So, I've got no idea what's up with Annabeth. She sits up front with Thalia the entire ride into town. We talk for about three minutes to decide how which places we'll raid first-and by talk I mean, she asks Thalia a couple of questions about the set up of Montauk Town and then lists what order we should hit them in and then waits for people to disagree.

I'm not sure if it's her supremely bad attitude or the fact that all of her ideas have worked so far, but no one argues. Especially, not me. I will stay silent until I can figure out how I pissed her off so much.

Thalia parks us in front a neat little building that's just slightly different from the one on the next lot. The whole block looks like some giant house monster popped out a bunch of house babies. The sign above the door reads "Montauk Medical Center". Conveniently, it shares space with a bagel shop.

Eggos and bacon can only get a seventeen-year-old guy so far.

We burst out of the back of the van. I will be so stoked when our mode of transportation includes enough room for me to stretch my legs all the way out.

It's a bright, sunny day. The street looks deserted. Though that doesn't mean that a huge zombie horde won't pop out of the ground and try to devour us. I guess zombie hordes don't really pop out of the ground like that. Probably. But that's sure how it feels.

Going by the medical center though, you can't tell that the world is currently fighting a massive zombie problem. I mean the only real issue I can see it that the grass looks a little under-watered. There are no blood stains on the white picnic tables. No dismembered bodies. No undead things trying to claw your brains out through your eyes socket.

"We should set up a lookout," Jason says.

Annabeth nods. "Any volunteers."

The day is so nice, I think about it. But I don't. Because even though I trust Annabeth, I kind of don't trust Annabeth right now.

"Nico," I say. "And Bianca."

"Fine." She doesn't really look at me, but I don't detect any obvious vemon in her voice. Maybe she's cooled down a little? "We should have more that, though, in case trouble comes."

"I'll do it," Jason says.

"May as well keep up the sibling thing going," Thalia says.

"Okay," Annabeth says. "Let's keep two people by the van at all times. Two walking the perimeter." She turns to Frank, but he's already handing the radios to Bianca and Thalia. "We'll split into groups of three. One group stays in the lobby to organize and keep an eye on the situation outside. The rest of us get whatever we can. Grab anything you think looks useful, but stay away from anything you don't recognize."

Breaking into the building is easy. Gotta love glass doors. Annabeth goes off into the supply closet with Juniper and Grover. Luke, Piper and Hazel start going through the exam rooms and offices.

I end up with Frank and Calypso. Turns out when Annabeth says "organize", what she really means is, "Here, start loading this in the van."

It's boring and monotonous and absolutely perfect.

My definition of perfect has definitely broadened. It now means, "Anything that does not include undead rage monsters". Not so sure if it'll be any easier to attain perfection in the current state of the world, but I'll sure try.

"So, have you known Annabeth a long time?" Calypso asks. I hand her back pack filled entirely with gauze bandages.

"I guess," I shrug.

"I never saw you two hanging out at school."

"It's a long story." I give her another bag full of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide.

Is there another vehicle that we could steal?

"Hey, Frank," I say. "When you go back in see what Annabeth thinks about getting another vehicle." I'm not avoiding her, I'm just busy. I'd hate to leave anything behind when I have a giant boat to store things in. Frank hands me a bag of iodine and heads back into the lobby where Grover and Juniper have just dumped more goods from the supply closet on the floor.

"So, you two aren't a couple," Calypso says when Frank is gone.

I turn away to grab another bag.

"Um no," I say. "What makes you say that?"

"It's just she seemed pretty mad about me coming," she says. "You really seem to trust her."

I'm really hoping that she thinks the redness is because I'm working hard out here in the bright sun. Despite the fact that it's kinda cold. But you can work up a sweat in the cold right?

Calypso takes the last bag and puts it up against the seats, then she climbs out of the van and sits on the back, watching me. She's obviously had a rough couple of days. Her clothes are wrinkled and dirty, her hair looks like she might have slept with it that way and there are bags under her eyes. And yet, she's still really pretty. It kind of reminds me of Annabeth. She doesn't have to try to look pretty either. She just is.

"Annabeth's the smartest person I know. Except for maybe her mom," I say. I lean against the door. "And she's saved my life, more than once."

"Oh." Calypso blinks. She stands up and heads back into the medical center. She's not in there for more than a few seconds before she's coming back out with everyone else on her heels.

"We're finished here," Annabeth says. She still won't look at me. "Did you find another vehicle out here?"

I shake my head and then look at Jason and Thalia.

"It could be that van, if you feel like hotwiring another ride," Jason says.

"As long as I don't have to jump out of this one."

The others seem to find this funny.

"How do you guys feel about splitting up?" she asks when everyone regains their sanity. That quiets us down real fast. "I think we should send a few people back in the van to start loading the boat. Percy, does anyone besides you know how to work the yacht?"

I start. It's the first time since the fight this morning that she's used my name. Also, I was kind of distracted by the squirrels running around the playground across the street. ADHD does not rest, not even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

"I, uh, yeah. Jason," I say. My lack of articulate speech is slightly embarrassing since a decent portion of our group is made up of people who barely know me. "He's probably bugged the captain of the Trident as much as I have."

"Okay," Annabeth looks at the group. Her eyebrows do that scrunchy thing she does when she's thinking and I have to remember that I am still mad at her for the whole using herself as bait thing.

Huh, I'm still mad about that.

"Okay, Jason, Bianca, Nico, Hazel, Grover and Juniper go back to the boat. The rest of us will finish getting supplies."

We split the group up and dole out the radios accordingly. Theoretically, we should be able to reach each other. If not, Bianca and I charged out cell phones last night and we still seem to have coverage. Part of me doesn't feel okay about the whole splitting up thing. Calypso was out here, there could be others. If we do run into a group, those extra five people could come in handy.

But we're also pressed for time and I'm getting an idea. I'm not sure it's smart or if it'll even work or if I can get the rest of the group to agree, but I want to give it a try and it will only get harder as time goes on. So while I the rest of the group finishes loading the van and raids the bagel shop/deli combo next door, I follow Annabeth.

"Did you, um, have a plan about where to go?" I ask as she pulls the plastic cover from underneath the steering wheel.

"Not particularly," she says. She's got a screwdriver from the medical center's maintenance box between her teeth so it comes out, "Not harticuharly."

I press the unlock button on the door and climb in the back. It's one of those Astro vans. Huge, old and indestructible. I fiddle with the locks on the back seats.

"I was thinking."

Annabeth lets out a harsh laugh in the front seat.

"I thought I was supposed to be the thinker."

"Fine. What would you think about heading to Miami?"

My lack of x-ray vision makes it impossible for me to see most of Annabeth, although it is tempting to ogle her butt through the window (I do not recommend this. Annabeth will kill or maim you for ogling without permission). All I can hear is her pause. A moment later, her head pops into the space between the headrest and the top of the seatbelt.

"Miami? Why so far—Oh." She ducks back down and I hear the van roar to life while I manage to dump the last seat out the back of the van. When I get back to the driver side door, Annabeth is sitting in the driver's seat. She looks at me.

"I don't know, Percy. Do you think the others will go for it?"

"It is my boat," I feel the need to point out.

"There are more of them." Can't argue with that.

"But I bet you can figure out a way to spin it so they'll agree." And besides, half of them are Tyson's cousins. If you don't have family in this world, who can you count on? It occurs to me that Annabeth isn't family. But that's…complicated.

"I'll think about it," she says. "Grover is really more versed in where to go during a zombie invasion."

I laugh. It feels normal between us. Whatever normal between us is. Before I have long to bask in the feeling, Annabeth's face darkens.

"Are we ready to go?" Calypso asks. I glance behind me.

What is it about Calypso that pisses Annabeth off so much? I can't understand it. It's not that she's new. Annabeth's had no trouble with Piper we know just as much about her.

"Yes," Annabeth says. "Percy, you're driving." And then she climbs into the back of the van. Calypso shrugs and walks around to the passenger side door.

Girls.

A zombie-free Montauk is looking like a real possibility and if I wasn't so anxious about getting to Tyson, I might suggest staying here a little longer. Then again, if they veto the Tyson idea, I might be able to take a smaller boat. My dad totally has smaller boats.

There are a couple of small mom & pop type grocery stores not too far from where we are. The rest of the group hit one just up the block while Annabeth fiddled with the car. Now I take us three blocks in the other direction to Ronnie's right off of Montauk highway.

So far, Montauk has looked more like a ghost town than a town that was hit by a zombie apocalypse. I can see the signs of hurried leaving. There are definitely less cars here than in the city.

"It looks untouched," Thalia says.

Annabeth nods.

"People cleared out pretty fast when the safe zone was set up in New York," Calypso says.

"And you stayed because?"

"I'm by myself and I figured I had a better chance where there were less people."

"And you thought being trapped on an island was a good idea?" Annabeth sounds like Calypso just suggested she use one of the lampposts in a pole dance routine.

"There are boats here," Calypso said. "Before he tried to embezzle massive sums from KTI, my dad showed me around the smaller ones."

"Oh, gods," Thalia said. "Your dad was Atlas?"

Calypso nods. And I realize why her last name sounded so familiar.

"Looks like we're not the first ones who came here," Jason says, pointing to Ronnie's. The door has been partially smashed in.

"It's still worth a look," Annabeth says. "We have half a dozen teenage boys to feed."

We take the store like we've taken everything else: cautiously. Can't be too careful when one zombie bite is all it takes to kill a half dozen people.

"This is weird," Piper says when we get inside. The store isn't big, so it's not hard to see to that it's intact for the most part.

"Why would someone break in, but leave so much behind?" Hazel asks.

Annabeth and Frank exchange a glance.

"Because they planned on coming back for more," he says.

"The electricity is still running in this place," Annabeth says. "Why take stuff from it if you can use the appliances that are here." She points at the refrigerated section. I hadn't expected the hum.

"Not a bad conclusion."

I spin around. Behind us, is a girl, roughly our age, with short, dark hair. She has a baseball bat in her hands. And behind her, a group of roughly half a dozen other teens.

"It looks like these guys are trying to steal from us," she says, glancing at a boy standing at her right. "How do you feel about that, Travis?"

"I'm only a fan of stealing when I'm the one doing it." The boy levels a crossbow at Annabeth.

I fight the urge to step in front of her. Mostly because I don't know these kids and I don't want to give them any reason to attack. I try very hard to be as calm as Annabeth, when what I really want to do is grab the girl's baseball bat. That would wipe the smirk off of her face.

"Well, well," she says. She looks from Thalia to me to Jason. "Where's the rest of your tight knit little group. Don't tell me the zombies got them."

"That's enough, Clarisse."

I'm pretty sure that the astonishment on my face matches the look on everyone else in my group and hers as we all turn and look at Frank.

"Frank, you know her?" Jason asks.

"Yep," he says. He grimaces. "Meet Clarisse LaRue-Ultor, my cousin."

We whip our heads back and forth between Frank and Clarisse so fast and frequently, that I'm sure some future chiropractor will have a lot of business.

"Your cousin?" Hazel says.

"Cousin doesn't mean much right now," Clarisse says. "Especially not when you're trying to steal the only food we have to live on."

"Okay," Annabeth says. She steps in front of all of us. Two more crossbows are trained on her. "We're sorry, we didn't know. We'll just go."

"I'm not so sure, princess," Clarisse says. "Who's to say you don't have more people that you'll bring back."

"I'll say," Frank says.

"Oh, like I'd trust the son of Ares Ultor."

"Oh come on, Clarisse, you're really going to hang on to that silly feud with everything that's going on?"

"Guys, how about nobody gets killed," Piper says. She steps up next to Annabeth and I'm glad, if only because it means I have less crossbow bolts to jump in front of if somebody gets trigger happy. "How about we just walk out of here and we don't come back."

"Montauk isn't big enough for all of us," a brown-haired boy that looks a lot like 'Travis' says. Travis nods in agreement.

"Okay, that's fine. We're leaving Montauk anyways," she says. "No worries."

"Wait." Clarisse puts a hand out and makes the Travis-look-a-like lower his crossbow. Her group lowers their weapons. "How do you plan to get off of Montauk?"

"We-"

"Piper," Annabeth says. Piper clamps her mouth shut. "Can you give us a minute?" She looks Clarisse straight in the eye. "I think we could make a deal that would benefit both parties."

Clarisse narrows her eyes.

"You have two minutes," she says.

"Percy?" Annabeth jerks her head towards the back of the store.

"Those fancy weapons get to stay right here. Where I can see them," Clarisse says.

To my surprise, Annabeth agrees. She hands her crossbow to Hazel. I hand Riptide reluctantly to Piper.

"What's up?" I ask when we're a little further away.

"We need their food," she says. "And they aren't going to give it up without a fight."

"We can get food other places. The Trident has a small powerboat, we can always make trips inland."

"I know." Annabeth presses her fingers to her temples. "I know. But I was thinking...what if we offered them a ride off of the island?"

"What?" I lean closer to Annabeth and lower my voice even more. "You were all up at arms about Calypso joining us and now you want to invite another half dozen teens on our boat?"

"I don't like it either," she says. "But with that many people, maybe we could arrange shifts so we could sail continuously. And I recognize some of them."

"Really, who?"

"Clarisse. And those two boys? They're Connor and Travis Stoll. I recognize some of the others too, I just don't know their names."

I cross my arms.

"And how do you know Clarisse, when I don't?"

"Easy," Annabeth says. "She's the school bully. You're not someone she'd normally bother."

I turn away from Annabeth and pinch my nose. I hate that she can think so much faster than I can. She probably has a whole elaborate plan to keep watch on them already. We are easily twice their number if they did try to make trouble. And Frank can vouch for knowing Clarisse, even if there is weird family history. But hey, who am I to judge them for weird family history?

"Fine," I say. "But this is on you."

"Fine." Annabeth says.

We head back to where everyone else is standing.

"I'll be straight with you," Annabeth says. "There are more of us."

"I knew it," Clarisse says.

"Hold on. I'm telling you that, so you don't get any ideas. But we can help you get away from Montauk, any of you that want to come with us." She looks at Clarisse and at the guys behind her. Interesting, there aren't many girls in the group. "We have a boat and we're sailing south and we're offering you passage, all we ask is that you contribute to the supplies."

"Whoa, we're going to let these crazies on our boat?" Piper protests.

"Stand down, Piper," Luke says. "Annabeth's right, if we can help each other out, we should."

"You can get us off the island?" Clarissa asks. Her baseball bat lowers a few inches. She looks at Frank. "This is legit?"

"It's legit," he says.

"I swear, Frankie, if you're lying to me, I'll kill you, family or no family."

Frank shrugs.

"You can try," he says.

"Okay, great," Annabeth says.

We are seriously going to have a discussion about her interpretation of certain words.

"Do you have a ride?"

Clarisse nods.

"Then let's get everything packed up. Leave anything that can't survive without refrigeration." She grabs one of those little shopping baskets and starts loading it up. Clarisse watches her wide-eyed for a second and then she's barking orders to her minions and they spread throughout the store.

We're quick. It's a small store.

"I thought you were just getting food," Jason says when we show up at the boat with five extra people. "What the hell, Percy?"

"More people equals more help." I figure it's best not to mention my personal opinion. Somehow, Annabeth and I ended up leading this little group. We should at least look like a team.

Also, if there is one thing the last couple of days have taught me it's that you don't bet against Annabeth.

"Here," Calypso says, handing me one of the baskets. I take it and am surprised. She must be super-strong for a girl, because I find the basket heavy.

She gives Clarisse a wide berth.

Annabeth said that Clarisse was a bully and I wonder if Calypso has firsthand knowledge. Clarisse, Calypso, Frank...that makes at least three people who know me from school who I don't know. I might have argued that I went to a big school, but that just doesn't seem like a good excuse anymore. Especially since most of these people look like they're in my grade.

"So, do any of the other people in that group go to MO?" I ask Calypso when she brings me another basket. She nods. She hands me the basket she was carrying and then grabs another from one of the new kids and follows me down to the kitchen.

"The two kids with the curly brown hair are Travis and Connor Stoll. Travis is the taller one, he's in our grade. Connor is a sophmore." She puts the basket on a countertop. "Watch out for them. They can prank you and convince you that the prank was your own idea."

"Okay...and the other two guys?"

"Um, tall, dark and manly is Chris Rodriguez. Not surprised to see him, he and Clarisse are a thing. The scrawny one is Leo Valdez. Not sure how he ended up here."

The "scrawny kid".

Annabeth comes down with a basket. She doesn't look happy to see me with Calypso. The fact that I take a hasty (and inexplicable) step away from Calypso probably doesn't help matters.

"This is the last of it," she says. "We're meeting upstairs."

When we get upstairs the other kids are spread haphazardly across the deck. Two or three to a deck chair, a few leaning against the railing. Someone got the weapons away from Clarisse's group. That's a relief.

"Okay, so I've talked it over with Grover. He thinks it's best if we head south."

"South?" Clarisse asks. "Winter's coming. The cold might be an advantage against the zombies."

"But we have a better chance against the elements in a warmer climate," Annabeth points out. Next to her, Grover nods emphatically.

"Okay, so how far south are we talking?" Piper asks.

"Percy might have connections in Miami."

No one in my family seems surprised by this announcement. The rest of the kids look at each other and start to talk.

Annabeth holds up her hand. That's enough for all of them but the Stoll brothers. Annabeth looks directly at them. They shut up.

"I don't know if we'll be staying in Florida," she continues. "It depends on whether we can find Percy's friends. But that seems to be the best option right now. Now talk to Percy about your room assignments."