Hello once again people of the Fanfiction Universe. Lord Pugsy here. I should apologise for the late update of this story; time just got away from me. However, I do hope that the length of this chapter is more than satisfactory to sate any angry readers out there. Without further ado, here is chapter nine of A Phantom Apocalypse.
"We need to talk." Only an hour had passed since the expedition team left for Glendale, and Jazz was already on edge worrying about her brother. Ember appearing out of nowhere in front her was doing little to ease her mind; it was a good thing the corridor was empty, otherwise her shriek would have earned her some odd looks.
"Jeez Ember. Don't scare me like that." Jazz said, trying to regain control over her breathing.
The Ghost Rocker just shrugged and said "Sorry." She didn't sound particularly apologetic though.
"What do you want?" Jazz asked.
"Like I said," Ember began. "We need to talk. And I mean all of us; you, Maddie, Jack, Tucker, Valerie and us ghosts. We've found some things out that you should really hear."
Jazz looked concerned. "Shouldn't we wait for Danny? It sounds like something he should be a part of."
Ember bit her lip. "It's better if we try and contain it now that Baby-pop isn't here." She said. "You know what he's like when he knows something's wrong." Jazz couldn't argue with her there; Danny's sense of loyalty would override any sense of rational thought. She was also slightly troubled at what would put Ember on edge.
"Fair enough." She said. "Where are we doing this?"
Ember jerked her thumb upwards. "The roof." She said. "Everyone else is already there; Dani carried your pops up a few minutes ago. We're just waiting on you." With that, Ember held out her hand for the eldest Fenton child. Taking her hand, Ember turned them both intangible and flew them up through the ceiling. Jazz couldn't help but smirk when she saw the looks of shock and surprise when they suddenly popped up out of the floor.
"Man that's cool." Jack said, smiling wide. "I will never get tired of seeing that."
"All right Ember," Maddie began. "Now that we're all here, what did you want to talk to us about?"
Ember sighed. "It's Paul." Everyone groaned.
"What's the punk done now?" Valerie asked, annoyed now.
"He hasn't done anything yet." Ember said. "It's what he's planning to do."
"Err," Tucker started, confused. "Do you want to run that by us one more time?"
"Idiot." Ember muttered before speaking louder. "Whilst you and your little human friends have been off doing your R&R stuff, us ghosts have been doing a little sleuthing. And the little preacher has been our prime target, and number one nuisance."
"What's he planning Ember?" Maddie asked seriously; Ember's features darkened.
"He's going after Danny." She said bluntly. There was a moment of silence before all the humans burst out laughing; the ghosts looked on with surprise, which quickly turned to irritation.
"Oh, that's a good one Ember." Tucker said, holding his stomach. "Going after Danny, yeah right." The laughter stopped abruptly as Dani floated forwards and slapped him hard across the face.
"Laugh one more time about this Tuck, and I'll show you the true meaning of being Danny's clone." She said darkly. On cue, one of her hands glowed toxic green, and the other light blue. Looking fearful, Tucker nodded as Dani gestured for the Ghost Rocker to continue.
"As I was saying, he's targeting Danny." Ember said. "He's using brains instead of brawn Foley. Have none of you noticed how humans around here have been treating Danny?" All the humans, except for Jack, were looking down in shame.
"It's bad, isn't it?" Jack asked. No one could blame Jack for not knowing the full extent of the prejudices Danny faced on a day-to-day basis; he was practically confined to the lab most of the time.
"It's bad pops." Johnny said, looking angry.
"Danny's ghost half has been the bane of his existence since he was fourteen." Ember said, carrying on, earning nods from the other ghosts, minus Krystal, and Tucker and Jazz. "He's used to people hating on his ghost half. But he's never had anyone out to get his human half too. He's use to having it being ignored, not plagued."
"We know all of this Ember." Valerie said, albeit looking ashamed as she used to be one of the ones who hunted Danny. "But what has this got to do with Paul?"
Ember's hair flared slightly, but she tamed it down. "From what we can tell, Paul is using this to his advantage. He's been rounding up more support for his 'cause' lately, and using Danny as an incentive to join him."
"What do you mean Ember?" Jazz asked, although she already had an inkling at what was happening. This time it was Dani who spoke up.
"He's comparing Danny's hybrid status to those of the Infected." Dani said through gritted teeth, the topic hitting a sore point. "He's making Danny out to be some kind of monster, which he is slowly bringing all us ghosts into the mix, but it's almost like he's got a vendetta against Danny. A lot of people are being sucked into his propaganda."
"He's planning something." Krystal said, speaking up for the first time. "He says he's got a plan which will sort everyone's 'problem'."
"And you didn't think it prudent to stop this plan or inform any of us sooner?" Valerie asked the ghosts, getting angrier. This time all the ghosts glared at the ex-Huntress, causing her to cower slightly.
"Don't you think if we had any proof, we would have done a lot more than that?" Kitty asked. "If we had our way, he would be begging for his 'God' to save his ass in ten seconds flat. But people hate us enough as it is. We don't want to strike pre-emptively, only for it to backfire in our faces."
"He's also lot smarter than the usual Amity lot." Johnny said. "From the last we heard before everything hushed up, Paul's made it so that he knows our whereabouts at all times before he has a meeting with his 'disciples'. We can't get close to the punk." Everyone was thoughtful for a while.
"It seems like you need some human spies." Maddie said. "Ones that won't alert Paul whilst they figure out what's happening."
"You'll have to sort that out." Ember said, who began to float, causing the other ghosts to do so also. "Just make sure to look out for Baby-pop when he gets back. There's only so much we can do."
"Oh come on." Tucker said, trying to lighten the mood. "Danny's tough. He won't let someone like Paul get to him."
Ember scoffed. "He may be a ghost, but he's also human. And as much as you guys like to think he's invincible, he's still a teenage boy with all the awkward insecurities that come with it." She said, pointedly looking at Jazz. "You of all people should know about that Jazz. He's desperate to help people, but people keep putting him down; more than usual. There's no telling when he's going to break and decides that he's had enough. And when he breaks, he'll be a force to be reckoned with." On that ominous note, the ghosts made their exit, leaving five very concerned humans in their wake.
A mile from Glendale, Danny was having a stare-down with David, the latter looking more uncomfortable by the second due to the hybrid's unwavering gaze, until…
"Please." David said through gritted teeth. Danny smirked, even though no one could see it. He gave a small nod before pointing one of his hands at the pile up. A large section attained a green aura, before slowly rising into the air, leaving a gap big enough for them to pass through.
"After you." Danny said with a mock bow. The group of ten humans wasted no time and hurried through the gap; Sam tried to catch Danny's eyes, but he was looking at the growing number of Infected which were almost upon them. Once they were all safely through, Danny dropped the pile of metal and calmly walked through the wreckage. Once again, he ignored their stares and looked passed them, scanning the road ahead. Satisfied, he turned to the confused humans.
"Road's clear up to the turn off." He said simply. "After that, who knows. Back to you David." With that, Danny blinked out of view, leaving the ten remaining people in a stupor.
"Well, er," David started, stupidly. "Let's press on." Shaking their heads, everyone turned to follow David, each thinking about the mysterious ghost that was Danny; Sam's thoughts were particularly conflicting.
Why didn't he let us know that he was here sooner? She thought to herself as they trudged on. And why did he use his telekinesis? Wouldn't it have been easier on him to just make it intangible? Or even all of us intangible? It's almost like he's determined not to have any physical contact with us. Or me. Whilst Sam was left with her depressing thoughts, Beth was still marvelling at the power the ghost displayed.
He's not like any ghost I've ever seen, she thought as they continued walking. David and the soldiers, on the other hand, were determined to forget that just happened and resumed their 'leadership' roles. True to Danny's word, the rest of the road was devoid of life, and they made it to Glendale in good time. The sun was just beginning to set, and they were only a few minutes away from the safe house they were going to be spending the night in. Even that walk was unhindered, and the team gazed upon their temporary home. It would have looked like an ordinary terraced house, had it not been for the boarded up windows; a giant, red 'S' was painted on the door, which Danny presumed meant 'Safe'. On closer inspection, everyone could see dark, dried stains which they really didn't want to know about. It looked untouched, but David didn't want to take any chances. Swallowing his pride once more, he called on Danny, swearing it would be the last time he would do so on this trip.
"Phantom?" He asked uncertainly, looking around him. "You still there?" The words had barely left his mouth when Danny appeared in front of them, startling a few of the soldiers. Holding back a snicker, Danny tilted his head in response, his green eye glowing brightly.
David took a deep breath. "This is the safe house, but it hasn't been used in over half a year. As such, it may not be exactly safe anymore." Danny only tilted his head to the other side; the non-soldiers tried to contain their laughter. They might be safe at the moment, but that didn't mean they were out of the woods yet; they didn't want to create any unnecessary noise if they could help it.
"Come on David." Jessie said, chuckling slightly. "You know what you need to do." Cue more snickers.
David groaned. "Can you check the house and see if there are any unwanted squatters?" He swallowed in disgust. "Please?" Danny straightened his head before nodding and turning invisible. A few minutes later, the door to the safe house began to glow green before opening.
"I guess that means we're good." Max said, moving forwards to enter the house, everyone else quickly following suit. Just before the soldiers could enter, David stopped them all, a look of anger etched across his face.
"Not one word about this when we get back." He said menacingly, causing the other five soldiers to shudder. "Otherwise, I guarantee that you will meet the same sticky end that Blake did, and it will be your funeral that we perform when we return." The soldiers didn't hesitate as they nodded their understanding. They had witnessed first-hand how cruel David could be when he wants to be.
"Good." David said, his mood marginally improved, but the dark undertone remaining. "Let's just get through this, get the glory, and then we can put our plan into action when we get back to the school." With that, he entered the house, leaving the soldiers outside in a scared reverie. For a brief moment before entering themselves, they wondered what, or who, they should be more afraid of on this trip.
After an abysmal night's sleep, the group set out once more. It didn't help that the weather had taken a drastic turn during the night; the sky was painted grey with overcast clouds and the wind was beginning to pick up. They, or rather David, had elected to leave at dawn's first light. That way, they could get to the hotel, investigate, and get back to the safe house before the sun set. Subsequently, they could get another night's sleep before travelling back to the school. It hadn't actually occurred to David that Danny could teleport them back to the school once their mission was complete. However, it was more than likely that the soldier hadn't forgotten about Danny's ability, but was in fact determined not to depend on the teen hybrid. The groups' feelings of grogginess refused to leave until they were staring at the grey, stoned hotel itself from an alleyway across the street from it. It wasn't grand like the Waldorf in Orlando, or the St Regis in New York, but it was still impressive in size, stretching to a height of fifteen stories. Had it not been the apocalypse, many of the group would have marvelled at its architecture, but as it was, all of them were on guard, ready to move at a moment's notice. Their plan was simple. After establishing that the street was free from Infected, they would run across the street and enter the hotel through its set of revolving doors. After a quick survey of the area, they would then block up the doors to prevent any extra unwanted attention. After a quick affirmation from David, the group of eleven bolted across the street and entered the building. Upon entry, their plan quickly fell apart. First, the unmistakable stench of rotten flesh and blood hit them like a freight train, stopping them dead in their tracks. Ravaged corpses and body parts littered the floor, with swarms of large, black flies feasting on them. Two soldiers had to leave quickly to empty their stomachs; everyone else had merely turned a shade of green. The second flaw in their plan was that the foyer's furniture lay in broken heaps across the floor, stained red from the great pools of blood; they had nothing to block the doors with. David turned on Beth.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us we couldn't use the furniture?" He hissed angrily, glowering at the woman. "We can't use this crap for anything except maybe kindling."
"Well how was I supposed to know they had been destroyed?" She retorted, gripping her golf club tightly as if to use it. "We weren't here when the horde broke through. We had to rush out the back with Angela." This being said, the group turned to the damage wrought by the Infected and stilled once more. Some of the corpses still had most of their faces, their glassy eyes wide in fear as they bore into the groups'.
"Uh David?" Asked a soldier closest to the doors, peering out, worry evident in his tone.
"What is it Jenkins?" He almost shouted.
"There's a group of Walkers heading in this direction." He said. "And they look hungry."
"How long?" Max asked nervously.
"About ninety seconds." Jenkins responded. "Give or take." The group all turned to David who seemed conflicted at what they should do. There was no chance they could engage them; the noise would definitely attract more of them. They also had nothing to use to block the entrance. David was scared. Danny scoffed silently as he floated invisibly above them.
And this guy was a leader in the Army? He asked himself. I would have liked to have seen him in front of Pariah's Army. But I guess I should step in. He became visible, once again yielding a few squeaks of surprise, and hovered slightly off the floor so not to get any blood on his boots.
"Move away from the doors." He commanded in a deep voice. Jenkins moved away, slightly frightened by the ghost, whereas everyone else just looked at him with a hint of confusion; Sam's heart panged once again at seeing Danny ignore her. Once the soldier was clear of the entrance, his hand illuminated with a blue aura as a ball of ecto-ice, about the size of a baseball, appeared in it. Danny casually bowled the cold sphere towards the doors. Upon touching the doors, the ice began to creep up the glass, expanding as it grew. In less than a minute, a wall of ice separated the group from the outside world; the group itself were looking between the ice and the ghost with expressions of awe and shock. Their expressions turned to confusion when Danny raised his hands towards the ripped, once elegant, curtains; they obtained a green aura, before being ripped into long sheets. Danny used them to wrap up the corpses and laid them side by side each other next to the wall before bowing his head slightly.
"Now," Danny began as he lifted his head and turning to face the group. "You will be pleased, and maybe upset, to know that the first ten floors are completely empty. There is no one walking or staggering around. Anything above that is anyone's guess; I can't hear that far up. But, before we ascend, I suggest that we block off the rear exits. I can do this, of course, but I would like Beth to come with me as I have no idea where I'm going." No one could fault Danny's logic; David was inwardly scolding himself for not thinking the same thing. He nodded.
"I'll leave you with one of my duplicates just in case. Can't be too careful." Danny said with a smirk as he duplicated himself. He turned to Beth. "Shall we?" Beth nodded and walked towards the stairwell whilst Danny floated alongside her, leaving the rest behind as Danny's duplicate turned invisible to avoid speaking to them.
"You don't trust David, do you?" Danny asked as they descended the stairwell.
"What makes you think that?" Asked Beth, looking at the ghost curiously.
"You rarely speak to him, and when you do, it's always contemptuous." Danny said logically. "There's also the fact that walking up here, you were glaring at him every ten minutes."
"You were watching me?" Beth asked, shocked.
Danny shrugged. "I was watching everyone. And everything." Beth considered this.
"You don't trust any of us?" She guessed.
"There are only about half a dozen people I trust explicitly with my half-life." Danny said. "And all of them are ghosts."
"All of them?" Beth asked surprised. I thought he had family at the school.
Danny sighed and nodded. "Let's just say my opinions of humans have been tarnished since coming back from the Ghost Zone."
"I'm sorry." Beth said suddenly.
"For what?" Danny asked, confused.
"It can't be easy." She said. "We've heard all the stories and watched all the news footage about you, ever since you came onto the scene. Everyone in my town thought you were a real hero, even before all that asteroid business. That kind of evolved into legend when we found out you were a regular teenager who went to school. I guess what I'm saying is, it must be difficult to go from being accepted to being hated." Danny was silent all the way down to the parking garage, where they were met with the same scene as they had in the lobby. It wasn't until Danny covered the garage doors and was walking back up the stairwell did he speak again.
"Thanks Beth." He said quietly. They met back up with the group, and Danny could tell from the looks on their faces that they were desperate to leave the room. Danny was actually surprised David had listened to him, and waited for him to return before they carried on. Danny's duplicate became visible before being absorbed; Danny was once again surprised that the group had remained in silence in his absence. Looking at them all again, he turned to David and gestured for him to take the lead.
"Let's move." David said. The group traipsed up the stairwell, but it wasn't until they reached the ninth floor did they start to move more cautiously. By the time they reached the eleventh floor, everyone was on high alert; Danny was wholly listening to any degrees of movement, but the ever increasing violent weather was making it difficult for him to differentiate noises from above, and noises from the outside. The only thing he could tell for definite was that there were no Infected on the actual stairway itself. Carefully opening the door onto the eleventh floor corridor, they filed out one by one. Once again, the floors and walls were painted with blood; all the doors were open wide so it made it relatively easy for them to be checked before moving on. It didn't take them long to clear the floor; there was nothing left worth taking. Floor twelve was essentially the same. Floor thirteen, however, they encountered several Infected. They were huddled at the end of the corridor, feasting on what appeared to be two women, or what was left of them judging by the high heels jutting between the Infected's legs. They were so engrossed in their meal, they didn't hear the group walking slowly up to them. By the time they realised they weren't alone, Danny had already shot four small ecto-blasts from his fingertips, causing them to be out for the count.
"Well that was anticlimactic." One of the soldiers joked before another one, Jenkins, slapped the back of his head.
"Shut it, will you?" He whispered angrily. "You want to bring more of those dead bastards on our heads? We're supposed to be looking for resources."
"And survivors." Beth, Jessie and Sam whispered at the same time, their voices filled with hostility.
"Yeah, whatever." David said, wanting everyone to be quiet. "Let's just check the rest of this floor before we go higher." Turns out, the only useful items they could scavenge on this floor were a few first-aid kits, which were mostly untouched; there were no other signs of life on the floor, dead or alive.
Floor fourteen was a completely different story. The group could hear the Infected before they saw them. Huddling on the stairs just outside the door to the corridor, Danny, who had remained visible since the parking garage, turned invisible and phased through the door to see what they would be up against. He was only gone for about a minute before he flew back through the door, becoming visible once more.
"What's the verdict?" Jessie asked tensely.
"There's about thirty roaming the corridor, with another three or four in each room; either eating, or just standing idly." Danny said quietly. "They don't appear to know we're here yet, so here's what I think we should do."
"Hold on a second Ghost." Said the soldier who got slapped by Jenkins. "Why are we listening to you? David's the one in charge. We don't need you." David had a look of smugness on his face, which slowly disappeared when Danny rounded his green eye onto him. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the group.
"Okay then." Danny suddenly said. "I'll just go upstairs and check out the last floor and the roof. I'll come back down when I'm done, or when I hear your screams as about fifty things are tucking into your flesh. Whichever one comes first." Before anyone could utter a word, Danny turned away and began to float up the stairwell and out of sight.
"Wait, Danny." Sam said and began to follow him up, closely followed by Beth. By the time they reached the last floor, Danny was gone, but the door to the fifteenth floor corridor was wide open; the two girls didn't know whether it was Danny, or something else, so they crept through it slowly, weapons at the ready. Straining their ears, neither one of them could hear anything as they made their way forwards. When they turned the corner at the end, they came face to back with Danny, who appeared to be staring intently at the door in front of him.
"Phantom?" Beth asked nervously; Danny didn't respond.
"Danny?" Sam asked just as anxiously, fingering the trigger of her blaster.
"Whose room was this Beth?" Danny asked suddenly.
"What?" Beth asked confused; the ghost turned to face them.
"Whose room was this?" He repeated.
"Room 15-X." Beth said to herself as she struggled to remember. "Oh, it was some scientist guy. A Doctor Fitz-something. He suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hotel about nine or ten months into this mess, completely out of his mind. He kept saying he trekked by himself all the way from Los Angeles, but that should be nigh on impossible."
"Anything else you can tell me about him?" Danny asked.
Beth thought about it. "Not really." She answered. "He mainly kept to himself. But he was jumpy as hell. You couldn't even say hello without him jumping three foot into the air; almost as if he was guilty of something."
"What did he look like?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because there's the body of a dead guy in there." Danny responded, jerking his head back towards the room. "No Infected or anyone else. Just him."
"Show me." Danny nodded and forced the locked door open and everyone went inside, to be met with the sight of a corpse sitting in an office chair. He looked about fifty years old with short black hair, streaked with grey; his clothes were stained red, presumably from the hole in his chin, and his white lab coat, which was almost in tatters.
Maybe he really did trek from California, Danny thought to himself. But how did he survive the outbreak, when it all started on the West Coast? Whilst Danny was thinking to himself, Sam and Beth had moved closer to the body. On closer inspection, they could see a revolver in his right hand.
"He opted out himself." Sam said simply, before frowning. "But why? He hasn't got any bite marks."
"Was probably afraid." Beth said, turning away from the body. "He saw what was happening and got trapped up here. Perhaps he didn't see another way out."
"You two may want to come through here?" Danny's voice suddenly came from the bedroom, breaking their trains of thought. The girls walked to the bedroom to see that it had been turned into an office. An incredibly messy office at that. Papers and what looked like journals were strewn about the room; all the furniture had been pushed against the walls to accommodate more space for the amount of paper; a map of the United States was pinned against the wall opposite the bed, with a multitude of red and blue pins covering it.
"Told you he was a bit nuts." Beth said.
Danny tilted his head as he took in the map. "Or maybe a bit clever. Look at the map. From what my parents have told me, the infection started in California, where this pin is." Danny said, pointing to a large red pin. "And then it progressively made its way east, just like the pins are showing."
Sam moved forwards to stand by Danny. "So the red pins are infection zones, and I'm guessing the blue pins are safe zones." She scrutinised the map more closely. "Yeah, look here. You can just about see Amity Park on here with a blue pin."
"But why would he track the infection?" Beth asked curiously.
"I don't know." Danny said, sighing before becoming stiff. "But you need to move. The Infected downstairs are getting excited. It won't be long before they sniff out David's ego. I think it's high time we leave this place. There's nothing here."
"What about you?" Sam asked, turning to Danny but he didn't turn to face her. "I'm going to spend a few minutes going through all this stuff. Something doesn't add up. You two go down, get the others, and get out of here. I'll meet you in the foyer to let you out in five minutes." With that, he walked over to the bed to leaf through the journals and papers. Beth took this as a dismissal and left the apartment; Sam on the other hand, lingered by the door.
"Danny, I-." She started before Danny cut her off. This time, he turned around and looked at Sam in the eyes for the first time since their altercation in the Cafeteria.
God I've missed those purple eyes, he thought reminiscently. "No Sam. You need to move. They won't be able to get me, but they can get you. Now go."
"But you haven't even let me talk to you since you got back." She said, becoming exasperated, moving closer to the teen. "We haven't seen each other in over a year, and it's killing me that you won't talk to me. I'm sorry about trying to slap you, but I was in shock. And I'm sorry for what David said; he shouldn't.-"
"Sam." Danny said as loudly as he thought he could get away with, effectively silencing the shocked and now scared Sam. "You really want to get into that now? Here of all places? With an army of Infected downstairs just waiting to tear our throats open?" A lone tear made its way down Sam's face as a result of Danny's outburst. Danny bit his lip as he realised he had gone too far as he took in Sam's facial expression. The Halfa sighed as he took down his hood, revealing his face which hadn't been seen in several days.
"Sam, I'm sorry." He said, looking down; he really didn't like fighting with her or making her feel this way. Danny knew he had let his feelings cloud his judgement. He never did let Sam explain herself, but he still felt this wasn't the best place to do it. "But can we just get out of here first? When we get back to the school and explained everything, we'll go somewhere and talk about everything. I promise." Sam smiled a genuine smile of happiness, and perhaps of hope too at hearing this, causing Danny's heart to flutter ever so slightly.
I had forgotten how beautiful she looked when she smiled, Danny thought, smiling too.
"Okay." She said. "Just don't take too long." With that, she ran out of the door to catch up with Beth, leaving Danny alone in the room of the mysterious doctor.
When his five minutes were up, Danny was still no further forward. He had no idea what he was looking at; most of the papers were numbers and graphs. Just as he was passing the doctor's corpse, he noticed a black, leather bound book underneath the chair. Bending down to pick it, Danny saw that it was the doctor's personal diary. Some of the first entries were about his home in Los Angeles, and some of the last entries were of when he arrived in Glendale. Tucking it into his utility belt, Danny teleported down to the foyer, successfully startling the soldiers. Danny's hood was now up, so he could smirk freely without any backlash. With a wave of the ghost teen's hand, the ice covering the walls melted into a large puddle on the floor, washing away some of the blood in the process. Making their way back to the safe house, Danny remaining visible this time at the back, he was told by Jessie that the soldiers had actually listened to Danny, and made no attempt to enter the fourteenth floor. Danny was pleasantly surprised. Despite the expedition being a somewhat failed exercise, the group was in high spirits as the whole thing had gone off without a hitch with zero deaths. Even the weather had lightened up. However, it was at that point that Murphy's Law decided to mess with the group; their safe house was completely overrun with Infected falling over each other. A group of them had actually managed to take down an animal, presumably a dog, and were noisily eating from it. The group of humans backed away slowly and stepped around the corner, out of sight from the Infected.
"What do we do now?" Max asked.
"I don't know." David said, peering around the corner, only to pull back, paled face. "More are coming out of the house. Someone forgot to lock the door." The reason he said 'someone' was because that person was him, but he would never admit that. Especially in front of Sam and Beth, who would take great pleasure in admonishing him for it. Danny was enjoying himself as he watched David and the soldiers arguing with themselves as to what they should do. It was only when one of the soldiers glanced at him, did Danny get a surprised look on his hidden face.
Is he actually going to do something clever? He asked himself.
"Um, boss?" He asked uncertainly.
"What is it?" David asked irritably.
"Why don't we just ask Phantom here to teleport us back to the school?" He asked. There was a moment of silence as David took in what the soldier had suggested. If he was being a hundred percent honest with himself, he had completely overlooked the fact that Danny could teleport. But his pride was screaming at him to ignore it; Danny was not to be the hero, he was. His pride, however, was overruled when he took another look around the corner. There wasn't another safe house they could stop at, and he really didn't want to walk straight back to Amity. David gritted his teeth as he prepared to do something he had promised himself at the beginning of this trip that he would never do.
I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought. "Phantom? Would it be too much to ask you to teleport the ten of us back to the school?" Danny just tilted his head; David groaned. "Please?"
Danny smiled once more. "Sure." He said, raising his arms. "Everyone grab on tightly. I wouldn't want to drop any of you as we're travelling through an inter-dimensional rip in the fabric of time and space." The soldiers hesitantly moved forwards and grabbed a hold of his left arm, whereas Sam gave Danny a nervous look. Danny looked at her and smiled before opening his right hand for her to take. Smiling widely, Sam took his hand whilst the others grabbed his arm. In a flash, they were gone, leaving only the sounds of those Infected who were eating, and those who were just groaning as they ambled around, being none the wiser of the potential banquet they had just missed out on.
It was several hours later that the group reconvened inside the Cafeteria. They had been given time to rest and eat before the debrief. This debriefing, however, had rounded up quite a lot of attention in the school. There were nearly fifty people interested in what had happened in Glendale. Whilst the room was filled with excited murmurs, Danny was sat floating in the corner of the room, reading from the doctor's journal. Much like the research notes in his hotel room, Danny found that a lot of the pages were filled with nothing but numbers. However, just as Maddie and Jack entered the Cafeteria, signalling the beginning of the meeting, Danny flipped over to a page with the title 'Lab Experiments – Day One'. As a result, he completely zoned out as the meeting began. Danny was so caught up in what he was reading, the sheer horror within the pages captivating him so, he failed to notice the occupants of the Cafeteria staring at him; it was only when Sam and Tucker gently nudged Danny from either side of him did he realise he was the centre of attention. He bent the corner down on the page he was reading and looked around the room.
"Did someone say something?" Danny asked, taking down his hood.
"As a matter of fact, yes." David said snidely. "Was I boring you?"
Danny fake-yawned. "Only when you talk." A round of snickers was heard throughout the room as the colour of David's face matched perfectly with that of a cherry. Danny caught his mother's and Jazz's eye; both Fenton women were trying to maintain a frown, but was eventually overpowered by smiles. Jack, on the other hand, had no such control and was practically laughing, along with Tucker, Valerie, Dash and Sam. It was at this point though, that Paul and four of his 'disciples' decided to burst into the Cafeteria, silencing everyone. Panic immediately set in the hearts of those humans who had met with the ghosts the day before; Maddie was discretely on her radio, trying to get Dani's attention before something happened. Paul walked straight up to where Danny was floating, the latter then landing softly.
"That's exactly the type of behaviour I expect from Sinners like you." He declared in a cold tone. "God has no mercy on the workers of Satan."
Danny was unfazed. "I was wondering when I would get the displeasure of meeting you Paul." Danny said, drawing himself to his full height, which towered over Paul's; Danny smirked inwardly when he saw Paul cower slightly.
Getting over the intimidation, Paul looked at the hybrid with a cold look. "Tell me, Phantom, as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?"
"Oh, I get it," Danny said sarcastically. "Because I'm only half human, I don't count as one of the species. But now that you mention it, as a whole, with of course a few exceptions, I find the human race arrogant, vulgar, nauseating, crude and downright infuriating." With every adjective Danny used, his tone became dark and the temperature of the room became cold. His cloak started billowing with power, and his green eyes blazed with rage. Some of the people in the room either looked fearful, confused at the outburst, or merely looked indifferent; namely the army and Paul's 'cult'.
"You see!" Paul shouted to everyone in the room. "This is what I have been foretelling since the beginning! You all saw and heard him threaten us; threaten God's chosen subjects. He and his spiritual co-conspirators are part of the Fallen. The Fallen were sent here to obstruct us in our mission sent from above. They are no better than the Sinners we are shielded from." Everyone turned to Danny, looking to see how he would respond. Much to their surprise, Danny was actually chuckling.
"Do you actually believe the crap that's coming out of your mouth?" He asked, wiping away a tear.
"Blasphemer!" Screeched one of Paul's 'disciples'.
"You know what, you're right." Danny said, feigning concern. "Your 'God' should smite me for my 'sin'. I guess I'll be going now. I'd like to leave you with one thought though. Unfortunately I'm not sure you have anywhere to put it." It was at this point that Dani and Krystal entered the Cafeteria, laughing at what Danny said. He high-fived Dani and began to float upwards, hand in hand with the female ghosts, still chuckling. However, just before they flew out through the ceiling, Paul spoke up, an evil glint in his eyes.
"One day, you will see," he began, pointedly looking at Danny. "That Phantom is an abomination; a freak of nature; an entity which shouldn't exist; a being that would see the human race dead, and the world razed to the ground in a storm of fire and brimstone. You're nothing but a monster, aren't you, Dan?"
I guess I should make it very clear about the future of this story. There will be no 'big cure' that miraculously appears, and saves the population of the world, and everything becomes fine and dandy. In a true Zombie Apocalypse, I struggle to think at how that would actually work. Think more 'The Walking Dead', where it is just focused on the survivors, well, surviving the end of the world. On the flip side, there will be a big reveal as to what it actually was that caused the outbreak in the first place. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter, and continue to read on. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.