If Timmy kept pacing around the room like that, Jimmy was seriously going to shoot him in the foot. Or at least he would have if he wasn't worried too. They had both been like that for the last hour now. It had been at least four since the others left to break into Atlantis. The boy genius wasn't one to trust in faith, but he hoped that they got back safe. He glanced at Tootie, who was fiddling with something.
She hadn't made much sound since the others left.
The only sound she had made was when an infected managed to break in. Shortly after the others left a hoard of infected passed by the house. They passed by without much trouble until one broke away from the herd and stumbled around the house, somehow managing to break in. Jimmy managed to shoot it in the head, and they all ran upstairs and locked themselves in one of the bedrooms.
Timmy wanted to barricade in the same room as Spongebob, but Jimmy argued against it.
If he succumbed to his injuries, Jimmy did not want to be locked in a room with a zombie. He and Tootie had checked on their injured friend not too long ago. He wasn't much better, but at least he was still alive. The front door suddenly burst open downstairs and the kids jumped to attention.
"Kids?" Danny called out and they relaxed as they ran down to greet them. Jimmy and Timmy were relieved to see Danny was alright and they rushed down the stairs to their guardian. Sandy and Studwell passed them on the stairs, but they barely glanced at the kids as they headed for Spongebob's room.
"You made it back!" Timmy cried as he jumped off the last step and all but tackled Danny, knocking the wind out of the teen.
"Told you I would, didn't I?" Danny grunted as he returned the hug.
"Did you find our parents?"
"No, I'm so sorry," Danny admitted, flinching at the sad looks on the boys. "Atlantis was... there just wasn't time." He tried to explain, but he doubted it did much good to reassure the two boys. "Hey, what do you say we go check on Spongebob?" He offered and, although not that erethistic, they nodded and the group headed up to Spongebob's room. When they got there, however, they were saddened by the sight that greeted them.
Sandy and Studwell were standing by Spongebob's bed, with the former holding his hand.
Unfortunately, Spongebob was unconscious and pale, and nobody could tell if he was breathing.
"Sandy? Is everything okay in here?" Patrick asked nervously as they all eyed the body on the bed. Sandy said nothing as she held Spongebob's hand and silently pleaded with him to wake up. She never should have left him. Danny made sure the kids were the farthest away from the bed. Jimmy was holding the gun tightly, ready to use it again if need be. Timmy's eyes were darting from the body, Jimmy, Danny, and back again, not sure what to do.
Tootie stared into the room with a mute horror.
She had last checked on him an hour ago. He was awake then. He was fine. All of a sudden, Spongebob sat up with a loud gasp of pain, scaring everyone to near death. Sandy and Studwell jumped away from the bed. Everyone else reached for their weapons, thinking he had reanimated and was about to attack. After the pain died down, he looked at his friends and smiled weakly.
"Hey... back already?" He croaked and everyone sighed in relief and relaxed.
"We got you medicine." Sandy smiled widely as she grabbed his hand again.
"Good, feel like I could use some." He moaned in pain as Studwell gave him some of the pills they found. After he finished swallowing the nasty-tasting medicine, he smiled again at his friends, but it dropped when he saw Kwan hanging in the back.
"You okay? You look worse than I do." He asked and the room suddenly got tense.
"We almost didn't make it out of there because of this asshole and his friend." Bucky spat, turning to glare at Danny. "Shoulda left him behind too when we had the chance." He sneered but Danny chose not to respond.
"Guys, what the hell happened out there?" Spongebob asked as he finished a quick headcount. "And where's Dash?"
"He didn't make it out of Atlantis," Dinkleberg muttered, shocking the injured man and the three children.
"What happened out there?"
"Dumb son of a bitch nearly got us all killed so Danny here had to step up and did what he had to; that's what happened." Bucky huffed. Tootie suddenly let out a sob and ran out of the room. Timmy and Jimmy shared a look and went after her. Danny shot Bucky a nasty glare, but the man just shrugged. They would be okay. It might be tough on them now, but they would understand.
They were going to have to if they were going make it in this world with the way it was now.
There were no easy decisions anymore.
"I'm gonna go start work on the boat." Bucky suddenly said and left with Dinkleberg following close behind.
"Okay, with a little luck, you should start feeling better pretty soon but I'll stay here for a few more hours to check on him." The doctor said after finishing his examination. "Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks, doc." Spongebob smiled weakly, still unwell but he was already getting better. Colour had already started coming back into his cheeks.
"Maybe now's a good time for you and me to have a little talk, in private." Studwell suddenly said to Danny. The teen nodded and they left the group in the room and stepped out into the hallway to talk. After Danny double-checked that no one was listening, he turned to the doctor.
"I wanted to thank you for all you've done for us." He said, knowing that one little apology could never be enough.
"You're welcome, I'm glad Mrs. Puff will have died for something meaningful," Studwell replied and Danny looked away in guilt. "Don't beat yourself up over it; there was nothing you could have done." He reassured the teen.
"So you'll be returning to your group now?" Danny asked, remembering the others hiding in the sewers.
"Yes, it'll be hard to break the news about Mrs. Puff, they all grew to care about her." He explained and Danny nodded. He didn't get along with her, but he could understand that her hostility was probably a product of the undead rising. He liked to imagine that in another life that, though they wouldn't be friends, they would have been polite and respectful. "You want to know the worst part?" The doctor suddenly asked.
"What?"
"I don't feel much, I mean, I don't feel enough; shouldn't I be broken up over what happened to her?" He asked somberly. "That's how I was when I lost my friends in those first few weeks but now, it's like I just take something like this in stride; like this is what our world is now, and we'd better just get used to it." He ranted weakly, talking more to himself than the teen.
"What did you wanna talk to me about?" Danny finally asked and Studwell finally looked him in the eye.
"I know you care about those kids, anyone can see that, and I know you want what's best." He said, but Danny prepared for a turn. "But this plan of yours, putting everyone on a boat, with no destination... do you think that's their best chance of finding somewhere where they could be safe? Because I don't." The doctor frowned at the thought. "So I wanna make you an offer."
"What kind of an offer?" Danny scowled, already knowing the answer.
"I'll take them off your hands and take them back with me, to my people." He replied and Danny had to clench his fists to stop himself from doing something stupid. He took his silence as an invitation to continue. "We're well-supplied, well-hidden, and a lot of us have had kids of our own and now Atlantis has fallen, we've got nothing to fear." He explained. "They'll be safe with us, safer than they'd be if they stay with you, I promise you; that's what you want, isn't it?"
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say any of this and give you the chance to walk away; which you oughta do, right now," Danny told him off with a glare.
"I know you think you're doing what's best for them and if you were their real brother, we wouldn't be having this conversation; but you're not, and staying with you is not what's best for them, and if no one else around here will tell you that, then I will," Studwell argued but Danny suddenly slammed him up against the wall.
"Those kids are my care! We've been through more together than you can imagine! Anyone who tries to get between us is gonna wind up dead! YOU HEAR ME?!" He roared angrily in the doctor's face.
"Take your hands off me," Studwell growled and after a moment of silence, Danny let him go. Studwell still glared at him. He knew that Danny was a good man. He had been protecting these people as best he could so far and they looked up to him. Rightly so. But it was different with a child. He might have brought them this far, but sooner or later those kids might ask him for more than he could give them.
The doctor knew that was hard to hear, but it was the truth.
Also, Studwell didn't like how, in his mind, Danny chose to let that boy die back in Atlantis. He had to wonder about the morality of the kind of man who would do something like that. He had to wonder what kind of parent Danny would be. Studwell chose not to say any of that, however, and he walked away. Danny's glare followed him until he noticed Tootie peeking out at them in the study.
As soon as she realized he was looking at her, she let out a squeak of surprise and scurried away from the door.
He cursed under his breath, wondering how much she had heard. Danny was about to check on her, but he saw Mindy heading for the stairs.
"Hey, going somewhere?"
"Yeah, I'm about to head out while I can." She shrugged, trying not to make eye contact. "I just wanted to say thanks, for everything; it's been fun. She smiled weakly and Danny was surprised. While that might be for the best as the boat was going to be crowded as it is, and she struck him as more of a go-it-alone type, he had thought she had fought for a space on the boat with them.
Bucky and Dinkleberg were working on the boat right now and God knows she had earned a place with them.
"So that's it? After all we've been through you're just gonna leave?" He asked, not sure why he sounded angry at her.
"Yeah, I figure you don't owe me anything; I got what I wanted in Atlantis and I never did like the water." She shrugged, but Danny got the sense that there was more to it. She was right though. She didn't owe him an explanation and was free to leave if she pleased. If Danny was being honest with himself, if he suddenly came across a group as broken as theirs, he would do a runner too.
"Where will you go?"
"I don't know, but I'll figure it out when I get there."
"What do you want me to tell the others?"
"Tell them whatever you want, I'm not real big on goodbyes." She admitted and smiled. "Tell the kids they're going to be okay, Tootie reminds me of me." She chuckled before heading down the stairs. The sound of the front door opening and closing again was the signal that Mindy had left. He hoped they might run into it again sometime in the future. After she had left, Danny entered the study, where the kids were.
Jimmy was looking out the window into the backyard.
Timmy and Tootie were sat on the floor looking at something in Tootie's hands.
"Hey, whatcha got there?" Danny asked as he sat beside them. Tootie held up a Polaroid camera and that's when Danny saw all the pictures scattered around them.
"I found it in the pharmacy with some rolls of film; I was hoping to make a scrapbook." She explained and she started gathering up the picture.
"Really?"
"Dash suggested it..." Timmy nodded, but the atmosphere got noticeably tense at the mention of their lost friend. As silence fell over them, Danny focused on helping them gather up their pictures. There were dozens here. All of them from their time at the motor home. A couple were from the ranch and a few were taken on the train and the house they were currently in.
A few were of the scenery, but most were of their group.
Danny's eyes softened sadly as he looked at all the faces of the friends they had lost. Some of the most notable ones were Danny, Timmy, and Jimmy hanging out, SpongeBob smiling widely at the camera, Vicky glaring at the camera, and a family picture of Tootie and her mother and sister. In one picture Dash and Kwan were arm wrestling and another was of Jimmy and AJ setting up their alarm system.
There was one with all the kids drawing on the floor with colorful chalk.
One showed the Dinklebergs cuddling and one with Valerie standing guard, looking like a badass. One showed Vicky fast asleep with Chester and Timmy doodling on her face. Danny almost laughed as he remembered that day. Another showed the girls, minus Vicky, doing each other's hair up in funny plats. The next picture showed Chester and Bucky sitting together, smiling at the camera and making funny faces.
Danny hadn't realized how small their group had become now.
In a matter of days, they had gone from a group of around fifteen to nearly half that. Sure they had made some new friends along the way, but they didn't replace their lost loved ones.
"They're still working on the boat." Jimmy suddenly said, causing Danny to jump slightly. He had been so consumed with his thoughts.
"What are we going to do after he fixes it? Where will we go?" Timmy asked, but Danny sighed, not sure what to say.
"Someplace else; someplace better." He finally said. The boys seemed satisfied with that answer, but not Tootie. Danny could tell something was eating away at her. "What's wrong?"
"What happened to Dash? What did Bucky mean when he said you did what you had to?" She asked and Danny felt the urge to punch Bucky and come back. Seeing that the kids wanted an answer, Danny sighed and thought over his next words very carefully.
"You have to believe me, I tried to save him, but Dash didn't want me to."
"What do you mean?" Timmy asked, not understanding why someone wouldn't want to be saved.
"What Dash did was very brave; he knew we were running out of time, and that saving him might put everyone else in danger, so he told us to leave him behind so the rest of us could get away." He explained and let that sink in for a second. "I know that's difficult to understand."
"I understand." Jimmy nodded, still looking out of the window. "He thought about other people before he thought about himself; my mom always told me that's what makes a good person."
"Well, she was right." Danny smiled in relief.
"Before we leave tomorrow, will we have time to look for our parents?" Jimmy suddenly asked and Timmy perked up. Danny froze. He had also been holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, Timmy and Jimmy's parents were alive. Yet even if they were alive, it was far too dangerous to look for them now. The city was crawling with infected ghosts.
"I'd like to, but I don't think we'll have time." He admitted. "We really shouldn't stay here any longer; it's not safe."
"But they're in Bikini Bottom somewhere! They have to be!" Timmy exclaimed, looking like he was about to start sobbing any second. Danny could only sigh as he pulled Timmy close in an attempt to comfort the boy, but he was violently rejected. Danny looked at the other young boy. Jimmy, however, became silent again and returned to observing the window. A part of Danny wondered if he was looking for his parents.
"Timmy, I know you don't want to give up on them, but Bikini Bottom's just like every other place now." He tried to explain, but it did no good. Timmy moved away from him and joined Jimmy by the window, curling up and cuddling into his side with their backs away from their guardian. Tootie then decided that scrapbooking time was done so she packed up all the stuff and sat on Timmy's other side.
Danny wanted to say something but he was lost for words.
As he watched the young trio he could see Timmy's shoulders hitching and his heart broke when he realized the boy was crying. He reached out to the kids, but stopped, deciding to give them space. With a heavy heart, he set the radio on the desk and sat on the sofa. The day's events were starting to drag on him as soon as he allowed his muscles to relax. Danny felt his head droop slightly and his eyes closed.
He suddenly awoke with a jerk.
The sun had started rising and the dim light was pouring into the room. Danny was so drowsy and confused that he forgot for a minute where he was or what he had been doing. Soon it all came back to him, however, and his heart grew heavy. Seeing that it was morning now, Danny wanted to see if the kids had gotten any sleep. Or if any progress had been made with the boat.
But he quickly realized that he was alone in the room.
"Kids?" He called out as he checked every place to hide in this room but it was no use. The children weren't here and neither were their belongings. Even the radio was gone. He headed downstairs; only to find it was empty too. No one from his group was down here. He went into the backyard but that was also abandoned. Fear was truly setting in now. Had he somehow slept through a hoard of infected breaking in?
What if it was a ghost?
What if it was that weirdo watching them and he got sick of waiting and took the others? What if they had fixed the boat and just left him here? Any of those could be a possibility and none of them were good for him.
"Tootie? Jimmy?! TIMMY?!" He shouted as he desperately ran around the backyard, not caring who heard him. As he did this, Danny suddenly noticed Timmy's pink hat on the ground in front of the shed. Danny felt his insides turn to ice. Timmy never went anywhere without his hat. He walked over and picked it up. Just then, he heard the radio crackle nearby and without thinking he climbed over the fence.
The radio was on the ground near a pile of junk.
This did little to ease his fears. Yes, the hat and radio meant that at least Timmy was here, but where were the others? Had something taken them? He something tried to take them but they escaped, accidentally leaving Danny behind. All these questions and more ran through his head as he went to retrieve the radio. It was still crackling with life. Maybe he could use it to find the others.
All of a sudden, as he bent down to grab the radio, an infected lunged out of the pile of junk.
Before Danny could react, it attacked him. This one was fresh. It had only recently died and thankfully it wasn't one of his friends. That knowledge didn't provide him with much comfort though. He had been caught so off guard that he could do little else except watch in horror as the thing closed the difference with terrifying speed, grabbed his arm, and bit down into his wrist...