice but to follow.

Stumbling, the demigods raced towards the safety of the trees, only stopping to shoot one monster which had spotted them. Thankfully, it seemed they were in the clear.

"We need to find somewhere to hide, preferably far from here. We're going to have to have multiple watchers." Annabeth said, taking control again. The others nodded, following her into the forest and away from the village.

It was two hours later that Annabeth finally called a halt. "We rest here" she said, dumping the small sack that was slung over her shoulder on the ground.

The demigods gratefully collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

"Told you that village was bad news." Annabeth said, a lopsided grin on her face.

"Yeah well, at least we got some food." Percy grumbled back, although Annabeth could tell he was faking it.

"I still don't get how the monsters got to Russia." Annabeth said, sighing.

Percy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Me either."

XXX

"The demigods haven't returned yet, Zeus." Athena said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I – maybe we should look for them." Zeus agreed grudgingly. "I don't know why they would be in trouble though. All they had to do was take the Argo II back here."

"Maybe something happened. What if they're still in Russia?!" Athena said suddenly.

Poseidon's eyes widened. "They could be trapped over there. What if the ship got damaged during the fight? We didn't even check!"

"Poseidon's right. We were so distracted trying to save our own sorry asses we didn't even check to see if they had a way home!" Athena said.

"Maybe they just got lost?" Zeus suggested hopefully.

"Yeah… my son got lost at sea. Fat chance. We need to search. Send Artemis or Apollo or someone fast like Hermes. We need to find and help them if they are still in Russia." Poseidon said.

Zeus nodded. "You're right. Send Hermes, he's the fastest. Apollo! Look out for them from the sky, and yes, that means you need to take that bloody golden sun chariot off autopilot and actually do your job for once. Artemis! Look for them at night. We need to find them, they are important. Maybe they can't do much about this war, but they're certainly important to us." He said.

The other Gods nodded. Maybe they could actually do something selfless for once.

XXX

Thanks for reading chapter 7! I'm honestly surprised I finished this, took a lot of struggling through, to say the least.

I'm honestly not sure if I'll have chapter 8 out in time for school, but I promise I'll try. Even if I don't, I'll probably write during study breaks if I feel like it.

Thank you so much if you're reading this, and hopefully after this next school term I'll have a decent update schedule. I'll try for 400-500 words a day to try and get chapter 8 at least mostly ready, but I can't promise anything so don't hold me to that!

Don't forget to review and all that!