Scratch

Percy POV

I rampaged through the dirty room, taking down as many zombies as possible. My back flared with pain, but adrenaline bolstered my energy. Pretty soon, I would be turned into a zombie, so I might as well kill all these dang things.

My baseball bt smashed two zombies. One of the zombie's heads went flying like a baseball after hitting a home run. Blood splattered around me.

The rubble trapped me in all directions. Every movement of my legs sent a small dust cloud into the air. The atmosphere felt toxic and suffocating. I couldn't see anyone or anything but the zombies growling at me. I started turning in a full 360 circle to smash all the zombies in my way. Tears fogged my vision, but I didn't let up.

"PERCY. PERCY," Thalia's shout invaded my thoughts.

I whirled around to see Thalia slashing two large zombies with her knives. She seemed all right from the looks of it. She has always been a killing machine.

To be honest, Thalia is a more vicious and stronger soldier than I am because she isn't ruled by inhibitions. She's a wildcard.

Slowly but surely, the zombies in the broken cafeteria dwindled.

I still couldn't find Nico and Bianca. If memory serves well, they were on the southern side of the cafeteria. Well, large chunks of marble and dirt were separating the cafeteria into multiple segments. The entire place reeked of blood and death.

I smashed another zombie before turning around.

"Percy, I'm so glad that you're okay. I thought that you were crushed by the ceiling. You were so close to the crumble," Thalia exclaimed. She started coming toward me.

I immediately distanced myself from her. My bat was aimed at her to keep the distance between us. There's no way I'm going to let myself hurt her.

"No, don't come near me," I ordered with a shaky breath.

Thalai frowned while getting closer to me. Her hand rested against the tip of my steel baseball bat. I wiped my face of sweat and tears with my free hand. Her electric blue eyes scanned my body before meeting my gaze again.

The pause in action was enough for my adrenaline to wear off. My knees buckled, and I staggered to the side before landing on my butt.

My back screamed, and I shouted out in pain.

The bite mark must've been quite deep and penetrating. I could feel the blood leaking through the wound, soaking my clothes.

"I-. Thalia, you need to kill me. I was bit, and you can't be near me. I don't want to turn into a zombie. Please," I begged.

Since Thalia was still standing, she looked down at me. Her hands shook as they clenched into fists. Then, she came closer and knelt beside me. "It's going to be okay, Percy. You're fine for now. Maybe, we can get through this."

"There's no getting around it," I snapped. "Once you're bit by a zombie, you're dead. I accepted. I just hope that Stella got back to the others."

"I'm sure that she did," Thalia answered while rubbing my arm.

"It hurts," I choked.

"Where were you bitten?" she asked quietly. "Where's it hurting?"

I gestured to my back before shifting my body. Each movement sent shivers through my body and splurt out more blood. I felt myself getting light-headed. The thing about being a dead man is that no one needs to waste their time applying pressure on the wound. I'm going to convert to a zombie anyway.

I felt Thalia's finger graze my shoulder before tearing my shirt open. I winced as her fingers lingered against my injured skin. My hand clenched around my bat to control the pain.

Suddenly, immense pressure fell on my back.

"OH MY GOD, PERCY. WHAT THE HELL?" Thalia exclaimed. My body lunched forward as Thalia's body weight fell on my back.

I felt her palms pressing down against my wound. I yelled out while trying to shift around, but Thalia's grasp was firm. Additional pressure fell on my injury. Why was she applying pressure to a bite mark?

"GAAAHHHH. Why?" I cracked.

"WHY?" Thalia shouted. "You stupid Kelp Head, did you really just ask that question? This isn't a dam bite mark. It's a deep gash."

I froze on the floor. My cheek burned against the dirty, cold floor. Thalia was practically sitting on top of me while applying pressure to my wound. It took me a few seconds to digest her words. It's a scratch. It's just a dam scratch.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU ASK ME TO KILL YOU?"

"I thought it was a bite mark. The zombie was on top of me for several moments, and the pain was horrible," I expressed. "I thought I'm a dead man."

"Well, you're not," Thalia affirmed. "Just hold on. Turn around."

Thalia twisted my body so that I was sleeping on my back. My back and shoulder blade flared in pain, and blood entered my mouth, giving a metallic taste. Once again, I resisted the strong urge to throw up.

Thalia kept her knee on my chest to keep the pressure down on my back. The pain was horrific, but Thalia didn't let me lose consciousness. I could feel the crash, but every time my eyes would close, Thalia slapped me awake. When she was not slapping my face, she fidgeted with supplies in her dirty backpack.

It was actually Will's medical bag. There were a lot of bandages, gauze, and tape on the floor now.

"Okay, flip around gain," Thalai ordered.

I couldn't quite move out of shock. I'm still dying of blood loss, but Thalia is trying to fix that. The most important part was that it was just a scratch. Not a bite. The zombie must've scratched me with its hand while trying to bite me.

Thalia turned me onto my stomach again before shoving an extra shirt into my mouth. "Just bite down on that. Closing your wound via stitching is going to hurt a lot without anesthesia."

"Wait," I blurted out. "What if zombies come?"

"That's a risk we're going to have to take. Just try not to make a lot of sounds. I'll try to be quick, but the only training I have is from Will."

I nodded my head while biting down. My skin felt like it was on fire, and I was sweating like a dog. Everything felt so hot and constricted. My back arched as I felt Thalia's hands moving against my back. All right, here it goes.

I wish I could say that it wasn't that bad, but I'd be lying.

It was some of the worst pain I have ever felt. It hurt more than when I got shot on the bridge a few months ago. Gods. So much has changed since then.

For one thing, I'm in love now with multiple people now.

I love all my new friends. I love my baby sister, Estelle. And, I love Annabeth Chase. Thinking of them helped ease the pain a little bit. I wish I passed out, but Thalia didn't let me. She was scared that I wouldn't wake up again if I slept.

Finally, Thlaai finished with my back. She tightly applied gauze and bandages to my back before taping them down. I'm so grateful to her despite the pain.

With a final deep breath, I pulled myself to my feet.

Thalia took a shallow breath while wiping her hands against her jeans. "I'm not gonna lie. I thought I was going to puke multiple times."

"Thanks for your help."

"I did the best I could. You'll still need actual medical attention, and you definitely need antibiotics and pain meds. Regardless, you're welcome. You'd do the same for me," Thalia expressed. "I can't believe you thought it was a bite mark."

"STOP," I whined while chugging some water.

Thalia grabbed the water from me before refreshing herself as well. While she took time to recover, I terminated two stray zombies that came into the room.

"Okay. It's time to find Nico and Bianca now," I said.

***

Nico was easy to find. He was making a lot of sounds near the south side of the cafeteria because he was digging through some piles of rubble. His long black hair fell into his dark eyes as he worked to unravel the heeps of the marble ceiling on the floor.

"Nico. Thank the gods, you're okay," Thalia exclaimed.

"I CAN'T FIND BIANCA," he shouted frantically. His fist punched a nearby boulder before wincing in frustration and pain.

"What do you mean? You both were fighting together. You were right next to each other," Thalia expressed.

"I KNOW THAT," Nico seethed.

I gulped nervously while looking around at the dirt and rubble. There were large piles of debris, and it seemed impossible to find someone in there, especially if something happened to them. If Bianca was hurt or unconscious, she wouldn't even respond to us. Or, a worse alternative waw also possible.

I can't imagine the possibility of her being crushed under some trash and debris. A wave of sadness washed over me as I looked around. There were so many corpses on the ground. What if one of them was Bianca? Or, what if she was crushed by the ceiling?

Gods, I hate those two words: what if.

Suddenly, the museum shuddered again. Some small stones and dirt fell from the open ceiling. The building was so dark as the electricity was knocked out.

Nico panted while lifting another rock. He was crying while searching random piles of ceilings for his sister. I felt a bad feeling. Bianca would never leave us here, especially if we were all still alive. The only alternative explanation for her disappearance is that she's dead. Either she's lost in the piles of debris and trash or she turned into a zombie and wandered away.

Either way, Bianca di Angelo is lost. She's gone.

The building shuddered again, causing more debris to fall. "We have to get out of here before it all goes down," Thalia whispered.

Thalia and I shared a look before turning our attention to Nico. He was a few years younger than us, and it showed in his appearance. He was shorter and skinnier than I was. His face didn't have a hint of facial hair either.

I can't imagine losing my sister, so I felt for him deeply.

I took a deep breath before carefully walking toward Nico. He was still thrashing around a large pile of debris. I gently grabbed his wrist to stop him. I ignored the pain in my back. Compared to his pain and trauma, mine felt very minuscule right now.

"Nico, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say."

"Just help me look," Nico cried. He frantically wiped the tears from his face before turning back to the rubble, but I stopped him from continuing.

"She's gone, Nico. We lost her to our surroundings. There's nothing we can do now," I repeated myself.

Nico's arm shook in my grip. His whole body vibrated as the sobs racked his eyes. Nico and Bianca were so close as siblings. Technically speaking, they were closer to each other than Annabeth is with her brothers or Thalia is with Jason.

I patted Nico's back as his body collapsed against mine. I caught him from crumbling and simply held him as he let himself go. Thalia stabbed a few stray zombies before joining our embrace. She kept whispering things to Nico about Bianca while I simply held him and her. There is a bond between Nico, Thalia, and me.

However, I'm not sure what that connecting factor is. Something pulls us together.

Thalia and I carefully led Nico toward the exit. The museum was shuddering and cracking more frequently. We have to get out before we get trapped and crushed inside. Before we left the cafeteria, Nico looked around one last time.

There was nothing to look at but the large piles of trash/rubble and the corpses. This is goodbye to our camp. Thalia, Nico, and I left the museum soon after.

Bianca may be lost, but we can't stay here any longer.

However, leaving her body behind is something that I'll regret for the rest of my life.