Ch2

Sometimes Name POV- simply means that this is the person who is the focus at the time. Not necessarily the person speaking. I find myself going into Narrator mode while in one of these POV's and it just means that I'm focusing on that person. Thus Tucker's POV could mean I write things like

"Man this stinks. Tucker thought angrily." Or "Man this stinks. I thought angrily." And it'll both be considered Tucker's POV-

I'll try not to do this shift often, but I forget sometimes.

Narrator's POV-

Danny and sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say to the other without making things more awkward. After being bitten by a mosquito for the thousandth time finally sighed heavily and turned towards Danny.

"Mr. Fenton."

"Mr. Lancer..?"

"..."

"...?"

"How's you family been lately Daniel?"

"... they've been good, I gues...?" Danny shifted from his position facing the forest and looked at Lancer nervously. He had no idea what the teacher would try to bring up, but he knew if couldn't be good in this situation.

"That's good. And your friends?"

"Sam and Tuck are cool, we've been doing the usual really." This was getting awkward now.

"Are you sure nothing has changed? I was a teenager myself once you know, I understand the... changes... that happen and how you can be best of friends with a sibling or say a female friend and then suddenly be hit by a bus load of hormones that change how you see them. They can make you angrier or nicer, or even, say, like a person more. How about Ms. Manson?"

"Err..." Scratch that. This was awkward, "Everything's fine Mr. Lancer. Nothing's changed and Sam and I are just friends. Jazz and I fight like any other siblings but we really do like each other secretly. There's nothing going on out of the ordinary I swear." Maybe the old teacher would listen and drop the subject.

"If you say so. Just know you can come to me if you need to."

"Uh.. yeah. Thanks Mr. Lancer..." Finally.

A few minutes of more silence.

"So, how are your parents doing?"

"Ugh..." Danny groaned and resigned himself to an awfully awkward conversation until the others returned. Hurry up guys, PLEASE.

Valerie's Group-

Why did I stick myself with these dumb jocks? Valerie was making her way through the trees and bushes with relative ease in such a situation, carefully avoiding any plants that were on the 'bad list' and finding the ones that were useful. The jocks on the other hand were falling behind and kept calling for her to slow down.

Dash and Kwan were faring the best of the group. The other three jocks, Nathan, Josiah, and Dave were complaining and trying to take a break every few minutes. You'd think being jocks they could handle a little hike on a deserted island. Valerie was about to blow her lid when she heard a rustling in the bushes from the groups left.

She held up a finger to signal the others to be quiet. Dash and Kwan being the closest saw it and quickly shut up. Nathan and Josiah were quick to catch up and smart enough to stay silent. Just as Valerie was thinking the creature that made the noise was going to make its way past their little group, Dave came crashing through the underbrush complaining loudly.

"Guys! Why'd you go a leave me behind? I coulda died out there!"

"Dave, be quiet!" Kwan whispered, slapping his hand over the other jock's mouth as quickly as he could. Too bad it was much too slow.

They all jumped back with a shriek as the bushes began moving faster before a large blur jumped at them with a roar.

Looking around they realized that they didn't have any weapons to use against the creature that was preparing to attack them.

They turned tail and ran dropping the plants and food they'd collected.

Tucker's Group-

"Man this stinks!"

"We know!"

"Well you don't have to yell at me..." Tucker mumbled, kicking at the dirt with his toe.

"Well you don't have to keep complaining about every little thing!" Mikey yelled.

The group sent with Tucker to find fire consisted of three others. Michael/Mikey, Julia, and Kevin. The four had been walking around trying to find good dry wood to use. In their search they had gotten lost and wandered too far into the forest to hear the other groups anywhere. To top it all off Tucker kept complaining about the lack of internet access and technology. To say the others were getting sick of him talking would be a huge understatement.

"Look, let's just head back now. My feet hurt and this is plenty of wood right?" Kevin asked, holding up the three sticks he held loosely in his arms from where he was sitting on the ground.

"If you wanna sit in the dark all night cold, then sure that's enough. Besides, none of us know which way we came from so we're lost. If only my poor PDA was still working... man this place stin-."

"Shut up!"

"Ok, ok. Sheesh, you don't have to yell at me again." Tucker turned around, trying to find any sign of which way they had come. It was starting to get dark out and he didn't want to be stuck in the woods at night with only the three others for company. He'd much rather be stuck where ever Danny and Sam and heck, even Valerie were stuck. At least those three could fight and one had super awesome ghost powers to boot.

"I think we came from this direction." He finally decided. Really there was no telling which way they'd come, but it beat sitting in one place til dark.

"You sure? I thought it was that way." Julia asked, pointing to the far right of where Tucker was facing.

"I don't know! I just wanna get moving and maybe find some of the others. It'd beat sitting here anyway."

"Fine. Let's just get going. And Kevin, pick up some more wood while we're walking. That's our job."

"Got it, got it. Naggy McNagNag."

"Oh shut it you-!" She stopped abrubtly and froze along with the others as a loud roar and a resounding crash echoed through the trees around them.

"W-what was t-that?" Mikey asked shakily.

Tucker gulped and tried to act brave for the others. Out of all of them in this little group he knew he had been in worse situations before. He just couldn't recall any at the moment.

"I-it was probably nothing. Just some animal saying goodnight to its kids..?" As his voice faded away unsurely, another roar and crash rent the air. This time it was followed by shrill screams that seemed to be coming closer to them.

"Ya know Tucker, I think you were right. Let's get out of here on the double." Julia said, backing towards Tucker and Mikey as Kevin stood and dropped his sticks.

"Ditto, let's get the hell outta here now."

With that the group turned and rushed back into the forest, none of them seeing the glowing eyes following them through the underbrush.

Sam's Group-

Working with Paulina and Star was driving her insane. They had managed to find fresh water and even had some of the wreckage they'd landed in to use as bowls to carry it back with them. The down side was having to listen to the two cheerleaders complain and whine and be general pains in her ass.

She was relieved when she made it back to camp and saw Danny sitting uncomfortbly on a rock while Mr. Lancer talked to him.

Poor Danny. She thought. Then again, I'd rather have listened to Lancer than be with these two for another minute. She amended tossing a glare at the two girls who quickly put their containers down and sloshed some out the sides. Sam rolled her eyes and put hers down carefully before going to sit by Danny.

She smiled as he cast her a grateful look as Lancer stopped talking to him and turned to address Paulina and Star's annoying complaints about their predicament.

Narrator's POV-

"So how was sitting here with Lancer?" She asked.

"Oh you know, the usual. 'How is life going Daniel? Do you have anything you'd like to tell me about? Your parents aren't angry with you are they? Are you dating anyone and having difficulties?' it was horrible. I'm guessing you had an awful time too?" He asked, smirking lightly as she sighed harshly and made to hit his arm gently but he dodged in time.

"You know perfectly well how horrible it was."

"Haha, yeah I know. Well hey, at least you had Wulf with you right?"

"Wait, what? I thought he stayed here with you? He definitely wasn't with us or Paulina and Star would've been alot quieter on the trip." Sam glanced around nervously.

"Well, maybe he went with Tucker...?" Danny asked, he really hoped the Wulf ghost had otherwise they'd be in trouble.

"Yeah, yeah. You're probably right. We shouldn't worry yet. He's probably having a great time with Tucker talking about everything."

Before Danny could respond, the ground shook with the sound of crashing and running feet through the forest. Paulina and Star hid behind Lancer who had stood at the sound and Danny and Sam got ready for a fight. They all relaxed as Tucker's group burst through the trees followed closely by Valerie, Dash, and Kwan.

"Thank goodness we made it! I thought for sure we were gonna die in there!" Tucker cried as he ran over to Sam and Danny and gave them both a group hug.

"Huckleberry Finn everyone! Where are Dave, Kevin, and Josiah?" Lancer called, taking roll call in his head as he looked at the remaining students. Valerie, Dash, Kwan, Nathan, Paulina, Star, Julia, Mikey, Tucker, Sam, and Danny were all accounted for. Everyone looked around and sure enough they were down three members that had gone into the forest.

"They-they were right behind us!" Dash yelled, backing further away from the tree line. "This place is haunted!"

Just as the students were getting ready to panic again, Mr. Lancer called them all to order.

"Enough! They must've just gotten lost in the forest. We'll set up a camp tonight and go looking for them in the morning, understood? I'll stay up and keep a watch while you sleep."

Valerie was quick to make a small fire that everyone curled up around, most falling quickly to sleep.

For the first few hours Lancer kept diligent vigil, but everntually he nodded off after the events of the day. He missed the shaking of the leaves and the quiet footsteps leaving camp as he closed his eyes.