I don't own Danny Phantom.

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Wide Awake

Chapter Twenty

January 21, 2014

Danny waited until the helicopter was nothing more than a distant speck on the horizon before springing into action. Already the camp was alive with activity; people swarmed all around the house, passing bags of food and stacks of pictures down through the group. He saw the barest flash of his own backpack, half-stuffed with cans of food, in Kee's hands.

"So your name is actually Danny?" Eams asked during a brief pause from the action. Danny glanced at him warily. Eams' expression was guarded, as he was speaking with a notorious serial killer.

"Yeah," Danny said, his gaze drifting back to the house as he resisted the urge to mumble.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Eams nod. "Val told me about you. I wasn't sure if I believed all that stuff about being half-ghost, but...I guess I was wrong." Danny grunted. "Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?" Danny asked, turning to meet Eams' eye.

"Your...er...accident," His eyes widened slightly. The word hung in the air like a whispered prayer.

"Oh," Danny was taken aback. He had not really given the accident much thought after that first year; he'd faced far worse since then. He dropped his gaze to the dusty ground and imagined it: the sleek silver walls of the lab, the tile floors, the metallic tables cluttered with half-built gadgets, and that wide, gaping hole in the wall. He could still picture the exposed wires that hung from the ceiling so low that they brushed against the top of his head when he tiptoed inside. He remembered how cold the metal walls were through the gloves of the suit. He remembered thinking maybe he should turn around and get the protective head gear, just in case.

That was the last thing he remembered about the accident itself. "Honestly, I don't really remember it," He said truthfully, lifting his gaze to meet Eams'. "I can kind of remember walking inside, and the next thing I remember after that was waking up on my back outside the portal."

"Sam and Tucker were there, weren't they?" He felt a strange ache in his heart at the sound of their names and had to remind himself that they actually were alive.

"Yeah, they were. Sam was the first person I saw when I came to."

Eams made a sound, like he was awed by the story, and Danny dropped his gaze again. "Wow," He heard Eams whisper.

The minutes stretched on and before he knew it he could hear another helicopter engine in the distance. It turned out that they actually did have a few real flares. They had collected them in the beginning, when it was unclear how debilitating the disease would be on society, and they just never got around to getting rid of them when everything went to hell. Danny made sure Kee and Eams were left with the flares when they finally spotted the helicopter, and they both agreed to stay behind until the last helicopter.

Kate was not in this helicopter. Instead, a tall, lanky blonde man with a thick Southern accent named Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter. "We can fit four," He said.

Ana-Lucia climbed in first, followed quickly by Ben, who was toting his guitar. A girl named Shannon claimed the third spot, and Danny hauled himself in last. Sawyer closed the door behind him and Danny lifted a hand in farewell to Eams, who was waving, as the helicopter rose slowly into the air.

"It's a little less than a two hour ride there, so settle in, guys," Sawyer's twang came out of the speaker in the ceiling of the helicopter. "We'll be there before you know it."

Danny dozed off within the first ten minutes of the helicopter ride. In his dream, the helicopter landed in the middle of an empty field. When Danny glanced back into the interior of the helicopter, he found himself to be alone. And when he turned back to the windows, his view was blocked by a hundred rotting faces. He screamed, but his voice was not his own; he looked down at his hands and his skin was yellow and rotting away. Lars' face was pressed against his window.

He fought his way out of the helicopter, but the zombies didn't pay him any attention; of course they didn't, he was one of them. He stumbled away from the mass, unable to walk steadily, until he heard someone crying. A girl. She was crouched in the dust, bleeding profusely, arms up over her head, and she was trembling.

He reached for her, but she screamed and scrambled away from him. Her arms came down to push herself through the dust and he finally saw her face. It was Sam.

"It's me, it's Danny," He tried to tell her, but all that came out was a horrific, demonic growl. Her eyes welled with tears.

"Don't hurt me! Please!" She cried, still scrambling backwards.

"I won't!" He tried to say.

He finally caught up with her, and the moment his fingers wrapped around her wrist she screamed. It was a horrible, blood-curdling sound, and he wanted her to stop. He would silence her by kissing her; surely that would show her that he would not hurt her. He brought his face close to hers and covered her mouth with his, but instead of falling silent her scream intensified. He jerked away and quickly realized why: a bloody bite mark was bleeding profusely into her mouth.

The helicopter landed with a bounce, jolting Danny out of his sleep. The sun was definitely risen now, casting an early morning light across his face. A quick scan of the other passengers told him that his nightmare had been silent, or else not noticable, because not a single eye met his. He swallowed and pushed his hair away from his sweaty forehead.

Sawyer leapt out of the helicopter first and yanked their door open for them. Danny waited until the other three were out, stretching their arms high over their heads, before he slid across the bench and leapt out himself. A tall, concrete wall rose several feet above his head to the left of the helicopter, and he could tell it bordered the perimeter. A large building that looked quite similar to a bunker sat proudly to his right, and there were already people propping the heavy double doors open for them.

"So we call this site base three. We're pretty close to what used to be the Dallas area. This used to be a rubber factory," Sawyer was gazing up at the building like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "We didn't even have to build the surrounding wall or anything. Pre-built."

Danny grunted, unsure of what to say. He was really just itching to get inside and find Sam; the knowledge that she was close was making it difficult to stand still. "It was a complete fluke that we found this place, actually, because -"

A crash and several voices yelling suddenly burst from inside the building. Danny tensed instantly, feeling his nostrils flare and his eyes widen. Sawyer had fallen silent as well, and from the corner of his eye Danny could see Shannon, Ana-Lucia, and Ben huddle closer together. He could hear people running, their footsteps heavy against a tile floor. He clenched his jaw.

Sam's facial expression was wild when she emerged in the doorway. She paused for only a fraction of a second, just long enough for Danny to notice she was wearing a blue hospital gown and that a tube was dangling from her right elbow, before she spotted him and raced toward him.

"Sam?" He gasped, catching her when she dove toward him. She was saying something, but her voice was too loud and the words too slurred for him to understand. "Slow down, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"She's here!" Her entire body was moving, every muscle twitching against him. He had to fight hard to keep a grip on her. It felt like she was going to shoot straight out of his arms at any second.

"Who's here? What's going -"

"Jazz! Jazz!" Sam was pointing back at the building, her eyes still wild and blazing.

Jazz? The word was foreign. Why is she flipping over jazz music?

A large group of people in white coats began pouring from the building. Several started in their direction, their eyes wary and trained on Sam. An argument was unfolding between two still standing in the doorway, half-concealed by shadows. Danny tightened his grip around Sam when she cowered into him. She was still whispering the word 'jazz' repeatedly into his shoulder.

One of the doctors - he assumed they were doctors - standing in the doorway whirled around to face him. Her blue eyes were wide and glassy as they scanned over the crowd, before landing on Sam. They flickered up to meet his and half a heartbeat later he realized that her eyes were familiar.

He knew that gaze.

"J-Jazz?"

It was kind of short and kind of blah...sorry. :/

Thanks for reading, though!

- Tori