Hi, there! A little explanation. This isn't a new chapter, technically. After some thought, I decided to add on to Chapter 18, just so I won't have to make the next chapter short. Because of the extension, there will only be one more chapter to "The Phantom Storm" right after this one. A response to Master of Procrastination. Don't worry. You'll find out what happened to Danny and the gang soon enough. And I didn't put EVERY single scene from the movie, if you think it over. But for following most of the words, yes, I did watch scenes of the movie every time I typed. And there isn't supposed to be a lot of ghost action in this, by the way.
Now that that's taken care of, let's head to the revised Chapter 18!
A nice fire burned on the gas grills in the kitchen of Wendy's. Nearly everything in the room was frozen in ice. A tent stood inflated in the middle of the room, with Steve asleep inside.
Somehow, the fire that Fredrick and Jack had made had been enough to withstand the big freeze. When it was over, all three of them were still alive, even though Steve was still out.
After that, Fredrick and Jack had put up the tent and let Steve rest inside.
Without the two brothers noticing, Steve slowly got up. His overcoat was off as well as Fredrick's and Jack's.
Steve walked over to them across the room and asked, "How long have I been out of it?"
The two of them turned around and smiled that he was awake. Fredrick answered, "A couple hours. How do you feel?"
He shrugged, "Okay. What happened?"
Jack replied, "We got caught in the eye of the storm."
Fredrick added, "Yeah, and we had to get inside in kind of a hurry, so I…sort of pushed you in."
Steve rolled his eyes a little bit, "I should be used to you pushing me around."
Fredrick smiled, "Good to have you back." Jack walked over to Steve and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.
At that, Fredrick put on his overcoat. Steve asked, "What are you doing?"
Fredrick answered, "The eye of the storm has passed. And we're still forty miles from Manhattan."
Steve asked him, "Fredrick, Jack, shouldn't we wait at least one more day?"
Fredrick and Jack turned around. Fredrick said, "Danny may not have one more day."
Jack added, "Steve, if you ever had a son and he was in a situation like this, you'd want to save him as fast as you can at whatever the cost is. We leave now."
Steve nodded, and then put his overcoat back on.
After the three of them were able to climb back up through the air vent where they went in, they continued on the road to Manhattan. Around them, the buildings that they saw were now frozen in ice.
The blizzard was still going strong after six and a half days, and it still took a long bit of time to walk through the excessive snow and wind.
After walking for a couple hours, they saw a sign covered in snow and ice. Fredrick took out his trusty pick ax and hit the sign with it. Some snow fell off. Fredrick hit it again, and more snow fell off. They still weren't able to read it.
Steve checked the navigator and saw that they weren't far from Manhattan now.
Just then, they looked down and saw something on the ground. People. Hundreds of dead and frozen bodies lay on the ground in the snow. They were scattered all across the ground and they saw them for miles. One of them, they saw, had a police officer's uniform.
Indeed, the majority of those dead were those who had ignored Danny's words of wisdom and chose to leave the library. Dash and Kwan would've been among them had they not turned back just in time.
As they saw the dead bodies lying on the ground, all the three of them could do was just sigh and bow their heads.
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That night, they camped out. They had now traveled rather far to the east, and were now camping out on the frozen Atlantic Ocean.
They were passing around hot chocolate and reading when Steve asked, "What do you think is going to happen to us?"
Jack answered, "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean us. Civilization. Everybody."
Fredrick replied to that, "Mankind survived the last Ice Age. Mankind is the most resourceful creatures on the planet and we're certainly capable of surviving this one. It all depends on whether or not we can learn from our mistakes. I sure would like a chance to learn from mine."
Jack said to him, "You did everything you could."
Steve added, "Some people like the Vice President were just too foolish to listen soon enough."
Fredrick sighed, and then said, "I was thinking about Danny."
Steve looked away for a moment, and then replied, "Fredrick, you know the chances of Danny…"
Jack interrupted, "Don't talk like that, Steve. Don't talk like that."
"Sorry."
"You know," began Fredrick, "I don't think I ever spent enough time with Danny. The only time I ever really see him is at Christmas, and even then it's no guarantee. And that also pretty much goes for you, Maddie, and Jazz. I should've kept in touch a little more. You, my own brother." He turned to Jack at this.
Fredrick went on, "I only took him on one trip, on a research trip to Greenland. The ship got stuck in the ice and we were stranded for ten days in pouring rain."
Jack sighed, "I know what you mean, Fredrick. Most of the time, I get so caught up in hunting ghosts, I don't spend a lot of time with him. But he knows I love him."
Fredrick nodded, and then said, "We made Danny a promise."
Jack nodded back, and then replied, "Let's keep it." Then they did their special handshake they always used to do when they were kids.
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Early the next morning, out in space, the NASA satellite was still orbiting the Earth.
Currently, a signal was going through from Mission Control. It was saying, "Parker, this is Houston. Do you read?"
Parker answered, "Roger, Mission Control. Go ahead."
"We're getting a few scattered reports that the storm is dissipating over North America. Can you confirm?"
Parker floated to the window and took a look out. "Affirmative," he said, "It's finally clearing. We're over Europe right now. I can see land mass for the first time in days."
After seeing nothing but cloud cover for days, Parker and his partner finally saw land mass. It now looked just like a bunch of carved ice.
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At this time, Fredrick was waking up. But he woke up to an odd sound. Nothing. For the last few days, he heard nothing but pounding wind and snow. Now, he heard nothing.
Curious, Fredrick put on his overcoat and unzipped the tent. He took a look outside. Hearing him get up, Jack and Steve followed outside.
The three of them looked awestruck as they saw something that had vanished from the sky they had looked at for a couple weeks now. Sun. There was a sunny sky and a gentle wind to accompany the feet of snow on the ground.
They looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty. At least, what was sticking out of the snow. All they could really see was the head and the torch sticking out.
This was to their right. They took a look back to their left and saw a bunch of icy buildings.
Presumably, Manhattan.
(This is where it gets extended)
After packing up camp, the three of them began to walk the last mile to Manhattan.
Because there was no longer a powerful wind with a fast-falling snow, the last stretch to the city took a lot quicker.
After a while, they finally passed the first couple of icy buildings. Looking around, the whole city looked like a huge sculpture of ice. It seemed too unbelievable to think this was possible.
After about another minute of walking, Fredrick turned to Steve and asked, "How much further is it to the library?"
Steve checked the navigator. He took a look at it and said, "It should be…right here."
Fredrick and Jack looked at Steve with looks of disbelief. All they saw was a large hill of snow.
Steve sighed, and then said, "I'm sorry, Fredrick. Jack."
Fredrick and Jack unbuckled their shoes from the rope and ran up over the hill. Steve followed behind them.
When they made it over, they saw one section of the library sticking high out of the snow. Off to the right of that, they saw a window. It was only just out of the snow, but there was still a capability to get in. It was the window that Danny, Tucker, and Dash had gone in and out of.
Knowing that there was still hope, they walked over to the window and slipped inside.
Once inside, there was a hill of snow that led down to the floor. They slid down to the bottom and walked into the hallway. The interior of the library looked no different than outside. Everything was just like an ice sculpture.
In the hall, Jack yelled, "Danny!" His voice echoed throughout the hall.
Fredrick shouted, "Danny! Are you here?"
No answer to either of them.
They kept on walking around the library for quite a while, checking in most of the rooms for signs of anyone being alive.
Finally, they walked down another hall to another icy door. This door led to the room with the fireplace where Danny and the gang were last seen. At the bottom of the door, a fairly bright light shined through it.
The three of them looked at each other. Jack took a deep breath and said, "This could be it."
Fredrick nodded, "Agreed." Then he reached for the handle. But he pulled his hand back and said, "You know, it could just be sunlight through the window."
Jack nodded, "Well, there's only one way to find out."
Steve said, "Right. Who wants to open the door?"
Jack answered, "Fredrick, you do it. No one would be alive, including Danny, if it wasn't for you, even though there's a chance he isn't alive anyway, but lots of others still will be. That means that…"
Fredrick cleared his throat, "Ah-hem. Get to the point, Jack."
Jack chuckled sheepishly, "The point is, you deserve it."
Fredrick embraced his brother with a smile, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack patted his brother on the back and said, "No problem, Fredrick."
They stepped away. Fredrick took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the icy door handle, and pushed it open.
Oooh, a cliffhanger! Well, this is it! The moment of truth where we find out, have Danny and the others survived this terrible storm that has finally come to an end? Either way, how will Jack and Fredrick cope with it? Find out in the exciting conclusion, coming soon!