"Fucking hell!" Percy cursed as he raised his rifle and fired at the horde of infected chasing after him and Annabeth.

"There's so many!" Annabeth fired her pistol next to him, her shots finding their marks.

Percy had to admit, Annabeth was proving to be one surprising woman. Not only was she insanely smart, but she was also pretty good at everything. She knew how to shoot, perform first aid, and she'd even repacked his bag so he could fit more stuff in there. She didn't look like that type of woman, she looked like the type to run away screaming yet here she was, being a complete badass in the middle of the apocalypse.

"Percy, we can't keep this up!" She yelled over the gunfire, "We need to run!"

Percy gritted his teeth, he didn't know where to run, the horde had been chasing them for what felt like miles.

"Run where?" He asked.

"I don't know, just run!"

Percy cursed and let her lead the way, "Alright, I'll be right behind you!"

The inhuman sounds of the infected behind them urged Percy to run faster. Thankfully, he was in shape so he could run for a bit. The zombies didn't seem to stop chasing, it was like they didn't stop until either they died, caught whatever they were chasing, or they lost sight of their prey.

Percy followed close behind Annabeth, watching in awe as she vaulted over cars and barricades. He wasn't sure how she could move so fast in a hazmat suit but she was keeping a pretty steady pace.

"Up there, get in that apartment!" She yelled, pointing towards a tall brick building.

"Are you nuts?" He asked her, "We'll get trapped in there!"

"Trust me, I've got a plan!"

Percy hoped to God she wasn't about to get them killed. He didn't have any better ideas so he followed her onto the sidewalk and towards the front door. Annabeth busted down the door using her shoulder, turning and aiming her pistol at the zombies behind him, popping shots off at any that got too close.

"Cover me, I'm shutting the door!" She said to him.

Percy nodded and shouldered his rifle, aiming and firing at any zombies that got anywhere near Annabeth. He aimed carefully though, he'd burned through a lot of ammo when they were running from the horde. He wished he hadn't had to but it was all he could do to keep the horde from catching them, he'd killed most of the fast runners but there were more starting to show up.

Annabeth slammed the door shut and locked it, grabbing a nearby metal chair leg and using it to keep the door from opening. She fixed it in place and turned to him, "Come on, we need to get to the roof, this won't hold forever."

The zombies outside pounded against the door, screeching and screaming. It sounded like the entire city of New York was outside.

"Lead the way." He said, following her up the stairs. They could've taken the elevator but he wasn't sure if they wanted to risk getting stuck.

The sound of the zombies slowly faded away behind him but he wasn't stupid, he knew they were still there. He followed Annabeth, though he was out of breath and his legs were starting to burn, it felt like someone had smashed his calves with a fire extinguisher. Annabeth wasn't in any better shape, she was panting and her blonde hair was sticking to her face because of how much she was sweating.

"Come on, just a few more steps—" Annabeth yelled as a zombie crashed into her, knocking her into Percy and sending them both down the stairs.

Percy hit the ground with a grunt, pain shooting up his side. His backpack stopped him from injuring himself any further but that was the last thing he was worried about. He was more worried about Annabeth, who was screaming as she fought off a zombie.

"Fuck, Annabeth, move!" He yelled as he yanked his pistol out from his holster.

"Shoot it, please!" Annabeth screamed.

Percy pressed the barrel of his pistol against the zombie's head before pulling the trigger. The loud bang from the pistol was deafening, it echoed down the stairwell. Blood splattered on the wall next to him and Annabeth.

As the zombie's body fell, their panting was all that could be heard. Percy was well aware Annabeth was on top of him, her back pressed against his chest and one of her hands grasping his side.

"You okay?" He asked.

Annabeth's breathing was hysterical, he didn't even blame her, "I-I think so."

Percy glanced over her shoulder and sighed out of relief, her hazmat suit was still intact, she'd gotten insanely lucky.

"We gotta move." He said.

"Right, sorry." She muttered as she got off of him.

"You don't need to apologize."

She shot him a look before she started jogging up the stairs. Percy followed closely behind her, he couldn't help but be a tiny bit scared, he didn't want to lose Annabeth. Even though he hadn't known her for more than a day or two, she was sort of the one person he wanted alongside him during this whole thing. They both had the same goal and they both wanted to survive, it was like finding a familiar face in a crowd full of strangers.

"We're almost to the roof." She said over her shoulder, "When we get up there, follow my lead, okay?"

"Okay." He said, "I got your back."

When they reached the roof escape, Annabeth pushed open the door and stepped out, aiming her pistol in a circle, lowering it when she cleared the roof. She nodded, "We're good."

Percy walked over to the ledge, his eyes widening as he saw the zombies below had breached the door and were now streaming in. He turned to Annabeth, "Shit, they're in! Close the door!"

Annabeth sprinted over and shut the door before running to him and grabbing his arm.

"Annabeth, what are you doing?!" He asked hysterically as she dragged him to a ledge.

"We need to jump to the other building!" She said, "Hold my hand!"

Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed his eyes shut, uttering a prayer before opening them and jumping off the ledge with Annabeth.

Ω

"I can't believe that worked." Percy said as he looked out the window at the zombie crowd shuffling down the street.

Annabeth sat on an old couch next to him, her head tilted back as she caught her breath. Now that they were in an old apartment and safe from the zombies, she had basically unleashed her adrenaline by pacing back and forth while babbling about almost dying. Percy looked on with a mix of concern and amusement.

"I told you I had a plan." She said.

"Yeah, yeah you did." He smiled at her, "I'm so glad I found you."

She smiled back at him, "The feeling's mutual." She shifted before hissing in pain, her hand moving to her leg.

"What's wrong?" He moved over to her.

"My damn leg's killing me." She groaned, "It's not fully healed yet and we just ran so far."

Percy knew some first aid but he knew for sprains, it depended on how bad it was. From what she told him, she'd tripped and that's how she gotten it. He figured it must've been a mild sprain but running on it definitely wouldn't help it. She needed rest, but that would put them in a bad position considering they were still in the city, the city still infested with infected.

"I'd ask you to roll up your suit to let me see it but I know you can't do that without taking the whole thing off." He said, "I can look around and maybe get some ice for you."

"Do that, I'll take this damn suit off. It's so hard to run in this stuff." She complained.

Percy walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, he wasn't sure how the city still had power, he would've expected the power grid to start failing by now. If he had to guess, someone was keeping the power up but he couldn't imagine they could get much field maintenance done with all the infected roaming around the city.

He grabbed a Ziploc bag from a nearby drawer and filled it with ice, the cold hurting his hands a little. He walked over to Annabeth, only to find her shucking off her hazmat suit. He swallowed down his nervousness before walking over to her and handing her the ice, "Here."

Annabeth smiled at him, "Thanks."

Percy noted her outfit underneath the suit, she wore a simple black tank top and a pair of navy-blue pants. He had to admit, the outfit made her look even better in a way.

She slid her boots over her feet, "We shouldn't stay here long."

"Where are we going to go?" He asked.

"Well, the main goal is to get to Florida, so we just need to keep moving south." She said, "But, there's a place in Jersey that we can head to that might help us out."

"What's in there?" He asked.

"There's a CDC office in Edison. If I can get in there, I can try to call my supervisor in Florida and see if they can send someone to come get us." She said, "And I just might be able to communicate with Luke and see what he knows about this virus."

There it was again, the name Luke. Percy had a feeling that Annabeth and this Luke guy weren't just coworkers, he suspected they were friends at the very least. She sounded like he had all the answers to this whole thing but he was a bit more skeptical.

"You said this Luke guy brought some infected blood samples over, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, is there any chance that maybe that's how this infection started?" He asked, choosing his words carefully.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked, sitting up, "Are you trying to say Luke caused this?"

Percy raised his hands in surrender, "No, I'm just saying the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

"Well, listen to me and listen good, Percy, I know Luke and I know he wouldn't be negligent enough to do something like this. I trust him with my life. If you don't trust him, that's fine, but don't you dare accuse him of starting this." She ranted.

That reaction basically confirmed Percy's suspicions. If this girl wasn't dating Luke, she certainly had the hots for him. Either that, or he was a complete idiot and was just seeing stuff that wasn't there.

"Alright, if you think that's for the best, then it looks like we're headed to Edison."