First Encounter

Mama Williams's group had ventured out to Tennessee. It has been about a year since the collapse of Dead End and that was back in Arizona. They set up their camp right on the border of Tennesse and Georgia and had been there only a few days when weird things started to happen. Pippin and X had agreed to go hunt for some food. Pippin stole Lasso's satchel for a bit and they wandered off. They walked through McCaysville, well what remained of it at least. Most of that city was burnt down or covered with vines. As they walked around Pippin started to notice the vines were getting thicker, some being as thick as tree trunks. "Aye X" Pippin nudged him and motioned to the vines. "Is it just me or do those vines look off to you?-" she asked and he stopped walking and examined them for a moment. "They do look thicker then normal but we haven't really gotten much sleep lately so we could just be tired and seeing things." He shrugged it off and continued walking and Pippin followed. "I guess so" she shrugged and they continued their hunt for food.

They found a few white tailed deer that had wandered into the city due to the grow of vegetation and the explosion of the deer population since there wasn't as many people to hunt them to keep the population down to a reasonable number. Pippin managed to get a hold of an old bow that surprisingly was in great condition and still very functional. She figured out how to make arrows and she managed to shoot a deer. "I got one!" She smiled and X chuckled. "Only two weeks and you've gotten really good at that bow." He praised while grabbing the deer's hind legs. Before they started walking back something caught Pippin's attention. "What is that-" she whispered and pointed over to the shattered glass door of a building with something that looked to be laying down in the dark doorway. All they could see was what looked to be a hind deer leg with a human foot and pale white skin with a bite mark on the ankle. X turned and stared hard at it, trying to figure out if they were just seeing things due to lack of sleep or if it was real.

X slowly took what used to be Jet's rifle off his back and slowly approached the building. He took silent steps towards the building and it did not move. He then accidentally stepped on a piece of glass and it made a soft crack sound. Whatever he was approaching shot up but was hidden by a wall. X froze a few feet away from the door. Then it slowly stepped out into the sunlight. A tall creature that had the body, head and feet of a human but the hind legs off a deer. A few layers of skin had grown over it's eyes and it quietly snarled showing sharp teeth. It was moving its head around like it was trying to listen closer, trying to locate what had just stepped on the glass. X stood there frozen, looking up at the monster he accidentally just woke. It slowly crept out of the building and X took very slow steps backwards. When he stepped on another piece of glass the beast quickly turned to X's direction. It lunged and X took off running. "Pip get out of here!!" He yelled and the creature roared behind him. The creature managed to catch up to X with ease and grabbed a hold of the back of his neck.

Pippin refused to run and leave X so instead she shot a few arrows at the creature. They all missed X but hit the creature. Two in its chest, one where it's left eye should be. It screeched and dropped X and he shot off once more. The creature tried to follow him but tripped over the dead deer. While Pippin and X sprinted away, the creature turned and felt what it had just tripped over. Realized it was something with meat and began eating, leaving X and Pippin alone as they ran. They did not stop to look back or share any words. They just sprinted until they got back to their camp where they collapsed from running for hours.

"Holy hell what happened-" Shiny quickly rushed over to them and Mama went to them as well. Shiny noticed bleeding scratches on the back and sides of X's neck. "What happened to you?-" Shiny asked and X held up his hand meaning for him to hold on while he caught his breath. Pippin was completely unharmed but Mama was still trying to get her to tell what happened. Both X and Pippin were so out of breath none of them could talk for a few minutes. "We gotta get....out of here..." X finally coughed out and Shiny frowned. "Why?- what happened?" He asked and Pippin spoke this time. "The zoms...they're not just zoms anymore...." She looked at him and then looked away and coughed. After awhile they finally got the full explanation out of Pippin and X. "There's no way-" Shiny looked at Mama Williams who was frowning. "They've transformed?.." she mumbled and X quickly nodded.

Pippin got up and stumbled to her and Lasso's tent. Her legs felt shaky from all the running and she was now exhausted. She struggled to open the tent door and stumbled in. Lasso was in there reading when she came in and flopped down on her sleeping bag. He quickly put his book down and went to her. "Are you alright?- what happened? Are you hurt." He asked and she slowly shook her head. "I'm not hurt..." she yawned and he made her sit up. "What happened." He demanded to know and she slowly went through the story again. She eventually fell asleep against him and left him there to think. Lasso gently pulled her into his lap and cradled her in his arms so she could sleep more comfortably.

Mama was helping X bandage his neck. "Were you bit at all?" She asked and he shook his head no slowly. "Just grabbed and yanked back..." he yawned, exhaustion finally setting in. While she was bandaging his neck he started to doze off but Mama Williams gently nudged his head off her arm. "I know you're tired but you gotta sit up." She sighed and he did as he was told but occasionally started to doze off again so she would just wake him up once more. "Come on Xavier I'm almost done-" she sighed and he woke up again at the sound of his full name. Mama giggled quietly and ruffled his hair. "You're not in trouble I just need to you keep your head up" she told him and he nodded. She finally managed to finish bandaging his neck and told him to go get some sleep. As he shambled off to his tent Bones nudged Mama.

"What is it baby?" She asked and Bones pointed to where he was initially sitting. A little passed where he was sitting stood a girl with long black hair, dark brown skin, and she wore a grey tank top and blue jeans with black steal toed boots. She had one back pack on her back and a second one slung over her shoulder. "Um...hello?" She waved awkwardly. Mama just looked at her for a few minutes before walking over to the mystery woman.