Chapter 25: Tanker Trouble
As soon as the train squealed to a halt, everyone quickly got out to see what had gone wrong. On the overpass ahead of them, part of a gas truck was hanging off the edge and blocking the tracks.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUUCK!" Bucky roared as he angrily paced around.
"Maybe we could walk?" Kwan suggested.
"That's fucking stupid." Dash glared.
"I'm just sayin'..." He muttered.
"Hmm, I dunno; we could probably deal with that." Mr. Dinkleberg said. "We got a goddamn train."
"That thing's not full of milk." SpongeBob pointed out fearfully. "That's gas or diesel; something that's going to explode."
"YOU gotta get ahold of yourself, this a crew here." Kwan frowned.
"This ain't shit." Bucky snarled and Mr. Dinkleberg glared at the man.
"This-"
"Hey!" A man's voice suddenly called out and the group looked up to the overpass and saw a man and woman looking down at them. Bucky reached toward his gun in his back pocket, just in case. The woman had short light brown hair with a pink flower pin in it and dark brown eyes. She wore a purple bikini top and a purple and green skirt-like bottom with light grey boots. The man was overweight, bald with a pointy head, thick eyebrows, and lavender eyes.
He wore a coral pink vest shirt with lime green pants with lavender flowers on them.
"You keep screaming like that and you're gonna get your faces chewed off." The man laughed.
"Are ya guys gonna be trouble? Because we could've just kept walking." The woman said coldly with a thick Texan accent.
"Define 'trouble'," Danny called up.
"Anything that gets ya killed or worse, and it tends to come hand-in-hand with groups of guys in distress!"
"Let's give these guys a break." The man said to the woman.
"We'll see." She glared
"You guys got a problem with your train?"
"Yeah, you're standing right in front of it." Bucky scowled at the gas truck/
"It's a wreck, it's not so bad from up here." The man shrugged. "Send your buddies up to have a look." He said, gesturing to Danny, SpongeBob, and the ladder leading up the overpass.
"Anything goes sideways up there, we won't let them escape," Bucky whispered dangerously to the teen and blonde man. Danny nodded and climbed up the ladder, hoping the strangers were not going to be murderers or thieves. As they reached the top they saw that the strangers were whispering about something, only to stop when the saw him.
"Hey, I'm Patrick Starr." The man smiled.
"Danny Fenton." He replied.
"SpongeBob." He said with a bright smile.
"Sandy Cheeks." The woman said. "What's tha deal with tha train?"
"We're driving it," Danny said as Timmy and Jimmy climbed up the ladder and joined him on the overpass.
"Oh, shit! Goddamn, you guys have kids!" Patrick grinned, slightly creeping Danny out and he subtly stood between them and the boys. "Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a kid? Shit! What's your name?"
"Jimmy Neutron."
"Timmy Turner."
"Oh, so he gets to swear?" Danny joked bu the boys just shrugged.
"Well, this is great." Patrick smiled and turned to Sandy. "See, things are looking up."
"None of ya are related." She frowned. "Are their parents down there?" She asked the black and white-haired teen.
"No, they're not down there," Danny replied sadly.
"What's yer story?" She asked.
"I came across Jimmy and Timmy alone the first day all of this happened, we've been together ever since."
"And everybody down there, they're cool?"
"Mr. Dinkleberg lost his wife and Bucky just lost his kid." SpongeBob sighed sadly.
"How long ago?" Patrick gasped.
"What time is it?" Danny frowned.
"I don't know, uh, four?"
"Maybe two hours ago."
"Goddamn..." Sandy muttered as she looked down sympathetically at the group.
"We're sorry for anything that's happened to you guys; that train is awesome, though." Patrick smiled.
"That tank is yer real problem." She frowned as she walked closer to the dangling vehicles. "We'll help ya with it, but if we see anything we don't like, we're moving on down the road, alone.!
"We'd appreciate the help." Danny smiled.
"We can't just blast through it, I guess." Timmy pouted.
"Not unless you want those beaver teeth to burn like marshmallows," Jimmy smirked as his friend growled.
"Boys." Danny glared and the two stopped.
"If ya could get it down, tha rest would probably be pretty easy." Sandy hummed in thought. "We'll come down and settle in, and see if we can help." She said and she and Patric climbed down the ladder with the boys and SpongeBob, leaving Danny alone on the overpass. Danny examined the hitch that attached the hanging tanker to the truck but it was mangled to hell, no releasing it, no nothing. Then he noticed the FRS truck parked next to the dangling truck.
He opened it up and saw it was mostly empty aside from a couple of stop signs, traffic cones, and yellow tape, which he took.
Not seeing anything else of value, the teen climbed back down the ladder and joined the others.
"You want to start in on that tanker?" SpongeBob smiled when Danny hopped off the ladder.
"I'll get ta know tha kids for a minute if ya don't mind," Sandy said, but it didn't sound anything like a question.
"Why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens?" Bucky weakly offered in a depressed monotone and it was then Danny got a good look at his face. Looking back to when he first met the former baseball player, he almost didn't recognize the man. His face and lost most of its color with heavy bags under his dull eyes.
"Really Bucky?" The teen asked warily.
"It's probably for the best." Bucky shrugged. "Someone might want to have a look inside of that station back there, too." He said and pointed to the train station just a few minutes walk further up the tracks. Without another word, Bucky, SpongeBob, and Patrick entered the cab while Sandy and the three kids sat on the ground, talking. Mr. Dinkleberg sat on a rock, keeping an eye on the newcomer while Dash and Kwan sat on top of the train.
Noticing the odd look on the two jocks' faces, Danny quickly walked over to them.
"Got a clear view up there?" He joked, trying to break the tension.
"Yeah, we're good for a ways." Dash smiled and looked at Sandy. "We need someone, anyone, to come along and...and...exterminate them or something."
"I'm telling you, Danny, if they ever get a HOLD of me and I know I'm not getting out of it, that's it, man." Kwan gulped. "I'm just gonna... punch my own ticket."
"Punch your own ticket?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, take myself out."
"Don't be dramatic." Danny glared. "And don't let them get a hold of you; as soon as that thing comes down we'll be on our way and I hope we won't have any more trouble out of you two."
"I promise you won't," Dash replied. Danny gave them a curt nod and went to check on the kids.
"You interrogating this woman for us?" He grinned.
"Yep." Timmy laughed.
"She set off any alarm bells?"
"Not yet." Tootie smiled weakly.
"They're very thorough." Sandy joked.
"That's what I like to hear." Chuckled Danny.
"That's a pretty useful radio for him ta be holdin' onto, no?" The Texan woman quietly said to the teen as she nodded to the radio Timmy was holding.
"It's busted, but it means something to him.
"Ah, I understand." She nodded and turned to the kids again.
"Careful, they're crack shots now." He smiled.
"Ya got these little kids shootin' guns?" She frowned and Danny rolled his eyes.
"Look, I don't need a lecture."
"Ya weren't gettin' one." Said Sandy, catching Danny off guard. "It's good, they SHOULD be able ta take care of themselves."
"Not sure how we'll get that tank down." He sighed, looking up at the tanker.
"Maybe ask Patrick." She suggested. "He likes ta break things." She added with and an irritated scowl. Danny snickered before walking away and climbing into the train where he found SpongeBob and Patrick watching Bucky as he carefully explained the controls.
"Learning the ropes? Can't be too hard, right?" Danny asked playfully.
"There are a lot of levers I can't wait to use." Replied SpongeBob with a big grin on his face.
"I said if something WERE to happen to me." Bucky glared darkly at the other men.
"Maybe we can drive in shifts?" Asked SpongeBob with a nervous chuckled.
"We'll see." He huffed and turned away. A thick tension quickly filled the train and Danny left and let Bucky continue his conductor's lesson. Seeing there was nothing else to do, Danny made to approach the train station further up the tracks, only for Jimmy and Timmy to step in front of him.
"Can we follow you over there?" Timmy asked as sweetly as possible.
"You don't like the new girl?" He asked.
"I do." Shrugged Jimmy and Timmy nodded in agreement. "But...it's like we're a team like you said." The boy genius smiled.
"Yeah, alright, come on." Danny sighed and he turned to the others. "Jimmy, Timmy and I are checking out this train station, alright? Hustle over if you hear anything, and I mean anything." He ordered before grabbing his sword and a pistol and the team of three headed to the train station...
Within just a few minutes, Jimmy, Timmy, and Danny arrived at the station. It wasn't anything impressive. It was simply a small log cabin building with a wooden platform next to the track. 'SURVIVORS INSIDE' was painted on the roof with bright white paint. Danny hummed in thought when he saw this; somebody must have been pretty desperate. He looked at open paint cans scattered around, but the paint had been dry for months.
There was a large no entry sign and a forklift sat nearby, it didn't look like it had worked for years.
Danny approached the door, only to find that Timmy was already trying to open it and failing. The door was firmly locked.
"You should wait for me before trying to open doors." The teen scolded the pink hatted boy, who moved away from the door.
"Sorry." Muttered Timmy.
"Luckily it's locked, don't worry, we'll get better at working together." Danny smiled as he looked around for a way into the station. It was then he saw an open window above the locked door. "The window's open up there." He pointed out.
"Maybe I could look in?" Jimmy asked and Danny thought about it. He didn't want to risk it, worried that there were infected or worst, ghosts, waiting for them on the other side of the door. He didn't have much choice, however.
"Why don't I put you on my shoulders and you can peek into that window up there? But if there is anything in there let me know."
"Sounds good." Smiled Jimmy as he quickly stood on Danny's shoulders and looked into the window. "Okay, I can see in, what do I do now?"
"What do you see?" Timmy asked.
"Lots of crates and stuff, not sure what they contain, I can't see any ghosts or infected."
"Maybe we can find the key or figure out a way to knock this door down," Danny said. "Bucky'd probably have me pick the lock, which actually might work now that we have the time." He sighed, but before he could fathom his next thought, however, Jimmy suddenly reached through the open window and suddenly unlocked the thick door.
"I think I opened it." He beamed brightly.
"For real?" Gasped Danny and he opened the door. "Well, I'll be damned." He smiled and turned to the boys. "You okay?" He asked and the boy nodded.
"Let's go!" Timmy exclaimed with a big grin on his face and made to move towards the door, only for Jimmy to grab him arm.
"Be careful." He warned his best frienemy.
"I'm supposed to tell you that." Joked Danny, ruffling both boys' hair as they entered the station. The first thing they noticed was that it was incredibly dark inside the train station. The only light in the small room was the sunlight bleeding in from the open door.
"M-Maybe I can hold the door open?" Timmy said through chattering teeth.
"I don't like that." The black and white-haired teen frowned. "I'll prop it open with something." He said and pulled out his sword. Jimmy said the coast was clear and Danny couldn't see anything dangerous in the building, so he used the green blade to prop the door open. Now that that was done, Danny and the boys began looking for something to help them deal with the tanker. As they looked around, Danny saw a blowtorch sat in the far side of the room behind a cage wall.
That was exactly what they needed, they just needed to get in there and get that blowtorch.
He tried the cage door but it was locked up good. He saw some keys behind the bars and there was some space at the top, it looked to be the right size for someone small to squeeze through.
"There's some space up there, but not much." He said to the kids.
"We're lucky I'm so little," Timmy smirked as he stepped forward.
"Yeah, we are." Chuckled Danny as he carefully boosted him into the cage. "Go on and grab the keys." He instructed as he and Jimmy watch the other boy run over and grabbed the keys and blowtorch. He turned around and gasped.
"Behind you!" He screamed and Danny quickly turned around and gasped when he saw an infected approaching them.
"Fuck!" The teen shouted in shock and slight fear as he pushed Jimmy away and pulled out his pistol, but another infected suddenly jumped out the shadows and attacked him, knocking the pistol out of his hands and under the cage door. Danny pushes it back, but both infected continue to advance. Without weapons, he tried to punch the zombies, but unfortunately, it was ineffectual. He managed to back up to the door and grabbed his sword.
He killed one of the zombies and struggled as the second one grabbed onto him, but then he knocked it over and quickly killed it.
As the adrenaline faded, he saw Timmy frozen against the bars and Jimmy holding the pistol, his hands clearing shaking, too scared to fire the gun.
"It's okay... it's okay... everything's fine." He tried to soothe, only for his eyes to widened what he saw an infected stumble out of the darkness. "KEYS! NOW!" He screamed as Jimmy backed away from the cage. Timmy took the keys and handed them to Danny. He swiftly unlocked the door, took the pistol, and shot down the infected before it could grab Timmy.
"God... damn..." Danny panted as Jimmy and Timmy hugged his waist tightly.
"That didn't go so good." Jimmy shook fearfully.
"No, it did not go so good." He sighed as he knelt down and held the boys closely. "But we're okay, everything's okay." He smiled only to tense up when he heard the sound of running feet, but he relaxed when he remembered that the infected didn't run that fast.
"What's goin' on?" Sandy called from outside the door as she ran inside. "I thought I heard a gunshot."
"We're fine," Danny replied and it was then she saw the puddles of ectoplasm soaking into the wooden floor. "We found some infected." He added when he saw what she was looking at.
"Ya and two children versus three of them, huh?" She glared, crossing her arms and Danny frowned at her tone. "I'm gonna go make sure tha noise didn't cause us any problems." She said.
"That's a good idea." Jimmy nodded and Sandy smiled and, then she started to leave. Before reaching the door, she turned back to them.
"I hope ya know what yer doin' with them." She told the skinny teen.
"We're still alive, aren't we?" Danny glared, still holding onto the boys.
"Yeah, you are." She huffed and left without another word. Danny sent a withering scowl at the door for a few more seconds before putting a little space between him, Jimmy, and Timmy.
"You sure you're okay?" He asked as he checked both boys over thoroughly.
"Yeah." Jimmy nodded slowly.
"I'm a little shaky," Timmy admitted.
"It'll pass." He reassured as he picked up the blowtorch and somehow fitted the entire thing into his jacket pocket. "We got it."
"Let's go outside now." Jimmy quickly said as he grabbed Timmy and Danny's hands in his own and practically dragged them out the dark train station.
"What did we learn?" Danny asked with a weak grin, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm not ready for a gun." Jimmy sighed.
"No, you just have to learn to pull the trigger." He smiled.
"It's so hard." He whined.
"Don't think, just do it, live with what happens."
"I'll try."
"Good, now, what else did we learn?" He asked but both boys shrugged. "We learned that everything we will ever do is dangerous, we'll get better, smarter, and faster; okay?"
"Okay." They replied.
"We also learned not to be afraid." He said. "They should have got us, but we got them." He added to reassure the boys.
"Yeah, you're right." Jimmy sighed.
"Fear is the thing that will kill us, you understand?" He asked and they nodded. Danny took a deep breath, hoping the boys would remember that, as they returned to the group who were still gathered under the overpass...
