The Railroad

Chapter 15

"He was a lot more fun than I imagined: super funny, teased me and his friend nonstop. Karl, the other kid, is one of my favorite people I've ever met, to be honest. He wasn't as funny as Quackity, but he had a charm and was just the nicest, most genuine person I've encountered in a long time. We're sorta getting off-topic, so basically Karl pointed out that this old dude was staring at me. He was visibly drunk, and it was very gross, but he never actually came over to us. Probably because Big Q is... intimidating when he wants to be."

"And that's two more names to my list..." Dream muttered, smirking at George.

"You're such an idiot," George laughed, getting on his tiptoes to kiss Dream on the cheek again. "I already said you have nothing to worry about period, but especially not from them. They are totally, entirely, fully in love with each other. No question about it, I could tell before they even told me."

"Good for them. But the names stay."

Both of them laughed, and the walk carried on in happy silence.

~~~

One more day. That's all they had. At some point in the following evening, they would be arriving at Raleigh. In the next day or so after that, George would be discussing the cure with his fellow scientists. Within a month they could replicate it and release it to any zombies being held in cities or near the city walls. And after a year, it could be mass-produced.

For the first time in a long, long time, George felt hopeful, hopeful that things might finally change for the better. He felt pride that it was because of him, yet guilt that it had taken so long. His dignity swelled with the knowledge that he'd come all this way, taken the leap and gone on this journey for the greater good. He had been terrified, but it seemed that doing this was the best possible thing he could've done, based on the circumstances of which he left in the first place. He could've stayed, accepted the consequences of telling his father, but he hadn't played dumb. He did what he thought was right instead of taking the easy way out.

And now Wilbur would be human again: all he'd wanted for the entirety of two years.

George was ecstatic, and the excitement was rubbing off on Dream, who was talking happily to George while making a fire for them. The night was definitely chillier, but the buzz of energy between them as well as the warmth of the small flame kept them perfectly warm. That and the body heat radiating from the pair, who were sitting right next to each other.

George had his head rested against the blond's shoulder and every now and then Dream would lean down and kiss his hair, his cheek, his forehead, you name it. It seemed like they hadn't separated their hands all day.

"You excited?" Dream whispered a little later. By this point, the sun had already made its way to another city, halfway across the world.

"Mhm," George mumbled, only half hearing him as he was staring at the stars in the sky. "It's so crazy to think that if not for the apocalypse, the world would probably be on the brink of falling apart by this point. Now, with humankind secluded in their own separate parts of the world, nature has taken back over, reclaimed the earth. Buildings have deteriorated and collapsed, moss and vines making their way into place. Animals have found their way back into these areas, somewhere they would've never dared venture a decade ago. And, probably the most astounding part, you can see the stars now. As clearly as the sun."

"It's so beautiful. Hate to say it, but that virus spreading was probably one of the best things that could've happened in 2020. Well, for species that aren't humans, obviously. Maybe it was Mother Nature's way of punishing us for what we were doing to the world. I couldn't blame her."

George agreed. With all of it. As horrible of a thing it was, it stopped the pollution and the cutting down of trees and the waste. Only to a degree but a difference nonetheless. The world was fixing itself in the only way it knew how: destruction. It was true in any case, after any natural disaster or lethal war, they'd just rebuild. And, typically, the second version was more impressive than the first.

The earth thought it had finally got them this time; what better way to eliminate a threat than by an incurable disease? Until George happened. He'd been doing this sort of thing for a long time, he knew that there was always a cure somewhere on earth to something the earth had created. If it has the means to create it, it has the means to end it.

Nothing would change: after zombie-ism was cured and they took the few years required to rebuild, things would resume exactly where they left off. There was no happy ending in life for the whole. Sure, individuals could die happy, but as a whole people no one was ever satisfied. Someone will always find something to gripe and complain about, even if you go out of your way to change whatever it is they're upset about. And then someone will be irritated with those changes, and it's a chain reaction from there.

"I kinda hate us. Humans, I mean," George commented.

Dream nodded in agreement. "We suck. Aside from me, though. I'm great."

George giggled and Dream wheezed. The contentful silence that followed was spent by George playing with Dream's hand and the blond watching the shorter with bewildered amusement. The brunet drew shapes on his palm, lightly tracing the thin lines that surrounded his callouses. It made sense that he wore gloves so often. The skin on his fingers was cracked from the dry, cold air, and the fingers themselves were fairly long. They were much bigger than George's. The back of his hand was veiny, lined with green and blue snakes that went all the way down his arms, and the tendons connected to his fingers showed every time he slightly flexed.

George was wholly absorbed in his study of the taller's hand, so Dream reached up with the one that was free and ran it through the dark brown hair atop the boy's head. The other didn't even flinch when he pushed a few of the strands out of his eyes, or when he tucked some of it behind George's ear.

The blond leaned down and kissed the forehead of the boy, causing him to finally glance up. A shy smile formed on the perfect lips of the brunet as he reached up and connected their lips.

"When do I get to see what's under the mask?" George asked softly after they parted.

"I knew you would ask that eventually," Dream sighed. "No use putting it off now, I suppose."

He reached up, pushing his hood off his head, and resting his fingers on the metal clasp that kept the mask secure against his face. He inhaled deeply, entire body tense as it waited anxiously for what George's reaction would be.

He undid the clasp. The mask fell. George gasped.

~Word count: 1,974~

A/N: i loved this chapter. that's... yeah that's it, bye