**Sorry for any wait, guys, I had writer's block something fierce and it kept me from finishing the chapter. So... here it is! I only own Vincent (technically my fiance does), Tacome and Jayden. I don't own DP or L4D2. Enjoy!**
The following morning, Danny opened his eyes and felt as though a shovel hit him in the face, the pain vibrating and rattling his head, allowing nausea to churn through his body. He rolled over on the couch carefully and pulled the blanket over his head. He and Tucker had spent the night on the couches in the living room while Jazz and Sam were given permission to stay in the purple room with the bunk beds. He took a deep breath and tried concentrating to force away the headache, but had no such luck. He groaned and grabbed his head.
"Danny? You okay man?" Tucker looked up, seeing Danny's huddled, blanketed form on the couch, his bare feet barely peeking out from under the comforter. He sat up and put a hand on his shoulder, "Dude, you okay?"
"My head hurts…" his muffled voice complained.
Tucker looked down and thought for a while. He straightened up and walked off toward the master bedroom. He knocked on the door, "Vince? Tacome? Where are the washcloths?" he asked.
The door opened, showing Vincent shirtless and with messy hair. Despite his vision being blurry, he was barely able to see Tacome lying on the bed behind him, also shirtless, but luckily facing away from them and covering her chest with a blanket. "What?" Vincent asked.
"Uh- washcloth?" Tucker repeated. He was tired and knew Vincent was just as tired as he was.
"Hall closet across from the bathroom." He said sleepily and pointed to a door in the hallway behind Tucker.
"Ah, thanks." He waved and turned around to the hall closet. After he retrieved an aqua blue-colored washcloth, he went to the kitchen sink and soaked it with hot water, but not hot enough to burn him. He wrung out the washcloth and handed it to Danny, "Here, put this on the back of your neck." He said, "It should help."
Danny's hand poked out of the blanket and took the cloth, then his other arm flipped the rest of the blanket off his head, causing him to pause and wince. He forced open an eye and squinted at the warm rag. He carefully put the rag around the back of his neck and relaxed, "Thank you." He said.
Tucker sat down, "Don't worry about it." He said and laid back, "After spending several hours in front of a computer six inches away from my face, I was bound to get a headache. It's something my mom always did for me." He said, then sighed, "I wonder how mom and dad are doing…" he pondered.
Danny sunk a little bit, he wasn't sure if Tucker or Sam's parents escaped the apocalypse. He only knew that his didn't. He just wanted to assume that they were okay. They had no real sure way of knowing except to get evacuated themselves and the chance of finding them would still be slim. He then heard snoring behind him and realized that Tucker had fallen asleep again.
Tacome walked out into the living room fully clothed and looked at the couches, seeing that Danny and Tucker had both fallen back to sleep. She nodded and went out back, finishing the last load of laundry before she and Vincent were going to go back to the apartment. She'd explained Danny's powers to Vincent the night before as they were going to bed and discovered that he was a little surprised. She sighed and remembered how sick Danny had gotten in his ghost form, and how confused and concerned they were. Getting sick in the zombie apocalypse was the last thing they were going to need. She then heard growling. She gasped and ran back inside, grabbing the first weapon she could find, which just happened to be a naginata that sat next to the door. She peered out the window and surely enough, a Witch was walking by the house, holding her head and growling viciously. Tacome stared out the window and paid no mind over the fact that she hovered right over Danny.
"What the- whoa!" Danny yelped before Tacome slapped a hand over his mouth. She glanced at him then looked outside.
"It's Saundra." She said.
He carefully sat up and froze upon the sight of the Witch, her black hair draped over her shoulders, a white t-shirt clearly oversized on her and a pair of dark blue shorts. Her claws and body coated in blood. She stopped momentarily and looked over at the front of the house, towards the window that belonged to Tacome's old bedroom.
Tacome jumped and ran down the hall. He heard her swing open the door and carefully wake up the two girls, but his eyes never left Saundra. She approached the wall, then charged. The following screams and shouts were nightmarish. It sounded almost like a dog fight where just one dog was clearly winning.
Jazz and Sam made their way out into the living room trembling. Tucker had heard the commotion and woke up to see what was going on. He was only allowed at the spot beside Danny by the window. After a few more seconds, there was silence. Saundra walked off covered in fresh blood and growling. The five watched her leave and walk down the street and turn the corner.
"That's Saundra?" Sam asked.
Tacome only nodded.
Before long another vehicle pulled up to the house. Out stepped two adults, one only slightly tanned and wearing a tight blue t-shirt with a white fishing lure logo and the other paler with a brown-striped Polo. They walked out in front of the house and went to the spot where Saundra had attacked.
"Who's that?" Jazz asked.
Tacome stepped out the front door, "Hey, guys, we're okay." She said, "That was just another zombie."
"You never know." The one with the fishing lure shrugged, "We heard Saundra attack from the house and came right over. Wanted to make sure y'all were okay." He said, his accent was heavily southern.
"Your kid's worried about you." The paler one said, "We wanted to bring him over, but decided against it. Just in case Saundra did get one of you." The two men walked in the front door and looked at the four new teens sitting on the couches, "Hey, you found more people."
There was a loud yawn walking down the hall, "Have a little more faith in us, guys." Vincent said. "We know better than to let Saundra of all people get to us." He said and scratched the back of his neck.
"Who are these guys?" the southern one asked, "Where'd they come from?"
"You know those gunshots we've been hearing?" Tacome asked.
"Oh…" the one in the polo nodded.
"Ah, well…" the southern one chuckled, "I'm Ellis, and this here's Nick." He introduced.
"I'm Jazz…" the redhead said sleepily, "This is Sam. That's Tucker, and that's my brother, Danny." She pointed at the respective teens.
"Pleasure to meet all of you." Ellis lifted his hat slightly.
"How long have you been out here?" Nick asked.
"Um…" Danny looked at Tucker, "Two days?"
"At least out here in Arizona." Tucker said.
"Where are you from?"
"They got over here from Michigan through a ghost portal because he has ghost powers and has connections." Tacome summarized.
"Still cool, by the way." Vincent held up a hand to high-five Danny.
Danny high-fived him and looked down nervously.
Nick and Ellis exchanged confused glances, "Uh? Come again?"
Danny rolled his eyes and transformed, causing the two grown men to jump and stare in shock. He looked at them with green eyes before doubling over and coughing.
"Danny!" Sam knelt by him and pat his back, "What's wrong?"
"I- don't know…" he said between coughs. Then he forced himself to stand and change back before plopping back on the couch.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Tacome asked, only having seen it twice.
"No." Sam shook her head.
"My ghost half's getting sick." Danny said, "I didn't think it possible."
The others looked at each other. "Has your ghost half gotten sick before?" Vincent asked.
"Only if I'm sick." Danny said, "But by himself? No." he shook his head, "No, Nick said you have a kid?" he asked.
Tacome and Vincent nodded, "Yeah- when?"
"As he walked in. He said that you're kid was worried about you." Jazz said.
"Oh." Tacome nodded, barely remembering the comment, "Yeah, a little two-year-old." She said. "Jayden."
"Wait- didn't you say you were out here three years?" Sam rose an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Vincent said, "What were we thinking? Having a kid in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?" he asked, repeating what had been said to him and Tacome several times. "We didn't try." He said.
"Their condom broke." Ellis said giggling.
Nick slapped the back of his head.
Vincent shot a glare at Ellis. Then looked back at the disturbed teens in front of him, "What he said." he said. Tacome had turned bright red and left to finish the laundry. "But forget about the details. The point is: we didn't try having a kid, it just happened. And he's healthy, so that's the important part."
"And smart, holy shit." Nick cursed and grabbed his head.
"Enough about us, though." Ellis sat down, "What's your guys' story? What happened when the apocalypse hit in Michigan?"
Danny opened his mouth, then closed it again. "I'm gonna go help Tacome." He said and left the room.
Jazz looked down.
"What's with him?"
"Our mom turned into a Witch." Jazz said. "She killed our dad and only Danny saw it." She said. "He's been traumatized and scared of Witches since then."
"Damn…" Ellis said.
"We were at our fast food place when a Tank ran through and almost tore down the whole building." Sam said, "It was actually my birthday."
"Oh- well happy late birthday." Vincent said.
"What happened to your parents?" Nick asked.
"We just decided to say that they were evacuated." Tucker said. "Best to hope for the best in a situation like this… I guess." He said.
"Off topic:" Sam started, "Have you guys seen a halberd lying around?"
"We have one at the house." Ellis said. "Coach and I found it on our way to pick up some more ammo. Is it yours?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Should probably just have Coach and Rochelle come over here with Jayden." Vincent said. "Everyone gets a chance to meet everyone."
"You okay, kid?" Tacome asked when Danny sat in one of the chairs.
"I'd rather not talk about it." He leaned back, "I'll just leave it at that."
"Ah…" she nodded, "Family stuff?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Okay." She said, "Then I won't pry."
"And whatever's going on with my ghost powers is bugging me. I didn't know I could get sick in that form and be perfectly fine as I am now." He said.
"Did something happen before you got here? Or before we met?"
"Not that I can think of." Danny shook his head. "I went to the Ghost Zone for a bit, but that was it." He said.
"Mommy?" a small voice called after the door opened.
Danny looked over and saw a toddler standing in the doorway. "Tacome? Is this Jayden?" he asked.
Tacome popped her head out of the laundry room, "Jay-jay, come here sweetie!" she called excitedly.
The child giggled and ran to Tacome and threw his arms around her legs.
"Jayden, look." She knelt and pointed at Danny, "This is Danny." She said. "Go say hi."
"Danny?" he walked over to Danny and reached up for a hug.
Danny knelt down to Jayden's level and hugged him. "And he's two?" he asked.
"Two?" Jayden asked and walked back inside, "Daddy?"
"If Jayden's here, then Coach and Rochelle are too." Tacome deduced, "Come in and meet them." she said, "Hopefully it'll take your mind off some things." She guided Danny inside. when they walked back inside, Vincent was sitting on the chair holding Jayden on his lap and there were two new people on the couches accompanying Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. "Danny, this is Coach," Jazz motioned to the heavyset darker man beside Nick, "And that's Rochelle." She motioned to the darker woman that sat by Tucker. Sam and Jazz were sitting on the floor against the entertainment center at the front of the room. He nodded and bowed a little, nervous considering he'd never met these people before, "I'm Danny." He said and sat down beside Jazz.
Vincent had gotten into the kitchen and began throwing something together for a large breakfast. He glanced up and watched everyone talking amongst themselves and getting to know each other. However, he noticed that Danny remained silent and kept to himself. He looked back down at his cooking and continued. After putting together a large pot of soup, he called everyone in for breakfast.
"I don't get it." Sam said, slurping away, "We couldn't find any food when we got here." She said, "Where was this?"
"Oh, well, Coach and I brought it over from the apartment." Rochelle said.
"We had no idea you guys were here." Ellis said, "And you guys are so young."
"Hey, uh… Danny, right?" Vincent called, "Mind giving me a hand?" he asked.
Danny has already finished eating. He wasn't too hungry and didn't get much to eat. He stood up and set his bowl down and followed Vincent out back. It didn't occur to him before how infested it was back there with mosquitoes. Every so often he'd smack his forearm or the side of his neck, only finding that the mosquito had escapes before he had a chance to swat it. "Are these mosquitoes here because of the pool?" he asked.
"Yeah, and it rained a lot quite a bit ago, so that's why the pool got filled up. It was empty." Vincent explained
Danny shuddered, realizing that he fell into a pool full of mosquito larvae and his clothes were most likely infested with them.
"You okay?" Vincent turned and asked.
"I fell in the pool the other day." He said grimly.
"Gross." Vincent bent over and picked up a basket. "Here, can you help me take this to the car?" he asked.
"Sure." Danny took the basket.
"Go ahead and open the back gate." Vincent called.
Danny leaned over and found the gate that lead to the driveway and the carport, "Wouldn't the zombies knock it down?" he asked.
"They haven't figured that out." Vincent said and picked up another basket, "Thankfully. That and there's so little and we're rarely ever here, it's never been an issue." He said and followed Danny out, who'd already gone through the gate.
"We should barricade it." Danny said. "Just to be safe."
"Well- yeah, now that we know someone's here." Vincent said. after the three baskets of laundry were loaded into the car, Vincent opened the driver's door, "Wanna come along?"
"Um… I guess." Danny said hesitantly.
"Come on, dude, I don't bite." Vincent said.
Danny sighed and got into the front passenger seat.