And here's chapter 2. This will feature the awakening of our 2 new Halfas and the revelation that the accident cured them, and immunised them.

Chapter 2 something ... new

Joel and Tess looked at Ellie and the boy. They didn't look the same as they used to.

Ellie now had a darker black shirt and her pants. Backpack and T-Shirt had turned black with green stitching. Her T-Shirt and backpack were both branded with white EP insignias. Her shoes were white with green stitching and laces. Her hair was now pure white.

The boy was wearing black cargo pants with green stitching and a black T-Shirt with green stitching and a white DP insignia. He was wearing a black light jacket with a black rucksack sewed in with green thread. It too was branded with the DP logo. He also had a white fingerless glove with black stitching on one hand; the other glove seemed to be in his pocket. He had the same white hair as Ellie. And white trainers with black highlights and green stitching. He was wearing a DP branded wristwatch and a chain coming from a belt loop, where he had a white belt, to a black pocket watch.

The boy had a bite mark on his bare palm and Ellie's was exposed because her sleeve had been pulled up.

"Joel look." Tess said; breathless. It was known that fungal growth was seen almost instantly but not only was there no fungal growth but the bites were sealing up, leaving unbroken skin.

"Oh my god." Joel said.

Suddenly a white ring appeared around the 2 teens' waists and turned them back to normal. Ellie look just like she had as long as they had known her but without the bite mark. The boy now had black hair and black trainers. His glove and belt was black and his pants were dark blue. His jacket was a light green-brown. His shirt was white with red highlights and a red oval on the chest.

Their eyes opened, the boy's eyes being revealed as light blue.

The teen brought his hand into his eye line and his eyes widened at seeing no bite.

"What the? Where's my bite mark? I can't even feel the infection." He said.

"That's because whatever just happened cured you." Joel said. Ellie, having also awakened, looked at her mark.

"Holy S***!" She exclaimed as she stared at her arm. "My bite's gone!"

"What happened?" Joel asked.

"Well that thing over there." Gesturing to the portal. "Was made by my parents. They finished it right before the outbreak and I wanted to finally activate it. My parents had outside duty and I used a smuggler tunnel. I was attacked by a pack of runners and was bitten. I took them out though. I was sulking in the portal when your friend and that pack of infected fell down here. She tripped and hit the old on switch. We must have been caught in the charge up sequence and the damaged portal must have bathed the infected in ecto radiation."

"Ecto. You mean ghost energy?" Ellie said.

"Yeah. It is a ghost portal." Danny said sarcastically.

"Regardless, what does this mean?" Joel asked.

"I think the fungus May be extremely sensitive to ecto radiation." Danny said. "Wait I've got an idea!" he drew some blood from his arm and activated his mask. He walked up stairs and walked over to a fungal growth. Once there he emptied the blood onto the fungus. It immediately started to melt.

"As I thought." He muttered.

"What?" Ellie asked, running over.

"I theorized that, if exposed to enough ectoplasmic energy mixed with electricity it would turn you into a hybrid of human and ghost called a Halfa, the thing is if you don't get a full body blast then the unaffected parts of you will suffer ecto radiation poising from the radiation our blood emits. It disperses instantly but if you come into direct contact, nasty." Joel looked up as the teen explained all this.

"So we have a confirmed cure?" he asked. The boy sighed.

"Yes and no. Firstly we need to project the energy across the entire planet to prevent reinfection, secondly we would need to set it lower, I can feel a lot of power inside myself, I have a feeling you know what would happen if some people got their hands on that power. I don't know how to arrange that yet and I have no resources here." He said.

"Maybe if we explain it to the fireflies they can help." Ellie suggested.

"It could work." Tess said.

"Sure." Joel said. "Hey where'd you get that mask?"

"My parents were inventors and I inherited that trait." He pulled on his over glove and got out a device extremely similar to a smart phone. "This is my pod. It is a personal super computer. It can shift to hand held, tablet and desktop mode as well as produce 3D projections." He said. Then he tapped on his watch. A round shield formed from translucent energy. "My watch creates a shield that an reconfigure into numerous forms to help me out." The 4 robotic arms snaked out from his back. "And my shirt has a harness built into it that gives me these 4 mechanical arms that I can use to do things I May not be able to with my own arms. I also have a nanotech chip in the back of my neck. It helps me to mentally control my gear. The mask, when out acts as a divers mask and HUD allowing sight from the end of my mechanical arms. I could fix up some for you guys at the next stop." He offered.

"Awesome!" Ellie exclaimed before frowning. "What's your name?" Joel and Tess were roused from their stupor realising they had forgotten to ask the boy his name.

"Danny. Danny Fenton." The now identified Danny said. Joel's eyes widened, the Fentons where one of the few who kept their surnames.

"Cool. I'm Ellie, this is Tess and that's Joel." Ellie said.


A few minutes after they had gotten out of the lab the group got to a flooded area around the capitol building. Ellie looked nervous.

"Uh not to alarm anyone, but I can't swim." Ellie said nervously.

"It doesn't look that deep. You should be fine." Joel said as they walked through the area.

"When we get a chance I will teach you." Danny said. As they opened the door.

"Thanks." Ellie smiled.

"No, no, no!" Tess exclaimed. Looking the to teens saw that Tess was stood over 2 dead fireflies.

Tess was searching through the packs.

"Where was the lab? Where were they supposed to take you?"

"I don't know they never said." Ellie said.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Because we need to get her to them. Take her to Tommy's Joel. Please." She begged.

"Why, why are you so desperate?" he asked.

"Because it can't be for nothing." Danny said softly in realisation.

"She's infected." Ellie said in realisation.

"What? How can you tell?" Joel exclaimed.

"Because she is reacting with the same desperation as me when I was bit." Danny said with Ellie nodding.

"Tess?" Joel asked.

She pulled her shirt aside to show a nasty looking bite mark. "Oops? Right?" she said. She pointed over to the 2 14 year olds. "She was infected for 3 weeks and it wasn't as bad as a bite I got an hour ago. We saw him be completely cleansed of infection! A syringe of blood destroyed a fungus pod! This is f***ing real Joel! You need to save these kids, please. If our time together meant anything at all then get these kids to Tommy's." She was practically hysterical now. She turned to Danny. "You took out a pack of runners. Promise me you will protect them. Please!"

"Halfa's honour." He said.

"Go. I'll hold off the military. You get them to safety. Please. Make this easy for me." She pleaded.

"I'm sorry." Danny said as the trio walked over to the stairwell.


And that's a wrap. In the next chapter we will see a little more Danny/Ellie and the subway segment. If Danny doesn't seem as effected it's because he knew her for a maximum of 20 minutes. Ellie knew her for about a day and Joel knew her for years. Next time we will time skip to the subway.