quarantine || gus & iris

Iris Carmichael, daughter of Hades, stood outside the camp store, guarding the doors with a cousin from Cabin One. She was heavily armed and looked totally deadly. The girl had a belt of weapons on and a sword in each hand. She a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder and a few Greek Fire grenades stuck into her pockets. It was clear that Iris hadn't properly bathed in a few days from her smell and her appearance. She had a thin layer of sweat and dirt coating her body with blood spatter up her shirt and down the side of her pants. She had an oozing gash on the side of her head that looked somewhat infected. She'd been meaning to get something done with that for a while now.

Iris had a paisley hankerchief tied around her forehead keeping the hair out of her face and keep pressure on half of the gash. Underneath all of her weaponry, she wore a simple long sleeved flannel and a pair of skinny black pants. Not jeans, but way thicker than leggings. They were a special kind of armor pants made by the Hephaestus cabin as a prototype. Apparently they were indestructable... but judging by the hole and blood running down her leg, they weren't. On her feet, she wore heavy boots tied up to her mid calf. They had mud and some green ooze all over them. And on her face, under her crazed brown eyes, she wore two thick lines of black, war paint.

"Hey, I'm gonna go take a leak," her cousin said softly, tapping her shoulder. Iris didn't even look over as she nodded at him. She couldn't take her eyes off of the dark forest that lay before her. "I will not die," she whispered to herself. She would not die. She would not. She'd been to hell before and she intended not go back anytime soon. Hardly moving, Iris pulled a thin silver flask out of her belt and put it to her mouth, letting the energy drink/vodka mixture slide down her throat with a burning satisfaction.

Suddenly, a twig snapped from her direction of eleven o'clock. Iris fluently slid into fighting position. An arrow was poised perfectly on her bow and she pulled it back, taking aim for a moment, waiting for the zombie to come bursting out of the woods. As if on command, the gray, mutilated creature came screeching out of the brush. Iris didn't flinch as she fired an exploding arrow at it. The arrow whistled through the air and blew out the corpse's foot. "Damn," she mumbled, slinging her bow over her back and surging forward with her swords in both hands.

The daughter of Hades moved with a fiercness she'd never felt before. She felt wild and crazy and loose as she sprinted towards the monster. "Arghhh!" She let out a wild call as she made a slash at its head. The zombie was somewhat faster though and it ducked. It made a grab at her hair, but Iris was right on top of it. With a smile, the girl grabbed the zombie's wrist and snapped it was if it were a pencil. The monster let out a roar and grabbed her throat, pushing her to the ground.

Iris' head slammed onto the grass as the zombie kneeled on top of her body. She struggled against its grip hard. Its cold, clammy, dead fingers tightened on her windpipe. With a sigh, the girl gave up and the monster grinned down at her. its smile was black and had old chunks of meat in between his teeth. His breath stunk of old meals and human flesh. It made a screaming noise as it went for her jugular.

The creature stopped suddenly when Iris got her hand free and pushed a dagger upward into its own throat. The creature made a gurgling noise and Iris let out a sick chuckle. The zombie's black, thick, cold blood oozed out of its throat and plopped onto her face. She pushed out under from the body and let it lie on the ground for a moment, choking on its own blood. The ruthless girl stood up and brushed herself off. She unsheathed a sword and brought it down on the back of its neck.

The blade sliced cleanly through the monsters neck and the head rolled to the ground with a bounce and thunk. Iris wiped the monster blood off her face and onto her two fingers. She flung the blood to the ground except for a little bit of it and wiped the little bit under her eyes for a fresher painted look. She picked up her sword from the ground and walked back to her post just as her cousin came back from relieving himself. He looked at her and the zombie and just shook his head.

Iris didn't bat an eyelash. She didn't even seem normal anymore. Her eyes had a crazed, wild look to them and she almost looked sadistic with the slight grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

outfit

Roughly a few hours later, Iris had moved her position to a tree. She'd been sitting in it all night without breaking position. She had no intention of letting any zombies get to the camp store. There were  important things in there. So far, it'd been pretty quiet with the occasional zombie child that Iris had ruthlessly taken out. But other than that, not much had been happening. A few minutes ago, Xavier, Iris's cousin, had left to go take a nap. Ultimately, Iris was alone until her backup arrived. But that could take ten minutes at a minimum or they could just forget about her. Odds are that they wouldn't forget to send another guard, but it was still a possibility. And right now, Iris was keeping every possibility open.

Within roughly ten minutes, another guard still hadn't showed up and Iris still hadn't moved. Although, her stomach was cramping up angrily in the absence of food for three days. So, she hadn't forgotten about eating, she just forgot that it was important. Iris let out a sigh and broke off some ambrosia from her belt and chewed on it delicately for a while. If she ate just a bite of it, it'd heal her head wound anyways. After she finished, she shifted her seat on the tree branch. It was a big branch but it could still break under the weight of her even though she was a tiny girl. So she shifted the ropes and basket that held her up, too. She was actually thinking of hauling some of her supplies up here and living in the trees permanently.

That's when she heard a moan. Instantly, Iris was at attention like a soldier. She had her bow poised and ready with an arrow. The arrow's head was dipped in poison this time. It was typically meant for an assasin but sometimes you had to kill the zombies the fun way. She squinted into the semi darkness and strained her vision. She didn't relax a little even when the boy with the sword hobbled into view. He was either the guard, or he was hurt. Either way, he was another person to help her guard. But when he threw his sword down onto the ground and basically collapsed, Iris sighed and raised herself out of her basket and jumped out of the tree. In the free fall to the ground, she poised her body ready for an impact and hardly winced when the ground came up under her.

Iris steadily crept up on the boy with her arrow and boy still poised in her hand. It took her a moment to realize who he truly was. "Gus?" She whispered. Was that really the happy go lucky she'd seen at the music festival? Although it was only a week ago, she felt like it was many years ago. Her eyes immediately softened at the sight of the boy she'd eventually developed a crush on. She'd spent a least three days mooning over him after the festival. With his shirt half ripped open and his body exposed, she would have been more pleased except for the fact that he was covered in zombie blood and had open wounds. "Oh, I can stitch you up right here," she said in a softer voice. Her normal voice. For the last few days she'd been nothing but gruff with everyone.

"Come on, Gus," she said, "stay with me." She was afraid he was going to black out again and she'd be left all alone. "Talk to me," she whispered. Iris reached into her belt and pulled out a needle and some thread. First she grabbed a small, spray bottle of disinfectant. "This will sting a little," she warned.

outfit