End Of Days

16: Familiar

The days trickled together as they walked down open stretches of road.

Tommy had lost track a long time ago. As he kicked a stone along the path, he wondered if it was a Tuesday today. It sure as hell felt like a Tuesday. On a normal Tuesday, he would be with his friends in a class by now. Actually, judging by how many hours of daylight they'd had so far, he'd be eating lunch. Probably out on the oval on a day like today.

The sun burned warm and true in the sky above them.

Tommy had taken to putting his flannel over his head to keep it off his skin and avoid the irritation that came with sunburn. Tubbo had picked up a cap at the last town they walked through, and twisted it around to cover his neck or his face with the brim, depending on where the sun was. Dream was more tanned than the two of them combined, and didn't bother with covering his skin. He said it was something about Florida summers.

The three teenagers diverted off the main stretch of road and into a convenience store. They stepped over broken glass, and held their weapons up cautiously.

Dream took one side, and Tommy took the other. Tubbo watched the entrance, just in case. There was one zombie in the back, but Tommy took care of it with a quick slice of his sword. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but it was better than death.

"All good?" Dream called, rushing over to check up on him.

"All good." Tommy nodded, wiping off the blood and goo on the corpse's shirt. It wasn't like it would need it anymore.

The three teens made their way through the store with an eye for anything that might be useful. There were a couple of water bottles and a little bit of food. Dream found a handful of bandages behind the counter, and slipped them into his pack wordlessly. There was no such thing as too many bandages.

Tommy plucked an unopened can of coke from a box that had never made it to the shelf. He grinned to himself as he opened it, and the satisfying pop echoed through the store.

"Seriously?" Tubbo raised an eyebrow. "Dude, that's probably out of date or infected or something."

"If this is how I go out, I accept my fate." Tommy said with a happy shrug as he brought the can to his lips.

Dream crossed his arms and huffed with amusement. "Oh, we are so screwed."

"You're only just figuring this out now?" Tubbo shot him a glance before he returned to picking through the rubble in search of anything useful.

They made their way out of the convenience store a few minutes later, their packs somewhat restocked and a can of coke in Tommy's hand. He had seen some blank rolls of film on one of the shelves behind the counter.

It was a shock at first, because it was hard to find nowadays. Or at least it was before the world ended. And then it was a dull ache in the back of his throat, because he didn't have a camera to load it into anymore. He left it where it was, and barely spared it a glance when they set out again.

As they walked, he twisted the focus dials of his ruined camera gently between his fingers. Even now, after all this time, it brought him a small sense of comfort and peace. Maybe that was childish, but he was okay with that.

A couple more days passed. Time was more fluid than ever before. Tommy wondered what his friends might be up to, if they were even alive out there. Were they traveling like he was? Had they found somewhere safe to hunker down? He hoped so. Really, he just hoped that they weren't corpses on the sidewalk.

Killing zombies was getting easier, at least. Tommy didn't hesitate to put his sword through their chests now. He knew that Tubbo and Dream were getting better at it too. They hadn't allowed themselves to be caught off guard though, so he supposed that maybe he didn't really know how well they could handle themselves. He hoped that they wouldn't have to find out any time soon.