Chapter Text
Richie lived in an airport with his zombie buddies. I mean I guess you can call them
Buddies. They groan, growl and grunt at each other all day.. if that isn’t some type of friendship then I don’t know what is.
Richie doesn't exactly remember how things happened or how long it’s even been..
Months. No years? Days? Richie couldn’t count it. I mean if you were ‘dead’ would you really be focusing on the days gone by? Yeah I doubt it.
Richie liked to talk to his buddy in his free time, his extremely dead friend in fact and maybe a conversation full of grunts and “grrrs” wasn’t exactly the best thing but he gets by.
Richie wonders if any other ‘zombies’ around him feel the way he does. Were they tired of being this way? Did they also have a mind? Or was he just weird.
Richie grunted as he roamed the area. He was getting hungry. and he could tell by the way the others sniffed at the air they were too.
So just like any other day they took a stroll around
searching for flesh walking around the dead town of Derry, casually walking into a weird skeleton creature that just roared at them. ‘Fucking scary..’ he thought as his buddy placed a hand on his shoulder and started walking again.
He trailed in the front of the group sniffing the air. He
grunted along with the rest of the group scenting out fresh human blood from a building in front of them labeled ‘Derry’s Street Pharmacy’
Walking up and into the store it was empty. But there were heavy scents of blood and flesh from the back of the store.
——-
“Hey Patrick you- you gonna get off-th-that game anytime soon? We got a job to do.” Bill snapped to the man sitting on the floor playing on a gameboy.
“Whenever your stutter goes away I will plus, I’m almost at level 5..” he said without taking his eyes off the screen in front of him.
Bill sighed and continued his pace. A noise was heard from outside the building as Beverly looked up from where she was standing “did you hear that?” She hissed looking straight ahead.
“I did” Eddie answered quickly “we should bail” he said looking at Bill. Eddie stood there holding a gun against his chest.
Bill stopped next to Eddie “hey no we can’t just bail we have orders” he said before backing away “do you know how much me-me-medical supplies the city goes through a month? We need pha-pharma salvage to survive, '' he urged.
“We can’t just- ab-ab-abandon our ..”
Eddie walking next to Bill to place something
on the pharmacys counter “you sound just like my dad”
Bill looked at Eddie “th-thank you.”
Eddie sighed “yeah, wasn’t a compliment..” he murmured
Beverly turned around tossing a box to both of them “here guys, a box of prozac maybe that will cheer you up” she joked before turning back to the shelf of medicine .
A noise was heard from outside catching their attention. Beverly whipped her head around to face Eddie and Bill “I told you guys i heard something”
Eddie held his gun in the air and cocked it, holding it towards the door. “Bill, let's bail.” He said focused on the door in front.
Bill just walked forward “Bill?” He didn’t listen.
“We have o-o-orders eds.. there was nothing anyway.” Bill walked forward and turned his head towards Eddie “you are be-being para-paranoid okay—?”
“BILL!!” Eddie screamed as a figure was rushing through the door with many others behind them.
——-
Richie was knocked to the ground by a man hitting him in the face with a gun. Laying there as guns went off , and his zombie ‘friends’ attacked, shot. In the chest and in the head. Anywhere they could..
“A-A-AIM FOR THEIR HE-HEADS” was heard from Bill loud and clear from above . Richie slowly sat up to look at the scene unfolding before him.
But suddenly everything felt slow for Richie as Eddie slid from behind a counter, shooting the zombies
Richie swore this man made his dead heart beat a little as Eddie shot a zombie just a few inches from him in
the head. Honestly the sight of that should've made Richie get up and charge at the man, you know? Being a zombie..
But god Richie just couldn’t take his cold blue eyes off
of him. He watched as the man slid back behind the counter which made him jump up and walk over to him.
Thought that was cut short when someone shot him right in the shoulder.
Bill held the gun up to Richie aiming for his head.
“Smile mother fu—-“ and it felt like everything was happening in slomo.
Richie rushed forward grabbing his leg and pulling him off the counter. And everything was fast again as Bill screamed while he was being pulled off the counter by his legs and slammed into the floor.
Richie grabbed his arm twisting it behind and leaned in to bite it. Though he saw a gold glare from the corner of his eye.
‘Nice watch’ Richie thought , then bit into his arm.
Bill continued to scream as Richie’s mind trailed off into his thoughts.
‘Now listen I’m not proud of this and though I do love the attention.. I’d hope that cute man isn’t watching this.. I don’t like hurting people but.. it’s my job now.’
Richie slams head into the ground as he goes unconscious.
Everyone around Richie was turned. Almost everyone was gone..
‘The new hunger is the next big thing.. gotta eat to survive just like everyone else. If i don’t eat him he’ll become a corpse like me .. but the brain is the best part. Call me selfish but I’m sure this man wouldn’t wanna be a corpse anyway.”
Richie picked up the brain that had fallen out onto the floor and started eating it. ‘If I eat the brain of a human , I get their thoughts, memories and most importantly their feelings.’
As Richie ate the brain of the dead perry that laid in front of him he felt the wave of excitement as a fun memory slid through his brain. Closing his eyes, watching memories, feeling it.
Richie saw fireworks. He heard them. It was like he was there.
‘I don’t wanna hurt you, I just wanna feel what you feel. What it feels to be alive.’
…
In the memories Richie saw the man he had seen earlier.
Standing next to him playing a carnival game. Arms up in the air cheering as he won. Laughing as he was given his cheap prize. A ‘I HEART DERRY’ Hat.
Then near what looked like the quarry. Kissing ‘ugh yeah. Too much kissing..’
“Bill I think I’m in love with you”
Bill didn’t answer.
“Don’t just say nothing!” Eddie said calmly but yet Richie could sense a little bit of worry from Eddie.
The memory switched to face a love struck Bill. Richie could roll his eyes.
“I think.. I love you.. t-too Eddie”
Bill smiled wide mirroring the smile that was on Eddie’s face as well.
Kissing more.
The memory switched to both of the men laying in grass talking with each other.
“I miss airplanes” Eddie said with a sad smile “My mom used to say it looked like an etch a sketch up there”
Bill looked at Eddie with a smile “I like that you remember stuff like that, if we don’t then it will just all be gone you know?”
Eddie turned to look back up at the sky “yeah.. the world is so messed up.”
“Not all of it.”
“Cheese Ball!”
The memory shifted back to the kissing part, With Eddie looking sad at him, well not him but bill.
“Bill..?”
Richie was quick to snap out of the memories when Eddie screamed from above .
..
“BILL??” Obviously searching for his boyfriend.
“BILL WHERE ARE YOU? ANSWER ME!” He desperately yelled out.
Beverly screamed from beside him as a zombie leaped forward and attacked her. Lifting her up in the air and slamming her into the counter. Just in time Eddie fired a gun at the head of a zombie. He cocked the gun again to see there were no more bullets. He quickly turned around to see another zombie rushing at him.
He hit the zombie in the head with the unloaded gun and dropped it.
Richie slowly got up , rubbing his mouth. He couldn’t take his eyes off of this man.. walking forward so he could get close to him.
He continued to stare at him ‘he's just so goddamn pretty’. Eddie stood there watching Richie not knowing what to do, soon Eddie leaned into his black boot and took out a knife throwing it directly into Richie’s chest.
‘Perfect shot’ he thought as he stared confusingly at the man and continued to move forwards.
Eddie moved backwards in a rush as his back hit the counter and continued to hurriedly move away.
“Eddie…” Richie stammered, he leaned over a scared Eddie who just continued to stare up at him in fear leaning down onto the floor as richie bent down with him.
They stared into each other’s eyes.. one looking dead but yet so curious and if a zombie could look lovestruck then so be it. While the other’s eyes looked scared , worried that this might be his final breath.
“E-Eddie..” Richie whispered, Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed as Richie looked away to see his zombie buddy wandering around, sniffing the air for any humans left alive.
Richie turned back to Eddie with wide eyes before looking at his own chest , getting his blood on his hands and bringing it up to Eddie’s face.
Eddie’s face scrunched up as Richie dragged his bloody hand down his face, Eddie let a tear drop as Richie bent down farther to sniff at Eddie’s neck.
He leaned back to look Eddie in his scared eyes, “safe..”
Eddie looked up to notice the zombies were now not searching for anyone anymore before looking back at richie.
“Come…” Richie urged in a whisper.
“What..?” Eddie asked in a soft voice as Richie grabbed both arms and pulled him up, moving to walk away with the rest of the group, grabbing a snow globe that caught his eye on the way out and stuffing it in his dirty red jacket pocket.
Meanwhile Beverly was hidden under a desk watching as Eddie was pulled out. Eddie turned to make eye contact with her, both looking worried.
————
‘I don’t know what I’m doing, what’s wrong with me. The other guys would never bring a living person home.. you know why? Because that’s crazy! Right now they think he’s just another one of us. A new addition to the family. Butttt again. They would think I’m insane! You know.. if they were capable of thinking of course. Why am I the weird one’
Richie and Eddie trailed in the back of the group until the man stopped to look at the zombies around him. He still seemed hesitant and tensed up when Richie grabbed his arm again to make sure he stayed safe with him.
Richie walked back into the airport with the group. Walking Eddie through a scanner that surprisingly worked thanks to ‘good o’l brian keeping us safe with that scanner! My man.’
He walked with Eddie until he reached the outside again. Walking him to a plane, remembering how the memory claimed that Eddie had missed airplanes. He turned to face the man with a smile.
‘It feels easier to communicate with him. It’s so strange’
Eddie looked at the giant plane in front of him as Richie grunted and pointed to the stairs motioning for him to walk up.
Eddie, again, didn’t resist but still tensed up. Seemly too scared to attack.
“Maybe he thinks I’m going to eat him , I don’t look like a shy eater now do I?” Richie grunted to himself , closing the plane door as they walked in.
He could see the man’s scared curiosity as he looked around at the empty plane.
Saddest came over Eddie instantly, letting out a sob as he turned around to Richie. “H..home” Richie repeated.
He pointed to a plane chair so Eddie could sit down, which he did. Climbing to the window seat and curling against the white wall.
He cried as he stared at Richie’s blank face who just stared back.
‘Did I make him cry?’
Richie looked away for a second then walked away to a table in the plane and placed the pretty snow globe on top of it.
He walked back to where Eddie was sitting and sat down at the other side of the plane across from him.
Richie ran a hand through his curly messy hair taking a peek over at a crying Eddie who was staring at him with his knees pulled to his chest.
“N-not .. eat..” Richie stammered then pointed to his mouth and bit down loudly as to mimic a zombie eating shaking his head as if Eddie didn’t get it.
Eddie just cried some more and turned to look away from Richie
‘Was that not hilarious?’
Richie leaned forward in the chair and looked at Eddie.
“Keep you safe.” He said getting up and walking an inch towards Eddie who gasped and tried to move away.
Richie frowned and just walked away to the plane door and walked out.
Eddie jumped up immediately and looked around in a hurry before putting both hands on the dirty window. Grimacing when doing so.
“Fucking gross” he cried quietly to himself as he watched richie slow walking with a bunch of other zombies around him.
Eddie frowned, closing his eyes turning frontwards in his seat.
“fuck!”