A/N: You guys glad it's Wednesday? I'm pretty pumped about this chapter and the next few too! There's not as much action, but we're getting some development now, so pay attention! Some of the story properties are changing as the story continues, so also keep that in mind. If you wanna talk about it, hit me up on tumblr, and don't forget that I read all of the reviews you guys leave, but I usually only reply if one catches my eye.
Hope you guys have a great day! Come chat with me sometime.
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.
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Percy is still staring up at the walls of Camp Jupiter in awe when they open. Reyna pulls the car through quickly, and the gates close back behind them as soon as they enter.
He can see the walls peeking up around some of the buildings that line the street. He can't see the end of the street, but it can't really be that far—maybe a half mile. It really looks like a small town out of a movie; he can see a building that is labeled 'Post Office' and another that says 'City Hall' a few yards down the street. There's an old Police Station right beside the gate they came in, and there's someone standing outside of it with a weapon. It must have taken forever to clear out all the walkers and put up these walls and—
Percy is jerked out of his thoughts when he hears Reyna open the car door. She steps outside, and Percy grabs his backpack, scrambling out of the car too.
They're greeted by two people who have obviously been waiting on Reyna. The guy is really muscular, with his hair shaved down to his head. He looks Chinese too, but Percy isn't positive. He's holding a rifle in one hand, and there's a bow strapped across his back too. His shirt says U.S. ARMY on the front of it, and his biceps might seriously rip it open in a few seconds. Even though he's totally ripped, he looks about Percy's age.
The girl is a lot smaller though. Her curly hair is tied back with a purple bandanna, and her dark skin is flawless. She's probably a few years younger than him, but for some reason, Percy thinks that she could kick his ass without a problem. The big guy says something to her, but she shushes him immediately, walking over toward Reyna and Percy.
Percy looks over to Reyna, but her eyes are scanning the wall after it closed behind them, like she's looking for any flaws. She jerks her gaze to the people walking up to them.
She nods in greeting. "Did they get back with the supplies?"
The guy nods too. "Yeah. The food haul is pretty good, and Blake says he wants to take out another party to get the rest of it before it goes bad. They brought back some medical supplies too. We decided to lock them up in the basement until you got back."
"Great. Blake goes tomorrow morning," she announced. She finally looks over at Percy. "This is Percy Jackson."
The girl smiles at him and holds out her hand immediately, clasping his in both of hers. "Hi, Percy. I'm Hazel."
He smiles weakly, but he feels like he's going to throw up. "Hey, Hazel."
Hazel smiles again and gives the guy beside her a quick shove until he steps up and holds out his hand. His face is kind of red, but he says, "Hey. I'm Frank."
Percy nods and shakes his hand.
"I found Percy on my scouting mission. He's staying for the time being and will let us know if he plans to continue staying here," Reyna says formally, interrupting the introductions. "Hazel, if you could find him a bed near you and Frank that would be great."
Hazel smiles at him again before she nods and walks off back toward one of the buildings.
"There are almost twenty-five people inside these walls," Reyna starts, gesturing around her. "And there's one thing you have to understand if you want to stay here."
Percy studies her.
She takes his silence as a cue to continue. "Frank and I are the leaders of this camp. We will not tolerate any disloyalty or disobedience, got it? Failure to comply with our words will result in me kicking your ass before I drop you outside the wall."
Percy nods. He can do that. (He hopes.)
"Alright," she says. "Frank, can you show him around? I've got to check on a few things before dinner."
"No problem," he says signaling some other guy to come and get the car that they brought into the gates. "Come on, Percy."
Ω
Despite the fact that he could probably snap Percy's neck in half a second, Frank is actually really nice and Percy really likes him. He seems like a straight up guy, showing Percy around and explaining everything to him as they go.
Apparently, Frank ran into Reyna on the road a few months ago. He and Hazel (his girlfriend; Percy smothers the aww that almost falls out of his mouth) had been running from place to place, and when they ran into Reyna, they decided to stop. They found a small downtown square of a small city a few miles off of the highway, and they holed up there while drawing most of the walkers away. After they finished cleaning it out, they built the walls, and Reyna found even more people to help them. Somewhere along the way, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna became the leaders, and when the walls were finished, they named it Camp Jupiter.
Frank says that they get a few walkers crowd them from time to time, but the walls haven't let them down yet and Reyna is constantly making plans to expand and reinforce the walls.
Percy is actually really impressed too. This camp must have taken so much hard work, and it's insane that they're surviving here like they are. It's really awesome, and Percy is starting to think that it would be nice to stay here.
Percy and Frank meet up with Hazel before sitting down in a big area with a few tables. Most of the tables are already really crowded (he's met most of these people already, and all of them seem relatively nice), but Frank leads them toward a table at the back, where Reyna is standing up. She's watching most of the other people eat, but she's also talking to a dark haired guy that Percy hasn't met yet. She sends him on his way before sitting down just as they do.
"Blake is leaving at first light," Reyna says to Frank. "I'm going to be on guard when he leaves so I'll have the gate then."
Frank nods. "Are you going out tomorrow?"
"No," she says. "I've been out of Camp for too many days in a row already. I'll stay tomorrow and figure out the supplies that Blake is bringing back. Percy can help me."
He looks up surprisingly at his name. He blinks and says, "Okay."
She nods at him before getting up. "I'll find you tomorrow. Hazel, if you'll show him to his bed after you eat that would be great."
"Yeah, absolutely," Hazel agrees, taking a sip of her water.
"Frank," Reyna jerks her head. "If you'll walk with me for debriefing."
Percy wonders what they have to discuss. He wonders if it's about him. Oh well. At least they're giving him a bed and food.
He and Hazel talk quietly. She's really nice, and Percy finds himself talking more than he thought he would. She doesn't ask him a lot about what it was like on the road, but he thinks that she notices when she gets too close to a question that might make him upset. He's really grateful for that.
After they finish eating, Hazel walks him across the camp and into an old apartment building. It's a few stories high, and she explains that most of them live here. There's a twin building right beside it that must have housed more people before the end of the world, but Hazel says that they use that one for storage. Most of the other people live on the higher levels in the first building, but Frank, Hazel, and Reyna all have rooms at the end of the first floor. Hazel leads him to one of the rooms close to the end of the hall.
She points to the door opposite of his. "Frank and I share this one, and Reyna's is that one," she says, pointing at the door a few feet away. "You can come get me if you need anything tonight. I already put some water and towels in you room. Reyna has got some people working on getting running water, so this is the best we can do now."
Percy opens his door and almost groans. There's an actual bed in the room. With a couch and a chair too. And a table. This is heaven.
He nods happily, "No, this great. Thank you so much."
She smiles at him. "No problem, Percy. Well, I'll let you rest. You're probably exhausted. Let me know if you need anything tonight."
He stutters through another thank you before walking inside and closing the door quietly. Carefully, he sets his backpack down on the table and washes his face before slipping out of his shoes and jacket.
He falls down onto the bed a few minutes later, moaning at how awesome it feels.
Percy pulls Annabeth's note out of his pocket and reads it twice before curling up on his side and falling asleep.
Ω
He wakes up the next morning to someone knocking on his door.
He's awake in two seconds as he rolls out of bed and tucks Annabeth's knife into the back of his jeans before he walks over to the door. He is completely silent when he yanks it open.
Frank is standing there, and the door startles him when Percy pulls it open. His eyes are wide, and he blinks at Percy.
"Sorry," Percy says, backing away from the door a bit. "I'm still kinda jumpy."
"Uh yeah," Frank nods. "Sorry, I should have remembered that."
Percy nods too, and they fall into an awkward silence.
Frank breaks it when he clears his throat. "Oh, um, Reyna wants you to help her today. She's already downtown figuring out the supplies, but she told me to come get you later so you could sleep a little longer. She figured you were tired."
"Oh," he says. "That's really nice."
"Yeah, but she's ready for you now, so we should probably hurry," Frank explains.
Percy nods and darts back into the room, shoving a hand through his hair as he goes. Maybe he can find someone that can cut it sometime soon. He grabs his gun and shoves it into his jeans beside Annabeth's knife. He also grabs his jacket before heading back toward the door.
On their way, Frank hands him a small bag filled with some dried meat and nuts. Frank tells him about some of their new operations going on, and Percy nods along, commenting on some things but mostly just listening.
They have a really good set up here. Frank says that the walls have never been breached, and they have some people working on running water and food control. Apparently, they accept new people when they turn up outside the walls, but Reyna has never brought anybody back like she did Percy.
Frank is still talking when they walk past the meal area where they ate yesterday. Percy is listening carefully when someone bumps into his shoulder.
He's ready to apologize for not paying attention, but when he looks up, there's a blonde guy standing in front of him with an ugly sneer on his twisted face. Percy realizes that this guy ran into him on purpose, and his confusion melts into anger when the blonde guy's friends start laughing and snickering.
"Oh, sorry," he says spitefully. "You're the new guy that Reyna picked up off of the side of the road, right? I don't remember when we started picking up trash."
Frank sighs and says, "Octavian—"
But Percy interrupts him because if he's going to stay here, he can't be hiding behind Frank and Reyna all the time. These people need to know that he can defend himself and that he's not some wimp that's taking advantage of the walls and the leadership here.
He stands up straight. "Yeah, actually, I am. So what's your problem? Did Reyna pick you up off of the side of the road too, or does she only do that with people she actually likes?"
Octavian's sneer falls off of his face, and his friends stop laughing suddenly. His faces darkens, and he takes a step closer to Percy so he's right in his face.
"I don't know who you are, but—" he starts, shoving a finger into Percy's chest.
Percy grabs his hand and twists it away, listening to the pop of his fingers. His voice is low when he says, "I'm Percy Jackson, and you better stay the fuck away from me unless you change your attitude."
Octavian shrinks away from him, and Frank's voice is smug when he says, "Get out of our way, Octavian. Percy and I have somewhere to be, and I don't think Reyna is going to be too happy to learn that you were the one that made us late."
With another glare thrown at Percy, Octavian and his friends turn and slink away.
Frank looks over at Percy and raises an eyebrow. "Impressive."
He shrugs and follows after Frank when he starts walking.
Ω
Percy thinks that the room is empty until Reyna suddenly pops up from behind a stack of boxes.
"Sorry we're late," Frank starts, eyes sweeping around the room. "But Percy had to put Octavian in his place before we could get here."
Reyna glances at him and scowls, "What?"
Frank shrugs, "Octavian bumped into us on our way over here and pulled that "mightier than thou" crap. He said that Percy was garbage that you brought home."
"Bullshit," Reyna says, shaking her head. "I've got Gwen keeping an eye on him because something seems off about him lately."
Frank hums. "He doesn't know about the settlement though. I'm positive."
Reyna nods. "Just keep an eye on him. We don't have enough resources moved over there yet, and the walls haven't been reinforced. Percy and I are going to divide these supplies to take there, and tomorrow we can move some of it over."
Percy frowns, "Why does Octavian not know about this other place you guys have? Is it like this one?"
"Yes, it's built in the same style, but it's located a few miles south of here. When Frank, Hazel, and I first met up and found this place, we started building the walls, but when we started scouting for supplies we found a better area," she explains, twisting her braid behind her shoulder. "It's kind of like this, but the buildings are a bit bigger, and there's a military warehouse stocked there. We already built the walls around it, and I have two people stationed there with radios to keep me updated."
Percy's mind is reeling. After all of that time he spent on the road by himself and with Annabeth, he never ran into anyone like Reyna and Frank. It's just… it's amazing. They're building a life here.
Suddenly, his heart feels heavier, and he misses Annabeth more than ever. This is what she had been looking for. She wanted somewhere to survive and live. It's not fair. It's not fucking fair that he found it without her.
Then he realizes that Frank and Reyna are both staring at him. Reyna's mouth is moving, and she's saying his name.
He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry. I just… sorry."
She studies him for a second before she shrugs and turns to Frank. "Go back to the wall. I told Blake to come in at the south side, so keep everyone away from those supplies until we get to do inventory with them."
Frank nods and starts to head out, "I'll send Hazel down here with some lunch later."
"Thanks," Reyna calls after him, ducking down behind the boxes again.
Percy watches Frank disappear up the steps, and he's left alone in the basement with Reyna.
It's silent for a few seconds, and Percy can hear her shifting things around in a box. Then Reyna leans up and says, "Can you count and keep up with numbers or would you be better at moving boxes?"
His face is a little red when he says, "Moving boxes."
"That's what I thought." She stands up and points to a stack of boxes on the far wall. "Just move those over here with this stack, and when we finish with these, you can move them to that wall over there."
Percy nods and grabs the nearest box he finds.
They work in silence. When Percy finishes moving boxes, he watches Reyna count out a few boxes of food. Some of the other boxes have soap while others have ammunition. It's weird, and there's not really any order to it.
"Where did you find this stuff?" Percy asks, too bored to curb his curiosity.
She glances up at him, like she's debating on telling him or not. Finally, she says, "We raided a grocery store and a police station a few months ago. I stored them down here while we were building the walls, and I think that most of this is going to be taken to the new camp."
Percy nods, looking away from her while she goes back to the boxes. He pushes a new one in front of her when she finishes with the old one, and Percy catches himself staring at her.
He forces his gaze to the wall until she tells him to get more boxes.
A/N: Leave a review, and I'll see you next Wednesday!
-SomethingMoreCreative