Deleted scene from Thrill of the Chase. This goes between chapters 16 and 17. It was meant to be the first of several chapters about how Jack and Maddie would come to live with what had happened to her but this is all that ever got written.

'Truth in Dreams' is rated hard T.

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Jack Fenton sat on the floor of the log cabin. If he squinted it looked a lot like the old wood shed behind the barn. There were the posters he and Vlad had acquired and pasted on the walls to turn the shed into their own childhood clubhouse. The ratty old couch they'd found on the state highway, the one they brought home by 'borrowing' his dad's truck even though they were both underage and then getting whipped for it when he found out. The porn magazines they'd lifted from his dad. The stacks of papers and notebooks detailing designs for things they didn't understand at the time, ideas that only made sense after physics had bent their minds.

He had no idea how he got here or why he was sporting two shotguns and a bandolier of ammo. He didn't remember why he was so exhausted, why he was alone, why the air smelled like a dead thing.

When the door slammed open he didn't question the instinct that had him spinning around, shotgun brought up to blast the zombie in the face. That's what it was, that's what it had to be. A rotting corpse laid in front of him, a polo shirt and slacks still hanging off of its broken frame. He couldn't tell who it once was, the face was full of buck shot.

Jack took a deep breath and looked outside.

Amity Park was in ruins. He wondered for a moment why his childhood wood shed was in the middle of Amity Park but it wasn't important. What was important was the zombies. All around him zombies were shambling aimlessly, occasionally chasing down a rare human being. He watched in fascination as one of Danny's classmates, some big blond boy in a football jacket, ran screaming from a horde of half a dozen of his former teammates. Jack brought his shotguns up and picked off the zombies one by one but the blond was still taken down by the zombie of a broad Asian boy.

"Help me!" the blond cried through his screams.

Jack took aim and fired. The zombie fell back, brains splattered behind him. He walked up to the blond boy and saw the bite marks up and down his arms. He watched the boy writhe in pain as his eyes began to film over with white. Screams turned to gurgling roars.

This was the kinder solution. Jack took aim and put the boy out of his misery. One more zombie taken down.

Mad laughter brought him away from his task. He turned around to see a pile of corpses. A moment was lost as he tried to figure out where they all came from. He stopped thinking about it when he saw the two figures at the top of the pile.

The woman had red eyes and wild red hair. Blue and black latex covered her body, leaving nothing to the imagination. Black gloves and black boots accented the outfit, adding a sense of feminine power. Too-red lips smiled out to him from pale skin. In her hand she held the leash that controlled the man at her heels. He sat at her feet, gazing up adoringly at her with red eyes. Long silver hair trailed down his back. A tattered black suit and a busted top hat did nothing to protect him from the zombies around them as evidenced by the numerous bite wounds on his shoulders and chest. A steel collar imprisoned him, his neck rubbed raw where she'd pulled at it.

Jack's blank memory supplied him with a name. "Madeline," he said.

"Jack," she greeted. She sauntered down the pile of corpses as though simply descending a staircase. A tug on the leash had the silver-haired man following behind her on his hands and knees. "I knew I'd see you again. Do you like what I've done with the place?"

"You've infected everyone," Jack said, disgust reflected in his voice. "There's no one left. Nothing but these monstrosities."

"Flesh-eating zombies," she purred. "Nowhere near as obedient as their loa-possessed counterparts." To make a point she ran her fingers through the man's silver hair before gripping him by it and forcing him to look at her. Joy filled his features as she granted him a chance to look into her eyes. Her grip softened and she rubbed her fingers over his cheek to watch him nuzzle her. "But I suppose they have their own unique charm. After all, who would dare stand in the way of one who commands such unbound eating machines?" She pulled her hand away from the man and giggled as he pouted to lament its loss.

Jack watched the man with morbid fascination. He could have sworn he knew this man, this old... friend? "Vladimir?" he asked, voice quiet.

"Je suis Ge-Rouge maintenant," the man said, his accent a strange mix of Russian and Creole. "Vous m'avez donné à eux. Vous a fait de moi ce, Jack."

I'm the red-eyed loa now. You gave me to them. You turned me into this, Jack.

Disgust filled his heart as Jack raised his shotgun and fired. The man slumped backwards, dead.

Jack stood there, unsure what to do. He felt numb as he looked down at the body of his former best friend. Even though he'd just taken a shotgun blast to the head he looked almost peaceful, serene, curiously undamaged. With his eyes closed he looked almost... alive. Not a zombie, not possessed, alive.

Black gloved hands draped themselves over his shoulders from behind. Jack tensed up and swore. How could he have forgotten about the other?!

"I guess you'll have to do then," she purred in his ear before he felt the searing agony of poisoned teeth digging into his throat.

Jack's eyes popped open to darkness. He was lying down somewhere, a soft pillow beneath his head. Something heavy was draped over him, heavy and warm, but it didn't feel like a body. He couldn't smell death anymore. His neck didn't hurt where she'd bitten him. The night was quiet with the sounds of a creaking house, a faraway air conditioner, and the soft groans of a woman.

The mattress shifted as something moved next to him. He looked up to see shining red eyes. Panic gripped him as he realized someone had taken his weaponry, he had nothing to defend himself, oh god no...

"I'm sorry," the woman said before grabbing his forearm and biting him. Jack shrieked and threw her off the bed.

"What the hell?!" she demanded.

Jack looked over the side of the bed to see angry, confused violet eyes. "Why am I on the floor?" she asked.

"Maddie?" Jack realized. The zombies, Vlad as a loa, the shotguns, it must have all been a dream. But then what about waking up and Maddie trying to eat him? That had to have been a dream too. But then why did his arm still hurt? He turned on the bedside lamp and rolled up his pajama sleeve. She hadn't broken the skin but right there, unmistakably... "You bit me," he said.

"I did not," Maddie said. "I was asleep and then I woke up to a scream and next thing I know I'm on the floor."

Jack showed her his forearm. The teeth marks were slowly fading but he could still watch the realization, the self-condemnation, and then the shame as they crossed her features. "Your eyes were red, Maddie," Jack said softly. "You said 'I'm sorry' and then you bit me. You scared the wits out of me."

"I don't remember doing it," she whispered.

"Maybe you were sleepwalking?" Jack suggested. There was another possibility, one that hurt to even think about. "Or maybe when you're asleep the imprint can still control you."

She looked as ill as he felt about that prospect.

"Go back to sleep," Jack said. "Here. I'll hold you to keep you safe."

Maddie shook her head. "One of us should sleep on the couch. I don't know if it's safe for anyone to sleep next to me anymore."

Jack smiled. He could see just how much those words hurt for her to say. "I doubt we have to worry about that tonight," he said.

"How do you know?"

Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down to lie next to him. "I don't think I can get back to sleep tonight," he admitted. "And tomorrow we can look around for some sort of solution to this problem. We'll find something. I promise."

Maddie snuggled into his warm embrace. The beating of his heart lulled her into a tired rhythm, drawing her back down into sleep. She felt safe here, knowing he would protect her from any evil imprints looking to feed off of her again.

As she dropped back to sleep her stomach rumbled.