Zodiac chapter 2 (redone)

[Nightmare]

Chapter 2

Danny and his family had arrived early enough to get a few hours of sleep, before starting their day. But now they were out and about seeing the sites. At noon they stopped for lunch and then they split up to go see different things. Danny finished first, so he put on his head phones and went off to explore. he was having fun just looking around the city, but he knew it was getting late, so he decided to start back. On his way, however, he noticed a museum and decided he had time for one last stop.
Inside the museum, Danny found paintings, and fossils, and pieces of armor, but there was one exhibit particularly that interested him. A stone that looked almost exactly like the one he had found all those months ago. Suddenly there came a voice from behind it said.
“So you are interested in the stone.”
Danny spun around to see who had spoken. It was an old woman. After the initial surprise had worn off, he said, “Yeah, well it’s just; I found something just like this.”
“I know,” Said the old woman. “You have been chosen for a great destiny.”
“Destiny… right,” Danny answered then glanced at the clock. “Oh crap! I’m late!” he shouted, and started out, but as he passed the woman grabbed his arm in a vice like grip. As soon as she made contact the symbol on Danny’s hand started to glow, and he felt the energy he had when he first touched the stone, but this time there was no pain. In fact the energy was soothing.
“You can not escape your fate. No matter where you hide or how far you run.” The old lady said and then released him. As soon as she let him go Danny raced off. When she was alone, the woman shook her head sadly and whispered “I’m sorry...” Then she too left. There was one last stop to make before her day was over.

Laury was tired, hungry, and on top of that even more lost than she had been this morning. Laury had been walking all day. She hadn’t found anything that looked familiar, nor had she found any food. What was worse was that she now couldn’t find her way back to her park. So she sat down on a little wall and starred dejectedly off into the distance, and it was in that state that the old woman found her.
“Hello,” the old woman said, but Laury just ignored her. “Well, you’re not much of a talker are you,” the old woman said. Again Laury ignored her. “That’s okay,” the woman said, and she bent down to touch Laury on the shoulder. As the woman did this Laury felt the same energy she had felt before, racing through her body, but this time there was no pain. Then suddenly the sensation was gone, and so was the woman. The energy hadn’t been painful but it brought back memories, of home, and Steve... Thinking of them and of how she might never see them again Laury began to cry.

Danny got back to the hotel just as his parents did.
“Hi,” he said.
His parents turned and his dad said. “Hello, are you here as a tourist too?
“I should be! I came with you didn’t I?” He responded jokingly
“What are you talking about?” Danny’s mom inquired.
“You’re acting really weird mom” Danny said worry entering his voice.
“Mom!” Danny’s mom replied indignantly. “I don’t know who you are, but my husband and I don’t have any children.”
Now Danny was really shocked. Why was his mom acting this way? “But-” he started but the man cut him off.
“Now, you listen young man,” he said severely. “I don’t know who you are. But If you were my son I would be ashamed to have you teasing people like this,” and with that the couple swept off into the hotel.
“What is going on?” Danny asked himself. Why would his mom and dad do that? The strange thing was they actually seemed to believe what they were saying. His mind was reeling, and then he blacked out. But apparently while his mind made a sojourn into oblivion; his body felt the need to move, because the next thing he knew he was running into the back wall of a dead end ally. he lay there huffing and puffing until he heard a sound from behind and scrambled to his feet and saw a man silhouetted in the moonlight.
“Give me your money,” the man said.
“What?” said Danny, at first not comprehending what was happening. Then his eyes widened as it dawned on him that he was being mugged. He stumbled back into the wall and realized that he was trapped.
“I said give me your money!” the man repeated. This time Danny saw a glint of metal off the blade of a knife. Then, things got hazy he vaguely noticed he was running towards his assailant, something he felt was stupid considering the mugger had a knife. But it was like Danny was watching the events unfold from a great distance; he no longer had any say in what he did. He saw the knife coming at him. But he sidestepped and knocked his opponent down with a solid kick to the face, and leapt into the air. He was set to come down on top of the assailant but then there was flash of movement as something large came from behind him and just to the right, but it was too fast to see what. Then there was a crash and he was himself, he was bent over his opponent so that their noses were almost touching, his right hand was placed on the left side of the muggers head and his left was in the air. Danny’s breath came in shallow gasps, he had just fought a mugger but he wasn’t scared, and despite his breathing he didn’t feel tired either, he felt… pleasure? Exhilaration? Danny realized he was still bent over the mugger who was now obviously terrified, so he stood straight. As soon as he did, it was as if the man woke up from a dream. He began inching away from Danny, then he flipped over and started to scurry away all the time screaming. “You’re a freak! You hear me, a freak!” Then he ran like all of hell was after him.
“What did he mean freak?” Danny asked aloud. “I wonder where that fighting stuff came from?” then he remembered the movement he had seen just before he had finished the fight. He looked down and saw what it was. There a fraction of an inch to the right of where the mugger had been was what looked like a massive scorpion tail. A closer inspection of it confirmed that it was definitely a scorpion tail, but it was way too big and what’s more there was ice around it. Danny reasoned that if there was a tail it must be coming out of something. So he followed its length and found where it was coming from. After a few seconds of processing this information Danny screamed. The tail was coming from… him! Danny had a tail!
The world seemed to spin, and then everything went dark.

The couple was taking a walk around their block, when they heard the sound of a girl crying. They rounded a corner and saw her. A young girl, her legs pulled up to her chest, hands over her face sobbing. Worried they went over to see what the matter was.
“Hello,” said the man.
“Is something the matter?” asked the woman. Laury didn’t even notice the two were there until the woman bent down and repeated the question. Laury looked over and decided that maybe they would leave if she talked just a little, so she nodded.
“Are you lost?” The woman asked. Again Laury nodded
“Is there anything we can do?” The man asked looking concerned.
“No,” Laury said turning back to the horizon.
“Come on, why don’t you let us help you? The man asked.
“Go away,” Laury said now regretting that she had chosen here to sit.
“Come now, get up and we’ll see about finding your family.” The man said grabbing Laury’s arm and hoisting her to her feet.
Laury broke free of his grip and backed away a few steps. “I, said, go, AWAY!” Laury said screaming the last word. Then, as if in response to her distress, a gust of wind kicked up. The wind knocked the man off his feet and sent him flying. He hit the ground hard and lay still. The woman shouted in surprise and ran over to the man; she shook him and shouted.
“Fred! Fred are you alright?” Fred shifted and groaned. The woman let out a sigh of relief, then looked around for Laury, but she was already gone.