A/N: Hey, guys! We've made it eleven weeks with this fic, and I'm super excited to share this chapter with you. However, I am going to skip updating next week, so expect Chapter 12 on October 14th. If you have any questions or comments, come over to tumblr and talk to me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you mat recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.
-9302015-
Frank is wheezing like he's about to lose a lung, but when Percy tries to slow down, he shakes his head and gasps out, "We don't—have time—to stop."
To be fair, Percy's not much better. He's still dizzy from earlier today when Octavian knocked him out, and he really needs something to eat and drink. His hands have been shaking since he woke up, and his teeth are clenched together so tightly they're beginning to hurt.
He just—he doesn't understand how Octavian could do something like this. How could he threaten all of their people? How could he—?
If Percy ever finds him—
They run down the street and turn into the alley beside the library. The sun is making its way down, and there's probably only a few hours until it sets, leaving them in the dark. If the wall isn't back up by then, they won't be able to keep the walkers out.
Percy keeps sprinting toward the library entrance, and he rips the door open when he gets there, ushering Frank inside. He leads the way back into the library through dark stacks of books, and honestly, Percy would be really freaked out if he had the time to think about anything other than breathing.
It's silent inside the library except for the gasping of breath from the both of them. Frank is clutching a hand to his side where blood has soaked into his bandage again, but if they stop and try to do something to help it, they could all die. They need to get back to the wall right now.
"Where are they?" Percy yells to Frank.
"Here!" Frank shouts, sliding down to the ground. There's a piece of the carpet sliced neatly, and Frank pulls back the seam to reveal a darker piece of wood. He hurriedly yanks it out, and Percy sighs in relief when he sees the rifles.
They take five with them, which is about just as many they can carry. Frank shoves the plank of wood back down into the small hole and covers it back with the carpet. If they make it through today, then they'll have to come back and fix this so no one will be able to find it.
Through the silence of the library, Percy can hear the gunshots outside. It's crazy that they haven't run out of ammo yet, especially since they only have three guns down there.
Percy and Frank run through the library and out of the door, slamming it shut behind them. They each take off down the street, huffing for breath and struggling with the guns in their arms. Percy rounds the corner and runs out into the street, but he bumps into something and trips, dropping all of the guns around his feet. The next second, Frank trips over him and flies to the ground, losing all of his guns too.
Percy hears Frank groan, but when he looks back up, there's a walker barely two feet from them, struggling to its feet and reaching out toward them, snapping its jaws in their direction.
The first thing that Percy thinks is that the camp must have been overrun.
He risks a glance down toward the gate, dreading what he's going to find, but Blake and Dakota are holding it up in place while Gwen crawls up on top of it. Hazel is still on the other side, reloading her gun before she takes aim again to shoot more walkers.
"Percy!" Frank shouts, grabbing his attention again.
He rolls to his feet and steps around the walker, grabbing it by the neck and slamming its head into the side of the building. Percy knows that it must have been someone in Camp that Octavian had killed, but he can't stand to look at their face right now. Someone else will have to figure out who it used to be.
Once it's collapsed against the ground, Percy grabs Frank's arm and hauls him to his feet, but while Percy is gathering the guns in his arms, the Camp falls silent.
He spins around when he hears the gunshots stop.
For two seconds, there's complete silence, and Percy feels sick to his stomach. There's no way—she's fine. She has to be.
Even though they're still a few yards away, he hears Hazel shout, "Reyna!"
Percy starts to run, but Frank grabs his arm and shoves some of the guns into his arms before he scoops up the rest. Frank's eyes are hard when he looks at Percy, but there's a bit of fear there too. He says, "We have to get these weapons over there. Now."
Percy nods blankly, but he can hear Reyna yelling now too and his whole body is shaking with fear. He can't—she can't—
They dash toward the gate, running as quickly as they can with their arms full. Frank slams his weight against the wall, pushing it up more. He shouts something at Blake and Dakota, but Percy's heart is beating too loudly in his chest for him to hear anything besides Reyna yell. Oh god, what if she's hurt? What if—?
Percy drops the guns onto the ground but tosses three rifle straps over his shoulders before jumping up and grabbing a bent piece of metal on the wall. He hauls himself up onto the top of it, wobbling slightly from where Frank is trying to keep it up on his own while Blake and Dakota secure the sides to the hinges.
He sighs in relief when he spots Reyna still on her feet. Her gun is lying on the ground, and she must have ran out of bullets. She's using her sword to cut down the walkers now. Even though it seems like it's one against hundreds, she's winning. There is a furious expression on her face, and her eyes are enough to kill on their own. Some of her dark hair is starting to slip out of her braid at the end, and there's a piece of it hanging in her eyes.
Percy is so relieved to see her still fighting that he just stares for a few seconds. And then something grabs his arm, and Percy jumps so hard that he almost loses his balance and falls off and—
Hazel has her hand on his arm. Her eyes are desperate as she reaches out for one of the guns. "Percy! Come on!"
He hands her a rifle before turning to his right and tossing one to Gwen on the other end of the wall. Hazel and Gwen are firing half a second later, knocking down some of the walkers getting too close to Reyna before moving to the groups crowding the wall and stumbling down the road. Percy slings the last rifle over his head, letting it dangle across his back.
Just as he's crouching down so he can drop to the ground to help Reyna, she turns toward him and catches his eye.
She slices the heads off of three walkers with one deadly swipe of her sword as she yells, "Percy Jackson, do not come down here!"
Her tone of voice is enough to make him hesitate, and instead, he huffs and rolls back over, pulling his rifle out to start firing at some of the walkers. With the three of them shooting down the extras, the crowd is starting to thin out, and Percy wonders if they can actually pull this off.
As soon as that first optimistic thought crosses his mind, the wall underneath him creaks and shifts backwards. He loses his balance for a second, but he's lucky that he was crouching down instead of standing up. He risks a glance over at Hazel, and she's balancing on one knees, still firing her gun even though the wall keeps shifting underneath them.
"Percy!" Frank shouts from the ground. His voice is strained and rough, and Percy suddenly feels guilty because Frank has a fucking bullet in his side and he's holding up a goddamn piece of metal by himself. "Get off of there! I can't hold it!"
"You have to!" Percy yells, shoving his rifle in Hazel's direction before dropping down off of the wall.
Frank has his whole side pressed up against the wall, with his hands braced on the top of it too. His whole body is shaking from holding his weight against it, and there's blood dripping down his side from his wound.
Percy shoves his weight against the wall too, watching Blake try and bend the metal edge back so it will slide into the jam that holds it up. He's hurrying, and just when they're ready to pick up this side so it will fit back together, Frank collapses.
"Frank!" He screams, bending a bit under the full weight of the wall. Blake is shouting that he almost has it and that Percy just needs to push harder so Percy grits his teeth and shoves again, using the last of his strength to hold the heavy metal up.
His eyesight is tinged with red, and he's getting dizzier by the second. He can't keep this up. He can't keep holding this on his own. He can't—
Reyna, I'm sorry, Percy thinks as his arms start to tremble and his vision gets darker.
But then—he hears a metal scraping, and Blake yells something that Percy doesn't understand but the weight is lifted from his shoulders.
Percy slides down the wall, collapsing in a heap next to Frank. He can't really see anything anymore, but at least they're safe. They're going to be okay now.
His head flops back against the wall, and his vision goes completely dark.
Ω
When Percy finally comes to, it's because Hazel is shaking him awake. There are tears streaming down her face, but she looks a bit calmer than she did while on the wall.
"How long…was I out?" Percy groans, reaching up to run a hand over his face. He's still a bit dizzy and short of breath, but he can worry about that later. Just… is everyone safe? Actually, he doesn't care about safe, he cares about alive because this is the end of the world, and it hasn't been safe for a while.
She brushes her hand over his head, checking for blood, but she pulls back quickly, nodding to herself when she doesn't see any injuries. There's a bit of blood on her cheek, but Percy can't see a cut anywhere.
Hazel helps him to his feet while she says, "Just a few minutes. You and Frank both held the wall up for too long while you were both already hurt. It could've been worse—"
"But it's up now, right?" Percy cuts her off, looking around. Blake is on the other end of the gate with Dakota, trying to fix the brackets back so they'll lock. But at least it's up now. It might not hold forever, but it should make it through the night.
"Yeah," Hazel breaths, hovering over him for a second to make sure he won't fall over or something. Percy wants to roll his eyes at her because they don't have time to worry about him, but it's too sweet. "But Frank… He's not doing so good."
Percy curses, looking back Hazel to see Frank leaning up against the wall. His head is rolled over to one side, and his eyes are still closed. There's still blood dripping down his side, and they need to get some medical supplies and get him fixed up before—
"Where's Reyna?" Percy demands, sliding onto the ground next to Frank. Hazel follows him to crouch in front of Frank. She drags her hand over his hair, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to his.
"She's still outside," Hazel says, sparing him a glance before setting her eyes back on Frank.
"Fuck," Percy mumbles, getting back to his feet and stumbling down the wall until he finds a good place to climb to the top of it. His vision blurs a bit when he pulls himself up, but he flops onto the top of the wall and takes a deep breath until he can see again.
When he looks up, he can see Gwen crouching with her rifle on top of the wall a few feet away from him. She shoots every few seconds, knocking down the walkers that stumble out of the woods and onto the road. There aren't as many as there were earlier, and Percy thinks that it's really good.
He shifts his gaze down to the road.
Reyna is still in the middle of a circle of walkers. She's spinning and twisting and stabbing walkers with her sword, and there's an impressive amount of bodies lying on the ground.
It's just— she hasn't slowed down at all since Percy left her out here alone. She's taken down this many walkers, and she's still fighting.
She spins in a circle, and Percy catches a glimpse of the murderous look on her face. She must be running completely off of anger now.
"Reyna!" Percy shouts. "The wall is up! Come inside!"
She yells in anger when a stray walker reaches to grab her shoulder and spins, slicing its head off in one swipe. She's still yelling when she says, "Let me finish!"
Percy's about to jump down and drag her back inside even if she doesn't like it because it's fucking dangerous down there, but Gwen catches his eye. She's shaking her head, and she rolls her eyes.
"Just leave her down there," Gwen says, looking through the scope of her rifle. "I've got her back right now. We'll come inside if there are too many."
He hesitates for a second before he nods at her and drops carefully back to the ground to help Frank and Hazel.
Ω
When Reyna does finally come back inside, Percy's standing on the other side of the gate waiting for her.
She's covered in blood and guts. Her clothes and skin are stained red from it, and she smells horrible. Her braid must have come undone because her dark hair is slowly falling down. There's a splatter of blood right across her face, running up her jaw to scatter under her eyes. Which, she's still wearing a hard expression, but her eyes look a little calmer, and once she sees Percy, her shoulders aren't so tense anymore.
He had helped Hazel get Frank to the apartment building with the others. The three of them had run into two more of their people who had turned into walkers, and Hazel had fired a gun at their heads before Percy could even offer to. It was just—it wasn't fair.
Frank is doing better though. Percy left Hazel there with him (because they can't risk losing Frank), and once she bandaged his shoulder wound back up, he was sleeping better. Hazel thinks that he's going to be alright, and that's just—a relief, really. Percy doesn't think he can do this without him.
Percy also sent Blake and Dakota to check out the rest of the camp and try and gather the bodies up. Sometime tomorrow they'll have to figure out who made it and who—
"Gwen," Percy starts, interrupting his own thoughts. "Can you go find some food and take it to everyone in the apartment? I know that the rations might be out, but—"
The other girl nods and pats him on the shoulder as she moves past him. "Of course, Percy. I'll figure it out."
"Thanks," he breathes. "Be careful."
She nods again before she takes off down the street.
Reyna is still standing a few feet away from him. Her sword is still clenched in her hand, and her eyes look a little blank now, like she's about to pass out. Her mouth opens like she's going to say something, but before she can, Percy surges forward.
She drops her sword when Percy wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his body even though she's covered in blood and smells like death. But damn, Percy's just glad she's alive. They're alive.
Reyna's head falls over onto his shoulder, and Percy would think that she's asleep, except he can feel her hand fisting the material of his t-shirt.
"Frank and Hazel?" Reyna murmurs a few seconds later.
Percy rubs a hand over her back, pressing his face into her shoulder too. "They're okay. Everyone is in the apartment building together. Hazel thinks that Frank is going to be fine."
She sighs in relief. "And the wall is secure?"
Percy nods, "Blake is sending someone back to guard tonight, but we're good."
"Good," she murmurs, pulling her head up and staring at him for a few seconds before she slips out of his arms and picks up her sword. Percy's still unsteady on his feet and he feels like he could pass out right here and sleep for years, but he feels better than ever when she reaches out and takes his hand.
"Come on," she says softly, staring ahead and pulling him forward. "We need to get some rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."
Percy nods and follows along behind her, gripping her hand in his and fighting the sleep that's about to consume him.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in two weeks!
-SomethingMoreCreative