It took months of hard work and training on Percy's part to finally become ready. He'd thought he was ready a long time ago but there were some things he didn't know. Now he was ready, he wasn't some sort of special forces type guy but he could definitely hold his own if it came down to it. It turned out some of his military training had come in handy, it pretty much made up for the months of zombie training Annabeth had over him, though there were still areas where she clearly outperformed him in. She was an amazing medic, way better than him, and she was dangerous when it came to close quarters fighting, she'd put him in the dirt plenty of times.

Percy felt at home at Camp Half-Blood now. People didn't look at him as much anymore and when they did, it wasn't because he was an outsider or anything. No, usually it was because of the new uniform he wore. His uniform was all dark gray, save for the trident patch on his right arm. Compared to the guards and their camouflage uniform, it was obvious to anyone looking that he was a completely different type of soldier.

The patch was more of a personal identification thing, everyone in his unit had one, even Annabeth had one, though her patch had an owl, not a trident.

Percy had to admit, it was nice to be in his unit. He pretty much had free reign to go wherever he wanted to go in camp. He could do whatever he wanted unless Annabeth had something to say about it. Since his building didn't have a leader, Annabeth became his leader. Luckily, she was pretty lax and let him have plenty of freedom.

Most of the time, he spent his time in his room, like he was doing now. He'd managed to snag a TV a while back but of course, they'd lost cable months ago. That meant he was forced to watch whatever movies they had on hand or the downloaded anime that some of the guards were willing to share. Either way, it was something different, constantly hitting the camp's gym and practicing his aim got boring quickly.

Percy sighed as he watched Home Alone 2 for the third time that week, he didn't mind it but he really wished he had a bigger selection of movies. Regardless, he didn't take it for granted, he had to enjoy the little comforts that he could get.

Someone knocked on his door. He looked over and called, "Come in!" It wasn't unusual for him to get visitors, he'd made plenty of friends around camp.

Annabeth walked into his room. He raised an eyebrow at her choice of clothing. She was wearing the typical gray uniform but on top of it, she had a tactical vest with her blood type and spare magazines attached to it, along with elbow and knee pads. She looked like she was ready to go somewhere.

"We have a mission." She said, "Chiron told me to come get you."

Percy shrugged and turned off the TV, it was about time she finally came to get him. She was always going on about how he needed to be ready to come with her on missions but those missions never came. Now he was finally going to go on one.

"So, what's the mission?" He asked as he opened his locker and took out his vest.

Annabeth leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, "We're going to Louisiana, there's some community of survivors there called Gator Town, apparently they found someone from the CDC trying to spread the virus around inside the community."

Percy gave her a curious look as he worked on the straps for his elbow pads.

She shrugged, "That was my reaction too. Apparently, the guy had a CDC ID and everything. We're going over there to pick him up and bring him here, Chiron has a few questions for him."

"Alright, sounds simple enough." He took his rifle out of his locker and smiled, "Lead the way."

Annabeth walked out with him right behind her. He couldn't help but admire her hair. Even in the apocalypse, Annabeth had somehow found a way to keep her hair looking good. He wasn't lying when he said she was easily one of the prettiest women around camp, she even gave the cute nurses in the infirmary a run for their money. Granted, he kept his dick in his pants, knowing Annabeth, she'd cut it off.

"So, found anything new on Luke?" He asked.

Annabeth sighed, "No, it's like he just vanished. I sent my scouts out but they come back empty handed every time."

Annabeth had a ton of scouts, he knew that, her whole building was under her command. Some of the people in her building were talented, there really wasn't much they couldn't find. He would know, a few of them found out about the secret stash of gummy worms he had, he wasn't even sure how they found out since he never said anything. If they couldn't find Luke, then the guy was either dead, really good at hiding, or not even in the country anymore.

It was a month or so ago when he finally learned the fate of what happened to the people who used to live in Building One, Building Two, and Building Three. Chiron was the one who told him everything and he trusted him. Building One got wiped out on the first day trying to keep Miami from falling, supposedly a few survived but he never saw any of them. Building Two was empty from the beginning so there was no tragic backstory for them. It was his building that had an interesting fate. They'd all been sent to the UK to help them with their virus research and containment efforts.

"Our flight leaves in two hours," Annabeth said over her shoulder, "I'm going to talk to Chiron about a few things, you go get something to eat, I'll come and get you when it's time to go."

Percy nodded, "You don't need to tell me twice. You think the mess hall is still doing tacos?"

Annabeth shrugged, "I don't know, I thought it was a Tuesday thing."

"Well, looks like I'm about to find out." He said with a smile.

Ω

"Here, you grumpy baby."

Percy caught the burrito Annabeth practically launched at him. It was still decently warm and it smelled fairly good so at least he knew she wasn't trying to poison him. He noticed she had a second burrito in her hands, she must've been just as hungry as he was, either that, or she shared his love for food as well.

"Please tell me it isn't one of those vegan burritos they tried to serve us a few weeks ago." He said as he unwrapped it.

"No way." Annabeth said, unwrapping her burrito after she sat down next to him.

"Good, because then I'd have to shoot you." He joked.

A few weeks back, some chef in the mess hall had the bright idea of serving up some nice warm all-you-can-eat vegan burritos. They didn't look bad, hell, Percy thought they looked rather nice. So naturally, he decided to get a couple for himself. It was when he sat down and took a bite out of one that he realized his mistake. Annabeth and his friends practically fell out of their chairs laughing when he spat it out to reveal the insides of the burrito was made up of coleslaw, lettuce, and pickles. He considered himself lucky when Annabeth decided to share part of her dinner with him, she was smart enough to avoid the burritos.

Percy winced as he heard the sound of the plane's propellers start up behind him. He hadn't been in a plane for a while, it was a bit of shock now to actually be sitting in one, especially one that he wasn't flying himself.

"So, this is it, huh?" He looked over at Annabeth, who was busy chowing down on her burrito.

She nodded, "Yep, we're finally leaving camp for the first time in months." She gave him a look, "You remember the game plan, right?"

"No, I was busy trying to get my tacos, remember?"

She sighed but he could tell she wasn't mad, he'd gotten to know her well over the past few months. If she started glaring at him with cold gray eyes with her fists clenched, then he'd be worried.

"Sometimes, I wonder how you passed training." She said, "Okay, when we land in Gator Town, I want you to let me do the talking. Remember, the locals already don't trust the CDC, there's nothing saying that they won't lynch us as soon as we get off the plane. You stick close to me, don't go wandering off, I don't need you getting eaten by an alligator or anything. Once the locals know we're not there to kill them, we're going to grab the traitorous piece of shit they have there, get on the plane then come back, okay? No getting sidetracked."

"Yes, ma'am." He said in a casual yet joking tone.

She nudged him, "I'm serious, Percy, there's a lot that can go wrong here."

"Alright, I get it." He said.

He knew Annabeth was worried, he didn't blame her. Her first mission, the one in New York, had gone horribly. He didn't exactly blame her for wanting to make sure this mission didn't go down in flames either.

"So, what do you think this guy's deal is?" He asked her, "You think he might've finally gone coo-coo?"

Annabeth bit her lip, "I don't know. Chiron gave me the cliff notes. Apparently, the locals were just doing their standard patrol when they catch this guy trying to dump rotten infected meat into the water supply. The locals said they haven't met this guy before, they don't know how he managed to get in or why he's trying to poison them."

"How do we know he's CDC?" He asked, "I mean, do we even know if his ID is legit?"

"Chiron ran his ID number, he's legit." She said, "He was a part of the expeditionary team that went to Africa with Luke. He wasn't in Luke's squad but he still might know where Luke is."

Percy nodded his head, that explained a lot. He was wondering from the get-go why Chiron hadn't just told the locals to liquidate the guy.

"Do we know anything about the locals?" He asked, changing the subject to something he could actually use, "What kind of firepower are we facing here?"

"Mainly small arms." Annabeth shrugged, "You'll know more when we get there but don't worry, it's not like Gator Town has tanks or anything. If things go south, we can fight our way back to the plane and take off."

He shrugged, whatever she told him to do, he'd do it. He knew how things worked now, Annabeth was in charge of him. The military had instilled in him the importance of following orders and respecting ranks, she clearly outranked him on this mission. Until she gave him a reason not to, he trusted her.

"Your burrito is getting cold." Annabeth warned.

He looked down at his burrito, he'd almost forgotten he was holding it. He took a bite out of it, only for his eyes to nearly bulge out of their sockets. His face turned fire red, tears threatened to leak out of his eyes. His tongue, no, his entire mouth felt like someone had just set it on fire and dumped an entire nest of fire ants onto it. He pulled back to see the oozing dark red substance dripping from the burrito.

"The fuck?!" He cursed, nearly spitting out the chunks he had in his mouth.

"What?" Annabeth asked, a mischievous tone creeping into her voice.

He looked over at her to see she was holding back a smile. She planned this. She was a traitor. A traitor to the cause. What cause exactly? He didn't know and he didn't care.

"You…" He growled after painfully swallowing down the burning burrito chunks.

"Hey, don't blame me, blame Clarisse." She said, raising her hands.

"What in the flying fuck does Clarisse have to do with this?" He demanded.

"She gave me the burritos, something about needing good luck." She shrugged, "She said that one was yours."

"Oh no she didn't." He glared hatefully at the open cargo bay, part of him wanted to storm out and give her a piece of his mind. Yet as the green light turned red and the bay started to close, he knew that wasn't going to happen. He turned to Annabeth, "I know you had something do with this."

She smiled, "Maybe."

"Just you wait, Chase, just you wait. This ain't over." He promised.