Chapter 12: Roll Away Your Stone

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,300+

Summary: Annabeth and Percy must come up with a plan to escape their death. They find help in an unexpected source.

Author's Note: I AM SO SORRY I AM TRASH LITERAL TRASH. Please enjoy this next chapter.

. . .

Annabeth had never felt panic like this before. Her heart was pumping and her head was pounding as she tried to find a means of escape. Percy kept glancing nervously down at their impending doom, listening to the undead gnash their teeth together and claw at the bark. They were safe where they were because, as far as she knew, walkers weren't smart enough to know how to climb trees. It was a matter of how long they could stay up there.

The branch that the pair straddled was sturdy enough to hold them up, but it was narrow and if they made any sudden movements, they would surely fall off. All the other branches of the tree were similar to the one they were sitting on, so there was no point in climbing any higher. Plus, the tree they were stranded on was in the middle of a clearing; there were no other places they could climb to from there.

Between the two of them, they had a knife and two handguns with only half a dozen bullets shared between them. There were at least ten walkers at the base of the tree, waiting for one of them to drop so they could feast on their succulent flesh. They couldn't use the guns or else it would draw more geeks to their location.

They were at a dead end.

Annabeth's heart sunk at the thought of her dying in this tree with Percy across from her. She'd be damned if she made it this long only to be eaten by the undead because she climbed the wrong tree.

"Annabeth," Percy breathed, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Annabeth asked, perplexed.

"It's all my fault that we're stuck in this tree. If I had just listened to you, then –"

"Then what?" she stopped him, "We would either be stuck in that van or on our way back into Luke's grasp. This isn't your fault, okay?"

She used her finger to lift his chin and peered into his eyes, trying to make him understand. He had to be the leader because no one else would step up to the plate; he had to make the hard choices to keep everyone alive. In fact, she was only alive because his choices had kept her that way. "Please don't blame yourself," she whispered, voice cracking at the end in desperation.

He nodded timidly, "Okay."

Annabeth continued to look around frantically, attempting to find a way out of this situation. Maybe if she shot a few of them, it would give Percy and her enough time to get down and out run them. No, that would never work, it would take too long to get down and others would come before we could hit the ground. They could simply stay there and wait them out; the walkers would get bored and try to find other sources of food. Except they're probably the only food the undead have seen in days. Maybe they could –

"Annabeth," Percy started again, " I just wanted you to know that –"

"Percy," Annabeth said firmly, "if you are trying to be sentimental right now because you think we are going to die, save it. We are getting out of this alive, even if we have to stay up here all night."

Percy nodded again, keeping his mouth shut as she continued to think. She glanced at the branch next to her; it was long and had several lean sticks attached to it with leaves hanging off of it. Annabeth scooted closer to the branch, reaching out to grab it when he pulled her back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"If I can break this branch off, it will land on them and crush them. It's large enough to keep the walkers down long enough to get away from here." She explained. The odds of it working were slim to none, but it was worth a shot. He nodded, releasing her hands.

"Make sure I don't fall off," she told him. His warm hands took purchase on her waist, securing her to the branch as she reached out to grasp the longer one next to her. Annabeth shook it a couple of times, watching the leaves bounce up and down with the motion. It wasn't as solid as the one that they were sitting on, but it would still take a lot of work to break it off. She reached back for her knife and started using it to saw the branch off.

Out of nowhere, a gunshot went off.

One of the walkers that had been gnawing at the tree slumped over, its dark blood seeping out of its abdomen. Annabeth and Percy shared a surprised look as another gunshot rang out. Slowly, the walkers' attention diverted from the pair to the mysterious source of noise to their left. They sluggishly ambled their way towards the sound as more shots were fired; Annabeth watched in shock and confusion as the undead fell down one right after the other. One final bullet made its way into the skull of the last walker, ending the hum of their moans. The atmosphere was still for only a moment before Percy and she hastily clambered down the tree.

As Annabeth's feet hit the ground, a dark figure came out from behind a tree. She quickly reached for the gun strapped at her hipbone and pointed it at the person, waiting for it to make its next move. Percy stood next to her, his gun also trained on the shadow before them.

"Who are you?" Percy called out, shifting his stance.

The person stepped out from the shadows, placing its gun back in its holster, "Is that really the way to thank someone who just saved your life?"

"Nico?" Annabeth uttered. Nico stood a few feet away from them in his black attire, his arms crossed as he eyed the two. There's no way this could be happening; he was with Luke, he was a bad guy. But would a "bad guy" save their lives?

"Actually, I wouldn't put it past you to shoot me." He said, gesturing to her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Percy asked.

Nico sighed, his gaze switching to the floor nervously, "I left them."

"Why?" Annabeth questioned.

"Because they promised me they would help me, but they used me instead. I didn't know that my helping them was going to hurt you guys that badly." He finally made eye contact with Percy, then Annabeth, "I'm truly sorry. I left them as soon as I could and followed you guys to apologize. I saw that you were ambushed and that you took off into the woods, so I tailed you."

"How do we know that you're not still with them?" Percy asked.

"If I was with them, don't you think I would be killing you right now?" he said humorlessly. Annabeth and Percy glanced at each other before lowering their guns, and Nico breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god, I thought you were actually going to kill me."

"Don't think we won't." Annabeth threatened as she placed her weapon into her belt. He shrugged nonchalantly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"So what are you going to do now?" Percy asked, genuinely concerned. There was no way that he could rejoin the group; tensions were already running high and if Nico made a reappearance it would cause utter chaos. And he certainly couldn't go back to Luke's group because they would tear him to shreds for betraying and leaving them.

"I'm going to be on my own for a little while," he answered, "I do better that way, really. I'm a lone wolf at heart."

"If you ever need anything –"

"I know, I'll come visit you two lovebirds." Nico interrupted, causing a blush to rise to Annabeth's cheeks. "Trust me, I'll be fine. If I were you, I'd go and find your group before it gets dark. Sunset is in a few hours so you better get moving."

Percy stepped forward and engulfed Nico in one of his bear hugs, "Thanks for saving our lives."

Nico's lip quirked upwards, ghosting his face with a true smile before he turned to Annabeth. She stuck her hand out to him, but he only smirked, "We never really got along, did we?" She didn't answer, so he simply placed his hand in hers and shook it. Giving one last wave to Percy, he turned around and took off into the woods, never to be seen again.

The couple stood in silence for a brief moment before Percy spoke up, "Like he said, we better get going."

. . .

Annabeth and Percy found themselves back on the abandoned highway, slipping between cars and stepping over decomposing corpses as they headed towards the city. Their hands were linked between them as the sun sank lower in the sky, turning the light blue color to an orange hue. They remained silent for fear that they would be caught again and forced to hide in another car. That didn't work out so well for them the first time.

After an hour of trudging through a road of broken down cars, they reached the outskirts of the city. The sun had almost completely dipped below the horizon as they started passing by stores and skyscrapers. Annabeth studied the asphalt, watching for signs that their group had been through there. Other than a few shards of glass and old newspapers loitering the streets, nothing was there.

"How are we supposed to find them?" Annabeth asked Percy, who continued to lead her by the hand through the city.

"I don't know, let's just keep going." He answered.

They walked a few more blocks before Annabeth began to worry again. There were no signs of them anywhere; what if they never made it to the city? What if they had left Percy and her? The two had been hiding for more than half the day in the woods; they probably thought the duo was dead by now. Not only that, but there were no walkers in sight. What if they turned the corner and they were ambushed all over again? Or what if the walkers were eating their friends alive at the moment?

"Annabeth, look!" Percy told her. He pointed to a glass window across the street that had big, dark writing all over it. As quietly as they could, they ran over to the window to read the message: "A + P WE R ON FLOOR 3."

They shared a look of utter relief as they jogged towards the entrance of the building. From the looks of the lobby, it used to be a swanky hotel like the ones from the black and white movies Annabeth used to watch with her family. The place was eerily untouched with only a few tables and chair upturned here and there. Warily, she drew the gun from her belt as they made their way towards the stairs that led up to the rooms. They scaled the stairs until they reached the third floor; Percy kicked open the door and Annabeth slowly followed him as they walked down hallway.

"Jason!" Percy called out as they passed room after room, listening for one of the group or a walker wondering the halls. All of a sudden, the door next to them swung open, revealing Jason who was battered and bruised.

"I am so glad to see you two." Jason said as Percy embraced him tightly. The trio quickly retreated into the room before he barricaded the door with chairs and a small coffee table. Annabeth turned around only to find Leo and two other people in the room, perched on the bed.

"Where is everyone else?" she asked, turning back to Jason.

"After you ran off, the rest of us were able to wait out the walkers that were passing through. We made it into the city and started looking for a place to wait for you guys and stay the night. Then, we were ambushed by walkers."

Percy turned pale, his eyes popping out of his head, "Are they –"

"No," Jason answered quickly, "well, at least I don't think so. We just got separated. They could be anywhere in the city or they might have moved on."

"We need to find them," Percy muttered, heading for the door.

Annabeth stepped in front of him and placed her hands on his chest, "We can't go now, Percy. It's dark out, we don't have flashlights and we barely have enough bullets to save ourselves if we ran into trouble."

He dug his palms into his eyes as she gently ushered him to sit on the bed. "You're right, you're right." He admitted softly, running his hands through his hair.

"We'll look for them first thing in the morning, I promise." She told him before looking to Jason, "We need supplies. None of us have eaten all day and we're all probably dehydrated. Did you guys find anything before the ambush?"

"There were a few things but they're with Piper." Jason signed forlornly.

Annabeth was starting to think that being stuck in that tree for a few hours wasn't that bad, "We'll regroup in the morning."

The five of them stretched out across the room, trying to find the best positions to sleep for at least a few hours. Annabeth and Percy were rightfully given the bed after running from death the whole day. She curled into his side, resting her head on his chest and holding onto the front of his shirt. He tenderly wrapped his arm around her, pulling her further into him. Even though everything was going to shit, this was the nicest bed she'd ever slept in.

"Tell me everything's okay." Percy whispered.

Annabeth sighed, closing her eyes as she said, "Everything's okay."

It was a lie.