Chapter 5

I Have a Boyfriend

Percy shared a meaningful look with Lee, the man looked vaguely uncomfortable as he rubbed his right arm. Despite finding out the man had literally murdered someone, Percy still felt a strange sense of ease and calm from the man.

Lee opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted.

Suddenly the crackle of Clementine's walkie-talkie interrupted them. "Hey, there, this is Glenn, and, uh, I'm kinda in a jam here. Uh, little girl, if you're there, can you put Percy or Lee on the phone? Or on the talkie, or whatever?" Clementine looked at him with concern, her wide amber eyes causing him to frown as she hesitantly handed him the talkie.

"This is Percy, what's up?" He asked curiously, hoping that he wasn't in trouble and was just checking in.

"So…" Glenn whispered loudly. "I'm down at the motor inn, and I'm… stuck."

"Stuck?" He repeated questioningly.

"Yeah, I, uh saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of the roaming ones got the jump on me. I'm hiding over here, but they won't leave. Could you please come help?" He practically pleaded, Percy felt bad for the guy. This was obviously not something he was used to experiencing, he was probably terrified.

"Don't worry Glenn, sit tight. I'll be right over." Percy reassured.

He could hear Glenn's sigh of relief, as if the man was expecting for them to just leave him behind. "Awesome, I'll sit tight until then." Glenn replied.

Percy clipped the walkie-talkie to the side of his pants, before he kneeled down and placed a hand on Clementine's shoulder while looking into her eyes. "I'm going to hold onto this for a moment, at least until we get Glenn back. Alright?" At her hesitant nod, he gave her a small smile. "I'll take good care of it. Do you trust me?" He asked her.

She nodded her head immediately, but he could see her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want you to go." She nearly cried out. "What if you don't come back?" She asked, her lips trembling.

"Oh sweetie." He said, pulling her into a hug. Her small form trembled against him. How the young girl was so attached to him already, he wasn't sure. He had no idea what he was doing, and he certainly wasn't anything special. But he cared deeply for her as well. "Nothing will keep me from getting back here to you, I'll be quick." He turned toward Lee and stared at him expectantly. "Lee will keep a close eye on you until I get back."

Lee nodded immediately. "Don't worry, Clem. I'll be here until Percy gets back." She nodded cutely and ran up to Lee, placing her small hand in his.

Lee's dark eyes turned to him. "You aren't going by yourself are you?" He looked concerned about him. Percy merely shrugged in reply. "At least take Carley with you, the one with the gun. She's from around here as well, she'll know where she's going."

Percy merely nodded. "Alright, fine. I'll take her with me." Percy really didn't want to, she would probably just slow him down. But he really didn't know where he was going, so it was better than getting lost.

He stepped out of the office into the convenience area of the pharmacy, walking up to Carley who was fidgeting with a radio. "Carley," The young woman's eyes turned to him immediately. "Glenn's in trouble, needs help at the motel. I need someone to watch my back, plus, I don't know exactly where I'm going. Would you mind?" He said calmly.

"I'm in, I could use a jog." She said, her eyes studying him curiously.

He smiled at her. "Great." A light pink dusted her cheeks as the two of them headed into the office, where Lee and Clementine were still waiting for them.

"Lee, keep trying to get those pills. Let the others know what's going on if they ask. Hopefully, we'll be back quickly." Lee nodded at him.

"Don't worry Percy, I'll handle things around here." He turned toward the door to the back alley when a weight slammed into his leg.

"Be careful." Clementine's young voice tugged his heartstrings.

He ruffled her head on top of her hat, drawing an annoyed look from the young girl. Smiling brightly at her, "Don't worry kiddo, I got this. Stay close to Lee, yea?" She nodded at him and ran back to Lee's side, as the two exited the office into the store.

Turning back to Carley he saw a small smile on her face. "You're good with kids." Percy shrugged in reply, not really sure what to say. "She seems to care a lot about you."

"I found her all alone," Carley raised an eyebrow at him. He went to open the door, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Can I ask you a question before we go?" Carley asked.

"You just did?" He smirked, only to see the woman roll her eyes at him. "Go ahead." He said, chuckling to his own joke. Childish? Maybe, he didn't care.

"You seem," She paused, as if she was trying to gather her words. "Oddly okay with all of this. Calm and sure of yourself, everyone's freaking out. I'm freaking out, how are you doing it?" She asked him.

Percy shifted his weight so he could look into Carley's eyes. "I'm terrified too. People eating each other," He nearly shivered. "I never thought I'd see that. But Clementine needs a calm figure in her life, and the rest of you do too. I guess I'm just used to stuff like this." He responded to her.

"You say that like you've had to lead through a crisis before."

"That's because I have." He responded neutrally. Percy was honestly terrified, more so than he had been through the war with Kronos and Gaea. People coming back to life and eating each other, that was scarier than anything he had ever come across. He'd rather face down Kronos a thousand more times. But he would do what he always had, stay calm and do his best to keep the people around him alive.

"Military?" Carley asked.

He turned toward the door and opened it. "Something like that." He responded before stepping out into the alley.

"Jesus…Christ…how…" Carley was gasping between words, hunched over as she tried to steady her breathing. Percy just raised an eyebrow at her and waited as she calmed herself. It took several moments, but she finally righted herself. Her chest was still rapidly expanding and shrinking as she breathed a little harsher than normal. A thick sheen of sweat glistened over her face, her cheeks were bright red.

"How the hell? You're not even breathing heavily, we just sprinted the whole way here." She whispered furiously. "I think I'm a good runner, that was insane." Percy just shrugged in response.

Before he could respond, he heard a groan. He grabbed Carley and pulled her close, ducking behind the brick wall behind him. He saw the walker, with their back turned to them. His head turned, as if he was looking for the source of a sound.

He saw Carley ready her pistol and go to stand, but he grabbed her wrist again and gave her a look of warning. "No, we need to be quiet. We don't know how many there are here, and we don't want to draw anymore." He said quietly. He showed her Riptide and she nodded. "If things get hairy, feel free. But for now, stick close to me." She nodded without hesitation.

He peered over the wall to see the walker walking away from them. There were several of them, but not enough that Percy thought they were going to be a problem. Riptide would be able to easily handle them, as long as Carley didn't fire her gun they should be fine.

But where was Glenn? He wondered curiously.

"Did you see that?" Carley asked and Percy looked at her curiously to see her pointing toward an icebox. He frowned as the door pushed open slightly before creaking shut. He frowned.

"Glenn." He whispered loudly, readying Riptide as the door opened.

"Guys! Oh, man, I'm glad you're here." He heard Carley sigh in relief, lowering her gun. He lowered Riptide slightly.

Well that was easier than Percy had even figured it would be. Something that didn't happen often enough for him. Glenn hopped the wall easily and they all crouched down behind it.

"Can we get out of here now?" Carley asked.

"No, not yet. There's a survivor trapped up there." He pointed and Percy followed his gaze to one of the motel rooms on the second floor. Where half a dozen walker's were pounding against the door to the motel room.

Percy frowned. "No way, we gotta go. Now." Carley demanded with a furious whisper. Percy didn't like that, she was willing to save them while they were out on the street in front of the drug store. But wasn't going to now.

Remembering Lilly, who was willing to let them die. How has the world already changed so much? People were willing to let others die without a care in the world, he could only think about how bad this was going to be if this dragged on. People killing others for survival.

"Listen. I was out here looking for gas. And then, up there in the corner room, I heard crying coming from inside." Glenn explained. "It's a girl. We talked and she got frightened. I was trying to get in and help her and she started yelling and saying I was bitten. I tried to convince her I wasn't, and that's when all these guys came out of the forest. A couple almost got me, and I ended up hiding in the ice machine."

"Let's go." Carley hissed.

Percy frowned and looked at her. "We're not just going to leave her, you were willing to help us out on the street." He looked directly into her eyes, a bit of satisfaction creeping into him as she shivered slightly, a look of shame appearing on her face. "What if it was you?"

Carley frowned, looking ashamed. "Alright, let's go save her." Percy nodded.

"Alright, since I've got a weapon that will keep things quiet. Both of you stay close to me, if things get bad, feel free to fire if you've got a clean shot. Otherwise, we do this silently. Get her, and go. Understand?" He looked intensely at each of them to see them both give a resolute nod. He nodded in response. "Great, let's do this."

He peered over the wall to see a walker chewing on a mangled corpse. "God." Carley gasped, raising a hand to cover her mouth. Percy quickly turned to glare at her and ducked, as the walker that was eating shifted.

Without a word he slipped out from beneath the wall, creeping up and driving his blade through the skull of the one closest without a sound. He gently lowered the corpse to the ground before he silently walked to the RV. He flicked some of the dark red blood off of Riptide before peering around the corner.

"I don't get how you're so good at that." Glenn said as he appeared next to him. Percy ignored him and peered around to see another walker slamming against the door to the RV. Another was a couple dozen feet behind it. Latched onto a random exterior wall of the motel.

Using Riptide he gently hit it against the asphalt parking lot to create a small pinging sound. Loud enough to attract the attention of the close one, but not loud enough for the others. He heard the groans, silently counting the footsteps as it approached. He could feel Glenn shaking next to him anxiously.

Just as he saw the appearance of the female walker in his vision he lashed out. Riptide slicing the fleshy skull of the former human into two. She hit the ground with a thud, but nothing else seemed to be attracted to the noise.

"Dude." Glenn made a disgusted noise as blood filled the air. "That's disgusting." He said as the two of them looked at the deceased woman.

"It's sad." Percy whispered, before he quickly crouched across the opening back to the brick wall where Carley was waiting for them.

She gave him a shaky smile. "You're too good at this. It's almost frightening."

He gave her a smile, hopefully trying to put the shaken woman at ease. "Trust me, it's affecting me a lot more than you think. But come on, we don't have much time." They crept quietly down the wall to the other side of the motel.

There were only a couple left that weren't trapping the woman. One sitting next to a car, seemingly unwilling to get up, and the one grabbing the wall far behind it. "Follow me." He ducked out from behind and calmly walked up to the one sitting.

It looked at him, groaning and reaching out. But didn't seem too eager to try and rip his face off, regardless, Riptide embedded into its skull before anything could happen. He didn't slow down, sprinting toward the last one in the parking lot. It turned to him just as he swept across the walker's throat. Decapitating it in one quick stroke.

When the decapitated head continued to growl and make snapping sounds with its mouth, Carley groaned. "That's just wrong." Percy frowned and put his foot on the head and drove Riptide through it. The head immediately stopped moving.

His eyes turned toward where the walker had been standing and he smirked. The glass was shattered, revealing a bright red fire axe. "Here we go." He said, grabbing the axe and handing it to Glenn.

The man said nothing. But looked appreciative at the weapon. He moved it in his hands as if getting a feel for the weight. Silently he looked at his two partners and saw that they both seemed ready, although they were both a little queasy at the efficiency at which Percy had dispatched the walkers so far.

The three of them crept up the stairs to the second floor of the motel, the metal steps making slight squeaking sounds, but not enough to catch the attention of the half dozen walkers stationed outside the women's room. As they reached the top and he peered around the corner, he realized there was only enough space for one of them to fit. Meaning Glenn nor Carley could help him, but it also meant that the walkers could only get him one at a time or they would fall over themselves.

"Alright, you two wait here in case shit goes wrong."

"We'll have your back." Carley assured him.

Percy readied Riptide and stepped out from around the corner and whistled. All six walkers immediately ceased their pounding and turned toward him. Just as he expected the one closest to him quickly started walking toward him while the remaining lagged behind getting caught on one another.

He lashed out, a spray of blood following as he easily dispatched the first one. By the time the second reached him, he was ready, slicing through its skull without flinching. Blood filled the air as he cut the thirds head in half and threw the body out of his way and over the railing. It hit the ground below with a thud.

Gritting his teeth the remaining three tried and kept tripping over each other. There wasn't enough space for all three to go at a time, which made it much easier for Percy. He stabbed one through the eye, before kicking it in the chest, sending the now dead walker sprawling into the walker behind. He decapitated the next one, throwing its body over the railing as well. Another crunch followed as the body hit the asphalt.

Leaving the last walker snapping and jawing at him from beneath one Percy had already killed. He stabbed downward, grimacing as blood splattered across his body.

He took a deep breath and used his free hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. Jogging over here might not have been enough to cause him to sweat, but killing these things made him sweat it seemed. He felt Carley and Glenn step up from behind him, neither said anything but Percy knew they were sharing similar looks of surprise and awe with each other. It was obvious that both were wary at how he dispatched all of them so easily.

"Hello." Glenn called out as they all stepped up the door, Percy could hear the loud sobbing inside. "I brought some people to help, we got rid of all the corpses." He tried to assure the lady, his voice wavering slightly.

"Just go away." The lady cried out.

Carley shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe we should just leave her."

Percy turned toward the door. "Listen lady, open this door or we're coming in." He said frustrated, killing all those things for this lady just to spit in their face. Something else was obviously wrong. But he didn't want to tell Glenn that.

"Cut that board down." Percy pointed at the one board keeping the door shut. Glenn nodded, swinging the axe he broke through the wood easily. Percy nodded and tried the handle, frowning as he found it locked. He was just about to kick the door down when her voice stopped him.

"Stop, stop. I'm coming out." Percy stepped away from the door as it swung open. He immediately frowned as the woman came out, her pale form. Sighing, he looked at the spot just above her hip, her hand was firmly pressed against a devastating bite wound. Her hand, shirt and pants were soaked in blood.

"Oh God." Carley said, her eyes squeezing shut tightly for a moment.

"We need to get you help." Glenn said exasperated.

"It's too late." She said in between sniffles. "I told you. I said go away, I'm bit. But you wouldn't just leave."

"You could be fine." Glenn argued. But Percy knew that wasn't going to be the case, this transmitted through bites, and that was a bite if Percy had ever seen one. She was lucky she hadn't dropped dead from blood loss yet, though judging by her pale skin she was close.

"She's been bitten." Carley told Glenn to which the man looked fearful.

"I won't be fine. My boyfriend was bitten. You get sick and you die and you come back and you kill anything you can find." She snarled, tears streaming down her face.

"You have a boyfriend?" Glenn asked, disappointed.

Percy nearly groaned. Priorities, Glenn. Priorities.

"Glenn!" Carley barked.

"Please leave, just let me go. I don't want to turn into them." She gestured to the corpses. "It's not Christian." She sobbed.

Percy shut his eyes tightly for a moment. It was sad to see this. Despite how much death always surrounded him, it still shattered his heart each time. This wasn't fair, why was this happening. Did the gods do this? Or Hades? How could this have happened?

"We'll go, just take care of yourself until then. Okay?" He looked at the young woman, but she wasn't paying attention to him. Instead her eyes were trained on Carley's gun.

"You have a gun." She practically whispered.

Carley turned to him alarmed. "So?" She questioned.

"Can I… borrow it?" She asked.

"Woah, no." Glenn refused.

Just as Carley refused as well. "No."

"Please! I don't want to be one of them. They're... they're... satanic." She pleaded.

"No." Carley growled again.

"Then do it for me! Please! Please." Carley continued to shake her head vigorously, her body was stiff and frozen as if she didn't know what to do. The woman suddenly shrieked and lunged at Carley, but Percy intercepted. Grunting as he slammed into the railing, it groaned and his eyes widened as he heard the post shatter beneath them.

He grunted, a sharp pain shooting up his side as he roughly hit the asphalt beneath them. Carley landed on top of him. The pain shooting up his side pinching even more, he heard a quick scream of pain.

Carley's face appeared in his and her cheeks quickly turned pink as she realized she was laying on top of him. "Sorry! Sorry." She quickly gasped and stood up.

She turned toward the woman and Percy only heard Carley's gasp. "Oh my god." Percy could faintly hear the choking and gasping. He got to his feet, looking down at the blood at his side. One of the pieces must have sliced across him, it was painful but not too damaging. He breathed a sigh of relief, that was lucky.

Not before he turned and noticed what both Carley and Glenn were looking at frozen. He sighed and looked down, Riptide currently embedded in the girl's throat. If it was on purpose, or accidentally happened while they were falling, he wasn't sure. But it was still terrible to see, and his companions were clearly shaken up about it.

She fell to the ground, her noises ceasing.

Percy placed a hand on both of their shoulders. "Come on," He said quietly, trying to comfort the two of them. "We have to go." He pointed at the group of walkers approaching.

Glenn vomited, which broke Carley out of her stupor. She smiled at him in thanks before running toward Glenn's car. Percy grabbed Riptide as the three of them left the motel right as the walkers were swarming behind them.

As they were pulling in, Percy instantly knew something was wrong. A loud and terrible wail was emanating from the pharmacy, dozens, if not hundreds of Walkers were piling against the front of the store. The gates that had been locked were broken apart and discarded as they piled against the doors and windows.

His eyes widened. "Clementine." He roared, he didn't even let the car stop. He jumped out, and sprinted toward the door to the office to see Kenny pinned against the brick wall by a walker. He drove Riptide through the side of its head and threw it away from the man.

"Thanks man…"

Percy ignored him completely, tearing open the door and stepping into the office. He gazed around, noticing the door to the pharmacy was open and a loud alarm was blaring because of it. Clementine was shaking as she stood in the office. He breathed a sigh of relief and she cried out in glee. Percy swooped the little girl into his arms.

He turned to Carley who had followed him inside. He assumed Glenn stayed back to keep his car ready to go, and to help Kenny. His gaze landed on Katjaa and Duck, who were looking at him in surprise. He didn't see Lee, Doug, Lilly or her father. Just as he was about to enter, Lilly and Larry pushed into the office.

"Where's Lee and Doug." Percy asked them.

"They're coming." Lilly assured them.

Kenny appeared in the door to the alley. "Let's go! We don't have much time."

Percy growled, and opened the door to see walkers swarming the entire place. Lee was lying flat on his back, part of his face swollen as if he had taken a punch. He scowled, wondering who that possibly could have been. He was going to drive Riptide up that old geezer's ass.

"Not today." he drove Riptide through the walker closest to Lee and pulled him up effortlessly.

"Thanks." Lee muttered, rubbing his head.

"No time, we gotta move. Where's Doug?" He asked, concerned.

Lee frowned, a look of guilt flashing appearing on his face. "Dead."

Percy shook his head, his chest tightening. "Let's move." He turned and picked Clementine up. Carrying her to Glenn's car, Lee sliding into the drivers seat and Carley pushing into It was a tight fit, but they all managed to get safely away while the pharmacy's alarm continued to blare.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Head back to the motel." He told Glenn. "All of the walkers are going to be attracted to the pharmacy for now." He rolled down the window and waved to Kenny to get his attention, the rest of the group in the truck.

His mind was racing with a million thoughts as they got back to the motel. They got out, the group spreading around to clean up the empty and abandoned parking lot. He gestured to Clementine toward Duck and Katjaa, the little girl smiled and hesitantly walked to them.

He had a big asshole to fry, he didn't want Clementine to see. He turned toward Larry, his gaze sharpening. He stepped toward the old man, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't." Lee said.

Percy turned and looked at him incredulously. "Seriously, you'd be dead if I didn't come back." he growled.

"We don't need anymore problems. Just let it go." Lee argued.

Percy's muscles tightened. "Fine." He hissed.

"Thanks." Lee muttered.

"Don't thank me." He turned away from him and walked toward Glenn who was listening to the radio of his car.

"Meanwhile, inland, Atlanta has been downgraded temporarily to an eight, with attacks and rioting being reported in all precincts. Citizens are currently advised to stay in their homes or move towards the cities of Charlotte, Atlanta, and Orlando. If citizens choose to stay in their homes, they are urged to be near their radios and await further instructions. Moving in the cities of Charlotte, Atlanta, or Orlando may become necessary in order to ensure the safety of all citizens."

"Glenn…" He started but the man raised his hand to stop him.

"With uncountable severe emergencies in all counties, Georgia cities and their current level of disaster are as follows: Atlanta, stage nine catastrophe…"

"I need to go." Glenn said.

"What?" Percy said surprised.

"To Atlanta." He repeated.

"Did you not hear that? That's basically suicide." Percy argued, not only did he not want Glenn to die. He was one of the few that could actually help around, Carley and him were good people. Lilly and Larry were assholes, and Kenny not only had a temper but would only care about his own family.

"I got friends there, I can't stay here knowing they're trapped."

Percy sighed deeply, he could understand that. "Alright, stay safe. Maybe we'll see each other again." He raised his hand out to him.

Glenn smiled at him. "I hope so, you and your wicked sword. That would be great to have around."

The two shook hands.

Percy watched with a frown as Glenn got into his car and sped off. Glenn wasn't even gone for over a minute when all of a sudden all of the lights went out simultaneously. His heart pounded in his chest as darkness enveloped him.

"Clem!" He said worriedly at hearing her shriek. Without a word he found her in the inky black and pulled her close. "Don't worry." He told the trembling girl. "It'll be okay." He promised.