A Note From the Author:

Red here! This flash fiction is an excerpt from my book I Can't Count the Reasons, which is based on the sitcom Community and characters from Heroes of Olympus. For context, Percy, Annabeth, and their friends are part of a study group at New Rome Community College dubbed "The New Rome Seven." In this chapter, Dean D is putting on a campus-wide Halloween party in the library. Because they weren't invited to anyplace cooler, The New Rome Seven is forced to attend. When students start getting sick and acting like zombies, Frank and his friends have to get to the bottom of things and rescue everyone before it's too late.

I chose this excerpt in particular because it's Halloween-themed (duh), and also because it shows what happens to the group when Annabeth isn't able to communicate her brilliant ideas.

I'll link the full chapter here in the comments in case you want to read more. If you like this, it would mean so much if you would check out my book I Can't Count the Reasons.

Also, Annabeth is dressed in one of those inflatable dinosaur costumes.

Excerpt From "We Have Bigger Problems Than the T-Rex," I Can't Count the Reasons

By Red, (she/her)

Based on Community S2E6: "Epidemiology"

Frank POV

"How do you know that what Leo has is contagious?" Jason asks.

"Her." Piper points at the window.

Oh.

Clarisse is clawing at the window, a snarl on her face.

"Great," says Percy. "COVID and whatever this thing is?"

"I don't want to be a zombie!" Hazel cries.

More zombie-fied fists start banging on the windows. They don't have much time before one of them realizes the windows can open.

"Oh no, there's Shel," says Piper. "Talk about an ex-girlfriend creeping back into your life..."

Jason stands up on a table. "Alright, everybody, listen up! Did anyone else here eat an ice cream bar?"

A couple of their peers raise a shy hand.

"Okay," says Dean D. "Let's get our facts straight here. We got all the ice cream treats from the same distributor."

So anyone who ate ice cream tonight could be infected.

"What if we ate a Klondike bar?" Pollux asks.

Frank knows more people ate ice cream than just those who are admitting to it. For starters, he saw Travis and Katie sipping a milkshake together before the bingo game started, and Grover from hockey ate a Choco-Taco, wrapper and all.

Dean D's tacky red heels click as he makes his way across the floor and shuts himself in a supply closet.

"We've been abandoned," Hazel says.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?" Piper asks.

Annabeth crosses her t-rex arms together and shakes them.

"Oh? You're... cold?" Piper asks. "Listen, I don't really think comfort is our top priority right now."

"How are you cold in that thing?" Jason asks.

"Wait, guys, I got it!" says Percy. "Disease spreads faster when it's hot. Annabeth told me about that at Sherman's hot tub party-"

"Why the hell were you at Sherman's hot tub party with Annabeth?" Piper asks.

Percy cuts her off. "That doesn't matter. We need to get to the thermostat and turn on the air conditioning! That way, the disease will stop spreading."

"And whatever food poisoning this is will get out of everyone's systems overnight," Frank adds.

"I didn't expect my first Halloween party to turn into a lock-in," Hazel says.

Everyone spreads out, looking for the thermostat system before the other students can turn into zombie versions of themselves.

"Wait, is anybody else still wondering about what happened at Sherman's hot tub party? Like, how did Annabeth and Percy get invited, but not me?" Piper asks.

"Piper, literally nobody cares about that right now. We have to find the thermostat." It's kind of mean of Frank to say it like that, but the situation is dire. There isn't much time before the student body is turned into weird diseased zombies.

Jason pulls a bookshelf out from the wall, but it tumbles over, spilling books everywhere, and what's worse, there's no thermostat.

"It's useless!" he shouts. "The only thermostat is in our study room!"

"Jason, what the heck bro? You do realize that most buildings only have one thermostat?" Percy asks.

"Bro, what?"

"Yeah, like sometimes you can split a building into zones and have more so that the temperature is evenly dispersed, but-"

"Great, let's get to the study room!" says Hazel.

Frank looks out the window at his not-quite-undead peers. He's suddenly feeling quite popular.

Thud! A table tips over onto its side, courtesy of Annabeth.

"That's a great plan! We can use the table as a shield!" Frank says.

"Hell yeah, Dino-beth!" says Piper.

Everybody grabs onto the table, lifting it up.

"You know," says Percy. "I kind of like Anna-Saurus Rex better."

"Ow!" The end of the table drops onto Frank's foot. His toe had better not be broken or else he'll be benched for hockey.

"Oh, shoot, guys, I'm so sorry!" Piper yells. "I thought... I thought that the punch would be fine..."

Frank reaches to comfort her. "Piper, it's-"

But the face that looks up at him is not Piper's. Her eyes are wild, and not in a 'Starbucks ran out of strawberries' kind of way.

"I got this!" Percy throws his trident at Piper, effectively missing her altogether and breaking the window.

"Percy, were you going to impale Piper?" Hazel asks.

"No, I was just going to—oh, shit! Bro!"

Sweaty zombie hands grab at Jason's Superman cape and pull him against the broken window. "Bro..." he whimpers as the zombies nibble on his broad shoulders.

With Piper, Jason, and Leo gone, that just leaves a small team of uninfected people.

Annabeth is sort of helpful, but also in a giant inflatable dinosaur suit.

Percy's trident is gone, and he's more vulnerable than anyone since he isn't wearing a shirt.

Frank is just useless and clumsy. What was he thinking dressing up as Hawkeye? Hazel's the only one who recognized it, and that's just because he told her about it beforehand.

So Hazel's the one they should all try to save.

Everyone grabs an end of the table, which is difficult beyond belief considering Annabeth has tiny t-rex arms, but they pull it off. Once the table is wedged through the door, they take off running down the hallway, knocking zombies over like bowling pins.

"Sorry, Nico!" Hazel shouts to her contaminated half-brother.

"They're sneaking up on us from behind! Take cover against the wall!" Percy shouts.

It's not the smartest idea, but it's the first idea, so Frank helps Percy pull the table against the wall, shielding them and Hazel from the zombies.

Wait.

"Where's Annabeth?" Hazel asks.

Frank peers over the table, and he does not like what he sees.

Annabeth's tiny dinosaur arms flail around in the air. She's like a turtle stuck on its back, unable to regain its footing.

Hoards of zombie students crowd her, poking at the inflatable until it finally pops, and unceremoniously deflates into a pool of orange on the cheap library carpeting.

"No! Annabeth!" Percy yells.

Her face appears out of the bottom of the suit. "Screw you, Seaweed Brain!"

"I was thinking something more along the lines of, 'We'll always have Sherman's hot tub party,' but that works too!"

Annabeth glares at Percy as she's overtaken by the disease.

Can Frank, Percy, and Hazel save everyone and survive the zombie apocalypse? Find out in I Can't Count the Reasons by yours truly (). Again, the full chapter is (or will very soon be) linked in the comments.