Author Note: Just for the record, in the book Pete actually did kill Evan- though they never knew who did it. He is just corrupt in a way and even though I may or may not explain what it says in the book about Pete- if I don't in a chapter I will at the end. He's not totally heartless, he just has misunderstandings and is hurt.

And surprise! A second update in one day!

~CWA

Chapter 6- Fired Up For Football

Danny:

I watched as Evan happily sat on my couch. I couldn't let him stay at the haunted house- not with Pete after him. I explained to Tommy that my house was open for about one or two more people if needed. Evan was staying in one of my extra rooms. He looked at me and I sighed.

"Yes, Evan," I said, "I am a ghost."
"But…how?"
"I….It's hard to explain. You know that this has to stay between us?"

"Yes…"
"You can't tell anyone. If you do, everyone will be in danger."
"Okay…."
"I'm a half ghost."
"A….what?"
"Halfa- half ghost, half human."
I sat beside him as I explained,
"I'm only half dead. When I was fourteen my parents, who were ghost hunters, made a portal to the Ghost Zone- the place where all the ghosts live. It didn't work until I went in, and turned it on. I got shocked with thousands of volts of electricity that should've killed me….but it didn't. I was also shot with high concentrated amounts of pure ectoplasm- the substance ghosts are made of. It saved me- the ectoplasm did. It attached itself to my DNA. It hurt like heck though, next thing I know, I am a half ghost. This," I gestured to myself, "isn't what I used to look like. I had blue eyes and black hair and when I came out as a ghost I had green eyes and white hair. This," I gestured to my eyes and hair, "is the result when I combined my human and ghost half. It's hard to explain…."
"You…you are…only one though….must be lonely…."
"It," I faltered, "there are ghosts out there, but not half ghosts….yeah, it gets lonely."
I still wasn't sure what happened to Danielle and Vlad thinks I am dead. It was lonely.

"You can stay here," I said, "as long as you like."
***

Today was the football game, I remembered. I wasn't the thrilled about it since I wasn't a sports fan, but Tommy was in the game. I just hope that the coach would allow him to be in the game. I headed over to the football field to grab a seat. I was surprised to see so many people, but not all of them meant well. Some were holding up signs that supported a zombie playing and others were hateful signs.

I ignored their yelling, and walked past them- well aware of their eyes on me.

"Are you the zombie that's playing," a lady asked.

I stopped for a second to look at her. I noticed that she was a newscaster. I didn't realize that Tommy playing was that big of a thing.
"Don't bother," a man with a hate sign yelled, "it's a dead corpse!"
"No," I answered, gaining their attention, "It's Tommy…that's playing….he's my…best friend….don't hurt him…"
I glared at the hateful people and they bit their lip at my vaguely concealed threat. I walked over to the bleachers- it was hard to find a seat but I finally spotted one beside Phoebe and Margi. Karen was seated close to them. I took a seat beside Karen and Phoebe. Her and Margi kept looking at me and I felt uncomfortable- after all, they knew who I was and that's not exactly a good thing.

"Tommy," Karen said, "…will be good. I…know it."
"Yeah," I agreed, "it's the…..people…I am worried….about…..they are….violent….towards…things…they don't…understand…"

Phoebe and Margi nodded.

"Well," Phoebe said, "isn't that the point that Tommy is trying to make? That the so called differently biotic aren't that different?"
I nodded slowly,

"Yeah."
We sat in silence. Well, sort of silence. There was no talking between us, but there were a lot of noises. The yelling and screaming of people, the cheers of the cheerleaders, the talking of the other people in the bleachers all filled the air.

An hour later, the team was still playing and Tommy had yet to be put on the field. I watched as it caused chaos for some people- or rather the people were causing chaos. Half were wanting the coach to put Tommy on the field and the other half were still upset and angry about a zombie on the team. Everyone still had signs up 'go zombies,' 'Football is for the living not for corpses,' 'Team of the dead,' and 'Corpses belong in the ground not in the field.'

I didn't know how people could be so hateful. Actually I did. The same things happened in Amity. Some were okay with the ghosts, and with me, and others weren't. I suppose people just didn't like what they didn't understand- human nature. But the way I saw it- if you have a soul, which obviously the 'zombies' do, then you're human even if you don't breathe. I mean, humans can be smart but they're dumb too.

It was simple to understand why zombies were there. Their soul didn't want to leave. I mean, think about it. The body is dead, therefore the functions act as a dead body- a dead body wouldn't breathe, speak, or move. But, the soul is alive. When you have a living soul and a living body, it moves, it breathes, it speaks fine. But when the body is dead and the soul is alive it slows the functions. I thought that the reason the soul went back to the dead body was because that they couldn't find ectoplasm, or they felt that they needed to. It didn't explain why only teenagers, not adults or animals, came back to life and only in America- but I had a totally different theory with that.

Ghosts, however, have no body but are pure souls. Ghosts are different. They died, and the soul left their body. With no body to show for it, they are doing things purely on spiritual power. Some spirits (souls) became that typical, stereotypical ghost by using ectoplasm to move things (but it's low, unconcentrated amounts). The one that no eyes can see because it doesn't have a physical body anymore. Then, there are the ghosts I am used to. The souls that found a high amount of ectoplasm and were smart enough to not use it to try and get the attention of the living, but to make themselves a new body. With their new body made, they inhabit it. But because the soul's old body is dead the soul knows that they are, by terms, dead (most of the time). Therefore, their body doesn't breathe. Because of the high amounts of ectoplasm, they have their powers. At least, that's the gist of it and the basic stuff anyway.

I was a special case. When I 'died', I died, but I lived. When I was dying, my soul found the ectoplasm and basically, decided to save it's old physical body. My soul used the ectoplasm to remake my DNA. Because I was in the process of dying, half of my DNA (so to speak) was gone, dead. My soul, my spirit, used the ectoplasm to bring that part of my DNA back to life. I think my soul was actually trying to make me a full ghost but because I wasn't 'dying' long enough for it to fully make me a ghost, it ended with me as a half ghost. At least, that's the theory.

There really was no way to prove that there were souls in things, living things….actually, there was a theory though. I mean, there was a scientist that weighed people just before they died and then right after they died. He did it with thousands of people and animals, and each time every person and animal lost about 7 ounces or .7 ounces or something like that. The theory was that the weight that was lost was lost because the soul left the body*.

I remembered that Tommy had a theory too, about why some zombies could talk and move easier than others. He thought it might have something to do with love since he, Karen, Evan, and a few others could move and talk easily, but they had loving family members that were supported. But some couldn't move or talk as easily, and he thought that it had to do with the fact that when they came back their families kicked them out and hated them. I supposed that made sense. If the soul in the body still

I shook the thoughts out of my head and paid attention to the game. Hey they put Tommy in. I heard screaming from people, but it wasn't too much trouble. Tommy didn't stay too long in though. It wasn't that he wasn't good- it was that the coach hated it that he, like Adam, played by the rules.

"EVERYONE CLEAR THE AREA!"
I looked to see a police officer and firefighters and I looked off to the football field to see that one side of it was covered in flames.

"Adam," Margi whispered.
"Tommy," Phoebe cried.

Everyone was running from the fire and it was complete and utter discord. The fire wasn't small. It reached up high against the night sky and shined brighter than the lights.

"Come on," I said, "let's go."

Hopefully they didn't notice the difference in my voice nor the fact that I was showing emotion in my voice- something zombies don't do. I hurried Karen, Margi, and Phoebe out of the bleachers and to the parking lot. I spotted Adam and Tommy. They both ran to us.

"Thank God you're okay," Adam said.

I noticed that both of them had some burns on their clothes and dirt all over them. Adam had a few cuts as well.

"Where's…Pete," Tommy asked, "He…was near the..fire."
"I hope he didn't make it," Margi muttered bitterly and Phoebe hit her friend on the arm,
"Don't say that. He's still a person, Margi."
"Did anyone see….how the fire…started," Karen asked.

"A hater," Tommy answered, "…he came on the field…in the back….set the fire….trying to…kill me."
I clenched my fists- I didn't like the idea of anyone being killed just because of the prejudice jackasses that are so closed minded…actually I didn't like the idea of anyone being killed at all. Nevertheless if it was a friend. I looked around for Pete since no one has seen him, but I couldn't find him either.
"I will….be right…back….but….good job…Tommy."

He nodded slowly at me and I slowly walked away. As soon as I was far enough and no one was around I turned invisible and intangible and headed to the fire. I was able to spot Pete- unconscious, but far enough away from the fire that he would be okay. I looked over to the heart of the fire and I saw that the firefighters were struggling. Cursing my heroic complex, I headed to help them (without them knowing of course). I struggled against the flames, and carefully used my ice powers to increase the firefighter's hose to a cooler degree. I then used my ice powers to carefully stop the fire, as to not get noticed. A blue wisp escaped my mouth and I cursed that a ghost might be here- but right now, the fire was my main issue so that no one got hurt by it.

Finally the firefighters had the fire under control and I headed back to my friends in the parking lot. I could search for the ghost later tonight, well hopefully anyway. After all, the party was tonight too.

"Finally," Adam said, "you're back! We were getting worried- but you missed it!"

"Missed what?"
"Someone spotted this weird dog that looked almost green running through here."
Shit.

*Actually, that part is true. There really was a scientist that did that and that was the theory since each subject lost exactly 7 ounces or .7 ounces (I couldn't remember which it said).