Chapter Text
The boy stumbled through the woods, running on pure adrenaline. Blinding pain was pulsing through his leg but he had to keep running. Twigs and leaves and branches kept getting in his face, he could barely see where he was going and the sweat in his eyes was certainly not helping.
He couldn't go much further. His leg was bound to give up on him any second. He couldn't hear it behind him anymore, so maybe he was safe.
The boy collapsed against a large tree, sticking out his injured leg and letting his head fall against the trunk. He was panting and wincing, and didn't want to look at the injury yet.
"Fuck." He said, it coming out as nearly a whimper as he tried to regain his breathing.
He had to hold his breath to be quiet. He had to listen for sounds. But he could no longer hear the creature, so he decided he was safe for now.
He twisted to pull his backpack into his lap, and started rummaging through it.
"Bandages. Bandages." He mumbled to himself, until the item itself appeared. He pulled out his water bottle too and took a deep breath before looking down at his leg properly.
The blood was soaking through his pants, and the material was all torn up. With a prayer on his tongue, he carefully ripped the rest of the material off his calf with his knife.
The boy let out a sigh of relief, when he saw it wasn't a bite, just a deep cut and multiple scratches. If it was a bite, he'd be screwed.
He shoved the cloth that was already covering the lower half of his face into his mouth as he shakily held the water bottle above his leg. He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut as he let water fall onto the torn up flesh.
The pain was almost blinding and he had to keep his pained yells quiet. It made his eyes tear up.
He kept the cloth in his mouth as he bandaged the leg too. The blood was already soaking through, but he had no other options. And it was the last of his bandages.
So long as the bleeding stopped soon, he would be fine.
He just wished that he wasn't alone.
•
The last drops of water fell on Dream's tongue, leaving a bitter taste behind. The boy swallowed with a grimace and shook the flask, nudging it against the boy beside him who was sharpening his axe.
"I'm out again." He quickly pulled up his face mask.
"Fuck. Your entire stash?" Sapnap responded.
"Yup." He twisted the lid on with a sigh, shoving the bottle back into his bag and running his hands through his slightly greasy hair. "How far are we from the tank?"
"Several miles. Think you can last?" He was asked. With a sigh, Dream nodded and stood up, kicking the rocks beneath his feet in a childish act.
"We've gone days without water before. I think I can last." He said. Sapnap shrugged and strapped his axe to his backpack, and stood up as well.
"Well, thought I'd check, since last time you were being a little bitch about it." He said. Dream gave him a rough shove as he began to walk, Sapnap's chuckle following.
"I was not being a little bitch."
"You were so! Oh, I'm ever so thirsty. I wish I had some water, I'd even drink my own piss. Oh I'm going to die. I can't go another minute without-"
"Shut the fuck up."
They continued on in silence, shifting so that Dream was leading the way. Sapnap liked this method, since Dream would get rid of any spider webs and do all the hard navigating for him. The only downside was the branches that would flick back in his face. Dream claims they were unintentional but Sapnap was yet to prove it.
It's been months. Months of solitude, their world ruined. You can't look at America the same after what happened.
No one was quite sure how it started, but it happened fast. Too fast for it to be natural.
The creatures were once human. It was hard to even classify them as living now, despite how they moved and screamed and killed and ate. Zombies were the only word known to the world, from movies and TV shows and stories. So that word was the closest thing they could link to these creatures. And that's what everyone called them, even if they weren't brain-loving graveyard monsters. Just once-humans, who were mutated by something.
Dream and Sapnap had been together from the start. The day that it happened was still fresh and clear in their minds. Sapnap was at their house. Dream was at the store.
"Sap, look." Dream stopped walking after an hour. He pointed at the ground, where scattered brown leaves coated the floor of the forest.
"What?" Sapnap responded, trying to see what Dream had noticed.
"Blood." He said, stepping closer and bending down. Sapnap peered over his shoulder.
"How old? Is it human?"
"It's not zombie, it's not black." Dream grabbed a stick and dragged it along the brown. "But it's not that old either, maybe a day." It had mostly dried, and was peeling in places on the leaves, but there was still some parts of the blood that glistened.
"Do you think there's another out here? A human?" Sapnap asked. Dream dropped the stick and stood up with a shrug.
"The forest is safer than cities and towns, so I wouldn't be surprised."
"Maybe they will have extra food." Sapnap said, beginning to walk again.
"You know the rules." Dream said sternly, and Sapnap sighed, reaching for his flask again for a sip of water.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't trust anyone." He rolled his eyes, taking a quick swig of warm water.
"Don't make me sound like I'm overreacting." Dream said in response, cracking his knuckles.
"Well, come on. There probably aren't many humans left in the area. Wouldn't it be smarter to stick together, get more people to fight with us?"
"We don't know how the virus is spread yet. We don't know how people were infected in the first place, or how to tell if someone is going to turn. What if we recruit someone and they turn and attack us? And we already have limited resources, imaging having to split it more. Plus, there's a chance they could kill us and take our stuff. We can't trust anyone but each other." Dream ticked off every reason on his fingers.
"I get it." Sapnap muttered, stomping on a particularly crunchy leaf and smiling at the satisfaction he felt from it. "But we know how the virus spreads. A bite."
"Yes, obviously. But people were turning without being bitten too. It could be spread by other methods. Hence the face masks." Dream brushed his fingers over his own dark green cotton mask that covered the lower portion of his face. Sapnap tugged on his own.
"I hate them. Makes it hard to breathe."
"I really just couldn't care less." Dream said, cutting through some branches, one flicking back and hitting Sapnap in the head.
"I really just hate you a lot." Sapnap mimicked Dream's voice.
Dream rolled his eyes again.
•
The boy had lost consciousness a few times. Maybe from blood loss, or shock, or exhaustion. It was hard to tell.
He had somehow moved himself to a hollow tree and camped himself inside. It was cramped, especially for his injured leg, but it was safer than out there at night.
He shakily grabbed his water bottle, and brought it to his lips, but winced when only a few measly drops fell onto his tongue. He had used it all to clean his injury.
He dropped the bottle, and let his head fall back. The world was fuzzy again, and his stomach screamed at him for food. But he felt his consciousness slipping once again.
Why did he ever come to America.
•
"That's fucked. Have fun, lanky boy." Sapnap whacked Dream on the back before dumping his backpack and grabbing his axe.
"What? You're sending me up? I did it last time, and you know I'm not great with heights." Dream gestured to the water tower with his hands that were being hugged by black gloves.
"I'm shit at climbing, you know this. Plus look at the ladder." Sapnap nodded at it. It didn't go all the way to the ground, someone would have to climb the tower legs to reach it. "Ain't no way I'm tall enough. And this tank isn't even that high, you'll be fine."
"Fine. Guard my shit. Give me the flasks." Dream threw his large bag on the ground, pulling out a smaller string bag, throwing in his two flasks. Sapnap handed him his two, and he pulled tight on the string before throwing it on his back.
"You aren't taking a weapon?"
"I can't climb and carry a sword." Dream said in an obvious tone before stepping up the tower, looking and analysing the best route up.
"You're so fucking lucky you had an entire ass sword in your house." Sapnap scoffed, gripping his axe tight and pacing slightly at the bottom of the tower, eyes watching the edge of the forest around the clearing.
"Yeah, well." Dream huffed as he started to climb the rusty legs of the tower. "My father was a collector of that kind of shit. Got that one for my 18th birthday."
"Well I can't exactly be jealous of the thing that saved my damn life." Sapnap scoffed. It was hanging above the mantle in the living room on that first day. Without it being there, Sapnap doesn't think he would have even made it out of the house.
"Should have kept a gun." Dream grunted and nearly slipped on the metal, before getting a better hold. He was getting closer to the bottom of the ladder, and Sapnap was now watching him closely. "Keep your eyes on the clearing, Sap." Dream didn't even need to look to know his friend was monitoring him.
"Right." Sapnap resumed pacing, but kept glancing back to check on his friend. "Anyways, we both know guns are useless."
"Yeah. Gotta cut off their limbs or neck." Dream finally grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder and sighed in relief as he pulled himself up. "Bullets don't do shit." He began to climb.
"But a gun would have been cool." Sapnap admitted.
Dream smiled to himself as he climbed, but a rung under his foot cracked and fell, and he almost went down with it if he didn't grab tight on the ones above. He gasped in surprise, and it made Sapnap look up.
"Please be careful." Sapnap called out.
"Shut up."
"When you're up there, look around to see where we should head next." Sapnap said.
"You know I am not going to do that." Dream swallowed, staring at the metal in front of him, taking it carefully one at a time.
His eyes never deviated from the ladder. He never looked away and never looked down. He had never been fond of heights, his slightly shaky hands an indicator of that.
"Chill, man. It's not that high."
"I know. I wouldn't have climbed it if it was any higher than 60 feet." Dream swallowed. "But it's still 60 feet higher than I would like." He muttered, as he finally reached the top and climbed over the railing, eyes firmly on the floor.
He opened the large trapdoor, revealing a ladder descending into the depths and peered down. The only light was the sunlight that he exposed himself.
"I hate this." Dream said loud enough for Sapnap.
"Just get it over with." The boy called back from the ground. Dream took a deep breath before stepping down onto the first rung.
He hated that he couldn't see below him. Thankfully his list of fears didn't extend to the dark.
He slowly climbed down the ladder, thankful for the slim amount of light cascading down and showing the shimmery water below.
The rings grew slippery as he got closer to the pool of water, and it made him nervous. Once he reached a low rung, he hooked his legs through the ladder and pulled his string bag in front of him, reaching in to grab the first flask.
The bottom of his shoes were touching the dark water, which danced as the entire tower swayed ever so slightly. He could hear the creaking of the build, as it's rusty joints strained to hold everything together. There was the occasional drip as well, echoing around the black and murky endless pit.
It was so dark and so eerie, it made the hairs on the back of Dream's neck stand on end.
He scooped water into the first flask and brought it up to his face, peeling back his face mask briefly to give it a quick sniff. The water didn't have a smell, so he deemed it good enough to drink. Good enough was all they had.
He put the full flask back into the bag, and pulled out another, leaning and extending his arm to scoop water into this one as well.
Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him, his fears taking over his brain and making him hear things that didn't actually make a sound.
But he swore he heard a faint splash.
He went still and silent for a moment, in the middle of screwing shut the flask in his hand. He peered out across the darkness that seemed to stretch forever, waiting for another sound.
A few seconds of silence and he came to conclusion that he was just hearing things, so he grabbed the next flask and reached down. Granted, much quicker than previous. He didn't want to spend any longer than needed in this hell hole.
His movements were rushed, adrenaline rushing his body even though he tried to assure himself there wasn't any real danger. Zombies wouldn't be in here, the door was shut tight.
The creaking and moaning of the rusty water tank was growing overwhelming, like the structure was telling him to go. To leave this place that no light has touched in months.
He reached down with the final flask, clenching his jaw as if that would stop the shakiness in his hand.
A screech that was inhumane and guttural launched out of the water at the same time a creature of the darkness did, grabbing his hand that was just barely in the water.
Dream screamed and dropped the flask, desperately pulling his hand away from the zombie. It's eyes were pure white, it's skin moist and slimy and tinged green and brown. It's teeth were sharp and dark and inching closer to his wrist.
Dream continued to yell as he slipped on the ladder, trying to get his footing. He kicked the zombie in the head and tugged away his hand.
The creature let go, and Dream took his chance to start climbing, gasping and blood pumping. His feet kept slipping as he rushed up the slippery rungs.
The zombie kept screeching and groaning, and Dream's heart stopped when he felt the ladder shake below him.
He glanced down as he continued up and saw the creature climbing beneath him. It's skin was mutilated and dark. It was like it had a rash, and then the skin had begun to rot away. It was nowhere near human anymore. Any humanity and soul disappeared the second it was infected.
But it was fast, as fast as Dream as he climbed the ladder.
He could see the sunlight above, and climbed like his life depended on it, because it did. The screaming from below seemed to grow closer, and Dream began to consider this as the most scared he's ever felt in his life.
He reached the top, and pulled his body up, swinging his legs out of the way of the nails of the zombie. He fumbled for the latch, but the zombie climbed up too. He yelled and kicked it hard, but it didn't seem to be deterred this time, instead crawling out of the hole and closer to him.
He swung his bag with the flasks at its body, and stumbled backwards. His feet were wet, and he slipped onto his back.
"Sapnap!" He screamed. He didn't have a weapon. Nothing as close to the teeth and nails and impossible strength of the creature.
He jumped to his feet again, as the zombie continued to crawl towards him. It's legs were mangled but that didn't stop it from getting closer to Dream.
Dream was backing away, looking around for something, anything.
There was a loose metal pole near, and he dashed towards it, grabbing the end. It was rusty and falling apart, and he snapped it off easier than he expected.
He ran back at the zombie and sprinted around it, quickly turning and stabbing the rusty metal into its back before it had a chance to follow. The creature howled in anger, but it couldn't really feel pain.
Dream sprinted back to his bag, and launched it over the side of the water tank, finding the ladder he used to climb up.
He swung his legs over it and didn't even place his feet on the rungs as he used his arms to slide down the metal ladder. Thank goodness for his gloves.
"Dream!" Sapnap yelled, and he couldn't even muster a reply.
He reached the bottom of the ladder, and just fell the rest of the way, landing hard on his back on the ground. Sapnap was at his side in an instant, hands on his shoulders.
"Dream! What happened? I heard screaming and I couldn't get up the way you did." Sapnap said. Dream lay there while wheezing, the air having been forced out of lungs in the fall.
He could see the top of the water tank just over Sapnap's shoulder, and noticed the zombie peering over the edge.
Dream didn't have any words, he just pointed with hand. The one with the shredded leather glove and blood trickling down his forearm.
Sapnap followed the gesture with his eyes, and immediately jumped up, grabbing the axe he had ditched on the grass floor.
With his other hand, he grabbed Dream by the back of his shirt and dragged him backwards from the bottom of the tank.
The zombie dropped off the top, the metal pole still dangling out of its back. When it landed, it immediately looked up and let out its inhumane screech when it locked eyes on the two boys.
Sapnap let go of Dream's shirt and stood in front of him, gripping his axe tight. Dream managed to sit up now, a hand on his chest as he tried to regain his breathing.
"Come here, you fucker!" Sapnap ran forward, axe over his head as the zombie crawled towards them.
Dream looked away, as the sickening crack of metal against rotten flesh and brittle bone echoed in the clearing.
And then Sapnap was in front of him again, axe thrown onto the ground beside them, coated in black. Sapnap put both his hands on Dream's shoulders again, staring into his eyes.
"You ok?"
Dream could only nod, even though he was certain he was not. The image of the zombie climbing towards him up the ladder would haunt him forever. And the never-ending pool of dark and damp with secrets below it's glistening surface would for sure rule his nightmares for at least a few days.
Sapnap lifted up the black string bag Dream had thrown over the side of the tank, and shuffled through it, but Dream yanked it out of his hands and emptied it onto the floor.
He undid the cap of the first flask, and tipped the water out onto the ground. Sapnap let out a gasp, and tried to grab the other two flasks, but Dream got to them first, emptying them as well.
"What the fuck, Dream! We need water." Sapnap grabbed the flasks out of his hands but they were already empty.
"That thing..." Dream took a deep breath. "Don't know how long it lived in there."
"It was in the water?" Sapnap asked, eyes flickering to the wet puddle on the dirt. Dream nodded. "I doubt it would have infected-"
"Not risking it." Dream leaned against Sapnap as he stood up, holding his bloodied hand close to his chest. "We will find a river or something."
"Or another water tank without a zombie in it." Sapnap suggested. Dream scoffed, putting the empty flasks back into the big bags, and put the drawstring bag back in as well.
Sapnap didn't comment on the missing flask. And Dream didn't want to even think about it.
"Well, then next time..." Dream coughed slightly, as Sapnap carefully peeled away the torn glove to bandage his cut and bleeding hand for him.
"Next time, you're climbing."
•
He was going to die.
He knew it. He had no water, no food. Couldn't throw up anything even though his body tried. He was injured and alone, and perhaps a little afraid.
He had no idea how long he had been there for. Maybe a day, maybe two. It was either going to be dehydration, his injury, or a zombie that would end up killing him, and he couldn't guess which one.
He let his eyes close again and dreamed of a far away land. His home.
There was a screech that echoed in the woods.
•
"Dream." Sapnap grabbed his arm, and put a finger to his lips. They both went silent.
"What?" Dream whispered.
Sapnap said nothing for a moment, until his eyes lit up.
"Oh thank fucking God!" Sapnap grinned and ran past Dream, to the left. Dream quickly followed.
"What? What is it?" He asked, keeping up with his friend. Sapnap didn't respond, just kept running, but with no fear. He wasn't running from something, he was running towards it.
"Sapnap!" Dream called out to him. "Slow down." Dream was pushing bushes and branches out of his face that weren't hitting the shorter man. Dream cursed when he used his bandaged hand, and quickly swapped. It still stung from the scratches the zombie at the water tank gave him yesterday.
As they got closer, Dream finally heard it too, and a smile grew on his face.
"Sap, you're a genius." His speed increased as they finally stumbled into a small clearing, where a creek flowed through.
"I know." Sapnap puffed his chest out, as both panting boys stared at the clear water. "Alright. Give me the water bottles. Thankfully I can actually see what's in the water." He said, dropping his bag.
"This is perfect. We should follow the stream, maybe there will be a couple of lucky animals we can hunt. Saves us having to raid another town. Last time we both nearly died." Dream said, shrugging off his bag as well and unzipping it for the empty flasks.
"I'm going to be a vegetarian when all this is over." Sapnap muttered, as he grabbed the flasks and went to the creek, Dream following.
"When it's over? Sap, I don't think things will ever go back to normal." He practiced twirling his sword in his hands as he protectively stood above Sapnap. "This is our life now."
"Then what are we even doing?" Sapnap filled one bottle and drank it's entire contents. "Where are we even going?" He filled it up again and held it up.
"I don't know." Dream mumbled, taking the offer of the flask and drinking the entire bottle.
Sapnap refilled the other two, and the third when Dream handed it back.
A guttural screech echoed from nearby, and both boys froze.
Dream quickly dashed to his bag and swung it over his shoulder, while Sapnap closed the last flask and sprinted back to grab his bag and axe as well.
"There's one nearby."
"Do we kill it or run?" Sapnap asked. Dream chewed on his lip.
It screamed again.
"It's loud. We need to kill it, in case there's others that will come. Then we run." He said, started to jog towards the echo. Sapnap reluctantly followed.
Dream led with his sword through the forest, slicing through branches and leaves. Another screech, and Dream could hear his heartbeat in his ears.
"This way." Sapnap gestured right and Dream obeyed.
They ran few several seconds, and Dream stopped.
"What?"
"Where is it?" He asked, spinning around.
They were silent.
A groan, and Dream sprinted left, jumping over a fallen tree trunk to a wider area.
"There!" Sapnap yelled, and Dream turned to see where he was pointing.
The zombie had lost a foot, but was still limping, and dragging it's amputated stump along the ground, entire body at a tilt. Dream could see it's back, clothing torn and exposing the rotting and moulding skin.
Only it wasn't focused on the two new humans. It didn't turn to look when Sapnap yelled or when Dream's footsteps crunched loudly on twigs and leaves.
It was limping towards a tree, a low growling as it did.
Sapnap ran forward, axe above his head, and when he got close, the creature turned and he missed. It jumped on Sapnap, nearly tackling him to the ground. And Dream got a glance at what it was tempted by.
There was a body in the hollow of the tree.
"Dream!" Sapnap screamed, and Dream sprinted forward, using his sword to try and cut the head of the zombie off, which Sapnap was barely keeping away with the handle of his axe.
Sapnap kicked the zombie off, and it quickly turned back to the body in the tree, screaming and running towards it. Dream chased after it, and dove, knocking it to the ground. He had a knee hard in his back, hands holding down both his arms.
"It's neck!" Dream yelled at Sapnap, fighting the unusual amount of strength the zombie had, as it screamed and slowly pushed itself up.
One clean swoosh, and the head went rolling, an axe in it's place.
Dream sat there on the body for several seconds, catching his breath, some of the black blood had splattered on his shirt. Sapnap slowly dragged the axe back, and Dream finally pushed himself off the body.
"Why did it try to run?" Sapnap said between ragged breaths.
"It wasn't running away from us, it was running towards-" Dream recalled what he saw, and he looked at the tree. The angle only allowed him to see a leg sticking out of the hollow.
"Shit." Sapnap stood up straight, axe in front of him.
Dream got up too, and stepped over the corpse slowly, sword pointed at the tree.
He walked around the front, trying to see inside. He could see more of the body, but it was curled in on itself, he couldn't see the face.
"Dead?" Sapnap asked.
"Probably."
"Zombie?"
"I can't..." Dream took a curious step forwards to examine it further. He couldn't see the face in the shadows.
The body suddenly moved, a groan coming from the tree.
"Zombie! Kill it!" Sapnap yelled. Dream quickly moved forward, sword at the ready.
But he paused when it let out a cough, and let it's other leg fall to the ground, body rolling slightly out of the tree, face against the ground.
The body didn't look decomposed at all. And it made Dream hesitate. He had never killed a zombie that looked this human.
"Oh fuck. It has a face mask, like us." Sapnap said, wincing slightly. Dream did notice the blue material in the brief glance before it's face was buried in the ground. It also had a backpack.
"We should kill it before it gains consciousness and bites us." Dream said, holding his sword tight with nerves. Sapnap was beside him now.
The guy on the ground coughed and lifted his head slightly, rolling over onto his back.
His dark brown hair was knotted and messy as it pressed into the dirt and twigs. His skin was pale, so pale that he looked too far from zombie, that he was just on the verge of a normal death. His breathing was short and shallow, and every so often, a small whimper would escape him.
"Fuck. Look at his leg." Sapnap grabbed Dream's forearm as they both looked down the body. His right calf was exposed, but covered in a blood-soaked bandage.
Bright red.
"He's human." Sapnap realised, lowering his axe, and stepping forward, but Dream grabbed his arm and tugged him back.
"You don't know that. That could be a bite under there. He could be turning. The red could be old."
"It's so bright. There's no black."
"That zombie probably came back to check if his new friend had turned yet." Dream said
"Or it came to finish him off!" Sapnap argued.
Dream stared back at him.
"He has to die. He's dying anyways, look at him. It would be mercy if we kill him rather than be turned. He could go peacefully instead of becoming a soulless creature, and we can take his backpack. Maybe he has resources." Dream reasoned.
Sapnap turned so he wasn't looking at Dream, or the boy on the ground and re-strapped his axe to his bag.
"Fine. You kill him." He walked away.
Dream looked back down at the guy on the ground, and took a deep breath, stepping closer.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when the eyes beneath him opened. Deep brown eyes looked up at him, bloodshot and highlighted by eye bags. The boy just stared at him, first eyeing his face, and then moving down to the sword.
He closed his again and took a deep breath.
"Do it." He said, voice incredibly hoarse and scratchy, but Dream hesitated. He spoke. The bleeding human boy is alive and he spoke.
And Dream couldn't kill him.
He had killed numerous zombies and animals. The only one that made him question his morals was a small zombie, dressed in children's clothes. Although it was so decomposed that it's face was half missing and it's joints were pointing in every wrong direction. But that was the first zombie to make Dream hesitate, and it nearly got him killed.
But the boy beneath him was human. He was young and bleeding and talking and oh so pale. The veins under his skin were pulsing with real red blood.
And Dream couldn't kill him.