The first person Percy saw tried to kill him. Which Percy actually understood. If he had the ability to see things coming out of nowhere and he was trapped in a Zombiefied city, he'd kill everything that moved above 15 miles per hour.

But on the other hand, Percy was certain that he looked a lot different from a zombie.

He'd know. He'd run into a whole throng of the mindless, undead monsters. They were still following him. And he was starting to panic. His stomach heaved but there was nothing left for him to vomit out. The smell was following him around so closely he doubted he'd be able to eat again either.

His ankle had stopped bleeding, but another Zombie, who must have been based on a construction worker, had gotten his arm with a deep cut. Percy checked his health stats trying to catch his breath in the alcove of a tipped over car. The Zombies were still down the street but their groaning was getting louder, as well as the crowd he was gathering. It looked like every Zombie was thinking the same thing: Riptide has delicious brains!

Percy had met half a dozen teachers that would have told them not to waste their time; his brain was empty. Yay, school system!

Percy wiped his clammy hands on his pants. He stood up again. He was coming up to the more urban side of the town. There were the beginnings of shops now. Percy didn't dare stop at any of them. He'd saw a boutique where the latest fashions were ripped and bloody. He was sure the Zombies were groaning up a storm as they slammed on the glass window trying to follow him like a gaggle of wild fangirls.

Blood coated his shoes, and the helm of if his blue lifesaving cloak. Riptide was getting hard to hold with the blood on his handle. Percy couldn't get it out of his head. This was blood. It was one everything.

He hated Zombie games.

He hated the idea of Zombie games.

He hated Grover for suggesting that he ever play a zombie game.

He knew it was just a game. He knew that these weren't real. But the greater portion of his brain kept screaming at him. He could die, therefore this all had to be real too. He couldn't afford to look at it any different.

He also didn't want to think what would happen if he got bitten. Good gods, would he actually die? Would his body in the game wonder around and try to kill everyone else too?

He understood why -Chasing- had resigned herself to that building. She and whoever was with her had probably gotten trapped. What if the zombies had broken through the walls and that's why someone was screaming? The idea of -Chasing- walking around mindlessly made Percy want to throw up again.

"Rip...tide...." The Zombies moaned again getting closer. Percy started running again. Zombies were appearing everywhere he looked. From the alleys, from the stores, slamming on the glass windows of forgotten cars. The street lights were blown out here, a car had slammed into a brick wall recently though. It must have been another player, because the gas was leaking down the street like the car was bleeding out as well.

Percy slid in the black liquid trying to take a sharp turn as a cheerleader and football player zombie appeared in front of him. They snapped at his hood but Percy moved just in time and slid down the narrow street.

He glanced behind him, praying that the conversion of so many zombies in on narrow spot might slow them down.

He missed looking ahead to where two figures were running straight at him.

"Look out!" Someone yelled. Percy whipped around just in time to see a golden spatha coming right down on him.

"Shit!" He yelled blocking it. For a moment he and his opponent stood weapons locked staring at each other in shock. A flash of movement caught his eye, and Percy rolled to the side just barely avoiding becoming a lovely red fountain.

"What the Hell?!" The other attacker said, "I didn't know these zombies could move that fast!"

"If you stab me Hawtstufz9, I will gladly return the favor!" Percy panted.

They both stopped, giving Percy a chance to recognize the person with the boy and their floating white statistics. Hawtstufz9 was wielding a dagger, though that didn't seem to be his own weapon, because he was holding it wrong. His eyes were dark, and his empty hand was holding open his menu. xClassicx was standing next to him breathing heavily, sweat beading down her face and mixing with a cut on her cheek.

"Riptide?" They said at the same time.

"I thought you died!" Hawtstufz9 exclaimed.

"I saw you die!" xClassicx gasped.

Percy looked behind him at the zombies that were gaining on them. "Well, I didn't." Percy shrugged, "I'm kinda in a hurry...."

"Holy Shit, man!" The scrawny boy panted, "We've been cut off!"

Percy didn't understand until he looked past the two of them and saw the tsunami of zombies heading towards them from that way chanting the their usernames. He cursed. A floating camera hummed over them zooming in on the delicious details of their deaths.

"Back to back!" xClassicx commanded, turning around and spinning her grip on her curious weapon. Percy roughly did as she said, feeling sick to his stomach. "Nine, got anything?"

From the corner of his eye he saw the other boy frantically swiping through his menu. It was unlike anything that Percy had seen before. The text was reading out numbers and entries and lines of code.

"What the Hell is that?" He asked.

"Nothing, xClassicx," Hawtstufz9 replied ignoring Percy entirely, "I haven't hacked zombie codes since Sanction Island. I-I--Damnit! I can't remember!"

"Figure something out!" She yelled back at him.

The boy whimpered, "Well, at least I'll make a very sexy zombie!"

"Duck!" Percy yelled as the first of the zombies reached towards the distracted Hawtstufz9. Percy decapitated it and kicked the body back into the mass. Green decaying hands reached towards them. Percy moved in a whirlwind sliced them all off. Hawtstufz9 let out a scream as Percy moved in front of him.

The boy looked surprised that Percy would make such a move, but he didn't have time to dwell on that. He swept Riptide in a defensive strike, hacking an undead businessman to bite sized bits. Blood splattered on the other Zombies staining their clothes. But Percy looked to be the only one who cared. Blood stuck to his hands, slipping between his fingers the tighter he held his blade.

The stench was overwhelming. Percy's head throbbed with the attempt just to stay conscious. He moved as fast as he could, but there were too many. The grey peeling skin and the ice cold touch was too close for Percy to keep everything at bay. He couldn't see xClassicx but he could hear her yells and grunts as she tried to keep up with the sheer numbers. Hawtstufz9 must have given up on whatever he was doing as well and was fighting in a strange set of motions like he was fighting with a sword only he had a dagger.

The Zombies moved, and Percy saw it.

Just for the second, everything seemed to slow.

He yanked his blade through a neck and saw the gap in the crowd. Slim but there. Percy could break through and get out.

It was instinct. To run.

To run very far away.

He was a solo player. All that mattered was his own survival. The nails of a half rotten zombie dragged down his other arm but Percy barely felt it. He dragged his sword about him protectively.

Then...he was free.

"Riptide!" A voice yelled at him.

He looked back at the mass of monsters surrounding the other two players. xClassicx was looking at him with pleading eyes, her shirt was covered in red zombie blood. Her sword was keeping the Zombies at bay just enough for her to see that he'd broke ranks and gotten free.

Hawtstufz9 was back to back with her, up to his arms in blood. His health bar was in the red, just like everything around him. He was struggling to keep up.

Percy looked back at the other empty streets, unable to breathe.

"xClas...sicx..." The Zombies chanted, "Hawt...stufz...." It seemed that now that he was away, the zombies no longer cared about him. The prospect of easier targets must have been too much.

He was a Solo Player.

"Help!"

Percy looked back at her. "Sorry," He whispered.

Percy sprinted in the opposite direction, pretending like he hadn't seen her horrified look, or the golden tears that were slipping down her cheeks. Pretending that even though he twenty feet away and the Zombies were all groaning and grunting loudly, he couldn't hear her gasp cry of betrayal from where he stood.

He was a Solo Player. He didn't have a team. He couldn't protect himself most times, how could he help them? His best chance was to run.

Run until he could hear their screams and then continue his search of Kronos and make sure no one else dies.

"Fuck."

Percy glanced up to the rooftops, and then back to his wrists, where his duel bracelets were pulsing. They had been a neat blue when Percy had equipped them back at the river after he had changed his outfit, but now they were as red as his hands.

Warning: One Use Left.

It was the first magic item he'd ever gotten.

xClassicx screamed. He looked up just in time to see a zombie freak had gotten under her guard and dragged her down, under the tide of the digital monsters.

Percy activated the bracelets and threw his hands up.

All at once everything broke.

Shattering, rumbling, explosions, the fire hydrant next to Percy was the first to go, followed by the plumbing of the shops and the Water Tower a couple streets over. Everything popped and shot water into the air.

Cold refreshing rain. Percy could feel it all with just this one item. His eyes burned bright blue, the faint pain in his arms disappeared within seconds. Percy took a deep breath.

He'd at least get one last good use from this gift.

He threw his hands forwards. The Water, every ounce, every drop, followed his hands with deadly accuracy. The entire street flooded. Water poured down on the zombies tearing their flimsy, decaying bodies apart and tossing them to the side.

The water was immense. Breaking against one of the shops and sloshing right back at it's controller.

Percy let it come, bracing himself. Instead of feeling like an entire skyscraper fell on top of him, it only felt like a two story condo had dropped on his head.

The force knocked him to the ground and dragged him back up with swift movements that nearly disoriented him. Percy flung his eyes open, and grabbed the nearest thing: a window ledge from a nearby bakery. He clung until he felt like his fingers were going to fall off.

The water was murky but Percy could see through it, with the glow his healing cloak. Shredded bodies and stains of blood floated right past him as he searched for the bodies of the other players.

He saw Hawtstufz9 first, his cheeks bloated with the effort to hold his breath. He was hanging on to a broken street lamp across the road to keep from being torn away by the current and his eyes squeezed shut. xClassicx was in his arms like a throw blank, limp, and wet but with bubbles trailing from her mouth.

She was still alive.

Percy pulled his legs in and powerfully kicked off from his ledge. He swam towards them dodging a ripped off leg and something that looked like it belongs inside a body and not outside one. Percy nearly inhaled the water trying not to gag. He pulled a hand forward to direct the motion of pulling the other game players up. The change of current caught the boy off guard and Hawtstufz9 struggled but lost his grip on the lamp. His eyes opened in shock, catching sight of Percy swimming right after them. The water started to drain out, the flood carrying the torn zombies and loose debris away and leaving Percy and the players where he commanded it to.

Hawtstufz9 broke the surface and was gasping for breath. Percy popped up next to him coughing. xClassicx rest in the other boy's arms like a dead body. Even so Hawtstufz9 took the effort to splash Percy was a handful of water.

"Jackass!" He laughed, "I thought you were going to leave us to die! Though a little warning next time might help!"

Percy grinned wiping water from his wet bangs. "Sorry," He said, not bothering to mention at first he was going to leave them.

"As much as I'd love to continue to praise that awesome move, we've got a slight problem." Hawtstufz9 said, as the water dropped them on the ground. Percy dropped to his knees immediately feeling like he'd run a full marathon in the desert. With a single quiet pop his bracelets expired and the blue magic items disappeared off his arms.

"What...problem?" He asked.

Hawtstufz9 motioned to the unconscious xClassicx. Her head had lolled to the side and Percy saw exactly what had happened to her.

He'd been too late.

xClassicx had been bitten.