Chapter 15: Campsite Catastrophe
After they had left the farm, it felt like Danny and Squidward had been walking through the forest forever. Danny really hoped that the bandits' campsite was nearby, the last thing he wanted was to be stuck here until night. The forest was enormous, impenetrable, dark, and budding. Its canopy was demanded by larch, holly, and ash, and the occasional beam of light that made its way through the canopy allowed for a medley of bushes to claim the fertile soils below.
Even though it was mid-afternoon, the thick trees blocking out the sun made it look dark and dangerous.
Still, nature was nice to look at, even in these dark times. Swooping branches dangled from every tree, and a potpourri of flowers, which desperately tried to avoid the shadows, caught attention in the otherwise brown and green forest grounds. A clamor of sounds, which were caused by fleeing animals, filled the air, and almost completely muffled the sounds of a fight over dominance between larger animals.
"See anything?" Danny asked Squidward, who had taken the lead.
"Not yet." Replied the man, looking ver annoyed, whether it was at their situation or at Danny was anyone's guess. "I know it's around here somewhere though, it's gotta be close." He explained. Danny continued to follow him until he felt and heard his foot kick something along the trail. The teen stopped and knelt down, seeing that he had kicked an empty can of soup.
Squidward was right, it had to be close now.
They continued walking a short ways away until they were suddenly stood in front of a camp.
"Oh, shit! We found it!" Squidward exclaimed, but Danny frowned. It wasn't what he had been expecting. All that was there was a single tent, a table with junk scattered on it, and a red van that looked like it had, even more, junk inside it. This camp looked big enough for only one, possibly two, people and true he hadn't seen who'd attacked them, but there was definitely more than two.
Danny didn't like this one bit.
He gestured for them to move forward quietly. They sneaked up on the camp and readied their weapons, prepared for a fight, but no one was there. They continue sneaking forward and hid behind the trees in case whoever this camp belonged to was hiding somewhere nearby.
"You see anybody?" Squidward whispered.
"Looks empty, stay on your guard." He hissed and they entered the camp. "Watch my back, I'm gonna check out the tent." He said and slowly approached the tent and opened it, his sword at the ready. He lowered his weapon after seeing that it was completely empty. "Clear; this camp is way too small, this can't be their main base."
"Take a look around anyway, there's probably some shit around here they stole from us." Squidward hissed.
"Fine," Danny said and started looking around the empty campsite. He looked back into the small tent and saw that there were two sleeping bags, one of them was kid-sized. He examined the boxes in the van and saw they had 'The Busy Peach' printed on them. The first few days since the invasion started Danny had learned that the authorities told people to gather to The Busy Peach store by the interstate.
There wasn't anything worth taking.
There were also boxes from the dairy here. It was probably the food the original owners and later Mr. Krabs been giving them for protection. The only things he found in the boxes were empty food cans and bottles, proving someone had been here at least recently. Danny pushed the dairy and Busy Peach boxes aside and saw a camera behind it.
Danny picked up a camera and saw it was a little worst for wear.
"What'd you find?" Squidward quickly asked.
"A video camera." He replied as the tall man walked up to the teen. Danny pressed the 'on' button but nothing happened. "Battery's dead." He sighed.
"Oh good." He replied, a little too quickly for Danny's liking, but he shrugged it off. "I see you handle yourself pretty well back there, especially with that sword, you a hunter?"
"No, but Valerie keeps us all on a regular training schedule."
"Valerie, huh? Sounds like SHE'S running this 'democracy' of yours." Squidward scowled as Danny ignored him and stepped inside the tent. As he investigated the tent, Danny found and picked up a dirty photo of a young boy and his mother. He looked at it sadly before setting it down again. He looked at the sleeping bags and frowned when he saw one was the right size for a kid around Timmy and Jimmy.
He felt sick at the thought of a kid being mixed up in this.
Well more like was. He carefully picked up the bloody teddy bear and felt a tug in his heart. Danny put the teddy down and examined the adult's sleeping bag, shocked to find Timmy's pink hat beneath it. Danny frowned in confusion when he and Squidward suddenly heard the sound of twigs snapping. They quickly turned around and saw a middle-aged woman aiming a crossbow at their heads.
She was Caucasian with short brown hair and dressing in a Busy-Peach uniform and she was covered in dirt and blood.
"Don't you fucking move!" She snarled like an enraged, rabid animal as her eyes darted between them widely. Danny quickly pulled out his sword as he put Timmy's hat and away and stepped out of the tent as Squidward pointed his rifle at her. "I ain't going back! You tell 'em Ashley ain't goin' back!"
"Hey! We had a deal! No shooting as long as we gave you food! What the fuck happened?!" Squidward demanded.
"You had a deal with them! I ain't them!" She snarled as her crazy eyes landed on Danny. "I know you, I saw you." She said making the teen's blood run cold. "I know what you are, and I know what you do." She hissed as she snapped her gaze back to Squidward
"You don't know me!" Squidward scoffed.
"Steal my shit, steal everything from me!" She howled.
"We had a deal! You people broke it first!" He argued.
"Why are you alone up here? What happened to you?" Danny asked, trying to diffuse the situation.
"That's a hell of a question, freak." She huffed. "They told me I'd be safe with them, men who lived here, but it wasn't safe, not for me, and not for my boy, they didn't treat him nice, not at all." She sobbed. "They took him away, into the woods, wouldn't tell me where and I begged 'em, every way I could think, they just laughed; so I killed 'em and I'm staying here 'til he comes back to me, one way or another he'll come back." She laughed madly.
"We're looking for the people who attacked the dairy and shot my friend, a little boy named AJ," Danny said and Ashley seemed to freeze before shaking it off.
"I don't know where they are but they ain't here, so get the fuck outta my camp!"
"She's lying, Danny." Squidward snarled.
"Put your damn guns down!" She screeched "You think I won't kill you monsters?! I'm gonna take this here crossbow, and put a nice sharp arrow, right through your eyeballs and into your goddamn brain; you're not men, you're monsters, all men are monsters; take what they want, and then destroy it all, take a can of beans, take a little boy...it's all the fucking same to you!" She snapped, becoming more and more agitated.
"Where did you get this hat?" Danny asked as he pulled out Timmy's hat.
"The little boy." She replied casually.
"You STOLE it from him?!" The teen cried.
"So what if I did? You stole him from ME!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Danny asked, very confused and scared.
"You know what? I changed my mind... I'm putting this arrow right through your FUCKING BALLS!" She screamed, causing them both to flinch and she started cackling loudly. "Yeah! Right through; string 'em up on that tree, then I'm gonna head down to that farm and shoot every goddamn person I see!"
"Put down the crossbow," Danny warned as Squidward cocked his rifle.
"No, sir, I need it, I need it to kill you fuckers." She laughed. "Y'all wave them guns like you're lookin' to die, don't need to go lookin' for death, it's already found us., just waitin' to get turned into monsters, some of us already are!" She screeched as she looked to Squidward. "Go on, tell him, you ugly fucker! Tell him what you got in mind for-"
Squidward suddenly shot Ashley in the head.
Ashley's body crumpled to the ground with a sickening thud. The gunshot echoed through the forest, causing the few wildlife still around to scatter into the dark, wet forest.
"You straight-up murdered that woman!" Danny cried out in horror.
"Hardly, she had a crossbow pointed at my forehead!" Squidward argued as he checked the body, seemingly pleased with his handiwork. "It's a clean shot, though, right through the forehead, still, what a waste." He sighed.
"So that's it? Are we going back?" Danny asked.
"If they ain't here, I don't know where they are and it ain't a good idea to go tromping through the woods looking for them." He shrugged. "So, yeah, we're heading back, once they see this, they'll get the message." He said as he bent down and took Ashley's crossbow. "C'mon." The bald man huffed and walked back towards the dairy farm.
Danny took one last look behind him at Ashley's body before he followed Squidward back to the farm...
It was almost sunset by the time Danny and Squidward finally returned to the farm and in that time Danny hadn't even looked at Squidward, let alone spoken to the tall pale man. You could cut the tension between them with a knife. As they approached the farmhouse, Squidward knew what was bothering Danny so he sighed and stopped in front of the black and white-haired teen.
"What? You ain't getting soft on them, are you? Not after what they did to your friend!" He growled, very annoyed at the teen's attitude.
"I don't want to talk about it." He snapped as SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs stepped out of the house and walked over to them.
"You're back! What happened?" The blonde man asked, sensing the tension almost instantly.
"Handled it." Squidward huffed as he pushed past them and went into the house. SpongeBob sighed as he and Mr. Krabs sat down on the porch stairs and Danny was about to join them when he saw Bucky, Kwan, and Vicky arguing in front of the gazebo.
"What's going on with them?" Danny asked.
"Dunno." SpongeBob shrugged.
"A lotta tension with y'all, huh?" Mr. Krabs asked as politely as possible.
"Don't mind them, it's how they are, each of them wants to be in charge, you know?" Danny replied, slightly embarrassed.
"Well, it's probably just the hunger talkin'! We all get a little testy, we'll fix that shortly!" SpongeBob exclaimed happily.
"And, Danny, don't worry your head about those fucking bandits." Mr. Krabs said kindly. "I'm sorry, you've seen more violence than I'd of liked in your short time, but y'all are safe here, don't worry."
"Thanks, Mr. Krabs, I think I'll go have a look around." Danny smiled as he made to leave.
"Don't wander too far, dinner will be ready before you know it," SpongeBob called before running back into the house to check on the dinner.
"You're friends and the kids are in the barn with the cow, just in case you're wondering." Mr. Krabs pointed out and went back into the farmhouse. One he was gone Danny walked down the steps and saw that Timmy was waving at him from the barn before closing the giant doors. Danny pulled out and examined the little boy's hat before putting it away again and walking over to Kwan and the others.
"Hey, so what happened at the camp? Did you guys find any more of those guys that hurt AJ?" Kwan asked.
"We found a tent and some boxes, nothing really that useful."
"Seriously? No food?" Vicky groaned impatiently.
"We found a woman in the woods, she was talking all crazy and had a crossbow, so Squidward killed her."
"Holy shit, was she one of those bandits?" Bucky asked.
"I don't know, I think she was trying to tell me something, but then he just went off." He explained, casting a suspicious glance towards the house.
"I don't like this, Danny." Kwan whimpered fearfully.
"Yeah, I still say we should go back to the motor inn where we at least know what to expect." Bucky rallied.
"We'll wait until AJ's well enough to travel first." Danny quickly said. "Do you get the feeling something's going on here?" He asked uneasily.
"What makes you say that? Is it because of what happened at the camp?" Kwan asked.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." He quickly reassured. "I think the paranoia's just gettin' to me a little bit."
"I know what you mean, I know they're SpongeBob's friends and everything but these people are giving me the creeps, if you ask me, we should just get our dinner and leave." Bucky insisted, almost pleading.
"Alright, we'll have dinner, grab AJ and go back to the motor inn." Danny sighed and went to check on the others in the barn...
As Danny entered the barn, he saw Nicky, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkleberg, and the children all gathered nearby the cow with Pearl. Danny noticed that the caw was a little, unnaturally, skinny. The barn was mostly empty with the only things there were old blue ribbons, bays of hay, and a large door at the very back of the barn, secured by a thick chain and padlock.
"It's okay, you can pet her." Pearl giggled at the children, who eyed the cow as if it was an alien. Jimmy and Timmy looked to Danny for reassurance and he gave them a smile and a nod. With that, the children slowly approached the cow and began to pet her, scared if they did it wrong something would happen. Danny chuckled lightly at the kids' reaction to the large farm animal.
"What's this thing?" Timmy asked, noticing a salt lick nearby.
"Dad said it's called a salt lick," Chester replied.
"A salt lick is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals," Jimmy explained.
"Yeah, but don't lick it," Tootie warned. "It's gross."
"Did you lick it?" Danny asked.
"I don't know..." She shrugged as a faint blush rose in her cheeks. Danny just shook his head with a content sigh as he looked around the quiet barn. He opened the stalls were filled with hay and miscellaneous items such as hay bales, fence posts, feeding troughs, wheelbarrows full of old, dirty clothes, and empty boxes from the dairy farm.
After looking around, Danny returned Timmy's hat.
"My hat! You found it!" Timmy cried joyfully as he took the hat and put it back on. "I knew you'd find it! You said you would!"
"Listen, did you...give your hat to anyone?" Danny asked seriously.
"No." He replied with a confused frown.
"Did you see any strangers around the motor inn who might've taken it?"
"No, why?"
"It's probably nothing, just let me know if you ever see anything like that," Danny said and Timmy nodded before heading back to the cow. It was then that Danny noticed Pearl looking at him closely, concerning him. "Hey, there, Pearl."
"Hi." She replied with a warm smile.
"Um... When do you think, uh, we might eat?" Danny asked, trying to ignore the pain in his empty stomach.
"Hungry, huh?" She laughed. "Don't worry, SpongeBob's cooking up some good grub."
"We met this woman up in the woods," Danny said. "She seemed to know Squidward and your dad."
"Uh, yeah?" She asked nervously. "He, uh, probably talks a little more than he should." She shrugged and turned away from the teen. Danny was about to ask her what was wrong when he saw that Bucky had snuck in and was examining the door in the back of the barn. Danny quietly walked away from the group and walked up to the man.
"Danny, they're hiding something," Bucky whispered. "I got a quick look behind this door, they got boxes of stuff and something metal and sharp."
"Don't get paranoid," Danny warned.
"It's my JOB to be paranoid, Danny." He huffed. "I got my boy on this farm right now; how about you? What about Timmy and Jimmy?"
"I'll protect them, no matter what."
"I know you will." Bucky smiled. "Look, that guy, Mr. Krabs, he locked it up real tight the second we came in, I definitely heard a noise back there, Danny."
"What kind of noise?"
"My point is, we gotta know for sure." Bucky insisted. "So go find a hammer or something, and I'll have this thing off in a second, you back me up in case they come running."
"Hang on, think this through, you smash the lock, and then what if it turns out you're wrong? You just fucked your chance to get a good meal in those kids you're trying to protect, use your head, Bucky."
"Alright, kid, what'd you have in mind?"
"Let me have a look at what we're dealing with first," Danny ordered as he knelt down and examined the screws and the main padlock.
"You know how to pick a lock, right?" Bucky asked.
"No! Why would you say that?"
"Well, you're...you know...young?" He implied.
"Oh, you are NOT saying what I think you're saying." Danny hissed.
"Sorry," Bucky said, looking down in shame. Danny just huffed and went back to the lock.
"You see those screws? Instead of breaking the padlock, we can just take off the assembly, have a quick peek inside, and then replace it all over again, like nothing ever happened."
"Alright, sounds like you have a plan, good job kid," Bucky smirked and was about to find something to take off the assembly when they saw Squidward walking towards them.
"Can I help you boys find something?" He asked, trying and failing to sound calm.
"What's behind this door?" Danny questioned directly.
"Just tools." He shrugged. "We keep it locked so the people in the woods don't try and sneak in and grab them, we'd be dead without 'em." He explained. "Do me a favor and don't fuck around with this door, okay?" He glared at them. Danny was about to respond when the dinner bell suddenly rang throughout the farm.
"Mom! Dinner time! It's dinner time!" Tootie cried.
"Okay, honey, let's get Vicky." Nicky smiled as both girls left with Pearl and the boys ran up to Bucky and Danny.
"Dad! Dad! C'mon, let's EEAATTTT!" Chester cheered as the boys dragged their respective guardians out. As they left, Danny and Squidward stared at each other both the teen averted his gaze and walked awake, leaving the tall man alone in the barn...
