As they made their way to the beach, Danny and Bucky were keeping an eye out for any ghosts, infected, or people. Danny couldn't help but worry if everyone was safe back at the house. He knew that he had taught Timmy, Jimmy, and Tootie how to shoot, but they were just kids. He didn't trust Kwan and Dash as far as he could throw them. While he doubted they were evil, he saw firsthand how Dash would rather run and save himself before trying to help the kids.

He didn't know Patrick well but could tell the man was pretty useless with a weapon.

Even though Kwan might try and save others before himself, he could get spooked easily and freeze up; in times like this, those were life-threatening traits. Spongebob and Sandy were the only ones he felt could defend the children, but Spongebob was injured and Sandy was one person. But being in that house was as safe as anyone could be these days. Danny hated leaving Jimmy and Timmy alone. As if the ghosts and infected weren't bad enough, now they had this crazy person on the radio stalking them.

It wouldn't be a problem once they got out on the water.

The beach was just a few blocks, just up ahead. As they walked, the pair noticed some of the buildings had some kind of code painted on the doors. However, they didn't know what they meant, so they just continued on their way. Danny wanted to talk to Bucky about what happened back there in the attic, but he refused to respond to the teen who dropped it. The beach was right up ahead. All of a sudden, the bells started tolling and Bucky drew his pistol.

"Son of a bitch! That bastard's fucking with us again." He snarled as his eyes darted around, scared that it was another trap.

"No, wait, listen; that's not the same bell as before," Danny replied and he was right. This one was further off. "Whatever it is, it's gonna get the dead moving over there." He added and pointed up to where they were heading. They could see some infected further up the street, moving away from them. Regardless, Bucky and Danny hid behind a wall in case they were spotted.

"What in the hell is going on?" Bucky growled as they waited for the infected to vanish. Danny didn't know, but the person ringing that bell might be doing them a favor. Or maybe whoever was ringing that was just trying to distract them and create a diversion. Bucky didn't care who was ringing that bell. If just knew if he found out whoever was doing that, he would ring their funeral bells. Soon the infected disappeared down the street.

"Hmph, let's keep moving," Bucky grunted and they continued walking. They reached the beach in no time but were horrified to see that it was all for nothing. Only one boat was left at the harbor and it was partially submerged. "No... No! There's gotta be a boat! There's gotta be..." Bucky muttered as his wide eyes stared out at the ocean. Almost as if he was trying to will a boat into existence.

"Let's just go back to the house and tell the others and come up with a new plan."

"This is the only plan we've got! It's the only one we've got, and you pissin' on it in front of everyone like you did back at the house ain't exactly helping!" He spat, breathing heavily as Danny took a cautious step back. "Well, screw you, I ain't giving up that easy." He growled before turning away. Danny sighed in a mixture of defeat and irritation. He had been banking on a boat being their salvation too, but it was always a weak plan from the start.

He was getting tired of Bucky biting his head off whenever he tried to talk to the grieving man.

Danny understood that Bucky was going through something no human should ever experience. But if they were going to survive, they had to watch each other's backs, not be at each other's throats. The teen made to reach out for him to try and convince him to return to the house but Bucky suddenly ran off, soon followed by his confused friend. Just as Danny was about to ask what he was doing, Bucky jumped onto the dock to examine the only boat left, and Danny stood on the sidewalk behind the railing.

"Bucky?"

"This one might be salvageable." The blond replied with a hopeful sound in his voice. Danny took one look at the boat in question and, despite not having a lot of knowledge about sailing or boats, he could tell it would be a long shot at best or just impossible to get that thing ship worthy. It had been there for who knows how long. Half of it was in the water and the half in the air was mostly caked in rust.

"Bucky, get a grip; this boat is fucked." Danny voiced his thoughts and wasn't surprised by the response he got.

"Oh, yeah? Know a lot about boats, do ya?" Bucky growled and when Danny rolled his eyes this just pissed the man off even more. "Tell you what kid; if I ever need an expert opinion on the high school or how my family can fuck up the world, I'll be sure to ask, but how about you leave the nautical shit to me?" He spat and Danny's eyes narrowed at the jab Bucky made at his family, not that he argued. "I'll check it out while you look further along the waterfront; maybe there's something at the other end."

"I don't think we should split up too far." He replied when he saw how far the waterfront stretched out, though he couldn't see to the end thanks to the fog that had started to roll in.

"We don't have to, see that telescope?" He said, pointing at a tourist lookout telescope. "You can see along the waterfront from right here; see what you can find." He ordered and turned back to examining the damaged boat. Danny didn't see the point of arguing and did as he was told. Before trying the telescope, he decided to see if there was anything useful nearby first. Taking a look around the area Danny noticed a large white banner tied up in the trees.

The banner said in big red letters KEEP OUT, so not exactly a welcome banner.

Walking a little further up the waterfront he saw there was a newspaper machine that looked still intact but it was also locked; not that there would be an up-to-date newspaper to read in there. He thought about walking further up, but he noticed how thick the fog had gotten. He chose to stay close to Bucky and headed back. He noticed a car nearby but after a closer inspection, he saw that the gas was siphoned, the tires removed, and some engine parts were missing, making the vehicle useless.

He saw a truck parked right next to the water that might be helpful.

But when he got closer, he saw that not only was it also stripped bare, but it was still somewhat attached to the boat Bucky was looking at. It looked like someone must have been trying to back their boat into the water but things didn't go as planned. Not wanting to find out what caused the boat to sink, Danny continued his search. He soon found an abandoned newsstand that had already been looted. Danny checked the register but was disheartened to find it empty.

The teen thought about looking inside some of the buildings but that was when he saw all the boarded-up windows.

It must have taken weeks to board all these windows and it seemed that the whole city had been boarded up, for all the good it did. He took note of all the weird markings drawn on the boards. Danny didn't know what they were or what they meant, but they were all over the place. Finding nothing else around, Danny made his way to the telescope. He looked through it, only cursing when he realized that it needed a quarter to work.

"You got a quarter on you?"

"Don't have a lot of use for small change these days," Bucky called back. "Maybe you can find one on the street somewhere." He suggested and Danny frowned, wondering where in the world he was going to find a quarter in the apocalypse. Remembering the newspaper machine that was still intact Danny drew his sword and began walking over to it, hoping that bashing it open might yield something useful. If not then at least he could take some of his frustration out on that hunk of metal.

As he headed over to the newspaper machine, however, the fog had begun to thin out, revealing something so disturbing that it made Danny freeze.

At the end of the street, dozens of human bodies were piled up across the street like some kind of sick barricade with several infected stuck squirming on pikes next to a sign saying STAY OUT.

"What the actual fuck?" Danny gagged as he took in the horrible sight before him. He swore he could see kids almost as young as Timmy and Jimmy, or possibly even younger, clumped with the others. He didn't know if this was meant to be some kind of warning or who would do something like this, but Danny wasn't about to find out. The culprits could be on their way here and he didn't plan on meeting them. Danny quickly bashed the newspaper machine with his sword and almost cheered in joy when a single quarter fell out.

He picked the quarter and when he heard Bucky growling something at the boat he considered checking in with him again- but decided it was better just to let him do his thing.

Walking back to the telescope, Danny was about to use the coin on it, when Bucky suddenly jumped back up to the street. He looked ready to kill something and Danny unconsciously clutched his sword a little tighter.

"What's up with the boat?"

"It ain't gonna work; hull's cracked beneath the water line, plus someone stripped out the battery," Bucky growled, kicking the railing in frustration. Danny was about to tell him to keep it down when Bucky finally noticed the barricade of infected and dead people.

"What the... what the hell is that?!" He shouted in disgust and Danny just shook his head.

"A fate worse than death." He replied solemnly before inserting the coin and looking through the telescope. First, he looked downriver, but there were no boats down there. He looked at the buildings across the waterfront yet they were abandoned, like every other place in this city. He tried looking upriver but was met with the same result. He noticed a bridge in the distance and sighed, not wanting to imagine how many people tried to escape across it when this city started to fall.

Danny looked to the left and his eyes widened when he saw a figure on top of a building.

From what he could see they wore a black coats with the hood up with something covering most of their face. He watched as the figure climbed down using an ice pick.

"Get down, get down!" He hissed quietly as he grabbed Bucky and they crouched on the dock. He cautiously looked through the fence as the figure searched the newsstand.

"Why the hell are we hiding?" Bucky glared.

"Someone came down from that building at the end of the street and I saw him run into that newsstand."

"Could be our bell ringer; how about we go find out?" Bucky snarled and made to get up but Danny stopped him.

"We didn't come here looking for trouble."

"It seems to have a way of finding us anyways." He pointed out. "Look, this could be the guy from the radio, the one who's been messing with us, and if he is, we can put an end to it, right now." He explained and after a moment of thought, Danny reluctantly nodded. While he didn't want a fight, there were two of them and only one person snooping around. "Okay, you head up the middle of the street, I'll go around the side, and cover your flank; we'll come up on him quiet, take him by surprise." Bucky planned as he drew his pistol.

"We just wanna talk to this guy." Danny frowned.

"Oh, we're gonna talk." He replied and they moved quickly and quietly. Bucky hid in an alleyway and Danny snuck forward. The person crouched down, and Danny looked over the counter, his sword raised. To his surprise, however, the newsstand was empty. As Danny was trying to figure out who that person was and how they got away, they suddenly came up behind him. They took the weapon out of his hand before swinging at him with their own.

Danny quickly blocked the attack and smacked them in the face.

They formed a fist and Danny leaned back, dodging the attack, and punched them in the face, making them fall to the ground. After winning the fight, Danny quickly grabbed his sword and put the blade to their neck.

"D-Danny?" A voice suddenly said from behind him. Eyes widening, Danny whipped around, and to his horror, he saw that Jimmy and Timmy had followed him here. The person attempted to get up, but Danny held them down. The person removed their hoodie and scarf. It was a teenage girl, about Danny's age, with tanned skin, torn turquoise pants, dark blue hair with black roots, and some freckles above her nose. She was wearing round black glasses with a small crack in the left lens.

She was also wearing a dirty yellow hair bow, a golden bracelet, and a pink torn, dirty crop top with puffy sleeves, purple edges on the bottom of the sleeves, and a red heart symbol in the middle.

"You're not from Atlantis, are you?" She commented, glancing at the two kids. Danny didn't like her looking at them and ignored her question in favor of his own.

"You're not the guy on the radio, are you?"

"I'm not a guy at all, but full marks for observation." She snarked, pissing him off.

"Have you been following us?" He glared but she looked at him with confusion.

"Following you? I thought you were following me." She replied and looked at the glowing green blade. "Mind if I get up?" She frowned and after a moment of hesitation, he pulled the blade away but still kept it out. Though she didn't seem like a threat, he wouldn't take any chances with Jimmy and Timmy there. All of a sudden, Bucky stepped out from his hiding spot, pointing his gun at the girl. Before Danny could say or do anything the girl swept Bucky's leg, and he fell, dropping his gun as it fired.

She kicked his gun away and was about to bring down her ice pick, only getting stopped at the last second by Danny's sword.

"No! Don't! He's with us!" He shouted and after a few moments they all calmed down enough for Bucky to get up and the girl to put her weapon away. Seeing that they weren't going to kill each other Danny lowered his sword again and Timmy and Jimmy moved behind the dark-haired teen.

"Who the hell are you people?" The girl asked, looking more and more confused by the second.

"Hello, my name is Jimmy Neutron; these are my friends Danny, Bucky, and Timmy." He introduced himself and his friends, with Timmy giving a little wave.

"Hi, my name's Mindy." She replied with a small smile. "You guys aren't from Atlantis, are you?"

"What's that?" Timmy asked. Mindy paused as she looked over them again, her gaze lingering on the two kids who had joined them.

"You sure you wanna know?" She asked and they all gave a nod. "When everything went to shit, some people got together and sealed off that whole neighborhood." She said gesturing to the barricade of dead bodies. "Folks willing to do anything to stay alive, stop the dead getting in; I try to avoid 'em."

"Why?"

"Let's just say they have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who won't... or can't... live by their rules." She said with an angry and disgusted look. "I knew weren't them because there are no children in Atlantis; not anymore." She added, casting another look at the kids, except this one was more mournful. The guys looked disturbed and saddened by this revelation; all except Timmy that is.

"What do you mean, no children? Why not?" He asked, not liking the way Mindy was looking at him

"No children, no elderly, no one with an advanced medical condition; basically, no one who might be a burden on the community." Mindy snarled. "Atlantis is all about the survival of the fittest; that's how they survived so long, while the rest of the world went to shit around them."

"Jesus Christ..."

"Well, just the opposite, when you think about it." She shrugged and Danny decided to direct the conversation to something less disturbing, for his sake more than anything else.

"Do you know who's been ringing those bells all over town?"

"Yeah, that would be me." She replied and that was all Bucky needed to hear.

"I knew it! I knew she was the one who's been following us, fucking with us!" He shouted angrily, jabbering his finger at her.

"Get that finger out of my face, asshole, before I jam it straight up your ass!" She countered and after a harsh look from Danny, Bucky reluctantly complied. "I haven't been following you guys! I don't even know who the hell you people are!"

"Yeah, well, whoever you are, ringing those bells this morning nearly got us all killed, and raised the dead all around us!"

"That's the idea, genius; it's how I get around! I ring a bell in one neighborhood to attract the local freaks toward it, buys me some time to scavenge the areas they cleared out." She explained. The others had to admit that the thing with the bells was a smart idea, with the bells and Jimmy was a little jealous that he didn't figure that out.

"Look, I'm gonna ask you again; I know you're not from Atlantis, so who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" She demanded and Danny raised his hand in a placating manner, not wanting a fight to break out.

"We're just trying to survive, same as you."

"And the only way we're gonna survive is by getting on a boat and gettin' the hell outta here," Bucky said and made to leave but Mindy's laugh stopped him.

"Well good luck with that, anyone with a boat took it out of here as soon as people started eating each other and any left behind, Atlantis stripped 'em for parts, cars too." She explained, looking disdainfully at one of the said stripped cars.

"There's gotta be something," Bucky muttered under his breath, still looking for a boat on the water.

"If there was, do you think I'd still be here? I've been over every inch of this city, this whole place is picked clean." Mindy replied, officially shattering the group's hope of escaping the horror by the sea.

"Goddamn, it! Fuck!" Bucky roared to the sky, startling a few birds nearby.

"Hey, moron! You wanna keep your voice down?" Mindy hissed at him, looking around nervously. "Since you're not getting on any boat, I'd advise you, folks, to go back to where you came from, before-"

"Uh, guys?" Timmy suddenly said and everyone looked over to see a large group of infected making their way toward them. Mindy grumbled in annoyance as she pulled out her ice axe. "Isn't that the way we came?" The bucked-tooth boy gulped fearfully.

"Fuck, gunshot must've brought 'em back." Bucky glared as he grabbed his gun.

"Isn't there another way back to the house?" Jimmy frowned as his eyes darted around for an exit. Danny turned around to ask Mindy if she knew the way out, only to see her running into an alley and watched as she wall-climbed with her ice pick to get up to the fire escape.

"Hey! You're just gonna leave us here?!" Danny cried indignantly but Mindy didn't look impressed.

"Sorry, I must have missed that part of our conversation where you became my problem." She huffed and made to continue leaving. Danny looked around for an escape out of the alley but an empty dumpster was blocking the way out.

"Don't leave us here to die! Please!" Timmy suddenly cried out to her and Mindy turned around the see the pink hatted boy's desperate expression. Her hard gaze softened at this sight and after a heavy sigh, she reached out her hand to the guys, urging them to be quick. She and Danny helped the two boys climb up. Bucky was holding off the infected but more were filling the alley. Seeing that they were running out of time Danny was quick to help Bucky climb up.

Once he was safely up as well Bucky reached out his hand to the teen.

Danny jumped up and grabbed Bucky's hand but without support, he was dropped to the ground with a thud. Timmy tried to jump back down to help him, but Jimmy held him back. The infected were practically on top of him now. Think quickly, Danny pushed the dumpster to the side and tried to run for it but was stopped when he saw there were infected on the other side of the alley too. Hearing something clank under his foot, Danny looked down and saw a manhole cover below him.

Danny tried to open the manhole cover but it was too heavy to lift on his own.

A couple of infected suddenly lunged at him and Danny slashed them away with his sword, turning them into green goop puddles. Seeing that the alley was now filled with infected Danny used his sword to pry open the manhole cover and climbed down into the darkness below...