Now, We Fight: A Percy Jackson AU

Chapter I

Hazel

Hazel's curly hair whipped around her face as she leaned out of the train car, watching the city lights approach. Her breath came out in clouds in the freezing air, and she ducked her head back into the cargo car.

She sighed and slumped down against the thin walls separating her from the elements. She had hopped a train back in California, and then stowed away on this one back in New Orleans.

The train jolted and almost threw Hazel out. Crates tumbled all around her, almost crushing Hazel as she scrambled desperately, trying not to fall out. She climbed back onto her feet and poked her head out of the sliding door again. The lights were around her now, and Hazel knew it was time.

She grabbed her small pack and hoisted it into her shoulders. It was pathetically light, only containing the bare minimum that she needed to survive. About one hundred dollars she had gotten from working as a waitress back in a run down diner in San Francisco, a change of clothes, a ratty pair of sneakers she had rescued from a dumpster, and a box of Oreos. She loved those things.

That, and she had one other thing. The reason she was on this train, the reason she was probably headed to her death.

Hazel shook her head and swayed outside of the cart, grabbing onto a handle. She narrowed her eyes and crouched, waiting for the right moment. She slipped her hand into her pocket and felt the rough paper, and her fingers curled around it, careful not to crush the photo. She sighed, and roughly wiped her eyes, hating that she felt moisture there. She had to move on. Those days were over.

Hazel glared out into the shrubbery, and then hurled herself off the train, tumbling through the weeds by the track before coming to a stop. She jumped to her feet, and and sprinted into the city, not looking back once.

She squinted her eyes against the harsh glow of the street lamps, and she glanced over her shoulder, panting.

No one was there. She slumped against a lamp post and closed her eyes, trying to recover her breath. Her mind wandered back to a couple days ago, when she had found it...

Hazel crouched behind a wall of crates. She peered around them, and quickly whipped her head back. Two teenagers walked past, laughing and joking around. Hazel leaned forward, trying to catch their conversation.

"Can you believe it? They're actually making us practice surveillance tonight. It's ridiculous." Said one of them, a tall blonde boy who was holding hands with a smaller girl, with brown hair and tannish skin.

"It's not like we'll be ever use this stuff. They don't even exist anymore." She replied, laughing slightly.

Hazel sighed and slouched back, putting her head in her hands. This was exactly what she was afraid of.

She waited until their voices faded into the distance, and she got up. She looked around, and ran quickly over to the stone wall surrounding the camp. She found footholds, and climbed over, trying not to be seen.

Of course, with her luck, she was spotted almost immediately.

"Hey! Stop!" Came a voice from behind her, and Hazel glanced back and swore.

A teenaged boy ran up behind her, a hand already on his radio. He was Asian looking, he had a big and bulky figure, but it looked like he was almost uncomfortable with his own body.

Hazel's nails dug into the concrete as she tried to swing a leg over the top of the wall. But she was rushing and she slipped. Hazel came crashing down the wall, landing right on top of the boy, who gasped and dropped his radio.