Chapter 13: Fence Fiasco
After a few more minutes of walking through the forest, they had finally arrived at the farm. There was a large red barn with a tall silo, many different crops growing around the area, and a large white house resting on top of a hill, overlooking the whole farm. The large area of farmland was surrounded by an electric fence that was humming with power.
"Here it is, you all can see how we've kept this place so safe." Mr. Krabs smiled, gesturing to the fence as Jimmy and AJ knelt down and inspected the fence before Danny made them move on, not wanting the boys to get hurt.
"The fence keeps them out?" SpongeBob asked, noticing there were no infected insight
"You bet, they fry like bugs in a zapper." Mr. Krabs laughed. "We're pushing 4,000 volts through that thing, with generators and amps."
"Oh, wow, you guys must know a thing or two about running wire." AJ smiled, very impressed.
"No, the original owners set the fence up, we found some of their old farm hand hiding in the house but they're all gone now." Squidward shrugged.
"What happened to the original owners? And what do you mean the farmhands are gone?" Danny frowned and the two men flinched slightly.
"We're not sure," Mr. Krabs admitted. "We think either the bandits, ghosts, or infected got them out in the forest."
"What do you do about the ghosts, 'cause I don't think that fence stops them, does it?" Kwan asked.
"True it doesn't stop them, but the farmhands showed us some kind of secret basement those spooks couldn't find; seems those floating bastards are too stupid to check underground if they ain't got a visible door leading them down there." He explained smugly. "I think they scouted this place ages ago and now they just seem to pass right by us."
"Ever have any accidents?" Danny asked, eyeing the generator nervously as Jimmy and AJ examined it, ready to pull the boys away at the first sign of danger.
"No, but it's safer here than out there," Squidward replied.
"I'm sorry, it's just that we've got kids in our group, doesn't seem safe to have them near a lethal fence," Danny explained.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Mr. Krabs chuckled. "We got plenty to keep 'em entertained."
"Oh, wow!" Jimmy gleefully exclaimed. "You've got enough electricity to run the whole place!"
"This place looks untouched! You'd never know the rest of the world is in ruins." Valerie smiled as her eyes wandered around the peaceful farm.
"It's worth protecting, hence all the juice," Squidward replied, lifting up the gas can when the door to the farmhouse suddenly burst open and a teenage girl around Danny's age stepped outside and joyfully walked towards them with a picnic basket in her hand. Her skin was so pale, so gray that Danny almost mistook her for an infected. She was very big and tall compared to the other girls her age. She had blonde hair that she had tied in a ponytail with a pink scrunchie and wore slight smudged, bright red lipstick.
She had eyes and thick black eyelashes.
She was wearing a pink cheerleader dress with a purple skirt and the letter 'P' stitched on the front. She also sported a pair of white go-go boots.
"I thought I saw you with company comin' down the drive!" She cheered.
"Guys, this is my baby girl, Pearl." Mr. Krabs smiled warmly.
"Welcome!" Pearl smiled as she hugged the newcomers.
"Sweety, this here's Danny." Her father said as he placed a strong hand on the boy's shoulder, making him slightly. "He and these people have been livin' down at the old motel down the road with a few friends."
"That place is pretty vulnerable, have you got someone with survival experience to lead your group?" She asked, concern clear in her voice.
"We've got things under control over there." He reassured her as he shook the man's hand off of him.
"Well, I hope you know what you're doing, that place isn't safe like it is here." She smiled. Now that you're all are here, we'll make sure you're as safe and comfortable as possible."
"Thanks for having us, we brought some gasoline on good faith," Valerie said.
"Yeah and we're awful hungry." Kwan suddenly said, gaining a few disapproving glares from the others.
"Then these are for you, baked fresh this morning." Pearl smiled as she raised the basket, which was filled with bread and biscuits.
"Holy shit!" Dash gasped.
"Amazing!" Valerie said in shock, having not seen freshly baked goods in months.
"Can't get stuff like that anymore, not without a cow for milk and butter, that's for sure." Squidward huffed, crossing his arms.
"Hopefully the cow will make it through this bout of whatever she's got and be with us for a good long while." Pearl sighed sadly.
"Your cow is sick?"
"We have many talented people back at our camp, one of them could help you, maybe our whole GROUP could come...for the day..." Kwan suggested, looking down after the others turned their disapproving glares to him.
"Well, how about this, y'all go get your friends and I'll prepare some dinner, a big feast for all you hungry souls." Mr. Krabs offered. "It'll be nice to have some folks to help out around here again, Pearl, SpongeBob, why don't you two come and help me out in the kitchen?" The short man smiled and led them both up to the farmhouse.
"Why don't I head back with the food and round up everyone for the trip back here?" Valerie proposed.
"You might wanna take someone with you, remember, those roads can be dangerous," Danny said.
"I can handle myself."
"Why don't you go ahead and take Dash along anyway?" Kwan asked, surprising the fellow jock.
"Fine, take care of yourself, Danny, I'll see ya in a while." She smiled as she picked up the basket and left with Dash.
"Why don't you guys take a look around? Once ya get settled in, I could use some help securin' the perimeter." Squidward said.
"Is there a problem?" Danny frowned.
"Sometimes the infected get tangled up in the fence before they fry and end up knocking over a post." He explained. "It'd be a BIG help if you could walk the perimeter, you can learn something about our fence." He said, perking Jimmy's interests. "I'm gonna go top of the generators before they run dry, come get me when you're ready." He shrugged and walked away.
"This place is INCREDIBLE!" Jimmy exclaimed happily.
"It's got food! And that fence...oh, man, that fence! It's pretty impressive, considering what these people have had to work with." AJ added.
"If we play our cards right, this might turn out to be a place we can stay." Kwan nodded. "So how do you want to play this?" He asked Danny.
"Before we can think about bringing our whole group here to stay, we need to figure out if this place is as safe as they're telling us." The teen said firmly.
"Right, obviously, THEY think it's safe, but is it safe enough for the kids?" Kwan wondered. "I noticed a broken swing over there, not really a big deal, but maybe there are other things not working that we just can't see yet."
"And checking the fence perimeter sounds like a decent way to get a good look at their defenses," Danny smirked.
"Alright, I'll keep my eyes open for anything weird and you find out what you can from Squidward," Kwan said. Danny nodded and started looking around the farm. He looked up at the house and wondered how much food they had in there. Hopefully, they would find out soon. He looked at the tree near the gate and noticed the broken swing dangling from one of its branches. Too bad it was broken. Danny would bet the kids would have loved something like this to play on.
It'd be a nice change from a soccer ball and some chalk and crayons.
Danny looked forward to the day when kids could just be kids once again. Banishing those depressing thoughts from his mind, Danny quickly walked up to the house to try and investigate inside. He knocked on the door and Mr. Krabs answered.
"Well, hi there, Danny my boy!" He smiled. "What can I do for ya?"
"Can I help you with anything around the house?"
"I think we've got things pretty well squared away in the kitchen, but feel free to check with Squidward, he's got a lot of weight on his shoulders these days so I'm sure he'd love any help he can get."
"Alright, by the way, when will dinner be ready?"
"It'll be a while still, but it'll be worth it, trust me!"
"How has your family been holding up since...you know?"
"My daughter has been my saving grace, I also owe Squidward our lives, after the attacks started happening I doubt we would have made it out of Bikini Bottom in one piece, but don't tell him I said that, don't want his head gettin' any bigger!" Mr. Krabs chuckled. "I should check on SpongeBob and Pearl, you go and see if Squidward needs anything." He said before suddenly slamming the door in Danny's face. The teen was taken aback by this, but shook it off and went to check on the others.
He walked back down the hill and to Squidward, who was crouching in front of the generator.
Upon noticing the teen approaching him, the man glared as he stood him to speak to him.
"Listen, I'm glad you guys decided to help us out and I noticed back at the motel that you folks are pretty well-armed."
"Yeah, if anyone tries to fuck with us, they'll regret it!" He glared.
"Well, protecting your people is important, but in my experience, having that many guns around are when people get dangerous." He explained.
"We can't be the first people you've invited up to the dairy."
"Well, no." He admitted. "We've made similar deals with other people, trading for gas and food, but ultimately they moved on, looking for the people they lost contact with, waste of time if you asked him. Danny was about to say something when he saw Kwan looking at him expectedly.
"I'll be back in a second." He said and headed over to his friend, trying to ignore to glares Squidward was giving him.
"So, what have you found out? Is this looking like a good place to stay?" Kwan asked, trying not to meet Squidward's gaze.
"Not much, but I know that the fence is no joke, at least around the house," Danny explained.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it," Jimmy added eagerly.
"Just stay close guys," Danny warned, looking around uneasily as a cold chill ran down his spine. "I have a bad feeling about this place."...
After telling Squidward that they were ready to fix the perimeter, Danny, Kwan, and the boys walked along the northwest part of the fence, which was the only thing between the group and the dark, seemingly endless forest. Danny frowned as his eyes wandered to the shadowy forest full of bandits, the fence that hummed with enough electricity to fry them and the farmhouse looking down at them, not sure which was giving him the unpleasant chill.
"So how's the place looking?" Kwan asked as they walked. "Is it safe enough for us to stay...if we can?"
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing what they've done with this dairy." He admitted. "But let's see what it takes to secure this fence before drawing any conclusions."
"I can't wait until everyone's out here." AJ smiled at Jimmy.
"Everyone besides Vicky..." Kwan muttered.
"She probably wouldn't be such a pain in the ass if you weren't telling her we were talking behind her back all the time." Danny counted.
"I'm sorry, alright?" He groaned. "Maybe a good meal will chill her out a little." He added, but they both knew it probably wouldn't. Danny frown deepened at that thought. He knew Valerie and Bucky were arguing more lately, but it was Vicky who really kicked off when things didn't go in her favor, like a spoilt kid. He didn't know where she got it from as her mother and sister seemed really sweet and timid. Her parents must have been too afraid of Vicky to set her right.
Danny sighed when he thought about Nicky.
If things got any worse or the fighting continued he was worried she would have another attack like back at the drugstore. That would be a huge problem as they had run out of pills. If she didn't have another attack as bad what happened at the drugstore, Danny was almost certain she wouldn't survive it. The last thing he wanted was for Vicky and Tootie to lose their mother, it would be too much for them. That's also the reason why he continued to let Jimmy and Timmy have hope that their parents were alright as it seemed that that was all that kept them going before he found them.
All of a sudden Jimmy and AJ started gagging in disgust and Danny, thinking the worst, pulled out his sword.
He lowered it however when he saw they were just reacting to an infected stuck in the fence with an arrow in its neck, still twitching. It had burns all over its body as green ectoplasm oozed from its eyes and mouth like vomit. The smell was almost unbearable. As Danny got closer, a crow suddenly flew down and took a chunk of flesh from the monster before flying off, causing drops of the green goo to fall onto Danny's shirt. This caused AJ to nearly empty his almost-empty stomach onto the floor, but he managed to stop himself.
Danny didn't give the goo a second glance as he walked closer and nudged the infected's shin with his foot, but the creature hardly moved.
"It's gotta be dead."
"Can't be, it's not turned into goo, I think it's just paralyzed or something," Danny replied, not taking his eyes off the monster.
"Electrical shock can result in neurological complications, involving both peripheral and central nervous systems, which may present immediately or later on," Jimmy explained.
"It's possible this infected no longer has the functions to crawl free or even register when it's being touch, seems like no matter how powerful they are these ghosts can regenerate a human's damaged or destroyed body parts," AJ added, color returning to his face. Danny immediately thought back to when he after the crash the cab driver crawled towards him instead of standing up and chasing him. He must have been paralyzed in the crash.
"Come on, let's push it off," Kwan suddenly said before he made to move the zombie and looked to the lightbulbs on the fence posts. "If those lights are out that means the fence is off, right?" He asked nervously.
"It better be." Danny glared at the fence, but thankfully the lights were off and he couldn't hear the buzz of electricity. As he looked the infected over, he frowned when he saw the arrow in its neck. He hadn't seen any bandits with a bow and arrow and thought maybe Squidward, Mr. Krabs, or Pearl were using this guy for target practice. Danny felt bad for him. He didn't know what got it first, the arrow, or the fence. Either way, Danny hoped he was already dead.
With a sad sigh, Danny tried to push the zombie with his sword but it looked like it was stuck.
The arrow had gone through the infected's neck and into a fence post, sticking him there, so Danny pulled the arrow out of the corpse. It was absolutely disgusting. After wiping the ectoplasm off his hands he used his sword to push the zombie again and this time it fell off the fence.
"Come on, I'm sure there's still a few more." He said and they continued walking along.
"Once this fence is patched up, this place will be a fortress! God, can you imagine not having to worry about the infected anymore?" Kwan smiled.
"It's useless without gas." Danny pointed out. "We might need food, but the fence need gas too, and it only protects against the infected, not the ghosts."
"Not many drivers these days, Danny, we could scrounge up a year's worth of gas, easy; plus they have a secret bunker under the farmhouse so the ghosts can't find them." He reassured with a joyful grin but noticed the other teen's ambivalence. "So, what's your take on these guys? They seem to have this place tied down pretty well."
"SpongeBob certainly trusts them and they seem decent enough." He shrugged.
"Yeah, but I just want you to know that I've got your back if anything goes down," Kwan promised.
"Thanks." He smiled.
"There's another one," Jimmy said and pointed to another zombie caught in the fence. It was in the same state as the first infected; badly burnt, but instead of being tangled in the fence, this one was gripping the top wire tightly. Danny pushed it away with his sword, but its hands remain caught on the fence and broke off from the body before turning in to goo. This time AJ really did throw up. To be honest Danny felt like gagging too but managed to keep it down.
The smell wasn't really helping though.
After AJ had emptied what little was left in his stomach, the moved on to check the fence. As they walked along the fence Danny suddenly stopped when they all heard a low grumbling sound. After a few moments, however, they quickly realized that it was just Kwan's stomach.
"Sorry, I can't stop thinking about dinner." He blushed before glaring at Danny. "Would have been nice to get some of those rations, I get hungry too, ya know."
"Come on Kwan, I had to feed the kids first, they need all the energy they can get right now."
"Seems like a waste now." He muttered, looking at a still visibly queasy AJ.
"Just try to focus on the task." He growled.
"They knew what they were doing, teasing us with food, and then giving us chores!" Jimmy whined.
"Having a good meal will be worth it," AJ muttered weakly as he held his stomach. As the four boys approached the silo and tractor they found a section of the fence that had fallen down with an infected woman tangled in it. This one must've knocked it over trying to get through before the fence fired her. Danny and Kwan tried to push her loose, but she was too tangled.
"I think we'd get better leverage from the other side," Danny suggested.
"Good idea." Kwan nodded. "AJ, come give me a hand." He said and he and AJ jumped over the fallen fence to the other side. They crouched down and held onto one of the fenceposts as Danny and Jimmy stepped over the fence and held the other fencepost. They quickly pushed the fence back up. Just as they let go, however, the electric fence turned on. If Danny and Kwan hadn't of pulled Jimmy and AJ back in time both little boys would have been barbecue.
"Holy fuck! What just happened?!" Kwan cried as he put a shaking AJ back down.
"The fences are on!" Danny exclaimed angrily.
"Why the hell would they turn the fence on?! They know we're out here!" Kwan argued and Danny felt the rage inside him grow. Accident or not, when Danny found out who nearly killed his friends he was going to make them pay. Before any of them could do anything, however, they suddenly heard a strange whizzing sound and AJ screaming half a second later. They looked towards the small bald boy and gasped in horror at what they saw.
AJ had an arrow embedded into the back of his right shoulder...
