Lasso

          Lasso had woken up hours ago but refused to take some time to rest. Bones and Charlie didn't try to argue with him knowing it's just going to cause a bigger problem. Lasso wanted to find Mama and the others as soon as possible so he tried his best to ignore his dizziness and kept going. All Bones could do was catch him and put him back on his feet whenever he'd stumble. They started sleeping during the day and walking at night to avoid the heat. Well Bones and Charlie started sleeping during the day. Lasso stayed up to make sure nothing happens again and those two were safe from harm. Lasso was trying to think of where the rest of their group could possibly be if they even made it out alive. Days started to slowly go by as they continued their search. They found more zombie mutants and even some animal ones. Lasso found out the hard way to not approach the deer mutants when he almost lost an arm trying to get away. It had bitten him and almost torn his arm but he managed to cut off one of the quarters of it's jaw with the machete he took from Tiger and yanked his arm free.

         Lasso didn't tell Bones and Charlie that he had gotten bit, not knowing if the bite from one of the mutated animals was going to do anything.  So instead he did the best he could to bandage his arm and sew up his sleeve. It had been days since he was bitten and he still didn't feel any different. He told the boys that he had just fallen into a bed of sharp rocks and that's why his sleeve was torn. Lasso did wonder why he hadn't turned into anything yet. If this was an infection that took down a base with 2000 people within an hour then how was he still perfectly fine. He was too tired to worry about that though, there was other things he needed to focus on like keeping these boys safe. They hadn't ran into any people and they've managed to find spots to refill their canteens. Food has been short but they've managed to get by these past few days. Lasso has been giving his small share of food to Bones and Charlie without telling them. On the fifth day of their search they finally found some people, not the ones they were searching for but they were still people. Or people had found them.

         "Hey take a look at em. A cowboy, giant, and a skit." mumbled a man who was hidden by the shadows of trees. His buddy next to him looked as well. "The cowboy looks pretty messed up-" he told the man next to him, he was a tall, grey haired man with a tattered army uniform. His partner next to him was a small heavily set with muscle man with dark brown hair and greenish blue sunken eyes. He was also in a tattered uniform but it was an Air Force uniform. They quietly watched the three that they had found. The giant and skit were curled up in the shade fast asleep while the cowboy was keeping watching. The cowboy had messy, knotted dark brown hair and dark circles under his eyes. Each time he'd start to doze off he would get up and walk around for a moment then sit back down. His hand never left the gun in his holster no matter what he was doing. "Hey Thompson you really think we should approach them?" The smaller man asked and the other now known as Thompson nodded.

        "It won't be that bad Davey, just got to make sure we don't tick off the cowboy that's all" Thompson patted his back with the nub where his right hand used to be. The two men watched as the cowboy rose to his feet once more to walk around to keep himself awake. He looked like it had been days since he last slept and god knows when he last ate. Watching him slowly rise to his feet, having to use the tree for support so he wouldn't collapse was painful for the two men to watch and they were debating on how to approach him. They didn't want to risk getting shot but they might have to if they want to make themselves known. The two men waited for the cowboy to slowly lower himself back to the ground before stepping out of the shadows. The moment that cowboy saw them he was quickly back on his feet but the dizziness from a concussion forced him to his knees. When he tried to get back up he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.

        "Woah there, why don't you stay down"  said a deep voice and Lasso slowly looked up at who was keeping him down. His vision was blurred and the world spun but he still tried to point his 9mm Ruger at the new man. "We don't mean any harm- put the gun away-" Thompson tried to tell him but the cowboy didn't seem to be backing down or even listening for that matter. Lasso then looked around and saw the smaller man known as Davey walking over to the sleeping boys and the next thing he knew he was back on his feet. He had shoved past Thompson and forced himself up and started sprinting over to them. "Davey back up!!" Thompson yelled and when Davey saw the angry cowboy rushing to him with a gun in hand he quickly backed over to Thompson. Lasso stood swaying between the sleeping boys and the two military men, gun pointed at them. Lasso couldn't see what weapons they had due to his blurred vision.

        "Ok- let's handle this a bit more civilized can we?-" Davey asked and finally the cowboy spoke. It was just a few words but his voice sound a bit faded. "Get the fuck away from my boys..." he snapped tiredly. Thompson held his hands up to show that he meant no harm. "We're not going to touch them" he explained but Lasso was still not lowering his gun. "We just came to see if any help was needed, why don't you lay down for awhile-" Thompson tried to reason with him and he took a step slow step closer like he was approaching a feral animal. "Are you hungry? We have a camp not far from here, we can get you some food" Thompson offered and took another slow step. By now Charlie was starting to wake up and he quietly watched what was happening. He nudged Bones awake and they both saw Lasso trying to ward off these two what looked to be ex military men. The man who was slowly approaching was also talking very slow. Probably trying to keep Lasso from getting spooked and just shooting them both. The new man talked for awhile and Lasso finally lowered his gun. Both the boys behind him doubted he had enough energy to fight anyway but they both got up.

         "So why don't you come back to camp with us? You can get some sleep and your two boys can get a decent meal." Thompson offered and Lasso finally slowly nodded and holstered his gun. Both the men started walking and Bones had to lightly nudge Lasso to get him moving again. Lasso, Bones, and Charlie quietly followed the two ex military men back to their camp.

Writer's Note: Skit: skittish person