Hey!

I was sitting in my coach, watching TV and then I thought…

Why don't I update Warning: Zombie Takeover?

Then my friend texted me:

You should update the Zombie story

And I was like:

Confirmation!

So I did.

Enjoy!

Chapter dedicated to: BeautiWind

Annabeth's POV

Everything was quite as we started to cross the George Washington Bridge. I had that feeling inside me that told me: it's the calm before the storm! Be careful, be careful! I had a bad feeling something was going to happen on this bridge, but we had to cross it anyways.

It was getting dark. The boys told us we had to keep going, since we had lost a lot of time while we were separated and that we would take a well deserved break after we reached New Jersey. But a question floated around in my head…will we make it to the other side?

The sun was setting and I took a moment to admire the beauty of the George Washington Bridge. I remembered how it was back in the good old days. At night, the bridge would shine in glory, lights covering the sides of the bridge, following the cords as they went up and down. Many people traveled from the whole world, just to see the bridge…and now it was nothing but trash. The road was decorated with cracks but since I know a lot about architecture (one of my passions, aside from music) I knew it was safe enough for us to walk on.

The water below the bridge reflected the sun's orange rays, twinkling. At least some things were still beautiful.

There were two sides to the George Washington Bridge. The top side (where the trucks usually go through) and the bottom (the express way, were there is almost no traffic). We decided to take the top, but something kept telling me we should have taken the bottom. We would have been hidden from view and that would have helped out chance of survival…but when they boys set their minds to something…all three of them…it was impossible to convince them otherwise.

"I-I'm s-so cold!" Conner exclaimed as he walked.

He had his hands inside his dark green coat, and his messy brown hair inside the coat's hoodie. He shivered as he walked, complaining about the temperature.

"Same! I rather be in somewhere warm, like Florida or Calif-fornia." Piper said.

She was wrapped inside a purple coat Jason had found her. She had one of the best jackets, yet she was still cold. I adjusted my grey coat, which reached my knees, and rubbed my hands together hoping they would stay warm. I wish I had longer hair, so that it would cover my face…maybe I wouldn't be so cold.

"Aw, come on guys! You're making Nico less happy." Percy said as he smirked and bumped into Nico.

Nico glared at him and shook his head. He was wearing a brown aviator jacket and everything else was black.

"There's no happy to lose. I'll be happy when we find some shelter and make a fire. But that's after we cross this bridge." Nico told us.

Veronica was walking ahead, strands long black coat whipping behind her, with Jason and Conner on her side. She went over to the edge of the bridge and looked down, the rusted railing groaned. As she was going to walk back, Conner got that mischievous look in his eyes and before I could warn her, Conner pushed her forward. But it wasn't just touching her shoulders and screaming; Boo! It was an actual push. She would have fallen off the side of the bridge if it wasn't for Jason.

Jason had grabbed her as she almost fell (the rails on the side were so rusted they broke and fell down towards the water), she held on to Jason as he pulled her back. She looked shocked and frozen as if she were frozen by fear. When she recovered, she glared at Conner so intensively, if looks could kill, Conner would be nothing but dust.

Percy wrapped an arm around my waist, protectively as if scared that were to happen to me. I felt his warmth inside me and I tried to stop my heart from beating fast. What if one of us fell from the top of this bridge? The impact would not only kill you, the ice cold water would freeze you…

"Veronica, you okay?" Nico said as he rushed over to her, making her look at him as he brushed away some loose strands of hair.

She was a little shaken up, but she nodded.

"Annabeth, you stay next to me, until we crossed this bridge. Understood?" Percy whispered in my ear, causing me to shiver.

Normally, I would have not taken orders from anyone, but after almost watching Veronica fall to her death, I was more shaken up that she was.

I nodded and stayed close to Percy…not that I minded.

We continued to cross the bridge. We weren't even near the half when the sun was eaten by the water. The sky was not dark blue, but pure black decorated with shining stars. Usually, in New York, you couldn't see the stars. There were too many lights for that, but now that there was no electricity anywhere…stars were abundant in the skies. I held hands with Percy as we walked. His hand was surprisingly warm compared to my frozen one. I had gotten that feeling again…as if we were being watched my eyes so black, they matched the dark sky.

"Percy…we should hurry up. I don't think we're safe on this bridge." I told him quietly.

He looked at me.

"Was it because of Conner? Veronica's fine, see?" He pointed over Veronica and Nico who were walking together. "No one is going to fall off."

"Not on accident…what if it was on purpose…it's so dark I can't even see Juniper! And I know she's in front of us, just seven feet away." I told him.

And I was right. You could see the little green leaf hair clip, Grover had given her, glow in the dark. Percy looked at me and kissed my forehead, pulling me closer to him.

"We will make it across safely. I promise." He reassured.

But that was a promise, I felt deep in my heart, he couldn't keep.

That's when it happened.

"HELP ME! HELP! SOMETHINGS DRAGGING MY FEET!" Conner yelled as he hit the floor with his hands trying to hold on to something.

"Conner?!" Juniper yelled.

"I don't believe him." Nico's voice came from the distance.

"Wait! We need light! Does anyone have a flashlight?" Percy asked, worried.

There was the sound of book bags zipping and then Piper turned on two flashlights. What I saw scared the living Hades…out of me.

Conner was being dragged by both his legs by two zombies. What scared me? It wasn't the two zombies, it was the other fifty that were behind them. They were all looking at us with dark eyes, with only two flashlights, they looked like pale ghost. For the first time in a very long time…I felt scared. I grabbed on to Percy's arm and I could feel him draw Riptide. I drew my own knife and forced myself away from Percy and into a battle stance away from him.

I couldn't distract him…not now, here he could get hurt. But I also figured something out. Outnumbered, in the middle of a bridge with no light what-so-ever…surviving this would be hard. Conner managed to kick free from the zombies and stumble over to us. He took out both his guns and pointed them at the zombies.

Piper, with one of her flashlights, pointed to the opposite side just to find out that there were zombies there too. We were surrounded and most likely dead.

"P-plan?" Juniper said from off to the side.

Her weapon was a bow (made from hard wood), which I had no idea where she had got it from…she didn't have it two minutes ago. But Juniper loved her weapon; she didn't have to get close to her enemy, which was perfectly fine with her.

"I would say, run…but we have nowhere to run to." I told her.

The wind started to blow and I had to force myself not to shiver. The wind was coming from the Hudson River…cold and unforgiving. We had no way out…we would soon be overtaken. Divide and conquer wouldn't work here. It would be more like, divide and die.

"The wires…Can't we climb up the cords?" Piper suggested as she pointed to the long, thick cords that held the George Washington bridge.

On the cords were little steps made my thin metal strips. They were stairs. But as I looked up, the light of the moon helped me see how high up the cord went…then it went back down…then up again. If one of us slipped…

"Too dangerous." I told them.

"We have no other choice!" Conner said.

"We can fight out way out." Jason said, sounding very confident.

"No…we can't. We're too outnumbered!" Veronica exclaimed.

I had to think…the zombies were just watching us. As if they found it amusing that we were freaking out about how we would get out of here…

"There is one way…" Percy said.

We all turned to look at him, he looked paler than a sheet of paper.

"We have to jump." He said.

My eyes widen in shock.

"What?" I almost screamed.

"I can get us down to the water safely…Nico, Jason, Conner and I all can…isn't that right." He said, looking at the boys.

Jason nodded but Nico shook his head.

"It's forbidden, Percy."

Percy glared at him.

"This is an emergency! It's the only way! I won't let anyone get hurt, not one my watch!" Percy yelled at him.

He looked a bit taken back, but he looked to the floor and nodded.

What in the name of Athena were they talking about?!

"Annabeth, do you trust me?" He asked as he put his arm around my waist and tightened his grip around me.

"I d-do, but we just can't jump." I said trying to show him my logic…but it wasn't helping.

I looked over and Conner walked towards Juniper and Clarisse (who had been oddly quite in this situation), telling her to hold on to his hand. Suddenly, Conner's shoes sprouted wings and Juniper and him were lifted up in the air. I stared at them in shock and awe, then Nico grabbed Veronica's hand. He whispered something in her ear but before she could respond, they both disintegrated into a fast moving shadow. Jason told Piper to hold on tight, and when her arms were wrapped around Jason…Jason shot up in the air, flying towards New Jersey.

They…they had powers? What? No, this must be a dream. There was no way powers existed…was there? Was this all logical or was I losing my mind.

The zombies started to growl to move forwards slowly. Percy turned back, the only place that zombies weren't at…near the edge. He started to walk towards it, gesturing for me to follow him; I held on to his arm and pulled back.

"Percy, we can't just jump! Please, we-we can't!" I cried.

I really didn't want to jump off the George Washington Bridge, into ice cold water. I didn't. I was nervous and unsure. No matter how much I trusted Percy, my mind screamed that I shouldn't jump. But sometime you have to trust you heart, instead.

"Annabeth, please, trust me." He said, his face covered with emotion.

Without thinking, I nodded and let him drag me over towards the edge. The zombies started running at us, the smell of rotting skin came to me and I pushed my face into Percy's chest. He wrapped both his arms around me and without warning…

We fell off the edge…cold air moving my hair wildly…a scream got stuck in my throat…

We fell into the dark waters…but I didn't feel an impact.

It was like the water had risen up and took us, instead of us hitting it. In Percy's arms, the water wasn't cold at all…it was warm, pleasant even. A bubble formed around us as I sneaked a peek from Percy's chest. I was awestruck as the water currents moved at Percy's bidding. I looked up at him but his eyes were focused on the water and it moved us towards New Jersey…towards Fort Lee.

I didn't want to breath, not waiting to waste the air inside the bubble. Percy probably noticed me turning purple, because he smiled down at me.

"You can breathe all you want Annabeth." He told me.

I took in a silent deep breath.

"You…Conner…Nico…how-"

"We weren't supposed to tell you…or even show you. But we would have died up there…we had no choice."

I still hadn't wrapped it around my head that Percy could control water, that Conner's shoes had wings (how did I not notice that?), that Nico dissolved into a shadow and that Jason could fly.

"Hold on tight, we're going up." Percy said.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and his hands were wrapped around my waist. He looked up and we shot up towards the shore. My ears popped, but other than that I was fine. I took in a deep, deep breath of air and searched the shore for my friends…they weren't there.

We walked out of the water, perfectly dry. I kept looking at my clothes, wanting to see something wet but there wasn't any. I was dry. Percy did have powers. I wasn't crazy.

"Jason and I had planned this a while back. Their waiting for us in a nearby gas station. We should head over there." He said as he took my hand.

"Alright." I said.

Together, hand and hand, we walked inside the darkness. All fear…suddenly gone.

Juniper's POV

Clarisse and I hung on really, really tightly to Conner as we fly through the air. Jason was flying by near us, making sure we didn't fall and he held Piper in his arms. Clarisse looked so shocked yet…sick. She had been really quiet in the George Washington Bridge accident, but she didn't look air sick…she looked…regular sick. Maybe she had a fever or a sore throat.

"We will be landing at the gas station soon…Thank you for flying, Air Conner." Conner said in a formal voice.

I held back a giggle and waited to touch down on the ground. Once we did, I rejoiced behind in the grass. It's not that I hated flying, but I preferred the ground where the grass was it, the plants and the earth. Clarisse put her hand over her mouth and ran off somewhere. Jason set Piper on the ground and she looked up at him in admiration.

"Jason…it would have been useful to tell me you could fly a long time ago." She told him, trying her best to glare at him.

"I wanted too, Pipes. But I couldn't. Percy made us promise we wouldn't." Jason said as he ran a hand through his blonde hair.

He looked tired and probably hungry.

"I'm going to whip up something quick, I'm sure we're all hungry…you know…discovering you guys have powers and all." I said as I began to open my backpack.

We had enough supplies to last us about two more weeks, but I was worried about over cooking and wasting all of this. I was worried about disappointing team alpha. They were all so useful, so powerful and brave…all I could do was cook. Yippee.

"Thanks, Juni. We appreciate that." Piper said as she smiled.

Oh and that too. All the girls were so pretty in their own, unique way. Piper was beautiful! Her eyes changed from green, to blue, to brown constantly. Her hair was always braided into a fish tail braid or into a normal braid. She was so convincing…and she had an amazing boyfriend. Annabeth was also beautiful. She was so unique with her blonde hair and grey eyes. She was brave, extremely intelligent, beautiful and knew how to use any weapon. Veronica was really pretty too. She was knew, but her long brown hair was always so straight and her soft brown eyes were full of authority and beauty. Even Clarisse was pretty! She always wanted to seem so intimidating but when you caught her in the right moment she was beautiful.

All I was, was the garden girl. With messing brown hair, that will never be as straight as Veronica's or as curly as Annabeth's. Green eyes that weren't as beautiful as Percy's or Samantha's. They were just an ugly forest green.

"You're welcome." I smiled, hiding all my insecurities.

One day I will prove myself to be useful and worthy of being called a worrier. But until then, I had food to make.

Veronica's POV

Turning into a shadow isn't all as fun as it sounds.

It feels like all your body is turning into liquid and that the ground is swallowing you up. Nico wrapped his arms around my waist and at incredible speeds we headed off towards someplace. I trusted Nico enough to know that we would make it safely to whatever place he had in mind, but I still couldn't accept that this was happening.

Soon, we resurfaced on to the ground…me being on top of Nico. I blushed and got off of him. I stood up but noticed he didn't. He looked exhausted but he managed to get up onto his feet. He stumbled to his side and I caught him before he fell.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine…I just need a little breather, that's all." He said.

He sounded sure, so I believed him. We both lay down on the streets walking the stars. We weren't afraid of any cars running us over, since there weren't any. I listened to the sound of Nico breathing as we both just in the beautiful scenery.

"Um…thank you." I told him.

His face was right next to mine and I could feel him turn his face to look at me, but I didn't look at him. I kept facing the stars.

"Thank you? For what?" He asked.

"Saving my life…twice."

"Twice? When was the second time?" He asked.

"When I almost fell off the bridge, I was paralyzed with fear. Then, the next thing I see I you, telling me everything's okay…just…thanks." I couldn't find the right words to tell him, which was unusual for me.

I always knew what to say and when to say it…but now, I felt weird. I felt like how I used to feel when I was with Alexander. Oh my goodness…Alexander. I miss him so much. What would he think if he saw me in a moment like this, lying down on the street with Nico? Nico was just a friend, right? Yeah, he's just a friend, nothing more or nothing less.

I sat up and pushed my hair back and onto my right shoulder. I looked up towards the sky and found the North Star. Alexander always told me that was my star. He said I was the brightest star in his life and that if he followed that star, it would always lead him towards me. I wondered if his zombie was following that star…I shivered and threw that thought away.

Nico sighed loudly and sat up. He also looked at the sky and then he turned to me.

"We should go." He told me as he stood up.

"Yeah, we should." I said taking his hand.

He pulled me up with a little too much force, because we ended up face to face…shocked, I only stared into his dark eyes. He looked into my eyes and we stood like that for a moment. Since I didn't make any movement that told him I was going to kiss him, being a gentleman, he moved backwards and held his hand out for me. Not wanting to disappoint him more, I took his hand and we walked through the dark…I let Nico lead me until we found a small gasoline station.

Annabeth's POV

I leaned my head on Percy's shoulder as we all sat down inside the gasoline station. The doors were locked and the cracks in the window were all covered up with furniture we pushed against it. Juniper and Piper managed to make a small fire, contained it, and kept it going in the inside of the gasoline station. Clarisse was in the corner, leaned against the wall. She looked horrible, by the looks of it, she had a fire fever and was burning up. Veronica had volunteered to go get some medicine (since she'd lived in New Jersey for a while) and when Nico offered help, she denied. Now, he sat down next to Jason and Piper. He was taking with Jason but I was sure his mind was somewhere else.

"Clarisse you're okay?" I called out.

The fire was warm and Clarisse was too far away to feel its warmth. I wasn't her friend but that didn't mean I didn't I would let her die. I wasn't that kind of person.

"Hm…" She responded.

I questioned if she even had the strength to speak.

"Juniper is making you some soup. Conner went out to the clothing store, not too far from here, to find some blankets. Are you sure you're okay?" Percy asked.

"I'm fine, guys. Stop worrying!" She scolded it us.

Yes. That was her. Same old Clarisse.

"Alright fine," Percy chuckled. "No more worrying." Then he looked at me and mouthed, not! While shaking his head. I smiled as he pulled me closer to him…all we did was wait.

Not much later, Veronica walked in through the door with a little black bag filled with bottles. She walked over to Clarisse and kneeled down in front of her.

"Here take two Tylenol pills," She said as she looked around the bag for them. "There both 500 ml. You should be fine in about 6 hours."

Clarisse nodded and popped both the pills into her mouth and then drank the water Juniper gave her. Veronica then stood back up and gave me the heads up signal, before she through the bag at me. I caught it (yes, I have amazing reflexes) and looked at her questionably.

"You'll keep it safe, in case we ever need it again." She said as she sat down, next to an old magazine stand.

"Alright…but if I lose them, I'm blaming you." I told her.

She smiled, shook her head and started to play around with her little puppy thing.

We were all still trying to process all the things that happened to us when we heard a noise. It was like a horse kicking its hoves on the pavement loudly, but at the same time a wolve howled in the distance. This was the first time I had ever heard anything about animals. The flames of the fire danced around, casting shadows over all of our faces.

"What was that?" Piper asked.

She moved closer to Jason, who wrapped his arms around her. Veronica and Juniper, those closer to the windows, peaked out and then shook their heads…there was nothing there.

"Maybe it's... The Jersey Devil." Veronica said in a sarcastic voice.

"It could be." Jason said.

I almost laughed.

"Are you all insane or have you all spontaneous gone insane. The New Jersey devil is nothing but a myth. A mother had her 13th child and wished it was the devil…boom! Her wish came true. No one believes that. It's just a story to scare little kids." I said as I shook my head.

There was no way I was going to believe those crazy thoughts.

"I'm scared." Conner said.

"See? I rest my case." I told them.

Some chuckled and other's laughed.

We needed a good laugh; I think we all deserved it. But the horse sounds came again, followed by the flapping of large wings. I stood up, letting go of Percy's hand and walked over to the window. I lifted up a curtain and looked outside…there was nothing. Just the wind blowing some leaves around and the light of a full moon.

"Nothing is out there." I told them.

BOOM!

Something landed on the roof. He stomped its hooves and neighed wildly. I looked around at my friends, as fear came over us. We all took out weapons out and got up.

"I-I'll stay here with Clarisse." Juniper said looking ashamed.

I wonder why.

"That's a brave thing, Juniper. Wait here." I told her as we all walked towards the door.

Percy held his hands on the he door handle and he looked back at us.

"On three?" He asked.

"Sure! 1-" Conner said.

"2-" Nico almost whispered.

"3!" I said as I pushed through and walked into the cold New Jersey air.

I really wish I hadn't.

But it was too late.

Cliff Hanger!

Yes, I am cruel. I came to the library today and the same lady was there…in the computer next to mine. Maybe she caused the story's cliffhanger…who knows?

I hoped you liked it!

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