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Percy's POV:
I sat in my room surrounded by the thin veal of darkness, holding on to Annabeth's iPod and shaking uncontrollably. The gunshots rang in my ears and the memory of her body being shot played over and over again in my mind and I couldn't stop it. My eyes were glossy with tears and as I looked at the mirror in front of me I saw that they no longer were the green they used to be. They were a dull green surrounded by red and tears.
I took in a shaky breath and ran a hand through my messy hair. I wasn't strong enough to shake off Nico and Jason as they dragged me into my room and left me in here. Some of the girls came to visit me, bringing me food and water while others came in to see if I wanted to talk about what happened. But I didn't want to talk about what happened. I didn't need a therapist or a psychologist. I needed my Annabeth. I needed to feel her soft curly hair beneath my fingers, to see the glow of her grey eyes when she talked about something smart that I didn't understand. I needed her back with me and the fact that I could never have her back was destroying me. It was a feeling of loneliness, despair and heartbreak that wrapped around me like a python and strangled me. I couldn't fight it and I didn't want to accept it. I just wanted my Annabeth.
Tears rolled down my cheeks and I wiped them away even if they came back as soon as I dried them. I looked down at the iPod in my hands and remembered the way the her zombie stared at me. She knew who I was, I could feel it. I was confident that if we kept her in the room where Rosalinda once was, that we could find a cure that would save my Annabeth. That's why I told the others to dig her a grave in the backyard. It was supposed to be the perfect plan. I would work harder than I have ever worked in my entire life to find the cure, I would make sure that everyone else in my team was protected because what happened to Annabeth would never, ever happen again on my watch. We were going to cure her and as many other zombies as we could. Simple, no? But it didn't go out the way I had planned it like everything always did.
"Percy…" a hoarse voice crawled from Annabeth's chapped lips.
"Nearly there, Wise Girl," I whispered in her ear, "I can see the bridge up ahead."
Annabeth lifted her head slightly and winced. I looked down and saw where her golden hair was stained red from blood.
"Don't," I begged. "Stay relaxed, you'll be alright, I promise."
Another tear was shed from my eye. I had promised.
"I…I love…" she coughed. "I love you, Percy."
And she had loved me.
Memories, no matter what anyone ever said to me, weren't good. There were quotes saying, "Don't cry because it's gone. Smiled because it happened." No. No, I just couldn't accept that. Memories were plagues. They would hurt you once that thing is gone. They reminded you of what you had and you can't ever have anymore because that thing is lost at the bottom of the ocean. They forced you to see how you used to smile before and how you cry now. Or they forced you to see your own suffering and then they multiplied it, making it a thousand times worse.
I decided I hated memories.
"I don't know," I said as I wiped tears from my cheeks. "I'm…I'm so sorry Annabeth."
"It's not your fault." She replied.
She was so strong. Even knowing that she was going to die she didn't shed one tear. I cried for her.
"It is!" I replied. "I should have protected you better! I let that zombie drag you off; I didn't look after you properly. I'm so, so sorry."
She went to argue but I pulled her into a tight embrace. I just wanted to keep her in my arms for as long as I can. If only I could freeze time and stay here, like this, with her for eternity. She hugged me back and that's when I felt the tears come. We cried together, arms wrapped around each other in a desperate hug.
"I don't want to lose you," I told her.
"I don't want to leave you."
I remembered how the next three days had been like surviving Tartarus. Now, it felt as if I had never truly left Tartarus. I only brought the pain with me. She didn't want me to remember her lying down on her death bed with an infected scratch and a bleeding head. And once again I promised her I would remember her as the warrior she was. It wasn't a complete lie. I still remembered how she massacred so many zombies while listening to the Jonas Brothers. I remember how talented a fighter she was when she beat me in our little training groups and earned herself a star. I remembered the first time she called me a seaweed brain when I showed her the bioluminescent jellyfish. And our first kiss when we had gotten split up and we were hiding in that old, wrecked car.
I smiled a little bit and turned the iPod over again and again in my hand. What would I give just to talk to her again?
"I'm worried about Percy," I heard someone say outside my door.
"He'll be fine. Let's give him a couple of days."
"We need a leader."
"He is still our leader and he always will be. Can't you see he's going through a hard time? We should just leave him alone. He'll work things out."
It will take a couple of years just to get over the fact that I won't have Annabeth with me anymore. I was still very well aware that I was their leader and that they needed someone to guide them, but it didn't have to be 24/7. There was food in the cafeteria, protection from the zombies and things they could do to entertain themselves. They could survive a few days without me.
I calmed myself down and stood up, heading towards my bed. I laid down and thought about reading something new from the computer when something crazy happened.
"Percy?" A voice said.
I looked around the room and almost started laughing. If I was in a videogame, I could imagine getting an achievement.
[Insanity Level Unlocked!]
I had finally reached insanity. Now they were going to put me in an asylum in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I was being haunted. Yeah, that was it. I was being haunted by a ghost who has come to take me to where Annabeth was.
"Percy?" The voice said again. It was her voice. "Can you hear me?"
"Annabeth?"
Third Person's POV:
"Rosalind, I've got a new idea." One of the game makers said as he spun around to face the women with the glasses.
"What is it, Harold?" Rosalind said impatiently as she brushed her dark hair away from her face.
"Look at this player. I believe his name is Player Jackson." The man said as he typed away the camera angle on Percy's face went closer to him, revealing that he was crying.
"Ok. What about him?"
"He's crying over the loss and disconnection of Player Chase from the game. You wanted to make it a bit interesting, didn't you? You want him to find a way out of the game? Why don't we give him a spirit guide?" Harold smiled as he typed away again and on another tab, creating a spirit looking version of Player Chase.
Rosalind's eyes scanned the screen and saw how she could move the spirit by simply pressing the arrow keys. It was like a computer game; a much simpler version of Warning: Zombie Takeover.
"If we connect Player Chase to a headset, maybe give her a PC, she can play the game without having to be in it." The blonde guy said as he looked up to his boss. "Maybe we could test it out and if the results are good, we can sell this as a little App version of the game for those who can't go into the game themselves."
It took a little while as Rosalind thought things over but she ended up nodding, agreeing to what Harold was saying.
"Not everyone will be able to afford this system, so I agree with your experiment, Mr. Green." Rosalind said. "Call in former Player Chase."
Annabeth's POV:
I had spent the days inside my room thinking about different ways to get back into the game and warn the others. Despite what they would say to me, their actions told me that there were other players and that they were alive. They tried convincing me that there were only a few players in this facility and that each player was given a team of computer programs to help them during the game. That I was the only real person in that safe house and that everyone else was computerized. I didn't believe it one bit. I wasn't going to give up on Percy and all my other friends that I had made there. They were real, they had a story and I was going to help them.
It was around the time when the nurse brought me food that Mr. Matz walked into my room with another nurse I have never meant before and a wheel chair.
"Ms. Chase, you have been called down to the Experiment and Test Unit. Do not worry, you will not be harmed in anyway."
The Experiment and Test Unit. That didn't sound good at all.
"And what if I don't want to go?" I told him. "You can't force me if I refuse."
"I believe that this might be of some interest to you, Ms. Chase. It involves Warning: Zombie Takeover and it also involves you playing."
And he was right, it did spark my interest. This is exactly what I have been waiting for. If I went back into the game, I could warn the others and they could wake up. Once they woke up, they didn't have to live in that eternal torment anymore. And I could see Percy again. I slid my legs off the bed and didn't accept the help from the nurses. I can do things myself, I wasn't completely helpless. I also had to work on regaining those muscles of mine. In the game, I had been in perfect physical condition. But in real life, I had been lying inside a container for who knows how long. But I did know I was extremely weak.
They took me down long cream colored hallways that had nothing but doors running down both sides. No pictures, no decorations, nothing. There were no labels for the doors either. For all I knew, there could be more kids in there that have woken up from the game or labs to where they were building and adding things to the game. Or they could be building a huge flying warship named the Argo II in honor of the original Argo ship, who knows. After a while, we turned left to another long hallway and entered a door on the left.
There was nothing in the room except a grey computer with the Greek letter delta glowing on the front, a white desk and a chair. The rolled me next to the chair and I sat down on it. The nurses left and left me alone with Mr. Matz. I waited for him to explain why I was here but he wasn't the one who was going to explain.
"Welcome, former Player Chase, to the Excitement and Test Unit." A voice said as they came into the intercom. "You may be wondering what you are doing here, but please, keep your question until the end where Scientist Matz will answer them. Listen carefully. In order to make Warning: Zombie Takeover a higher quality game we have decided to add a more reachable objective to the players. And we have decided to add a little help. Given to your former experience of the game and your importance to the team that you were in, we have decided to let you try the prototype to a small, mobile form of the game. You will re-enter the game and guide the players to the cure. You have disconnected from the program and we will no longer place you back in it."
"You are to be placed in the game as a spirit. Your avatar will look like you in a ghostly form. If you are to be placed back in the game, you must no reveal any of this information to the players. You will be monitored at all times. If you intend to tell them about what happens after, you will be disconnected from the game. You only get one chance. If you have any questions now or during your gameplay, ask Scientist Matz and he will answer it for you. Have fun."
Mr. Matz walked to the other side of the table and opened the computer for me. In the screen, there was a ghostly form of me just as the voice had said. There were simple instructions on the side and Mr. Matz handed me a headset.
"You will speak while the headset is on. The arrow keys will be used to move. If you want to touch, grab, carry or fight, you will click on the object you wish to do that too then click the option you want to choose. As a ghost, only the player we assign to you will see you and you can go through walls and do other things that you will discover. Again, if you try to release any confidential information you will be disconnected." He said. "Pretend this is a RPG type of game. You are playing a ghost. If he asks you how you came back, just act. Any questions?"
"No questions." I said.
I just wanted to get into the game. It didn't seem hard at all but I was greatly disappointed to know I couldn't give away any information about what happens after a player dies. But it was expected, I knew they were going to say that.
I put on the headset and tested my character out. It was like playing any other computer game. A highly detailed, realistic, expensive game.
"Voice test." Matz said.
"Testing, testing. One, two, three." I said.
The character said the same thing I said and even mouthed its mouth the same way I did. It was strange but fascinating.
"Prototype good to go. There will be a short video to show you what has happened before. After that you will enter the game immediately, so be ready." And with that, Mr. Matz left me alone in the white room.
I saw Percy going outside with Juniper and Grover. I saw my zombie clawing itself out of the ground and I shivered. I saw Percy look hopeful at the zombie. I saw Percy being dragged away while the others shot my zombie. I saw him cry in his room and then the video ended.
My ghostly player stood near the wall where he wasn't facing. Seeing him again made my heart stop beating when I realized he was crying.
"Percy?" I said.
He didn't react much which made me wonder if he heard me.
I was so excited that I could see him again, I wish I was there with him. I wish I could touch, hug him and wipe away his tears. But I couldn't. I tried no to complain that much because at least I could see him.
"Percy, can you hear me?" I tried again.
He looked around but not at my character.
"Annabeth?" He said, his voice filled with shock.
I smiled when he recognized my voice.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain. Miss me?"
How was that guys? Good? Bad?
I want to go back to some of the things I was doing at the beginning of the story, but I wanted to ask you guys first.
-Should the Nico/Veronica relationship ever go anywhere?
-What creature should they encounter next? Any crazy mythology creature you think should show up?
And what do you think about Annabeth coming back to Percy…in a strange way.
Let me know what you think!
REVIEW!