CHAPTER SEVEN
—stupid zombies

🗡🗡🗡

—BRYCE Tanner, son of Hermes and oldest attendee of Camp Half-Blood, was selected as Judith and Clarisse's plus one for the quest. In order to keep things fair, there had to be at least one quester who wasn't a child of Ares. In the end, Clarisse didn't care who joined them, just that it wasn't someone totally insufferable. The Hermes boy was headed off to college as soon as summer vacation ended, and he had yet to ever go on a quest, so he volunteered himself eagerly. The older daughter of Ares looked him up and down once and supposed he would have to do.

If he ended up being a nuisance, they could just kick him overboard; they would be close enough to Virginia Beach's shore that he could swim.

Judith had no doubts that the steam engine they were on was an eye sore to the tourists as they passed by. But then again, the Mist could also be making them look like a yacht. Judith really wished she was on a yacht. Not that she didn't appreciate the 'gift' that Ares had bestowed them with, but she could go without the zombies who manned it.

As the girl made her way to the hull of the ship, one bumped into her and she actually shivered in disgust, getting a waft of rotten flesh. His bones clacked together as he stumbled away. Judith understood that they were supposed to be soldiers of a losing side in a war, but couldn't they have made it an older war? Long enough ago where the dead would just be bones? At least then, the smell wouldn't be too unbearable.

"They give me the heebie-jeebies," Bryce said, seeing her face twist up. He was currently lounging on a crate labeled 'explosives.' Judith decided to steer clear of those ones and instead lean against the railing.

"Heebie-jeebies, really?" Judith rolled her eyes.

"Fine," he held his hands up, "the creeps. I swear, I saw one's hand fall off earlier. Landed, right in front of me. I was like, 'Need a hand?'" Bryce cracked up over his own joke, clearly thinking he was the comedian of the century.

"Hilarious," Judith deadpanned. "You didn't actually touch it, did you?" She eyed his hands warily, wondering if he'd washed his hands and if she'd touched anything he had within the past few hours.

"No, I didn't. I felt kind of bad about not helping him, though," Bruce admitted, looking sullen for a moment in remembrance.

"Don't," Judith scolded. "They're here to help us, not the other way around."

"But still, I'd kind of want someone to help me out if my hand fell off."

The girl blinked, thinking they'd made a grave mistake by allowing Bryce Tanner on this boat. She hoped he got the hint to quit with the jokes and weird sentimentality from her grimace, but the hint was not received quite like she'd sent it, however.

"I spy something ... blue," he started up randomly. His hands were circled around his eyes like mock binoculars.

Judith debated on leaving him with no reply, but decided she'd humor him. "Oh, I don't know, the ocean?"

"How did you get that?" Bryce gasped, a Cheshire grin splitting his face. "Your turn."

"No."

"Alright, suit yourself. I spy something ... blue!" He repeated.

Okay, yeah, Judith was definitely leaving. She stood up straight and moved to get away.

"The sky, you're right!" He answered himself, not caring for her silence.

"This is a stupid game," Judith muttered as she passed him by.

"I spy something ... green," he continued.

Before going below deck, Judith gave him one last answer, "The trees."

Bryce shook his head. "Actually, it's that hydra over there."

Judith took her foot back from where it took the first step down the stairs. "Hydra?" She hurried back to the railing.

Sure enough, there was a dark green hydra whipping its dragon-esque head about as it fought off something on shore. "Hey, Clarisse!" Judith alerted her sister who came running from the port to the starboard side.

The older girl smirked and stared along the shoreline, pointing when she spotted the hydra. "There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!" The zombies got moving on the order.

One of them shoved Bryce off his crate of explosives making him shout with indignante. "Hey!"

Judith shook her head in amusement as he toppled to the ground before looking back to the monster at hand. She saw three smaller bodies fighting it off with swords and fists. It couldn't be ...

"They're too close, m'lady!" One of the dead reported, telescope in hand like a true naval officer.

"Damn the heroes!" Clarisse shouted, a foot stomping on the deck. "Full steam ahead!"

By then, Clarisse must have seen just who exactly was fending off the hydra. And she didn't care one bit that she was about to blast them to smithereens.

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

Judith looked back and forth between the heroes and Clarisse. No matter what she thought of the son of Poseidon, she didn't want to see him dead ( despite her promising to kill him on multiple occasions ). Right before the cannon ball went flying through the air, Judith let out a very loud yell, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify it, "Get down!"

Fortunately, the heroes understood in time and hit the ground before the boom. All three of the 'heroes' got up from the dirt and wiped off the slime and muck that they were blasted with. Judith scrunched her nose up in disgust, glad it was them and not her.

Clarisse huffed at Judith's decision to warn them, but confronted the three all the same as they steered closer. "Losers," she snarled. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard." The zombies trailed about and pushed out the docking plank for Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson to walk aboard.

"Sweet, more people who don't smell like month old fish." Bryce clapped, but then he sniffed the slime and gunk and recoiled. "Nevermind."

Judith made sure to keep her distance so as to not smell it or risk getting it on her. It was already plopping on the ground in clumps and the zombies looked at it disdainfully, just knowing that they'd be the ones to clean it up.

"That's vile," the son of Hermes added with fingers clamped over his nose.

"Well, it's not exactly our fault," Annabeth said, slightly glaring at Clarisse who just lifted her nose.

"You guys are so expelled from camp when we get back." Bryce whistled. Judith nodded, not sure why she wasn't feeling glee at the thought. "Tantalus was pis —"

"He was angry, we get it," Annabeth said, chuckling, obviously enjoying Bryce's jokes more than the daughters of Ares.

Clarisse had already gone back down to the Captain's quarters, probably to figure out where they were going from there, first stop would probably be to some random city so they could boot the stowaways off.

"Tyson, don't touch that," Percy said quickly, warning Tyson not to touch the cannon. The cyclops moved away from the weapon with his hands up. Judith eyed him, still worried that he would touch something else when they weren't looking. The guy was a curious one by nature.

"Uh, you," Judith waved a hand in front of a zombie soldier to get his attention. He moaned as he looked at her expectantly. "Take these three down to the showers."

"They call it baths," Bryce corrected her quietly.

"Oh, my gods, whatever. The baths."

The zombie nodded, his blank eyes turning on the three newcomers who just leaned away from him hesitantly. They gave him a good three feet of space as they followed him below.

Judith let her shoulders relax when they disappeared from sight. She knew they would ruin things. Bryce thought differently. "Now, it's a party."

"Please, never invite me to one of your parties," Judith requested and fled the deck, unwilling to get stuck in another round of I-Spy.

—THE girl found the mess hall easy enough for dinner that night without asking a zombie for assistance. She wanted to limit her interaction with them as much as possible. Entering the dim lit room, Judith noticed the rest of the living group occupying the space. She was late to the 'party.' Judith scooped a few potato chips into her hand and a small square slice of pb&j on her way to an empty chair.

Clarisse acknowledged her with a nod before turning back to the new trio as she cradled a Dr. Pepper. "Tantalus expelled you for eternity," she said rather smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

The threat was creative and well thought out. Judith could commend Mr. D for that, and that alone. He was awful the rest of the time.

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Oh, gracious father," Judith muttered, chuckling to herself as she finished off her chips.

"Ares?" He asked incredulously.

Clarisse looked angry as she practically sneered at the boy. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side in every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The zombie looked happy to oblige to her orders and gave a salute. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything ... destroy anyone."

Bryce leaned over in his seat toward Judith and she fought the urge to lean away. "Heebie-jeebies, I tell you." Judith didn't respond.

"Destroy anyone. I like that." Clarisse flipped her dagger in the air and caught it again, admiring the blade.

"Clarisse," Annabeth cut in, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters —"

Judith wanted to scoff over the cruise ship part. Of course, the ship of monsters got the luxury transport.

"Good! I'll blow them out of the water!" Clarisse decided.

"You don't understand," Annabeth said. "We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"

"No!" Clarisse stabbed her dagger into the wooden table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you will not steal my chance."

Percy's eyes were pleading with Judith to do something, like she'd be the voice of reason in this scenario. Her head shook minutely to let him know she was not on his side in this. He deflated as he realized she wouldn't provide any support. The girl couldn't understand why he thought she would in the first place.

"All you need to know," Clarisse sighed, the metaphorical steam coming out of her ears fading, "is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go ..."

"So we're your prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now," Clarisse muttered. "Judith, take them down below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies." Judith rolled her eyes at her dramatics, but got up to take the trio down below deck, leaving Bryce and Clarisse behind.

"Try not to wander off in the night, the night crew is ordered to attack intruders," Judith warned them as she leaned against the iron wall after taking them down a flight of stairs.

"We'll do our best," Annabeth said, climbing into her assigned hammock.

Judith nodded and stood up straighter to head out when Percy's hand on her arm stopped her. "Thanks."

"For what?" Judith asked, pulling her arm out of his grip.

"Well, you told us to duck earlier. That was you, wasn't it?" He asked, regret flooding his face.

"Uh, yeah. Don't mention it, seriously." And she walked out the door to head up one floor to her sleeping quarters that she shared with Bryce.

He was already there, leaned over a barrel and retching. They had reached the open ocean so the rocking boat was shaking up his stomach probably.

"Haven't got your sea legs, huh?" She leaned against the door frame.

All the boy did was look up at her from the barrel. His face was near the opening, looking pale and sweaty. "Oh, shut up. Hermes is known for being in the air, not on the water."

"This whole quest was literally centered around being on a boat, why didn't you turn it down?" Judith asked, moving to sit on her bolted bed. The room was reserved for first mates and high ranking officers so they got the finer necessities.

Bryce wiped at his mouth and shrugged. "I've never been on a quest before. Hermes kids usually don't get to, so I thought ... well, I thought, why not? It would be awesome to go back to camp and tell everyone I actually accomplished something."

Judith supposed she could relate on a small level. She had also never been on a quest before, but she knew that many of her siblings had. All she wanted out of this was to live up to them. Bryce wanted to be the role model in this case for his brothers and sisters, considering one of his half-brothers turned out to be a bad egg.

"I see," she said. "Well, I'm sorry you're not feeling well." The apology was forced out of her mouth, feeling strange on her tongue. It wasn't often that she apologized to people.

"I'll get over it, hopefully."

"You better. I can't sleep with someone puking."

NOTES;

I HATE THIS CHAPTER, I REALLY DO

edited : 06 / 28 / 2020