End Of Days

19: Return

Walking back from the deserted town felt almost normal, in a horrible twisted way.

It was a peaceful, scenic thirty minutes. Tommy had made the trip countless times, usually with Tubbo or his brothers, sometimes with Quackity or Sapnap. It was familiar. It felt like maybe, as they walked alongside the road, the world was back to normal. But of course, the flat trail was a little more overgrown than he remembered. The green vegetation was a clear sign that things had chanced since the last time he was here.

The last time he was here. Tommy looked out across the bitumen and thought back to the way that Schlatt and Charlie had pulled up alongside them. He felt a pang in his chest and he looked away. That car was gone now. Schlatt and Charlie were gone now. He couldn't linger on it, or he might just break.

They didn't talk much, and there were no zombies around to break the quiet. It was peaceful in a way that had become offputting. Something that used to be a simple walk between places now felt more like disappointment waiting to happen.

When they finally reached the school, Tommy's breath caught in his throat.

He had seen the world end through the window of a car, but being here in the aftermath was something else entirely. The buildings weren't on fire anymore, but they were crumbling and falling apart. The dining hall was just rubble on the ground, lacking the proper supports to hold it up. Even from here he could see the damage that the fire had caused, ripping buildings to the ground in a visceral burning rage.

There were bodies on the ground, too. Scattered about carelessly, the grass of the oval weaving through their rotting corpses. Tommy felt the bile rise in his throat as they stepped inside the gates that used to mark out their home.

"We're back." Tubbo whispered, his eyes downcast. Tommy didn't blame him. It was a hard sight to look upon.

Dream looked pale as he glanced out at the oval that they had spent so many warm afternoons on. His voice sounded hollow and wooden. "We should check the bodies."

Tommy didn't want to go any closer, but he knew that Dream was right. He knew that they had to be sure. So he nodded and swallowed down the bile in his throat. The first step was the hardest. It was the smell that really got him. He brought his sleeve up in front of his nose in a weak attempt to keep his stomach in check.

They slowly inspected the bodies. Most of them were kids that Tommy had seen around at one point or another. Some were unrecognisable, and it was clear the the zombies had gotten to their faces before they moved on. Tommy hoped, at the very least, that it was a quick death.

He heard a sniffle from somewhere behind him, and he turned to see Dream kneeling over a body. Horror and dread flooded him, and for a moment Tommy's legs refused to move. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to look at a body and recognise it.

It could have been anyone. Any one of his friends who was a bit too unlucky, who couldn't run fast enough. In the field of bodies it was impossible that he didn't know anyone. Tommy felt rooted to the ground as the horror swept through him, dread and denial buzzing in his limbs as his stomach dropped. Someone was gone. Someone he knew was dead. He didn't want to see, he didn't want to know.

But he had to know. He had to see. So with feet that felt like led, he stepped closer.

It wasn't fair for him to feel relieved when he saw that it was Punz. The first thing that he thought was 'thank god, it's not Techno'. Then, realisation dawned on him, and he fell to his knees beside Dream, a hand reaching out to clasp his shoulder in silent support.

He had to close his eyes as his breath caught in his throat. It was an impossible sight to see. The body of a seventeen yearold who had college scholarships lined up and a bright future ahead of him. Punz had parents, Tommy knew. He had friends. He was pretty sure he'd heard tell of a sibling at one point.