So here's the actual first chapter.
Again, I don't own PJO or any of the characters you recognize. It's all Rick's.
"A New World"
-x-
(Three Years Later, New York City)
Most of the world had been rendered to ash and waste, but Percy Jackson was smiling.
A veil of wispy gray covered the sky, blocking out any heat from the sun. The wind carried itself strongly, blowing his messy hair back and forth, and giving his exposed neck a chill.
"Whatcha think, Grover?" He said. "Twenty? Thirty?"
Grover, his best friend, shook his head nervously. "Too many, way too many. We should go back."
Percy turned, and shot him an incredulous, offended look, "For the both of us? Nah, man, piece of cake."
"You're joking, right?"
Percy sighed, "Dude, we ran into small hordes like this the last two times, and what happened? I vividly remember me dealing with it pretty well. In fact, we're both still alive, unscathed, so I'd say I handled it really well."
"That was pure luck! If that car alarm didn't go off last time you would've been bit!"
Percy waved his hand dismissively, "Pish posh."
Grover pursed his lips, "Percy, I'm serious. I think we should go back."
Percy's hand fell at his side. He knew when Grover got serious, that it was time to stop joking around. The poor guy could get sensitive if you said something the wrong way.
"We can't, man. If we go back without gas for the second time in a row, Clarisse won't let us hear the end of it."
Grover slowly processed what he said, and Percy immediately regretted his choice of words. He knew how much Grover hated the little spats he and Clarisse had, and how Percy always seemed to put his competitive nature over his common sense.
But in his defense, Clarisse La Rue was probably the most annoying person remaining on the planet. Certainly, the most that Percy had ever met.
When Grover finished his pause, probably screaming inside his own head, he closed his eyes and breathed hard through his nose. "So that's what this is about. Clarisse. What is it with you two? Why can't you just get along?"
Percy snorted, "It would take a miracle. It's not my fault she's insufferable."
"You haven't exactly made it much easier yourself, man."
Percy put a hand on his chest, feigning offense. When in reality, he knew Grover was partially right. He egged on at least half of the arguments he got into with her. But he wasn't about to own up to such a thing.
"C'mon Grover, I'm an angel!"
Grover rolled his eyes, "Whatever the case, you need to put your stupid rivalry aside and think for once. Last time we tried to get the gas in the same scenario, and it didn't go well. In fact, I think there's actually more infected here than last time. We need to go back." Grover put his hands up before Percy could argue, "I'm not saying retreat and never return, because we really need the fuel. But maybe come up with a smarter way to approach, and…perhaps bring someone with us. A third person could make it a lot easier."
"Do you have faith in me?"
His tone, and the way he said it caught Grover off guard. "What?"
"Do you have faith in me?" He repeated calmly.
Grover paused. The answer was obvious, but Percy's intentions behind the question weren't. If it wasn't optimism, humor, and overconfidence, it wasn't Percy. He was that way before the world fell apart, and nothing changed. Percy guessed that's what puzzled Grover the most, is that one fact.
Finally, his friend gulped, "Y-Yes. You know I do. But-"
"So then don't worry!" Percy interrupted, smiling again. It was back, the same attitude, as quick as it went. "We've got this, buddy. Now, you distract them, lead them to the right side of the building, while I go for the cans!"
"Wait!" Grover called, "Percy!"
He was long gone, jumping on his skateboard with ease and speeding over to the broken window of the gas station, positioned beside the entry door. If all went right, he would be in and out within thirty seconds. A minute tops.
He kicked up the board and crouched behind the brick wall, waiting for Grover, who sheepishly stepped towards the building in great strides, tip-toeing as if a single scratch against the pavement would alert the monsters inside. It was true they went by sound, and had excellent hearing. But Percy already got their attention with his board, so all Grover did was make himself look stupid.
"Hurry!" Percy whispered.
"I'm going!"
Percy watched in anticipation as Grover quickly closed the little distance he had left and finally squeezed inside. The infected immediately smelled him, and moaned with hunger, ready to rip into his flesh. Some placed their hands out in front of them as they shuffled.
Luckily for them, most infected only seemed interested in walking. Usually older ones. People that have recently been turned tend to move pretty quick, and even run in some cases Percy had seen.
These though? If Grover went for a power walk around the aisle of the convenience store section, and kept his eyes open, he'd be just fine. Which meant Percy had an opening.
"Show time." He muttered to himself, smirking.
Percy undid the Velcro strap attached to his backpack, custom made to hold his skateboard. Once secure, he reached for his much better, more dangerous handheld weapon. Riptide.
Riptide was the coolest thing ever, according to Percy. A three foot long Greek Xiphos blade, sharpened to the very core, held in by a wooden sheathe his buddy Beckendorf made for him a while back.
Whenever he met new people, or even when he showed up to Olympus for the first time, Riptide got a lot of attention. It was pretty rare to come across a survivor that carried a sword as a weapon. Not that melee weapons weren't common or useful. Percy had seen plenty of baseball bats, knives, sledgehammers, and even gardening tools. But a sword? Kind of on the nose, it seemed.
The attention Percy got, just from the sheer fact that he used such a weapon made his ego go up a couple of notches. But that's not the real reason he loved Riptide so much. At least, not the main reason.
It was a gift from his father. The father that left him when he was just a little kid.
Percy didn't remember him well or anything. Just the faintest of images in his head, and whatever dreams or concepts he created when he thought about the idea of him. It always came back to brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and sea green eyes like his own, shining above a warm smile.
He did hear some things about him through stories. Told by his mom, mainly. And one of those things was that he really liked Greek mythology. The old stories about buff heroes besting the big bad monster, usually ending in horrible tragedy. It's actually the reason he's named Percy. His mom told him that his father insisted on naming him after Perseus, the hero that killed Medusa. Whenever Percy asked why he chose that specific hero, his mom would only shrug and shake her head.
Percy never really took to mythology like his father. He found some of the stories cool and interesting. Like Hercules and the twelve labors, or Theseus and the Minotaur. Usually stuff where the underdog goes against the odds and comes out on top.
Riptide was the only physical connection he had with the father he never spoke to. He never knew why he left, and he never knew what he looked like. But he did know that his father once held onto this sword, and that his hand now gripped the same spot.
He also knew it was about to cut through some infected neck.
Percy stood up and quickly sliced Riptide in front of him, hitting an infected dead on target. The blade ran through the monster's neck easily, lopping its disgusting, pale head on the floor.
There was an opening after that kill, so Percy took it. He jumped over the brick that led to the smashed window, planting his feet inside. He knew exactly where they kept the reserve gas, so he didn't have to scramble or think of a route. Grover still had the small army distracted.
But that didn't mean he remained quiet. Percy turned and saw the poor guy peeking over the candy aisle, "You almost got it?! They're swarming me!"
Percy's mouth fell open. He had a good reason to be nervous now. The small army of infected had lined themselves up, to the point where Grover's options of walking had been narrowed to pretty much one path back and forth. Within a minute, he'd be trapped and killed.
"Getting it now!" He called back, "Just a little longer, man!"
Percy kicked things into high gear, sprinting towards the back office, cleaving the side of a passing infected as he ran.
When he rounded the corner, he practically slid on the tile, throwing open the unlocked door and laying his eyes on the gas cans. There they were, the reward for all their struggle. Two old, dirty red gas canisters that were only half full each.
Percy heard some straggling infected behind him groaning, closing in on him. He gripped Riptide tight in his right hand and scooped up the two cans in his other, holding both of them at the same time with pained effort. His hands weren't very big, so to say it was hard to hold both with his fingers would be an understatement.
Three infected stumbled through the door frame and into the small office with him. Percy grunted as he swung hard at the first one. His sword was sharp, but even it had limits to what it could do to a human skull. Rotting or otherwise, it wasn't going to always go through cleanly.
It got stuck halfway through, and Percy had to kick the rotting husk away with his foot to deal with the others. These were easier to kill. It took one stab between the eyes for number two, and an overhead swing for number three, splitting the head in half down to the nose.
Thinking he was out of the woods, Percy allowed himself to breathe before he approached the door. A couple of deep breaths gave him the nerve to walk forward, but the sight of a dozen more infected coming at him made him jump back.
"Shit!" He cursed. His head darted around at all of them. They must've heard him fighting the other three, so they followed to see what was going on.
On the bright side, at least Grover had less to deal with.
Speaking of, he could hear his friend call out to him from the other side of the station frantically. "Percy, they're coming towards you!"
"Yep, got that!" He grit his teeth, not sure of what to do. On instinct, he sat the two gas cans on the floor to use Riptide with both hands, allowing for extra strength in blows. With his other hand in action now, it made it easier to mow down infected, and deliver better swings that dealt more damage. But after six fell, six more seemed to follow, and add to the already growing pile.
Percy was sweating. His arms were getting tired. He suddenly regretted ever coming here. Ever agreeing to do this stupid gas run.
It got to the point where he could barely lift his arms. Dead eye sockets and rotting flesh stared back at him, getting closer. He'd made it this far…
He wouldn't die.
Percy did it before thinking. He used his free hand to pull out his pistol, and began firing.
One by one, they all fell with a headshot. Percy unloaded as many rounds as it took to wipe them out and clear the way. By the time it was over, the magazine was empty.
He stood there for a moment, realizing what he just did. He took care of a small problem temporarily, but by doing so…sparked a huge problem.
Infected don't see. They're basically blind. So they get around by smell and sound.
Percy just set off a big old sound beacon. If he thought this was bad, he knew what was coming would be ten times worse. Infected for miles could've heard that.
His legs finally began working. He ripped the gas cans off the floor and bolted out of the office, back into the store, where Grover was waiting, still weaving around his infected conga line.
"Were those gunshots?" He asked, at first, genuinely confused. But reading Percy's face gave him his answer, and his face became ghostly. "Oh dear God…"
"Yeah…"
"We need to go, now!" Grover pushed him out the door, and both of them began sprinting towards the road.
They didn't stop until reaching a blank stoplight to catch their breath. Infected were closing in from both sides, with equal numbers as the kind in the gas station.
"Oh we're screwed!" Grover cried, grabbing his hair and pacing. "Why did you fire those rounds?!"
"I had no choice! There were too many to use Riptide!"
"This wouldn't have happened if you just listened to me! We should've went back!"
Percy wanted to argue some more, but the infected weren't as slow as the ones from before. Either that, or the distance between them just wasn't that far. Both of them had little time to figure out something.
"Look, we can argue about this later. Right now, we need to stay alive."
Grover nodded, "Y-Yeah, you're right. What do you think we should do? If we go straight we'll end up in the alleyways. And you know that's Scavengers territory."
"I'd take them over infected any day. They can be reasoned with, infected can't."
"Scavengers? Reasoned with? Have you lost your mind or something?"
Percy raised his voice, "We don't have another option, okay! We need to get moving, now!" Before they took off, he handed Grover one of the gas cans to ease the load. He took it without hesitation.
Together, they entered the shadows, with the undead army trailing close behind.
"Do you see them?"
Grover didn't respond immediately. He was currently about to throw up from exhaustion, leaning up against a concrete wall like a lifeline.
"Haven't…for…the past few…minutes." He coughed, "Should…be good."
Percy nodded, and fell on his rear before he even finished his sentence. They'd been running for what felt like forever to lose the infected. Thankfully, they seemed to have lost them, and hadn't run into any Scavengers, which was also a miracle. They usually perched up in these old apartments to look for any survivors they could steal from.
His ears were ringing. He almost missed what Grover asked. "How many do you think there were?"
Percy didn't even give it much thought. He was too tired to really care. "A hundred, probably."
"We can't let them follow us back to Camp. We absolutely can't let that happen."
"And we won't, man. They're long gone. We lost them."
Silence ensued, allowing Percy some time to gather his thoughts, and his now calming breath. It was almost peaceful, until Grover whipped out the reed pipes. These little flute things he kept hanging on his necklace that he played sometimes. Grover was really into music. Percy remembered him being part of the band back in high school, and a part of all these clubs that had to do with it. He wasn't a genius or anything when it came to that stuff, but even Percy knew that Grover had talent.
But that talent wasn't welcome right now. Percy stopped Grover after only two notes of playing.
"Dude, I know you do that when you're nervous, but you gotta stop. Infected will hear."
Grover nodded timidly and lowered his reed pipes. "S-Sorry. Old habit."
The two sat there for several minutes, listening to the silence of the city. It was wild. New York City and silence being hand in hand with each other. Percy remembered a time when he could listen to music with his headphones, cover his head with a pillow, and still hear the noises of honking cars and bustling crowds. He used to hate it sometimes.
Now, he'd give his left leg to have a taste of it back.
"G-Man?"
"Yeah?"
"...Sorry about being reckless back there."
He heard Grover sigh, "Don't sweat it. I get where you were coming from. You didn't want to go back empty handed and look like a failure."
"I just…don't like to mess up, you know? Especially when people are counting on me."
A pause. Percy figured the conversation would end there.
But Grover didn't let it. "Can I ask you something, Perce?"
"Sure."
"Why do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Why do you take the hardest runs? And the hardest missions? Not to mention all the patrols, most of the guarding shifts, and even dealing with Clarisse when it comes to training."
"What do you mean?"
"Dude, you push yourself harder than anyone could expect in a world like this. There's over eighty people back at Camp. Why not let them share some of the load?"
Percy laid down on the street and folded his arms behind his head. "I feel like you've asked me this before."
"I have. You always dodged it."
He chuckled, "You shouldn't expect a sophisticated answer from me."
Grover didn't laugh. He waited for an answer.
Percy's chuckling ceased. He knew he'd at least have to give up something, even if he didn't want to. Grover was his best friend, but there are some subjects that he still won't open up about.
"I don't know, I guess I just like to stay busy. It keeps my mind preoccupied."
"Preoccupied…and distracted?"
"Sure."
"So you're trying to keep your mind off of something specific?"
"I don't know if it's that complex. I'm just a young, able, willing body to help get stuff done for others that need it. The world's been messed up for what, two years plus now? It's only gonna get worse, so somebody has to step up."
He could feel Grover's eyes on him, staring. It began to make him uncomfortable, as if Grover could read into his soul and find the truth. For seconds, nothing was said in return, and Percy almost winced in preparation for another question that he might not be able to throw off.
But thankfully, Grover just accepted it. "Oh, alright. Makes sense."
Percy craned his neck and nudged him with his shoe, "Means you've got to start doing more around Camp to get on my level, you know?"
Grover smiled a little and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm not gonna feed your ego so save it."
They shared a small laugh, then everything grew quiet again. Both of them noticed it was getting darker. Sunset would come within half an hour, followed by nighttime…the worst time to be out in the open.
Infected hate the heat. They only tolerate sunlight, because they have to find fresh prey. When night comes around though, the hordes get even larger, and the infected get even more dangerous, growing stronger and faster.
Realizing this, Percy sat up quickly. "It's almost sunset. We need to get indoors, fast."
Grover's calm streak ended right then and there, reverting back to balled up anxiety. "W-Where? Like you said, this is Scavenger territory. I doubt we can find a free building for long."
Percy looked around at his surroundings, still not spotting any of the bandits. "We can't pick and choose. You know what happens when night falls. We have to get inside ASAP."
Both of them stood up. Grover's knees were trembling, "A-Alright, I'm with you."
Percy snuck to the edge of the alleyway with Grover on his tail, peering out once he reached it. Next to them sat rows of apartment buildings, all looking about the same. On a few, he could make out Scavenger marks. Rusty machinery for lookouts and sniper towers, old cars and trucks piled together to make walls, and even infected crowding a couple of places. Meaning that they heard noise from people in that direction.
Finally, Percy decided on a bank, directly in front of them. No lights, no Scavenger machinery, and most importantly, no infected.
"I'm thinking we hide out in that bank for a while." Percy pointed, "I don't see any signs of Scavengers or infected."
Grover gave it a once over. "Almost seems too good to be true though, don't you think?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, it's empty. What if it's a trap? What if as soon as we reach the door we get shot in the head by a sniper in that Scavenger tower?"
What Grover said made perfect sense. It was textbook strategy for scum of the wasteland to do. Survival of the fittest had taken over as the world's motto, which meant stealing, killing, and tricking were basic rules.
"You're right….but we don't have many good options." Percy wracked his brain, trying to think of a strategy. "What if we run across as fast as we can in zig zags? That way we'll be a harder target."
Grover nodded thoughtfully, "It could work. But a skilled sniper could anticipate our direction and catch us."
Percy swallowed hard, "Well let's just hope whoever's out there has bad aim."
Grover held out his hand in front of his face. Percy gripped it hard, as if they were about to arm wrestle.
"On three?"
"Yeah."
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
They bolted onto the road, going in zig zags like Percy suggested. It slowed them down a bit, but the potential reward for not getting their heads blown off seemed worth it.
The distance between the alleyway and the Bank seemed endless. Like a vast desert they had to cross before reaching a precious source of water.
A little past the halfway point, Percy heard a crack in the air, and then a whistle next to his face.
He flinched, momentarily stopping in the road. He might as well have been a deer in headlights. That was a gunshot.
"Get down!" Grover warned, and tackled him just as another crack rang through the air, this time hitting the asphalt and leaving a small hole.
With Grover on top of him, the two looked at each other with wide eyes, not speaking, but thinking the same thing.
Scavenger.
Just like he predicted. Those thugs always keep someone on watch, even at night, when survivors are less likely to be wandering around.
Percy never moved so fast in his life. He and Grover practically pushed each other to get off the road and start running again, this time not worrying about the zig zags, ironically.
Next to him, he heard Grover panting, clearly exhausted. Percy remembered back in high school when the Gym teacher made them do laps, Grover would pass out after the seventh. The eighth if he was lucky.
"Keep pushing!" Percy encouraged, "Just a little further!"
He managed to keep up all the way to the door, leaping at the last second to reach it. When Percy's hand grabbed the metal handle, a small hole appeared next to him in the window, then another crack. Three misses in a row. Percy wasn't sure whether to go with the realistic approach, and call the distance tough for any sniper to hit a moving target at...or attribute it to luck. Probably a bit of both.
He wasted no time in yanking on the door, thanking God, or whoever sat up there, if anyone, that it was unlocked.
The two bustled into the lobby, feeling a weird substance beneath their shoes, something that made a crunching noise.
Percy looked down to see broken glass littered everywhere in a straight line, as if to ward off a vengeful spirit. He'd seen this kind of alert system before. He'd used it himself a couple of times so he wouldn't get snuck up on.
"Hands in the air." A woman's voice ordered.
Percy and Grover were blinded by a white light hitting both of their corneas. They sat down the gas cans and their hands shot up, obeying the demand.
"Listen, it's not what it looks like," Percy explained. "We didn't know anyone else was in here."
Grover knew they more than likely had a gun pointed at them, "Y-Yeah, we swear."
"I believe you." The woman said in a monotone, "So I'll let you live. Turn back the way you came."
Percy smiled nervously, "Yeah...that's not an option. Scavenger nearly killed us just a few seconds ago. You heard the shots."
He could practically hear the woman shrugging. "And I'll kill you if you don't leave. You've got a better chance avoiding a sniper than a point blank slug to the face."
So she was holding a shotgun? Not good.
Grover looked at Percy with uncertainty. He remained calm.
"Ma'am, if we could just slow down a little, I'm sure we can work something out. Just let us explain ourselves. My name's Percy Jackson, and this is Grover Underwood. What's yours?"
The silhouette lowered the light and tucked it in her armpit to get a better grip on the shotgun. She leveled it closer to Percy's face.
"Nice to meet you, Percy. I'm Annabeth Chase. And if you don't leave in the next ten seconds, I'm blowing your head off."
-x-
I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go for this story, but some things could be subject to change with suggestions from you guys. Like certain things you want to see. I've only written one other long fic, so this is still somewhat new to me.
And just to answer the potential question right off the bat, there will be Percabeth, and plenty of it. It won't be rushed, but rather a slower build over chapters, and as realistic as I can make it to fit the gritty atmosphere. So if you want fluff and all of that, you'll have to wait a little while! It won't just be romance; I've also got an entire plot in mind for this thing.
Anyway, drop a review and let me know what you thought! If it was bad, good, mid, or whatever. Any criticism is completely welcome, and I'll do anything I can to improve!
Thanks!