Hey guys! So I've decided to start a chapter story, which is exciting! I've had the idea to do an apocalyptic-type story for quite a while now, but I was on the fence about posting it due to it being somewhat of a cliché. If you think I should continue, then let me know!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or the brands I mention in this chapter. The cover art isn't mine either (thanks Google).

Annabeth

It was 3:00 in the morning when the screaming started. The shrieking bounced harshly off of the high ceilings of the airport, cutting through the warm, peaceful night. I jerked up from the seats I was sprawled across, swinging my backpack over my shoulder, and squinting up the hallway.

I didn't intend on spending my Wednesday in an airport. My flight had been drastically delayed, and since I'd already checked out of the hotel, I had to stay the night.

I had been sleeping on the uncomfortable plastic-y chairs in the gate of my flight. It was not an ideal situation, but I made do. I took a cautious step forward, intending to investigate the noise. Clearly something was amiss.

I looked back at my gate. I wasn't the only one staying the night. Due to a freak blizzard, all flights to and from New York had been cancelled, or delayed. The other people who were sleeping around me had obviously heard the shrieking as well, and had awoken from their nap.

I looked back up the hallway again, wincing at the ear-splitting screams. What the hell was going on?

All of a sudden, the shouting stopped. The airport was deadly silent. I moved from my gate, and crept out, down the corridor. I kept waiting for the screaming to begin again, but it never came. I think that made the atmosphere even more unsettling. I rounded the corner, passing a Starbucks as I went. From my estimate, this is where the noise should have come from, but the space was empty.

I looked around, not quite sure what I was expecting. I know I didn't dream the noise-others had heard it too, and had woken up, as I had. I walked slowly to the large windows, staring out at the motionless plane beyond the glass. Snow covered everything, blurring it all together into a white haze.

"You heard it too?"

I startled at the voice. It was a guy, about my age. He was tall and lean, with wild dark hair and eyes the color of the sea. He was almost unnaturally attractive. I swallowed, and refocused my attention to a spot beside his head.

"Hard not to." I took a step toward him, nervously tucking a stray blonde curl behind my right ear. "Annabeth." I offered my hand for him to shake.

He gave me a half smile, and shook my hand. "Percy."

Percy glanced over his shoulder. "Not sure about you, but his place is giving me the creeps. Seriously. What was that?"

I had no idea, so I decided to think about it logically. "Well it could have been anything, really. Maybe somebody was playing a trick on their friend, and they screamed. Its' so big in here, the scream would have easily echoed quite a distance." The more I thought it out, the better I felt.

"Or," Percy said, clearly unconvinced, "someone was crying for help." He deepened his voice at that bit, as if he were trying to frighten me.

I rolled my eyes. "Well I don't see any signs of a struggle, Sherlock." I crossed my arms. "It's late. I think exhaustion and our imaginations are getting the best of us."

As if on cue, he yawned. "Yeah, you're right. If I want to be awake enough to remember to catch my flight, I should get back to sleep."

I laughed. "Me too. I'd better head back," I said. Regardless of my deducing, I found myself glancing once more to make sure I hadn't missed anything the first time. "Nice meeting you."

"And you." I smiled, and turned to start walking back to my gate. I hugged myself as I walked back down the hallway. For some reason, I couldn't shake the sense that something was just not right.

I looked out the large windows, staring at the dark planes as I went. I sighed. Hopefully I would be out of here soon. I hated feeling so unsettled.

I arrived back at the collection of seats where I had slept, but didn't lay back down again. I sat in the chair next to a small table, laying my bag upon it. I couldn't sleep. In fact, I had my eyes wide open, scanning up and down the hall. I kept hearing the scream echoing in my head, filling the eerie quiet of the airport.

I thought back to this morning. My flight was due to leave at 11am, which was perfect, because then I would have been home just in time for my brother's birthday. Unfortunately, due to the delay, I had missed that by a mile. I was excited to be home again, but at the same time, I wanted to stay in New York a little bit longer. Studying abroad had always been something I dreamed of doing, and when I finally got to go, I was ecstatic. New York was nothing like San Francisco. As much as I loved my city, during my stay here, I almost felt like New York was where I was supposed to be.

I stretched my legs out in front of me. I knew I wanted to sleep, but my body was still keeping me alert. I twisted onto my side.

This was ridiculous. There was nothing wrong. It was all in my head. Still, I willed myself to stay awake. Despite my head telling me I was crazy, I always listened to my instincts. And they were saying that something was just not right.

I awoke to an aching pain in my neck. I didn't remember falling asleep, but I must have been out for quite a while. The sun was high in the sky, and all the people previously slumbering around me had disappeared.

Crap. What time was it! I unzipped my backpack, searching hurriedly through the front pouch for my phone. I pulled it out, and turned it on. 12:48. Oh my god. My plane boarded in 2 minutes! I rushed over to the kiosk, but found no one there. I turned around, and read the current flight status board.

New York to San Francisco…cancelled. Awesome. I went and sat back down, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Now what? I could barely keep my eyes open, despite my impromptu nap, so I decided to get a cup of coffee before mulling over this disaster any further.

I took my backpack, and headed for the nearest source of caffeine. I remembered passing a Starbucks on my way to investigate the noise, so I set out in that direction.

As I neared the coffee shop, I frowned. The airport was so quiet. There were barely any people in the halls. Usually, the terminal was filled with a constant stream of people, but not today. The seats were empty, and the shops were barren. I swallowed, and held my backpack straps a little tighter.

I was the only person at Starbucks, save for the girl working there. I walked up to the cash and placed my order.

"Pretty dead here, today, huh?" I said to the worker. She was pretty, and looked to be of Native American heritage. Her hair fell in a braid down her back, with feathers sticking out of it every so often. I read her nametag. Piper.

"Yeah." She said. I thought I heard a slight tremor in her voice, but she didn't seem nervous, so I blamed it on my exhaustion. Before I could say anything else, she turned and began making my coffee.

I stood over by the pick-up area, leaning against the high counter. I looked out across the hall, at the large floor-to-ceiling windows. I knew I saw a plane there yesterday. They must have moved it, if all flights out of New York were cancelled. I was still peering out of the glass curiously, when someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Fancy meeting you here." I turned around, and flashed a half smile. Percy grinned back at me, and stuck his hands in his pockets. He glanced around, then waiting a beat before cutting straight to the point. "Hey, uh, you haven't happened to notice the lack of people here, have you? Or have I just gone crazy?" He let out a nervous laugh.

"No, I have too. This place is like a ghost town. Its creepy, actually." I looked back across the hallway, half expecting something to jump out at us. "And now since my flight is cancelled, I have no idea where to go." I blew out a breath, and closed my eyes for a second.

Percy took his hands out of his pockets, and adjusted his bag. "I hear you. I'm stuck here now, too. I figured I wouldn't need a hotel room, but no way am I staying another night here. That was awful."

"Agreed."

"Grande caramel macchiato?" Piper held my coffee out to me, and smiled. She turned to Percy. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm good, thanks." Percy said. Piper shrugged, and returned to her position at the cash register, as if she expected a line of people to arrive around the corner.

I raised a brow, slipping a sleeve onto my cup. "If you didn't want anything, then why are you here?"

He smiled. "I was walking by and happened to see some blonde girl that looked familiar, so I decided to check it out."

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Well, this blonde is going to check out the other shops around here while she drinks this coffee, and decides what hotel room to book." I started walking in the direction of the stores.

"And I guess I'll just have to tag along, then." He said, moving to walk beside me.

We walked in silence for about two minutes, neither of us commenting on the eerie emptiness of the terminal. I breathed a sigh of relief when we came upon a small strip mall. At least that will bring back a little normalcy.

Only it didn't. We walked up to the first store-a small convenience type place that sold books and things-and the gate was closed across the large entrance. We moved on to the next shop, to find the same deal. Every store we came upon seemed to be closed, which was strange, because Starbucks was still open. The further we went, the larger the lump in my stomach grew.

"Something is definitely not right." I finished the last of my coffee, and threw it out in a nearby trashcan. We stood outside of Hudson News, staring at the thick steel door covering the entryway.

"Yeah." Percy frowned, his thick, dark eyebrows pulling almost completely together. "Let's head back."

We started to head back to Starbucks again to ask Piper if she knew anything about the missing employees. I took a breath, clearing my head. I had to think logically about this. Maybe it was as simple as some obscure holiday that, coincidentally, all these shops had off. This was only one part of one terminal of the entire airport, after all.

I repeated this logic like a mantra in my head as we continued, but I couldn't get it to stick.

As we passed one of the gates, I took another look out of the window where I expected to see the plane I spotted on the way up. Only, it wasn't there. I swallowed, and then turned my head to face forward again.

We were almost jogging by the time we made it back, both of our nerves getting the better of us. I was glad Percy was here with me. I might not have known him at all, but with the airport so empty, having another person to talk to just made me feel less alone.

When I walked up to the cash, Piper wasn't there. I started to get a little more panicked. Where was she? Did she vanish or something just like everyone else? I could tell I was spinning out of control, because my thoughts kept getting less and less rational. I took a calming breath. "Piper? Are you there?"

The Starbucks employee came out from a back room behind the bar, retying her green apron. "Yeah. Sorry." She said sheepishly. "I had to check on something."

"Where is everyone? There are no workers in the shops, and no people in the terminal that I can see, in general. What's going on?" I demand. I didn't expect her to have any answers, and I felt a bit bad taking my frustration out on her. I heard Percy shift beside me.

Piper swallowed and tried to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, to no avail. She took two careful glances around, then leaned over the counter, closer to us. "I was just on the phone with my dad," she whispered, "He said he couldn't say much over telephone, but that I need to get out of here. Something is going on, and its not good."

"What?" Percy asked. My heart started to beat faster.

"I don't know." She said. "Apparently everyone got the call to not come in to work this morning. That's where all the workers are. As for the people…" She shrugged. "I just don't know."

"Why are you telling us this? And how does your dad know what's going on?" I inquired. I didn't know this girl. For all I knew, she was trying to get a rise out of us. Or she was just crazy.

"Well you're the only people I've seen all day. And if something really is going on, I want to tell people-warn them. At least that's what I hope others would do for me, if they knew what was up." She leaned against the counter. "And my dad works with the CDC."

"The what?" Percy tilted his head.

"Center for Disease Control." I replied, my palms starting to sweat.

Percy swallowed. "So are we in quarantine or something? What the hell is on the go here? And why didn't you get a call?" He looked at Piper suspiciously.

"I probably did." She said. "But I stayed at my boyfriends' last night, and forgot to charge my phone before I went."

I nodded, slowly. "Well, whatever is going on, I strongly suggest we all get out of here. Now." I tied my ponytail tighter. I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. The longer I focused on it, the more the feeling turned into a single word, repeating in my head-Escape!

Piper untied her apron, and shut off the cash register. Then she disappeared into the back room.

"So what are you thinking?" Percy looked at me, and ran a hand through his tousled hair. It was a distracting motion, so I focused on his question.

"Honestly? I would usually think this was a hoax, or something small being blown way out if proportion. But there is something off about all of this. I can feel it. And my instincts have never led me wrong before." I think back to the day my mother left, and how I hadn't been surprised. I met Percy's eyes. "What about you?"

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I'm thinking I should stick with you."

Piper emerged from the back room, then, almost knocking down the EMPLOYEE'S ONLY sign in her wake. She wore a purse, and had a black jacket tossed over her arm. "Let's go."

We started for the entrance of the airport. It was about a 10-minute walk from Starbucks.

We walked into security, and my stomach plummeted. I sensed Percy and Piper tense beside me.

"So something is definitely up, then?" Percy took a step into the void room. "If they don't even have security staff working, that must mean-"

"That the whole airport is shut down." I finished. I moved further into the space, taking small, cautious steps.

"Um. Yeah." Percy gave me an odd look, but I didn't stop to interpret it.

"But why wouldn't they announce that? It just doesn't make sense…"I murmured, mostly to myself.

"Let's just keep going. We're almost out of here." Percy said, walking to the doors in the back of the room. I followed him, with could Piper on my heels.

"Wait!" Piper put out a hand to stop our advance out of the security room. "What if…" She trails off, and I give her an encouraging nod. "What if we can't get out? Like, if no one can come in, then wouldn't it make sense that no one could get out, too?"

I frowned. I had thought of that, but decided to deal with that problem if we had to face it. "Well we'll just have to find out." I had a sinking feeling that Piper was right, but we had to try regardless.

We had just exited security when an announcement sounded across the terminal, loud and stern.

"This airport is under quarantine. From this point forward, any persons to leave this facility will be placed under arrest. I repeat. This airport is under quarantine."

We all stopped dead in our tracks.

Quarantine. There is something dangerous about that word. It implies the unknown, and is often associated with death. I didn't like it one bit.

I looked at Percy and Piper, drawing in ragged breaths. I hadn't even known them for 12 hours, and yet I felt like we were somehow in this together now. Whatever this was. They looked back at me, and I could see in their eyes that they felt the same.

Slowly, silently, we walked to one of the gates, and sat down in the chairs. We didn't say anything when the doors to the entrance opened, and we didn't even move when men in HAZMAT suits walked over to us.

It was only when the men in the gear tried to stick needles in us that we started to scream.

So that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed!