The Greek Gods and the Apocalypse

Chapter

We have been flying over desolate land once again. There is nothing to see but soil. Then in the distance we can see the shape of tall buildings coming into view. We are approaching another city. We continue to fly to the outskirts and choose to land before entering the city's air space for some rest and nourishment.

Fed and rested we headed for the city. At first it looks like all of the others, destroyed, and abandoned. On closer inspection of the central northern portion of the city, however, you can see the signs of human life. There are clothes hanging on makeshift clothes lines and containers filled with water. I would assume rainwater by their placements. There even appears to be a small food garden in front of an old rundown-looking building. When I look towards Marie for her opinion she is already signaling to me that we need to land. We make a couple of passes and then land a few streets behind the settlement.

We both dismount and walk towards each other. "Aurora this is it. Our muse has to be here. The tugging is so strong it feels like someone is physically pulling me towards a particular spot with a rope. It is the oddest feeling because it feels like the rope is connected to me inside of my torso. I would not explain it as painful but I would certainly like it to stop." "Well let's have a look shall we," I say.

We decide it is best to leave the harpies where we have landed. We have no idea who lives in this makeshift settlement with our muse. Besides the sight of them can be quite frightening. I know this from experience. With our biggest asset staying behind we draw our weapons and proceed cautiously across what's left of two streets and the building shells that line those streets. That brings us to the back of one of the buildings that appears to house the people that live in this part of the city.

My arrow is nocked with my bow not at firing height but close enough to make a shot very quickly. Marie has her electric gun at the ready. Hephaestus made her electric gun look like a gun but function more like a taser. There is a big difference between her gun and a taser though. Her gun shoots a visible beam of blue-colored electricity at a target with no electrodes necessary. Unlike a taser that uses two darts of sorts that remain connected to the taser through conductors to deliver the jolt. Marie has been practicing with her weapon of choice for a while now and has gotten pretty accurate with it.

We slowly come around the back of the building and proceed up the side. When we reach the front corner I look discreetly to my right. I can see no people around the corner. I move back in position at the side of the building. "She is in this building. I am sure of it" Marie whispers quietly to me. I whisper to her "I do not want us to be in the open. Let's retreat back to the rear of the building and look for another way in." We retreat quietly to the back of the building.

Once we are at the back of the building we notice there is a window open on the second floor of the building. There is nothing to climb here so I suggest we return to our harpies and devise a plan. I would much prefer to enter through that window than be completely open to whoever lives here.

While standing next to our harpies we devise a plan. We decide that I will ride Aurora up to the second-story window and then dismount through the window. Then Marie will do the same. We will leave our harpies at the back of the building for a quick exit if we are unable to leave from the ground level. With a plan in place, we mount up and walk towards the building.

Before entering through the window Destiny hovered outside of it so I could get the layout and make sure I could not see anyone inside. It was actually pretty easy to enter the window with Destiny and Skye's help. They hovered there and we just had to climb in through the window. Once we were both inside we drew our weapons and proceeded to perform a quick search to make sure the room was truly empty. Then we walked to the door that leads out of the room. I slowly opened the door and looked out. There was no one so we both turned left and entered the hallway. You could not turn right because this room was at the end of the hall. We proceeded to walk towards a staircase leading to the first floor. As we passed several closed doors on our right and left Marie assured me that our muse was not in any of them. She was sure she was downstairs.