New Beginnings

A/N: Yay! Going to South Carolina! Lot's of fun stuff will happen to our characters. Fun, all fun. Just fun, no bad stuff. Just fun.... hahaha.... *cries because I am totally lying* Also, this is the last chapter of this book. BUT DON'T WORRY, I'm just starting a new book. Why? Because I don't want this book to be 30+ chapters, and I felt like this was a good way to end it. I hate it when books on Wattpad are like 60 chapters long. Who wants to read that? Anyway, I'm rambling. Story time now.

It was the next day's morning and Ocotillo jerked awake, "Meh. Need to get ready."

Ocotillo grabbed a bag and stuffed some fruit, and bottled water in it, along with blankets the group had scavenged. She put the pocket knife into the bag as well. "Wow. None of this stuff is mine. All belongs to the group. I don't even own anything. That's depressing."

Qibli woke up and yawned.

"Hi Qibli," Ocotillo said.

"Mornin'" Qibli said.

"How was sleep?" Ocotillo asked.

"Good. Yours?" Qibli asked.

"Pretty good for once!" Ocotillo said.

Qibli kicked Winter awake.

"ACK!" Winter bolted up and accidentally hissed frost at a weed.

"Good morning, Frosty," Qibli said.

Ocotillo laughed, "We should call him that more often!"

"Never call me that," Winter said.

"Whatever," Qibli said. Qibli grabbed his blanket, put some fruit into it, and he tied it up into a bag.

Kinkajou woke up, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY FRUIT, PUNK?!"

"Um he's putting it in a blanket," Lina said. She had been awake for a while.

Ocotillo laughed again, "This morning has been amusing."

"Sorry, my dream mixed with reality. Though that's a good idea. I'm gonna do that too," Kinkajou said and started packing fruit.

"Why must I wake..." Eri groaned a few seconds after waking up.

Lina grabbed her bag of possessions and picked up Smoke-Storm, "Can't forget this cutie!"

Newt grabbed a gun and Minho asked, "Anything specific we need to bring?"

"Carry anything you need," Eri said. She slowly started to get up and start packing.

Minho grabbed some food and a canteen of water.

Annabeth was awake and made sure to pack her laptop and dagger into her bag.

"Lina, wake up Snow. I'll wake up Cheshire today!" Eri said.

Lina walked over and roughly poked Snow, "Get up."

When Snow woke up an aura of dread radiated from him and he glared at Lina, "Wake up the beast, and the beast is what you get..."

"I don't care! Now get a move on!" Lina said.

"YOU GET A MOVE ON!" Snow said and sat up.

"I HAVE ALREADY MOVED SO YEAH. Now it's your sleepy behind's turn," Lina said.

While Lina insulted Snow, Eri poked Cheshire with a long stick. After a few minutes of Cheshire hissing at her, Eri finally got Cheshire to get up.

Snow finally got up.

"THANK YOU STUBBORN MAN!" Lina said.

"Stop insulting him. Please," Moon said.

"I got bored of your talking," Snow said.

"I am happy to hear that," Lina said.

Moon facepalmed.

Snow grabbed his blanket and stuffed it into his bag, "That's all I need."

"I'm going to wake up Percy," Annabeth announced.

"NO NEED I'M ALREADY AWAKE," Percy shouted.

"Calm down seaweed brain. I get it, you're awake," Annabeth said.

"Cassie needs to wake up," Leo said.

"Yeah, she does. Who volunteers?" Lina asked.

"Unlike some people. I am not evil when I wake," Cassie said.

"I volunteer as tri- oh," Eri said.

"I just wake quietly," Cassie said, "Let me grab my stuff..." Cassie grabbed her things and Victorie landed outside the cave.

"Where does Victorie even go at night?" Eri wondered.

"I dunno. I just let her do whatever at night, as long as she comes back in the morning," Cassie shrugged, "I don't ask. Girls need their privacy, even metal dragon girls."

"I see," Eri nodded.

"I think we are ready," Lina said.

"Okay, now let's quietly leave so Rabbit doesn't hear," Eri whispered.

"Should we walk or fly?" Cassie asked.

"I thought we were teleporting," Moon said.

"Oh yeah," Lina said and teleported everyone to South Carolina.

"Ow! Teleporting headache!" Eri said, grabbing her head.

"Ah, I get what you mean now. I feel kinda drained using that much of my magical author powers!" Lina said.

"Oh hey! You even teleported Victorie!" Cassie said.

"It smells awful here..." Cheshire commented.

"Oh yeah. Marshes and pollution everywhere," Lina said.

"Hm, I don't see any gorillas here," Eri noticed.

"Don't jinx us," Annabeth said.

"Wait a minute... tall building, narrow streets... College of Charleston?! This is downtown Charleston! Annabeth you've been here!" Eri exclaimed.

"Yes, yes I have," Annabeth confirmed.

"Yay familiar places!" Eri said.

"Woohoo!" Lina whooped.

"Not familiar to me..." Ron grumbled.

"This... is winter, right?" Snow asked. He was from Missouri and it was oddly warm for him.

"What?" Winter asked.

"Not you," Annabeth said, "It is Winter, it's just the south. Get used to it."

"So, what now?" Eri asked.

"We explore!" Lina said, "We'll see if there are any stragglers. Or gorillas."

"Alright, let's check that big hotel place. The one with the chandelier and stairs," Eri said.

"Yeah, the chandelier place," Lina agreed.

"It's called Belmond Charleston Place," Annabeth informed the two girls, slightly surprised that they didn't know what it was called.

As they walked through the narrow streets, the group noticed that downtown Charleston wasn't completely wrecked. The buildings were abandoned and damaged, but hardly any of them were completely demolished.

When they got to the Belmond Charleston Place, Cassie tried to open the glass doors. "It's locked," Cassie stated after failing to open the door.

Eri noticed the sidewalk was cracked where she was. With great effort she took a piece of the sidewalk and threw it at the glass door. She stepped through, careful to avoid the glass shards.

"Vandalism is wrong Cassie," Eri said.

"Okay," Cassie said and stepped through.

From the inside, Cassie opened the doors for the others and Eri kicked the glass off to the side.

"Hey, the shoe shine place is still intact!" Lina observed.

The hotel was dark without electricity, but it was still nearly as stunning as it was before the apocalypse.

"Yeah, the chandelier is only slightly broken even if it doesn't work," Eri said.

"This place is interesting," Fred said.

"It is. I think upstairs are the guest rooms and downstairs are the restaurants and stores," Eri informed.

"We need to check the place to see if anyone's here," Ocotillo whispered, "I will check the guest rooms upstairs. Anyone want to come?"

"Me!" Eri volunteered, "I love going up the stairs! I also have a flashlight to use. It may be too risky to use your dragon flame."

"I'll come too," Snow said.

"Same," Qibli said.

"Okay, let's go," Ocotillo said and the four of them headed upstairs.

Eri turned her flashlight on and peered into one of the rooms.

"Seems clear," Ocotillo said and stepped in.

"I'll watch outside for anything suspicious," Snow said.

"Okay," Ocotillo said and looked around the room for any potential supplies.

"It doesn't seem like anyone is here," Eri commented.

"If there was anyone here, they'd probably come out and make a run for it," Ocotillo said.

"Maybe there are supplies in this armoire. Or closet? No it's an armoire," Qibli said and opened the armoire. "Woah!"

"I'll take that young lady's idea," The stranger shoved Qibli aside, and he jumped from the armoire. He was headed right to where the rest of the group was.