the eternally starved

chapter 7: that isn't right...

Staggering towards his reflection in disbelief, he looks at himself, and his eyes, the pupils, they're too small, they shouldn't be that small, it's not that bright "I believe it's from the insanity inducing ability of monster meat... Wes how much of it did you eat?" Wes looks at Wilson, still to jittery to properly sign, he mouths 'as much as I could...' Wilson gives Wes a very concerned look 'it was puppy! And I puked up most...' "Wes, that doesn't change anything, a full puppy is still too much to be safe! And even if you vomit it up it doesn't remove any of the effects." 'I'm just bit hurt...' "Wes, you're more than hurt, your mouth is covered in blood and you're shaking too much to even sign to us!" Webber decides to butt in "dad? What happened too Mr. Wes?" Wilson looks over to Webber "he just ate a bit too much monster meat; he'll be okay after a bit of actual food, okay kid?" "Okay" Webber goes off to play with the little rocks like dolls, Wilson looks back to Wes "we'll get you some meat, which should help saturate the effects, stay here with Webber." Wes nods as best as he can, Wilson looks to Willow and Wigfrid "wait." Wigfrid says "I want tö stay with Wes, we can't just leave Wes and Webber alöne, especially when Wes is injured." Wilson sighs "fine, you can stay with him; I guess I'll just go with Willow then." And with that, he walks away, Willow silently in tow, Wes leans on the rock, he looks to the floor, a thick trail of blood followed him, he feels cold, at the same time he wants to take his turtleneck off, it feels like it's suffocating him, he coughs up more blood, Wigfrid wraps her arms around him, he still feels so cold "it'll be ökay Wes" 'no it won't' his thoughts say back to her, but Wes remains silent "I'm here, nö harm will cöme tö yöu!" she smiles at him, it's playful but with a hint of warmth, a hint of care, serious care, not just her general care for the group, the care that simply says "I am the warrior and will protect you" no, this is a care that says "I care about you, and refuse to let you be harmed" he smiles warmly at her, as best as he can, it's hard to do a lot of things while you're shaking like it's suddenly mid winter again, he leans against her "hey, maybe yöu shöuld gö tö sleep, it'll help" she's clearly trying to be quiet, it's enough for him, he tries to get comfortable, closes his eyes, and slowly goes to sleep.