When Percy woke up, he found the entire quarantine building empty, it was like everyone had just up and vanished while he was asleep. He wondered if they'd evacuated everyone and had left him behind, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. He really didn't see this camp as anything more than just a prison, sure he was safe, but he was also miserable.
The idea of escaping floated around in his mind for a while, he could probably make it to Florida but at the same time, he wasn't sure if the rest of the state was safe. For all he knew, someone might shoot him thinking he was a zombie or something. Chiron didn't tell him how long he'd be in camp.
He looked towards the door when he heard the sound of boots clunking against the floor. Clarisse was walking towards him, a tray in her hands. His fists clenched, he had no doubt she hated his guts after he'd punched her, he couldn't say the feeling wasn't mutual.
"You missed mess call." She said, setting the tray down in front of him, "This is all I was able to get you."
Percy glanced down at the tray. He couldn't say it was exactly the best meal he'd seen in a while, unless he considered stale Lucky Charms, a slice of toast with nothing on it, and a bunch of wet grapes as his best meal which honestly would've been pretty sad. Either way, he wasn't going to complain, food was food and he was starving.
As he reached for a grape, he asked, "Why are you doing this for me?"
Clarisse huffed, "Maybe because it's my job. I can't have you dying in here."
Percy didn't bother pushing for another answer, she sounded truthful enough.
She sat down in front of him, "Listen, about that whole thing with New York, I really didn't know."
"How could you have not known?" He asked.
"Because I thought the national guard had that place under control. No one told us that New York fell." She said, "By the time we found out, you were already long gone."
"Why'd you leave the base?" He took a bite out of the piece of toast, "It sounded like you guys had that place under control."
"We did for a while." She admitted, "but the infected were going to keep on coming, there wasn't enough of us to hold them all off. We were running out of ammo and I'd already lost ten of my marines just trying to keep the base."
"How'd you get out?" He asked.
She looked at the door, "Chiron. Turns out some intelligence unit here was listening in and he sent a plane to come get us. I tried to turn the plane back but then they told us they were there for us. If I'm being honest, none of us were planning to leave NAS Oceana alive."
Percy wanted to keep hating her but after hearing her side of the story, it was hard to do that. It sounded like she'd gone through hell just like him. Even if he'd landed at base, there was no guarantee he'd survive too, plus he would've never met Annabeth.
"How long have you been here?" He asked.
"Just a few days." She said, "I got here when the rest of the military was moving towards the border."
"I thought there was a border wall?" He said.
"There is, they're not going there to defend the wall. They're planning on invading South Carolina to try take the state back. I've heard their plans, no one really knows what to do. We're just trying to take as much back as we can." She explained.
"I can help." He said, "I was a fighter pilot, maybe I can fly some air strikes."
She shrugged, "Maybe, until then, you're stuck here."
Ω
It wasn't until two days later when Percy finally ran into Annabeth again, well, it was more like she ran into him. He hadn't been able to leave the quarantine building at all and when he asked Clarisse, she just told him the same thing over and over again: they'd release him when the time was right.
He'd asked for a cell phone a few times but of course, the guards would tell him they'd bring him one but never did. He tried his hardest to be patient but that was proving impossible when it seemed like everyone he talked to was trying to give him the go-around. All of it left a sour taste in his mouth.
It wasn't like everything got better with time either, the food still sucked and he still had to sleep in that torn sleeping bag. It had gotten to the point that was he was counting the number of days he'd been stuck in quarantine.
He didn't even want to think about how badly his mom was freaking out.
Percy was just walking back to the quarantine building from breakfast when Annabeth caught him. He wasn't even sure why they called it the quarantine building, it wasn't like anyone in there was sick, plus, they let them walk on their own to meals. They just weren't allowed to leave the building any other time, not even for showers since the building had built in showers that only had cold water.
"Hey!"
He looked over and found Annabeth walking towards him, a friendly smile on her face.
"Hey."
She definitely heard the dullness in his voice because her smile disappeared, "You okay?"
"Yeah, totally. I've been stuck in quarantine for the past few days but yeah, I'm doing just fine." He said.
Annabeth winced, "Right, sorry."
"It's fine, it's not like you're the one keeping me in there." He dismissed.
She looked back towards the HQ, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've been talking with Chiron, we might be able to get you out."
A sliver of hopefulness started to creep into Percy's mind. If Annabeth could get him out, he'd be forever grateful.
"How?" He asked.
Annabeth bit her lip, "That's the part you won't like. You want to go to Florida, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, there's only two sites we can send you to, neither of them has your mom there." She said.
"What do you mean they don't have my mom there?" He asked, his chest tightening with anger.
"The site your mom is at is already at full capacity. It's part of our splinter method, rather than having giant centers of people, we have smaller towns with militias." She explained, "We have entire catalogs of who lives in these towns, I found the one your mom is at and they're full. We can't have too many people in one town, if an outbreak happens, we might not be able to hold the state."
"What's just one more person?" He begged, "Seriously, come on."
"I'm sorry, Percy, it's out of my hands." She said, "The military shed a ton of blood just to carve out Florida and Georgia, they don't want to do it again."
He sighed as he kept walking back the building, "Well, fuck, I don't know what to do then."
He really didn't want to go to any of the sites Annabeth was talking about, he didn't know anyone in Florida. Yet his options didn't give him much choice, either he could go to these sites or stay in the quarantine building at Camp Half-Blood.
Then there was that whole thing Annabeth mentioned about having smaller towns with militias. He thought the military had a stronger grip on the state but from what it sounded like, they were just barely holding on. There was just one thing that he needed an answer to.
"Why are we even worried about another outbreak anyways?" He asked, "There's a whole wall between us and the infected."
"We don't know how this virus works." Annabeth said, "It's highly unstable, it changes faster than we can keep up, it's already very infectious. That wall can very well get us killed if someone in here get infected and starts spreading the virus."
"How'd that wall get built?" He asked, "I find it hard to believe those walls were built in a day."
"They weren't." She confirmed, "Remember a few months ago, when the governor of Florida and Georgia both got in hot water for fighting about illegal immigration?"
"Uh, no." Percy never really kept up with politics, it wasn't his forte.
"Well, both of them said they were building border walls to stop the flood of illegal immigrants. What people didn't know was that they knew about the virus and just wanted to get ahead." She said, "Granted, they both still sucked at thinking ahead because neither of them had plans for what to do if the virus was already inside the state. That's why both of them are dead, turns out suits don't offer much protection from bites."
"So, that's what led to the bombings then?" He asked.
"Pretty much." She quipped, "Granted, some parts of the wall are still under construction and that's why the military is moving to the border. Right now, the Georgia border is the most heavily militarized area on the planet, they're making the DMZ look like a joke."
"So what, we're just going to sit here and wait it out?"
She shook her head, "No, of course not, that's not practical. Chiron told me the plan is to have the military establish a safe zone, then start launching invasions into other states to clear them of zombies. Alaska is already ahead of the curve, they're getting ready to launch an amphibious invasion of Washington soon. All that stuff is out of my paygrade though."
"Then what are you doing?" He asked.
She pointed to her leg, "Once my leg heals, Chiron is sending me out to go track down Luke. If we can develop a vaccine with Luke's research, our chances of beating this thing go up much higher."
Percy couldn't help but feel like she wanted to track down Luke for an entirely different reason. Either way, none of what she told him helped him at all.
"Well, good luck with that." He said, "I'll just wait here."
Annabeth got a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Sure, you will."
If only Percy asked her what she was planning.
Ω
"Hurry up, pack your trash and move!" A soldier shouted from the doorway, "Let's go, let's go, we don't have all day!"
Percy rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his sleeping bag. He wasn't sure what was going on. One second, he was fast asleep, the next he was being shouted at to wake up. He was used to rude wake up calls but he could tell some of the other people in quarantine with him were not.
He watched as a woman panicked and fell out of her bunk. He winced as he saw that, that couldn't have felt good.
Soldiers ran in and out of the building, ushering people out.
Percy got to his feet and left his sleeping bag, there wasn't any point in taking it with him. Hell, he didn't even know where he was going, he was just following the crowd towards who knows where. For all he knew, the military had finally lost their minds and decided to execute them all in a ditch.
Camp Half-Blood was insanely busy today, Percy knew what the day-to-day operations looked like and this was not it. Helicopters buzzed overhead, some hovering above the crowd with machine guns trained on them. Soldiers formed a line to shepherd them toward wherever they needed to go. He watched as a pair of fighter jets roared across the sky.
"Keep moving." A soldier gently shoved the crowd.
It took a while before Percy finally saw where they were headed. Near the entrance of the camp were at the very least a couple dozen green military trucks. There were even more soldiers there and they had a tank. He had no idea what they were so scared of that they would bring this much firepower just to move a few people around. The crowd itself couldn't have been more than fifty people at most.
Percy watched as soldiers herded people onto the trucks. He could see Annabeth and Clarisse on the side. Clarisse watched the whole process while Annabeth was clearly arguing with her, judging from the troubled look on her face. He wanted to go over there and ask her what was going on but he had a feeling if he stepped out of line, he could expect a bullet in the back.
The smell of gasoline was strong in the air. Percy wrinkled his nose, he didn't mind the smell but it was insanely strong.
When Percy got to the trucks, he couldn't help but feel a little bit apprehensive. He had no idea where he was even going. Yet he couldn't argue with anyone, it was obvious they wanted him gone.
Just as he started to climb onto the truck, he felt a hand grab the back of his jacket. The next thing he knew, he was yanked off the truck and dragged off to the side.
"What the hell?" He struggled against the hand.
Percy stumbled as he got thrown towards the side, right next to Annabeth. He looked over to see Clarisse with her arms crossed. She gave him a look that said 'yeah, I just manhandled you. Do something about it. I dare you.'
"What's going on?" He asked Annabeth, he figured Clarisse would probably just tell him it was none of his business again.
"Higher ups want us to clear the camp of civilians." She said, "We're moving them to civilian sites or quarantine centers."
"Yeah, except you." Clarisse said, "Chiron thinks we can use you somehow." She pointed her thumb towards the trucks, "You're military, those people on the trucks aren't. We need trained people."
"Woah, wait hold on, I'm not a soldier. I'm just a pilot." He protested.
"Doesn't matter." Clarisse shook her head, "You're trained somewhat."
Percy sighed, he wasn't sure if he wanted to do whatever Chiron had planned for him. Sure, he was in the military, but he wasn't an infantry soldier.
"We're offering you a choice, Percy." Annabeth said, fidgeting with her hands, "You can join up with us or take your chances and hope you get sent somewhere nice."
Not much of a choice, huh? He thought.
"I guess I'll join up then."
Ω
"So, mind explaining this to me again?" Percy asked as he followed Annabeth around camp. He might've looked like a lost puppy following her around but frankly, he didn't care, she was the only person he trusted in the entire camp.
After the quarantine building had been cleared out, Percy noticed how quieter Camp Half-Blood had really become. The military was still around, he saw plenty of them walking around camp, but they acted less like guards now and more like technical specialists. The few guards he saw were clearly bored out of their minds, he figured everyone else had been assigned to a certain task based on their skillset, he just wasn't sure what he'd get.
The sun was starting to set, Percy really hoped Annabeth told him what was going on before it got dark, something about Camp Half-Blood creeped him out at night.
"I told Chiron about how you helped me escape New York." She said, looking at him with an exasperated look as she was yet again about to explain what was going on, "I told him you were a pilot and that maybe we could use you for that. He said he had a better idea. You went through SERE school, right?"
Percy remembered SERE school very well. It wasn't fun but it was a learning experience. Whether he wanted to or not, he had picked up skills from there.
"Yeah," He nodded, "What about it?"
"Well, that means we have a base to build off of." Annabeth explained, "Chiron wants me to put a team together for some stuff he wants done, I want you on that team. The issue is, I need someone who can keep up and fight with me, not a fighter pilot."
"Then you chose the wrong guy." He said, "I'm just a fighter pilot."
"You're selling yourself short." She chided, "I was with you in New York, just a few months of training and you'll be golden. Believe it or not, it only took me a few months for me to ace my shooting exams. You already have a military background, we can build you up."
Percy wasn't sure about her plan. He knew arguing against it wasn't in his best interests, it wasn't like he'd end up anywhere near his mom if he did. His second-best option was to stick with Annabeth, she was the closest thing he had to a friend in Camp Half-Blood. There was no way he was going to seek out Clarisse.
Annabeth started leading him towards the big fortress in the middle of camp. He'd been curious about what was actually in there, especially after he saw the guards on the roof with spotlights at night. He didn't see why there were guards for that building in particular, that place was more heavily defended than the quarantine building.
"What is this place?" He asked, staring at the set of double metal doors in front of him.
Anabeth pulled her ID out and held it to the card reader, "This is BOO."
"BOO?" He frowned as the card reader beeped and the doors' locks clicked.
Annabeth pushed through the door and motioned for him to follow, "Base of operations."
As Percy started to follow her, he couldn't help but notice the inside of the BOO was like a maze. Sure, there were signs pointing to where he was going but anyone who hadn't been in there before could easily get lost. It didn't help that the lights were dim, it was like whoever installed them had a thing against working lights.
Annabeth's footsteps echoed as she walked, "We're going to meet Chiron. He'll assign you your room and building number for where you're going to stay and he'll set up your training schedule."
The idea of getting a legit room made Percy feel so much better. When he'd been in the quarantine building, he hated the fact that he had absolutely no privacy and there were some nosy people in there. He found himself almost fighting a few of them a couple of times.
He followed Annabeth all over the building, up a flight of stairs, and eventually he found himself waiting outside an office with her. She'd already knocked, he figured all they had to do was wait. He really hoped they didn't open the door and found Chiron was some sort of zombie now or something.
The door opened to reveal Chiron, who offered him and Annabeth a friendly smile, "Annabeth, I see you brought Percy along. Come in."
As soon as Percy stepped into Chiron's office, he thought about how much the place smelled like old books and lavender. He noticed the closed laptop on Chiron's desk along with a huge stack of reports, a few of the papers threatening to fall from the stack, along with a crumpled sticky note attached to the top. The writing on the note was too messy for him to read. He guessed Chiron had doctor handwriting.
There was a huge window in Chiron's office, just behind his chair. To Percy, he couldn't help but think it was a major security flaw but it did give a great view of the rest of the camp. At the same time, he figured if there were zombies already at the window, then the camp was probably lost.
"Sit." Chiron said, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk.
Percy followed Annabeth's lead and sat down. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, he figured he'd just let her do the talking.
"Annabeth has told me of your potential value." Chiron said at last, "From what she has told me, you're a naval aviator."
"I was." He nodded.
"I trust you've completed training?" Chiron raised an eyebrow.
"Of course."
Chiron smiled, "Very well. Obviously, we will need to train you more so you can accompany Annabeth on her missions. I will warn you, these missions will not be easy, there's a reason Annabeth nearly died in New York."
At the mention of New York, Annabeth lowered her head.
"Before we discuss anything else, I'm giving you one last chance to back out." Chiron said, "Once your training begins, you cannot opt out."
Percy stared at him before looking over at Annabeth, who stared back at him with gray eyes. He nodded at her, her own nod reassuring him. He turned back to Chiron, "Okay, I'm in."
Chiron smiled, "Good."
A/N: Don't worry, this story hasn't been abandoned and i'm definitely not dead. A lot has happened, had to change computers and uni is being a pain. Luckily, i should be able to start writing again soon.
