**Warning! Self-insert/OC ahead. If you don't like it, then don't burden yourself with it. Some people should know that Chandler, AZ is a real place and the streets used in it are real streets. So doing this in itself should've given a red flag for a SI/OC. Anyway, enjoy. Once again, DLDR.**
"Vincent, come on, hurry and get in the car!" a young woman's voice called.
"Sorry! I'm coming!" a young man, about a year older than the girl stepped out of a door leading to an apartment. He wore his long black hair back in a ponytail and wore a light blue shirt with faded, dirty jeans. He had a shotgun strapped over his shoulder and held a laundry basket full of clothes of several colors and sizes. His eyes were brown and he wore thin-framed glasses.
"Whoa! Don't let the cat out." She gasped upon seeing an orange cat thinking about going out the door. She wore a blue and red shirt and light-colored jeans and her long brown hair in a bun topped with an olive-green hat. Her blue-framed glasses complimented her blue eyes.
"I won't let the cat out." Vincent grumbled, "Buka, back." He snapped.
The cat reluctantly turned around and trotted back into the house, jingling her collar as she ran. The girl sighed.
"Relax, everything's gonna be fine." Vincent reassured her, he leaned over and kissed her, trying not to hit her with the laundry basket.
"Hey- uh… Tacome?" a male, Southern voice called from inside, "Where do you keep the shampoo?" he asked.
"In one of the cabinets in the bathroom." The brunette called, "Try the white box in there." She said.
Vincent walked around her and popped open the trunk in the small, sky-blue car beside Tacome, "Should we grab some veggies while we're over there?" he asked.
"Yeah, and probably water everything, too." She nodded. She got into the car and waited patiently for Vincent to take the passenger seat. She watched the sky for a moment. As soon as Vincent sat down, she leaned toward him, "Go tell Ellis that we're gonna spend the night over there. I don't want to travel after dark."
"What about Jayden?" he asked.
She thought for a while. "Tell Rochelle, then. She'll be discreet about it. Just tell her to tell Jayden that we'll be back after he goes to sleep."
"Okay." Vincent said unsure and went back into the house.
She remained silent. She'd heard gunshots, all seven of her and her group. She watched the street for a while. She felt the car shake slightly.
"You okay?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah…" she shook her head and took the keys from him and started the car.
"What's wrong?"
"Someone's out there." She looked at him.
He looked at her for a while, "Come on…" he took her hand and squeezed it, "Let's go get some laundry done."
Tacome nodded and put the car in drive. As she started driving, she kept the windows rolled down and the stereo off so she could hear what was going on outside. The second she heard a bellow, she slammed on the brakes and watched a Charger run straight in front of the car. "Was that Charger-?"
"Come on!" Vincent jumped out of the car and ran after the Charger.
"Help! Sam!"
Tacome jumped out of the car after putting it in park and ran after Vincent who was now shooting at the Charger. With a final shot to the back of the Charger's head, the Charger dropped dead and began crushing his victim.
"Tacome, help me get this thing off him!" Vincent grunted and began shoving at the Charger.
Tacome stood by him and shoved at the body. When they finally pushed the Charger off, they helped up Danny.
He took a moment to catch his breath and to realize what had happened. He looked up at Vincent and Tacome, "Hey… people." He smiled, then he turned to look passed them, "Sam! People!" he called.
Sam caught up with them, "Danny! Are you okay?" she hugged him tightly.
Tacome looked at Danny for a while, "Are those my work pants?" she asked, "And that's my shirt." She said, "Where'd you get those?"
Sam and Danny looked at them, "This house with some vegetables growing out front." Danny said.
"That's my house." Tacome said, "I thought it was locked." She looked at Vincent, didn't you and Nick lock it last time you were over there?"
"There's more of you?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, five." Vincent nodded.
"Five?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, is it just you two out here?" Tacome asked.
"No, there's two more back at the house." Danny shook his head.
"Well that explains the gunshots we've been hearing." Tacome turned to Vincent.
"No doubt." He agreed.
"We've been hearing gunshots too." Danny said, "We were actually just out looking for the source of them."
Tacome shook her head, "Come on, let's get inside." she led the others back to the car.
Upon entering the house, the four was silent in courtesy to let Jazz and Tucker sleep. "What happened to them?" Tacome said quietly.
"He was revived with a defibrillator this morning." Sam pointed at Tucker.
"And she was attacked by a Hunter before that." Danny pointed at Jazz.
Vincent nodded, seeing the bruises that wrapped around Tucker's neck, then looked at Danny who also had bruises around his neck, he noticed. "Smoker? The same Smoker?" he asked.
"No." Sam said, "They weren't attacked at the same time."
"But the Smoker could've travelled." Vincent pointed out.
Danny shrugged and sat down, "Doubt it. The Smoker that-" he paused, "Wait, you call them Smokers too?" he asked.
Tacome nodded, "Yeah. That's what everyone else called them. The names are kind of easy to figure out." She began sorting the laundry that was salvageable due to zombie encounters.
"So how long have you two been out here?" Sam asked.
Tacome and Vincent looked at each other. "About three years?"
Their eyes widened, "Three years? It's only been about a week since it hit Amity Park." Danny said and looked at Sam.
"The infection started here. Or-" Vincent paused, "In California. It just took a really long time to travel to… where's Amity Park?" he asked.
"Michigan." Danny said.
"Wow. Wait- if it hit Michigan about a week ago, then how'd you guys get here so quickly?" Tacome stopped sorting and looked at them. "Unless you were travelling into the heart of the storm before it hit?"
Danny and Sam looked at each other, unsure if it was safe to tell them the truth. He looked down and let her make the decision. He trusted her, sometimes he'd be so paranoid he'd over think things and the situation may not actually be that bad.
Sam took a deep breath and helped pick up some laundry, "Let's get this taken care of and I'll explain." She said.
Tacome looked at her in confusion, then complied. If things were this complicated, that explaining would require a one-on-one conversation with a stranger, then Tacome debated on whether or not to just save Sam the trouble and say 'forget it' but she wanted to know.
After they closed the back door and they were in the laundry room, which Sam never actually noticed until now.
"So… how? What's going on?" Tacome asked again, loading one load of clothes into the washer.
"Um…" Sam fiddled with her hands, "Danny's not exactly… normal."
"What, does he have some sort of condition or something?" she asked.
"No. Well… kind of." Sam said, "He's…" she didn't know how to put it without sounding crazy, "He has powers." She said, "That are failing, but he still has them. with having these powers, he's met several new kinds of… people, I guess." She said.
"Just cut to the chase." Tacome said flatly, giving her a blank look.
"His ghost powers allow him to travel to the other side. Which is a Ghost Zone." She said, "A friend of ours there, another ghost, helped us travel through a portal to get here."
Tacome gave her a strange look. "So wait, your friend's got ghost powers and there's such a thing as a Ghost Portal?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes." Sam nodded. "I know- it sounds crazy, but it's the truth." Sam ran her fingers through her hair. "That's how we got here so quickly." She said.
Tacome was still giving her a strange look. "I don't believe it."
"It's how we managed to survive this whole time. He slipped us through a pawn shop, he's almost escaped a Witch- he killed a Bulldozer!" Sam said, trying to redeem her supposed farfetched story.
Tacome snapped a glare at her, "You don't lie about Bulldozers." She growled, standing up to be slightly taller than her. "You can't kill a Bulldozer and that's fact. It's damn near impossible."
"But he did." Sam said, not letting her intimidate her. "He overshadowed a Tank and killed the Bulldozer as a Tank. You've got to believe me. It's the truth. His parents were ghost hunters who always had new inventions and they built a portal. It wasn't working, so I suggested that Danny went in there to see was wrong and he accidentally turned on while he was inside. He got shocked and his DNA was fused with ghost DNA. He's had ghost powers since!" she said, desperate at this point to get Tacome to believe her, "It's how we were able to get into this house. I was hurt and this was the only house intact, so we tried here. It was locked. But Danny phased me through the wall. He's half ghost."
Tacome rolled her eyes and started the washer, "If I see this kid's powers, then I'll believe you. It's just not possible. If he's half ghost, then that'd mean that he's technically partially dead." She said, "Let me see these powers and I'll believe you." She said firmly.
Sam nodded and walked inside nervously, motioning for Danny to go to her.
He got up as though he was in trouble.
"She wants to see. She won't believe me otherwise." Sam said.
Danny looked over and saw Tacome with her arms crossed. He sighed and came into full view, standing up straight. At this moment, he hoped that his powers would fail as he let the rings scan his body.
Tacome's eyes widened and her jaw dropped to see that Sam was indeed telling the truth. "G-ghost powers." She stepped back.
Danny furrowed his brows and grabbed his head.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked, knowing something was wrong.
"My head's spinning." He grunted and looked at her. He was paler than normal in his ghost form and had slight rings under his eyes.
"God, you look terrible." Sam said.
"So…" Tacome stammered, "You did kill a Bulldozer?" she asked.
He looked back up at her and nodded, leaning against Sam and changing back to his human form. He looked back at his hands.
Sam looked back at him, seeing that he was still pale, but not nearly as bad as before. "What was that?"
Danny stood back on his own, "I don't know. Is it possible for my ghost half to get sick?" he asked. "That's what it felt like." He said.
Tacome was at a loss for words. There was a half-ghost staying in her house. "And this happened because of your parents?" she asked.
"Yeah." Danny nodded.
"Now do you believe me?" Sam asked.
Tacome nodded, "Yeah, now I do."
Sam sighed in relief. "Thank you."
"It's gonna take quite a bit of explaining for Vincent. But then again, he might get this right off the bat." She said and walked inside, then stopped, "Why are you wearing my clothes, by the way?" she asked, pointing at the high school shirt that Danny wore.
"I fell in the pool." Danny said, "My clothes got soaked."
Tacome nodded, "Okay."
"Hey, you're the Sonic employee." He pointed out, seeing the small logo embroidered on her shirt. "I saw the other shirt in the closet."
She glanced down at her shirt, "Yeah, I am. Was. The outbreak happened when I was working." She explained, "Pretty much everyone I worked with got evacuated. I'm sure." She said.
"Except you." Sam said.
Tacome sighed and sat down in one of the patio chairs, "I would've been evacuated. But there wasn't any more room left for me or my fiancé." She said. "So we stayed here."
"Just… surviving?" Danny asked and sat in another chair.
Sam sat on a bar stool and listened carefully.
"What choice did we have? There wasn't enough room for us, so we couldn't get evacuated. But we killed plenty of time and zombies. It's almost safe to walk down the street without getting eaten." She said, "Vincent and I killed zombies and Witches, Tanks, Chargers, so many that we lost count. Now it only a matter of 'how many zombies did you kill today?' or 'hey, did you see Saundra?"
"Saundra?" Sam asked, "Who's that?
"One of the meanest people we knew. And a Witch." She said, "She always roams, never cries, and never fails at sneaking up on you." She warned, "She's got black hair and several tattoos on her arms and legs. If you kill her, you are God." She said. "She'll even kill another zombie. I've seen her slaughter a Hunter. I actually felt bad for him."
"Geez." Sam cringed, then saw how tense Danny was about talking about this Witch. "If she never cries, then how do we hear her coming?" Sam asked.
"She is always growling." Tacome said. "If you come across this Witch, run." She advised sternly. "It's bad enough to try and outrun a regular. But even try to outrun this Witch, good luck to you."
Danny shook his head, "So you said there are others. Where are they?" he asked.
"In an apartment back on Ray." Tacome said, "They'll be fine. They've been with us for two years." She explained.
Danny nodded and coughed, "I'm gonna go lie down." he stood up, "I'm starting to feel light-headed." He explained and walked back inside.
Tacome watched him leave, "What's with him?"
"His mom turned into a Witch and killed his dad." Sam said, "He saw what had happened to his dad and was scared of Witches since then." Sam explained. "His mom tried to kill him and his sister."
"He's got a sister?" Tacome asked.
"Yeah, the redhead in the living room." Sam pointed behind her.
Tacome nodded, "Okay, I see the resemblance." So… how long has your boyfriend had his ghost powers?" she asked.
"A couple years. He got them when we were fourteen." Sam answered simply.
"Dinner!" Vincent's voice called from the kitchen.
"Come on, let's get something to eat." Tacome pat Sam's back.