Archive of Our Own ^beta

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His head pounded as he walked, rain lashing against his face. If he could just find some form of shelter. A house or a cave or even a tree, just somewhere to hide from the terrible weather. The bag on his back weighed heavy, full of cans of beans and other foods. He knew had gotten lucky with that small shop. Without it they would have died; Him and the small bundle in his arms. Without that child, he would've left long ago. But he stayed. He had to. The 3 year old could barely walk, let alone survive on his own.

It had been almost 3 years. 3 years since 'the disease' broke out. He hadn't been alone for all of it. He had 𝘩𝘪𝘮 for a while, but after he left, Wilbur- No. He wasn't going to think about that. Right now he needed to find shelter for him and his son before they froze to death.

He had been walking for an hour when he finally found some shelter, a small house on the edge of a village. The weather was starting to get worse as his entire body ached from lack of rest. He walked up to the door and closed his eyes. "Please be safe" He whispered to himself as he pushed the handle down. It was in times like these where Wilbur wished he had a gun. He stayed as quiet as possible while he scouted out the house. He walked into the hallway and made his way through each room, checking for any signs that someone was already staying here.

When he got to the last room, the sitting room, he realised that the fire was lighting. The fire guard was up, the flame slowly dying, but it was lighting. Someone was staying here. Panic began to rise through his chest. As he turned around, trying to leave quietly, he accidentally hit the coffee table in the middle of the room, sending an empty coffee mug flying to the ground. It landed with a thud. Wilbur prayed to whatever was out there that whoever was staying here was out, but he knew better. Who would leave their shelter in the middle of a storm?

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs. He could hear people talking and was about to leave the room when he heard faint footsteps walking slowly down the stairs. He decided that he couldn't leave this room right now and began to look for a place to hide. The only place big enough was in the corner of the room, behind the sofa. It wasn't the best, but it would have to do. He climbed into the small space, trying to make himself as small as possible, legs curled up against himself. He pulled the still sleeping Fundy up in front of his face as a single tear trailed down his cheek. "If anything happens, I love you so much and I'm so sorry I couldn't give you the life you deserved" He pressed a gentle kiss onto the child's forehead and held him tightly against his chest, shutting his eyes and hoping for a miracle.

All of sudden, he heard the door click and slow, soft footsteps entered the room. Wilbur held his breath. "I still think you two should wait outside" A monotone voice whispered. "IN THAT WEATHER?! Fuck off! Back me up Dadza" A more animated voice whisper shouted. "Tommy shut your mouth for 2 seconds this is serious. I agree with Tommy, Techno. It's safer that we all stay together. Strength in numbers and all that crap" Tommy, Dadza and Techno. The people who were going to kill him and his son. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe they could die and get away from all this stress. Maybe he could have a good life in the afterlife with his son. Do all the things he wished he could've done with him.

Wilbur's hopes started to lift when he heard the door quietly click shut once again. He let out the breath that he had been holding, but he was celebrating too early. Fundy had just woken up, sending a splitting scream through the air. Wilbur tried to get him to stop again, knowing that it was useless hope, but he had to try. He couldn't give up, there had to be a way. There had to be- There it was. The door was thrown open slammed against the wall as he heard the three men hurry back into the room.

"SHOW YOURSELF NOW" The monotone voice from earlier, Techno, shouted. Wilbur could tell he was scared. He was good at hiding it, but Wilbur always had a way of reading a person better than anyone else he used to know. He could see things from their body language and hear things in their voice that no one else could pick up on. "Techno, that sounded like a baby. Calm down a bit maybe they mean no harm" An older, calmer voice began to speak. "Come out, we won't hurt you" 'Dadza' spoke softly. "Keep your hands where we can see them" Techno clearly wasn't very keen on this course of action, but he listened to Phil.

Wilbur shakily rose from behind the sofa, eyes screwed shut, the only noise in the room was the sound of the cans in his backpack clattering as he got up. He slowly opened his eyes, first looking down at Fundy, who was completely oblivious to what was happening. Wilbur let another tear roll down his cheek as he smiled down at the boy. He looked directly at techno, gently closing his eyes and speaking, "I'm ready."

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Phil's face instantly went from anxious to concerned at the sight of the skinny, pale, almost lifeless man standing in front of them. Phil started to slowly walk towards Wilbur, causing Wilbur to push himself up against the wall in fear. He hadn't seen anyone other than Fundy in just under 2 years, let alone touched. "Phil" Techno grabbed the back of his shirt. So Phil was his name. Wilbur thought that made more sense than Dadza. Phil turned around to face Techno. "What if he's tricking us. They could have a group, Phil" Techno looked anxious. "Look, Tech. I'd rather be dead knowing that I died because I tried to help, than alive knowing that I killed a child." Techno nodded defeatedly. He trusted Phil's better judgement.

"Hey, I'm Philza. Call me Phil." Phil walked over to sit on the couch, looking up at Wilbur. Wilbur nodded, back still pressed hard against the wall. He just wanted to get out of here. Phil turned around to look at Tommy "This is-" "I'm Tommy. I can introduce myself thank you, Phil" Phil rolled his eyes and turned to Wilbur. "You'll love him once you get to know him" Tommy didn't look one bit offended. "Most people find me annoying at first." He spoke confidently, like he was proud of that fact. Phil pointed over at Techno next. "That's Technoblade. Call him Tech-" "No" Phil looked at him, confused. "My name is Technoblade. You can call me Technoblade." Wilbur wanted to be anywhere but here right now. It was very clear that Technoblade was suspicious of him, and Wilbur didn't blame him. He wouldn't have trusted as easy as Phil had. "Tubbo is upstairs too. He's asleep, sick. You can meet him tomorrow if you'd like." Wilbur hoped he wouldn't catch whatever Tubbo had. That's the last thing he needed right now.

"Okay, well that was us! What about you?" Wilbur debated telling them a fake name, but he so desperately wanted a group. He needed a group. "Wilbur." He could tell he sounded scared, instantly regretting opening his mouth. Phil nodded, smiling softly at him. "And the baby? I'm presuming that's what's in the blankets." Wilbur pulled Fundy closer to his chest protectively. He wasn't letting anyone come near his son. Phil could tell the atmosphere in the room had changed. "OK. We're going too fast. I understand not wanting to trust us right away. You don't know us. I get that, but we're just trying to help. How about I go back to those two and you can get out from behind the couch?" Phil looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. Wilbur just nodded and Phil got up from where he was sitting, walking back towards Technoblade and Tommy. The three looked anxious but they had made this decision, so they were going to stick to it.

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After his awkward introduction to the three, Wilbur was lead upstairs by Phil. Tommy and Technoblade stayed downstairs in the sitting room. Wilbur could see why they didn't want to be near him right now. From their perspective, he was just a stranger that had broken into their house. Fundy had fallen back asleep by now, Wilbur carrying him up the stairs, following behind Phil. "We arrived here 2 days ago. We've decided to stay for a while, at least until this storm has blown over anyway." Phil began to speak as they walked. "Definitely on the nicer side of the places we've stayed in for shelter." He let out a small laugh. "It's bigger and cleaner than anywhere else we're going to get for a while anyway. Now that Wilbur thought about it, maybe it would be best to stay here with these people. It had been so long since he had had any human interaction other than with Fundy. He craved the feeling of family that he used to have at the beginning of the apocalypse, when he had his own group. And Phil was right, the house was big and unusually clean for somewhere that seemingly hadn't been touched for 3 years. Of course, dust coated most places, but you were going to get that everywhere. It wouldn't be so bad to stay here for a while at least. "We can give you a house tour tomorrow. I think it's best you go to sleep for now. We could all use some rest after that introduction." Phil chuckled and Wilbur just nodded.

Phil lead him to the bottom of the hall, into a comfortable looking bedroom. The walls were a light shade of cream. There was a double bed with white bedsheets with embroidered flowers on them and 2 nightstands, each with a lamp the same colour as the bedsheets sitting on top. Green curtains hung tied back at either side of the window and a green sofa sat in the corner of the room, as well as a big wooden wardrobe standing up against one wall. Wilbur hadn't stayed somewhere this nice since before the apocalypse. Even then, his family home wasn't exactly what you'd call fancy like this. The longer Wilbur stayed here, the more he wanted to stay. 

"Look, Wilbur. I know you don't want to trust us. We're random people that you've just met, Techno was the same at the start. And I also understand that Techno seems scary at first. He's just..... Caring. He wants to protect us. He has to be suspicious of everyone because he feels that that's his responsibility. But I really think you should stay. The others will get used to you and you'll become just as much part of our family as the rest of us. And we can help with your baby." Wilbur tensed up at the mention of the child. Phil noticed this and tried to make Wilbur feel less tense again. "you don't have to tell us their name or anything about them yet. Like I said, I understand you're skeptical. "Phil was being so nice. Wilbur felt bad about feeling so anxious around him but he wasn't used to letting anyone in. "Anyway! I need to go check up on Tubbo again. You can rest, you look like you need it. Me and Techno take turns watching out during the night so there's no need to be worried about zombies or anything." Wilbur smiled for the first time in a while, as small as it was. He could finally rest without the fear of dying in his sleep. That was when he decided that he was going to stay here. He wanted to stay here. Phil smiled at him one last time before turning around to leave the room. 

"Fundy"

The sound came out almost a whisper. Phil stopped in the doorway, turning his head around to look at Wilbur once again. "I'm sorry? I didn't hear you." "My son. His name is Fundy." Wilbur moved the bundle of blankets from his chest for the first time since he had arrived at this house, holding him out gingerly for Phil to take from him. Phil started to walk back over to the bed, slowly, as to not break the fragile sense of safety that was covering them at this moment. Phil knew that this was Wilbur's way of showing him that he had earned his trust. Still reluctant, Wilbur flinched slightly when Phil reached for the boy. It was barely noticeable, but Phil caught sight of it. "Take as long as you want. This is a big step. Don't do this now if you don't-" "I want to" Wilbur held the child out again, this time staying still once Phil made contact with the small boy. He pulled him up into his arms and started to rock him, pulling the blankets back a little to reveal his puffy ginger locks and small face. Phil smiled down at the baby, babbling along in his sleep.

"What age is he?" Phil asked cautiously, not wanting to rush Wilbur. "He's 3." Phil tried to hold in his shock at that statement, but failed. "I know, he's a bit underdeveloped. He's spent most of his time wrapped up in blankets. I try to let him walk around when I can but I just can't do this on my own. I worry too much when Iet him out of my arms. What if he crawls off or if a zombie comes along? I don't know how to teach him these things. How to walk, how to talk, you know the rest. I can barely find enough food for him let alone find the time to help him learn. I got lucky just before the storm. Found a place fully stocked. Grabbed as much as I can but I still have to be conservative with it. I don't know when I'm going to find more. I'm only 19! I love him. I really do, Phil. But I need help!"

That surprised not only Phil, but Wilbur too. He had spoken seven words since he came here and all of a sudden he's venting to a complete stranger. "Sorry I-" "Don't be." Now that really stunned Wilbur. He was caught like a deer in headlights. Even when he had a group, nobody ever talked about their feelings. That was a sign of weakness. Wilbur stared blankly at Phil before beginning to compose himself again. "It's OK to feel overwhelmed. We're not in a regular situation. I'd actually be worried about you if you weren't stressed with the position you're in right now. Even if the world wasn't ending. I don't know what happened to his mother-You don't have to tell me. And I don't know how long you've been going solo for but you don't have to do this alone anymore Wilbur."

A single tear rolling down his face turned into two, then three, then four, and so on until Wilbur was in Phil's arms sobbing, begging him to help them. "Please let us stay, Phil. You can have all of our supplies, we'll stay up here, I'll- I can-" Phil lifted Wilbur's head up so that hey were making eye contact. "Wilbur. You're staying. You're family now" Phil pulled him back into a hug again. "You don't have to give us anything in return."

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The next morning, Wilbur slowly woke up, taking in his surroundings again as the events of the day before began to rush back to him. It was still heavily raining outside and winds still pushed against the walls. He propped himself up on his elbows before stretching his arms and pulling back the bed sheets to reveal Fundy, still sleeping beneath them. He quietly got up and walked over their supply bag, expecting something to have been taken from it by Phil in return for the place to sleep, but to his surprise, everything was there as he left it. He took out a bottle of water and took a sip, before screwing the top back on and putting it back in the bag. He stood up again and walked back over to the bed. As he was picking Fundy up, there was a knock at the door.

Wilbur turned around as Tommy's head peaked in from behind the door. "Phil heard noise from downstairs and asked me to come check if you were awake. He's making breakfast right now if you want to come down and have some with us?" Wilbur just nodded towards him. "Ok, you can meet Tubbo too. He's great! But he's sick right now. Don't try to hurt him though or we'll have problems." Wilbur turned back around to face the bed. He smiled to himself at Tommy's protectiveness over this 'Tubbo'. Tommy left, Wilbur hearing the thumps from his footsteps hitting the stairs. 

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"Hey mate" Phil greeted him as Wilbur walked in the door to the living room, where everyone was. Phil was sitting beside the fire, over it there was some beans heating up. In the corner sat Technoblade, reading a book about what looked to be greek mythology. He looked fairly interested in it, so Wilbur decided against saying anything to or about him. He was already scary enough, Wilbur didn't need him thinking he was judging him. Tommy and Tubbo sat playing a card game on the table in the middle of the room. They both turned to look at him as he entered. "Tubbo, this is Wilbur. The guy we were talking about." Tubbo nodded, straightening his posture and turning to fully face Wilbur. "Hey big man, I'm Tubbo." His voice was slightly raspy, but that's to be expected from someone who's sick. "Hi Tubbo." Wilbur decided that if he wanted to stay here, he needed to start talking to the others. "This is Fundy" he slightly nudged his shoulder against the toddler sleeping on it. Tommy looked surprised by the words, while Phil and Tubbo smiled at him, happy with the progress. Technoblade had the same neutral expression on his face, not bothered to even look up from his book.

"Cool. Do you want to play snap with us?" Wilbur smiled and nodded. "Sure" As Tommy began to deal him in, Wilbur turned his head towards Techno. He contemplated starting a conversation with him, reaching out an olive branch, but came to the conclusion that it would be better to just let him be. "But watch out. I'm really good at snap" he smiled. Tubbo laughed "We'll see about that chief"

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After a while, Tubbo and Tommy had gotten sick of Wilbur beating them. Tommy turned to Phil and whined "Is the food nearly ready?" Phil picked up one of the cans of beans from where he had been heating them. Opening one and grabbing a spoon from beside him, he took a spoonful. "Now" Tommy jumped up straight away "Great! I'm starving" That made Phil Wilbur and Tubbo laugh.

They sat in silence as they each ate, Wilbur taking a spoonful out of Tubbo's can every so often for Fundy, as they both wouldn't eat a full can. When they were done, Wilbur stood up "I'll keep watch for the rest of the day if you two watch Fundy" he looked to Tommy and Tubbo. "Ya we'll watch him. We found a jigsaw in the other room we could do!" Tubbo stood up, slowly taking Fundy out of Wilbur's arms and walking towards the other room, Tommy following them out. "Thanks" Phil said, handing him a gun while taking another one out of a bag he had next to him. "I presume you know how to use it." Wilbur nodded. "Fantastic! Techno will show you to the attic. There's 2 windows up there. One at the front of the house and one at the back. Perfect for keeping watch." Techno stood up, walking out the door so Will followed him.

Once they'd gotten upstairs Techno suddenly turned around. "Phil and the rest seem to trust you, and I'll do what Phil says because I trust Phil." He got in close to Wilbur, causing Wilbur to back up until he hit the wall. "But if you do ANYTHING to hurt him or Tommy or Tubbo. And I mean ANYTHING. It's your head." Wilbur thought he could feel sweat start to pool on his forehead, terrified of the man stood in front of him. "Any sign of movement, undead or not, you tell us. Understand?" Wilbur nodded like he'd never nodded before. "Good" Techno walked over to one of the windows and looked out. "Switch windows every so often. This one faces north." He tapped the window sill. "Okay. Thanks." Techno walked back down the stairs.

Chapter Text

tw // shooting , swearing , kidnapping

Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy were making a jigsaw beside the fire when they heard Wilbur's shouts. They couldn't make out what he was saying, but they all knew it wasn't good. Phil rushed over to them "Alright Tommy. Like we've talked about before. Stay quiet and don't leave the room OK? Keep Tubbo and Fundy safe." Phil smiled at him before running up the stairs after Techno

"What's going on?!" Techno shouted at Wilbur. "I don't know! There's a car coming towards us and I panicked." Wilbur was terrified. He had just shown up here and there was already trouble. "Let me see." Techno pushed past Wilbur to look out the window, gun in hand. "Oh my god he's right. Phil what do we do?!" Techno was now starting to panic too. "OK. Techno, the best thing we can do right now is stay calm and wait to see what happens." Phil walked over to Techno, patting his shoulder. This seemed to help as Techno started to look a lot less worried and more angry. He opened the window and signalled for Phil and Wilbur to come over too. They stood to the side, keeping cover just in case. 

They pulled up to the house. A small red car and a white pic up truck. 5 people stepped out, a woman and 4 men, each holding their own weapon. "DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP" Techno showed no sign of fear in his voice, but inside he was terrified. The strangers stopped. They all slowly put their weapons down and raised their hands. "WE DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE. WE JUST WANT TO TALK." Techno looks at Phil as if asking for help with his eyes. "LEAVE AND THERE WON'T BE A NEED FOR ANYONE TO GET HURT" Phil did a good job at controlling his emotions, but Wilbur could still see the slight hints of Fear in his face. "WE HAVE A CAMP JUST A FEW MILES FROM HERE. WE CAN TAKE YOU THERE. WE HAVE ROOM AND SHELTER AND WALLS! YOU CAN BE SAFE." A man in a black and red hoodie shouted up to the window, taking a step forward, prompting Techno to point his weapon directly towards the man. Techno looked at Phil doubtfully. "WE DON'T NEED HELP. WE'RE DOING FINE ON OUR OWN." Phil had now taken over the shouting from Techno. "PLEASE, LEAVE. WE REALLY DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU BUT IF WE MUST, WE WILL." 

Suddenly, the door to the attic opened with a bang. In ran a terrified Tommy. "PHIL! What's going on? We heard cars! Are we going to die?!" Tommy ran over to hug Phil, but the distraction allowed the strangers to pick up their weapons. Without Techno, Wilbur or Phil seeing, 2 men ran inside the house. They all turned back towards the window, seeing that the strangers now had their weapons, Techno panicked and started to shoot outside. The strangers ran to hide behind their vehicles. "STOP SHOOTING! OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS MORE PEOPLE! PLEASE! NEITHER OF US WANT TO LEAVE HERE WITH ANY CASUALTIES" Techno could see Phil was thinking about it. "Phil, you're not seriously thinking about this are you? They're obviously lying to get close to us so they can steal our stuff. They'll leave us for dead Phil!"

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Meanwhile downstairs, a sick Tubbo held a sleeping 3 year old, cowering in the corner. He heard the cars pull up outside and was terrified. He knew Tommy had panicked, but he still thought he should have stayed with them. Suddenly, he heard the door click open quietly and the whispers of 2 men he'd never heard before. "Stupid Bad and his stupid 'Good will'. Sometimes I swear he forgets we're in a fucking apocalypse!" The door clicked shut and Tubbo's heart rate increased. He didn't know whether he hoped they'd go upstairs for the others or search the rooms. His mind was racing while he tried to think of any way he could warn them. He heard someone take a step on the staircase. "No Skeppy we should search the rooms first. We don't want anyone sneaking up behind us." Tubbo's eyes went wide as the realisation set in They were going to find him. He racked his brain, trying his best to think of somewhere to hide, when the two men entered the room. One of them locked eyes with Tubbo immediately. He hugged Fundy and turned back towards the wall. "I'm sorry Wilbur." Tubbo heard a gun click. "PUNZ! We can't kill him he's a kid!" The other man whispered to 'Punz'. Tubbo still had his eyes tightly shut and faced towards the wall when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Tubbo flinched in closer towards the wall, if that was possible. "It's ok kid. I won't hurt you" Tubbo turned towards the man, terrified. He was smiling which helped calm Tubbo down. "Punz he has a baby with him" The man's eyes travelled down towards Fundy. The other man took a step closer. "This is bad Skeppy. So, so bad. We have to take them." Punz was visibly panicking. 'Skeppy' looked at Tubbo sadly "I'm sorry." He took Fundy from Tubbo, Tubbo being too sick to fight back. He handed the child to Punz, who didn't exactly look impressed, and picked Tubbo up himself.

When they got outside, they saw a completely different scene then expected. Both sides were firing at each other and shouting. "BAD STOP! WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" The man carrying Tubbo shouted at one of the men behind the car. One of the men ran over to the doorway, still shooting at the attic. "Sam, what was the point of that?!" Punz was getting frustrated. "You both have to carry them, I'll cover you. We're all going to run together. On  my count! One! Two! Three!" The three men ran between the house and the vehicles, 'Sam' did his best to cover for them, but Techno managed to shoot him in the leg. He went down, holding his thigh, but Punz and Skeppy knew they couldn't stop for him. That was when the four in the attic realised what Punz and Skeppy were carrying back to the vehicles. Punz turned around immediately and put his gun to Fundy's head. "STOP SHOOTING! LET US GET AWAY OR I WILL SHOOT!" Fundy burst out crying and Wilbur and Techno put down their weapons. Punz and skeepy ran to the car, shoving the kids in first and then following after them.

"FUNDY! NO! STOP, PLEASE! WE'LL TALK JUST GIVE THEM BACK! PLEASE, DON'T" Wilbur nearly fell out the window trying to shout at Punz and Tommy nearly pushed him out when he saw Tubbo. "FUCK ALL OF YOU WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU ALL! WE'LL FIND YOU TUBBO DON'T WORRY YOU'LL BE OK!" Bad felt horrible but he knew it was what they had to do right now. "WE'LL BE BACK TOMORROW! YOU KEEP OUR GUY ALIVE AND WE'LL KEEP YOU'RE TWO ALIVE" Bad took one more look back at Sam before making sure everyone was in a vehicle and driving off in his truck.

Chapter Text

"Oh God." Wilbur pulled himself back inside, away from the window. "Oh God, oh God, oh my God". "Wilbur? Wilbur it's OK. It's going to be ok." Phil walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, causing Wilbur to dart his teary eyes up to look at him. Phil immediately pulled his hand away. "Wilbur we'll get them back. It'll be-" "IT WON'T BE OK, PHIL! THEY HAVE FUNDY! OR, MAYBE MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU THREE; THEY HAVE TUBBO!" Wilbur butted in. "IT WON'T BE O-" Wilbur stopped, as a look of realisation set into his face. "Their guy." Almost a whisper, but they all heard him. Wilbur scrambled out of the room almost instantly, Techno following behind him. 

The two rushed downstairs and out the door. They headed headed over to Sam, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. Wilbur got there first, letting his emotions take over and drawing his gun. "GIVE ME ONE REASON I SHOULDN'T JUST KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!" Techno ran over, trying to pull the gun out of his hands. "WILBUR, IF YOU KILL HIM YOU ARE PUTTING TUBBO AND FUNDY IN SEVERE DANGER!" Phil shouted at him from the attic window. Tommy came rushing out the door behind them. "Please Wilbur, don't" Wilbur turned to look at Tommy's pleading face. He lowered the gun and let Techno tend to Sam's leg.

Techno took over instantly, shoving Wilbur out of his way. Sam was barely conscious due to all the blood loss. "You are not going to die here." His voice was laced with anger and determination. "You won't die today. You don't get an out after what you did." Talking more to himself, than Sam. Techno used the knife he always kept on him to cut the pants leg off of Sam so he could get directly to the wound. He took off his jumper, using it to apply pressure to it. "WILBUR DON'T JUST STAND THERE KEEP HIM AWAKE! DON'T LET HIM CLOSE HIS EYES!" Wilbur immediately sat down on the ground beside Sam, but he didn't really know what to do. Wilbur was never good with emotions. "Tommy what do I-"

"Get up Techno, let me do that." Phil came running out the door. "Techno, go to the kitchen and look for bandages." Phil continued to apply pressure to the wound, but he was bleeding out too fast. "We need to take him inside. It'll be warmer in there." Tommy ran over and lifted his bottom half and Wilbur took his top half. They ran inside, laying him on the couch in the sitting room. Techno came rushing in soon after them with a medical kit he had found in the kitchen. "Thank god." Phil sighed under his breath as the others watched him work on the wound. "Thankfully, he was only shot in the thigh. I don't think the bullet hit any muscle or bone." Phil talked as he worked. "So he'll survive?" Tommy was sceptical. "Yes. He's going to survive. He may need a walking stick for a while, but he should be fine." Wilbur released a breath of air he didn't know he was holding in. "OK. Now that we know he'll be fine, Wilbur and Tommy, head to the garage and get anything you can find to keep him tied in place. The last thing we need right now is him escaping.

Tommy and Wilbur walked out of the sitting room and made their way to the garage. "I'll take the right side, you look on the left." There was an awkward silence for a minute. The only sounds were drawers being pulled open and shut closed again, and the sound of shuffling and rustling as they searched. "That guy's going to be fine." Tommy broke the silence. "Phil was a doctor before the apocalypse. He knows what to do." Tommy stopped moving things for second and turned around to look at Wilbur. "We'll get them back." "What if we don't?" Wilbur turned around now too. He looked straight into Tommy's eyes, "everything doesn't always go to plan, Tommy. More than likely, someone's going to die because of this and there's no point in telling ourselves that they're not because we need to prepare ourselves for that. And OK, maybe there's a chance that we all make it out of this alive. But we should assume something bad will happen so we're prepared when it does.". "What the fuck Wilbur." Tommy turned back around started searching again.

"Tommy, I-" "Wilbur, we are living through a zombie apocalypse. We're probably never going to see anybody we knew before again. They're probably all dead. We could be facing a war against another, stronger group. That group have my best friend and your son. We have a member of their group too, but he's been shot, and the only medical equipment we have is whatever is in the basic medical kit that we found in some random house that we're only inside of because the owners are probably dead too." Tommy paused for a minute to think about what to say next. "You're right, someone will probably die. Maybe they're even dead already, but I'm not going to let you think about that because we have to try and there is no point in fighting to get them back if you have no hope that they're alive." Tommy opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of zip ties. "Found some" he muttered and left the room.

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Techno sat on the floor watching Phil work on Sam's leg. "Talk to me Techno." Techno was tapping his finger against the floor boards. He was clearly anxious. "I shot him Phil. What if he dies? What's going to happen to Tubbo and the kid if he dies? That'll be my fault." Techno looked up at Phil. "Techno, he'll be fine. I wouldn't lie and give those two false hope like that. And we'll get Tubbo and Fundy back safe." Techno didn't seem to get any less anxious. "This isn't your fault. It's nobody's fault. If you hadn't shot him, we'd have no leverage here." 

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Tommy walked in looking annoyed. "Here's your fuckin' zip ties, Old man." Tommy flopped himself down on thee floor to lean against the nearest wall and dug the palms of his hands into his face. Wilbur followed him in the door and looked down at Sam, lying on the couch. "You're sure he's going to be fine?" Phil looked up at Wilbur from where he was kneeling next to the couch. "Yes Wilbur, he's going to survive. It'll work out Wilbur stop worrying. Why don't you head to the kitchen and get me a chair I can use to tie him to?" Wilbur turned and headed out the door towards the kitchen. 

"What's up mate?" Phil directed the question at Tommy. "I don't know Phil, this is why you're not supposed to just take in any stranger that invades your house. He's just such a pessimistic prick! How are we supposed to have any hope when he's just constantly thinking the worst? It was stupid thinking we could take someone else in, we should've listened to Techno." Phil stood up to sit down next to Tommy. "We were all like that at some point during this, Tommy. Tell me you've never felt the way he does. Everyone loses hope at some point. We were lucky to have found each other, Tommy. Me, you, Techno and Tubbo have had each other for a while now, we've forgotten what it was like to go through this without someone. Wilbur's learned to expect the worst because that's what he's used to. He will come out of it eventually, but we need to help him to have hope, and arguing isn't going to help. I know it's hard for you too. We've just invited 2 new people into our small, close group. It's a big change for all of us, but it's a big change for him too. It's ok not to be too accepting of it at first, but I promise you, I wouldn't have invited him to say with us if I didn't think he was a good person." Tommy leaned into Phil and Phil wrapped a hand around Tommy. "Thanks Phil."