Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy hovered over Phil’s shoulder as he worked Wilbur’s crossbow off of his arm before setting it down next to him. He didn’t know why Wilbur was crying so much, but he was sure that Phil could fix whatever it was. Phil was great like that. 

He watched as Phil unwrapped layers of cloth from around Wilbur’s forearm to reveal a nasty green bite mark just below his wrist. Wilbur started crying even more and Tommy started to get a weird feeling in his chest. He’d been happy that Wilbur was sitting and Phil was kneeling because it meant he had a better view of what was going on. Now, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to keep watching. 

Phil started talking to Wilbur while he held his hand and Tommy wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. Shouldn’t Phil be getting out the bandages for Wilbur’s arm? That’s what Phil had done a few days ago when Tommy had tripped and fallen. 

“Wilbur, mate, can you look at me? It’s going to be alright. The Lady has such a beautiful face, okay? She’s so gentle and kind and she’s going to take great care of you.” 

Suddenly, Tommy felt himself being lifted into the air as Techno grabbed him under his armpits and lifted him into his arms. He squealed and kicked his legs as the ground disappeared. Techno was so strong! 

Tommy frowned slightly as Techno turned so that Tommy could no longer see Wilbur and Phil. Though the weird feeling in his chest did lessen, so maybe that was a good thing. He could still hear Wilbur crying and Phil talking, as Techno started walking away. 

“Can you close your eyes and picture her face for me? You remember the painting we saw in the temple a couple of days ago, right? Just picture her face and everything will be alright.” 

Tommy heard a sound that sounded a lot like what Phil’s sword did whenever he took it out. And then Tommy couldn’t hear anything except the wind blowing through the abandoned buildings. He strained his head, trying to hear what Phil was doing, but Techno had carried him too far away and his stupidly large chest was still blocking Tommy’s view. 

“Where are we going?” 

Techno didn’t answer. 

“Are we leaving Phil and Wilbur? Are they coming with us?” 

Techno didn’t even look at him, staring straight over the top of his head. Tommy let out a huff of annoyance before rubbing his head on Techno’s shirt and yawning. He’d learned a while ago that if Techno didn’t want to say anything, Techno wasn’t going to say anything. Tommy leaned into Techno and closed his eyes. 

Tommy yawned as he blinked awake to the sound of footsteps. He managed to get them fully open just in time to see Phil jogging up and settling into a walking pace beside Techno. His eyes were a little red around the edges, but Tommy didn’t know what that meant. Then he noticed that Wilbur was missing. 

“Phil, where’s Wilby?” 

Phil gave him a soft smile as he replied, “Oh, he left to go visit The Lady, mate.” 

Tommy grinned, now things made sense. 

“Did he go back to the temple? Like Jack and Niki and Puffy?” 

Suddenly Phil looked like he was going to cry and Tommy was confused again. Why was Phil sad?! Was it because Wilbur had to leave? 

“Something like that, mate, something like that.” 

Adults were weird.

“Are we going to see him soon?” 

“Yeah, mate, we’ll see him again soon.” 

Ah, darn, that made it worse. Now Phil looked more ready to cry. Oh well, maybe he was sad about something else. 

“Okay.”

Tommy closed his eyes again and leaned on Techno, content to nap out the rest of their journey to wherever. He hoped Wilbur didn’t stay away for too long. 

Chapter Text

Phil knelt as he began to slowly undo the straps around Wilbur’s forearm. He gently removed the crossbow mounted there and started undoing the layers of fabric covering the wound. His heart ached as Wilbur’s sobbing increased when the bite mark was uncovered. It was clearly a zombie bite, with green discolored flesh surrounding the wound. The venom would already be working its way through the bloodstream to Wilbur’s brain. The best he could do now was try to comfort Wilbur before the inevitable. 

“Wilbur, mate, can you look at me?” 

Wilbur’s breathing stuttered and hiccuped as he looked at Phil through a veil of tears. 

“It’s going to be alright. The Lady has such a beautiful face, okay?” 

He was painfully aware of Tommy standing next to him, but he couldn’t take his focus off of Wilbur. He deserved that much. 

“She’s so gentle and kind and she’s going to take great care of you.” 

Phil heard Tommy squeal in excitement as Techno picked him up and carried him away. He was relieved that Techno had recognized what needed to be done because he didn’t think he was physically capable of letting go of Wilbur’s hand right now. He continued to try to reassure a sobbing Wilbur, even as he mentally steeled himself for what needed to be done. 

“Can you close your eyes and picture her face for me? You remember the painting we saw in the temple a couple of days ago, right? Just picture her face and everything will be alright.” 

He unsheathed his sword with his right hand while the left continued to grip Wilbur’s. He took a deep breath and lined up the sword to Wilbur’s heart. The fourth time doing this wasn’t any less difficult than the first. Wilbur had stopped audibly crying, but tears continued to slip down his face. His eyes were closed and his face was angled downwards.

“Wilbur, you understand why I have to do this, right? I don’t want you to be stuck in limbo any longer than you have to.” 

Wilbur nodded shakily, remaining silent.

Phil sucked in a breath.

“We’ll see you and the others soon, on the other side.” 

And plunged the sword through Wilbur’s chest. 

Wilbur’s body shuddered as the life drained from it and Phil pulled him close in an embrace with his hand still resting on the sword hilt. He buried his face in his son-figure’s still-warm shoulder as blood from the wound seeped out and into his clothing. He finally let the brave front he’d been putting up for Wil’s sake fall as he sat in the dirt and sobbed into the young teen’s corpse. 

Eventually, when his tears had run dry and his breathing had returned to a relatively normal pace, he laid the body gently on its back, removing the sword and tossing it a ways away. He then removed any valuable items such as weapons and the supply pack from Wil’s body. He placed these with the bloody sword and returned to his own pack for the supplies. 

He went back to the body, doused it with gasoline, and dropped a lit match. He moved backward to sit beside his pack and drew his knees up to his chest as he watched as Wilbur’s body went up in flames. His eyes were puffy and raw from crying and he sat in a sort of numb silence as he watched the flames dance. 

He knew that Techno was off a ways off with Tommy and would wait for him for however long it took Wilbur’s organic remains to burn away, leaving just the bones. All organic matter of an infected corpse had to be destroyed, lest the venom from the bite work to reanimate the corpse, leaving the soul in a very painful state of limbo until the organic matter finally decomposed on its own. 

This way, Wilbur could rest in The Lady of Death’s arms. 

As he watched the fire burn, Phil felt a flame rising up inside of him. It burned past the numbness and filled him with a raging anger. Anger at the government for trying to cheat Death. Anger at the scientists unable to control their own creation. Anger for the family he’d built over the past year and for the four corpses he’d seen burn since then. 

His cracked fingernails dug into the rough material of his pants as he listened to the moans of zombies in the distance above the crackling flames. He remained that way for about an hour and a half, waiting as flesh turned to ash. 

When it was finally done, he silently stood up, collected his and Wilbur’s things, and jogged off in the direction he knew Techno had gone. He didn’t have to go far before he was able to see Techno holding a sleeping Tommy a little ways off. When Techno spotted Phil jogging towards him, he turned and started walking. 

Phil made it to Techno’s side just in time for Tommy to wake up. He could see the moment when Tommy realized that Wilbur hadn’t come back with him. 

“Phil, where’s Wilby?” 

Phil smiled softly and gave the same reply he’d answered with each time before, “Oh, he left to go visit The Lady, mate.” 

A grin broke out over Tommy’s dusty face, “Did he go back to the temple? Like Jack and Niki and Puffy?” 

Phil felt the broken pieces of his heart being ground into sand when he heard that. He hadn’t even realized that Tommy still remembered Jack, he died so long ago.

“Something like that, mate, something like that.” 

“Are we going to see him soon?” 

“Yeah, mate, we’ll see him again soon.” 

As Tommy fell back to sleep, Phil felt Techno place his left hand on his shoulder. They walked on like that, onto the next town with Phil silently praying that he’d never have to kill Tommy.

Chapter Text

Techno’s chest was numb. He stared into the flickering light of the flames as the flesh crackled and burned. His right hand held the bloody sword at his side with Phil’s survival pack gripped tightly in the other. 

Techno’s hands shook as he gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands. Sure, he’d probably killed thousands of zombies over the past couple of years, but Phil had always been the one to do this, the one to carry the burden. But now Phil was dying, and it was Techno’s turn to carry out the deed. 

Fire burned behind his eyes but no tears fell as he looked down at Phil, standing before him. Phil reached out, rough, calloused hands reaching up to cup Techno’s face. Techno let himself melt ever so slightly into the hands of the man who had become more of a father figure to him than his dad ever was. 

He wished they could stay like this forever, but whether you’re ready or not, life moves on. 

“I’m so sorry it had to be you, mate. I’m sorry that this all happened, that you never got the chance to finish your degree. I’m sorry it couldn’t be me.” 

Phil’s cheeks were stained with tear tracks as he smiled sadly at Techno. 

“I’ll see you and Tommy on the other side, yeah?” 

“...Yeah.” 

The smell of burning flesh ate at his nose while the heat from the flames made the skin on his face uncomfortably hot, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It had been almost a year since Wilbur’s death, two since the world went up in metaphorical and literal flames, and Techno had foolishly allowed himself to hope. To think that maybe, just maybe, their little trio would make it out alive, out the other end of the tunnel. 

But then Phil had been bitten by a baby zombie, and Techno’s happy little world had crumbled into ash yet again. 

Techno let go of the sword, letting it fall onto the cracked pavement as he adjusted his grip on Phil’s pack. He’d return later to get the bloody piece of metal when needed. He turned his back on the flames and headed into the apartment building. 

Techno felt absolutely terrible for not staying with Phil while he burned, but Tommy needed him. He knew Phil would understand. 

He started up the flight of stairs, barely paying attention to his surroundings as he climbed. 

Techno watched in silence as Phil placed Tommy’s sleeping form down on the bed and kissed his brow. He came out and into the apartment’s living room where Techno stood, closing the bedroom door behind him. 

Techno knew Phil was just trying to help him and Tommy before he had to go, but all he felt was a gutwrenching sickness as he looked around the room, out the window, and finally back at Phil’s tired face. 

He’d spent the last two years fighting to survive. 

He didn’t want to die here. 

Techno trudged along. Flight after flight, stair after stair. 

Due to their deteriorating forms, zombies couldn’t climb more than two stories up before their legs gave out. This made tall apartment buildings like this one the safest option, once all the original residents had rotted away. 

Techno continued his climb, thinking back to the pact their group had made, all that time ago. Their agreement that if any of their group were bitten, the others would kill them and burn their corpse, to ensure their soul could move on. And when the last two members remained, they were to find a safe space, high away from any zombies, and kill each other. This would ensure they couldn’t be infected and trapped in limbo. None of them had expected Tommy to make it this long. 

Techno finally reached the room Phil had picked out for them. He entered, dropping the packs in the kitchen area before heading towards the bedroom. He opened the door and saw Tommy sitting on the bed, playing with his stuffed cow, Henry. It hurt Techno’s heart that Tommy was so used to playing quietly by himself, but there was nothing to be done about it. 

As he looked at Tommy it suddenly hit Techno that Phil was gone. 

And he was supposed to…

Techno sat down on the bed next to Tommy, leaning back against the headboard and trying to wrangle the spaghetti bowl of emotions that had taken up residence in his chest and mind. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. 

He didn’t know what he was going to do. Didn’t know what he was supposed to do.  Was there even a right answer to this problem?

He felt a finger poking his arm and cracked his eyes open to look at Tommy who was staring up at him. 

“Techno, where’s Phil?” 

Techno’s mind bluescreened. Well, shoot, he hadn’t thought this far ahead. What was it that Phil always used to say? 

“Uh, he went to the temple.” 

“Oh, okay.”

Tommy seemed to accept that answer and went back to playing with Henry. Techno closed his eyes and went back to have a moral crisis. 

“Techno?” 

“Yeah?” 

“When are we going to go visit the Lady?

“...I don’t know, Tommy.” 

That night, after Tommy had gone to bed, Techno stood in the kitchen, going through their supplies. 

They had enough for 3 weeks. 

The 21-year-old buried his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking silently as he leaned on the counter. 

It was all too much. 

He missed Phil. 

He didn’t want to kill Tommy. 

He didn’t want to die. 

He stood there for a bit trying to contain his inner turmoil so as not to wake up Tommy. Suddenly he shot upright, almost knocking several cans off the counter as he began to pace across the tiled floor. 

3 weeks. 

They had food to last 3 weeks. And a room safe from zombies. And the sword was downstairs anyway. 

He ignored the other weapons in his pack. 

3 weeks. 

Techno had always been a chronic procrastinator in the past. Why stop for a zombie apocalypse? 

And if a tiny part of him had noticed a steadily decreasing number of undead roaming the streets, well…

3 weeks. 

He’d give it 3 weeks. After that, he’d follow through with the pact like he’d promised. But until then he was going to keep fighting. 

For himself and for Tommy.