Chapter 10: Familiar Faces

It had been three long months since Danny and the group had settled into the motor inn to wait for rescue; which unfortunately never came. It was well into Autumn now, with the forest leaves turning a lovely shade of amber and heavy rain. Tensions were running high in the camp, Danny was paranoid Valerie or worst, Vicky would tell everyone who his parents were and what they had done. They were running so low on food that they had to start sending people into the forest to hunt and scavenge.

Today it was Danny, Kwan, and Bucky's turn to hunt.

As Danny and Kwan checked their traps, they were disappointed to see there was nothing. Danny suddenly stopped when he saw an infected eating rabbit that was caught in one of their traps. He quietly walked up behind it and stabbed it in the back of the head as Kwan ran up behind him, gun already drawn.

"What'd they get this time?" He asked the teen

"Looks like a rabbit."

"Well, that's another meal lost." He sighed as they started walking again. "I still can't believe we went through all that vending machine food in three months! It seemed like so much at the time."

"A rabbit's hardly a meal, Kwan, but...I'd take it." Danny sighed. "We're all hungry."

"No kidding." He chuckled. "When I accidentally grabbed for Valerie's rations the other night, I thought she was gonna take off my hand! And last night I heard your friend SpongeBob laying in bed just naming types of pie, it was driving me nuts, I think he's starting to lose it."

"We're all on edge, just cut them some slack."

"Yeah, you're right, I wish I knew for sure how much food we have left."

"We'll manage."

"Maybe, you know some people aren't too happy about the way Valerie is handling rations."

"Valerie knows it's important to keep the adults fed and functioning, but she also knows the kids need their strength, especially in times like this; sometimes that means someones gotta miss a meal," Danny explained.

"You think Bucky's having any more luck than we are out here?" Kwan asked.

"I sure hope so."

"Yeah, between the lack of food and Bucky and Valerie fighting all the time, things are getting pretty tense back at the motor inn; you know Bucky's been talking about taking off if he can get that RV running, right?"

"He's got a son to look out for." Danny reasoned.

"And he's safest in a big group, going out on his own will get them both killed." Kwan frowned. Can't blame him, though; did you hear Vicky going off on him and the kids last night? What's that crazy girl's deal, anyway? Seems like she's got a problem with you in particular."

"I have no idea." He replied, not look at him.

"Maybe that's the way she is, but that she needs to chill out." Kwan huffed. "Didn't she punch you in the face one time?"

"The crazy bitch knocked me flat out, if it wasn't for Bucky, I'd be as good as dead." The skinny teen snarled when they saw a big bird fly into a tree. They both ducked down behind a rock, with Kwan ready to shoot it. Danny didn't want to risk the noise but they really needed anything they can get at that point. Kwan fired the gun, the shot ringing through the air, but misses, and the bird flew away.

They both growled in annoyance and disappointment as Kwan lowered the gun in defeat.

Suddenly they heard a far off scream tear through the forest.

"Shit! Was that Bucky?!" Kwan cried.

"I don't know! Come on!" Danny shouted and they ran towards the scream, but they could seem to find it. Just then they heard the scream again, and Danny and Kwan headed in that direction. They found a teacher stuck in a bear trap and two highschool students trying to get her out. Danny and Kwan recognized them almost immediately.

They were Dale, Dash Baxter, and Ms. Tetslaff.

"Jesus Christ..." Danny gasped when he saw the bear trap, causing the other two teenagers to turn around.

"Oh, shit!" Dale cried. "No. No, please don't kill us! We just want to help our teacher! We'll leave, I swear!" He begged.

"Wait Dale, Dash, it's me! Kwan!" He exclaimed as Bucky caught up with them.

"You guys okay?!" He asked the kids, freezing when he saw what was going on.

"Get it off! Get it off, goddamn it, get it off me!" Ms. Tetslaff cried in agony.

"Kwan?" Dash gasped. "It's really you."

"These guys might be the same guys that raided our camp and we barely got away from that!" Dale warned.

"What guys?" Kwan asked.

"Why the fuck is there a bear trap out HERE?!" Bucky exclaimed.

"What the hell happened?" Danny asked, hoping Dash didn't recognize him. Fate appeared on his side today, as the jock didn't give any indication that he did.

"Ms. Tetslaff said we should stay off the streets! We were trying to be careful but then this happened!" He replied as the teacher continued to sob in pain as blood gushed out of her trapped ankle.

"We've gotta help 'em," Kwan said.

"PLEASE!" Dash pleaded.

"Dash, shut up! My dad was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing!" Dale said, but the jock didn't seem to care.

"Just see if you can get her out! After that you can leave us or whatever, I don't care! Please!"

"We gotta get him out of there." Danny agreed and Bucky growled.

"Fine, but you gotta hurry!" He said as Kwan bent down to look at the trap. Due to all the blood and screaming, infected started appearing around them. As he examined the trap, Kwan suddenly gasped in horror

"Guys, this trap's been altered." He said. "There's no release latch."

"Oh, no." Dale whimpered as two infected got closer towards them.

"Shit! It's now or never, Danny!" Bucky shouted.

"Please...get me out of this!" She beseeched through her tears and pain.

"Kwan, get the boys back!" Danny said as he bent down to look at the bear trap. "Bucky, keep those things off of me!" He exclaimed as he tried to pry the trap open with the sword and Bucky started firing his gun. However, it seemed to make things worst as she screamed even louder, drawing more towards them. Danny then tried to use the sword to cut the chain several times but to no avail.

Danny growled as he thought through his options.

The only thing he could think of was to cut her leg off. Before he could do anything, however, Bucky grabbed his shoulders and hoisted the teen back to his feet, stopping him from free the large gym teacher.

"Come on! We gotta go! Now!" He shouted into his face. Danny took a look around and saw that there were over two dozen infected now and he could see a couple of ghosts approaching from the distance.

"No, no, don't leave me!" She begged.

"I-I'm sorry!" Danny said and they made to leave.

"No! We can't leave Ms. Tetslaff like that! Give me the gun!" Dale shouted and grabbed for Bucky's gun. As the two of them grappled for the gun, Bucky suddenly, accidentally, gutshot the dark-haired teen. Dale gagged as he grabbed his bleeding stomach.

"Shit! What happened?!" Danny cried in shock.

"He went for the gun!" Dash exclaimed as the infected go closer.

"Grab him and keep moving!" Danny shouted and Kwan picked Dale up over his shoulders and followed everyone. As they all ran for, Ms. Tetslaff sat up on her elbows and screamed when she saw the ghosts and infected surrounding her.

"You can't leave me like this! Please get me out!" She howled but it was no use, they were too far away to hear her. The large gym teacher wailed in despair as the monsters surrounded and devoured her...


As they ran through the forest back to the motor inn, Danny lagged behind to ensure nothing was following them back to camp. While running, over the sound of leaves crushing, his heavy breathing, and his heart hammering in his chest, Danny could swear he heard the gym teacher screaming and heavy footsteps following close behind them. Taking a look over his shoulder and cried out when he saw an infected man practically breathing down his neck.

Suddenly Danny tripped on a rock and fell into the fallen leaves, dropping his sword.

The others had run too far away to notice or help him. Danny quickly turned around but it was too late. He screamed as the zombie suddenly lunged before him. At the very last second, however, Danny gasped as two white rings suddenly engulfed his body, and a blast of green energy shot out of his hands, destroying the infected in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the blast had destroyed a couple of trees and set fire to a few others.

Thankfully it was too bad and the trees were too wet to probably burn.

The rest of the infected and the few ghosts who had been chasing them saw this and quickly escaped. For a few seconds, Danny thought he could hear a woman shouting things from the forest but dismissed it as Ms. Tetslaff's final cries. Danny sat there in utter shock, staring at his smoking hand. Regaining his senses, Danny quickly crawled to a nearby puddle to check himself. What he saw terrified him. He had changed. His once black and white hair had become completely snow-white, his icy blue eyes had become a glowing toxic green, not unlike the infected, and his skin changed from light to tanned.

There was a faint light aura surrounding him.

Instead of his usual tattered clothes, he was wearing a black hazmat jumpsuit with white boots, collar, belt, and forearm-length gloves.

"No... not now... Please not now..." He muttered hopefully as he stared at his reflection. He closed his green eyes and took several deep breaths to calm his racing heart. The rings of light quicky returned and transformed back into Danny Fenton. The teen immediately checked himself over to make sure he was completely back to normal. One he was certain, Danny sprang back to his feet, grabbed his sword, and bolted back to camp...