Guardian
Chapter 2
That was Direct
"Try anything…" Percy trailed off and raised his blade, he was 99.99% sure that Lee wouldn't do anything of ill will toward either of them. But nevertheless, one couldn't be too careful. Especially a demigod, even if what was happening was happening to regular mortals as well.
"Look man, I just want to help you kids." Percy nearly hissed at Lee for that, as it had been a really long time since Percy had been an actual kid, but on second thought he couldn't necessarily fault the man. It was also a good character test to show that Lee wanted to help them out, but Percy wasn't so sure that he still looked like a kid, he was already far past the age of eighteen, but Lee obviously didn't know that.
Percy turned to Clementine, "Are you comfortable with Lee joining us?" He asked quietly, but he was pretty sure that Lee could still hear him anyway. After all, if Lee made Clementine uncomfortable then that was a problem. Clementine gave him a small smile and nodded at him. He turned back to the man to see his shoulders sag in slight relief at that.
"Alright Lee, we're getting out of here before it gets dark." He felt Clementine tug his hand and he looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"What if my parents come home?" He could feel the questioning gaze of Lee before he lightly squeezed Clementine's hand.
"We'll stay close." He promised her to see her smile brightly at him, his heart clenched at the expression. He really didn't want to tell the little girl that her parents were more than likely dead. He turned to Lee to see him raise an eyebrow at him, silently asking the question. Later. He mouthed to the man's nod.
He felt slightly better with Lee nearby, keeping an eye on a small child all by himself would be extremely difficult. "Stay close." He said to Clementine, he looked over to see Lee trailing behind them as they exited through the gates that Percy had first come through. It was clear by Lee's limp and his expression that the gash on his leg was a lot worse than Percy had first thought. But there was nothing he could do for the man, he wasn't exactly well versed in being a medic. He wasn't an Apollo kid after all.
Speaking of which, he still had to push down the weird feeling inside him. It was almost as if something wasn't clicking inside him that normally was. Before he could dwell on it too long, he observed two men ahead of them trying desperately to push one of the wrecked cars Percy had seen earlier out of the way.
The dead person that Percy had killed earlier was thrown aside on the sidewalk in front of Clementine's house. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. There was an old red single cab pickup truck running behind the jam. The two guys must have heard them because they both spun around and raised their hands.
"Holy shit." The guy on the right muttered. At that Clementine, still holding on to his left hand, hid behind his leg.
The more portly fellow on the left with wavy brown hair cried out. "Don't eat us." To which Percy almost rolled his eyes, but he didn't. He did however lower his blade lightly, the one on the right who was probably about half a foot shorter than him with short black hair and brown eyes eyed Percy's sword warily.
He saw Lee step up next to him and raise his hands. "We're not gonna hurt you." He promised, Percy raised an eyebrow at them while he continued making a face toward the two gentlemen. Well, Lee might not, but Percy would if it came to protecting Clem.
"What about him with the sword?" Percy wasn't entirely surprised that the guy could see the sword at this point, but neither Clementine nor Lee had said anything about it.
"It's come in handy so far." Percy shrugged, gesturing toward the dead lady on the sidewalk. They both gave him an impressed face at that, but Percy still didn't lower his guard.
"Thought all three of you were going to give us the chomp."
"What are you doing?" Lee asked.
"Trying to get home, this neighborhood's a disaster. Are you trying to get outta here? Because you should be. Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything as gnarly as this neighborhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back." Percy frowned. So he was in Georgia. He was no geography major, but even he knew that Atlanta was in Georgia. How in the Hades did he get here?
"I'm Shawn, Shawn Greene." The smaller one said.
"I'm Percy," He introduced himself. "This is Clementine." He lifted her hand slightly, but Clementine remained behind his leg. "And this is Lee." He gestured to the man next to him.
The guy on the left kneeled down until he was close to Clementine's height and waved. "I'm Chet." Percy smiled as he saw a small smile come onto Clementine's face toward the man. Chet stood up a second afterward.
"We shouldn't be out in the open like this. Help us clear the way and we'll take y'all out of here and down to my family's farm. It should be a lot safer there." He could tell that Shawn still had some questions he wanted to ask, but Percy agreed with him. The amount of them he had seen earlier was concerning.
"I agree." Percy said quickly to which Lee nodded. "Let's get out of here, yeah?" He said it like a question to Clementine, to which the girl nodded back at him slowly. He smiled at her in reassurance.
Percy suddenly heard growling and groaning in the background. In the direction from which he came, more walking corpses started squeezing through the debris and accident. Far more easily than they would have before, especially since they had moved debris out of the way already.
"Them monsters comin', we gotta go." Chet said.
They were already too close to the truck, they had to take care of some of them beforehand if they wanted to get out of here. "Lee," Percy barked and the man turned to him. "Help them move the car out of the way. Clem stay close to Lee." He said calmly to the little girl. She nodded and ran close to the man as Percy stepped toward the monsters.
There had to be four already near the truck and over a dozen still making their way toward them.
"What are you going to do?" Shawn asked as Percy raised Riptide.
"Just hurry." He ordered before he stepped up next to the truck. He sliced the head of the first one in half in a spray of dark red blood. It dropped to the ground unceremoniously, its brain spilling out slightly. Percy tried to push the fact that these had once been people out of his mind, they were trying to kill them, and from what he gathered is that these things wanted to eat them.
It was easy, much easier than most monsters he fought. They were a lot slower, and seemingly dumber. He decapitated one before turning to the next one and slicing it in half vertically before turning to the left and driving Riptide through the throat of the last one close to them.
"Woah." Shawn said as Percy turned to them to see the car was now out of the way. They all looked at him in surprise but Percy paid them no mind. The other abominations were getting closer.
"We need to go." He snapped and that seemed to snap them all out of their daze. The remaining dozen or so got close, too close as Percy ran to Clementine and jumped in the cab of the car with Shawn. He turned back to see Lee and Chet jump in the truck bed just in time. Without another word Shawn floored it and took off. Running over the curb as he turned right, Percy held Clementine close to his side as he evened out his breathing.
He was confused, they were easy to dispatch. But Percy felt a lot more tired than he normally did after something like that happened, it was weird. It just compounded on the weird feeling that was continuously running through his body.
As they began driving, they were soon out of the city and surrounded by farmland. Percy could see how it would be safer here, there would be a lot less people, and if those really were just dead people back there, then places with less people would be a lot more safe. His thoughts soured at that, if this was happening everywhere, then his mom would be in a lot of danger, his baby sister would be in danger. Especially with the millions upon millions of people that lived in Manhattan. He sighed deeply just thinking about it, would he ever see his little sister again? The thought nearly made him want to cry.
He turned to see Clementine's eyes closed, she must have been exhausted and tired with anxiousness and worry while she had been alone. She was clutching his arm tightly and he gave a fond smile to her at the sight, he may not be with his family but he knew what he had to do. Protect this little girl at all costs.
So far Shawn hadn't said anything yet as they drove. He didn't know how far this farm was, but the further from that city the better Percy thought.
"You're not from around here, are you?" Shawn said after a while to break the silence, his voice was quiet to try not to disturb Clementine.
"No." He said slowly, "I'm from New York, I was on a trip when all this started happening." He said quietly, he really didn't know how to explain that he had just appeared in Georgia today, or that he had been in New York the last he knew. He thought of his mom, Annabeth, and Estelle. He really hoped they were okay, the sinking pit in his stomach was getting larger and larger each time he thought of them.
"And the girl?" He asked curiously, although Percy could sense a small hint of suspicion in his tone that made him narrow his eyes.
"Found her all alone, I couldn't exactly just leave her." He said with a bit of heat in his voice.
Shawn lifted one of his hands and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I wasn't implying anything. Just curious is all." He defended himself, although Percy could see his eyes flickering to Riptide as he said that.
"And the sword?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Gift from my dad, it's come in handy." Percy replied.
Shawn gulped nervously, "And you're okay with that?" Percy looked at him in confusion. "I mean, killing those things that were people? What if it's just a disease… What if they find a cure?" His fingers were drumming nervously on the wheel of the truck, and it was obvious to Percy that Shawn was having a moral dilemma with the whole situation.
Percy shrugged in response. He felt a little guilty, he had been thinking along the same wavelength as Shawn originally. But the more he thought about it… it didn't make sense. "They were trying to kill us, I don't feel bad protecting myself, and did you look at their skin? They were dead and rotting, even if there was a way to come back from that. Would anyone want that?"
There was an uncomfortable silence in the cab as Shawn didn't immediately speak, Percy could feel his leg jumping from sitting still. It was getting awfully hard.
"I don't know man, I guess." He said after a while.
Percy really hoped he would stay silent after that. "And Lee?" He should have known. This guy was really talkative, he nearly groaned.
"Just met him, but I get the sense he's a good guy. Seems like we should stick together through something like this."
Shawn nodded, "Yea, I'd be dead without Chet. I understand."
The rest of the drive continued in silence, with Clementine still clutching his bicep.
It was nighttime when Shawn pulled the red pickup into a dirt driveway that led to a rather large farm. Once parked, they all climbed out. He looked back to see Lee stretching before then clutching his knee. Percy winced, that couldn't have been comfortable.
"Hey, Shawn, I'm'a run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit." Chet said.
"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night." Shawn replied as Chet turned to the three of them. Percy felt Clementine's hand slip into his.
"It was nice to meet y'all." He said before taking off.
Shawn led them to a porch as an older man appeared from the front door. The old man had short white hair and a neatly trimmed beard of the same color. He was skinny, but tall, close to Percy's height. Wearing a green jacket and pants, his blue eyes regarded Shawn for a moment before turning to the rest of them.
"Thank god you're okay." The man said before hugging Shawn and Percy could tell that this was his father.
"I was worried it'd be bad here too." Shawn said after a moment as the two broke their hug.
"Been quiet as usual the past couple of days." He replied before turning to the three of them. "I see you've brought a couple of guests. Percy could see the old man's eyes linger on Riptide for a moment and he could sense the unease from him. But to Percy's surprise he didn't say anything.
"Dad, this is Percy, Clementine, and Lee." Shawn said, pointing to each of them as he introduced.
"The name's Herschel." The man introduced himself, his eyes darting between them quickly. His gaze shifted to Lee and his eyes narrowed for a brief moment, almost as if in familiarity. But Lee gave no indication that he knew the old man or his son. Percy was going to file that away for later.
"They saved us, without them, Chet and I never would have made it back." Shawn told his father. Percy got the sense that Herschel was stubborn.
"Is that right? Well, I'm glad you ran into them then." Herschel's gaze drifted to Lee's leg that was still coated with blood. "Looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."
Lee grimaced. "Yea, it's not doing so good." The way Lee was almost completely avoiding putting any pressure on the wound, Percy would guess the man was not kidding. It looked like a pretty nasty gash.
"I can help you out. Shawn, run on in and check on your siblings. You," Herschel said pointing to Lee. "Take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have." Both Shawn and Herschel entered the house while Lee sat down on the porch. Percy leaned up against one of the posts, his eyes examining the vast farm that they were on, Clementine was still tucked firmly at his side, refusing to let him go.
"What is it, Percy?" Lee asked, Percy watched as his eyes dipped to the tattoo on his forearm before snapping back to his eyes.
"This farm, it seems out of the way. Maybe they'll let us stay a while." Percy said hopefully, Percy caught the flash of despair that appeared on Lee's face momentarily.
"I doubt it." Lee said bitterly, the man suddenly looked guilty about something. But what could he possibly have been guilty about?
"Why's that?" Percy asked curiously.
Lee was saved from answering as Herschel reappeared out of the front door holding a roll of bandages and what Percy assumed was something to clean the wound with.
"Let's have a look." Herschel leaned down and examined the wound. "Yeah, this is swollen to hell." Herschel said after a moment before he poured something on a rag and pressed it to the wound.
Percy watched Lee grit his teeth and wince, "Hurts like hell." Lee muttered. After a moment of cleaning Herschel unfurled the bandages and began wrapping the wound.
"How'd this happen?" He asked him, the question seemed innocent enough, but Percy could sense a small sense of hostility in Herschel's questioning. As if he was suspicious of the wound, and Lee himself.
"Car accident." Lee was quick to respond.
"That so? Where were you headed? Before the car accident?" Again, the questioning seemed harmless enough. But it made Percy antsy, as if Herschel was probing for a specific answer.
"Home." Lee's eyes darted to the left and Percy could instantly tell it was a lie. Why would Lee be lying about where he was coming from? What did the man have to hide? Percy was a good judge of character and he felt like a good guy, so what was he hiding? He wondered curiously.
"Where's home?" Herschel was quick to ask.
"I grew up in Macon, we hit a guy, one of those things you've been hearing about, on the road."
"Who were you with, them?" Herschel gestured to Percy and Clementine.
"Nobody." Lee responded quickly, but Percy could tell Herschel had caught him.
"Is that so?" Herschel said.
"Yeah, it is." Lee responded, perhaps with a little heat.
"You said 'we,' that's all." Percy frowned and could see Lee's skin lighten a bit at that. Herschel finished bandaging Lee's leg and stood.
"House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three sleeping in the barn. You all are welcome to rest there, when we're done here." Herschel turned toward Percy and Clementine, before his gaze dropped to the little girl.
"You know this man?" He gestured at Lee and Clementine nodded. Herschel grunted but relented. His gaze shifted back to Percy and he opened his mouth but paused before turning away.
At that moment Shawn came back from inside the house, his arms crossing over his chest. "Hey, Dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm."
"That doesn't seem necessary." Percy scoffed and Herschel's eyes snapped to him immediately. His eyes glaring harshly at him as he too crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it?" He snapped angrily at Percy.
"It's bad out there, it'd be stupid not to reinforce the place while you still can." Herschel's glare remained, but Percy had seen far worse from gods and monsters. Some old farmer's gaze wasn't going to be enough to bother him at all. The old man needed to do something if he wanted to protect his family. "Don't want anything happening to your family because you're stubborn, do you?"
Herschel's gaze softened at his explanation. Whatever Percy thought of the old man, he very clearly cared a lot about his family. "Fine, do what you think you should. Plenty of chores around here as it is." He said, which Percy knew was stubborn speak for agreeing. Percy was a master of being stubborn himself after all.
"Percy, Lee, and those folk in the barn can help out in the morning. We gotta do it." Shawn said assuredly.
"I already said fine." Herschel responded back. Shawn huffed and went back inside.
Herschel turned back to Lee. "Your leg should start feeling better in the morning. If your leg gets hot or the swelling doesn't go down, you're probably dealing with an infection."
"What happens then?" Lee asked curiously.
"We'll probably just have to shoot you." Clementine gasped and a smile came over Percy's face while Lee seemed shocked, clearly Herschel was joking, Percy thought to himself.
"We'll clean it, re-dress it and you'll be fine." Herschel said with a slight chuckle on his lips.
"Okay, that'd be preferable." Lee responded.
"There's blankets and such in the barn. We'll be seeing you bright and early. Come tomorrow, which way you think you're headed?" Percy frowned, he had hoped the old man would allow them to stay here at least a little longer. Maybe he would be able to convince him somehow.
"Towards Macon, I suppose." Herschel nodded before turning to Clementine and giving her a small smile before disappearing inside.
The three of them headed toward the barn and laid down on the makeshift beds. There was hay everywhere and it smelled bad. Clementine huddled close to him, but Lee wasn't too far away from them.
"It smells like…" Clementine trailed off and Percy smiled before going to respond, but Lee beat him to it.
"Shit." Clementine gasped and turned to Lee with wide eyes while Percy rolled his eyes before turning and glaring at Lee. The man had the decency to look embarrassed as he did.
"That was a swear." Percy chuckled at how cute and innocent Clementine sounded. But it also made his heart ache, thinking about Estelle.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk like that." Lee responded and Percy hummed in agreement.
Clementine turned away from Lee before hugging Percy's arm tightly and looking up at him with wide amber eyes that were filled with unshed tears. Immediately Percy was alarmed, if he learned one thing about being around a young child it was to keep them from crying as best as you could.
"What's wrong Clem?" Percy asked softly.
"I miss my mom and dad." She said quietly, before sniffling.
Percy gave her a small sad smile, "I know Clem, but they'd want you to be strong. Wouldn't they?" She sniffled and nodded, before burrowing further into his arm.
"How far is Savannah?" She asked, her voice slightly muffled. Percy shrugged before looking to Lee for help.
"Pretty far Clem." He said, his tone was somber. As if he understood what was going on.
"Oh okay." She said sadly.
It wasn't long before both of them were asleep. Percy on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He just couldn't, his mind was thinking desperately about a whole different variety of things. His friends, family, mom, sister, Annabeth. All of them.
He looked over to see Clementine loosely still clutching his arm and smiled at the sight. Glad that the girl had trusted him so easily, it made him feel good about himself.
As softly and quietly as he could, he disentangled himself from Clementine and slipped out of the barn, not without grabbing his sword. Just in case. He was never going to be able to fall asleep right now, not while he was thinking about all of these things. His brain hurt, dead people were walking and he was thousands of miles away from everyone he loved. With no way to contact them, or to find out if they were alright. Not surprisingly, the gods were silent, cold even.
He walked aimlessly for a while before he stopped in front of a random tree. He silently sat down and looked up at the night sky, thousands of stars twinkled brightly above him. Percy gave a soft smile as he saw the huntress constellation shining brightly.
He sighed deeply and put his head in his hands. How in the Hades could he get back to New York, suddenly an idea floated in his mind. Mrs. O'Leary, of course! He closed his eyes and tried to mentally summon his dog as he had done dozens of times before. Looking around the darkness he spotted nothing, no sign of his dog. He frowned, so everything godly related was acting weird.
He could try and summon his pegasus, Blackjack. But he wasn't sure whistling loudly was such a great idea, especially now. The sinking feeling in his gut told him that nothing would happen anyways. He wanted to break down, and cry. But he had to be strong, for Clementine. She was going through the same thing as him, being separated from her family and she was only eight years old.
"Fuck me." He whispered, realizing how utterly screwed he was.
"Don't mind if I do." Percy jumped at the soft feminine voice that was suddenly beside him, his hand grabbing the handle of his sword as a figure appeared in the darkness. It was unlike him to be so easy to sneak up on, "Easy there hun." The southern twang to her voice surprisingly calmed him, he relaxed and his hand left his sword. It had to be one of Herschel's family members.
Percy turned as a woman sat next to him, almost so close to him that he was uncomfortable. It was hard to see her in the moonlight, but he could make out her short brown hair that came down just a couple inches from her shoulders. Her eyes were a warm green and her pale skin almost glowed in the moonlight. A teasing smile was on her lips.
She was very pretty, that was for sure and she seemed to be eyeing him closely. Why she felt the need to come to him in the middle of the night, Percy was unsure. But he would find out. "How can I help you?" He asked curiously, she merely raised an eyebrow at him as if it was a silly question.
"You looked lonely and sad, plus you're extremely hot. Just my type." Percy frowned at her, unamused by her antics, her hand reached up to lightly drag against his arm. He leaned away from the contact, both uncomfortable while also not trying to be rude.
"So, what? You came to me to get laid?" He asked disbelievingly, he had never experienced a woman this direct before. He could feel the warmth rising to his cheeks nevertheless, obviously an attractive woman wanting to sleep with him affected him, he was a male after all. But that didn't mean anything, he had Annabeth. If she was still alive, the dark voice in his head whispered.
"You look cute when flustered," The mysterious woman who was not so subtly trying to seduce him.
"I don't know you." He said. This was just really weird for his tastes.
"Maggie, Maggie Green." Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Percy." He replied, figuring he should at least tell her his name. "Look, I don't want to be rude, but I got a girlfriend and even if I didn't, I'm not like that." She tilted her head to the side at his comment, a large smile was plastered on her face, like his answer merely amused her.
"Shoot, that's a shame." She said as she scooted even closer to him so that their shoulders were brushing each other. Did she not hear what he just said? He wondered to himself. "Well, what are you doing out here then, all by yourself?" She asked, he could hear the curiosity tinged in her voice.
He didn't know this girl at all, but for some reason he felt compelled to tell her, he couldn't share his troubles with Clementine, she was just a little girl, and Lee, well it just seemed wrong.
"I'm a thousand miles from my home, all my family, my friends, and my girlfriend…" He lingered on that word, hoping she would finally understand. "They're all there, and I have no idea if anything has happened to them. It's pretty bad out there, and now I have this little girl to take care of. I'm just worried about them, and if I'll ever see them again. It isn't safe out there." He turned to her and could see her frowning, a sad expression on her face.
"I'm sorry," Maggie replied. "That's rough, we're lucky the entire family's here already." He could actually hear the sympathy in her voice, it was nice to hear surprisingly. "So, you'll be heading for New York?"
Percy shrugged. "I doubt it, not with Clementine. If this is happening everywhere, well… it wouldn't be safe for her. We need to find someplace safe…" He trailed off, looking at her meaningfully. Her eyes widened slightly as if she understood.
"You wanna stay here?" She asked. "I don't know if daddy will allow that, there's enough of us already."
"You could convince him?" He said, slightly hopeful.
Maggie chuckled, the sound was surprisingly pleasant to his ears. "I just met you, and you didn't even sleep with me. What would I get in return?" She asked leaning closer to him, he tried to push the uncomfortableness out of his body. He could tell that this was just a game he would play.
"The satisfaction of knowing you're helping keep an eight year old girl alive." He replied.
She pouted at him playfully. "You're no fun. How about a kiss?"
He shook his head. "No." He responded immediately. Maggie smiled in response.
"Your loyalty is endearing," She responded. "Fine, I'll see what I can do, no promises. My dad's a stubborn ass." Percy chuckled.
"Yeah, I got that feeling. I appreciate it." He stood up and held his hand out to her, she gripped him tightly and he effortlessly pulled her to her feet.
She giggled. "It'll be fun if you stay. Try to get some sleep, when they say early, they mean it." She turned and walked away, her hips swaying as she walked.
Percy shook his head, well that was an experience. Maggie surely was interesting, if she could get her father to get them to stay, then he wouldn't mind the flirting. He wouldn't do anything back, but Clementine's safety was going to come first no matter what. He grabbed his sword and made his way back to the barn, quietly sneaking in through the door, he smiled at Clementine's sleeping peacefully before laying down next to her. He closed his eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.
So that's chapter 2. I will again say that I'll be mixing between the parts of the comics and tv show that I like for this. So, just know that anything could happen. Percy would be hauling his ass up to New York for his family if he didn't run into Clementine, but he did. I also can't guarantee a consistent update schedule for this story but I'll do my best.
Please review if you liked the chapter or have any constructive criticism that you can relay nicely. Again, don't be a dick. I'm doing this in my free time, so… there's no reason to bash people for writing stuff.
