The Apprentice of Thanatos

Chapter 14: Capture The Flag

      "Yeesh, she sounds like someone I know." Danny muttered, thinking of Dash.

      Aurora opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by what sounded like a horn going off and people yelling and charging towards their location. She ran behind the cover of a tree to her right and readied her bow. She looked back at Danny. "Stay behind me, Danny!"

      Danny didn't listen. He sprinted past Aurora and into the woods, towards the sound of fighting. As he neared the creek, he saw campers engaged in combat with one another. A blue team camper whacked one of Danny's teammates in the helmet with their bow, knocking them into the cold water. The archer made eye contact with Danny and quickly notched an arrow, aiming for his chest.

      Danny dove to the side to avoid the arrow that came whizzing towards him, landing in a bush. Danny took the opportunity to go invisible, just as the camper who shot at him walked around the bush. Danny then went intangible and rolled through the branches to the other side.

      It was pandemonium at the creek. Red team members were scattered along the creek, barely holding the blue team back. As Danny watched, some blue team members launched arrows that, upon hitting their target, spewed a foul smelling gas that rivaled Tucker's failed body spray. Taking advantage of his invisibility, Danny ran among the blue team, tripping and pushing them to give his teammates a chance to push the blue team back across the creek.

      Seeing that the red team had things under control for the time being, Danny decided to continue pushing through the blue team's territory to see if he could find the flag.

      As he moved through the forest, Danny ran into several groups of blue team members. Some were making poison ivy grow in a pit, and others were waiting in the shadows with large nets. Danny took care of the nets by intangibly undoing the knots on the edges so that they would fall apart once they were thrown.

     Nearby, Danny could hear fighting. Following the sounds, Danny entered a clearing where he found the blue team's flag, with members from the two teams fighting for it. The gray flag was planted in the knothole of a large dead tree, where it could be clearly seen as it fluttered in the wind. It was about twelve feet off the ground. The two blue team members who had been guarding the flag were locked in combat with Clarisse and two other red team members.

      Which means that the flag is open for the taking. Danny realized.

      Danny thought about flying up to grab the flag, but he couldn't fly for very long in human form, and with the sun setting, the light from his full transformation would definitely catch the other campers' attention. He looked at the tree trunk, sizing it up. I could probably climb that. Danny thought confidently.

      He slunk past the fighting and scurried up the tree trunk, pulling himself up on a low-hanging branch. Glancing back at the campers one last time to make sure no one was watching, Danny grabbed the flag and turned it invisible. He tried to slide gracefully back down the tree trunk, but lost his balance and fell to the ground below with a loud THUMP, regaining visibility in the process.

      One of the blue team guards turned around and made eye contact with Danny where he lay sprawled out in the dirt. Their eyes widened in shock.

      Before the guard could react, Danny scrambled up and booked it through the group of fighters, running for the creek. He could hear the campers behind him recover from their shock and run after him, some yelling "New kid's got the flag!" and others calling for the red team to fend off the blue team.

      Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw nets flying towards him. He grinned as the ropes unraveled, causing the nets to fall apart in mid-air. Danny heard arrows whistling towards him, and dodged behind some trees. He could see the creek now, as well as a lot of the campers; the red team was holding the blue team back and cheering Danny on as he ran. Almost there! He thought excitedly.