Chapter 7: Starless

It took a few seconds for Danny's brain to process what Valerie had just said, but when it did his face went almost as white as the other half of his hair. The teen looked at Timmy and Jimmy, who keep looking back at them both in a mix of both confusion and intrigue. It seemed that Valerie didn't care if they heard this or not, but if that was the case, he didn't know why she didn't confront him when they were with the others. Danny quickly looked back at the girl in yellow and cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're Danny Fenton." She replied, causing him to flinch You're a student at Casper High who went missing about a month ago, but your parents never filed a missing person's report; they told people that you moved to live with an aunt in the county." She explained. "Folks around town said that he ran away or maybe his parents had killed him, unlike the other kids at school I paid attention to my surroundings."

"So?" Danny snarled, crossing his arms

"I don't really care what you were doing before all this happened, frankly, we need all the people we can get, safety in numbers and all that." She joked before her face turned serious. "But do not tell the people out there who you are."

"Why not?"

"Because the Fentons are the cause of all this horror!" She snarled. "When this all started me and a few others went to FentonWorks because we knew that they were making weapons in their lab in the basement, but when we finally got there we found the weapons along with some kind of green portal that these things were flying out of! I was the only one to make it out alive!" She screamed, her eyes becoming misty.

"I... I'm so sorry." Danny whispered in shock; what had his parents done?

"Did you tell anyone out there who you were, or that you were tied to this mess?" She asked.

"The world is ending out there." He glared. "Who cares who I am?"

"If you don't think people will find any reason to turn on you, especially when shit hits the fan, you're insane." She scoffed before sighing. "I might not have really known you that well before all of this but you seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there." She explained before gesturing to Timmy and Jimmy, who were wide-eyed staring at them. "You've got these kids to take care of, and...look, don't make me wrong on this."

"I don't plan to." He said as he took a step closer to her.

"Good, because if this lasts longer than a few days, and you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem."

"I hear you."

"I'll just keep it to myself." She promised and turned to leave when Danny unexpectedly put his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait." He asked. "What happened to my family? And Sam and Tucker?" He pleaded and Val looked to the floor for a moment before meeting his eyes.

"I honestly don't know, they weren't any sign f the Fentons when we went to their home and no one has seen the Mansons or the Foleys since this all started; I am sorry Danny." She muttered and with that Valerie walked out of the office. Danny stood in the same spot for a few seconds before he approached the door, preparing to leave.

"Want to head back?" He asked the boys, putting on a smile.

"Okay," Jimmy said as they walked up to Danny, holding his wrist bashfully. He held up the photo and Danny snatched it up. As the teen stared at the picture he could felt the tears welling up before he took a deep breath and stuff the picture back into his pocket.

"Danny? You're not bad, right?" Timmy suddenly asked, catching him by surprise.

"I, uh...why are you asking me that?" He asked nervously.

"That lady said your parents sent you away; was that because of that thing you did?" Jimmy asked. "And what did she mean by your parents are the cause of all this pain?"

"It's complicated; listen, sometimes things happen or...you do things and you can't explain them; I don't know if my parents caused all this but I promise you I'm not a bad guy; is it ok if we can keep what happened in here between us?" He begged and almost collapsed in relief when the nodded. "Let's, uh...head back to the others." He sighed when Bucky walked in.

"What's up?" He asked when he sensed the tension in the room.

Suddenly Timmy's radio buzzed to life and Kwan's static voice crackled out.

"Hey, there, this is Kwan, and, uh, I'm kinda in a jam here." He said "Uh, little boy with the hat, if you're there, can you put your big brother on the phone? Or on the talkie, or whatever?" He asked and Timmy quickly handed it to Danny.

"This is Danny, what's up?"

"So... I'm down at that car lot and, well, I-I'm stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Yeah, I, uh saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of those infected ones got the jump on me; I'm hiding over here, but those fuckers just won't leave."

"Ok Kwan, we're gonna talk it over and send a group to come get you, alright?"

"Awesome, I'll sit tight 'til then." The Asian teen said before Danny turned off the walkie-talkie, then turned to the boys.

"I'm gonna hold onto this until we get Kwan back, okay? I'll take good care of it." He promised.

"What do you think?" Bucky asked.

"I think SpongeBob's not great around ghosts, and you've got your son here; I'll take Valerie and her aim down to the car lot, get Kwan and get back here as fast as I can."

"If that's what you want to do..."

"Somebody's got to." He stated when Valerie suddenly appeared, having been listening in to their conversation.

"I'm in, just let me grab some anti-ghost guns we found and we can go." She smirked and left with Bucky following close behind. Before going after them, Danny knelt down to look both Jimmy and Timmy dead in the eyes.

"I know I'm not your brother, or even related to either of you, but if you need anything, I'm your guy, okay We're gotta try to take care of each other now."

"Understood." Jimmy nodded.

"Deal," Timmy smirked when Valerie came back.

"You ready to head out?" She asked.

"You got it, you?"

"Born ready."...


It was night by the time Danny and Valerie managed to get to the car sale lot. Danny took noticed that there were more ghosts flying around than earlier. When they got to the entrance they saw it was overrun with infected. A nearby zombie growled and Danny and Valerie ducked down behind the wall. Valerie quickly took her gun out but after a moment, the zombie walked away and Lee exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

They peeked over the fence and saw a shadow moving behind a truck

"Did you see that?" She asked and he nodded. The truck door opened partly as Valerie pointed a gun at the sound, but lowered it when the door opened fully and saw it was just Kwan hiding inside.

"GUYS! Oh, man, I'm glad you're here." He grinned.

"Jesus, Kwan!" She hissed as Kwan got out of the truck and jumped over the wall., crouching down with them.

"That wasn't so hard." Danny smiled in relief.

"Can we get out of here before any of these things notice us?" Valerie desperately asked as she nervously looked around.

"Not yet, there's a survivor trapped in there," Kwan said and everyone turned to look at the car lot store, where there were zombies pounding on the front door.

"No way, we gotta go; NOW." Val scowled.

"No! I was out here looking for gas for the bus and then, in there I heard crying coming." He explained.

"Who is it?" Danny asked.

"It's Star, she's a friend from school." He replied. "We talked and she got frightened; I was trying to get in and help her and she started yelling and saying I was bitten, I tried to convince her I wasn't, and that's when all these guys came out of nowhere and a couple almost got me, and I ended up hiding in the truck."

"Lucky you; now let's go!"

"We can't just leave her." Danny glared.

"You guys are suicidal!"

"We're saving her, with or without you," Kwan said

"I thought Star was your friend?" Danny asked and she flinched.

"Fine, let's go save the damsel in distress." She sighed as she drew her gun and everyone moved to the next wall, crouching behind it.

"We have to kill every one of them in here, as quietly as possible; the noise attracts these things," Danny explained and peeked over to have a look around. He noticed a cushion lying on the floor by the truck Kwan had been hiding in. "There's a pillow over there." He pointed out to him.

"That's about as far as I got when it came to getting supplies." He explained.

"I might have an idea for it." He grinned and they all sneaked over and hid behind the front bumper of the truck.

"We're a little naked out here, except for your sword and Valeria's gun, and we can't use that much." Kwan glared. Danny quickly grabbed the pillow and they all ran over to hide behind an RV.

"Get out your gun," Danny ordered Valerie.

"But what about the noise?" She asked.

"Just follow my lead; stay right behind me." He instructed as he approached an infected zombie and smashed the pillow over its face. Valerie put the gun against the pillow and pulled the trigger, killing the zombie somewhat quietly.

"That was sick!" Kwan exclaimed in a whisper as they hid back behind the RV. Danny noticed an infected by the wall in front of the RV and got an idea. He opened the car door and took the spark plug. Before closing the door, he unlocked the gear shift and gave the car a push. It rolled backward, crushing the zombie against the stone wall.

" That was awesome!" Kwan smiled.

Danny smiled back as he placed the spark plug on the ground and stomped on it. He took a piece of porcelain from inside the crushed spark plug and threw it into the window, smashing it to pieces. The infected heard the noise and briefly turned to the group, but their attention was quickly returned to the crying girl inside the car lot building. Danny frowned and pulled out his sword. They returned to the brick wall and Danny prepared to use the blade on the infected standing nearby.

He approached the zombie and stabbed it in the back of the head, then hid behind the RV with Kwan.

Danny whistled at another zombie, who began slowly walking towards him. Danny quickly shot forward and ran the infected straight through the chest. All three of them silently sneaked over to the zombie they had trapped behind the car. It clawed and snapped its jaws at them, but couldn't reach. Danny stabbed the zombie in the head, and the infected dissolved like the rest. Feeling a little exposed, Kwan looked around and grinned as he grabbed a fire ax inside a broken glass case.

"Are you two done?" Valerie hissed.

"Two more to go." Danny glared at the two still trying to get to the girl.

"We'll try to have your back, but this gun's a liability," Valerie warned. Danny nodded and everyone approached the door. Danny sneaked ahead and stabbed the first zombie in the side of the head, and decapitated the second one.

"Rad." Kwan grinned as Danny pounded on the door.

"Hello in there? We're here to help!" He called to her.

"Please, just go away!" The girl cried through tears.

"Let's go, guys." Valerie shrugged.

"In a minute," Danny growled before turning back to the door. "If you open up, we can take you somewhere safer, we've got a group in town."

"No, no, no! Please, no!"

"She's in trouble!" Kwan gasped

"Star! We're coming in!" Danny shouted. He jiggled the handle, but it was locked. He gritted his teeth in frustration and kicked against the door.

"Stop, just stop! I'm coming out." Star whimpered as she opened the door and walked out. Danny's eyes widened when he saw her. He could still recognize her, however, she was incredibly pale and was holding a bloody wound on her abdomen.

"You're hurt." He acknowledged sympathetically.

"I...I said stay away." She muttered tearfully

"We need to get you help," Kwan stated.

"It's too late for that." She sobbed.

"Guys, she's been bitten," Valerie said, pointing to the wound she was holding. Danny looked closer and was shocked to see hints of green mixed with her blood.

"I told you." She glared at Kwan through her tears. "I said go away, I've been bit, but you wouldn't just leave!" She screamed.

"Let's calm down," Danny said. "You could be fine."

"I won't be fine, my best friend was bitten." She explained, becoming more and more distressed. "You get sick and you die and you come back and you kill anything you can find!"

"I'm so sorry," Danny muttered.

"I don't want that, please, just leave me, please go." She sobbed.

"Okay, we'll leave, just try to take care of yourself, for whatever time you have left." Valerie said and thankfully the boys didn't argue with her on this. Star turned to Valerie and noticed her gun.

"You have a gun." She whispered in an awestruck tone.

"So?" She glared.

"Can I...borrow it?"

"What do you mean 'borrow'?"

"I can just, you know, end this and then-then there's no problem."

"What?!" Danny cried in horror.

"PLEASE! I don't want to be one of them!" She sobbed but they didn't respond. "Give it to me, PLEASE!" She desperately cried and lunged for the gun, only just missing it.

"Please, step back," Valerie warned as she aimed the gun at Star as she slowly approached her.

"It'll just take two seconds, just one bullet, and I can be with my family, and it'll all be fine." She sobbed.

"I said back the fuck up!" Valerie shouted again. Star continued to approach her as she stepped backward. She lunged at her again, trying to grab the gun, and yet again missed. By now Valerie was backed up against the railing as her former friend tried to take the gun. Danny and Kwan tried to pull her away when the balcony suddenly broke and everyone fell, the gun sliding away. As everyone tried to gather their bearings, Star had already picked it up.

"Whoa, take it easy." Danny quickly said. "We just want to help."

"You can't." She sobbed as she pointed the gun to her head. Danny ran toward her, but she pulled the trigger, crumbling to the ground. Kwan slowly picked up the gun, horrified and shaking. He suddenly covered his mouth with his hand before vomiting all over the street. Due to all the noise, infected and ghosts started coming toward the group.

"Shit!" Danny exclaimed and they ran to the car drove away quickly...