The first step out into the hallway was gut-wrenchingly terrifying.
The first step into the gloomy morning even more so.
Still, if the chance for finding his way out of this world and back into his own - if this was what needed to be done, he'd do it.
The two of them moved carefully through the infested world, skirting rusted cars and vine-wrapped light posts, carefully brushing away spiderwebs that sounded fleshy when the strands snapped. Brick and metal lay twisted and scattered across cracked pavement. Windows seemed to watch them with hidden eyes and a pressure of knowing that felt more like a breath being held in anticipation than true silence. He found himself flinching at shadows, stepping as close to Danny as he could without actually treading on the teen's heels. Everything in the city seemed to pulse wetly, gleaming despite the choking fog and delicate spores that drifted and settled on his shoulders and hair.
Will ignored them for the most part, until he noticed Danny's coat wasn't even touched by the pale dust that gathered like magnetic snow to his coat. As they ducked behind a hedge, Will paused to examine them closer. It took a beat, but he realized with mounting horror that the fuzz he had mistaken as a seed's puff was actually slender little legs, slowly waving in his direction like a bug's antennae. With a startled gasp that he tried to silence into an alarmed hiccup, Will quickly brushed them out of his hair, shaking his head like a dog and quickly patting his arms free as well. He twisted around, trying to crush the ones that had landed along his neck, turning his hood inside-out and flapping it frantically.
Ice suddenly shot through his bones, body seizing up with a Cold that seemed to crawl past his flesh and into his very soul. The tiny spores leapt away, lifting up into the still air as if a magnet had just been switched on, repulsing them all at once.
Will caught a glimpse of his hand, pale blue and almost translucent before Danny removed his palm from his shoulder, tugging the hood over his hair and straightening Will's jacket with an apologetic expression.
"Forgot they did that, sorry."
Will shivered, the deep cold only fading slightly as he tucked his hands inside his sleeves, shoving them into his pockets for good measure. He took a slow breath, trying to ignore the sudden crawling, itching sensation on his scalp and neck.
"Was that one of your powers?"
Danny offered a small smile and a nod, waving away a stubborn spore that tried drifting back onto Will's hood.
"I've gotta follow you, you know. I don't know where your house is."
He exhaled slowly, swallowing and giving a determined nod. The streets still oozed with darkness despite the supposed 'morning', but he knew where he was. This was his town.
This time, when they set forward, Will led the way, trying to remember that the creatures could climb onto rooftops, and operated by sound and scent. It was nerve-wracking like nothing else to stalk down the middle of the street, carefully stepping over half-rotted whatever-it-was and edging around the remains of what might have been a car.
He nearly tripped when a voice seemed to whisper in his ear, like a breath of a word was uttered as a person brushed past him.
"Did you hear that?"
A hand on his back gently urged him forward, both of them wincing slightly when his foot shuffled loudly through a dense pile of leaves.
"Keep moving."
Will nodded, giving their surroundings a furtive glance and pulling his hood a little tighter around his face. The streets grew more and more familiar, suburbia fading into the half-wooded street that led to his home. A winding, roundabout path, but it didn't cut through the dense forest or taller buildings he normally would have squeezed past. The risk of being jumped on from above was one even Danny seemed wary of.
His home was…
Ugly, in this world. There was no other word for it. The same wretched vines had latched onto every wall, lined the window, and crept into the spaces between shingles of the roof. His heart, almost used to the quiet tension of the foggy landscape seemed to jump to attention. Will raised a sleeve, muffling his suddenly too-loud breaths into the soft cloth.
"Where'd you leave it?"
He looked up, ducking slightly when he realized Danny's arm was poised half-hovered over his shoulders, like he was shielding from something - green eyes intent on something at the treeline behind his house.
"Just outside the shed around back." He whispered into the cloth, inhaling a slow breath. "There's extra shells inside the shed, on the table. I- I dropped a lot of them when I started running. I think Mom keeps some extra ones on top of the fridge, but her gun always stayed outside."
In the distance, with a tinny sort of ring like the sound was coming through a telephone line, he heard something like the low roll of thunder. Danny nodded tightly, keeping his eyes pinned to the treeline as the two of them slipped toward his porch, and into his house.
Worn brass felt rusted, flaking grit off into his palm as the knob turned and creaked open. Will licked his lips, grateful when Danny stepped in before him, scouting the house with slow, meticulous steps. Nothing popped out at them, nothing suddenly collapsed or exploded or grew teeth to tear his arm off. Despite the spongy rot bubbling up between old floorboards, and the strange foamy ooze that seemed to have slid and hardened against the wallpaper, the inside felt-
Well, not normal, really. It was still a disgusting reflection of reality, but feeling this - seeing the familiar furniture and walls did a lot to calm the terrified thudding of his heart.
"I'm going to try to find the gun. You-" Danny trailed off, turning back to watch Will rub his sweating palms off on his jeans, hand on the back door. The teen glanced back to the forest, then stepped back into the house, surveying the kitchen, then the living room. Danny opened a few cupboards, finally deciding on the cupboard to the side of the couch. He lifted his arm, tugging his sleeve up in a gesture Will recognized would result in a bloody bite.
Will quickly looked away. He absently picked the phone off the hook to distract himself, listening for a dial tone. A flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he slowly turned toward the back door.
A low, rumbling growl purred out from behind the door, knob slowly turning.
Will gasped, flailing a little as hands swept up under his armpits, spinning him around.
"Alright, inside. Be quiet."
Will stumbled to his knees, crawling into the green-streaked cupboard, curling up tightly and twitching a little as he heard the door creak open just before the cupboard doors softly shut him in darkness.
