This chapter was written by CrystalGirl259


Chapter 28: The Attic

Even from a quick first glance, Danny could tell the people who used to live here were very well off once upon a time. The house was equipped with an old-fashioned kitchen and a bathroom, it also had a comfortable and fancy living room, a cozy dining room, a lounge area, and a small storage room. Sandy and Patrick quickly helped SpongeBob onto a couch in the living room. He winced in pain but managed to settle into the soft crimson red couch.

Once she was sure he was relaxed, Sandy joined the rest group in the kitchen.

"So, when were ya going to tell us about tha radio?" She angrily asked.

"Tell you what?" Bucky glared.

"That it's working! That there's someone else on tha other ends of that thing!" She yelled, getting up in Danny's face. "Ya didn't think that might have been worth sharing with tha rest of us?! Well?!"

"I was going to tell you." He quickly said, choosing to be honest with Sandy. "Bucky and I only found out yesterday."

"So both of you were keeping it from the rest of us? Great." She scoffed.

"Who gives a shit about the damn radio?" Bucky exclaimed. "I'm more worried about whoever it was out there ringing that damn bell and bringing the dead down on top of us! It's like they didn't want us to make it to the docks!"

"What makes you think it's not the same person?" She asked. "Whoever was on the radio was close enough to see us in the street and we didn't see anyone else other than the guy in the belltower."

"Because that doesn't make a lick of damn sense; why would they bring out the dead like that and then try to warn us about it?" Bucky asked.

"How much sense does anything make anymore? In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of twisted folks out there these days!" She snapped. "At least the dead don't play games with you."

"Whoever it was, seems like they're following us and I don't like being followed." Danny glared at the radio he had placed on the counter.

"All the more reason to get on a damn boat, where we can't be followed!"

"I'm not going back out there any time soon and SpongeBob needs to rest." She pointed out.

"Look, why don't we just stay here a little longer?" Kwan suggested. "SpongeBob needs rest, and we need to wait for the infected outside to thin out."

"Plus it will be night soon, that's when ghosts like to come out and hunt." Mr. Dinkleberg added with a fearful shiver.

"Suit yourselves." Bucky sighed in defeat. "But I'm not gonna wait around too long for someone else to grab up those boats, that's our ticket out of here."

"Place seems secure, at least," Dash said nonchalantly.

"I'll feel better when we know that for sure, we need to check the whole house." Sandy frowned.

"Alright, fine." Bucky sighed and turned to Dash and Kwan. "You two and I will take the upstairs, Danny, you've got down here; make sure you check every door, understand?"

"Okay." Danny nodded and without another word, Bucky, Dash, and Kwan headed upstairs, and Sandy and Mr. Dinkleberg went into the living room to check on SpongeBob and Patrick, leaving Danny and the kids alone in the kitchen.

"Is there anything I can do?" Timmy suddenly asked, despite the disapproving glare from Jimmy.

"Thanks, but I got it." He smiled. "Hang out with the others downstairs until I get back, okay?"

"Danny... I'm sorry." The pink hatted boy muttered, looking at the ground.

"What for?"

"Going through the door like that, without checking first." He replied. "I guess that was pretty dumb, huh?"

"Just ask me first, next time you're gonna outsmart all the grown-ups." He joked. "Okay?"

"Okay." Timmy smiled and all three kids ran off into the living room as Danny began looking around the kitchen for anything dangerous or something to eat, but it seemed like it had been picked clean. He examined the cabinets but unfortunately, his suspicions proved right as they were all empty. He looked at the sink and tried to turn it on but there was nothing. The water must have been cut off. Seeing the refrigerator, he opened it up but it was all cleaned out and the light didn't flicker on.

Guessing all power had been cut off from the house he tried to turn the microwave on but nothing happened, proving his theory correct.

It was then that he noticed a drawing on the counter; he looked at it and sighed sadly when he saw it was a crayon drawing depicted a brown dog with the caption 'My Dog, Walter' scrawled in the corner. Not being able to look at the innocent drawing, Danny turned away and saw the bag of dog food dumped on the counter. He really hoped they never got desperate enough for food like that started looking appetizing. True he was hungry, but he was nowhere near THAT hungry.

Besides, he needed to finish checking downstairs before he could worry about that.

Realizing that there was nothing for him in the kitchen, he moved into the living room where the others were. As his eyes scanned the room he noticed a large, old grandfather clock sat in the corner, it must've stopped working a while ago as there was no ticking. As he looked around some more, he found a couple of whiskey bottles in one of the empty cabinets. Danny frowned, he was surprised at the thought of whoever cleared this place out leaving behind two bottles of whiskey, especially in times like these when he thought adults would be begging for the stuff.

He considered taking some of the whiskey for himself but quickly shook that idea away as that was probably not the best idea right now, he needed to stay frosty.

The teen sighed as he dropped his rucksack on the coffee table and took out his sword. The table looked expensive and heavy. He chuckled weakly as he doubted any looters who came through would be able to haul that old thing too far. The only other things in the room were some paintings that weren't exactly his style and a large portrait of the family who Danny guessed once lived in the house hanging above the cold fireplace. Danny looked at the portrait and saw a couple with their son and a dog.

He sighed and shook his head sadly.

It was then that he noticed a door to the left of the fireplace. He gripped his sword tightly as he quickly opened the door, only to relax when he found it to just be an empty closet. Seeing a door at the other side of the room, Danny swiftly walked over to it and opened the other door, readying his sword, and sighed, finding it to just be a bathroom. The only thing left to check was a pair of double doors in the hallway. The black and white-haired teen pushed open the double doors, only for a shadow to suddenly leap at him.

Letting out a cry, Danny slashed his sword and a cut in half broom fell over, clattering to the floor.

"What? What happened?" Tootie called in fear.

"It's nothing! Just... nothing." He sighed as he placed the broom pieces back and closed the doors before he went to join the others in the living room. "Well, the place ain't got much, we should be okay here for a while, at least until it quiets down outside."

"Good." Sandy nodded.

"Is he okay?" The teen asked, casting SpongeBob a worried glance.

"Yeah, for now." She sighed. "But I'm really worried his leg might've gotten infected, don't suppose you turned up any meds while you were poking around?"

"Nah, just dog food and there's some whiskey in the back."

"I was just asking the kids if they know who the man on Timmy's radio is." Mr. Dinkleberg said and turned back to the kids, who looked away. "It's okay, kids, you can tell us; who is he? What does he want?" He asked, but instead of answering him, Tootie was still as a statue, Jimmy was looking anywhere but at another person, and Timmy glanced up at Danny.

"Go ahead, Timmy, you're not in any trouble." The teen smiled reassuringly at his young ward and Timmy sighed before answering the question.

"It's just a friend; I don't think he wants to hurt any of us." He replied reluctantly.

"He already knew all our names, but we couldn't tell whose voice it is," Jimmy added, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"What has he been saying to you? What have you been saying to him?" Mr. Dinkleberg asked, fearing for the safety of himself and the group.

"I told him we were trying to find our parents, and that they were in Bikini Bottom; he wants to help us find them," Timmy replied with a small, hopeful smile that pained Danny. Every instinct was telling him to tell the boys about the messages he found left on the answering machine, but then he looked at Tootie. He saw how the loss of Nicky and Vicky had affected the little girl and he didn't want that to happen to Jimmy and Timmy. If he could, he would ensure those two boys held onto that tiny bit of innocents for as long as possible.

He knew they needed to grow up sooner than later, but not yet.

"DANNY!" Dash suddenly roared from upstairs, scaring everyone in the house. Danny had already pulled out his sword and was dashing the stairs just as Kwan ran partway down.

"Danny, you need to get up here now!" He gasped, looking terrified and pale, scaring the teen even more.

"What's wrong?" Asked Danny as he listened for any other noise. Other than the quiet moan of the dead outside and the fearful chatter from the others downstairs there weren't any sounds of Dash or Bucky.

"It's Bucky." He replied solemnly. That was all Danny needed to hear before he followed Kwan upstairs towards the stairs to the attic just as Dash climbed down, looking just as pale as Kwan and ready to throw up. Before Danny could ask what was wrong, the jock suddenly bolted to a nearby bathroom and they both could hear him vomiting violently into the dry toilet.

"Bucky said he thought he heard something up there, went to go look with Dash, and now we can't get him to come down," Kwan explained as he stared up at the darkness above them. Danny ordered Kwan to waited by the stairs before he started climbing up the attic stairs. When he entered the attic, he saw Bucky kneeling on the floor with his back to the teen. His gun was discarded on the ground next to him as he stared ahead with a blank expression.

"Bucky? You okay, man?" Danny quietly asked as he slowly approached the frozen man, only to stumble back and gag when he was suddenly hit with a disgusting, rotting smell. He was about to ask what the smell was but froze when he finally saw what Bucky was staring at. Stand at the other side of the giant attic, illuminated by the large oval window, was the shriveled infected corpse of a young boy. It took a step forward towards them only to fall, unable to support its own weight on its stick-like limbs.

The corpse was only wearing white briefs, showing just who skinny the poor child was.

It had a few clumps of shaggy blonde hair and a few dozen flies hovered around and crawling on its rotting gray skin. Danny now understood why Dash had all but ran out of here and threw up. The smell alone was bad enough, but the thought of what this poor child had been through made bile build up in the back of Danny's throat.

"Kinda looks like Chester, don't he?" Bucky suddenly mumbled, startling Danny.

"What the hell happened to him...?" The black-and-white-haired teen muttered in horror.

"Ain't nothing on him; guess he must've been hiding out up here and starved to death." Bucky gulped as he finally managed to tear his eyes away from the child and towards his gun.

"I don't know if I can, Danny." He whimpered, unable to pick up the gun. "Couldn't do it before, can't do it now."

"I can't ask you to do this, I'll take care of it as I did before." He told the grieving father as he stepped forward. The infected were still lying on the floor but were growling weakly and reaching towards them, unable to crawl over.

"A-Are you sure?"

"I guess we'll find out." He sighed as he held up his sword and walked towards the infected. It was still reaching for Bucky and didn't seem to acknowledge the teen for some reason. When he saw this, Danny decided to take a second to look around the child's makeshift camp. The poor kid must have tried to hide out up here until he starved to death. Danny shuddered when he realized that this could have been Timmy and Jimmy if he hadn't found them when he did.

Danny then looked a the sleeping bag with a cowboy-themed blanket and teddy bear, knowing this must have been where he slept.

He noticed the empty plates and sighed. There wasn't even a crumb downstairs for the boy to eat so he either ran out of food or it was taken by raiders. Like the group almost did and like they still might. There were a few empty water bottles and Danny almost cried when he concluded that the boy probably died of dehydration before he starved. When the boy tried and failed to stand up again Danny couldn't let this go on any longer. He gave the infected boy one last sympathetic look before he brought the sword down and stabbed the boy through the heart.

The corpse gave one last jerk before falling still and dissolving into a green puddle across the attic.

Neither of them said anything as Bucky finally stood up and approached the boy's sleeping bag. Danny followed his gaze and saw he was staring at the blanket and teddy bear, both stained with ectoplasm.

"We should bury them." Bucky finally said and Danny didn't argue.

"I'll take care of it." He promised and carefully wrapped the teddy in the blanket and carried it downstairs. He saw the others watching him and he knew Kwan or Dash had told them what was in the attic. Danny said nothing as he passed by them and entered the backyard. He placed it in the grave with the dog and quickly covered the grave with dirt as Jimmy and Timmy briefly watch from a distance before going inside. Danny finished filling the grave and was about to head back inside, only to freeze when he noticed a figure behind the fence.

The person suddenly ran away as soon as Danny noticed them, not allowing the teen to properly identify them.

"Hey! Hey! Who are you? What the hell do you want from us?!" Danny shouted after them, but the person was long gone. Alerted by the shouting Sandy and Kwan ran out to the backyard, armed and ready.

"What's going on?" Sandy demanded, scared that all the shouting would alert the infected.

"I saw someone standing there by the fence, watching us," Danny replied, glancing uneasily at the fence and now empty street.

"An infected?" Kwan asked, but Danny shook his head.

"It was too fast; took off like a bat out of hell when I spotted them."

"Was it a man or a woman?" Asked Sandy, but Danny just shrugged. He didn't get a good enough look to make a call.

"What does it matter?" Kwan huffed.

"I'm wondering if it's the same creepy guy who's been following us on that radio!" She snapped just as Bucky stepped out of the house. In the light of the day, he looked even worst than Danny thought he did in the dark attic. Bucky walked over to the trio but kept his eyes on the makeshift grave Danny had made for the boy and his dog.

"Bucky?" Danny said nervously, worried the slightest thing would either send his friend into a rage or cause him to break down completely.

"I'm fine... just... what's all the ruckus?" He grumbled, finally looking at the three of them.

"Danny saw someone watching us from outside the gate." Kwan gulped as his eyes darted around fearfully, scared to see something looking back at them. The news that someone might be watching them from afar was enough to snap Bucky out of his sad daze and caused him to stiffen up in worry and anger.

"What?! Who?!" He cried, looking ready for a fight.

"I can't be sure, they ran off before I could get a good look." Danny sighed, still feeling like they were being watched, but was unable to see anyone past the fence. "I don't like this one bit."

"Me either." Sandy agreed. "Infected and Ghosts are one thing, but the thought of someone out there actually stalking us..." She trailed off nervously.

"Alright, that's it! We've stuck around here long enough!" Bucky exclaimed angrily. "It's time to get back on track, time to get down to the docks and find ourselves a boat!"

"We don't know if Spongebob's well enough to move yet." Danny pointed out, wanting to get out of here but not wanting to lose any more friends.

"Well, he'd better get ready." Bucky snapped. "I'm going down to River Street right now to find a boat, and as soon as she's ready to go we're moving out."

"We only checked the house to make sure it's secure, we didn't really toss the place." The teen pointed out, trying to get more time for Spongebob's recovery. "We're low on food, water, meds, and ammo, so we should make sure there's nothing here we can use before we move out."

"You search it if you wanna, I'm done with this house." Bucky hissed and turned to leave. "We came to this city to find a boat, and that's just what I'm gonna do."

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea to check the place one more-"

"I SAID I'M DONE WITH THIS HOUSE!" He suddenly shouted, cutting Kwan off and causing Danny and Sandy to jump. Everyone became silent for a moment, scared that his outburst would alert any nearby infected to their location. When it was clear they were still safe, Bucky's anger melted into sorrow and regret once again, realizing he almost endangered the group.

"We can do both." Danny suddenly decided and everyone turned their attention to him. "Kwan, you and Dash take one last look around the place, grab anything that looks useful, while Bucky and I go down to the docks to get us a boat."

"Wait, can't I come too?" Timmy suddenly asked from the door, listening in to the end of their conversation, and catching the four of them off guard. "Our parents can't be far away now, maybe we can look for them on the way to the docks." He asked hopefully and Danny had to think carefully about what to say next.

"Timmy, I think it'd be best if you stayed here with Jimmy and Tootie." He replied as he knelt to the bucktooth child's level. "I need you guys to watch out for Spongebob and Patrick, help them get ready to move out."

"But you said we're supposed to always stay close to you." Timmy pointed out and Danny mentally cursed.

"I know, but it's just this one time; sometimes we all have to put aside what we want for the good of the group." He explained, but that did little to ease Timmy's worry for his guardian. What if Danny didn't come back to the house? What if he got bitten? Who would protect him and Jimmy then? Danny was the only one the pair trusted out of the entire group to protect and care for them and if he was gone Timmy was scared they wouldn't last the night.

Danny was quick to catch Timmy's worried expression and placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll be back soon." He promised and Timmy reluctantly nodded in understanding, but he still looked worried. Sensing his growing unease, Sandy decided to distract him with a task and led the boy back inside the safety of the house.

"Daylight's burning; gonna go grab my gear, then we'll head out," Bucky said before following the pair inside, leaving Kwan and Danny in the garden.

"So, you're just gonna leave me =on the bench here?" Kwan snapped impatiently, not happy about being left behind to look after the injured and the children.

"No offense, Kwan, but I'd feel safer if you and Dash stayed here." Danny hissed angrily, putting both jocks on notice.

"How am I not to take offense to that? What am I, a liability?!" Kwan exclaimed with a huff. "Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence!"

"Confidence is earned, and you've both got a long way to go to earn yours back after some of the stuff you've pulled." Danny snarled, growing more and more irritated at Kwan's words after everything they had both done to get the group into this mess. Kwan looked like he was about to argue when Bucky suddenly came back out with his gun reloaded and secured. The jock gave Danny another scowl before quickly making his way inside the house.

Bucky gave Danny a confused look, but the teen said nothing and as soon as they were certain the coast was clear, the pair headed for the beach to search for a boat...