Infected

Mama Williams carefully stepped closer, trying to make out what he was doing. She could see he was crouched over one of the beast's arms. "What are you doing?..." she mumbled while slowly stepping closer. She squinted into the dark and could see he was covered in some sort of dark liquid. Mama Williams crouched down next to Lasso, being careful not to startle him. He stayed there, quietly watching her every move.

             Lasso silently watched her. Her voice sounded familiar but he couldn't pin who it was anymore. She was down to his level now but her looks didn't ring any bells either. He then turned back to the beast, ignoring the fact that she's even there and went back to eating. It wasn't satisfying any of his hunger but he kept trying anyway. The woman kept talking to him but he ignored her.

          "Hey..." she carefully reached out to him and Thompson began to come closer, just in case something happened. She slowly took his hat off of him and she was taken back when he actually growled at her. Her eyes widened but she didn't panic. Instead she reached for him with her other hand and began gently stroking his hair, getting his attention. Now he was beginning to remember this woman. He quickly dropped what was in his hands and collapsed against her, smearing the beast's blood all over her. Mama Williams held him tightly while Pippin looked to see what he had dropped. A bone laid there with chunks of flesh had been ripped away. She looked up at the beast that lay motionless and noticed part of it's arm was not there, instead it was lying at Pippin's feet.

        "Mama get away from him-" Pippin warned, panic rising in her chest as she turned back to Mama who was holding Lasso. "Mama let him go!-" Pippin yelled as she heard growling start again. This time Mama did let him go as Pippin grabbed the back of his jacket and with all of her strength yanked her brother off of Mama Williams. He stumbled back but rolled and got to his feet once more. Instead of standing up like normal he stayed crouching.

           His head hurt from the other girl's yelling. One again he was back to not being able to recognize any of them. She sounded familiar but he couldn't figure out who it was. The smaller woman that was holding him moments before was now up again, her gun pointed at him this time. He did remember the danger of those weapons so he stayed back, watching carefully. He had remembered the small woman with fiery red hair mere moments ago but that was gone now. Lasso kept trying to pin who she was once more but it was making his head hurt more. He finally took noticed that he was aching all over. His hunger was slowly fading as he began to piece together who was who. "Mama...." He croaked softly while just laying down on the forest floor.

         Just in case Mama Williams had to refrain herself from rushing to him. She noticed his quick, wheezy breathing and his violent shaking. It was cold outside but enough cold enough for him to be shaking like he is. "Mama..." he groaned again but she did not approach. He slowly curled up and eventually fell asleep. Penny was the first to make a move and she drew her pistol and pointed at the man lying on the ground. Pippin quickly stepped in front of her. "Put that away." She snapped while pointing her drawn arrow at her. Penny pointed her gun to the ground but refused to put it away. "Pippin, he's infected. Move." She snapped but Pippin refused. They quietly argued with each other before Mama Williams quieted them down. Thompson was the first to approach Lasso who was asleep on the ground. He slowly crouched down next to him and gently moved his hair away from his face. Drying blood caked his face, especially around his mouth. Thompson rolled up each of Lasso's sleeves, seeing the bandage wrapped around his right arm.

          "Should we carry him back?" Pippin asked Mama. She went over to the sleeping cowboy as well and carefully took his lasso off of him. "Mama we're going to have to just put him down" Penny tried to reason with her but realized her wording was very wrong. "My son isn't a fucking dog." Mama snapped back at her while wrapping the rope around Lasso. "Ok- that came out wrong- but Elizabeth what else can we do?" She sighed and Thompson unwrapped the bandage to look at the bite. "Aye something's off about this-" Thompson started and Penny looked at him. "This is mostly healed- he must've been bitten weeks ago-" Thompson explained and Penny went over to him and checked it. "So how is it just now affecting him?..." she mumbled then rewrapped his arm. "Let's bring him back to camp, I want to take a look at him" Penny said and Pipping gave her a judgmental look. "Bitch, not even two seconds ago you wanted to kill him." She snapped and Penny just smiled apologetically.

         Mama Williams quietly tied Lasso up in case he woke up again he wouldn't be able to try to get them as easily. Thompson very carefully picked Lasso up. He twitched and groaned but didn't wake up. They all began to make there way back to camp to go check on Bones, Charlie, and Davy. To avoid waking Bones and Charlie up, Davy was forced to babysit. They got back to camp and saw Bones and Charlie curled up with each other by the fire still to keep warm. Davy was awkwardly sitting there poking at the burning logs with a stick. He looked over and saw Pippin and Penny emerge from the trees first, Mama Williams and Thompson followed behind as well. Davy looked at Mama in horror the moment he saw black blood smeared across her clothes. Then he looked to Lasso who was tied up and limp in Thompson's arms, also covered in blood.

          "Holy shit- what happened-" he quickly got up. "Some weird shit-" Thompson admitted and laid Lasso by a close tree. Mama Williams untied him and retied his wrists behind him then tied the rope to the tree. She then sat next to him and set his hat next to him. Thompson went over and explained what all had happened to Davy who just nodded along. Penny left Mama Williams alone with him for awhile, not wanting to intrude for now. Pippin sat by Bones and Charlie. Once Bones realized she was there he just gently rested his large hand on her knee, making sure she didn't go anywhere. She gently rubbed his back to put him back to sleep.

{Shiny and X}

          Shiny had heard the screeching of a monster in the distance but didn't want to go after it. He's had enough of the mutants and he didn't want to try to fight one on his own. They scared him badly and Shiny didn't want to leave X alone either. He just wanted to see his family again. What he didn't know was that they may be closer then he thought.