The group all stood there as they each took in the new information. Jason squeezed Piper's hand to let her know everything would be okay. "We have work to do," Percy stated quickly. Percy walked away to start securing the windows with the spare materials found in the warehouse. He grabbed the hammer and started using the few nonrusty nails they found. Jason shook his head as he followed Percy to begin helping him prepare for the night. The others started to see what they could do around the warehouse. The two worked silently on their boards as they worked away, trying to distract themselves.

"You know, Percy, this is just how it always starts in the games and movies," Jason stated as he hammered a nail into one of the boards. The two held a slight smirk as they continued working on the windows they saw as the most important ones to board with their limited supplies. Jason noticed the number of nails was getting lower, and he decided to see if he could find more nails for Percy to work with. With a small pat on Percy's shoulder, he walked away.

Percy finished working on the window and was happy with his work. He took a peek through the boards he placed and watched the street. He could pick out several zombies stumbling around the street. 'Jason is right, and this is how it starts. The survivors find a place and board it up to survive. They normally lose someone along the way. With that new Task Force coming to assist the people now, we must be careful when going outside.' Percy walked away from the window and moved to help the others.

Juniper smiled at him as he walked near her and Grover. She looked up at him, "Thank you Percy. I'm happy you guys were there and decided to get me. I thought you would have left me or let Grover race off alone." Grover walked over to her and held her in his arms. He started to comfort her, but Percy watched for a moment or two. "Of course, we would never have left you. Not only are you one of my friends, but this guy right here would have killed me in my sleep. And we would never leave you. You're my friend too, Juniper. You guys are all I have left. I don't know about my family since they no longer live in the state." Percy chuckled with a sad tone.

Percy walked over and held his two friends briefly until they heard a sudden loud bang outside. Percy raced to the window and peered through as best as he could. His blood ran cold as he watched a small group of survivors running in the street. One of them had a handgun and was shooting at the zombies. The scene tempted him to help them, but he didn't want to risk his friend's safety. He forced himself to watch the zombies, hoping to learn something to help them survive.

The group consisted of two men and a woman, who were friends as the age difference wasn't that great. Percy watched as the guy with the gun was being stalked from behind by a zombie from behind him. None of the group noticed it as it grabbed hold of the guy with the gun and bit his neck. The zombie dragged the guy down as he fired the weapon as much as he could. The other two members of the group didn't last long after that.

Percy turned to face the rest of the group. Jason and Piper came to join them since they had also heard the gunshots. Percy looked at each of his friends and swore to keep them safe. "Guys, we need to get to work getting food and water for ourselves. We're going to make this our base. Which means we need to make supply runs soon. I say we let Me, Piper, and Grover go with me and Juniper staying here for now. Then we swap out who will stay and who will go out." Percy planned out loud. He soon left and went to get a bag he could use to carry stuff. Piper and Grover soon joined him as they grabbed their stuff to go out and find supplies.

Jason watched as they gathered their items and put them in the car. A few bags to hold food and other needed supplies sat in the truck. The group of three climbed into the car next and double-checked to ensure they had all their gear. Percy held onto the sword while Piper had the bat. Grover got into the front and kept the hammer near him in case he needed it as he drove. Jason and Juniper watched as the car drove away and turned a corner to find a place with food.

Percy watched the buildings pass by and could make out a few zombies roaming around. Grover was driving as far as he could, but he didn't want them burning through the food of the place nearest to their base. After driving around for almost a half hour, though, he was getting desperate. They passed many shops, and it seemed they had already been ransacked. While Percy started to fiddle with the buttons around the car, Grover came to pull over near a gas station that looked untouched by people. The idea was supported by a building with windows covered in plywood, and it looked like the station's front doors were covered by maybe the station's owner. With an eyebrow raised, Percy sent a question to his friend. Grover just shook his head and pointed at their lack of gas.

After parking the car, the three got out, and each one stretched out their limbs. Grover popped open the gas fuel tank to insert the gas nozzle and pay but realized he didn't have a card. Percy looked around to see if he could find the gas attendant before thinking the guy attendant must have either run away or been eaten by the zombies. Percy pointed to the gas station's store, and the three agreed to have someone look for it while the others guard the car. Before they sent someone inside, though, they went to see if the doors were unlocked. The trio approached the door, and Percy saw that they had chains wrapped around them and that the glass also had coverings over them. Grover came up with the hammer, and after a little bit of prying and pushing on the wood, they could break a section of the wood big enough for a person to get through comfortably. They tried to peer inside but could only make out a few feet in front of them, which was difficult for them. The three pulled themselves back out and tried to devise a plan. Piper started to mutter about someone going inside to find the lights. The three stood there momentarily, thinking about what they would do before the night came.

In a silent agreement, the two boys stared at each other and lifted their hands in the shape of a fist. Piper watched as she had no clue what they were up to until they started chanting the rock, paper, and scissors phrases. Piper smacked them both up the head and, with an angry tone, began to lecture them. "Seriously, you two are about to decide who will get an important resource by playing rock, paper, and scissors? What are you five? You two stay here. I'm going to get some cash or something to get gas with. Idiots, the two of you." Piper marched away from the two to look inside for some form to pay for the gas. The two boys smiled as they went back to playing rock paper scissors as they waited for her to return.

After a few minutes, Grover started to get nervous. Piper went into the building a few minutes ago, and they had yet to hear from her. "Hey Percy, do you think she is okay? It's been quiet from her end, and you know she's alone." He whimpered.

Percy started to swear to himself as he grabbed his sword. His hand clenching the handle of the weapon, he moved toward the shop. As Percy brought himself to the space they made in the door, His eyes could barely make out the lights on. He pushed himself into the building and met with Piper, who was gathering supplies. They looked at each other blankly before Percy started to yell at her and waved his arms around. "What the hell, Piper? What have you been doing all this time? We haven't heard anything from you." Percy walked around and peered around some of the aisles, and after seeing nothing, he let his worry drop. Piper gave him a weird look and sent him out to grab the bags as they gathered supplies. As Percy was filling the bags with food and other items they might need, Piper got some money for the pumps, and soon, the car was being filled up. She watched as Grover quickly filled up the car tank. She looked around and noticed that this gas station had some fuel holders that held a few gallons. She had Percy walk the fuel holder over to Grover and help him fill up the gas before she brought the supplies out to the car.

The trio continued to raid the station for any supplies they could find. Some medical kits, food, and even electronics, such as phone chargers, though, who knew how long those would be needed? Grover insisted they still take them, just in case. They took everything. Not a single shelf was left untouched. The car's truck was packed with supplies the group would need in the coming weeks. Piper carried the last food, shoved it into a bag, and placed it into the car before joining Percy and Grover, who were already in the car. "Okay, that's the last food we can carry. I'll say it, we have enough food for a few weeks here if we are smart." Piper commented on the amount of food they had

With a turn of the key, the car came to life, and the three returned to the warehouse, where the others awaited their return.

"Hey Jason, could you come here?" Juniper's voice came from the warehouse's entrance.

Jason made his way over, peeking out the windows as he passed them. He was seeing nothing but a few zombies and closed-up storefronts. He spotted Juniper standing at the front window staring with a worried look on her face. The others have been out for about two to three hours. He understood why she was worried he was, too. But he knew his cousin and his friends would be back safe and sound. As he made it to Juniper, they both spotted a pair of headlights and a very familiar car.

With a smile, Jason made his way outside and opened the gate for the car. "See, Juniper, they're right here, and they're fine." Grover driving pulled right in, but he had a blank look. Piper opened the door and shot out of the car.

Jason pulled open the door to the driver's side and helped Grover out. He started to notice the absence of his annoying older cousin. "Piper, where's Percy?" he asked as he faced her.

With watery eyes, she approached him. "Jason, I'm so sorry, but we lost him. We lost Percy."

Jason's world came crashing down. The words froze his insides and turned him hollow, and a lump formed in his throat. Grover approached him and placed his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Hey man, we saw him going down towards Nico's old high school. So he should be coming back soon," Grover explained. Jason listened to his friend's words. They all started to move inside the warehouse, with Juniper locking the gate and moving to the door.

"Wait, do you mean he's still alive? You made it sound like he died. That idiot probably told you to say that, didn't he? I'm going to kill him when I see him." Jason shouted out in relief that his cousin was still alive.

"Yeah, he's still alive. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking when I said that we lost him." Piper apologized as she rubbed circles on Jason's back after she moved behind him.

"Grover, dear, could you explain what happened while you were out there?" Juniper asked as she made sure the door was locked.

Grover nodded slowly. "Well, it started on our way back from the gas station…"

"Oh no"

– ANs –

Sorry for the shorter chapter but this was the plot of this chapter. If you're interested in talking to me about this story or others of mine join my discord server. There you get early access to chapters and other new stuff about the stories.

Discord link : / PQrCUrhu8p
Take out the space in between.