CHAPTER XCIV:The Lost Hunters.

The building had nothing particular about it, it was a simple warehouse. Faded blue paint, a foot deep of snow surrounding it, and a large metal garage door. I walked to a side door, and saw flecked rust colored stains on the wall. On the door was a large claw mark in the metal, I ran my hand on the ripped metal and put my rifle on my back. I took my sword out and stepped back.

"What's wrong?" Mino asked.

"Don't worry, I just think that door might need some persuading," I answered.

I kicked the door open to hear a loud snap, and a few bullets came from the darkness. I took a hit to the arm and ran to the wall and took cover behind it.

"Hey! Hey! We're human!" Penny yelled lining up behind me.

"Yeah fucker! I might add we have rifles!" Mino yelled as well.

I sheathed my sword, and took my rifle off my back and held it close. "I'm coming in, don't shoot."

I walked into the warehouse and a spear was immediately put to my throat. The spear had dark stains on the wood and wrappings.

"Get her weapons, Jeffery," a voice called out.

In front of me a man in a torn sixties era Marine's uniform stepped forward. That was probably Jeffery, his eyes were glossed over and his hair was messy and dark brown. Jeffery made quick work of taking my weapons, and securing them with another undead soldier. I looked over to my right to see who was holding my spear to my throat. The man wore shredded legion armor, and the clothes under it were torn and ragged.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I prefer Billy, Son of Vesta," Billy answered, stepping forward showing blonde hair and orange eyes.

"We're the last survivors of this camp," a woman said stepping out. "And now that you're here, you've sealed your contract with death."

That woman I recognized, she had gone missing three years ago. Her name was Pamela Case, her dark hair and bright green eyes made it easy to remember her. Pamela was a Daughter of Thanatos, and was definitely the last person I expected to be here. I heard a flick and all of the lights turned on at once, another five legionnaires were behind Pamela. They had a small store of dehydrated rations, and never ending water bottles. A small crate of Ambrosia, and the supplies to cut it, rested on the floor. Billy removed the spear from my throat, and allowed my to get my weapons back. I sheathed them quickly, and put the rifle on my back.

"How long have you guys been here?" Mino asked walking in.

"A few years? I'm not exactly sure, Pamela is the most recent arrival here. She alerted us that we had been here for twenty years," Billy answered.

Penny walked in after Mino, her sword drawn. "You guys have been here for about twenty three years."

"How have you guys lived out here for so long?" I asked going to the group of people.

"We hunt and we gather food once a month, we're typically successful but there are incidents. Last month there were ten of us, until those….monsters hunted us down like deer. A few of them our own," Pamela said.

"Our own? Don't tell me we're facing Wen-" Penny began to speak, but Billy covered her mouth.

"Don't say their name…..it summons them. And yes in the early days of survival….a few of us resorted to the unthinkable. Those who did...well they were outcasted….we should've put them down like dogs," Billy explained.

"We have a few more people in the town, we need to get them and get out," Mino said, walking out.

"Would you mind helping us, we can get you out of here," I said, checking the clip in my rifle.

"Yeah, I'm tired of being stuck in this frozen hell hole," Billy said.

Pamela waved her hand over the ground and some worn guns rose up. She quickly armed everyone, and smiled. "Well, I'm sick of being stuck in Khione country as well."

The group didn't need much convincing to leave, especially Billy. He looked to be the oldest of the group, and he was leading our walk to the main town. "What happened here?" I asked.

"We were in the early stages of building a new settlement and we came upon an cemetery, we asked the gods if we should restore it or take it down. Hades gave us a reluctant blessing and Hermès gave us one as well, same as Apollo, to take it down if it got in the way. Gods curse them, we stumbled upon a sight of magic and respect. Before we knew it, we were surrounded," Billy paused and looked at the woods. "If I'm being honest we were always surrounded, but peaceful watchers soon turned into angry ones, and a monster of other gods came for us. Once we were stuck here we looked into a small library we found and read through what we found, then we discovered what attacked us…..years or months after rations ran low and a small band of us killed a son of Hades and ate him. We killed two and outcasted the rest, three of them are still alive."

I knew in that moment what monster was coming for us, The Wendigo. A cannibalistic beast with the speed of an Olympic runner, and the strength of six bears. In the few instances we learned about the other gods and monsters, but not much. No god or demigod dared to call their name, especially if you were far in the north. Maybe the school gave us those lessons because of this.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours, but we finally got to the main town. Seth, Adam, and Olivia were together checking discarded papers in an abandoned construction area.

"I got the mixture for Roman concrete…..and a brochure," Olivia said.

Adam held up a sheet of paper with ink running down it. "I got a picture of.....a deer…..man?" Adam turned the picture to every angle possible.

Seth looked at us and ran over. "Who are these guys?" He asked, a hand on his sword.

"Friends long stranded here," I answered looking at his hand as it relaxed and fell off.

Adam finally stopped moving the paper and read out damning words. "The….Wendigo…"

A loud howl came from the woods and a snowstorm started. Figures appeared in the blurred wind and vanished quickly. Billy began to shake, and Pamela's eyes glowed cutting through the snow. However, both of them looked ready to kill Adam at a moments notice.