If Percy had known his night would end in flames, literally, he might've stayed home and taken the beating.

He went out for lunch, or rather lunchtime because he wasn't going to risk angering Gabe to get money for food. So about 1 o'clock Percy snuck out of his house. It wasn't an ideal afternoon. It was cloudy and gray fog lingered from the thunderstorm last night. Even so families were out Christmas shopping; Percy could hear the kid's excited squeals after every row of toys.

He ducked into the nearest store, a Wal-Mart. After walking for so long in the cool air, the hot breeze was so enjoyable, Percy almost considered staying right there. But then an old guy with a shopping car nearly ran him over and Percy decided against it.

He wore his hood up, trying to cover the huge bruise on his cheek. His wrist was throbbing and his other shoulder hurt whenever he moved it. He walked with a limp. Luckily his ribs had semi healed and it only hurt a tiny bit to breathe.

Still it was better than staying home and being his step father's punching bag.

The Wal-Mart smelled like Christmas pine trees for some reason, and peppermint wafted from the Dunkin Donuts that had an in-store shop there. The signs boldly proclaimed new lowest deals, and free coffee with a box of a dozen Christmas donuts.

Wrapping paper was stacked in rows in the front of the store, like toy soldiers waiting to fire upon the enemy. Winter jackets were on sale for the season with screaming crying children being dragged around trying on endless amounts of clothes.

The corners of Percy's mouth flickered up for a moment, remembering the years of winter where his own mother battled through the monsters of price tags and heavy fabric just to find the prefect jacket for him.

Then Percy remembered the look of his mom the night before. Her pale, skinny figure. Her hair brittle and dying. Her lips stood out a thick pink against the colorless background. Her throat had made a scratchy rasping sound, like a dried up cough when ever she breathed. She had more needles poking out her than a human porcupine. It made Percy cry looking at her. She'd never done anything wrong, not even a speeding ticket. She'd use to make sugar chokes and dye them blue just for him.

It disgusted Percy that someone would do this to someone else. You couldn't be human. Then the first day Percy and Gabe got to see her came around. Something inside of Gabe must have snapped. And a couple punches, a couple broken vases, and two blackouts...Percy never was the same.

Never was the same.

"Hey, you don't look so good, man." Someone said, putting a light grip on his shoulder as Percy attempted to walk by the camping isle. Percy winced involuntarily.

The guy recoiled surprised. He wore a hiking outfit, with hikers boots, an orange T Shirt, cargo shirts, and a red baseball cap over short, curly hair. He had a slight goatee thing going on.

"I'm fine." Percy said through gritted teeth.

"Like Hell you are man!" The guy went to pull down Percy's hood for a better look at bruise on his face. Percy quickly reached up snapping the fabric back down. In his hurry his sweat shirt sleeve slipped up revealing his bandaged wrist.

"I said I'm fine!" Percy snapped..

"Grover, look what I- Oh my gods!" A small girl in a similar outfit appeared next to Percy holding a box of protein bars. She had long orange-red hair that curled at the ends and brilliant green eyes. Almost unnatural, her skin glowed a pale green, like she was part of a tree or something.

"Are you alright, sir?" She asked, dropping the box of protein food. "How did this happen?"

"I said I'm fine, it was a stupid skateboarding accident." Percy said again. He turned away before the weird couple could ask any more questions. He stomped towards the food section of the Wal-Mart, hoping they wouldn't follow.

The food section was less crowded than the toy section. Percy was slightly surprised, five days till Christmas and no one was buying turkeys?

That and of course it was Sunday so not a lot of people were out shopping.

Percy strolled through the store trying not to look suspicious. Once or twice he looked at a boxes of something random causally leaning against the shelves. His chest hurt like crazy, he had no idea why.

About an hour or two odd roaming endlessly with no direction, Percy left the Wal-Mart. The sky seemed a little darker but that was it. The air smelt a little fresher and it was quieter.

He didn't expect to be pulled back and seated heavily on a bench.

Percy was slightly shocked and didn't even realize what was happening. The guy from the camping isle pulled down his hood and looked at the bruise like he was some type of doctor.

"Skateboarding accident, my ass, buddy." He said, "Someone punched you!"

"Hey!" Percy batted his hand away, "Back off! It's none of your business!"

"As part of the Child Abuse Protection program, it is!"

"No it's not." Percy said, getting up, "Because it's not child abuse, I'm not a child. And aren't you a little young to be apart of that?"

"I'm getting married in the Spring." The guy said, "No I'm not too young! And don't change the subject!"

"What subject?" Percy asked, "Goodbye!" He started walking away, hurriedly. His fingers gripping his oversized sleeve vigorously.

"What?! Wait a second!" The guy caught up with him easily, much to Percy's annoyance.

"Can't you just go?" Percy asked, "I would like to enjoy the rest of my afternoon. Thank you very much."

The guy let out an exasperated sigh, "Here," he shoved a small business card Percy, "Give us a call when you're ready to admit it."

"Admit what? I don't have a problem." Percy insisted. The guy set his jaw, like he was disappointed or something and turned away.

Percy kept walking, he didn't even want to look at the card. It was dangerous. Not only for him but everyone else too. It was a blank cars mostly, no fancy colors or crazy font. A name in bold, Grover Underwood, and a phone number underneath.

Percy looked back at the guy, who was standing with the girl, probably his fiancè, next to a small black car with the licenses plate: MSOLEARY.

He seemed to be distraught, like he actually genuinely cared about Percy. Then the girl reached up and kissed him.

Percy turned away after that. It hurt to watch other people be happy. It hurt to know he could never let anyone come close. He never would find his true match. Because of Gabe. He'd hurt them, hurt him. And no matter how far Percy tried to run, he knew he could never get away.

Percy wanted to rip up the card and toss it the nearest trashcan. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't make himself do it. So he put the card in his pocket. And he kept walking.

He turned towards the central park. Letting his mind go blank as he strolled down the empty paths. In the cold air no one seemed to want to be outside. The mini playground looked abandoned, a couple swings moving gently with the breeze. Percy found one of the trees, his favorite from before his Mom was hospitalized. He took a deep breath and tugged the branch inching himself into the tree.

He remembered when his mom use to take him out to play here when he was little, he would run around with his friends. But Selina and Beckford moved away years ago. Sometimes Percy wondered if they even remembered him, and the times they spent playing astronaut, or jungle safari, or deep sea with sharks.

"You know there's a sign that says, "no climbing", right?"

Percy looked down surprised to see a dark haired girl glaring up at him.

"Yeah." Percy said.

The girl smiled with the corner of her lips. She grabbed the opposite branch on the other side of the tree trunk and hoisted herself up, no problem.

"I'm Reyna." She said.

"Percy."

"You live around here, Percy?"

"Uh...yeah. I use to come here with my mom when I was little."

"Oh. What happened?"

"My mom's...in critical support."

"I'm sorry."

"She'll get better. She'll get better." Percy said, though he was trying to convince himself more than this girl. "What about you? What are you doing out here in this cold?"

"Just looking for a way to kill time. My sister's busy with her business plan working with her friends to start a new shipping organization. My best friend...well were not really talking at the moment. Besides he's busy at his job."

"Oh. Me too pretty much. Just trying to kill some time."

So that's what happened. They killed time together.They talked, Percy edged around the personal life questions. They leaned against the trunk of the tree laughed about random things. The sky got darker. Some people walked by and a couple kids played on the playground for a little bit.

By the time Percy checked his watch he could barely see. The cold settled in, with a briskly awakening. It was almost eight, and Percy thought he should probably go.

"Bye, Reyna." He said, "Thanks for killing time with me."

It was hard to tell but Reyna smiled in the darkness. "Bye."

Percy lowered himself off the tree branch, onto the ground, careful not to hit his bruises. He glanced up where Reyna's spot was illuminated with a soft glow of a phone. And without another word Percy trudged back down parks paths heading for his neighborhood.

He took the main sidewalk back, afraid of what could happen on the back roads. It wasn't like he had any money. But the Monsters didn't do it for money. They did it for fun. And they never got caught.

Percy glanced around. Weird. Almost for a second there he could've sworn he heard a sound almost like gunshots...

Then something slammed into him hard. Percy yelped and he slammed backwards to the ground.

In the golden street light, he could see the person who'd running into him, a girl with aching familiarity. The same one who's run into him at school and hadn't even apologized. Even now she didn't seem to realize she'd actually run into anyone. He face was a panic looking behind her with tears streaming down her face.

"Hey!" Percy said, "What the Hell-?"

The rest of what he was going to say was swallowed in the distinct sound of gunshots now. Closer and louder. And the sound of a lot of feet on the city sidewalk. One of the closer alleys was alight like someone was lighting the row of apartment buildings on fire.

"Monsters..." Percy gulped. He struggled to his knees his hip hurting really bad, and he reached down to help the girl. He winced seeing a long cut running down her cheek, like someone had carved her with a dagger.

"Come on!" Percy tugged her in the way he'd come back to the park. He figured they could hide out in the trees or maybe even find Reyna and call for help. This girl was frantically moving her hands. What was she ADHD, or something?

She looked at him as if trying to see if he understood something. Her cheeks were sick with tears, her grey eyes stormy with frustration. Her blond curls in tangles like she'd didn't the night sleeping on streets. Who knows? Maybe she did.

"THERE THE BRAT IS!" Something huge jumped in front of them. Was it possible for a person to be that big? Percy didn't wait to find out.

He grabbed the girls wrist and pulled her out of the way of a swing that would've possibly taken off her head. How was this girl not screaming? This was incredibly terrifying. Something narrowly missed his head.

Gunshots rang out like Christmas bells. Yells screamed out at them, none of them friendly. Percy darted into the road dived away from a car that totally ran over a member of the Monsters.

Percy served away from the sidewalk. It was like there endless supply of these people. The red eye logo was burned into Percy's mind.

The pathways to the park were completely blocked off, by growing forms with metal blades and a couple with guns. Why did they want this girl so bad? Percy glanced at her breathing heavily, his chest burning with pain. He knew right then, no matter what happened, he would never let them hurt this girl.

The girl next to him pointed down the block where the movie theater was flashing. Metal ricocheted off the brick building nearby. Percy yelled out. He jumped behind the girl shoving her towards the flashing building as pain erupted in the small of his back. Percy forced her forward more.

"Go!" He roared at her. Instead she grabbed his wrist both of them, which hurt, and she partially dragged him with her.

Why was she doing this?

They burst into the Movie Theater running right past the ticket stand. The guy who'd been running it, a tall built guy with the black nametag Chris, protested. But neither of them slowed. They ended up slamming against the refreshment counter knocking into a big girl with a giant container of popcorn.

"Watch it, Prissy!" She grunted.

"Oh I'm watching it alright." Percy yelled looking at the glass doors. The other people in the theater were starting to notice. A sea of threatening figures stood outside yelling and waving weapons. Someone screamed. Every single person out there wore a black T shirt and the red eye logo.

"We're gonna die!" Someone yelled.

Then one of the doors opened and someone from the crowd threw something in. A small baseball sized sphere. Percy gasped for air falling to his knees.

Then all he saw was orange and red as the grenade exploded into flames.