I update-again. Yes, the updates have been slow in comming, but so has the inspiration lately. It just up and poofed away one day, but it happens sometimes and when I get it back, expect lots of updats really quickly. So enjoy this one!

Chapter 5—Instincts of Home

"Jack, put me down," Phantom whined quietly from Jack's back.

"You sure you can stand on your own?" Jack asked him, though the man himself doubted it.

Phantom had been wheezing in his ear the whole time Jack picked his way through the dense forest, trying to get away from the lake as quick as possible. He was not sure how long he had been running, but he did notice that it was getting darker. He found that odd since the Ghost Zone didn't have a sun to loose, but when he looked up, he saw a normal Earth sky instead of the eerie green of the Ghost Zone.

"How is that possible?" Jack asked himself staring up at the sky as the stars began to peek out.

Phantom started to struggle to get down and Jack tore his eyes from the sky to kneel so Phantom could get off of his back without hurting himself. He felt the ghost get off, but a second later, there was a thump behind him. Jack turned around to see that Phantom had fallen onto his rear. While rubbing his head, Phantom caught sight of the sky and stared at it, as if searching for something.

"This is Earth isn't it?" Jack asked him, tearing Phantom's dull eyes from the sky and onto him. "Not some sort of trick?"

"No, it feels like Earth," Phantom said, looking just as baffled as him. "My only guess is that because Extinction Island holds animals from both worlds, maybe the island is connected somehow between Earth and the Ghost Zone. We probably stumbled into the rift while running away."

"Makes just about as much sense as anything else," Jack groused, looking around the area.

It did indeed look more human. The plants were a normal green, the ground felt warm compared to the cold of the Ghost Zone, and the air felt a bit more pure here. He also heard a low swooshing sound from somewhere. It sounded like a large body of water, like an ocean. Well, they had gone from being stranded in the Ghost Zone, to being stranded on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere.

"I wonder how long we've been gone," Phantom spoke up startling the ghost hunter.

Phantom looked tired, his suit torn, his skin pale and sickly looking, but what caught Jack by surprise was that his aura was nearly gone. He normally glowed like a flashlight in the dark, but as the sun began to set, the dark came in on them and Jack was having a hard time trying to separate Phantom from the shadows.

"Well, it can't be more than two days," Jack said, answering the ghost's question. "Right?"

"I think so," but Phantom's tone told Jack the ghost was not sure. "I don't feel so good."

The ghost brought his hands up to his head, as if trying to ward off pain. He groaned slightly when a breeze came through and hit their partially dried forms. Jack got down to his level and put a hand on the ghost's face.

"You're burning up," he stated. "You could cook fudge on your forehead."

It sounded like Phantom tried to laugh, but it was covered by a cough that made the whole ghost's body shake like a leaf. Jack winced at the sound, it sounded like he was trying to cough up rocks. Phantom seemed to lose his back bone and went limp. Jack caught him before he could hit the dirt, but the hunter paused. He could feel Phantom's ribs through the suit material, the rise and fall of his chest as he labored to breath, and the distinct thump of a heart, or was it this core that Phantom had been talking about earlier before they were attacked?

"You have bones? And lungs?" Jack asked him, but a slight groan was the only answer he received. "Come on, let's find some shelter for the night."

Phantom tried to stand, but he couldn't even sit up. Jack took it upon himself to put the ghost back on his back like before and continue walking.

"Thank you," Phantom whispered in his ear.

Jack paused, unsure on how to answer that. He never had a ghost thank him before, he had never expected it from a being that could not express gratitude; but Phantom had proven himself to be wildly different.

"No problem," he muttered back.

The cave was enough to keep Phantom out of the wind. As the sky became blacker, the wind picked up enough to where Phantom was shivering uncontrollably against Jack's back constantly. Spending the night in another cave didn't sound very comfortable, but Jack felt he had to think about Phantom first for some odd reason. The cave was bigger then the last one in the Zone. Jack was able to gather enough wood and start a fire with the resources Maddie had taught him before on their honeymoon, after Jack accidently stranded them in the middle of nowhere. He put Phantom on the floor and the ghost curled up instantly, eyes screwed shut and breathing normal except for the coughing in his sleep.

The wound on the side of Phantom's neck was steadily growing inflamed and red. It looked rather painful to Jack and he had to wonder if it was possible that ghost wounds could get infected if their accelerated healing wasn't functioning like it should. It was obvious that Phantom was sick, he needed a doctor and badly, but Jack was no doctor, but Jack was all Phantom had at the moment.

To make the ghost more comfortable, Jack had removed Phantom's belt, which had been lost on him until now. Phantom had never worn something like this before, it was new. Obviously, it held nothing useful since Skulker must have removed anything that would have functioned as a weapon, but Phantom unconsciously slammed onto his stomach and curled up, obviously more comfortable now then he had been a moment ago. Jack dug around in the empty belt, hoping to find something, but his fears were confirmed when every pocket was empty, but why was it still on Phantom? Surely it would have been easier to just take the belt? And where did he get it anyway? It looked like the kind Maddie wore all of the time.

"Jack?"

The human looked up, throwing the belt to the side, feeling guilty with being caught with it.

"Yeah, Phantom?" Jack asked after a slight hesitation.

"Where are we?" Phantom asked tiredly.

"We're nowhere. Don't you remember what happened?" Jacked asked him.

Phantom slowly shook his head, but then saw his belt on the ground near Jack. He weakly reached for it, but his hand was slowly heading towards the fire where the belt rested on the other side. Jack ran over and caught his arm before he could burn it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Jack scolded him. "There's a fire right in front of you!"

Phantom coughed again and reached for the belt weakly.

"Homing device," Phantom wheezed out. "In the belt. Signal. . . Mom. . ."

Jack blinked in bewilderment, then he was slightly angry.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" he yelled at the ill ghost. "We could have gotten home a long time ago!"

"Doesn't work. . . in Zone," Phantom slurred, weakly pulling himself towards his belt, just falling short of it. "Gotta get, Mom."

Jack could only shake his head. It was amazing what this fever was doing to his brain. He thought that there was a signal in his belt to contact his mother. He was a ghost, he had no mom, but, what if he did. Phantom was different, he had physiological needs of those close to a human, and perhaps, it wouldn't hurt to humor him now.

Sighing, his anger gone, Jack picked up the belt and put it into Phantom's hands. The ghost blinked for a minute, confused as to what had just happened, but ignored it and pressed something on the 'D' buckle. The symbol lit up quickly then started to blink on and off in a steady rhythm. So, there really was a homing beacon in the belt, maybe they would get out of here after all.

Phantom slowly slid back down to the tough ground, clutching his belt close to him as if it was a life line. He started to breath heavily as if he couldn't catch his breath.

"Phantom?" Jack asked, unsure what was happening.

The ghost cried out and clutched at his chest, doubling over in pain. Something must be happening to his core, maybe the equivalent of a heart-attack? Jack could do nothing but watch, feeling useless as Phantom's screams struck something in him that seemed long forgotten. He tried to remember what was trying to surface, an old memory of something.

"Daddy!"

Jack's eyes flew open as he recalled what he had suppressed. He looked down at an exhausted Phantom, his eyes half open as they roved the ceiling for something. Jack sat down next to the ghost and turned Phantom onto his back. There was a slight reaction of panic, but the ghost calmed down when he saw Jack.

"That hurt," he whispered, still clutching at his chest. "It feels like I'm dying."

Jack put his fingers up to Phantom's un-swollen side of his neck. He felt a pulse there, but a weak one, something was happening to his core for it to start shutting down. Whatever Skulker had injected him with, was killing him. Jack began to panic, he had to stop this somehow, but he didn't know how.

"You'll be fine," Jack encouraged him, but Phantom only closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Not in time," he whispered. "I can feel it in here."

The ghost weakly tapped his chest.

"Don't talk like that," Jack told him sternly, making the ghost blink in surprise. "You'll make it. I've seen you fight before, you're made of tough stuff kid."

"Thanks, I guess," Phantom chuckled weakly. "Didn't know you cared. Wait, yes I knew you cared, you just didn't know you cared."

"What are you talking about?"

Phantom chuckled again, coughing again, and making Jack think his fever had gotten worse.

"Just rest," he advised the ghost. "Don't want you using up the energy that you have left."

"I guess," Phantom's words were slurred and nearly inaudible.

After the ghost conked out, Jack decided to do the same thing. Dreaming of memories the ghost's screams had arisen in him.