Orthros

Ch.15 Insanity

Piper paced around the cabin, muttering to herself.

It was the eighteenth of August, and the camp was unusually quiet and still. It's been...what? How many months? Or has it been just a few weeks?

The demigods had already lost count.

She was drowning in her own thoughts for what seemed like millennia.

Then, she jumped as Leo slammed his fist onto the wooden table which was buried under mountains of paper.

"Leo? What--"

"I'm going. I'm gonna find for Percy and I don't care if you're going with me or not,"

"Leo," Piper said softly, looking at the Latino with a weird glint in her eye. "Of course I'd want to go and find Percy, but we have to figure out some sort of plan--"

"No. Beauty Queen, that isn't happening. I'm Leo Valdez and I do not do plans," he snorted, digging for something on the scattered papers laying on the floor.

He grinned and grabbed a piece of worn out, really ancient-looking sheet of paper.

"Let's go. This time, let's do it my way."

Piper's eyebrows shot up.

"Okay," she said, nodding slyly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Leo Valdez smiled as he grabs multiple items from the tool belt strapped around his waist.

"Call the rest of the seven, will you? Plus Nico and Reyna,"

"M'kay," Piper says before heading out of the bunker and closing the door gently.

Now that he was alone, Leo started working.

It was tricky and it would take an awfully unnecessary long time to build, but it would probably be worth it. If he finished this, they would be able to find Percy again.

His hands flew as the attached and detached metal parts and fear immediately filled him.

What if Percy was already gone?

Nope, Leo thought. He's still alive, somewhere out there.

He felt his hands go numb as pain shot up his left leg. He didn't know where it had come from before he had stumbled backwards and his body hit the ground with a loud THUMP.

As he was gasping from pain, black dots started dancing in his vision. He felt his consciousness slipping as a pair of feet appeared before him.

Fear and panic immediately filled him as he felt a finger gently brush itself on his temple and the whole world went black.

Piper had returned into the hidden cabin just about an hour and a half or so later, and it was quiet. This had caught her off guard. When Leo was inside, "quiet" was something that ceased to exist. Like, no joke.

Her hands shakily pushed the door open, and her heart seemed to stop beating as she stared at a body that was sprawled on the ground.

She let out a soft, weak croak as her knees buckled.

Leo was on the floor, his skin cold and his eyes closed.

No heartbeat, no sign of life, no anything.

She had left for an hour and a few minutes and this is what happens to him.

When she found her voice, she let out a loud scream of horror which echoed throughout the forest. It would've probably reached Camp Jupiter if she wanted it to.

Piper didn't understand.

He had no sign of injuries, except...

His leg.

She stood and stumbled towards the dead demigod and her heart sank as she stared at his leg.

It looked as if it had been burnt and his skin was torn, a pool of blood surrounding his limb. Green liquid was pouring out of his wound, and the female demigod felt like puking.

How?

She immediately washed a piece of cloth she had ripped off from her shirt and wrapped it around the wound carefully, then she draped his body onto her back.

He wasn't that heavy, but he wasn't that light either.

"Jason!" she weakly yelled, her voice cracking. "Reyna! Annabeth! Anyone!"

No one seemed to have heard her.

She struggled to carry the Latino's body as she staggered past the trees and finally out of the forest after what seemed like centuries. Several satyrs and demigods stopped whatever they were doing and just stared at them.

That was all they did.

They just stared.

Helpful much, Piper thought to herself.

She felt as if she were about to collapse when the corpse stirred slightly. She freaked out, accidentally dropping the body. Scrambling backwards, she turned back and all the color that was left in her face seemed to drain.

Piper McLean stared frozen in shock and horror as her best friend's dead body slowly rose to its feet, his eyes now emotionless and blank pits.

---
This is probably gonna be the last chapter of the story because I'm thinking about discontinuing it as I'm currently working on an original story back at suburbanescape and I'm also trying to update in ChaoticOrder as much as I can and school had begun months ago so I'm currently crumbling under the pressure. I'm super, super sorry guys, but I hope you find my other stories more enjoyable than this.
- A