In a zombie apocalypse, I expect insane things to happen
- Chandler Riggs
DAWN OF THE PHANTOM
EPISODE II
Ember's house, the day after the rave party...
6:25 AM…
Danny groaned as he slowly woke up. He was having a massive headache, feeling the effects of a hangover "Uuugh…! God, my head hurts." he rubbed his face before while his vision slowly returned, finding himself to his surprise laying in a different bed, being shirtless and was only wearing his boxers. He noticed he was in someone else's bedroom with the walls being dark blue and black with many posters of rock bands.
Danny recognized this room. He was in Ember's bedroom.
Then, Danny noticed something was holding him. He checked, seeing a half-naked Ember sleeping while embracing him, with her long Robin's Egg blue dyed hair no longer in a ponytail and was all loose, covering all her back
To Danny, Ember looked so cute as she was sleeping so peacefully.
Forming a small smile, he planted a kiss on her forehead.
Ember slowly woke up, opening her eyes and looked at him "Morning, babypop…" she softly said.
"Hey…"
Both shared a kiss.
He then asked, while giving a small groan cause of the hangover headache "Did we…?"
"Have sex?" Ember guessed, making her shook her head "Nah. You were too much passed out to make love."
Ember was kinda disappointed as she would've loved to fuck Danny if he hadn't fell unconscious, but figured there will be other times they can make love.
Danny remembered what happened at the rave party, with him having partly passed out because he drank too fast after they were making out and Ember gave him an awesome blowjob "Oh yeah… I remember now…" he formed a small grin on his face before he rubbed his forehead "Fuck… this headache is killing me…!" he groaned.
Ember chuckled, ensuring him, "Don't worry, I'll get a painkiller for ya." She planted a kiss on his cheek and got out of bed and checked her nightstand, picking a bottle with painkillers in it. She took one pill out of it and gave it to Danny along with a bottle of water.
"Thanks." Danny said as he took the bottle and the pill, swallowing in the painkiller and drank some water "What time is it?" he wandered.
"Early. Almost 6:30 in the morning."
Danny was shocked after hearing that "Oh, crap! I…" he tried to get out of bed, but the headache made him almost trip and sat back.
Ember ensured him while walking over to him "Don't worry, baby. I'll bring you back home," then, as she rubbed his cheek, she sat on his laps and places her arms around his neck "Although… I would love that you stayed here a little bit longer… with me." she suggested while forming a naughty grin on her face.
"I know," Danny said and puts his arms around her waist "But… we can still hang out later today, right?"
Ember smiled back at him "Something to look forward to." both shared a passionate kiss.
After a short minute, Danny asked her "Uhm… what about my scooter? Did you maybe bring it with you?"
Ember sighed and told her boyfriend, "Sorry, baby. Your scooter was gone when we left, and the chains were broken like they were cut. I think somebody stole it while we were partying like crazy at the rave."
Danny groaned with annoyance "Ah, man! Not again." he rubbed his eyes, knowing he was going to be in trouble for losing his second electric scooter in less than a year "My parents are gonna kill me for losing another scooter." but realizing that because he had school today, his parents would've realized by now that he wasn't home "Shit! They're gonna know for sure that I've left last night."
Ember took her arms away from his neck and crossed them while raising her eyebrow "You seriously are that scared of them that they're gonna ground you once you get back?"
Danny shrugged as he formed a small smile "Perhaps," but ensured her as he puts his hands on her cheek, softly rubbing them "but that's not gonna stop me from seeing you."
Ember smiled back at him "Good to know." both shared a quick kiss before Ember stepped off his lab and took her other clothes along with Danny's from her desk, handing his over to him.
While Danny puts his shirt and pants back on, he began to feel a bit nervous and said, "I just hope your father isn't around."
Ember frowned when Danny mentioned her abusive father, but ensured him "Not to worry. My fucking drunken lowlife of a dad has to work the nightshift, so he's still at work. I wouldn't care less."
When they first became friends, Ember never liked to talk about her past, especially not about her abusive father, Richard McLain. But slowly, as they were getting closer, she told him last year that her father is a police officer who is also an alcoholic. As it was sad for her to tell, Ember told Danny that when her mother died in a house fire when she was just 7, her father blamed himself for her death which made him drink more and more alcohol in order to 'ease his own pain', but came at a great cost as his alcoholism changed him and started mentally and physically abusing Ember.
One day, when Danny tried to stand up to Richard when seeing him yelling at Ember and punched her hard in the stomach, he almost shot him with his service pistol. Luckily, Danny managed to get away together with Ember, with the both of them staying at a local motel for the night till her father had cooled down from his drunken outburst. That very night, when they were sharing a bed together… and cuddled close, with Ember softly whispering in his ear, thanking him for defending her… it was then that Danny realized that he was in love with her.
Danny mentally thought as he puts his shoes back on 'I am really the luckiest guy in the world to have her.'
He glanced at Ember, who already had her pants back on and started putting on het boots.
Danny then began to think how to come up with an excuse to his family for leaving the house without their knowledge. Unfortunatelly, he couldn't come up with anything.
Suddenly, there was an explosion in the distance! The shockwave was felt even in Ember's house, making the ground shake a bit!
"What was that?!" Danny asked in shock as he quickly rose up.
Ember ran to the window and opened the curtains, seeing in the distance several fires around Amity Park "What the hell?" she checked the skies, seeing 4 choppers in the air "What's going on?" she saw down the street some cars driving fast like crazy, with one crashing against a wall!
Danny looked, also looking shocked and confused while watching a group of people running in panic.
He and Ember had a bad feeling about this.
"We need to go. Now!" Ember said and both ran down the stairs, heading outside and got into Ember's pickup truck before driving away.
"We need to get to get back to my house!" Danny said.
"Are you crazy?!" Ember asked him "We don't even know what the hell is going on, baby! If this is bigger than we think it is then we have to get out of town while we still can!"
Danny shook his head, not wanting to leave his family behind "I can't just leave them…!"
Ember sighed, knowing that his parents and sister meant a lot to her boyfriend, and he would probably never forgive her for forcing him to leave them behind. She sighed as she started the engine "No, guess you can't. Okay, we'll go to their place." she drove in reverse before driving out of the street, heading to Danny's place.
Danny took out his cellphone, trying to call to his house "C'mon! C'mon! Pick up!" but nobody was answering.
Ember turned on the radio in the hopes of getting any information of what was going on "…is the Emergency Broadcast System for the Greater Amity area. If you live in Amity Park, there's no information available at this time. Please stay inside and lock all doors and windows. Elmerton is considered no longer a safe haven. Please avoid the industrial area and proceed to other locations-"
Ember tried to tune in on a different station, but all broadcasted the Emergency Broadcast System.
Both were almost hit by a police car, but Ember managed to avoid it just in time!
"Asshole!" Ember angrily called to the cop car while giving him the finger.
Danny kept trying to call his house, but still nobody picked up.
A few minutes prior, back at the Fenton residence…
Jack and Maddie both woke up when the alarm clock sounded at 6:30 AM.
Jack pressed the alarm button, shutting it down. He stretched himself while Maddie puts on a morning coat. As they had a day off, they wanted to take things a bit easy, despite they still had to finish some paperwork for their job.
At first, Maddie wanted to take a shower, but thinking back of Jazz being a bit sick, she figured it would be better to prepare something for her daughter first. So, Maddie walked down the stairs to the kitchen/dining room. Seeing Danny wasn't down yet, Maddie called upstairs to her husband while preparing a small simple breakfast for Jazz "Jack, dear. Could you check on Danny and see if he's up? We don't want him to miss school."
Jack gave a small yawn while walking over to Danny's bedroom "Sure, I'll check on him." he slowly opened the door, seeing 'Danny' wasn't out of bed yet despite his alarm clock was ringing.
Jack raised an eyebrow that his son didn't wake up because of the alarm "Huh. He must be in a very deep sleep." He puts the alarm clock off and softly rubbed 'him' "Danny. Wake up, champ. You've got school today." but that was when Jack noticed that Danny wasn't in his bed and there were only a pile of pillows under the cover "Danny?" he called around "Danny! Where are you?"
While Maddie came upstairs holding a serving plate, which had a plate with biscuits with jelly and a cup of tea, she asked when reaching Jazz's bedroom door "Jack? What's wrong?"
Jack appeared out of Danny's bedroom with an angry look on his face while Maddie turned the doorknob of Jazz's room, and the phone rang downstairs, not knowing that it was Danny who was calling.
"Danny's gone!" Jack said.
That surprised Maddie "What do you mean Danny is gone?"
While Jack was telling Maddie that he didn't found Danny in his bed only some pillows, Jazz's door slowly opened, making a squeaking noise.
"But… Danny didn't left the house last night, right?" Maddie asked.
Jack figured "He must've slipped through while we fell asleep when watching that movie," he was now both very disappointed and angry "When Danny gets home, he's in very serious trouble!"
Jazz stood there, at the doorway in the shadow.
Maddie noticed Jazz was there. With a smile, she asked, "Morning, Jazz," she held up the serving plate "I made you some breakfast. I hope you feel better now?"
Jazz didn't answer or even moved.
Jack then asked her "Have you seen Danny leaving the house last night, Jazz?"
Still, Jazz didn't say anything.
"Sweetheart? Are you alright?" Maddie asked.
Jazz took a step forward, walking out of the shadow while she groaned.
Maddie and Jack gasped in horror of what they saw, making Maddie to drop the serving plate in shock, seeing their daughter with a bleeding mouth, pale eyes, pale skin with purple-turned bloodstreams and grind her teeth.
"Oh my God! JAZZ!" Maddie ran to her, checking on her, not knowing that Jazz had turned into a zombie.
Jack just stood there in complete shock.
The phone rang again downstairs.
"JACK, CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
But then, Zombie-Jazz screeched before biting hard in her mother's throat!
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Maddie yelled out in agonizing pain as Zombie-Jazz was biting hard, causing her throat to bleed heavily!
Jack was completely shocked what Jazz was doing to her own mother "MADDIE!"
While struggling to get Zombie-Jazz of her, Maddie fell backwards, falling down the stairs with Zombie-Jazz still holding tight to her while blood flow everywhere!
Jack racen down the stairs "JAZZ, STOP!" he grabbed his zombie-turned daughter, pulling her of his wife as she ripped off a large piece of Maddie's throat, causing her to bleed heavily!
Jack quickly threw Zombie-Jazz away, making her crash on the other side of the living room!
Jack tried to help his wife by holding with both hands on her badly injured throat while Maddie couldn't breathe and was suffocating in her own blood!
"Maddie! Maddie, hold on!" Jack pleaded in panic before quickly taking a large portion of kitchen paper and held it on Maddie's wound while she kept gasping for air while spitting out lots of blood.
Zombie-Jazz quickly got up, hissing at her new prey: Jack.
Jack was too busy on preventing his wife dying from blood loss, not knowing that Zombie-Jazz was about to attack her "Just hold on, Maddie! I'll… I'll get some help-" but he was cut short when Zombie-Jazz screeched and lunged onto Jack! He barely had any time to react before she bites him hard on his arm!
"AAAAAAAARGH!" Jack yelled out while struggling to get Zombie-Jazz off him while she kept biting and scratching him, making him fall backwards and crashed on the dining table, breaking it while desperately fighting for his life from his feral turned daughter!
Maddie watched at the door, reaching out her arm… hearing at the background that Jack was being slaughtered by their zombie-turned daughter…. Her arm fell back on the ground as she was dying.
Outside, Ember raced into the street with her pickup truck, drifting before coming to a stop in front of Danny's house.
Danny quickly got out of the car and ran to the front door "MOM! DAD! JAZZ!" he heard his father inside screaming in agonizing pain.
Danny opened the door wide. What he saw… shocked him to the very core, traumatizing him for life. Time felt like slowing down of what happened before his very eyes. His mother… lying dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood… His sister, attacking their father like a monster, ripping him to pieces as blood and pieces of flash flew in the air.
Ember ran inside, stopping next to Danny as she looked in total shock of what she saw "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Zombie-Jazz stopped, having heard Ember at the front door. Leaving her severely wounded father bleeding to death, she slowly turned her head as she hissed while blood dripped from her mouth.
Danny's heart was rising fast while Ember held his arm tight.
Suddenly, Maddie's body began to twitch and move heavily before she gasped and widely opened her eyes, showing they were completely pale along with her skin and her bloodstreams had turned purple under her skin.
The now zombie-turned Maddie moved her head and glanced at Danny and Ember before she screeched and quickly got up, with Zombie-Jazz racing towards her new prey!
"DANNY!" Ember quickly grabbed Danny and pulled him out of the house while slamming the front door shot and both fell backwards back on the street! Zombie-Jazz and Zombie-Maddie slammed hard against the door, attempting to break it open while snarling and screeching!
Danny panted, still being in complete shock of what happened to his family.
Ember shook his shoulders "Danny. Danny?" she shook him more "Danny!"
He looked at her, still frightened and traumatized.
Ember quickly tried to get him up "C'mon, baby! We gotta move!"
"My mom… my sister… they-"
Ember shook her head, shaking him "There's no time!"
Suddenly, several gunshots were heard behind them, making them to look, seeing it was their high school principal, Ishiyama, wearing a morning coat while holding an armed shotgun in her hands, looking around frightened while some more people ran out of the street in panic.
Danny called for her "Mrs. Principal! Help!"
Instantly, Ishiyama aimed her shotgun at both Danny and Ember while her hands were shaking, warning them while slowly moving forward to them "Stay back! Don't come any closer!"
While Danny held his hands up while taking a step back, Ember pleaded her "Jesus, just tell us what's going on."
But Ishiyama didn't listen and warned them again "I said… stand back!"
Suddenly, Ishiyama was overrun by another car, killing her instantly! Danny and Ember gasped in shock.
Both then saw another pair of zombies breaking into a house, killing everyone inside. At the other side of the street, a man, desperately fighting a zombie that was biting him hard, fell out of the window and fell two stories down hard on the ground!
Then, the front door of the Fenton house was broken open by a now zombie-turned Jack, screeching at Danny and Ember while Zombie-Jazz and Zombie-Maddie tried to force their way out of the house to attack them!
Ember instantly dragged Danny into her pickup truck, locking the door and went full reverse while Zombie-Maddie jumped on their front window, attempting to punch the window open, but as Ember accelerated, Zombie-Maddie fell from the car, with her and the other zombie-turned Fentons chasing after them, but then saw a number of citizens and growled before attacking them!
Danny still couldn't believe what was happening. He took out his cellphone, attempting to call 9-1-1. But as he called, all he could hear was a beeping noise before a female computer said "All circuits are busy. Please hold the line."
While Danny kept trying calling 9-1-1, he then saw on his phone that Sam was calling him. He took the call, saying with a bit of stuttering voice "He-hello? Sa-am?"
From the phone, Sam cried as she was scared "Danny…! Please, you have to help me…! I'm locked in my room and… my mom she… she suddenly attacked the housemaid and… my grandma… They're dead, but… suddenly got back up and then…! Please, Danny… you have to help me…!"
Hearing one of his best friends was in danger was like he was slapped back to reality and ensured her "Hold on, Sam! I'm coming!" he hanged up the phone and turned to Ember "We got to get to Sam! She's in danger!"
At first, Ember wanted to say that they have to leave because of all these… monsters, or zombies, or whatever the people have become, but before she could say anything, they raced into another street, seeing Tucker up in a tree while his zombie-turned parents and a few zombie-turned students from Casper High tried to grab him.
"HELP! ANYONE?! HELP!" Tucker pleaded.
"Oh my God…! That's Tucker!" Danny yelled as he pointed at where Tucker was.
Ember, now seeing they had to help him, frowned before accelerating hard, racing towards the small herd of zombies, making them growl before Ember hit them hard with her pickup truck, sending them flying backwards!
"Tucker!" Danny called from the window.
Ember quickly opened the passenger door behind her, calling to Tucker "C'mon! Get in!"
Tucker nodded and jumped out of the tree, quickly getting inside Ember's pickup truck, sitting behind Ember.
Ember accelerated, driving past by the zombies that growled while getting up. Clearly being hit hard by a pickup truck did nothing to them and got back up like nothing happened.
Tucker panted while thanking Ember "Tha… thank you! You guys… saved me…!"
"We're not out of the woods yet, Foley." Ember said with a very serious face "Let's just get Manson and then get the fuck out of the city!" she was a bit surprised when she said herself that they need to safe Sam "Never thought I would ever say that."
Inside Sam's big house, in her room, Sam had barricaded herself in her bedroom, holding the door while her zombie-turned parents and grandma growled while trying to break through it!
Sam's zombie-turned grandmother punched a hole in the door while she screeched loud while blood dripped out of her mouth!
Sam desperately tried to hold the door with all her remaining strength while she cried out of fear "Please… stop…! Please, stop!"
Sam then heard a car stopping, with the tires screeching as it came to a halt.
"SAM!" Danny called out from the truck.
Sam's eyes went wide "Danny…!" she ran to the window, calling to him "Up here! I'M UP HERE!"
Danny told her "Sam, c'mon!"
Sam shook her head "I can't…! I'm stuck…!"
Her zombie-turned family and staff began breaking into her room, screeching and growling to get to Sam.
Sam screamed when she quickly climbed out the window, grabbing a nearby pipe and began climbing down while her father-turned-zombie tried to grab her but couldn't reach her, he growled while Sam's zombie-turned grandma tried to reach, but fell out the window and fell down, hitting the ground hard!
Sam got down, asking while keeping distance from her zombie-turned grandma "Grannie?"
She got up, growling at Sam, and was about to attack her! But then, she was shot in the head, and fell down, now truly dead!
Sam looked in shock, looking at Ember holding a GLOCK 21 pistol who had fired the bullet that had saved Sam from being zombified by her zombie-turned grandmother.
"Come with us if you want to live!" Ember said very seriously.
Another zombie appeared, who was the butler of the Mansons, but also was shot dead when Ember fired two bullets at his head!
"NOW, Manson!" Ember repeated.
Sam nodded heavily and ran inside the pickup truck, sitting behind Danny.
While Ember fired one more bullet, before seeing a dozen zombies coming out of both Sam's house and from another street, ran back inside the truck and accelerated, racing away while the zombies chased after them.
They bypassed a large panicking crowd, barely avoiding them in time while racing through a herd of zombies! She raced fast through the road, but when seeing a large number of broken cars that were on fire that blocked the road, Ember raced into another street "Hang on!"
All held tight while Danny gave her directions "We need to take the next street! That's the quickest way to get to the highway-"
"I know!"
But the road was again blocked by more crashed cars and more zombies!
"Oh no…! There's more of them!" Tucker said in panic, seeing more zombies.
But Ember didn't give up and raced straight for the Amity Park Mall, accelerating fast.
"Wait, Ember…! NO!" Sam pleased, but she wouldn't budge as Ember raced through the entrance, breaking the glass and raced through the mall where panicking people were and zombies attacking them!
One zombie, who was a hotdog seller, grabbed on Ember's pickup truck and tried to crawl onto it while he growled.
"AAAAAH!" Sam screamed, but as the zombie broke the window, attempting to grab Sam "GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!" she kicked the zombie three times hard in the face before the zombie was kicked off the pickup truck, crashing onto a bar!
Danny saw a way out and pointed for Ember "There!"
Ember nodded "I see it!" she accelerated, breaking through the glass exit and got back on the road!
All saw the only way left out of Amity Park, which was the big bascule bridge over the river.
But then, all saw that the bridge was about to open, making the guardrails come down.
Ember was not gonna let their only way out of Amity Park being slipped away. She yelled "HOLD ON!" and accelerated fast.
"NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!" Tucker pleaded out loud before Ember broke straight through the guardrails!
With lots of speed, they flew over the opening bridge while all screamed… before Ember landed the pickup truck on the other side like a pro!
Sam and Tucker panted, while Danny was in total surprise of what Ember did. He glanced at her, making him form a smile "Nice driving, Em."
Ember gave him a nod "Thanks."
While Ember drove on the highway, avoiding some broken cars or people fleeing, Danny turned to Sam and Tucker "Are you guys alright? Are you hurt?"
Tucker and Sam both shook their heads "No… we're okay… for now." Sam said. She then turned to Ember, not being able to hold her sob and hugged her, thanking her a lot for saving their lives "Thank you, Ember! Thank you!"
Ember patted her hand, telling her "You're welcome, Manson, but we're not out of the woods yet. So don't thank me yet."
Tucker then asked "But… where are we supposed to go?"
Danny shook his head "I don't know… But we gotta get as far away from Amity Park as we can. It's not safe there anymore…"
All nodded, agreeing to that.
"But…" Tucker tried to process of what happened to his parents and the many people in Amity Park "… all those people… were they… were they… Zombies?!"
Ember sighed, saying as she shook her head, "I don't know, Tuck. But… it's a possibility."
Sam buried her head in her hands "Oh God… oh my God, no no no no…!"
Danny then noticed that Tucker had his PDA in his pocket "Hey, Tuck? Check on your PDA if there's any news or any info that tells us where it's safe."
Realizing he had his PDA with him the whole time, Tucker nodded and took it "Oh… right!" he turned it on, seeing if he got any information, with a big email warning all residents to stay indoors cause of the 'national crisis' that was happening around them.
Tucker shook his head "All its saying is to stay indoors and…" but as he opened his news app, he was in complete shock as what the big news bulletin was saying in big words: THE DEAD ARE WALKING!
"My God…!" Tucker said as he was reading about the 'zombie outbreak' "Guys… it's not just in Amity Park. It's… this whole thing is happening in nearly all over the US."
Sam looked at Tucker in shock "What?!"
Tucker shook his head as he read more "No… not just the United States…! Also… Brazil… Mexico… France… Italy… China… Australia…! My God my God…! This thing is happening all over the world!"
"This thing is worldwide?!" Danny asked in complete shock.
Tucker gave a small nod as he showed on his PDA the news bulletin.
Ember tried to think, though she too was that this 'zombie outbreak' wasn't just a local or a national problem, but that it was happening almost everywhere around the world, keeping her head cool as of this moment it was not the time to panic.
Danny buried his face in his hands, feeling hopeless while the traumatizing images of watching his whole family turning into man-eating walking corpses flashed before his eyes.
Ember felt so sorry for her boyfriend of having to watch his whole family die. She rubbed his back.
But then, Ember saw ahead many broken cars and trucks in a pile-up, burning.
Ember slowed down with her pickup truck, trying to bypass the wreckage.
Sam, while having dried up tears around her cheeks, saw the wreckage including many people who are injured. She tapped on Ember's shoulder "Hey, wait! We gotta to stop and check if there're people inside."
Ember looked back at Sam with a bit of serious face while she shook her head "We can't stop now, not with an army of zombies walking around everywhere. Those people are probably dead already."
Sam glared at Ember, being disgusted how heartless she acts right now "But we can't just leave them! There might be survivors in there! Oh for fuck's sake! There's like enough room for at least 6 more people in the back of your truck!"
Suddenly, a Hispanic girl ran over to them, making Ember to hit the brakes hard, stopping. The girl held her hands on the window next to Danny's! They saw to their shock and surprise that it was Paulina, with her clothes torn and blood over her face and arms. She begged them "Help me! Please, help me!"
Though Ember was about to drive away, Tucker got out.
"Dammit Tucker!" Ember cursed herself that Tucker did get out.
While Sam got out of the truck too, Paulina told Tucker while she trembled "My pappa… and mamma are still in there! They… they…!" she said while pointing to the wreckage. "Please… help them…!"
Sam, though not liking Paulina the slightest because she had been bullying her, her friends and even broke Danny's heart for treating him like shit, couldn't just leave her parents to her fate nor her parents and ensured her "I'll go and check," she then turned to Tucker "Put Paulina in the truck. I'm gonna look around for more survivors."
Tucker nodded "Right." He helped Paulina get in the back "Take it easy, Paulina. Are you hurt?"
Paulina shook her head "No… I don't think so…"
Danny gave a short glare at Paulina. But, knowing that it wasn't the time for being mad at her for playing with his feelings and that her parents and some others are hurt in the pile-up, Danny got out of the truck and told Ember "I'm going with Sam. I'll be right back."
Ember sighed before giving a nod "Okay… but please hurry. Those zombies, or whatever the hell those people are now could be here any minute."
Danny nodded "Don't worry. It won't be long. I promise," he then ran after Sam.
Sam and Danny searched through the wreckage for a few minutes, seeing lots of dead bodies between the destroyed cars, buses and trucks.
"My God…!" Sam said in shock as the number of dead was awful to watch.
Danny then spots something moving in a car that was stuck between two broken cars on top of it. He checked it out, seeing somebody in there alive!
"Help… please, help me out!" the boy begged.
Danny recognized the boy, wearing glasses, ginger hair and was a bit nerdy-looking. It was Mickey who he knew from school.
Danny nodded and used all his strength to move some of the wreckage, but it was too heavy. Seeing he had no choice but to break the front window, he told Mickey, "Stand back." Mickey nodded before he moved as back as he could, before Danny kicked the car window, breaking it open.
Danny took his hand and helped Mickey out of the wrecked car. He saw at the front seat an elderly woman, lying dead over the steering wheel, having died from the crash as her car clearly didn't have any air bags.
Mickey shook his head while Danny helped him out, walking back to Ember's truck "She's gone… my grandma is dead."
Danny nodded "I know."
Ember saw Danny coming and got out, going to help Mickey "I'll take him, you just go back and… check."
Danny nodded and ran back to where Sam was looking for Paulina's parents. Danny was glad that his girlfriend wasn't that heartless and was now helping with the few wounded they found.
Danny saw Sam above a wrecked car, trying to move some wreckage "Danny! Help me with this!" she called him. He went to help her, noticing she was on top of the expensive car of Paulina's father.
Danny helped Sam move away a broken car door, seeing the dead bodies of Paulina's parents in there.
Danny sighed as he glanced at Sam, seeing there was nothing they could do for Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez.
Suddenly, the body of Mr. Sanchez moved and screeched, grabbing Sam by the ankle! Sam yelped as she tripped while the zombie-turned Mr. Sanchez tried to pull her to him to bite her!
Danny helped Sam, pulling him away from the zombie "GET OFF HER!" Danny kicked him in the face a few times hard till he let go of Sam.
The zombie-turned Mr. Sanchez tried to get out but because of the car being totally wrecked he couldn't get out! Then, Mrs. Sanchez, revealing to have turned into a zombie too, tried to get out while screeching at Danny and Sam, but was also stuck! Both Danny and Sam were shocked that even Paulina's parents hadn't been spared.
The two teens then heard loud screeching and growling coming from inside a crashed school bus, seeing a woman being eaten alive by two zombie-turned teens.
"We should go," Danny suggested, seeing they couldn't do anything anymore.
Sam nodded "Yeah…" though she was saddened because so many people were in there and they couldn't help them.
As Danny and Sam ran back to Ember's pickup truck, they saw another car coming, being an old Ford car with a broken windshield with blood on it. The car stopped, showing two people in it. One person came out, revealing to be their friend, Valerie and the other was her father Damon who still remained in the car.
"Danny! Sam!" Valerie yelled and ran over to them.
Damon got out too, showing he had a wound on his arm which he had bandaged, running over to them too.
Valerie hugged Danny and Sam "Thank God you're all okay! I thought you were…!"
Damon then asked them "Are you all okay? Are any of you hurt?"
Danny ensured him "No, we're all okay, Mr. Gray," he then looked at Ember's truck "but Paulina and Mickey… We just got them out of this wreckage."
Damon nodded and ran over to Ember's pickup to see if he could help with Paulina or Mickey, but clearly Tucker and Ember had it already covered.
"It's… terrible!" Valerie said in both panic and disbelief "Those… monsters just came and… Me and my dad barely got out of Elmerton alive." She was this close to cry "So many people… all the blood… the chaos… It was awful…!"
Sam nodded and hugged her "I know… we barely got out of Amity Park ourselves. If it wasn't for Danny and Ember, I would've been dead too, or worse…"
Valerie, with tears forming in her eyes, hugged Sam again "I'm just so glad that you're alright."
Sam returned the hug "Me too."
Ember called to the others "Hey! We can't stay here forever! We gotta move on!"
Knowing that Ember was right, Danny and Sam ran back to the pickup truck while Damon said as he and Valerie got back in their own car "We'll drive behind you guys!"
But as Damon was igniting the engine, the car wouldn't start "No!" he tried again, frustrating him more "No no no no, not again! Not now!"
Moaning and growling came from the pile-up, with some zombies coming out, seeing their new preys.
"Daddy!" Valerie yelled.
"I know, sweetheart! I know!" Damon said while trying to start again, but it was to no avail.
"Valerie!" Sam yelled, seeing that their car wasn't moving.
While Ember easily managed to start her truck, she was conflicted: Should she leave Valerie and her father to their fates, or stay and help them?
"Goddammit!" Damon yelled as his car wouldn't start. He got out and took out his shotgun, aiming at the zombies that charged at them "Eat this!" he shot one of them, hitting it at the shoulder which didn't do anything, then Damon shot at its feet, causing it to fall over but screeched while trying crawling over to him.
While Damon shot the other one in the head, killing him, more zombies appeared, punching their way out of the crashed school bus, with one of them revealing to be a zombie-turned Dash and a zombie-turned Star with part of her bleeding skull open showing some of her brains!
Zombie-Star screeched when seeing Damon and Valerie.
Damon grabbed a few more bullets to reload his shotgun, yelling to his daughter "Valerie! Run!"
But then, Ember showed up with her pickup truck, going full reverse and stopped right before Damon and Valerie's old car, yelling, "Get in! QUICK!" she took out her gun and shot at the zombies! Damon shot with his shotgun at Zombie-Star, shooting her left arm off!
Damon and Valerie ran to the pickup truck, jumping on it, but then Zombie-Dash grabbed Damon's leg while Ember accelerated, going full speed!
Damon tried to kick Zombie-Dash off him "Aargh! Get off me! Get off!"
Zombie-Dash screeched while trying to claw Damon!
Ember tried to swing, getting Zombie-Dash off of Damon but it wouldn't work!
"Hang on, Dad!" Valerie tried to pull her father in the pickup truck but it was too hard. Tucker and Mickey quickly came to help her while Paulina screamed her lungs out while crawling into a corner.
Because of all the steering, Damon lost his shotgun in the truck.
"DADDY!" Valerie cried out, fearing for her father.
Danny crawled onto the back of teh truck quickly as he tried to grab the shotgun but it was hard because Ember was steering so much.
Zombie-Dash managed to crawl on top of Damon, who tried to fight Zombie-Dash off of him as he tried to bite him! When Damon punched him, Zombie-Dash then bites him hard in his arm!
"AAAAAAAAAARGH!" Damon yelled in agony!
"DAD!" Valerie screamed in shock before getting very angry and punched Zombie-Dash hard in the face, but it didn't do any harm to the zombie-turned former friend of Valerie.
Dash screeched while Tucker and Mikey tried to fight him off too, but Zombie-Dash was way to strong and threw all three backwards hard!
Then, Danny appeared, holding the shotgun, looking with a very angry and serious face at Zombie-Dash.
The bully-zombie screeched hard at Danny.
"YEAH, FUCK YOU TOO!" Danny said before shooting Zombie-Dash right at his head, which exploded as blood, pieces of skull and brains splattered around, knocking what remained of Zombie-Dash backwards, rolling over the highway till its body stopped.
Danny panted, feeling so much adrenaline flowing through him, almost not believing what he just did.
Damon grunted in pain cause of the badly bite wound on his arm "Aaargh! My arm…!" he held his hand on the bite wound.
Mickey got out the medic kit, taking out some bandages "Here, Mr. Gray." And puts them over the wound.
Damon grunted while saying "Shit! Those things bite hard."
However, as Danny sat back at his seat, he, Sam, Tucker and Ember exchanged a worried glance. If Valerie's father was bitten, he could turn also into one of those things. All prayed that it wasn't true and these humans-turned-monsters aren't zombies.
After a half hour drive on the highway, having left Amity Park far behind them, they saw a small petrol station with a diner next to it.
Ember knew that they needed extra petrol and supplies if they would be on the road longer than anticipated, so she took the exit and drove to the petrol station.
As she stopped her pickup truck, Ember took out her gun, reloaded it while telling everyone with a serious face "You guys stay in the truck while I'm going in and checking out."
Danny however wasn't going to leave his girlfriend going into the petrol station shop or the diner by herself, knowing that probably those zombies could be anywhere. So he said with a serious face to her "I'm going with you." he then asked Damon while holding up his shotgun "Mind if I borrow this, Mr. Gray?"
Damon, who was stroking the bandaged part of his arm where Zombie-Dash had bitten him, nodded to him but told him, "Sure. But be careful with the ammo." he handed over a few shotgun shells.
"I will." Danny promised as he took the ammo and puts them in his pocket while Ember got out of her truck, with Danny joining her.
Danny and Ember, both holding their gun and shotgun at hand, slowly entered the petrol station shop, which was partly looted, seeing nobody inside.
"Hello?" Danny called.
They checked around the counter and at the small office behind. But luckily for them, nobody was inside.
As they were about to exit the shop, Danny asked as he looked at the food and snacks that were still around "Hey, I know it's against the law to steal, but seeing what we're up against… maybe we should collect some food and take it with us?"
Ember nodded in agreement "Yeah, we should do that," she then aimed her gun at the diner as they approached it "But first we gotta be sure the area is safe."
"Anything?" Sam called to them form the truck.
Danny called back "The shop's safe, but we're going to check the diner first. Stay put."
Valerie shook her head "We got to help them. I mean, we can fight too!" she said determined.
But Paulina, who was still in shock after what has happened, heavily shook her head "No! We should stay here where it's safe!" she trembled in fear.
Mickey, also still feeling scared, nodded "I'm with Paulina. We should just stay here and wait for help. I'm sure the police or military are gonna help, right?"
Valerie however wasn't going to stand by and watch. She took a crowbar from the back, saying with a very serious face "Well I'm going to help them."
Damon wanted to convince his daughter not to go "Valerie, no."
But Valerie already made up her mind and said while going after Danny and Ember "It's okay, Dad. I'll be right back."
As Danny and Ember approached the entrance of the diner, they were surprised that Valerie came up to them.
"What are you doing here, Val?!" Ember asked seriously "I told you to stay in the truck."
Valerie held up the crowbar in her hand "But I can help."
Danny and Ember shared a glance, both gave a sigh while Danny told her "Alright but stay behind us."
Valerie nodded.
Ember kicked the door in, aiming her pistol and Danny with the shotgun while Valerie held tight the crowbar to face whatever might be in the diner.
The diner had been partly looted, with chairs and tables all laying around, with some broken glass, plates and scattered food across the floor.
Seeing that seemingly nobody was inside, Valerie said "Guess everyone left in a hurry."
Ember shook her head, keeping focused while aiming her gun "Don't be so sure, Valerie. The place's empty once you know for sure it's empty."
They looked around the place, not finding anyone, except for some stuff that some people had left behind while coming to the diner for some early breakfast.
Valerie and Ember both checked the office of the owner, finding it empty with stuff all laying across the floor, along with a broken computer and a looted safe with only a couple of 100-dollar bills left in it.
As Danny checked the kitchen, smelling burned pancakes on the frying pan and some food scattered on the floor. But then, he saw a pool of blood on the floor with some more on the doorway leading down to the basement. He raised his shotgun while slowly opening the door, with his heart pounding in his chest, afraid of whatever he might face.
Danny looked down the stairs, seeing a blood trail leading down. He slowly went down the stairs, coming down to the storage area, with only a few lights on and one of them was flickering.
To his shock, he found more blood on the floor, along with a dead zombie-turned waitress, being shot in the head several times.
Images flashed before his eyes, seeing his family being slaughtered and being turned into zombies.
Danny then suddenly heard groaning coming from another room where more blood was laying. He carefully checked it with his shotgun raised.
As he looked around the corner, he saw a the zombie-turned owner eating the flesh of another dead female waitress.
Danny slowly aimed his shotgun at the zombie, who hadn't noticed Danny.
However, the trauma that Danny had experienced from seeing his family slaughtered was making Danny almost losing focus and didn't fire the shot as the memory flashes was almost overwhelming for him.
The zombie stopped eating, sensing someone behind him. He slowly moved its head while he groaned and grind his bloody teeth, spotting Danny.
The zombie screeched before charging at Danny, with him firing the shotgun but missed him! The zombie-turned diner owner grabbed Danny, but he managed to push him aside hard, making it crash against an iron rack filled with canned food! The zombie hissed while getting up quickly and screeched before charging again at Danny, but was then shot twice by Danny, first against his mouth, shattering its jaw and teeth before the second shot blasted its brains out!
The zombie fell down motionless, dead.
Danny felt that a lot of the zombie's blood had come on him cause of the fired shotgun blasts on it. His hand was shaking while wiping the blood from his face, looking at it.
Ember and Valerie, who'd heard the gunshots from the basement, rushed downstairs, seeing Danny standing frozen while looking at the blood on his hands.
As the trauma of his slaughtered family became too much for him, Danny fell on his knees with tears falling from his eyes. He sobbed, feeling so sorry for having abandoned his family "Mom…! Dad…! Jazz…! I'm so… sorry…!"
Ember felt sorry for her boyfriend. She walked over to him, sitting on her knees before embracing him, letting him cry his tears out.
Valerie too felt sorry for Danny. She could only imagine how hard it must've been for him to watch his family being slaughtered before turning into those walking corpses.
Just then, the waitress that the zombie-turned owner was eating began twitching and yelled its zombie-scream! It tried to get up but it was hard as one of its legs was broken and half of her intestates was torn out.
Valerie gasped.
Ember saw it and quickly raised her gun. But before she could shoot, Valerie charged at the zombie with her crowbar, smacking it against the zombie-waitress who fall down on the floor. It screeched while trying to get up and grab Valerie, but its skull got pierced by Valerie's crowbar, killing it!
An hour later, after being sure the diner was truly safe and having disposed of the zombie-corpses, Sam, Tucker, Paulina, Mickey and Damon were sitting in the diner to try and catch some rest and attend their wounds.
Tucker's stomach growled "I'm starved," he said while checking the kitchen to look for some food as during the whole chaos he didn't had the chance to eat some breakfast "Too bad nobody's here. I would've died for some eggs and bacon right now."
Ember, while coming up from the storage area with some canned food from the basement in some bags, told Tucker with some seriousness, "Hey, Tucker, can you stop snooping around and at least help me taking some food out of the basement?"
"I can't work with an empty stomach, Ember." Tucker moaned as he searched a shelve, finding nothing.
Ember groaned with annoyance and took something from one of the bags "You really want breakfast that much?" she took out a can filled with beans "Here. Catch." She tossed the can, with Tucker catching it.
Tucker narrowed his eyes at her "Kidney beans? Seriously?!"
"What did you expect? A 3-course menu and a fucking foot massage?" she said with some sarcasm before taking the bags. But then she sighed and told Tucker "I'm sorry. That was a bit bitchy of me. I know that we're all fucked up enough already this morning. I'm just trying to collect some stuff in case we need it. We don't know how long we have before we're ever going to see any of those… zombies again and I would appreciate if someone else around here would at least help me around! Is that just… too much to ask?!" she finished with some angry in her voice as she was the only one in the group doing some work. She walked out, going outside and headed to her pickup-truck to put the food in it.
Tucker sighed, coming out of the kitchen with the can of kidney beans still in his hands. He looked at the others, spotting Paulina at a table alone while being sad, Damon sitting at another table together with Valerie and Sam while he stroke his bandaged arm, Sam had buried her head in her hands as she was possibly sobbing from seeing her family turned into zombies while Valerie comforted her, and Mickey was trying to get the television on but it wouldn't work.
Danny was sitting at the bar, being alone in his thoughts, dealing with his own trauma, feeling guilty of having not been there with his family when the zombie-outbreak broke out.
Tucker thought while looking at the can with kidney beans. Seeing that he should also do something around. He walked back in the kitchen, putting the can with beans down and walked down the basement, seeing what food he could find.
Some time later, Tucker was preparing a simple breakfast for all, cooking kidney beans, and some salad and tomatoes.
As he came with some plates with food, he handed one plate to each with his cooked kidney beans and salad "I know it isn't much and I don't usually cook that often, but I did what I can." He said while handing a plate to Damon.
Damon nodded with a small smile "Thanks, Tucker."
Sam and Valerie gave a simple nod while taking some food. Paulina didn't feel hungry after what happened but thought it was nice of Tucker to make some food.
Tucker puts a plate with kidney beans and salad at a table near Mickey while still busy fixing the tv. Tucker asked him "Need any help with that?"
Mickey ensured him "Foley, back at school I was the head of the electronics club, the math club and the chess club," he glanced at him "So, if there's a bigger nerd around here, I'm all ears."
Tucker gave a small chuckle "Right. I'll leave you to it then." he then gave one plate to Danny.
Danny gave a simple nod while still being deep in thought "Thanks." But didn't take a bite.
Tucker then saw Ember coming back inside and gave her a plate with food.
Ember formed a small smile as she took her plate "Thanks, Tuck." and went over to Danny. She sat next to him, putting her arm over him to comfort him.
Not long after, while Tucker had only took a few bites from his self-prepared food, Mickey called out as the tv showed some static "Hey! Guys! I got it fixed!"
Hearing that got everyone's attention and went over to Mickey as he tried to switch to some channels.
First, it showed a big news bulletin from CNN, showing the live images of New York City from a chopper, showing many fires and total panic in the streets while the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge were destroyed while the Big Apple itself was in total chaos "…have been completely destroyed in a desperate attempt by the military to contain the widespread outbreak that has now reached at nearly every part of Manhattan. With all tunnels and bridges around city have been destroyed to prevent people from getting in or out, the question remains if this is enough to stop these… undead monsters." the journalist in the chopper stated, being shocked of what he saw.
Then, as Mickey switched to another channel, showing Channel 3 news from Amity Park, with Tiffany Snow being in shock and scared while trying to deliver the news "We're trying to… we're trying to stay on the air as long as possible, but…" she almost cried "I don't know how much longer we have but…" tears fell from her eyes while loud banging was heard in the background with many zombies screeching and growling "…any… any news will later on be… broadcast on the… (sniff) emergency broadcast system…" Tiffany could no longer hold herself as the fear of being killed by the zombies became too much for her to handle, burying her face in her hands "Oh God… I'm so scared, I'm so scared…!"
"Shit! They're breaking in!" a man at the background called in panic, causing lots of people in the studio desperately to flee, but had nowhere to go while the zombies stormed the studio while growling and screaming, killing anyone they could find, sealing their fate in becoming undead corpses too.
Tears fell from Tiffany Snow's eyes, while she walked over to the camera, holding it while looking into while she sobbed, knowing that this is the end for her and could only now say her last words to her loved ones "Stephan… (sob)… honey… if you're watching this… I don't know if I'm gonna make it… (sob)… Please… tell our son… I love you all very much. Goodbye…" then a loud crash was heard, and more and more zombies stormed the studio before the image went blank and then static, before showing a vintage black-and-white screen saying: PLEASE STAND BY.
Mickey switched to a different channel, showing a male journalist in panic while standing on top over a hill, looking over downtown Los Angeles while the air siren was heard and fires and smoke came from the city "Things are out of control down below! The city of Los Angeles is like a war zone! These… these… creators, these zombies or whatever the hell they are, are swarming the city! People are dying in the streets by the thousands!" images were then shown, showing thousands of zombies attacking and slaughtering the people while cars crashed and people ran in panic "And the freeways, right now the freeways are hopelessly clogged! There is no way out of the city! We had to come up here into Hollywood Hills to find some refuge. I think we're safe for the moment but I'm not going to stay long. Right now the National Guard and the LAPD have pulled out of South Central Los Angeles entirely and are trying to form a defensive perimeter around Beverly Hills, but I don't know how they're going to stop these things-" then, out of nowhere, a female zombie grabbed the journalist and bites him hard in his throat, making blood splattering all over "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" then more zombies appeared and grabbed and slaughtered the cameraman before the image went static!
While Mickey kept switching channels, with all showing either the Emergency Broadcast System or live images from other cities across the globe being overrun by countless zombies. Live images that showed London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Moscow, Bagdad, Delhi, Dhaka, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney having been taking over completely by the walking dead. The news even showed the Chinese Military having fired nukes on Shanghai, Nanjing and other coastal cities in a desperate attempt to defeat the zombies, but nothing seemed to stop them.
All were shocked to watch what had happened to the world, being slowly overrun by living corpses.
Damon coughed for a moment before he sat down while he shook his head, burring his head in his hands.
Sam sighed with sadness "This is unbelievable…"
Ember shook her head while she patted her shoulder "Believe it now, Manson. The world's fucked up real good this time."
While thinking, though the shock of the worldwide zombie-outbreak was almost too big for her to handle, Paulina asked, "What are we gonna do now?"
Tucker theorized "Well… I'm sure that the government must've have some sort of plan, right?"
"A plan?" Mickey asked with a raised voice "Does THAT look like the government has a plan for this worldwide disaster, Foley?!" he pointed to the tv, showing that the zombies have overrun Miami.
Tucker raised his hands, trying to ease the situation "I'm just saying what I think that could happen. It's not like the government entirely abandons its people."
That was when Danny finally began to speak, agreeing with Tucker "He's right. There's got to be someone or people out there who're looking for survivors and get us out of this nightmare."
"And how are you planning on doing that, Fenton?" Paulina asked, before she became emotionally down, overwhelmed with fear "This is it! The world is about to end and we're all gonna die! We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die-"
Ember angrily grabbed Paulina by the collar, asking her very seriously, "Are you finished now, crybaby?!"
As Ember let's Paulina go, Damon rose and spoke for Danny "Though we're all having a rough day after all the horror we've been through, we need to remain calm. And Danny and Tucker have a point. There's got to be at least some plan that the government is trying to save as many people as they can." He grunted a moment while rubbing his injured arm.
Danny then asked Tucker "Did you have any luck on your PDA to find anything that could help us get away from these… zombies?"
Tucker shook his head "Not yet," before he took out his PDA "But I'll try to find out whatever I can. It's gonna take some time though. Can't get a good signal." He began typing while sitting at a different chair.
Danny nodded before looking at his girlfriend, asking "You were putting some food and supplies already in your pickup truck, right?"
Ember nodded "Yeah."
"Good. We better start packing more stuff in case we'll need it to move wherever we need to go," Danny said, "And I feel that maybe… this is going to be a long trip."
"A long trip?" Valerie asked.
Danny nodded as he pointed to what the tv showed "Look, the cities are a no-go as they're all overcrowded with those things. So, the best option for us is to head into the countryside."
All shared a glance, seeing they don't really have much choice.
Damon agreed with Danny's plan "I couldn't have thought of it better myself," he took back his shotgun "and seeing we better get ourselves armed, we should also look for anything we could use as weapons and look for some more ammo?"
Ember nodded "I agree," she checked her gun and the bullets she'd left "with what I have left and Mr. Gray, I'm not sure we're able to fight an army of those walking corpses for long."
"Than it's settled," Danny said before giving everyone a task. He turned first to Tucker and Mickey "Tucker, Mickey, you two keep searching through the net and the television channels, see if you can find anything that would help us finding a safe location," Danny then turned to Valerie and her father "Valerie, you and your father should look around for anything we could use as weapons and looking for ammo. Me and Ember will take care of the food and supplies."
Sam then raised her hand "And what do I do?"
Danny thought for a moment, but Ember was ahead of him and told Sam, "You can go and help Valerie and her father," she then glanced at Paulina with a serious face "And you're helping me and Danny."
Paulina looked at her surprised "What?! I just lost my pappa and mamma and almost died and now you want me to work?!"
Ember was now getting pissed and grabbed her up before pinning her down against a wall "LISTEN HERE, YOU FUCKING SPOILED TEENAGE LATINO PRINCESS! We're in the middle of a fucking apocalypse and we all sure as hell are not gonna sit here and wait for them to kill us! So stop your whining and put some fucking effort around here!" she then smirked at her "Unless you want to get eaten alive by those zombies?"
Paulina was now really scared and heavily shook her head.
"Then get off your fucking lazy ass and help us, if you wish to survive." Ember told her with a very serious face while letting her go "Your little fairy tale is over, princess. Deal with it."
Over the past hour, everyone did their part.
Ember, Danny and Paulina checked the storage area and the petrol station shop for any supplies and food they could carry, which was enough for at least a few days and places them in the pickup truck.
Sam, Valerie and Damon couldn't find much to use as weapons and brought whatever they find to Ember's pickup truck "We couldn't find much to defend ourselves," Sam said "other than some frying pans, a few crowbars and a baseball bat."
Valerie then took something from her pocket and showed it to Ember "But I found some extra shotgun shells in the diner's office," she showed she found 14 rounds of shotgun shells "The old shotgun belonging to the owner was unfortunately busted."
While Damon puts the crowbars in the pickup truck, he began coughing heavily again.
Valerie worriedly came to her father "Daddy? Are you alright?"
Damon tried to collect himself, feeling dizzy and some sweat was forming on his forehead "I'm feeling dizzy."
Valerie took her father by the arm and suggested "Maybe you should take some rest?"
Damon coughed again before he nodded "Yeah… maybe you're right."
Danny and Ember exchanged a worried look, that maybe the bite wound from before is truly slowly turning Valerie's father into a zombie.
With a serious look on her face, Ember walked up to Damon while Valerie helps him sitting at a small chair "Show us the wound on your arm."
Damon looked at Ember with a surprise look "What?"
"The bite wound on your arm." Ember repeated.
Valerie glared at Ember "What's this all about, Ember?"
"I need to be sure about something." Ember stated with a serious look on her face.
"Sure about what?" Sam asked as she and Danny joined her.
Ember ignored her before asking Damon again "Just show me how the wound is."
Damon sighed and held out his arm, allowing Ember to take off the bandages.
"Guys! GUYS!" Tucker called out from the diner as he ran out fast "You've got to see this!"
All looked surprised for a moment but went with him back inside, with Damon holding the bandage on his wound.
"What's this all about, Tuck?" Danny asked as he, Ember, Sam, Valerie and Damon entered. But upon coming back into the diner, Paulina, Mickey and Tucker gave them a very scared and uncertain look, while Mickey stated "You guys need to listen to this. Tucker and I were watching and… they're about to repeat it." and turns on the volume of the tv.
The tv showed a repeated image of a news reporter having interview with a doctor at a secured location.
The doctor stated as he removed the cover of one of the operation tables where something lay under. To the journalist's shock, it was a female zombie, being tied to the table with handcuffs and chains, roaring and screeching while trying to get loose!
The doctor stated as he gestured the journalist to take some steps back from the zombie "Please keep your distance as you can see how dangerous it is."
The journalist asked, while being afraid of the restrained zombie "But, doctor… how is it possible that, as you said earlier, that this wan was first dead and has truly come back to life?"
The doctor sighed as he nodded "This is the most contagious disease I've ever seen. And I can tell you, no person has survived this disease."
"But how does it spread, doctor?" the journalist asked "The people need to know is how they can defend themselves."
The doctor sighed again "The only way for the disease to spread is by direct fluidic contact. It must enter the bloodstream from an open wound. As we all know: The mouth is full of germs, meaning it's the easiest way for the virus to spread. So, in all cases, a physical bite from any of these… zombies will cause the victim to be infected immediately."
Danny, Ember, Sam, Valerie, Paulina and Damon looked in complete shock of what the news was saying, with Damon looking with complete horror at the bite wound on his arm.
"The infection duration depends on the size of the wound and its proximity to a major blood vessel. So, I'm telling you this," the doctor told the journalist "reanimation will occur between one or five minutes after the victim's death."
The doctor then opened the morgue and showed one of the deceased, which was also a zombie, still moving and grunting "Look at this one! During the whole autopsy he never stopped moving. And I took out his heart, his lungs and half of his digestive tract, but he just kept moving." He then warned the journalist and looked at the camera with a very serious face "What I would say, and I'm warning you, everybody, do not, do not EVER come in contact with-with any of these zombies."
While the screen went into partly static before showing another vague scene in another city in the world where zombies overwhelm the streets and attack the living, everyone glanced with a total shock at Damon, knowing he was bitten before by Zombie-Dash, knowing that… he now too was infected and is about to turn into a zombie too.
Damon removed the bandages, seeing not only the blood coming from the bite wound, but also seeing that many blood vessels around the wound began to turn dark purple.
Tears formed in Valerie's eyes "No… Daddy, no…!"
With the traumatic images of Danny's family being slaughtered flashed before Danny's eyes, remembering suddenly that his sister came home with a bite wound "Oh my God…!" he now understood what had happened and how his family was being slaughtered before being turned into zombies. Jazz was already infected… had died… before being turned into a zombie and attacked her parents, causing them too being infected and turned into flesh-eating walking corpses.
Ember took out her gun, sighed with some sadness as she told Damon "I'm very sorry… but you're about to turn into one of those undead monsters, Mr. Gray."
Valerie quickly stood before her father "No! Don't kill my father!" she begged while tears fell from her eyes.
Ember shook her head "It's only a matter of time, Valerie."
"Like hell I'm letting you murdering my father!"
"VALERIE!" Ember yelled at her "He can't stay with us! He's infected, meaning he will put us all in danger!"
Danny sighed "We've all seen what those fuckers can do… what they did to our families," he shook his head "It's only a matter of time."
Valerie then angrily took out her crowbar, ready to beat up anyone daring to kill her father "If you lay a hand on my father, I'LL-"
But her words were cut short when Damon held her daughter's arm, telling her with some sadness "Valerie… Ember and Danny are right, and what they said on tv. I am turning into one of them."
Valerie then cried "NO! No, we can fix this, and…!" she embraced him "Please, daddy, please…! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU JUST LIKE I LOST MOM! We can… help you…!" She cried her tears out.
Damon hugged her back "It's okay, honey. It's okay…"
Everyone shared a sad glance, knowing that Damon is doomed and there's nothing they can do as there's no cure.
Slowly, everyone left the diner, with Damon telling Danny, Sam and Tucker "I just want to say… thank you for everything you did for us. And you Danny… I'm very sorry for your family. They too helped me and Valerie through everything," he shared a small smile "And I am always grateful for your kindness and friendship."
Danny, Tucker and Sam gave him a smile, but sadly walked away.
Ember remained behind, allowing Valerie and Damon to have their emotional final goodbye, holding each other in embrace.
Damon gave a sob as he told her "Sweetie… I'm so proud of you. I couldn't have asked for anything more in a daughter. You… when you were born… are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you, Valerie…"
Valerie kept crying, holding her father tight "And I love you too, daddy…"
Then, Damon broke the hug and told his daughter "Valerie… right now, I need you to be strong, okay? I want you to promise me… that you'll make it out of this, that you will survive. Please, no matter how bad things will go or what danger you will face, that you won't give up or give in. Promise me, honey."
Tears kept flowing from Valerie's eyes, while she nodded "I promise… I promise…"
Damon formed a small smile, planting a kiss on her forehead, being so proud to have Valerie as a daughter.
But then, he began cough out loud as he holds his hand on his mouth, seeing he was coughing up blood.
Damon sadly told her "Go… I don't have much time left…"
"Daddy…!"
"Go… now."
Valerie slowly stood up and walked out of the diner before she ran into the petrol station shop crying, laying in a corner while crying her tears out that her father was about to die and become a zombie.
Sam came over to Valerie in the shop, sitting next to her and both embraced, with Valerie crying on her shoulder.
Damon sat on the ground as he began having trouble breathing while blood came from his nose… His blood streams all began changing into the contaminating purple color. His pupils became bigger.
Ember looked down at Damon with sympathy, knowing how kind he was and didn't deserved a fate as this.
Damon looked up the ceiling… remembering all the good times he had in his life, meeting and falling in love with his wife, getting married, the birth of their daughter Valerie, having to deal with his wife's death and how they began to recover from being financially ruined thanks to Valerie's new friends and Danny's parents.
As he became weaker, Damon softly said, "Dorothy…" he spoke his wife's name "I'm… coming home… Doro..thy…" he then breathed out his last breath… He was dead.
With a sad sigh, Ember took out her gun, aiming at Damon's head, ready to shoot him once he would reanimate into a zombie.
Back in the petrol station shop, Valerie kept sobbing while embracing Sam.
"I'm so sorry, Val…" Sam told her softly, feeling sad too about her father.
Then… a zombie roared came from the diner… before a gunshot was heard!
Not long after, Ember walked out of the diner, putting her gun back in her pocket as she walked over to Danny and the others.
Danny, who leaned against Ember's pickup truck, began thinking of what happened before at his home in Amity Park.
As Ember walked up to him, Danny told her as he held her hands "I'm alive thanks of you, Em."
Ember looked at him, listening to his words.
"If you hadn't convinced me to go with you to that Rave party last night, I… I would've died along with my family." Danny stated with sadness "I finally understand now. It never was my fault what happened to them. They were already doomed to death when Jazz came back from the hospital with that bite wound… and none of us knew. If I had never sneaked out of the house that night… I would've turned into a zombie too. And without you… none of us would've ever made it out of Amity Park alive… I am… the luckiest guy in the world to have you…" he finished with a small smile.
Ember formed a small smile too.
Both of them slowly leaned in for a kiss…
But both were interrupted when Tucker called, holding up his PDA "Hey guys, LOOK!"
All looked at him.
Sam and Valerie came out of the shop, coming over to them.
Tucker showed something important he'd received on his PDA after having finally get some signal "It says here that the government has installed several rescue and evacuation stations across the country!" he said with a bright smile of hope.
"Really?!" Paulina asked, feeling like there was still hope for them to escape the zombies.
"Where?!" Mickey asked.
Tucker showed it on his PDA as everyone gathered around him "Look… the nearest one is… at Fort Wayne."
Ember nodded "Right. That's only a 5-hour drive from here. We can make that." she took some bags with supplies and throw them onto the back of the truck "Alright, people! We're leaving."
But then Valerie called out "No!" all looked at her surprised, with her pleading while tears kept falling from her cheeks "Please… I want to… bury my father. He deserves it."
All shared a glance.
Ember sighed deep before she turned back to Valerie and gave a nod "Alright. But after that, we're leaving."
She and the others took out some shovels from the storage room of the petrol station shop and began digging 50 feet away from the diner. Paulina didn't do much, much to Ember's annoyance.
30 minutes later, after having dig a deep enough hole in the ground, Danny, Tucker, Mickey and Sam carried Damon's body in a big garbage sack and placed him carefully in the grave before burying him.
Sometime later, with Mickey having made a cross using some wood and places it at Damon's grave, everyone gathered around it, with Valerie being the saddest.
Paulina sighed, performing the sign of the cross on her forehead, belly and shoulders with her right index and middle finger, praying for Damon's soul "Our Father… who art in Heaven… hollowed be Thy name… Thy Kingdom come… Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven…"
After giving Damon's last rites, everyone stepped into the pickup truck. Once Ember had fueled the truck with enough fuel, they drove away.
Valerie looked back at the diner with sadness. Her father was gone, and she was now an orphan. She sobbed. Sam, sitting next to Valerie, puts her arm around Valerie, comforting her.
3 hours later…
The surviving group had bypassed the city of Toledo. Not wanting to take the risk of going through any city or town, the group decided to stay off the highway and mainly use the smaller and sometimes dirt roads of the countryside.
Paulina and Mickey were sitting in the back of the pickup truck. Mickey was nervously keeping an eye out in case any zombies were around. However, Paulina was sitting with her legs crossed, looking very depressed because of everything that has happened to her family and the fear that it's nowhere safe.
In the backseats, Sam was still comforting Valerie, mourning for losing her father. Next to them, Tucker was sitting there busy on his PDA, trying to get a signal or any broadcast.
In the front, while Ember was still driving her truck, Danny was switching through several channels on the radio, with only a few stations broadcasting the emergency signal while most of them was nothing but static.
Danny shook his head as he sighed "Nothing. Any station out here is only broadcasting the same thing over and over again." Giving up, Danny turns off the radio "Let's hope there's something out there in Fort Wayne."
While Valerie gave a soft sob, Sam rubbed her back and softly whispered "I know, Val… I know… But we're here for you. I'm… here for you."
Valerie gave a sob while she nodded and softly rubbed Sam's hand "Thank you…"
Suddenly, Tucker managed to caught a signal and turned it on so everyone could here it "Hey! I got something…!"
The radio host was speaking "(Static)… confirmed from several sources that the destruction of Pyongyang, Tokyo, Vladivostok and Seoul were the results of thermonuclear explosions, the same as what happened earlier last night in Shanghai, Hong Kong and many other cities across the Chinese coast. Whether set by the Chinese government, the Russian government, a roque faction of the Chinese military or the North-Korean military in their promise to aggressively defend their borders is still not and maybe… will never be known. Power shortages have been reported all across the country, and possibly in the next few hours, all power across the US will go down, leaving our country in a total blackout. And…" the radio host was trying to collect himself "And we believe… although this has not yet been confirmed… President Smith and his cabinet have already left Washington DC for an undisclosed secure location. In the next hour… we will go off the air… and transferring all responsibilities to the Emergency Broadcast System. And…" the radio host was interrupted by something and then spoke not long after "I just received word that… that the President is about to address the nation through all communications, with some saying… his final message to the American people."
The radio was now broadcasting the President's message.
"My fellow Americans. This… is possibly… the last time I will address you. As you know, a great catastrophe has struck our nation… has struck the world. While the lights across this great land dim and the darkness of an uncertain future descends… I wish I could tell you words of comfort as we face a disaster like no other in all of history, but all I can tell… is for you all to stay strong and work together to fight back against this evil that has descended on Earth. While our forces do everything they can to safe those unharmed by the coming darkness, all I can tell you… is to hold on… wait it out… and pray. As of now, none of us are strangers. As of now… we are one family, stepping into the darkness together. As it is once said… which let our country through another great challenge: 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself'. We will endure… we will rebuild… and together we will drive away the night and warm our children in the dawn of a new day. God bless you all… and God bless… the United States of America."
As then nothing but static was heard before the usual messages of the Emergency Broadcast System were being broadcast, Tucker sighed as the President's last speech on the radio hit him hard and puts away his PDA.
Danny too was feeling a bit down after hearing the President's speech, but also felt that the President had a big point. If they wish to survive this zombie apocalypse, they need to work together and fight back if they have to.
Danny glanced at the others for a moment, seeing all with different thoughts as they let President Smith's final message sink in.
Valerie promised her father she was going to survive, and was going to survive anyway she can and stay strong for herself and her friends, sharing a small smile with Sam, which she returned.
Tucker was unsure how he and Mickey were going to be any help because both of them are weak, but thinking back that they're kinda smart with tech, the two nerds could still be of great assistance.
Paulina was still in her own thoughts, praying that it was all just a dream, wanting nothing but to wake up from nightmare and wake up in her own bed safe and sound. But even the former most popular and prettiest girl in all of Casper High had to wake up from her fantasy, as that part of their lives was taken from them and had all woken up in a world full of darkness and despair. Paulina prayed to God to protect her and bring to safety.
Ember however, despite having shown the more toughest and more organized than the rest, was also feeling kinda depressed. As she has been trying for years to hide it, all the events that had happened since the zombie outbreak made herself being slowly more open.
Danny saw Ember's sadness. He reached out and softly held her hand. Ember glanced at Danny, with both of them forming a small smile. Despite what they're going through, both were happy to at least have each other.
Sam noticed Danny and Ember were holding hands, making her form a jealous glare.
Will the group find their safe haven from the zombie apocalypse, or are they expect more trouble when reaching this 'safe zone' in Fort Wayne, Indiana?
Find out in the next episode of… DAWN OF THE PHANTOM!