The building where my dad lives is untouched. Like it stayed above the mess engulfing the rest of the city. Just like its occupants.
The doors slide open when we approach, the only difference from any other day are the missing doorman and lady at the front desk. I think her name was Bertha. The doorman's name was definitely Bob. Not Robert or Bobby, just Bob.
"Okay," Jason says, "Elevator."
"Stairs, this way," I point out.
"Do you really feel like climbing twenty something stories?"
Gods, what is up with Jason. We're in the middle of a crisis and he wants to question my every move.
"Annabeth would take the stairs," comes out of my mouth before I can stop it. I ignore how moony that sounds and keep going, "Better tactical advantage."
Jason's eyes narrow, but then he nods and spins on his heel. Thalia rolls her eyes, puts a hand on my arm, as if to say, 'Good call, Seaweed Brain', and follows. The staircase in this building is a work of art. It's set into the front left corner of the building and two of its walls are made of glass. From the ceiling and walls are hung thick panes of glass, abstract, with marbled colors. When the sun shines through the windows or the skylight high above us, it bathes the entire stairway in color.
I wonder what Annabeth would think about this. She's into architecture. But I'm not sure if something so purely decorational would appeal to her. I glance across the street. We're still a floor below the top floor of the garage.
"Are they waiting for us?" Frank asks Thalia as we head make it up another landing. He checks his watch.
"Yeah," she pants. "I told them to lock the door and not to let anyone in until they hear us."
We make quick work of the next six floors, where we leave Frank and Juniper to watch. And then we're heading up to the penthouse suites. There are three of them. The middle one is my dad's. The other two belong to my uncles and their wives. Just before we head through the door, I glance out the window. I can see Annabeth, the sun turning her blonde hair gold, her crossbow held loosely in front of her. She's not looking up. Instead, she looks off in the direction that we've come from.
We slip through the door and into the maid's hallway that leads to the door to my Uncle Hades' penthouse.
"Bianca! Nico! Hazel!" Thalia bangs on the door.
There's a shout from inside. Bianca. I think I hear Nico's name in there somewhere. He's probably holed up in his room, headphones in, music turned up. Totally ignoring his sister. Which I understand. If I had an older sister, I'd totally ignore her on occasion, even if it was the middle of a zombie apocalypse. There are sibling stereotypes to uphold. Bianca probably prefers it to the clingy phase that he went through when their mom died a few years ago.
Something scrapes against the floor. There's a crash. Then the door flies open.
It's not my cousin.
"L-Luke?" Thalia gasps. Then she's flying through the door.
I think they may have tried to recruit the wrong Grace sibling for the football team.
The only thing that keeps them from crashing onto the floor is the heavy, ebony bookcase that is standing close to the door at an angle. That thing could remain upright in an earthquake. More dull thunks as the books that survived its removal from the door, crash to the floor.
"Gods, Thalia...sibling here. Can you make out later?" Jason complains.
"I thought-I hadn't-" There's a really long pause. Then she punches Luke on the arm. He winces. Trust me, the girl is a hard hitter (and it's totally not fair since I can't hit her back). "Why didn't you call me!?" It's less of a yell and more of a battle cry. Then she whirls on Bianca and Nico who are suddenly reconsidering their decision to appear from behind the bookcase. "Why didn't you tell me he was here?"
The two siblings look at each other. Nico, wisely, remains silent.
"I assumed he'd called you," Bianca answers.
"I did," Luke says, rubbing at his arm. "And I sent you several texts."
"No, you didn't. I haven't..." Thalia stops. "...had my phone since last night. Um, sorry, about the arm." Luke shrugs, just looking happy to see her. Though he's still subbing his arm.
Luke exonerated, Thalia turns to Bianca and opens her mouth.
"Deadline, guys," I say. I shove everyone inside the apartment. Well, since I only have two hands, Luke and Thalia are the only people I actually end up shoving, but the rest follow.
"Phone charger?" I ask Bianca. She nods. There's one already waiting at a table by the door. Bianca unplugs it and hands it to me. I stuff it in my pocket and we're headed for the kitchen. "Five minutes guys. Anything you can grab..." I search for examples. Note to self: Next time, ask Annabeth for a detailed list. "Um, non-perishables. Warm clothes. Blankets." Uncle Hades isn't really outdoorsy. That's more my dad's territory. But he keeps most of that kind of stuff either on the boat or at the cabin, which we're already heading for.
We ransack the place. I don't think it can be called stealing since Nico and Bianca are helping. And with as loudly as we're ripping into drawers and the cupboard, stuffing things into a couple of overnight bags Bianca brings us, we aren't very good thieves anyways.
Bianca and Nico reappear, both of them carry backpacks. Bianca has giant dufflebag over on shoulder. Jason takes it from her.
"We should go," he says. For once, we're in agreement. I fish my walkie out of my other pocket. "Frank? Annabeth?"
"Yep."
"Yes?"
"We're headed down, how does it look out there?" There's static as I wait for my answer. Annabeth replies first.
"It's good from my angle."
"I'm clear too."
"Got it." I put the walkie back in my pocket. "Let's go."
We grab our trove and head out the door.
"Wait," Bianca says as we cross the living room. She runs over to a medieval style painting full of demons and people burning. Yeah, my uncle can come off a little creepy. She pulls it away from the wall. Behind it is a keypad mounted on a thick black door. Six numbers, six beeps and it's open. She pulls out a thick black pouch and stuffs it in her bag.
"Bianca, I don't think cash is going to be very useful anymore," Nico says.
Bianca shrugs. "It's better to be prepared."
I can hear static and Annabeth conversing with Grover in my pocket.
Heading down twenty something flights of stairs is obviously much easier than going down the stairs. We're at the first landing, about to go down the last set of stairs when Annabeth's voice burst out of my pants.
"Percy? Frank?"
I don't like the tone of her voice.
"Here," Frank says.
"You'd better hurry."
We fly down the last few steps and head outside.
There's another crackle and she's calling my name again.
"What?" I ask as we burst out into the street.
"Keep moving, whatever you do don't stop. Get in the van, got it?"
"Got it."
I hear a moan to my left. There's a corpse coming out from behind an alley. There are already several more in the street ahead of it. Their moaning intensifies. We make it across the street. Grover already has the van running. Annabeth is not in the front seat. I yank the doors open.
"Annabeth, get down here. We need to go," I shout into the walkie.
"Hold on."
Hold on? She was the one that said hurry.
"We need to get out of here before there are any more of them."
There's silence from Annabeth's end.
"Annabeth?"
"There's a herd coming this way."
What's she waiting for? Annabeth knows staying in the same place is suicide. We have to keep moving.
Unless...
Unless staying the same place is the best option. I throw my bags into the back of the van. It's gonna get real crowded once we stuff ten teenagers in as well. Unsheathing Riptide, I run back out in the street. Annabeth has better view, but I don't need to see much. The handful that I saw when we crossed the street has quadrupled (by my rough estimate). There is a steady stream oozing from the alleys. And worse, I can the gray mass of a herd moving down the street fast. The corpses are making their way uptown.
"Everybody in the van," I say. "Grover get down." I fumble with the buttons on my walkie. "Annabeth, tell me you have a plan."
Silence.
"Annabeth?"
"Hold on."
Jason grabs the walkie out of my hands.
"Hold on? We're screwed and you tell us to hold on."
The silence ignores him.
Then, "Percy?" Jason surrenders the walkie.
"Yeah?"
"Hand me to Grover," she says. I blink. Then I do exactly what I've been doing since Annabeth pulled me into the alley last night. What she tells me. "Grover?" She waits for Grover's response. "I'm going to distract them," she starts, "it should give you an opening. Got it?"
Grover's eyes narrow.
"What about you?"
Pause. "Well, if I survive this, I may need you to pick me up."
I wait. Grover just nods. Thalia and I exchange glances. She reaches for the walkie, but Grover holds it out of her reach. He sticks in one of those side pockets you find in the find in the front doors of some vehicles. He grabs my hand when try to reach for it. The look in his eyes prompts something deep inside me. I want to vault over the others in the back and head out the back door.
"Annabeth has a plan," he says.
I open my mouth to argue. But… No one would be able to hear me over the music that whizzes past us. It's Annabeth in a little red sports car, the windows are down and music (the kind my mom would highly disapprove of because it's loud and pretty much unintelligible) is blaring. And just in case that isn't enough, Annabeth pauses at the entrance just long enough to twist something and the alarm and horn start up at full blast. She whips the car around to the left and races down the street. Grover and I watch her take it a hundred yards down the street and then the door opens and Annabeth tumbles out. Grover inhales sharply. I realize I haven't taken a breath in several minutes.
She's a tangled heap on the concrete, the red car still gathering speed as it heads down the street. Provided it doesn't meet any obstacles, it could feasibly end up in the Hudson river. And the corpses are just behind. They pour into the street now. The herd to our right has been motivated to a faster pace.
"Go, Grover," I urge.
But it's too late. The herd is in front of the van now, we'd never make it through. I head for the back of the van. Thalia tries to join me. But Frank and Luke grab me.
"Jason, let go," Thalia cries.
"She's up!"
It's hard to maneuver around with Frank and Luke clamped onto me, but I manage to get back to where I can her again. Barely. There's a fast-closing gap between her and the herd. Her arms are bleeding. One foot is held so the heel doesn't touch the ground. She puts her hands to her mouth and yells. I can't hear it over the noise—car and zombies meld together into audible mush. But she gestures and her meaning is clear. The zombies shift and I can't see her anymore.
"We've got to help her."
But I can't move. Even if I wanted to, I'm waiting for another opening. How much distance was between her and the zombies? Ten yards? Maybe fifteen? In a few minutes we'd be able to head up the street. But in the wrong direction. Then I see her again, limping towards an alleyway. One of the faster zombies is closing in, she turns and sends a crossbow bolt into its brain. The van jerks as she slips into the alley.
My feet leave the floor as Grover guns the engine. You can hear the strain as the transmission tries to meet his demand. Luke's shoulder keeps my head from cracking against the van's floor when I land. I'm not sure if he's so lucky. I hear ringing and beyond that, the sound of Thalia yelling at Grover to turn back.
All of us in the back are a tangled mess. Nobody escaped Frank, Luke and I flying backwards. Bianca is rubbing her knee. Frank holds his jaw. On Luke's right, I can see a flailing arm that probably belongs to Nico. Juniper has to get out of the passenger seat and help us up. It's several minutes before we're untangled and by that time, we are well away from Elysium.
We screech through the streets, finally holing up in an alley.
"We're going back," Thalia says the moment Grover turns the van off.
"Is everyone alright?"
Grover turns to face us. If he notices the dark looks Thalia and I are shooting him, he doesn't show it.
"We're going back." I'm an echo.
There's silence. Grover looks at Luke, Luke looks to Jason, who looks to Bianca, who stares at the floor with everyone else.
"Guys," Luke finally says, "I don't think Annabeth made it."
"You saw her," I say. "She made it to the alley. Maybe there was a fire escape or something." She was on the roof, she would have known. Annabeth always had a plan.
"Percy," Luke tries again.
"You made it," Thalia says.
"There's no knowing if she's alive," Grover says. "Annabeth would want us to get to safety. The needs of the many and all that."
"Then the many can go. I'll meet you at Mautauk," I say. I step over Bianca. Thalia doesn't say anything, just hoists her crossbow over her shoulder and reaches for the door handle with me.
"Wait," Jason says.
I think I might hit him.
"The zombies should have followed the noise away from...from the apartment. There can't be any harm in checking," he says. "She did get us to you four."
Jason offers me a small smile. I will my shoulders to relax.
Grover looks at Juniper. She shrugs.
"She'd go back for any of us," she says.
And it's the truth. Needs of the many my butt.
We suffer through five more minutes. Just to be sure. Annabeth might be in trouble, but I think she'd personally kill someone if we endangered the group. The drive back is slow and silent. In the back, Hazel whispers a question about Annabeth to Nico, who does his best to fill her in. Frank is busy pulling knives out of his bag and handing them to the three that just joined. He hands his machete to Luke. Nico and Hazel look a little jealous.
"Sorry," he says, "there's not much room in this bag." He meets Hazel's eyes and then looks away quickly.
"It's okay," she says. "These will do."
"Gods, I wish we were close to school," Thalia says. "Mr. Brunner's wall of weapons would come in handy."
"My school's not too far from Elysium," Hazel says. "I mean, we don't have a wall of weapons. But Headmistress is totally into all that ancient weapons crap. We could totally get some stuff if we raided the gym."
"Maybe," Grover says.
We exchange a look. One thing at a time.
The street is eerily quiet without the corpses. Dead people have no right being that noisy.
Above the buildings, the sky is starting to fade. We'll need somewhere to stay soon.
I can just barely hear the blaring alarm system. It sounds slightly off-key now. Hopefully, it will keep the zombies busy just long enough. There are a few stragglers.
"Alright." I look at our ragtag group. Who would Annabeth choose? "Um, Frank, Luke, Thalia, you're with me. The rest of you stay here with Grover. I don't want you waiting for us. Ten minutes and then you're gone, got it?"
Grover gives me nod. I realize that he's had this conversation before. I put a hand on his arm, "We'll find her, man."
Then we jump out of the van and jog down the street.
I stop, just in front of an alley.
"You think this is it?" I ask. Next to me I hear Thalia swallow.
"Yeah."
Keeping his gun in front of him, Frank runs across to flank the opening.
"Clear."
Gripping Riptide tight, I take the corner and am in the alley. It's empty.
"Check the dumpsters," I tell Thalia and Luke. Luke looks at me like I just told him to go around sniffing gym socks. "Just do it," I say. "Annabeth?" I call out her name as I look up at the fire escape. The ladder that gets you to the first landing has been pulled down or knocked down. Judging by the smears of gore on the straight edges, I'm guessing pulled. "Frank?"
"Got it." He spreads his feet apart, bending his knees as he cups his hands. I step into his hands and between the two of us I manage to grab the edge of the landing. Maybe I should have tried out for the cheerleading team too. Hauling myself up, I scale the remaining flights as quickly as I can.
"Annabeth?" I call again. Emptiness answers me.
"Hey, Perce?" I look down at Thalia. "You'd better come down here."
I take the stairs two at a time and nearly throw myself through the opening and onto the ground. She and Luke are huddled around something on the ground. Several things. Thalia has one thing in her hands. So does Luke.
He has Annabeth's backpack. It's torn. Scattered on the ground are all the foodstuffs she'd grabbed when we raided the school cafeteria.
Already, I know what Thalia has in her hands. I'd seen it when Annabeth removed her school books to make room for the food. And I'd seen her put it back, smooshing it to make it fit.
It's a New York Yankees baseball cap.
I know, it's been like forever. But look...it's Luke! It's been interesting working with some of the characters that don't get a lot of time in the books, like Juniper and Bianca and to some extent Nico (grr, why must you be so hard to figure out). And I'm trying to keep them in character, but what do you do when you have someone like Luke, who's main goal in the books was to take down the Olympians. I guess I'll find out.
One thing I know...this fanfic is a very good excuse to reread all of the PJO and HOO books again. I may have to do that. Especially for characters like Jason and Frank, just so I'm giving an accurate portrayal of them.
I have more chapters, not sure how fast I can get them up, I'm about to dive into my real WIP soon. But I'll try. Keep suggesting moments from the books that I might be able to incorporate. Again, not sure if I'll be able to use everything, but I know there's a lot I've forgotten.