The Unclaimed

Chapter 51: Accepting the outcome leads to a realization

As I threw open the front door, I was met with darkness. I had no clue where I was, how far I had run from the hunters to get me to the cabin, what direction to head in, and to top it all off it was now nighttime. But I couldn't let myself feel scared, I needed to help the Hunt. Clearing my mind, I listened. My senses were at the height of their abilities. I could feel the direction of the wind, smell the flowers of nature, and hear everything. There were animals all around me, I could hear a river not to far away, and then I heard the sounds of monsters pounding through the woods and the footsteps of the hunters. And then there was another scream; whoever it was sounded terrified. I started running. I used my eyes to see but my instincts to guide me. My bow was already notched with an arrow; I dodged branches and jumped over rocks as I ran. Finally, I made it to them.
The Hunt and Artemis were trapped. It didn't matter how powerful they were or that Artemis was with them; they were to many monsters. I saw kindly ones, at least three cyclops, a pack of hellhounds, and monsters that I didn't even recognize. One of the cyclops charged at Thalia, swinging a club as it ran towards her. Thalia was nearly killed. An arrow shot by one of the hunters barely hit the cyclops in time to save Thalia. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted McKenna lying on the ground. Tears were streaming down her face as she clutched her leg in pain. Aubrey was standing above her, trying to keep monsters away from her. I knew I had to do something, there was no way that the Hunt could last much longer. My mind started racing, trying to come up with a way to save themselves. My blood was boiling, I was angry at the world.
Seeing an arrow shot by a dracaena narrowly miss Thalia by less than an inch was my breaking point. I let out a scream; my presence became known. With an arrow notched in my bow, I charged. It may have been a suicide rescue mission but I had to try something. Monsters turned their attention to me. They had expressions of shock and looks of confidence at the same time. They must have thought that I would have been dead by now. But most of the monsters looked pleased that I was alive; they now had the chance to kill me. Right before my paths with the monsters collided, I saw a look of worry and awe appear on Artemis's face.
I shot arrows off of instinct. Time after time again I saw them hit their targets. But soon I ran out of them; my quiver was empty and there were still hoards of monsters surrounding me. The hunt tried to help get the monsters attention off of me but they had no success. Monsters were slowly circling around me. Even as the hunt rapidly killed as many of them as they could, there were still to many monsters to fully stop. I started to slowly accept that this was going to be my end. All of my regrets started to race through my mind: I should have tried harder to get along with the other campers, I shouldn't have been so mistrusting, and I should never had lied about my happiness or anything else to Michael. As my death slowly approached, I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I prayed to all of the gods. I prayed that they would watch over Michael when I was gone. That they would let him know how much he meant to me. I also prayed for the Hunt; I would be able to die happy if I knew that the Hunt would be able to get away.
My eyes were closed, happy memories of me and Michael were being played in my mind. But then the images changed. The hints about my father were said over and over again. Memories that I had forgotten flashed in my head. Then there were the visions that I had never seen before in my life. Scenes from my dreams were replayed to me. Everything came together, I knew who my father was. My eyes flew open. Strength was coursing through my body, I no longer believed that I was about to die. My lips rose into a smirk, I was ready now.