Beggers Can’t be Choosers

The two Centurions had been in the car with each other for only two hours, and already Liam wanted to shove the other kid out the door. But he didn’t. Even though, he really wanted too. He didn’t know why he found the other boy so annoying, cause really, he actually wasn’t doing anything in particular that most would find annoying. Either way, Liam was going to cut the kids hand hand off if he didn’t stop changing the radio station half way through every song. Liam prayed the quest would be an easy one, assuming nothing went wrong. The demigod/legacy didn’t want to spend anymore time than he needed to with Fifth Cohorts Centurion.

Christian glanced over at Liam, he could see the amount of frustration in his face, which was a victory to the legacy. He silently high-fived himself in his mind as he changed the radio station as a song was starting after an ad played. He looked back at the other Centurion. "What? Everyone knows shotgun gets DJ duties, and you wanted to drive so badly." Christian reminded, as though he was a smug father who had just taught their child a lesson in the most condescending way possible.

Christian sat back in his seat. He didn't get along with the authority of Cohort 1 or 2, much less their rich families. "So, I guess a money bath has to actually be pretty gross, huh?" He asked, pretending it was a subject Liam would know about. "I mean, money touches so many hands. You'll have the flu and maybe even malaria by the time you get out of the bath." He finished. "Take your next exit, half a mile away." Christian said. He'd mess with Liam's attitude and music, but he wasn't willing to screw up their path. Christian was wherever the car was.

Liam almost rolled his eyes, but he refrained from it. The legacy, wasn’t really in the mood he hadn’t slept since the day before, because his father had all but dragged him from barracks back to the house for “training.” And the way he remembered it, it hadn’t been like Christian had offered to drive. Cause Liam would have gladly let him.

It was also annoying that people insinuated that just cause his father had money, it meant he also had money. In reality, Liam has never laid hands on it, and the “perks” of bring rich didn’t really feel like it when there were ultimatums surrounding everything he owned. “Actually, the money we use for our baths is always freshly printed. So one dirty hands have touched it yet.” He finally answered, sarcastically as he made the right turn onto the exit. He hoped it would shut him up for a while. Only four hours left till they reached their destination, and all Liam wanted to do was sleep.

"Not the worst idea." Christian pondered in response to Liam's statement about printing money. "The blend used to make money is special though. Your money is gonna papercut you to shreds. So, pick your poison I guess." Christian continued. "Swine flu or thin cuts where the sun don't shine." He concluded his lesson. "We learned that the top 1% of people actually has a harder time bathing than meets the eye. We'll all remember your struggles." Christian finished his sarcastic tangent.

"You'll be on this road for a long time. Keep your eyes open, I've never had good luck with monsters on back roads." Christian told him. He wasn't a fan of having his fate in someone else's hands, but it wasn't like some kid was driving. He figured given Liam's resources, he'd driven his fair share of cars.

Liam ignored the other boys speech about printing money. If making fun of how much money his father made, helped Christian in some juvienille way to feel better about himself, than Liam couldn’t care less. It wasn’t the first time someone took a jab at how much money his family, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time.

“I’ve successfully driven a car, and managed to avoid monsters before. But thanks for the tip.” He answered sarcastically. “Sure you don’t want to drive?” He asked as an after thought.

"Listen, Richie Rich." Christian began, a reference that was likely long forgotten by most humans. "My worry that we might get jumped out here is a valid concern, I don't need you micro-managing the gravity of life outside of New Rome. If you even know what that's like." Christian nearly scoffed, but decided that the underlying nature of the move would just be over the top.

"With that being said, I'd actually love to drive; thought you'd never ask." Christian relied. "Pull over on the side, I don't see the point in waiting for another rest-stop." He said. They were few and far around these parts.

“With pleasure.” Liam says, pulling the car to a stop along the side of the road. He’d rather not drive anyway, and maybe letting Christian drive would make him shut up, though he doubted it. Liam put the car in park, and got out. He kept his eyes open for monsters as he walked to the other side, while stopped like this, they were basically sitting ducks if anything happened.

Once Christian had gotten into the drivers seat, Liam made himself as comfortable as possible, so long as the other kid didn’t talk, he might be able to catch an hour or so of sleep.

Every time Christian stepped out of a car on a quest, he felt his hairs stand up. The first time he'd left Camp Jupiter on a quest his Centurion had pulled over a few hours into driving. Christian opened his door, and some large black bull had taken the door, and Christian's feet far away from the ground, and even half a decade later, Christian still held onto the feint memory. The pair switched their spots, and thankfully, that was the end of it with no surprises.

To be truthful, Christian hated being in Canada again, and was happy that was behind them once more. They were in Alaska, and once they reached their town, all they had to do was question folks until they gave them Apollo's Sundial. The car filled with silence, eventually, Christian noticed his partner nod off next to him. It killed Christian to not blast the radio on or just slam the breaks and send Liam flying. But despite his bratty nature, Christian wouldn't forgive himself if he did something that later got someone else killed, no matter how he felt about them. They were both soldiers of New Rome.

So the hours passed of desensitizing Alaskan country back roads. By the time they reached their spot, Christian could see the sun getting close to reaching set, which wasn't surprising considering their geographic location. "Hey, wake up." Christian called to him. "You're gonna be someone's dinner if they catch you sleeping. And probably not a monster's; they're cold and resourceful this way. Eat a human instead of letting them go to waste." He exaggerated.

Liam woke up, he blinked a couple times so his eyes would get used to the light. He ignored Christian’s bit about being eaten. Christian acted as if Liam had never been on a quest before, he wasn’t a newbie to this. However, Liam wasn’t in the mood to fight, from here the two of them would have to go on foot once they got the locals to tell them where the dial was kept, if they even knew themselves, and from what Liam had gathered during the briefing, the trek wasn’t supposed to be easy.

~~~

“Oh thank the gods we’re finally here.” Sophia piped up. At the last minute, the Senate had decided that two soldiers may not be enough, so Sophia, having been the only one available was instructed to catch up with her two fellow Centurions. Luckily they hadn’t left camp yet, so she had just jumped into the backseat. However the two had been so busy arguing like an old married couple they hadn’t heard her get in the car, and even announce herself, which she had, fairly loudly.

Sophia climbed out of the car, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Her bow and arrows, were slung over top. She was ready to go. “What are you staring at? We don’t got all night.” She said, when she noticed Liam staring at her.

Christian had been at ease until the sudden voice from the back of their hatchback called out. Christian was instantly put on edge, even put on defensive instincts. His hand had reached for his folding knife, the only small arm he every carried on him during travel. The legacy's better judgement had kicked in, and long before his weapon was drawn, he identified the source. It was a voice he'd heard at least once a week at Centurion meetings, a voice everyone in Camp Jupiter probably heard more than once, but it wasn't one he was expecting to hear now. He gave Liam a cross-eyed look; did he know that she was here?

"What are you doing here?" Christian asked of her, his tone reeked of defensive nature. Not that Sophia or Liam were used to Christian sounding otherwise. There wasn't a Centurion meeting that went by where Christian spoke otherwise, and it was probably that only Corinne was a Centurion who was faced with kindness from him. Christian followed suite and stepped out of the car as well. He shook his head in disbelief; stuck in the middle of nowhere in the cold lands of Alaska with Sophia Virgo and Liam Davenport. It made Christian worry, he knew very well that Sophia and Liam didn't know what was going on with Rowan. Her brother and partner were now here, and Christian with them. Her and Alyssa shouldn't have been alone, but Christian's hands were tied. He'd been so deviated from the Cohort One Centurion that there was no way Christian or Liam were getting out of this one.

Not that it mattered, the sooner this was done the sooner they could get back home. If Christian had it his way he'd be with Corinne and Lauren, who knew the cold better than anyone. Christian wasn't about to deviate himself though; they had a job to do, and splitting up was the worst thing possible. Christian slugged to the back of the hatchback, where his and Liam's other gear remained, assuming Sophia hadn't gotten bored and checked it out. He was willing to accept that this was happening.

The younger girl, rolled her eyes as she finished strapping her sword to her belt. “Well if you guys hadn’t been bickering like two middle school girls, you would have noticed me get into the car, and heard me say, ‘hey I’m coming!’” Sophia says. “Now, lets get this over with, because three Centurions on one quest isn’t ideal.” The Centurion ignored Christians tons of voice, she was used to it. Seriously, what did Aspen see in this asshat?

~~~

Liam gave Christian a look back. Liam had no idea the girl was there. And since he cared more about the quest ahead of them, he kept his mouth shut. Sophia here now, and it’s not like they could just leave her with the car, or send her back to camp. She was young, but even he had to admit she was good at her job. It’s not like she would get in the way. “Come on, lets just go.” Liam said, grabbing his gear and strapping it to his person.

"Three centurions not being ideal is one of the reasons it was settled that Liam and I go." Christian replied to her, haphazardly. Surely he didn't have a bias for either one against the other. They were equal in his eyes. Christian began putting his gear on, which mostly consisted of smaller tools and arms placed on his duty belt. He let a sad look escape him when he realized his pilums just weren't going to make the cut of appropriate gear to scout this place. Still, he'd at least had a gladus, and that was far better than no large arms.

"This place isn't exactly a popular spot, not for mortals or the divine-blooded. More or less, from what we can tell it's just some crazy folks who made the move shortly after Andrew Johnson bought the land from Russia. Rule of engagement are not to kill these people unless we have to. One settlement is nothing compared to New Rome, but it's better we don't have people bad-mouthing us across the globe." Christian reminded the pair of the debrief. It was a usual standard thing, though what wasn't usual was repeating it to centurions.

"If I was looking for a place to settle in Alaska, I would do it between cliffs. Far enough away that avalanches wouldn't be a factor but close enough that the land would be an advantage to me. I think out most efficent plan of action would be to scout the edge of cliffs until we find a sign of civilization and investigate. Do it enough times and we'll find our place. Does that sound like a plan to you two?" Christian proposed, rather than ordering. He knew that would have been a train-wreck.

“Hey, take it up with the people in charge.” Sophia answered, as she fiddled with her belt. She decided not to say anything sarcastic, they had a job to do. She listened intently to Christian’s rundown of their quest. She hadn’t been given a proper brief before hand because of how late in the game she found out she needed to go on the quest. She wanted to know as much as possible. “Sounds like a plan to me.” Sophia shrugged.

~~~

Liam shrugged, the plan idea was solid. He had been thinking about the same thing. The only problems that they would run into were climbing the cliffs, the reports had mentioned that they weren’t stable. Which could also be why villagers chose this particular place to live. To keep intruders out. “Lead the way.” The legacy stated.

Christian was delighted to hear an overall air of agreement between the group. He wasn't sure how Liam and Sophia would get along. They were similar, at least in their status of upbringing. He wasn't sure if that meant they were more likely to be friends or more likely to be enemies. Christian stored the worry away; it wouldn't be helpful here.

Really, it was as good of a plan as you could have this far up north. Many parts of the continental United States had guidelines, but Alaska was an "everything goes" sort of place. The amount of people from Alaska in Camp Jupiter was an intense minority, and it made Christian wonder just how many demigods and legacies were born here and destined to lose their life on the trip to California.

Christian flicked the old hatchback locked with the fob before he did as suggested and took point. They were lucky to have a path right now, but that could change at any point. Christian wasn't a fan of small talk. He didn't think any Centurions ever could be, but the silence was deafening. "You two ever been to Alaska?" He asked.

Sophia had never been to Alaska before today, and she was kind of glad for it. They weren't even a full hour into the trek to the cliffs and already her boots were filled from snow. She glanced over to her two companions and was slightly jealous, both were way taller than her and the snow didn't come up to their knees. "Nope. Not really planning on coming back after this either." She says, as she ran a bit to catch up with them.

~~~

The legacy had been to Alaska before. His father had a very interesting (for a lack of a better word) idea of how training should be done. So Liam and his sister had spent a snow storm in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. Liam had almost lost his feet to frostbite during that training session. This time he packed extra socks. "Unfortunately." He said, shortly. Not really meaning to, but it came out that way anyway.

The conversation wasn't a natural flow, which wasn't entirely surprising to Christian. He wasn't sure that he could make small talk about Alaska interesting with anyone though. Everyone knew it was dangerous to demigods, but overall unknown. The amount of manpower it would take to even begin to change that was disproportionate. It was a poor talking point for him to bring up in the first place; it was like a reminder that a place existed that all sorts of people weren't safe in, and that was nature's choice.

The solemn thought was cut short, shortly after the silence began Christian spotted something some feet ahead. It was hard for him to make out, so he raised his hand up in alert. Christian's hand slowly reached for his gladus when he felt a hand grip his leg, by the time he looked down he was dragged to the ground. Christian began to get a look at what was going on; hands rising from the ground, and slowly, bodies coming with it.

The bodies seemed to be rotten, but frozen over. Christian wasn't concerned with logistics at the moment. His gladus had slipped from his hand, and he counted at least a dozen in front of him, he couldn't tell how many were behind him.

Liam wasn't the greatest at small talk. Sure he did it when he had to, i.e. at his father's house parties. It's not like he wasn't trying either, just that Alaska wasn't that great of a topic for him. And he didn't know Christian well enough to discuss his father's "special" training. Besides, the only thing Liam knew about Alaska was that it was always cold, and it sucked in every aspect.
The legacy came to a halt when Christian's arm raised up into the air. Liam couldn't see whatever made the other boy stop, but he put his hand on one of his swords anyway. Seconds later, Liam face-to-face with what looked like a frozen zombie. Liam swung his sword at it, cutting the head off. He looked around to find that more were literally rising from the ground. There were currently six of them surrounding him. He glanced over to Christian and Sophia to see how they were doing, as he slashed and sliced at the zombie things.

~~~

It was probably a mean thing to think, but Sophia was kind of thankful that Christian got pulled to the ground first. Not because she wanted it to happen, but because it gave her the thought to look down and check on her own feet, and lo and behold the same type of hands that had just pulled down her teammate were also about to attempt to pull her down as well. She glared, and jumped out of the way, as she used her sword to slice it's hands off the arms. She sheathed her sword again, and pulled her bow off her back. She shot an arrow at the head of one ice zombie that was creeping up on her, then turned to shoot a second arrow at the head of the one dragging Christian.

Christian was too busy to consider himself lucky that his foot hadn't been injured or twisted by the pull down. When he had gotten pulled down it was into a layer of snow, and despite the Quebecian blood within him, he could feel the cold wash away the secure heat of his body temperature. Christian didn't let the flash-freeze nor the position change distract him from the danger that was ahead, however.

With his gladus somewhere in the surrounding snow, Christian had to use his hands to push back against one that was fast approaching him. Meanwhile there was still one grabbing at his feet and pulling him to it. Christian was only able to give it a good kick before the other one was on top of him. The thing was an abomination, and Christian could feel his stomach churn just having his hands placed on the frozen-over rotten skin. He'd rather be dead than end up anything like one of these things.

He didn't yell out still or scream, no matter how bad things looked, drawing even more attention to himself would only make the situation worse, and if more were in the distance, would even endanger his own team worse. Christian was finally able to get a grip on the being, apart from the rotting flesh and slippery ice before he felt hands deeper on his legs, then he heard an arrow whiz by and hit it in the head. Christian was grateful, but now wasn't the time to show it.

With the grip on it, Christian could finally take his other hand away. The closest weapon was his pugio, which wasn't ideal for much combat at all. Christian focused the hilt into his palm and gripped his middle and index fingers into the blade. It was painful, but the extra grip was vital to make sure it wouldn't just slip on an icy surface. Christian plunged the small dagger into the skull of the one on top of him before standing up. He was draped in what was now bloody snow. Christian took head count of the ones around them, there was a couple dozen or so and they were spread up enough that it could be handled. He approached the next closest one with his pugio still gripped between his fingers and repeated the process.

Sophia was more annoyed at the situation then anything else. She had quickly run out of her arrows, and more were still rising from the earth, or at least that’s what it seemed like. She couldn’t tell for sure if they had stopped multiplying yet or not. She had dropped her bow to the ground, she could find it later, and was now using her sword to stab and slice the heads of the very gross rotted beings.

The young centurion stabbed down on yet another zombie, a second one managed to grab her by the arm. She could feel the cold seep right through the layers of clothing she was wearing. It was almost painful, the hand was so cold. Her reaction was almost immediate, she yanked her arm forward, pulling the zombie in front of her, and used her knife to stab it in the face.

~~

Liam had since grabbed his second sword, and was stabbing and slicing away at the ice zombies. He was covered almost head to toe with zombie blood, and possibly other zombie parts, and honestly, he really didn’t want to know for sure. He stabbed down on one more zombie head, and used his second sword to stab another in the face as it tried to attack him from the side. There seemed to be no end to the ice zombies, as he still had to pay attention to make sure they weren’t coming up from the ground underneath him.

Liam glanced over at his team, both seemed to be almost done with their fights. Liam was stuck though, it wasn’t anything he couldnt handle, but there seemed to be more and more popping out in front of him then the other two were getting. The legacy stabbed his right sword forward, taking out a zombie that was directly in front of him, then as that one fell down he swung his right sword to the side, attempting to get the two zombies coming at him from that side.

Liam felt a hand grab his ankle. It was cold, and stronger than he assumed it would be. He tried to stab the head of it, but in the next moment another zombie managed to grab him by the arm. Liam cursed, as he kicked the one attached to his foot in the face. He couldn’t get a really good kick though, because he was also trying to get rid of the zombie on his arm. Liam felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg. He bit back a yell of pain. However, the pain did fuel just the right amount of adrenaline Liam needed to reach over with his free hand to grab one of the swords he had dropped, and cut the head off the one on his arm. He then, stabbed down at the one trying to bite his leg a second time. Liam finally got free, and stood up, ignoring the pain he felt. There were still about five more zombies left. Which he managed to get rid of fairly quickly, now that it seemed there weren’t anymore coming up out of the ground.

It wasn't the worst situation Christian had ever been in, surely there were worse ways to fight. Christian had always been respectful of the traditional Roman tactics, but the pugio had always angered in. Now the blade had been digging into his fingers just so he could have a grip on the blade. He stabbed yet another ice-body in the forehead before it dropped. When there was finally a few feet between him and the next one, he finally found the moment to take out his folding knife and put his pugio away. Blood was dripping from his fingers, but based on how recently he'd used his painkillers, he couldn't feel it much. He was just grateful Sophia had been asleep too, otherwise he could have been found out easily.

With the new knife gripped well in his hand, Christian was able to plunge the blade down into their skulls and remove with with ease. The creatures seemed to love the idea of the blood; they all seemed to take focus on his bleeding hand rather than the rest of him. He used it to his advantage, taking their interest off of his center and stabbing them while they were distracted. It was clockwork this way, whether he was tripping them, pushing them, or outright stabbing them, it had become a simple situation.

Christian had only been able to get a quick look at Liam during the fight, but he'd noticed the bite. He made his way back to the pair and made it a trio once more. "Thanks, for that." He'd told Sophia. "Your leg could be poisoned." He told Liam, with fair caution. "I know the snow isn't the best place to be boggled down, but maybe we should take a look at that now?" Christian proposed.

Sophia striked down the last of her zombies, and gathered up her arrows as she made her way back over to her partners. Both looked well enough for just having fought a hoard of actual zombies. Sophia gathered she was the only one that came out unscathed, since Christians hand was bleeding, and Liam had been bitten. “Yeah, sure.” Sophia told Christian casually. She hadn’t actually expected a thank you from him. Then the young centurion looked over to Liam, “want me to see if I heal it before we move on? Won’t take long.” She told him.

~~

Liam didn’t even want to think of a possibility that being bit could have poisoned him. The group didn’t have time for something like that. It’s not like this was a movie. But the legacy also knew it was better to be safe then sorry later on. And even though he hated to admit it, Christian was right. They should take care of it now. Liam wasn’t the type to let his pride get in the way of completing a quest. Even if he died a little on the inside, admitting he needed help. “Yeah, go for it.” Liam finally said.

~~

Sophia nodded, as she crouched down next to Liam’s leg. It actually didn’t look that bad, there was nothing to suggest poison or infection. Sophia raised her hand over the bite, and watched as the bite started disappearing, leaving only a couple very tiny white scars. “There.” She said, “told ya, quick and easy.” She smirked, as she stood up. “Christian do you want your hand healed also?”

Christian still didn't like what he was looking at with Liam's wound. Sophia had gotten rid of it, and that was helpful, but Christian worried about ever-lasting effects. Surely, with how disgusting and decayed these things were, they were carrying some sort of pestilence. He decided for now there was nothing that could be done; maybe the bitter cold of Alaska killed off whatever could be carried over from teeth to flesh, and Sophia had already done what they could for him by healing the wound. A healthy body would fight infection a lot better than a bleeding one.

"No, thanks, I'm good." Christian shot back. Part of it was because he didn't want to accept help from Sophia, which was half because of who she was and half because of who her sister was to Christian. Blaming himself for her death was stupid, because what could he have done to stop it from happening? Beg her to send her partner to die instead? Anyone could have been in Aspen's shoes, even Christian or Sophia. Christian could hardly feel any pain at all, so was it even worth wasting the team's energy?

Then he looked down, and noticed the blood. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough that it would be traced through the snow for a while in the current state of his hand. "I mean, maybe that's a good idea actually." Christian had told her. "As long as it isn't going to put you out of the way or anything, I'd appreciate it."

Liam noticed the way Christian kept looking at where he had been bitten. “It’s gone. It’s fine.” Liam said, shortly. Liam was well aware that he had basically been bit by a very disgustingly dead being. But there was no use in wondering or worrying about what could have or what may still happen. Right now he felt fine, and that meant he was fine until proven wrong.

~~

“Liam if your leg even so much as...” The older centurion cut her off with a look that basically said, ‘yeah, I know. Leave me alone.’ She rolled her eyes. The demigod diverted her attention back to Christian, and glared. She didn’t think it had been nessesary for him to be rude, she had only been trying to help. After a couple seconds, Christian changed his mind. “Yeah, I mean, Iwouldnt have offered if it would have put me out of my way.” She said, through her teeth, as she healed the cut on his hand.
“Let’s just go.” She said, scooping up her bag, which she had put down so she could heal Liam’s leg. She picked up the last couple of her arrows, and wiped the zombie blood off them as she started walking.

"No, you would have." Christian hadn't really weighed the options of his reply to Sophia, she said she wouldn't have offered, and he immediately replied what he had. Maybe it was to challenge her, but Christian hadn't said it in a challenge. Even if he had, it certainly didn't have the effect of a challenge, to insist that she'd go out of the way to heal them. Christian ignored himself, that he'd even said anything in reply in the first place.

"I'm not worried about your leg for my sake, Liam. I have my tetanus shot, I'm gonna be just fine." Christian said in reference to his own lesser wounds. "If it came down to who could run fastest, I'd win that leg anyway. But we don't know what those things are or what they could do." Christian told him. "It's weird for me too, but both of your sisters would want me to do what I could to make us all come home, and I'd like to think if I had a sister that she'd look out for me the same way, so..." Christian let it trail off, as Sophia was already making ground from both of them when she took point.

Christian let it go with a head nudge in Sophia's direction. They'd find what they were looking for eventually, and every second they stayed with the rotting corpses was a second past due for them to get away from the gross scene.

Sophia ignored him. Maybe she would have, maybe she wouldn’t have. If it hadn’t been bleeding so much she may not have even noticed it. It honestly would have come down to how much energy she had left from healing Liam’s nite wound. She slowed her walk down when she realized the boys were still taking their time, she could vaguely hear the conversation, and was glad she was far enough away she could pretend to be out of earshot.

~~~

“Never said you were worried about me.” Liam answered, putting his weapons away. He glanced over to Sophia, to make sure the younger girl wasn’t getting to far ahead of them. He started walking to catch up with Sophia. Not wanting to stick around the stinking corpses any longer. “Oh, and how about you leave my sister out of this. Don’t act as if you know anything about her. That goes for Aspen also. Just don’t.” Liam added. He and Rowan had basically grew up with the Virgos. Their parents were friends, and Liam had known all three of the Virgo kids as long as he could remember. He knew Sophia wouldn’t appreciate Christian saying anything about Aspen.
As he caught up to Sophia, he used his hand to ruffle up her hair, he wondered if she heard the conversation or not. She didn’t let on. She did swat his hand away and smirk a bit.