Negative Feedback (Danny Phantom Fic)

Chapter 28

RECAP: 

Grass rustled, made slick by dew, and that growl was repeated, louder this time. Both Camry and Tucker made wide eye contact for a split second before they said what they were both thinking at the exact same time.

"Run."

-------------------------------------------------------

Never mind the possibility of falling off a cliff. Never mind the fact that neither teen could see more than a few feet in front of them. Never mind, never mind, never mind all that! All that mattered right then was getting away from whatever was growling in such a way that made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end.

As they ran with arms pumping at their sides, the damp fog threatened to choke them with condensation and make them slip on their own slick soles. Only a few seconds into their sprinting, Tucker let out a yelp of surprise when he lost his footing and started to tumble down the side of a grassy hill. This allowed Camry to pull ahead of him, and as she passed by she seized his hand and dragged him up and after her with startling ease. "Come on, hurry!" she yelled, terror making her voice shrill.

Both slipped and slid down the steep hill, avoiding boulders and trees that sprouted up from the ground while risking glances over their shoulders. Only fog could be seen behind them, though, so it was impossible to tell if they were really being chased. 

"Whatever you do, don't let go!" Tucker exclaimed while tightening his grip on her hand. If it hadn't been for that, they likely would have gotten separated while weaving around the trees making up a dense forest on the knoll. 

"I wasn't planning to!" Camry answered, and then gasped out loud when the mist dropped away from them sharply to reveal a valley of dead grass and ringed by leafless trees. A concrete road wound through the area only to end at what looked remarkably like a train station. A few of its lights were on and shed some hope into their souls. 

On such a cold, cloudless night, all seven moons were visible in the night sky in varying phases and lit up the colorless world as easily as daytime could have. Camry found her feet slowing as shock settled in; she really was back in her own dimension! Tears that definitely weren't caused by the cold wind alone began to well up in her sphalerite eyes, but they were shoved back when Tucker tugged her back down to reality and forced her to look away from the sky. 

"Come on, come on!" he yelled frantically. "I can see it!"

"See what?" she yelled back before looking back at the fog. A sleek, shiny black form crouched low to the ground and quickly gained on them as their pace had been nearly halted altogether. In the bright moonslight, she made out a long furry tail, round ears, and bared fangs. Its eyes glowed a startling amber in the darkness. "Ah!"

"Let's get inside!" Tucker decided, his grip somehow tightening even further on her hand as he put his heart into running faster. The ground under their feet shifted from grass to concrete, giving them the purchase they needed to make it the last few dozen yards to the train station's perimeter. 

The building was an open-air pavilion where the tracks ran through the middle so the train could be accessed on either side. Dusty-looking rails formed winding, blocky queues to all the different entrances and were bolted into the stone floor. 

"The L-Tram!" Camry cried out while pointing with her free hand, which held onto the drawstrings of her green bag. Stopped in the center aisle was a bullet-shaped vehicle with smooth chrome sides and at least a dozen sections split apart by seams in the body. Each section had multiple doors, all of which matched the silver of the 'train' itself. "Head for the second block!"