Apocalyptic Love (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Boiling Sky

Word Count: 1300+

GROVER

My eyes opened to the sound of shuffling feet. As they adjusted, I saw Percy and Annabeth packing supplies away. I watched as Percy walked behind Annabeth to wake the others, his hand gingerly skimmed across her back. I look away with a smile.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched my limbs. I made my way over to Annabeth and helped her pack the last of the supplies. She mumbled a thank you.
Annabeth stops mid-way through zipping up one of the bags. She looks up at me with an unidentifiable look on her face.
"Come with me." She says, standing up and walking out of the cave.
I watch as she disappears out of the cave, confused.
When I look over to Percy he shrugs at me and gestures for me to follow her.

Annabeth stands with her back against the cave. One leg is propped up behind her and she scowls straight ahead.
"I'm guessing you have something to say." I say lamely.
"You seem to be the uh..medic of the group. So I needed you."
"You're not pregnant or anything are you?"
Her scowl was answer enough.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. Her glare makes me want to be swallowed up by the earth.
Her expression suddenly softens. Her eyes turn teary.
She looks away.

"Annabeth?"
"Is it possible..do you think that Frank would be able to fight off the virus? Just until we have a cure?"
My words get stuck in my throat. She already knows the answer to this question. But...for some reason she is desperately looking for a way out.
I haven't seen this emotionally vulnerable side to Annabeth before.
And I'm guessing that Percy is the only other to have seen it.

Why did she trust me?

"I think you already know the answer." I say quietly.
Frank and I aren't close at all. But I respect him. And I like the guy. He's nice and level-headed. Something to be admired in a time like this.

But it still hurts that he is slowly dying.
And that soon, very soon in fact, he won't be around any more.

Annabeth nods mutely.

I look over my shoulder into the cave. Percy looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. I shake my head, telling him to stay inside. He nods, a little disappointed.
On the other side of the cave, Frank and Nico still sleep. Thalia is rummaging through her pack and Piper and Jason are talking. Leo sits mutely near Percy.
I turn back to Annabeth, walking out of the view of the cave.
"Come on. You need a walk."
Annabeth smiles a little, following me towards the forest.

FRANK

There was constant heat. Constant ringing. And constant screaming.

Over and over, Hazel screamed.
Over and over, my skin peeled and blistered from the heat.

It smelt of rotting flesh. And I stood amongst a mountain of blood, skin and bone. The sky was red and rumbling. As if blood was boiling.
A crow flew by my ear, its feathers grazing my face.
It swooped around again, and suddenly its feathers dripped with blood and its beak was embedded into Hazel's heart.

The screaming was no longer Hazel's.
The screaming was my own.

THALIA

Frank's forehead was burning up. As I touched my fingers to it, I had to yank them away quickly.
His fever was through the roof.
He would turn soon.

My eyes drifted mindlessly to my gun that lay, loaded, beside my pack.
I tore them away in shame.
Annabeth was right. I couldn't live with myself if I did it.
But how could she?
I guess she didn't know Frank like the rest of us..but this was her group. She would feel responsible for every death that occurs. And the guilt would drown her if she was the one to pull the trigger again.

Frank thrashed and turned, mumbling over and over.

I forced myself to walk away.

LEO

Percy was anxious. I could tell. He kept looking towards the entrance of the cave, as if Annabeth and Grovee would suddenly and silently appear again.
It has been about five minutes since they left the cave.
But they were both smart.
They would be fine.
But still, Percy continued to look.

My fingers fiddled with a random spring I had pulled from an old pen. I turned it in my fingers, allowing the repetitive movements to calm me.
I squeeze my eyes shut and block out the noises around me.

My mind finally drifts from the tension in the cave to a better place.
A time before the apocalypse.

My mind drifted to my old girlfriend... Calypso.

PERCY JACKSON

My movements became robotic. Grab object, place in pack, grab object, place in pack, look outside cave, grab object....

5 minutes went by. 10 minutes. 20.

They weren't back. They must be dead. They can't be dead. They must be in trouble. They aren't back. They will come back. The won't come back.

They have to come back.

~

My fingers ran through my hair, pushing it away from my forehead.
I let out a deep breath and zip up the last pack near me.
I grab my gun and check that it's loaded.

I stand and start to walk from the cave when I hear a low rumbling groan.
I turn and feel shock rattling through me.

Frank.

He lies over Nico, holding him down. His eyes are white and misty. His teeth are yellowed. Nico desperately tries to wriggle free but Frank is almost twice his weight.
Nico yells in fear and shock.
Everyone stands back, frozen.

Expect for Thalia. She grabs her gun and holds it forwards, aiming at Frank's skull.
"Frank...snap out of it!" She cries in disbelief.
"Shoot him!" Yells Nico, his voice twisting.

A bang goes off, echoing throughout the cave. Thalia flinches, looking at her gun in confusion. She did not fire. Frank slumps over Nico, blood pouring from the wound in his skull. Nico tries to roll the body off of him.

I look to my own hand. My knuckles are white when I drop my gun.
It hits the floor with a clang.
I shot Frank.
A cry escapes my lips and I stumble backwards, my eyes looking at the blood.
I killed Frank.

I fall backwards, landing in a heap on the ground. My eyes lift upwards. Annabeth and Grover stand in the entrance of the cave, white-faced.
Annabeth steps towards me.

"Percy! Percy!"
My eyes open as I wake with a start. Thalia stands over me, shaking my shoulders.
I groan, shaking the memory of the nightmare from my mind.
"Wha...what happened?"
"You fell asleep. Right after Annabeth and Grover left. You took too long a shift last night I guess."
I wipe my eyes to remove the last of the fogginess.

"Why'd you wake me?"
"You've been asleep for an hour."
"And?"
"Annabeth and Grover aren't back. And Frank has a crazy fever."
I intake a sharp breath.
"An hour?!"
Thalia nods again.
I quickly stumble to my feet, looking around for my gun.
"Okay some of you will have to stay here to look after Frank."
Thalia looks down.
"Percy...you know you can't leave them with Frank while he's like this. Do you really think they'll be able to shoot him...if it comes down to it?"
"Well...they're going to have to if they want to survive."
Thalia mutely nods.
"I'll come with you to find them. The others can stay."
I nod.
"Sounds like a plan."

I step away from Thalia to address the others.
"Alright, Thalia and I-"

"Percy help!"
I whip around suddenly to see a white-faced Annabeth holding up a limp Grover.

I surge towards them.

Please don't let Grover be dead.