SAM PULLED on his shirt and took a deep breath. Time to go face the world again. As he stepped out of the train car and into the light of mid afternoon, he squinted and tried to bear the pain. When it finally subsided, he opened his eyes fully and spotted a huge crowd by the edge of the lake. He walked slowly to the crowd, which parted when they saw him. He flinched when he finally got to the small empty space in the middle of the group, occupied only by almost the most gruesome sight Sam had ever encountered.

The girl, if it was a girl, was torn and bloody, like something had tried to eat her. Her face was a scratched, bloody mess, and what was left of her shirt clung just above her bellybutton, exposing her raw, bloody midriff. He knelt down to get a better look, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't the bugs. They had a special mark, and these looked more like claws. There was still hope. As he inspected her for any bug bites, her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a pitiful moan, one only Sam seemed to hear.

"What happened," Sam asked, trying to keep his voice from breaking, "what's your name?'

"Guinevere... big... big cat... attacked... don't remember..." her face contorted with struggle, and Sam placed a hand on her face, ignoring the blood.

"Shh. It's okay. Edilio, take the truck and get Lana." Edilio nodded silently and walked off slowly. Sam turned his attention back to the girl, "We're gonna get you help. First We'll get you cleaned up. Taylor?"

Taylor bounced to the front of the crowd. "You called for me in all my sexy, amazing glory?" Sam gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.

"Sure, Taylor, whatever. Go get me some water. We need to get her cleaned up."

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Fine." When she bounced to the edge of the lake, Guinevere gasped.

"How...," she questioned, trying to sit up. Sam gently pushed her back down. "Stay calm. We'll explain everything when Lana comes to fix you up."

She nodded and laid her head back down, her eyes closing.

The sat in silence until Lana came.

"Good god, what happened to her? Did she get mauled by a freaking bear?" Lana knelt down beside Guinevere, who opened her eyes at the sound of movement.

"This is Guinevere. She was attacked by a 'big cat'' she says. No visible bug bites, but whatever attacked her got her pretty bad."

"I'd say so," Lana said, brushing a strand of her hair away from her dirty face. 'I'll do what I can, you know, heal all the life threatening stuff, but I sure as Hell can;t fix everything. Now give me some space." Everyone dispersed within seconds, knowing Lana's short temper, but Sam hid behind the truck, watching Lana as she placed her hands on the girl's body.

Nothing happened for a few moments, and Sam was starting to doubt Lana could do anything until a small light began to glow under her hands. The light died soon after, and the skin had been healed to its original state. She continued this until the worst was gone, and she collapsed onto the ground.

On the opposite hand, Guinevere sat up and looked around. Sam came out from where he had been hiding now. "Feeling better?"

She smiled at him. "Still sore, and got a few scrapes, but aI'll get over it. I really think it's her you should worry about.

"Lana? Oh, yeah. I'll get Edilio to take her back to Perdido beach as soon as he's free. You need rest." He gestured for her to follow him. She stood on shaky legs, grabbing the hand he offered to steady herself. He led her to one of the many train cars, helping her up into it.

"This is where you'll be staying. Three other girls stay here: Brianna, Diana, and Taylor. Taylor can be a bitch sometimes, but that's just who she is. And Diana... well as far as we can figure Diana is about 6 months pregnant, so she might be a little moody at times. Go get some rest, there's an extra pillow and bedroll in the crate,"

"Thanks Sam. Oh, and you can call me Gwen." She smiled at him. HE smiled back and swung himself out of the car, happy he could help someone after all he'd been through.

A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! To be completely honest here, I almost forgot about this story altogether. I saw it and I was like, "HOLY SHIT I NEED TO FINISH THIS BEFORE AN ANGRY MOB COMES AFTER ME WITH PITCHFORKS!"

And as long as I'm being honest, I don't really understand the ratio of views to reviews or faves or alerts. I'm sad that nobody loves me enough to actually review :C

Now for a random shout out to two my favorite ppl!

Theo Helena Miller! AKA the most amazing writer on fanfiction! Go check her out!

And dnc129! She has no stories but her profile has some important info *wink wink, nudge nudge*

To all you people who review my stories, I LOVE YOU!

To all who don't...

Grr.

Yes, I said grr. Now deal with it.

I really need to finishmy many fanfic already on here, but I recently came up with the most amazing Harry Potter fanfic idea That I. Must. WRITE! So subscriber, be expecting that!

Love, Eva Cormac 3

P.S. I make awesome virtual cupcakes!