• Annabeth looked around. She wasn’t alone, or, as alone as she originally thought she was.
    She heard footsteps quickening in approach to where she stood, breathless from running away from the approaching people. Or beings. She had no idea whether they were human or not.
    She started running again, quickening her steps as she sprinted along the dark alleyways. Everywhere she turned, she saw them. They were shadows, easily keeping up with her and sometimes sprinting ahead.
    Not your average shadow. These were dark formless beings that were as shadows, but were not.
    As they quickened their step, she pressed on, trying not to breathe too hard.
    Trying not to make a sound, scared that she would attract more of them.
    She didn’t need to have been in track to do this running; it was frightening her enough already. And even so, the experience in the field of running helped increasingly.

    Although she had no idea where she was going, or whom she was running from, she pressed forward.
    And then something peculiar happened. For a second, she was alone, she felt that she was the only human on the planet left, and the rest were only shadows, trying to outrun her, trying to catch her, as though to steal her soul. And then, she wasn’t a lone human being, for a man jumped out behind a building behind her and with a huge gun, that didn’t look like any gun she had seen before, shot into the air where the shadows were.
    The shadows dissolved as though they were made of ashes.
    But left no remaining ashes. Only three or four shots were fired, and they were alone.
    Now, Annabeth could breathe, she stopped to pant.
    The man hoisted her up on his shoulder, and it was apparent that he had no time to spare with useless questions as, “Who are you?” as was one of her many questions about the buff man.
    The man took off running, although it felt to Annabeth like flying, had she done so before.
    She couldn’t catch her breath enough, for more air came at her at his fast pace. More Shadows than she ever imagined jumped out of nowhere and raced them, she felt the man quicken his steps, and she knew that she was right to have ran away. The Shadows were not any being to be tampered with.

    Something huge and bulky loomed before them, and a radio crackled on the man’s shoulder blade, below her right hip bone.
    “Hurry up, Man!!” the unfamiliar voice cried over the crackling of the radio.
    His sausage hands pushed a button, “Roger that,” the deep voice replied, panting.
    And then, his body lurched under her, and they were flying, literally. And the flight stopped short on a platform as it was raised, and then, whatever they were in accelerated.

    The man set her down, and kneeled, catching his breath, and seemed to allow her to ask questions within the silence.
    “Who are you?” Annabeth asked, the first question in her mind.
    “Figures. I suppose your next question would be, ‘Where are we?’ Eh?” he asked, his husky voice echoed in the room.
    She nodded.
    “You’ll figure all that out later.” He replied, scoffing. He was no man to be messed with, and obviously didn’t talk much.
    A sound of swishing air stopped her from asking anymore questions and looked up. A door had just opened, and a skinny man with goggles for glasses and the same outfit the buff man was wearing, but it hung loosely on him. A muscle white shirt with baggy pants. The baggy pants were held onto the skinny man’s shoulders with suspenders the same color as the tan pants. The buff guy let the suspenders hang down to his knees.