Zombie Parade

25: 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.