Painfully Awake.

Minotaur

Freya ducked behind a row of neatly stacked green rubbish bins. She pressed her back flush against the cold surface. Her heart was pounding against her chest, like a rubber ball pounding against a wooden paddle. If only she hadn't gotten up this morning, this day could have gone so different. A loud snort from behind her startled Freya to the point that she had to slap a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry of not only surprise and gut wrenching fear. The huffing grew louder as he approached Freya's hiding spot. She could hear his heavy footsteps and the low growls emanating from his throat.

Freya gripped her Stygian Iron dagger tighter, her knuckles were white around the hilt of the blade. 'Gods, please help me.' She silently pleaded. A loud angry roar echoed through the alley, it shook the windows overhead and caused the fire escape, that was a few feet from her to rattle violently against the brick wall, but the sound of crunching plastic was the one sound that made her blood freeze. Several of the plastic bins to Freya's right were thrown to the side. A large, gaping hole was pierced through the side of the bins, the top had popped off and was hanging by a single hinge and a large hoof print was permanently imprinted just below the gaping hole. The Minotaur gave another angry roar and stomped off further down the alley, huffing angrily to himself.

It wasn't until the alley became quiet and Freya could no longer hear his angry huffs of the Minotaur did she release her hand from over her mouth. Slowly Freya rose onto shaky legs, her entire body ached with exhaustion. She's been running for miles, trying to deter the monster to a less crowded part of the city but Freya knew that once the adrenaline wears off the pain will be ten times worse if the blood soaking into the side of her black, maxi dress was anything to go by. The open wound stung but the pain was tolerable.

She gently touched the tips of her fingers to the exposed flesh on her left side. One of the Minotaur's horns had grazed her side, tearing apart her flesh, although with the warm blood dribbling down the side of her face it was hard to tell which of her wounds was worse.

Freya crept back along the alley in the opposite direction of the Minotaur. She kept to the shadows, avoiding the street lights and ducking into doorways when passed her on the street. She couldn't take the chance that one of the passers by was a monster in disguise and with all the blood Freya was bound to attract the wrong attention.

It wasn't long before she reached the edge of town. She ducked in between scores of thick trees and headed in the direction she vaguely recalled Nico saying Camp Half Blood was. Freya was lost, scared, covered in her own blood and had nothing left but a single Drachma, a bow with no arrows, a magic compact mirror, and a dagger. How she had survived this long was beyond her.

A sudden tremble beneath her feet caused the young demigod to pause. She crouched down and placed her palm flat against the dry earth. There was another loud boom. Freya didn't need to feel the earth to know that it was shaking, small rocks and twigs that littered the forest floor visibly shook, had it not been for Freya's firm grip on a bulging tree root, the force of the quake would have sent her tumbling to the ground.

Her golden eyes scanned the dark expanse of the forest, the full moon overhead cast a slither of light through the forest but it did little to help identify her surroundings, it was too dark and the low hanging fog did little to help matters. A loud, angry growl, like a bull ready to charge screamed from behind her, a little too close for comfort. It sent pin pricks of fear coursing through her veins. Freya didn't even have time to process the sound before she jumped back onto her bare feet and raced back through the dense forest. She jumped over protruding tree roots and ducked and weaved between the thick tree trunks. The footsteps like crackling thunder grew louder and more hurried as the Minotaur quickly approached. From the corner of her eye, she could see whole trees sail through the air, having been plucked from the ground from the sheer blunt force of the hulking bull. Freya knew she could not outrun him and in her state, she could not fight him without being run through like a shish kabob, she was running out of options and fast.

Several feet ahead there was a steep embankment and at the top, beyond the thick fog, there was a familiar glow of fire. Freya silently prayed that it was the fire at the gates of Camp Half Blood and not a simple camp fire. Freya threw herself to the side suddenly, ducking and rolling across the dry dirt, her bare arms scraped painfully against the earth and large rocks, sticking forth with the sole purpose of tearing her skin to pieces. Freya rolled back onto her feet and without a second thought, or time to take a battered breath, she released her Stygian Iron dagger. It soared through the air, seemingly in slow motion, nothing else mattered except for the dagger, soaring high and cutting through the thick fog and dark air.

A loud whistle echoed through the trees as the dagger lodged itself in the Minotaur's left eye. He growled out in pain, his head forced back from the force of the dagger. Freya didn't waste another second, she turned and with what was left of her strength she sprinted up the steep hill before her. Her legs burned and her bloodied feet ached but all she could focus on was the glow of the roaring fire that was slowly, too slowly coming into view. Freya opened her mouth, ready to scream for help, help she hoped would come, but the words never left her lips.

Pain radiated from the base of her spine and spread outward, through every cell in her body, it was the most agonizing pain the daughter of Death has ever felt. The wood of her bow broke and splintered against her skin, embedding small shards of wood in her pale flesh. The next thing Freya knew she was lying on the ground, her vision blurred. In the distance two blurry figures approached quickly, screaming something Freya couldn't quite hear through the high pitched whistling in her ears.

Safety. That was her last thought before darkness claimed her.