Chapter Text
It had been around three months since their parents had said they were leaving for their job. That was normal. They were both usually busy when it came to the job, they both shared. The eldest of their two children, Punz, was used to caring for the youngest, Purpled. It was usually just for a week. However, it wasn’t just a week this time. Punz still remembered watching the news, Purpled at his side as it showed these creatures or well humans devouring other people; turning the dead into exactly what killed them and that it started at their parents lab. The advice that was given out to civilians was to stay inside as the military tried to get everything under control. Unfortunately, the military were overpowered. Now these creatures that the brothers had deemed walkers roamed the country freely. Maybe even the whole world as well.
Again, that was three months ago. Now, two brothers must work together to survive.
Punz kept his rifle raised as he walked through the streets, Purpled close beside him with a tactical knife in his hand. The older of the two not trusting the younger with a gun just yet as he was twelve years old, but at least he had something to protect himself with. Knock on wood for the fact that neither of them had been attacked yet. The town they lived in may have been small, but it still had a high population of walkers. As the two walked, Punz soon stopped and pulled Purpled down an alleyway, putting the younger behind him.
Purpled went to speak with but Punz quickly clamped a hand over the youngers mouth looking out the alleyway. Voices could be heard not so far away.
“I swear I saw someone duck into that alleyway.”
“Don’t be stupid, there is like no survivors here, we’ve scouted out most of this area.”
“No, he’s right, I saw two people and they looked young as well. I think one of them was a kid, like an actual kid. I think.”
“Maybe they have supplies though?” The second one spoke up again.
Hearing that Punz cursed under his breath and crouched down in front of Purpled. “Hey bud, I need you to run to the forest for me, you know the bridge dad use to take us to?”
“But- but what about you??” Purpled asked, looking at the older with a face that only showed worry.
Punz sighed glancing back at the entrance of the alleyway, he could hear the footsteps. “Purp, please, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I want you safe. If the worse happens I know y-“
“NO! I don’t want to leave you Punz, please! You said yourself that we should always keep an eye on each other.” Purpled butted in, standing his ground. However, before Punz could respond, a click of a gun was heard behind them. Punz watched as Purpled face paled, slowly turning around to see three people.
One was holding the revolver, another a metal baseball bat, and the last a hatchet.
“Now what do we have here? Two kids alone?” The one with the revolver spoke, presumably the leader of this trio.
“I’m not a kid. And we aren’t alone we have each other.” Punz spat with a glare, pulling Purpled behind him more. “I know why you’re here, you want our supplies, don’t you?”
The bat holder nodded weighing the bat in her hand. “Yep. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice. I personally don’t want to knock out a kid with this, so let’s go easy yeah?”
Punz backed up a bit, flinching as a bullet whizzed pass his head. He quickly grabbed Purpled's hand and took off running down the alleyway. He tossed the backpack over the chain link fence at the end. “Purp, we're going to need to climb. Come on,” he stated. Purpled nodded and began to climb, getting an extra boost from Punz who climbed over himself, dropping down on the other side just in time for the trio to get there.
Scooping up the backpack, Punz ushered Purpled to continue running and flipped the group off, a smile on his face as he spotted the group of walkers who tried to attack them approaching the trio from behind. Punz quickly ran after Purpled, listening to the chaotic sound of the group trying to hold off the walkers fade as he ran. The two brothers kept running until they reached the forest. Both panting to catch their breaths when they finally came to a stop.
“Jesus,” Punz sighed, resting on a tree looking at the sky. “I don’t think our town is safe anymore Purp.”
“What do you mean?” Purpled asked, tilting his head. “I don’t want to leave,” he added.
Frowning, Punz pushed off the tree and pulled Purpled into a hug. “Buddy, it's not safe anymore. Those three wanted to attack us, maybe even kill us for our supplies. We have to move on eventually.” The younger blonde shook his head, forcing himself out of the hug and sprinting off into the forest, ignoring Punz as he shouted for him, but Punz was quick behind him. He knew his brother. That kid tends to go into tunnel mode when he’s upset or annoyed, that meant he wouldn’t pay attention to any of his surroundings.
Purpled kept running. He didn’t want to leave; this was his home. Why didn’t Punz understand that? His memories were here, like fishing off the bridge with their dad and Punz, climbing trees with his friends, picnics with his mum in the forest. He didn’t want to leave behind his childhood! His vision tunnel focused on what was in front of him, at least until a walker lunged at him. Purpled let out a startled cry and barely dodged it. He stumbled a bit, tripping over an upturned root. The walker grabbed on to his ankle and Purpled, in panic, started kicking at the hand until it let go. He was crying as he got up and started running again. Stumbling every now and then, he must have twisted his ankle or something when he tripped over.
Meanwhile, Punz had heard the startled shout of Purpled and quickly sped up his pace, yelling “Purpled! Head to the bridge.”
Hearing his brother's command, Purpled looked around, making a quick turn towards the bridge, encountering a few walkers here and there. Weaving and ducking away from them, shrubbery of the forest snagging on his clothes, shoes getting scuffed with mud. With the bridge soon in his sight he sped up, not realising the figure stood on the bridge until he collided into them.
Punz panted as he ran, pushing himself to get to his brother. He was so close to the bridge. Purpled had to be there, he was safe. That cry wasn’t anything bad, maybe he just fell over? Yeah, that seemed like it, the shock of falling made him yell out. The clearing that led to the bridge was in sight. Punz willed his legs to keep going.
Entering the clearing, Punz stopped in his tracks, watching as his brother tried to hold off a walker, ever so close to the edge of the bridge. Purpled's arm ever so close to the thing's mouth. He had to move, he had to save his brother, but here he stood in shock. The next thing seemed to happen in slow motion. The walker had grabbed onto Purpled’s left arm, tugging it towards its mouth and bit down on the middle of his forearm. His brother’s scream snapped him out of his frozen state, looking at Purpled as he stared down at the bite after freeing his arm. He was stumbling back a bit in shock. The walker lunging at him.
With Purpled being unsteady, it sent the younger brother and the walker over the edge, down into the river below. Punz didn’t hesitate twice, he knew his brother couldn’t swim and being in that situation with a thing that wanted to kill him was not a good mix. Pulling out his own tactical knife, Punz quickly jumped in after his brother. Breaching the surface, he watched as Purpled came up, gasping for air, before he was pulled back under and dragged off by the current in the river. Still holding off the walker, barely. The thing nearly biting at Purpled’s neck the next time he resurfaced. This time, the amount of time he was above the surface was less. That meant he wasn’t getting oxygen. Purpled would drown in minutes and the added weight probably wasn’t helping either.
Punz wasted no time swimming after them, taking a breath himself, he dove under the water. He swam behind the walker and wrapped one arms around the thing’s torso while the other pried the dead fingers from his brother. It was a struggle, but he soon succeeded, moving the arm that was prying the walker from his brother. They both surfaced, Punz gasping for air before moving the tactical knife into his free hand and slamming it into the walker’s head. Once it was dead, his eyes scanned for Purpled, panic filling them when he couldn’t see his brother. He let himself get dragged by the river, soon seeing the familiar hoodie with more worry filling him.
He wasn’t moving.
Swimming against the current, Punz swam to his brother, praying he was just unconscious from the lack of oxygen. Once Purpled was within arm’s reach, he pulled the boy close to his chest, frowning at the slight blue tint on his brother's lips. No, he wasn’t dead, not yet. Punz swam out of the current and towards the riverbank, pulling Purpled up onto it as he laid the unconscious boy down.
“Purp?” Punz spoke, shaking him a little. When there was no response, he shook the younger once more. “Purpled! Please wake up! I can’t- I can’t lose you too!” he exclaimed. He was desperate to see a sign of life in his baby brother. The shaking didn’t work. He hadn’t moved.
Punz sobbed quietly, resting his head on his brother’s forehead. “Please don’t take my brother,” he whispered. He knew his brother was bitten, but he wanted to spend the boy's last few days on earth together. They had seen a zombie transformation before, a woman they had let in, she lived for about a week before turning. He just wanted to make Purpled's last week a good one. He couldn’t die now! Punz continued to sob, leaning away from his brother when he heard a groan before the younger began to cough. Water was spluttering out of his mouth.
Quickly Punz rolled Purpled onto his side, rubbing the others back while trying to calm himself down. Rubbing his face on his shoulders to get rid of the tears. ‘He’s alive, he’s okay’ Punz kept telling himself mentally. Once Punz had noticed that Purpled had gotten all the water out of his system, the older quickly pulled him into a hug, cradling the back of his head. “I thought I fucking lost you there. I genuinely thought you died on me,” Punz mumbled into his hair.
Purpled moved his head, his eyes falling onto his arm where the bite was. He started pulling away from Punz, holding his left arm and looking at it with a laugh. Since the world had changed, Punz decided not to shelter Purpled from everything, but yet he was still a bubbly happy kid. However, this Purpled wasn’t that kid Punz knew. This Purpled was one who was accepting his death, the one who knew what was to come. The one that knew there was nothing either of them could do to prevent this.
Punz could only watch as Purpled continued to laugh, the laugh mixing with tears as he looked at his lap before finally speaking. “And even then, I’ll still die anyway,” he paused before turning to look at Punz. This action revealing a tear ridden face.
“I’m…I’m not ready to die, Punz. I-I-I’m scared,” Purpled whispered.