A/N Ok, I'm so sorry. I've got a lot of different cliche's that were much higher up on my list than this one, but I couldn't help it! This was my first bout of pure inspiration in over a week and all you writers out there must get that once you get a visit from your Muse, you have to go with it, right? A couple characters are OOC with their ages to fit the story, but for the most part it'll be pretty close.

This is the plot for a story I've been planning. I figured, why not make it a fan fiction for now? Maybe later if this turns out to be a non-fail, I'll make it a story on FictionPress with my characters or something. Enjoy...

Annabeth's POV

"Thalia, quick!" They were gaining on us, and fast. They had been for days now. It's rather surprising how fast dead bodies are able to move. We had been running for our lives, for what seemed like an eternity.

Perhaps I should back up a bit, so that this story all makes sense…

About five years ago, a company that named themselves "The Fountain of Youth" created a vitamin. This wasn't your average Flintstones or gummy bear vitamin, though. The company claimed that if this vitamin was taken once a day, your life span could double, or even triple it's normal amount! Naturally every person above eighteen years of age (as that was the legal limit) bought them up and started downing vitamins with their morning coffee.

Technically, the FoY didn't lie about their product. It certainly lengthened your life span… sort of. When the first man to start taking those vitamins died of old age, his body continued to live on. You see, his brain stopped most of it's normal functions, and many of his organs stopped, but he was still alive and kicking so to speak. He was the living dead, literally.

Now, the FoY also failed to list side effects to their miracle vitamins. A simple Warning: this product may cause rotting skin, tooth decay, eye-watering BO, and an insatiable craving for human flesh would have been nice.

When the first living dead old man died, nobody could tell. His body hadn't started to decay quite yet, and though his eyes were bloodshot, they had looked that way for many years so nobody paid any attention to that anymore. For a few days he continued his life of sorts as though he were still, well, living.

Then came the day that the craving kicked in with full force, and he bit his nurse as she tried to feed him his daily pudding cup. Within an hour or so, the virus that the man had contracted from taking those miracle pills had spread throughout that poor nurse's entire body. She too, was a zombie now.

Long story short, the virus spread throughout the entire city of Los Angeles, to the entire state of California, to the entire country, to the entire continent, to the entire world. Almost the entire human population was smashed into nonexistence like a piece of gum under a boot.

These zombies weren't like the zombies you see on TV and in movies. Oh no, these zombies were far worse. They moved just as fast as they had when they were alive, and they were just as strong. Though they had no memories and no feelings anymore, they still had instincts, and therefore were rather smart in the ways they catch their food. Their food being those of use with still living flesh, like myself.

My name is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. I'm seventeen years old. When the crisis struck my hometown of San Francisco my best friend, Thalia, and I were at the park doing what normal ten and twelve year old girls do: sit on the swing set and talk about boys.

Little did I know, my home was being attacked by dead bodies hungry for flesh. As Thalia and I chatted away about my latest crush on the neighbor boy, my stepmother was eaten alive, and my father and two younger brothers were bitten and damned to a non-life of the undead. Thalia and me were on our own. Almost on our own, that is.

I won't go into specifics quite yet, but lets just say that Thalia and I lost someone pretty special a year ago to these maggot-infested vermin. Ever since then we've been on the run, continuing the research the three of us had started.

Up until this morning, when we were ambushed that is. And now, we've caught up to the present tense…

The sun was brutal, beating down on the two of us and making the sweat from my forehead fall into my eyes. As if it wasn't hard enough to keep my eyes from watering in this rotten, smoggy air!

"Annabeth, duck into that building over there, it still has a door!" Thalia pointed to a dull brick building that once was glass, but was now made of wooden boards. The door paint was peeling, and the handle was rusting, but it was still a way of keeping out the zombies. We panted harder as we got nearer to safety. Ten meters, five meters, one meter… SLAM! We rushed into the building and shut the door, very nearly chopping off the fingers of a nearby flesh-eater.

As they say, close the door on one threat; open the door to a new one. A single, golden blade was pointed at my chest, keeping my back pinned to the door that still rumbled from the beatings of zombies trying to get in.

My eyes traveled from the point of the blade, down to the hilt, which was gripped by a tan, calloused hand. The hand belonged to a boy. Green eyes, green like seaweed, stared into mine. Bits of night black hair fell into his eyes as they considered me. If I had to guess I'd say he was my age, possibly a year older. He was well built and strong. My heart thudded in my chest, threatening to burst through and impale itself on the sword. I could almost hear him thinking, Well, well, well, look at what we have here: a friend or a foe?

"Who are you?" His voice held authority in it, and strength. I couldn't trace any fear in his tone whatsoever.

"Who's asking?" I asked, still breathless from my run. A bead of sweat tickled my back as it slipped between my shoulder blades. The boy raised one dark eyebrow at me, daring me to defy him again. The point dug the tiniest bit into my skin, almost drawing blood.

"I believe I asked you first." He stated coldly.

"And I believe that I asked you second." Being stubborn in the position I was in was, probably not a good idea. Thankfully, the boy had somehow come to the conclusion that I was no threat to him, and he let the weapon drop. Relief flooded through me, and I allowed myself to stand up straight and peel my back off of the splintering door.

"Percy Jackson." He answered me. Should I tell him my real name? I suppose in this world, it didn't make a difference whether he knew it or not.

"Annabeth Chase," I said, keeping a hand on my knife, "And this is Thalia."

"Thalia Grace," She added, sending me a look. His brows pushed together when she said her last name, but whatever thought he had he quickly dismissed.

"Pleasure," He said flatly. I couldn't blame him, today wasn't necessarily a picnic for me either, "What are you doing here?" Such a welcoming fellow, aren't you?

"Staying alive, same as you." Percy nodded, understanding. He gnawed on his bottom lip for a second, and tilted his head to the side as he thought. I must admit, he was rather attractive. Though dating was the farthest thing down on my list of priorities.

"Do you want help?" He asked.

"We don't need help." Thalia cut in, I nodded in agreement. We'd been on our own for long enough now.

"Oh I'm sure, you don't look like you need help." He said. Touché. Lets face it; this wasn't exactly our best day. I stole a glance down at myself. My once green camo pants had faded to brown and grey from being in the sun and dust so much. My off white tank top was spattered with mud, dirt, and blood. I'd tied my matted blonde curls back with a red bandana, but it didn't help to tame the rat's nest underneath. Thalia wasn't looking much better. Though her all black look hid a lot of the blood stains we'd contracted, and her short, black, spiky hair didn't get quite as tangled as my long curls.

"We need a place to stay for the night," I admitted, overcoming my pride, "We'll be on our way first thing in the morning." Percy simply nodded, but he didn't look like he fully believed that.

"Come with me," He said, slinging his sword through his belt and loping towards a staircase at the side of the room.

I took that moment to look around at where we had run into. The door had led us into a fairly large room with cushion-less couches and a big wooden counter. Above us was a glass chandelier that had somehow managed to hang on throughout all of this. An old hotel, perhaps?

"Are you coming?" Percy called, his foot already on the first stair, "I don't have all day, you know." Well neither did we. Thalia nudged my shoulder, urging me to go ahead of her so that she could keep an eye on our backs. The two of us followed Percy up one level and onto the landing of a long hallway with doors on either side. Yep, definitely an abandoned hotel.

"I'd say it's around noon," He said, looking out the window at the sun, "Everyone's likely in Grover's room."

"How many of you are there? And who's Grover?" Thalia asked.

"All in good time," He said vaguely as he rapped on a door.

"Perce, is that you?" A girls voice yelled through the door.

"No, it's Barney. Open up, Hazel!" Hazel? The door slowly swung open to reveal a short, dark-skinned girl with curly brown hair and golden eyes. She looked to be in her early teens, if not younger. This must be Hazel. Percy strut calmly into the room, then turned back to look at Thalia and me.

"Are you planning on spending the night in the hallway?" He asked. Thalia eyed me with her electric blue eyes, giving me her "Keep your guard up" look. Cautiously, the two of us entered the room.

What I'd originally thought to be a room turned out to be a suite with a living room area, a full kitchen, and what I assumed were two doors that led to separate bedrooms. Seven teenagers sat in various positions around the place. At our arrival, all of them stood with their weapons raised.

"At ease, soldiers." Percy said jokingly, "They're harmless." His elbows rested against the plastic counter of the kitchen, looking out at the group. Almost immediately, everyone resumed their earlier positions, but kept their eyes on us and their hands on their weapons.

"Harmless my ass," Thalia muttered, gripping her bow. I elbowed her in the ribs. If these people were going to give us refuge for the night, the least we could do was play nice for a few hours.

"You know it's rude to linger in doorways," Percy said, "Come in, we don't bite. We chop heads off, but we don't bite." That sent a chuckle around the room. So he was a joker, noted. The two of us stepped quietly into the room, our hands still on our weapons.

Four boys and two girls, including the one that had answered the door (Hazel I think), were seated about the place.

"Guys, this is Thalia," Percy pointed to her, "And Annabeth," He gestured towards me. It felt odd hearing my name on his tongue. Strange… "They're gonna stay here for the night. Here, have a seat." He kicked a couple of dining chairs into the living room. Using extreme caution, the two of us did as he asked. Percy himself leisurely strolled in and plopped down on the couch next to a girl with choppy brown hair with what looked like feathers in it. If I had to guess I'd say she was sixteen, or maybe fifteen like Thalia. She was seated beside the girl, Hazel, who was holding tightly onto the hand of a husky Asian boy. He was… fifteen perhaps? It was hard to tell with him. Across the room in an old armchair was what looked like a Latino version of one of Santa's elves. His dark hair was unruly and curly, and his dark eyes were bright and happy, as though he'd had a shot or two of espresso. Standing with his arms crossed in the corner was an African-American boy with a set jaw, hard eyes, and pursed lips. He was for sure the oldest, in his early twenties it looked like.

"This is Piper," Percy tapped the shoulder of the girl with the feathers in her hair, "And Hazel, and her boyfriend Frank," He pointed towards the Asian boy, "And Leo, repair boy extraordinaire," He winked, "And that's Beckendorf." He said, nodding towards the boy in the corner. We nodded towards everyone in greeting.

"Yo Nico! Jason! Grover, Juniper! Come meet some people!" Percy yelled. The bedroom door on the left opened to reveal a frazzled looking woman holding a little girl who looked to be about five.

"Percy! I just got Daisy to go to sleep!" She complained. The woman had light brown hair, light green eyes, and pointy ears. The little girl in her arms could have been her clone. Percy blushed in his seat.

"We love you Perce, but sometimes you're just too ADHD for me." A man stepped out of the room and came up behind the woman, kissing her cheek and tickling the tummy of the girl. A family? The man's hair was light brown and curly, and his eyes were light with happiness as he stared down at the girls.

"Sorry," Percy muttered sheepishly, "Grover, Juniper, meet Annabeth and Thalia. Ladies, meet Grover, his wife Juniper, and their daughter, Daisy." He said. Oh, so this was Grover. The family waved at us curiously.

"What's with the yelling? I was taking a nap, I've got nightshift ton—" Was that who I think it was? Blonde hair, electric blue eyes, the scar on his lip…

"Jason!" Thalia cried, jumping up out of her chair and throwing caution to the wind. She flung her arms around her long-lost brother, "Thank god you're ok! You have no idea how sick I've felt all these years!"

"Thalia?" Jason just looked bewildered, and confused, "And Annabeth?" We'd been childhood friends. Up until the incident that is, "But… how… what the?"

"You're alive!" I cried as I stood up to hug him as well.

"Um… care to explain why Jason's hugging two very attractive girls in front of his girlfriend?" A voice sounded from the doorway of the room Jason had come out of. I let go of Jason and craned my neck to see a boy around Thalia's age leaning against the doorframe. Wow, he looked more like he could have been Thalia's brother than Jason did! His hair was black, his clothes were black, and the sword hanging by his side was (you guessed it) black.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too!" The girl, Piper I believe, said from her spot on the couch, sounding just a bit miffed. This must be the girlfriend. And she thought… oh dear…

"Well guys, meet my sister." Jason said, putting an arm around Thalia, "And her best friend," He nudged my side.

"So this is the sister that you're always talking about?" The Asian boy, Frank, asked. Jason nodded, smiling brighter than I'd seen anyone smile in years.

"I thought it was weird you guys had the same last name…" Percy said thoughtfully. Piper smacked his arm.

"You're so dense, Jackson." He rolled his eyes at her.

How odd, they were all so comfortable. It was almost like they weren't being hunted by the undead around the clock.

"Are you guys joining the Revivers?" Jason asked. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"The Revivers," Jason repeated, "That's what we call ourselves." He explained.

"Why the Revivers?" I asked. It was Percy who answered me, before anyone else could even open their mouths.

"Because it's our mission to wipe out the zombies, and revive the human race." He explained proudly.

"For the record, I voted for the Super Awesome Zombie Ass Kickers." Leo added in as he fiddled with an old screwdriver. Thalia bit her lip and looked up at her brother.

"We were just going to spend the night…" His face fell, as did hers.

"If you want you can stay," Percy said, looking at me, "We actually need two more fighters since the Stolls…" Everyone looked down at the dingy carpet.

"I'm not sure if that's…" Oh great, Thalia's giving me the look. It's not like I could blame her. If we ever ran into my older brother, Malcolm, assuming he was still alive that is, I'd want to stay with him too. "If you'll have us, we'll join." I said. She mouthed a thank you, and wrapped an arm around her big brother's waist. I simply nodded.

It was hard not to notice Percy's eyes light up when I agreed. He clapped his hands together and stood up.

"Excellent! Welcome to the cause," He held out a hand to me, to shake on it. I eyed his hand carefully. Shaking on it would seal the deal; Thalia and I would be stuck here. Who knows when I'd be able to continue my research? But there was something about this place and these people that I couldn't help but feel drawn to.

He had a firm handshake, and a warm hand.

"Why don't I show you around our base? We can assign you two to a Troop in the morning." Percy offered with glittery green eyes. Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention for a moment, and turned my head just a little to see Nico and Grover nudging each other, smirking at Percy. Ugh, boys…

I hesitated on his offer, was I sure I would be safe alone with him? But if I can't trust my new allies, whom can I trust?

"Sure, ok." I answered. Percy smiled at me. One corner of his lip lifted just the tiniest bit higher than the other, just like… no. Don't go there.

He jumped up from his place on the couch, "Follow me," He said, and led me to the door. I sent Thalia a final look, and she just smiled at me encouragingly. After all these years together, I could almost read her mind. He's Jason's friend. We can trust him. Fine, Thalia, if you say so.

Percy seemed really calm and cheerful as he took me downstairs to the dusty lobby.

"As you've seen, this is an abandoned hotel. It was once called the Plaza." He said, "This place was one of the nicest hotels in all of New York, before the outbreak I mean." Even though the marble floors were chipping, and the walls were rotting, it was easy to imagine this place once being a grand palace. Up above us, the ceiling was made of glass.

"Aren't you worried about them breaking the glass?" I asked, pointing up at the ceiling. He just shrugged and dug his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts.

"We've blocked all ways to the roof from the outside. And even if they did, it's a hard fall."

"But they're already dead, what do they have to lose?" He cocked his head at me.

"You have an interesting mind," He remarked. Strange… my cheeks started to heat up. Was it warm in here? Percy smirked, "Look who's blushing." He teased. Me? Blushing? I hadn't blushed since…

"So, ready for the next part of the tour?" Percy asked. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Yeah," I said roughly. He smiled, and turned on his heel to lead me down a side hallway.

The first thing to hit me in this room was the stale stench of chlorine. My nose wrinkled at the smell, and Percy chuckled at my expression.

"Leo's amazing. He hooked up our plumbing in this place. All of our water's warm, but it's better than nothing." He said and kicked the water in a large pit in the center of the room. A pool, "Swimming's really calming, it's a good way to clear your mind when all of this… mess gets to your head." He said. For a moment there his eyes got all misty, but they cleared up within a few seconds. I took a seat on one of the rickety pool chairs on the edge.

"You mentioned Troops before, what are those?" I asked. He pulled up a seat next to me.

"A Troop is how we divide and conquer. We have two Troops in our little team. I'm head of Troop 1. Nico, the punk kid? He's my Lieutenant. Jason's head of Troop 2, and Piper's his Lieutenant. Troops take turns going out on raids. When we go on raids we either go looking for supplies, or we go to do some killing." He explained, "The only people who aren't in a Troop are Grover, Juniper, and Daisy. Juniper stays at base with Daisy, and Grover only goes on local raids so that he can stay near them." This room, like the other one, had a glass roof. Light filtered through the dirty windows and illuminated the dust motes floating around us.

"How old are Grover and Juniper?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Both 21." My ears perked in surprise as my mind did the math.

"But Daisy's five years old, right?" Percy nodded.

"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow at him. Percy just stared back at me.

"That means she was born when Juniper was 16," I prompted. Percy smirked at me.

"I see what's going on here. You're still thinking in the traditional ways, right? Before all the zombie madness?"

"You could say that, yes." Percy ran a hand through his messy black hair.

"In the world we're living in now, we may not live to see tomorrow. Therefore, we all live as though we're not going to. Grover and Juniper deserve a shot at a family. At sixteen years old they got married, and almost a year later Juniper had Daisy."

"But how did they get married if there aren't any priests around anymore?" Percy let out a dry laugh.

"Do you think the zombies care whether they're legally married or not?" He asked. I didn't answer, "What matters is that they're married in the eyes of each other and the people who love them: Me, Nico, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Piper." The way he explained things made sense to me.

"That's… actually really sweet." I said. He smirked.

"Now that we've got that sap story out in the open, what do you say I show you your room? Piper can probably lend you some clothes or something because, no offense, but you look like you've run through Hell and back." I just smirked.

"I kind of did." Maybe this guy would turn out to be not so bad...

Percy POV

"You like her, don't you?" We'd given Thalia and Annabeth a suite to share, and clothes. Hazel went to throw their muddy clothes in the washing machine that was in her suite (once again, all hail Leo who singlehandedly gave us plumbing and electricity) Piper and Juniper were making dinner with Daisy. Frank, Jason, and Leo were on guard duty right now. So Grover, Nico, and me decided to take a break and play a card game in my room.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said as I threw a card into the center. Grover nudged my shoulder.

"Don't play dumb, Perce. We've known you too long to fall for it."

"Who says he's playing?" Nico asked as he swiped a couple cards from the center. I reached out and punched him in the arm, resulting in him flicking my forehead. I fished a card out of the center, pleased with my choice.

"Full house," I announced, laying out my cards. Grover scratched his head in confusion.

"I thought we were playing Go Fish?" Nico threw his cards down in frustration.

"I've been playing Pinochle!"

"Either way, I won my game before either of you won yours." I said smugly, glad to be free of the touchy subject of her. Oh wait… maybe not. Grover's looking at me weird again…

"Don't think you're getting off that easy, Perce. Come on just admit it. You think she's cute." My ears burned red. Honestly? Yes, I thought she was cute. Even with dirt and blood streaking her face, her blonde hair sticking up in all directions, she was cute. Especially the eyes. They were grey, like storm clouds, or owl feathers, or…

"Percy!" Nico snapped my attention back.

"I don't not haven't not thought she wasn't not cute." I muttered. I think that makes sense… Nico's eyes started to glaze over, "And what are you interrogating me for? Nico's the one that was flirting with Jason's sister!"

"I did not!" He protested, "All I did was tell her that her Green Day T-shirt was wicked. That is so not flirting!" The red that had risen to the pale boy's cheeks said otherwise.

"Jason's so going to kill you for hitting on his long-lost sister." I said as I gathered the cards and shuffled them again, "What now? Gin, Hearts, Pepper…"

"Hearts seems appropriate, huh Percy?" Grover winked at me, "I'll deal." He took the deck from me and started flinging the cards at us.

"Drop it Grover," I growled. He tsked his tongue and shook his head.

"Oh no, dear friend, oh no. I've found the love of my life, it's time we found you one too, now who has the deuce?" Nico threw the club out into the center.

"She's just another warrior now." I stated simply and laid down a five.

"As is Thalia." Nico said, and threw in a three.

"Whatever, guys." Grover opened his unusually large mouth to say another thing, but was interrupted by harsh knocking on the door of my suite. Our battle instincts kicked in, and we were in our offensive stances with weapons out before we heard Hazel's voice through the door.

"Dinner time! If you three don't get your butts in here in two minutes, we'll give your share to the zombies!" And we couldn't have that, now could we?

The three of us had a race down the hallway to Grover and Juniper's place (I won, naturally). As usual, we let Grover go in first to greet his wife and daughter.

"Daddy!" Daisy squealed with delight. She was a cute kid, and she may as well be Juniper's younger sister they look so alike. Daisy ran straight into the arms of her father, who hugged her tight to his chest and kissed the top of her head lovingly. Juniper smiled at the pair, and planted a kiss on Grover's cheek.

It was so nice to see the three of them together. I'd known Grover since we were kids, and I'd never seen him happier than when he was with his family.

"Come on guys, food's fresh!" Hazel called from the kitchen. At the mention of food, Nico sprinted to the counter to take his share. I took a step forward, but stopped in my tracks.

The next person stepped up to counter to retrieve their share. She had golden blonde hair that hung in curls down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Without the dirt covering her face, you could see long dark eyelashes that brushed her rosy cheeks when she blinked, and accentuated her plump, pink lips. Piper had apparently lent her an old pair of frayed black denim cutoffs that ended about mid thigh. She was wearing a different, bright white tank top that contrasted nicely with her golden skin, golden from running in the sun every day. The same black combat boots were still on her feet, and the same old dagger hung suspended from one of her belt loops by a leather chord. A gorgeous gray eye looked up and caught me staring. It was only when she stood in front of me and placed a soft finger underneath my chin to shut my mouth did I even realize my jaw was hanging open.

"You should really close your mouth," She said in a lilting voice that made a tingle run up my spine, "You'll attract flies." She said softly with a dead serious face before sitting on the chair next to Thalia in the living room.

"Right," My voice hitched up an octave higher than usual. Thankfully, she didn't hear me. Unfortunately, Grover did. I cleared my throat loudly, "Er, right." I said in a normal voice, "Annabeth, Thalia, you guys are going to be in Troop 1 with me, Nico, and Beckendorf." Jason clapped his sister on the shoulder.

"Troop 1, way to go, baby sister!" He congratulated her. Thalia turned to Annabeth with a big grin on her face. For the first time, I saw Annabeth smile a real smile. Not a sarcastic one, not a fake one, a real happy smile. One word: wow.

Grover bumped my shoulder as he walked past me to the living room.

"Oh yeah, you definitely don't like her. You just proved it, by gawking at her and putting her in your Troop." He winked, and took his rightful place next to Juniper with Daisy on his lap.

Grover was wrong. I didn't think she was cute. I thought she was absolutely breathtaking.