Ello again! This is a chapter-not a great one, not a bad one-just a chapter.
Chapter 4—Instinct of Danger
Jack watched Phantom as the powerless ghost lead the way. The T-Rex's large footprints and the ever-quiet area were large clues that they were on the right trail. The human couldn't help but feel concerned for the weakened companion. Phantom would often seem side tracked with something then stumble off of the side of the path before forcing himself to walk straight ahead. Jack knew that Phantom didn't have a balance problem. With all of the fancy moves he used in the air, Phantom should have been like a cat on the high-wire. It seemed to take a lot of thought and energy for the ghost just to walk straight, and Jack knew that was a bad sign of his illness. He didn't know how much longer Phantom could last when his motor functions completely failed.
"I gotta sit down," Phantom panted and sat down where he was, not caring that it was a pile of mud for yards and there wasn't a single dry place to sit on.
Jack, not that winded since Phantom had been leading and not that fast since he was weaker then the man, stood beside the ghost and waited. He looked around them for signs of danger—and who wouldn't if there were dinos around? There was a thinning of trees here and more open land was ahead of them as they followed the T-Rex's tracks. In the distance, Jack could swear he saw a lake, shimmering in the odd green light of the Zone.
"Ha! You were right," Jack said, highly pleased at finding a source of water to parch his dry mouth, but one look at Phantom and he sobered up again.
The ghost looked worse than before.
"You okay?" he asked, watching the dulled aura around the ghost seem to fade with each second.
"My mouth is a desert," Phantom said and coughed into his arm. "And I'm shaking like a leaf."
"Well, if you have something that resembles a human's immune system, then you're just dehydrated," Jack mused. "Your body is using all of its resources to fight off whatever Sticker put in your system."
"Skulker," Phantom corrected weakly.
"Whatever," Jack shrugged, "you just need some fluids."
"I don't see much," Phantom said sarcastically.
"Well, I think I see a lake far out there, think you can manage for a little while longer?"
Phantom got up on his feet, spreading his legs apart to balance himself unsteadily in the mud.
"I'll make it," he said with conviction then pressed on.
The rest of the trip was down hill. It made it easier for Phantom so long as he kept his head back to keep from pitching forward; still, it was better than climbing up hill. Jack did notice the lack of animals around, even the large T-Rex they followed wasn't in sight. Phantom didn't seem to notice the silence, to intent on parching his thirst. Jack had the same idea, but still, the silence bothered him.
They made it to the lake side, Phantom bending down head first into the water and came back out with his hair dripping and water droplets running down his pale face, but it did seem to comfort him. He dipped his hand into the water and brought it back up to drink from.
"Are you sure it's okay to drink from?" Jack asked, not even questioning why Phantom was drinking in the first place since ghosts didn't need water.
"No point in keeping a tainted water supply with endangered creatures on the island," Phantom said logically and drank again.
Jack bent down for a taste of the water. It was evident that it was not dirty or poisonous in any way; it was so clear and pure that Jack could see the rocky bottom and the colorful fish that swam there, looking for morsels to eat. The taste as clean as well, just the slight aftertaste of silt which probably came from the sandy area that they had placed themselves in, but Jack wasn't one to complain at the moment.
"Feeling better?" he asked Phantom at seeing the ghost pull back from the water.
"I don't feel so shriveled up," Phantom sighed as he lay down on his back in the wet grass. "But I'm still exhausted. I can barely feel my core."
"Your what?"
"My core, my life source," Phantom tried to sit up to look at Jack to talk, but he didn't seem that motivated to do so; he continued to lay there as he explained. "My core is kind of like my heart, it gives me power and life, keeps me from falling apart. If that goes, I'm a goner."
Jack just stared at him. It was obvious that Phantom was out of it, otherwise he wouldn't have divulged such valuable information to a ghost hunter. He would probably say whatever came to mind without thinking about it first—a sign of losing touch with reality and spiraling into a fever delusion.
The ghost hunter bent down and touched Phantom on the forehead, feeling heat roll off the pale flesh.
"You're burning up," Jack whispered to himself. "How is that possible? You're a cryoconnetic; your body temperature should be below that of a normal ghost in order to keep you alive. You can't have a fever, you'd burn out within minutes."
Phantom heard none of this. He had closed his eyes some time after his explanation and dozed off as Jack inspected him. Suddenly, he shivered—almost like a convulsion—and woke up. Jack helped him sit up after the ghost's own vain attempts and was confused as to why his breath was visible after figuring out that Phantom had a fever. The jolt of cold was probably a shock to his system, thus the convulsion and jerk of his body.
"We got to get out of here," Phantom said urgently, looking around for something.
The bad feeling Jack had earlier was back and didn't argue. He started to turn and run back up to the trees, hauling Phantom up with him, but it was slow going with the mud and traveling up hill. The hefty footsteps squashing in the mud behind him mad Jack turn around to see what was pursuing them.
"I knew you would have to come out sometime," Skulker scoffed at seeing them, still atop his giant mount. "My Phantom, how weak and puny you look."
"You're one to talk!" Phantom yelled up at him, but it was marred with a cough. "If you were really the mightiest hunter in the Ghost Zone, you wouldn't need all of that armor."
Skulker scowled at him, raising an arm and aiming a cannon-like weapon at them. Jack gasped and leapt out of the way when he saw the light from the cannon as a queue to get out of there. Phantom gasped in his own surprise as Jack still had a hold of him and he went flying back down hill. Both rolled around clumsily, soaking themselves in mud and dried grass and coming to a stop in the lake.
"Thanks," Phantom moaned, pulling himself up out of the water.
"No problem," Jack moaned as he did the same, "but I don't think we're out of the woods yet."
Skulker was urging his mount to run down after them into the lake.
"Swim out," Phantom yelled.
Both started to head for the center of the lake, Skulker pushing the giant animal into the lake, but it seemed reluctant to go after them.
"I don't think it can swim," Phantom said as he and Jack treaded water.
"Of course! With a mass well over any land mammal and those protective plates on its back, it would be nearly impossible to stay afloat," Jack smiled brilliantly. "Man I wish I had something to write this down on!"
"As long as we stay out here, we should be fine!" then a look of horror crossed his features. "Oh crap."
"What?"
"I think I just jinxed us."
"Oh come on, there's no such thing as bad—" Jack was cut short by the arrival of a deep sea creature that had sprung up from behind them; showering them with water spray as it towered and roared at Skulker's mount by the shore as it was slowly crawling into the water after Skulker's choice prey, "luck?" Jack finished lamely.
The sea creature roared again and lunged forward. Jack grabbed Phantom's arm and paddled with the other to try and swim out of the way. The giant snake-like body came crashing down into the water, sending the lake into a roaring convulsion of chaos. Jack kept a tight hold on Phantom's arm, not wanting to lose the ghost for some reason, as the water thrashed them around and dunked them deep into the depths of the lake. Jack quickly swam back up, needing air before his lungs burst. He reached the top and gasped, a second gasp confirmed that Phantom was still beside him and Jack clutched the ghost's arm harder to make sure he stayed with him.
Without prompting from the mumbling ghost, Jack pulled himself to shore on the other side of the lake. The water was still rising and falling violently, but he was glad that the creature was not fixed on them; it was keeping the hunting ghost busy while the two managed to get to shore. Jack flopped onto the ground, panting from the energy lost at battling the water. Phantom was coughing heavily and Jack rolled him onto his side to make sure he didn't choke. Phantom spat out lake water and shivered from the chill the cold water was giving to his already battered and feverish body. His eyes were clouded over, as if in a trance.
"Phantom, come on," Jack urged the ghost, shaking him to try and get a rise, but Phantom stayed motionless and continued to cough water up. "We need to get going before Skulker finds us."
The ghost responded to that, but weakly. He rolled onto his stomach and tried to get up, but his arms collapsed under him and he fell again into the mud, moaning at just that small effort. He tried again, but Jack had become impatient. He grabbed Phantom and put him on his back, shocking the ghost slightly out of his daze.
"Just hang on," Jack told him as he guided the ghost's hands to hold around his neck.
Phantom nodded and looked back at the battle between sea and land creature, with Skulker yelling loudly and cursing profanities that both had never heard before. Jack moved back into the trees, hoping that they could find something to eat before the sun set and something ate them.