Apollo's time as a mortal had many consequences. First, his horses stayed alone for what, a year? That wasn't nice. So were his sacred crimson cows.

But of course, the biggest impact was that his domains were also left to rot. For some of them, the consequences weren't too high. The sun had other forces that affected it apart from him. And music... well, he knew that there had been some bad things that came about because of his absence, and he had been working to rectify that. Archery wasn't even that practiced anymore, and there was always Artemis to back him up.

No, what worried him, was medicine.

Sure, Asclepius was also someone who could help. His son was probably more suitable in the matter than even he was. But the problem was... it had been a whole year since his ascension back into godhood... and he had no clue where Asclepius was.

Apollo was very aware of his son's role in acquiring the Physician's Cure for the Argonauts. And that in the past Hades all but demanded that Zeus dealt with him while he was mortal and that his father blasted Asclepius to pieces. Now, though? Did Zeus punish Asclepius? Apollo was too uncomfortable to ask, given that he was barely back from his exile, and he was not gonna take any chances to extend it.

So, when he noticed that the nosoi, spirits of disease, had been left free for an entire year, he panicked. He immediately began a hunt against them. But... he knew it was too late. If those vile spirits had engineered something, it would be out in the wild already.

And so, when Apollo heard reports of violent attacks caused by a disease appearing all the way in Asia... he flashed there immediately. He wasn't afraid. But he did not expect what he saw. He examined one of the ravaging beasts he found. It was bloody, its irises completely red, no sense of emotion or sentience.

Pure rage.

He locked the thing with celestial bronze chains, and by firing his bow to the ceiling, called for an emergency meeting. Quickly his fellow gods appeared, all noticing the growling beast in the form of a man that stood below his throne. Shocked eyes, all turned towards the bloody and animalistic being.

"Apollo? What is that?" His sister asked, just as Zeus appeared alongside the queen.

"Sit down. I'll explain it." Artemis obliged, and Zeus took just a little longer to notice the thing.

"Apollo, what have you brought to our home?!" His father asked with repulse.

"That's exactly why I've called you all here." He didn't wait for Zeus to signal the start of the meeting to begin speaking. "In my absence, I take it that you all knew my domains would be affected. Most of all, medicine. And there isn't a replacement."

"That doesn't sound right. Where is Asclepius?" Hermes questioned.

Apollo stretched his arms. "Precisely. I have no idea. And without a proper god of medicine to counter the nosoi – I take it we're all familiar with what they are – it was all chaos. And I'm certain that this is their doing." He pointed towards the thing below, who just at this opportune moment, vomited dark blood. Many Olympians grimaced, stared with repulse, or simply turned their eyes away.

"What in Gaia's name is that?" Poseidon was the one to ask, looking at the beast below.

"This was someone," Apollo stated. "But not anymore. It looks wild, like a hellhound. But unlike a hellhound, it can't feel emotions. It can't think. It can't reason. It only wants to kill. I found bite marks all over its leg. And-" Once more, the thing vomited blood. "It lunged at me without self-preservation, only seeking to hurt and infect me."

"You're joking," Dionysus said in an unbelieving voice. "You're meaning to say that while you were out there as Lester-"

"The nosoi created zombies. Yeah." Apollo finished it.

"Then what should we do?" Demeter asked. "If they are zombies, like in popular culture, aren't they a threat to mortals?"

"They are," Apollo stated. "It lunged at me as it was full of adrenaline. But the thing is..." He looked around the room, noticing all eyes on him. "This isn't a logical infection, I'm sure of it. Such a disease isn't possible by biological standards... but the nosoi have gone a step further. This is supernatural. This isn't scientific. It is beyond what mortals can cure."

"Doesn't take one too long to think that zombies walking around isn't normal." Ares spoke. "Where's the outbreak?"

"Myanmar," Apollo said. "But there could be more. And I think there are more outbreaks. The mortals are, and excuse me for my language, absolutely fucked. The nosoi shouldn't be allowed to do this, they've breached laws even!"

The room was quiet for a moment, all deities pondering deeply about what could happen next. All were familiar with zombies in pop culture, some more than others, but this? This shouldn't happen. It was a whole different story."

"Apollo," Zeus called, his commanding voice reverberating across the throne room. "Are these... zombies," The king spoke like he couldn't imagine the word zombie would ever exit his mouth. "Immortal? Are they even monsters?"

There it was. The question Apollo already asked himself. "Father, we can't..."

"Answer me." The god of the skies commanded, and Apollo conceded.

"They're not. Their organisms are still operating. Not in a natural way, no human being can survive this much loss of blood, I'm sure of it, but like I said, this isn't natural. I'm sure there is magic involved in this disease."

"But they're still mortals," Zeus spoke.

"Yes."

"And they cannot be killed by us without us being attacked first." Athena, unusually quiet, finally spoke.

"They cannot." Apollo cleared his throat. "And I don't even know if the disease affects immortals or mortals. It's a possibility."

"What about the half-bloods?" Said Hermes.

"They're part mortal." The god of medicine said solemnly. "More than likely, they can be infected."

The quietness after he finished was deafening. The twelve Olympians, the most powerful beings in the universe, rulers of the cosmos, bane of their enemies...

Reduced to silence.

"Then what should be the next course of action?" If things couldn't get any worse, Athena asked a question on what they should do. The uncomfortable looks that followed weren't unexpected. They all knew that Athena would think of something, but for her to not be sure of it, was the scary part.

"We should warn both camps of incoming danger," Poseidon answered. "Yes. And we should try to warn our children who aren't in any camps.

"And after that?" Aphrodite asked.

Apollo summoned his bow again, shooting the infected below, who had started to scratch his throne to try and get him. With a movement of his hand, the body was the blood stains remained.

.

"We bunker up."

Percy woke up after a good night of sleep, which was rare. Of course, excluding the dreams. Images of running people and screams had been present, but to be honest, he had gotten too used to nightmares.

And he felt great overall. His body certainly wasn't sore as it tended to be when he was under the heavy pressure of college. Summer break was awesome. What else could be said?

Annabeth wasn't by his side, though. They had both agreed that they'd rather share a mattress on the ground than sleep in separate beds in the visitor's room at the Chases's place. Dr. Chase hadn't mind it, and neither did Annabeth's stepmother.

Yawning, Percy switched his clothes and exited the room, quickly stumbling upon his girlfriend, who smiled.

"Good morning, Percy!"

"Good morning." They shared a brief kiss. "Is breakfast ready yet?"

The daughter of Athena nodded. "Yeah. Dad's taken charge of that."

"His day off isn't a day off, is it?"

His question was answered when Dr. Chase ran out of the kitchen running after Matthew, Bobby not far behind them. Percy smiled. It reminded him of his home, how Estelle, even if so young, would run around causing trouble. Not that much trouble, just enough that Paul running after her was cute enough – and only cute.

Soon enough, the family was all around the table, eating breakfast while they watched TV. The news channel was reporting on what seemed to be isolated cases of similar violence popping up around the whole world. Many claim it to be public hysteria, others to be an organized protest. But something seemed off about it. Percy didn't know why. Perhaps because of his nightmares.

"Do you also think it's weird?" Annabeth quietly asked him. "These reports."

"Yeah." He coughed. "I had a bad dream last night..."

"Oh." She interrupted him. "So did I."

Usually, it wouldn't be too big of a deal for demigods to have bad dreams and nightmares. It was just what happened. But when Annabeth told him that her dream was eerily like his own, Percy decided that something was indeed off.

"Then what?" Percy inquired. "We both have no clue what this means. Perhaps we could message Rachel?" He was much less uncomfortable talking about Rachel now, ever since she became the oracle. Not to mention all that he had gone through with Annabeth.

"Maybe." Annabeth stared into nothing, her hands behind her chin, always the way she stood when she put her brain to work. "We'll have to see what happens. Can you pass me the butter, Dad?" That last bit was said to the entire table, and Percy returned to his toast. They ate for a few more minutes, but not long after, heavy knocking on the door ensued, making his heart skip a beat in bewilderment.

"Are you expecting a delivery?" Ms. Chase asked Annabeth.

"No." The knocking became even heavier, and Dr. Chase stood up from his chair.

"I'll see who's there."

"No." Percy quickly stood up as well. "I think it's best that I check on it." While he didn't want to boss his father-in-law in his household, the look he gave Dr. Chase was meant to tell the man that it could be something that only Percy could deal with, and thankfully, Frederick understood, letting Percy go to the door.

Hand on Riptide, Percy opened the door, only to be pushed out of the way as a man made a run inside. Percy quickly closed the door and went for Riptide, but he soon noticed it wasn't a monster... but instead one of Dr. Chase's neighbors. The guy's name was... Jenkins, if his memory didn't fail him.

"What the hell, Carl?" Frederick came to confront the man. Percy just now noticed he was holding a big wound on his neck, his hand full of blood. His clothes were scratched, and he looked scared out of his mind. Behind him in the kitchen, he saw Ms. Chase quickly moving the kids deeper into the house, while Annabeth looked with apprehension and readiness at the man.

"Chase, I'm sorry, I just..." Carl Jenkins's breathing was ragged, and heavy, like it was painful to him. "Fuck. I didn't know what to do. My brother. He got me pretty bad."

"Your brother?" Dr. Chase looked with disbelief. "Morgan would never-"

"I know! He just came at me like a fucking animal. He tore up my neck. Holy fuck. I don't think he got an artery. I need to go to a hospital."

"Hold on." Frederick got closer to inspect the wound. It was ugly. It resembled...

A bite.

"He bit you?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. And scratched me like he was trying to kill me. I mean, he was." Carl gasped, holding his neck again.

"Don't speak much. I know a bit of first aid. Guess studying war all the time will help you." Frederick put Carl's arm around his shoulder and got close to Percy. "Please, look out. This is not looking good."

All Percy could do was nod. Dr. Chase took Carl to his office and shut the door behind him, not before he got some medicine and other related stuff from the bathroom. When silence reigned, Percy looked at his girlfriend, who looked just as taken aback as he was.

"What in the name of Hades is going on?" Annabeth asked frenetically. "All of a sudden, a guy just comes and says he was attacked by his brother... I know this Morgan guy. He is like an angel. It's completely out of character for him to tear up his brother's neck!"

"I know, Wise Girl, this is just as confusing for you as it is for me. We just-" A scream was heard deep inside the house. Without missing a beat, the couple ran to see that it was inside Dr. Chase's office. Percy opened the door and was almost knocked over by a massive body thrown in his direction. It hit the ground, and he noticed that it was Carl.

But it couldn't be.

There were no signs of pain anymore. The man wasn't hissing, begging, arguing. Instead, when he looked at Percy, he growled. Like an animal. His eyes were bloodshot, and blood streamed down from his eye sockets, nose, and mouth.

This was a monster.

And Percy knew the only way to deal with monsters.

It was just that Annabeth was faster withdrawing her sword. The drakon-bone blade cut through Carl's arm, which seemed to do nothing to the thing apart from slowing it down. It didn't even seem to feel it. So, they hesitated. But Dr. Chase did not. With a chair, Annabeth's dad bashed Carl's head, repeatedly. Percy stared in horror at the amount of blood. When it was over, all that remained were the three, all holding their weapons in their hands.

"What happened?" Percy questioned. Dr. Chase looked down, panting.

"I was treating him, and he stopped moving for a moment. Then, he lunged at me."

"Just like his brother did," Annabeth stated. "But then..."

"He got me." Dr. Chase showed the back of his hand, and it contained a deep bite mark. Annabeth stared, paralyzed, but then, more screams were heard from the main bedroom. All three ran there, finding that the windows had been broken. Two figures resembling Carl were attacking Ms. Chase and the kids, and both demigods moved at lightning speed at them. Percy didn't even know if Riptide would work, so he was surprised to see that his celestial bronze sword indeed worked, slicing one of the beasts like butter. It was an ugly image, but not much better than Annabeth decapitating the other one with her sword.

"Mom!" Annabeth ran towards Ms. Chase, who was on the ground, a huge wound on her shoulder. Percy knew how dire the situation was that his girlfriend would call her stepmother mom. But Ms. Chase could barely answer, looking at Frederick instead with cloudy eyes. The kids weren't much better, agonizing over scratches that almost resembled a feline attack.

"Annabeth..." Frederick turned towards them. Percy was horrified to see that his eyes were becoming bloodshot. "Something terrible is brewing. You need to..." Frederick coughed blood. "Run. I can feel something going on inside of me. Damn it."

"What?!" Annabeth thundered. "I'm not gonna leave you behind! That's madness! We can't-"

"You need to." On the ground, the kids and Ms. Chase started to convulse. While Percy wanted to check on them, he was also terrified of becoming one of those things. His mind ran fast, especially when improvising. He knew this was bad. "We're goners. You two are not." More coughing ensued, and more blood covered Dr. Chase's arm. "I love you, daughter. I wish I could have said that more. Fuck." Dr. Chase dropped to the ground, holding onto his chest.

"Dad!" Annabeth tried to lunge towards him, but Percy held her. "Let me go!"

"Don't do this!" Percy urged her. "He's right, we ain't got much time!"

"I'm gonna gut you if you don't release me, Jackson!" Annabeth screamed, not noticing that behind her, Ms. Chase got up, looking around like a lost animal. But when she set her bloody eyes on them...

She screamed. In a way that his stepmother-in-law shouldn't be able to do. It was a guttural growl. It would be more fitting of Kampe than Ms. Chase.

Just then, she lunged at the two. Annabeth seemed to have woken up from her despair, but it would be too late to dodge. Ms. Chase would have gotten her... if they both hadn't been grabbed by the clothes by an unknown force, and all became dark in a very familiar way.

The smell of dirt, plants, and wildlife burst into Percy's nostrils like a bullet, the light returning to the world. On high alert, Percy branded his sword but found nothing to attack.

Because he found himself face-to-face with Nico di Angelo.

"Hey, Percy."

"Nico?!" Annabeth cried on the ground.

"Hi, Annabeth," Nico responded coldly, like he tended to do, turning back to look at Percy. "We got a problem. A huge problem."

Oh, really?

Don't expect this to receive an update too soon. I'm not evil, I just need to finish the Perodite story. Then, we can really begin. Enjoy this small prologue though!