The van sputtered and they slowed to a stop. "Jazz?" Danny called, "What's going on?"
"Out of gas." Jazz said.
"We haven't even driven that much!"
"Yeah, but Mom and Dad drove this thing everywhere and usually didn't fill it until about the point when we started." She said. "We're going to have to walk."
"Anything in here we can use to protect ourselves?" Tucker asked.
"I already checked." Danny said, "There's nothing."
"There's always something." Sam said and examined everything. She looked up, "How about these?" she asked. She pointed at the metal railing along the ceiling of the van above hers and Danny's seats.
"There's only two." Jazz said.
"We can break them in two. One for each of us." Tucker said.
Danny took firm hold of one and started yanking on them hoping they'd come off. He finally fell back with a seven-foot rail in his hands. "Tucker, grab the other one." He instructed, holding one foot on the rail and pulling on it, eventually bending it. He continued bending it back and forth until it gave way. Tucker saw this and did the same, handing one half to Jazz after Sam had received the half Danny handed her.
Danny unlocked the door to the van and opened the door, stepping out and making sure the coast was clear. He swung at a zombie that had ran at him and knocked it away. "Wait…" he said, keeping the others inside the van. He looked around for any big zombies like Dash or the acid zombies like Paulina. He certainly wanted to avoid the type of zombie his Mom was. He waved for the others to step out, "This way." He said, starting down the street in the direction that they were going in the first place. The others stayed close to him.
"What do we do if they attack us?" Tucker asked.
"Well, this is just like the zombie movies we used to watch. We'd have to kill them." Sam said.
"Yeah, except we have the weird ones like Dash, Mom and Paulina." Danny said.
Sam wanted to know what his Mom looked like as a zombie, so she'd keep an eye out, but she decided to wait until they actually came across one. She saw Danny stop and stare at a building. "What is it?" she asked.
"It's a pawn shop." He said.
"And?" Tucker asked.
"It's probably got swords or guns inside." Danny said. "Grab my hands, someone."
Jazz and Sam grabbed his hands unsure, Tucker paused, "Oh what, the black guy goes out first? I see how it is."
Sam grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, "Oh, shut up." She said and followed Danny as he phased through the front doors of the pawn shop. Inside, it might as well have been a gun store. The walls were lined with rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols. In the cases, were swords and other beautiful bladed weapons like axes, spears, knives, halberds, and even throwing stars. In the corner, electronics sat, proving that the place wasn't just a gun store along with a small case of jewelry. Danny took a deep breath, "Grab a weapon. And hold onto it, because I'm not aware of another weapons shop around here." He said, phasing his hand through the glass and picking up an ax, it looked as though it were made to be a realistic replica, but didn't trust it to be sturdy. He didn't want to use anything else, so he chose it. "Hey, Sam, what kind of bladed weapon do you want?" he called.
"Um… What's over there?" she asked, picking up ammo for an SMG she had chosen.
"Halberds, spears, knives, axes, and swords."
"Ooh, halberds?" she asked and went to his side. "That one." She pointed at a spear with a spiked ax head on one end.
He phased his hand through and handed it to her, "That's heavy."
"Heavy enough." Sam smiled and examined the length of the handle.
"Tucker, what about you?"
"Uh, grab something for Jazz first, I'm still trying to find a gun." He said.
"Okay, Jazz?" he never turned away from the glass case.
"Knives." She said, loading a tactical shotgun.
"I got a pair of heavy, safari-looking knives, how're those?" Danny said, staring at the wide but short blades.
"Those'll work." She smiled and cocked a Tactical shotgun.
Danny pulled them out of the case and set them aside. "Find something Tucker?" he finally turned around and found him wandering and looking at the assault rifles.
Tucker stopped and reached for an M-16. "Got one." He smiled. He turned and went to the case Danny had been standing in front of. "Those." He pointed at the set of eight throwing stars.
"I'm not surprised." Danny scooped up the bladed stars and put them in the pouch next to them, then handed them to Tucker. "You're gonna lose them though."
"Nah." Tucker pulled out his PDA and about a dozen small lights, placing one in the center of each star. "I'll keep them tracked."
"Hey…" Danny pointed at the lights, "There's four left."
"Uh-huh. I can count." Tucker said.
"No, there's four of us. One for each. So if we get separated, we can find each other again." He said.
"Good point…" Tucker said, shoving one light in his pocket and handing another to Danny. "Sam, Jazz, here." He dropped the remaining two in their hands.
"Good idea, Danny." Jazz praised.
"Shall we go?" Sam asked.
"I haven't picked out a gun yet." Danny started for the wall.
"I got one for you." Sam said, holding up a high-powered sniper rifle.
Danny turned around, "Oh, perfect." He said, taking it in his hands. He strapped it to his back along with his chosen axe. "Now we can go." He said. He had everyone either grab his hand or his shoulder as he phased back through the door and stepped out to the street. They started for the police station. Any zombies that ran at them, they shot. They stopped in their tracks when they saw the front doors of the police station smashed open and barely on their hinges. They hesitated on going in.
"Well…" Tucker started, "Now what?"
Danny stared at the sign and the doors for a while. Then he took a deep breath, "I'll go in… if I need help, I'll yell. If it's clear, I'll come back out." He said. "Tucker, keep an eye on Sam and Jazz." He instructed.
"You got it, Danny." Tucker nodded.
Danny nodded and went inside the police station.
The police station was dark and too quiet for Danny's liking, and the smell was something he'd never forget. If he thought the Nasty Burger's dumpsters smelled bad, he had to think again. He had to be careful to not step on any of the dead bodies that laid in the lobby. He finally came to the counter, in hopes of maybe finding a map taped on top or maybe on the other side. Instead, he found a flashlight. He clicked it on and got a better look of the place. It wasn't too dark before. He was able to see what had taken place there maybe not a few hours before. But now it was lit up, he saw the blood… the pain… the fear... panic… even death.
When he felt he should've been used to dealing with the dead, because of his ghost fighting. He wanted to say that this was completely different. But was it different? The ghosts talk back when the zombies don't have the mental capacity to even say 'brains' like they did in the movies? That was really just about it. At this point, he already missed the Ghost Zone. The city wasn't the human world anymore. It was Zombie Zone. This wasn't home. Not anymore. He shook his head in pity to all those that had fallen because of this apparent Green Flu. The same flu that had claimed his mother, and in a way, his father too. He checked the back walls, where he had thought he'd heard slight rustling. But instead of finding a zombie or a rat of any sort, he found a large poster that was held on by pushpins at two corners. The other two corners had been ripped off and was now freely blowing in the breeze. He caught the free end and pushed it back to the wall. He found it to be a United States map, with several locations on the east coast marked with the CEDA insignia. He pulled the last two corners off and laid it down on a table in the lobby, placing his axe on top and turning to get the others when he heard a hoarse groan. He froze in his tracks and turned around.
Standing in the hall by the counters, stood a tall zombie in an officer's uniform. He'd seen this cop multiple times before, and never learned his name or had any interaction with him. The officer coughed, as though he'd smoked way too much or as though he was choking on something. A long tongue hung about a foot and a half from his mouth. Half of his face was swollen shut and he had large, infected-looking boils on his arms. Danny held up his rifle and aimed at the smoking infected, "There are so many different types, we just gotta start calling you something." He muttered before sending two bullets into the zombie, one into his heart, and the other obliterating his head. The infected released a large cloud of smoke. Danny's stomach turned as he watched the silhouette of the zombie fall with a thud and a splat. He turned around and met with the others, "I found a map." He said, motioning for them to come inside. They followed him inside and looked at the map with him.
"What is that?" Sam pointed at the cloud of smoke that lingered.
"I really don't wanna know." Danny said and turned his attention to the map, "It looks like the next CEDA location is in… Wisconsin." He said. Then he sighed, "Of all places…"
"It's a zombie apocalypse, Danny, I think he'll leave you alone." Tucker said.
"Yeah. But God forbid if the evac center is right next to his place." Sam shrugged.
Danny shook his head, "Whatever. We're getting there." He said, "I don't even care if the evac center is his mansion. I just want you guys safe." He looked at them.
"Is there an address?" Tucker asked.
Danny searched the sides, "Here." He pointed at the Wisconsin location.
Tucker read the address and put it down in his PDA.
"What're you doing?" Jazz asked.
"GPS." He answered simply. "So we know where we're going." I sure hope you're not walking. Said the female automated voice from the PDA, causing the owner to jump almost out of his skin.
"I don't remember it doing that." Jazz said.
Danny and Sam looked at Tucker, "Was this when Technus stole it?"
"Probably, I still haven't reprogrammed the voice." Tucker said. You can never reprogram my voice.
"That's gonna get annoying quick." Danny said.
You're gonna get annoying quick. The PDA argued.
"Please tell me you have another PDA." Jazz rolled her eyes.
"I do, but it's low on battery life and I don't have that many apps on it." Tucker said, "We're just going to have to deal with her."
The other three sighed in disappointment.
No use in complaining about it.
"Now I remember why I hate GPS." Danny groaned. "Which way?"
"Um, we have to head West." Tucker said, looking at the map on the small screen. "Let's just get to Wisconsin and I'll tell you from there." He said, pocketing the device.
"Well, let's go then." Jazz rested her shotgun on her shoulder.
They began walking down the street, picking off an infected here and there and even talked for a while. Finally, the voice called from Tucker's pocket, You have walked way too far to be in any sort of parking lot. Now tell me, why the hell are you walking to Wisconsin?
"We don't have a car," Danny caught himself answering the PDA.
That's a shame. I noticed one of you is a ghost, why are you walking?
"Tucker, shut that thing up." Danny groaned.
"I can't, Danny, I'm sorry." Tucker said. The four rounded a corner and started for the edge of town.
In about three-hundred years, left turn.
Danny yelled in frustration. Sam and Jazz couldn't help but to laugh at the situation.
"I think she likes you, Danny." Tucker smirked, noticing that the PDA only picked on him.
"That's a first." Danny said, "None of your electronics liked me before."
"Not just my electronics." Tucker teased, "Your whole Dad's garage."
"That was when we first met Technus." Sam said.
"Guys?" Jazz stopped walking, "What is that?" she pointed at a huge, bloated infected in the distance.
Sam, Danny and Tucker looked up. "Ugly, that's what that is." Sam said.
Danny peered through the scope of his sniper, "You got that right." He fired and barely clipped his side.
"Whoa!" Tucker, Sam and Jazz gasped, seeing the bloated infected explode in a nasty mess of bile and blood. They watched several zombies run at the spot where the fat zombie stood and started attacking the mess. "Dude, did you shoot his stomach?" Tucker asked.
"No, I barely clipped him." Danny backed away and watched the fight.
"Whatever that thing was, we better avoid it." Sam said, "That's just disgusting." They started walking around the mess. There was a screech before they heard Sam screaming behind them, "Get it off! AH! Get it off me!"
Danny, being the first to respond, whipped around and shot the infected off of Sam. He helped her up, "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Ow…" she leaned against the wall and showed him the slashes on her stomach.
"We need to get first aid." Danny said to Jazz and Tucker, "Hurry."
They both took off while Sam slid down the wall to sit on the ground. She groaned and held her stomach tightly.
"You're gonna be okay." Danny said, staying close to her. He glanced at the zombie that had attacked her and made sure that he killed him.
"Danny?" she panted.
"Yeah?" he glanced down at her.
"Does that thing have claws?" she asked, apparently staring at the same zombie.
He let her go for a quick moment to see the sharp claws that came from each finger, "Yeah, he does." He sat back next to her.
"He's wearing a jacket from school." She muttered.
"He's a Casper High football player, yeah." He nodded.
She rested her head on her shoulder, "This really hurts." She said.
"I can imagine." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in closer, "You're going to be okay, I promise." He hugged her.
Her head rested on his chest, "Thank you, Danny."
He waited patiently with her, glaring at the clawed infected that attacked her and praying that she'd be okay. He listened carefully to her breathing and paid close attention to her heartbeat that he barely felt from her back.
"Sorry that took a while, we had r-" Tucker stopped in his tracks to see Sam in her state in Danny's arms.
Jazz took the first aid kit from Tucker and knelt in front of them, "Danny, if you don't mind?"
Danny carefully leaned Sam against the wall and stood up next to Tucker. They both faced away from them to give the girls privacy.
"Is she okay?" Tucker asked.
"I hope so." Danny stared at the ground.
"Hey, man, are you okay?" he looked at him in worry.
"Who knows what the heck's out there when we have things that Dash turned into, what my Mom turned into, that Paulina turned into, just all the weird zombies. What else is out there?" he said, "Sam got attacked by one of them and it hurt her really bad. I don't want to lose you guys too to the same crazy bullshit that… killed Dad…" he trailed off.
"Hey, hey, hey," Tucker put a hand on his shoulder, "We're gonna make it out of here. I'm sure of it." He smiled, "Everything's gonna be okay."
"Thanks." Danny managed a small smile.
"We're gonna have to stop and rest for a little bit for Sam." Jazz's voice said behind them.
"Alright." Danny nodded. He turned around and looked around for a place they can stop and rest at. The building they stood by showed promise. The doors were boarded up and the building had actually been abandoned for years. Danny shoved the door open with his shoulder and fell through surprised that the door gave way so easily.
Apparently the door wasn't locked to begin with.
"Tucker…" Danny complained. He pushed himself up off the ground and picked up Sam.
"Now's not the time," Tucker scolded the PDA. He followed the Fenton siblings upstairs to the top of the building. "Now this isn't a bad idea." Tucker put his hands on his hips and smiled.
Danny carefully rested Sam on the ground by the walled-in roof access door. "I agree. We can hang out here until Sam's recovered enough to keep going." He pulled the sniper rifle from his back and went to the wall going around the roof, "I can see what's going on here."
"I'll look for some supplies in the building then." Tucker said.
"I'll go with you." Jazz followed him out.
Danny sighed and looked through his scope, shooting every zombie in the head and tried to see if he recognized anyone.