Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rick breathed heavily into a brown paper bag chanting "Oh my god, oh my god-"

"SHUT UP!" Vyvyan screamed at him while slamming Ricks head with his hand.

"OWWW!" Rick dramatically called out.

"Guys this is very heav-" Neil started to say.

"Everyone, shut up!" Mike announced.

"I wasn't talking?" Rick lied.

"No, you were, anyway. We need a plan, we can't hide in this shed forever!" Mike declared.

Neil -who was sat on the floor- started chewing on uncooked lentils.

"NEIL YOU FAT PIG!" Rick bellowed at the hippie.

"YOU BASTARED! WE'LL STARVE BECAUSE OF YOU!!!" Vyvyan added.

"Woah, guys I only had one! I bet you wouldn't mind if I just died right?" Neil stated.

"No, we wouldn't" Mike, Vyvyan and Rick all said in unison.

"Have you got it yet Eddie?" A voice from outside the shed asked.

"Haaannnnnnngggggg ooonnnnnn," another voice replied.

Just than the originally locked door was pushed open.

Re veiling 2 men stood out side.

"Oh it's full of kids-" Richie said in disgust to Eddie.

"Well it's this or di-" Eddie began to say.

"Edward Hitler, I am not a pedophile, lets go find another, maybe one with ladys in?" Richie suggested.

A tumbling noise came from the distance.

"NEVERMIND!" Richie gasped.

Eddie followed locking the door behind him.

"Who the hell are you!" Mike expressed.

"Hello, I am Edward Hitler-" Eddie began to say,

"FASCIST!" Rick yelled,

He continued "I actually voted Conservative, anyways, and that is a bastard I know called Richard"

"Eddie, this kid looks like you, are you related?" Richie asked, pointing to Vyvyan.

Eddie looked at Vyvyan, "Erm, no, it's to ugly to be related to me," he answered.

Vyvyan didn't say anything (a rare occurrence) he just threw a brick at Eddie.

"Bastard.." Eddie muttered.

The six of them sat in silence.

"PLEASE LET US IN!!!!!!!!" A voice begged out side.

"Is that the man from that episode of oo-er? He's funny, I'll let him in!" Richie announced.

"NO!!!" The other five of them yelled, but he had already opened the door, 3 men threw themselves in as zombies ran to the door.

Luckily, Richie closed it in time.

Chapter Text

Catflap stumbled to the ground, he’d obviously been drinking.

“Honestly, it’s impressive how drunk you get during these situations,” Richie Rich remarked, “Not that we’ve been in this before-” He was cut off by banging at the door.

None of them went quiet, instead the nine of them let out shrieks and screams .

The shed only had a rake and shovel, but at least there was more room, it was still cramped.

“Eddie go out there,” Richie requested, violently tapping Eddies arm, well more punching.

“Why me! You go out!” He replied while rubbing his head- it had a slight lump from the brick.

“No one is going out!” Richie Rich continued “Unless you two want to,” the two he was referring to was Catflap and Ralph Filthy, he had a tone in his voice that made it sound like he wanted the two of them to go out

“If we wait it out, we can leave, you should come with us,” Mike recommended.

“Why should they?” Rick asked.

“If we can’t find food we can eat them,” Mike joked, although he was being serious.

Neil stood up.

“Woah, man, no I’m a vegetarian, right, so you want me to, like, starve to death, is that it?” Neil complained.

“Daughter, humans don’t count,” Ralph lied to stop Neils complaining.

“Oh, thanks man!” Neil replied.

“It’s so nice none of you are going crazy over me, I’m not used to that!” Richie Rich dramatically exclaimed.

The young ones and Eddie looked at him with confusion.

“Who are you? A fascist? I wouldn’t be surprised!” Rick inquired, looking very proud of himself.

“He looks more like a poof!” Vyvyan commented, laughing at Richie Rich.

Richie Rich was dressed in a cyan suit with a sparkly yellow tie.

He did look stupid.

“HAHAHA,” Richie Rich fakely laughed, thinking Vyvyan was joking.

Outside was now quiet. The zombies were likely gone now.

“Right, lets go,” Mike announced.

He walked over to the door and hatched it open.

Vyvyan grabbed a shovel and ran out screaming incase there were zombies.

Richie and Rick both pushed Neil out.

“Woah, man what if there were, like, zombies right? And, like, they ate me righ-”

“Oh shut up, Neil,” Rick continued, “That's why I did it, you spotty bastard,” he walked out.

They all walked out.

“Where should we go then?” Richie asked, looking around at his surroundings, paranoid of what could be around.

“A hospital?” Eddie groaned while wiping some blood off his head.

“We should get supplies, where’s the nearest shop?” Ralph asked.

Rick, Vyvyan and Mike were silent (even though they lived in that area, they had no clue)

“Oh right only I know, because I’m the only one who does anything ever! So it wouldn’t be good if I was eaten, would it, Rick?” Neil complained.

“We don't have time for this!” Catflap yelled.

“Follow me.” Neil sighed as he began to walk.

Chapter Text

The eight men began to follow Neil down the grey, miserable streets. Dark clouds covered the sky and sun- typical English weather.

They soon were led to a large Tesco. 

“Okay, guys, we need to stick-” Neil continued, “where has everyone gone?”

After a quick look around the other eight had run into the shop to select “the necessities” .

Rick had gone to the magazine area to secretly look at the copies of Cosmopolitan. 

Eddie, Catflap and Vyvyan had all gone to the alcohol. Richie and Richie Rich had followed Eddie and Catflap to the alcohol aisle- even though he didn’t care to buy or, well, steal any. 

Ralph had disappeared to select some cigarettes and cigars. 

Mike was reading a daily newspaper in the magazine area.

Neil soon pierced together the fact he’d be the only one actually doing useful shopping. He picked up a basket and began throwing stuff in it- teabags and lentils mainly. 

A zombie apocalypse had just broken out, but Neil wasn’t a criminal, so once he had finished collecting supplies (or what he viewed as such) he placed them on a till. There was surprisingly a worker still there.

“HEY GUYS!” Neil called out, “I’M ABOUT TO PAY IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING- WHICH I DOUBT BECAUSE I DO EVERYTHI-”

“SHUT UP!” Numerous voices called back.

Neil frowned and turned back to the worker- who hadn’t moved at all.

“Hey man, not to pressure you or anything- but I need to pay for these,” Neil clarified.

The worker did not move again. They just kept on staring at their feet.

“Um?” Neil said- trying to catch the workers attention.

“Ehhh-” The worker beseeched, looking up to reveal a chewed up cheek- their eyes had rolled to the back of their head, their forehead also had a large wound on- leaking some black liquid. 

“EW- SORRY- AHHHH!!!!!!” Neil bawled out to the shop.

He ran to the back aisles of the shop (which happened to be the alcohol aisles), screaming his whole was there. 

“Is it the paparazzi?!” Richie Rich inquired, “They can’t see me with a group like this!” 

The other four gave him a confused look.

“N-NO!” Neil responded, “This was, like, a-” before he could even attempt to explain what he had just seen, he heard some footsteps behind him.

He spun around to see it.

Chapter Text

The 6 men stood looking at the sickly creature ahead of them all. A reasonable reaction would be to run away, right? But they didn’t, they all believed that zombies or, well, whatever this was, were like dinosaurs. If you don’t move it can’t see you. 

They were, unsurprisingly, wrong. The creature raised a hand and wiped a drop of blood that had poured from its eye. It started to choke on its own breath as blood was spat out in every cough. It dropped to its knees and cupped its face in its hands. 

After a few seconds it raised its face to reveal a face smothered in blood, its eye whites now looked pink. Just then it gasped, its body went limp and it fell face down on the floor. Behind it Ralph stood with a slightly bloody rock.  

“I found some decent cigars,” Ralph's voice broke the uncomfortable silence as he lifted his other hand to reveal a pack of Regius Double Corona cigars. There were a lot of questions that popped into the other six’s heads, first of all, where did he find 50k cigars in a tesco ? Or cigars at all. 

“Decent is an understatement,” Mike said, now appearing while smoking one of these cigars, “excellent blend of tobaccos,” he added. 

“Very well Michael,” Rick now appeared, “Anyways, what was all that ruckus?” He questioned but then soon spotted the corpse in front of Ralph and soon understood what had happened. Before he could panic about going to prison and the idea that he could be assaulted and made to wear a dress by Horace Big - a name Richie dropped often when talking about his days in prison- Vyvyan had snatched the copy of Cosmo out of his hands.

“What's this then?” Vyvyan mockingly asked while flicking through the pages. 

Richie then took it from the both of them. 

“Honestly, your generation is so vulgar ! Why don’t you appreciate classical art, not this filth !” Richie complained, Eddie simply raised an eyebrow to this.

“Yes, we know how much you love ‘the sistine chapel’, don’t you?” He laughed. Richie simply had no reply to this. Everyone else around them didn’t really understand what this actually meant- but took it as a que to mockingly laugh at Richie. 

“Haha, hilarious!” Richie continued, “But I don’t think that’s our priority right now!” He gave Rick and Vyvyan the copy of cosmo back. 

“Where are we going now?” Richie inquired, looking around at the people around him. They clearly couldn’t stay there and any of their houses were probably out of the question. Well Richie’s Aunt’s flat was out of the question- as it was about a two hour walk.

Nobody answered, as they all waited for someone to recommend some semi niche location that only they could find- which is near impossible, especially in London. They were all doomed in an apocalypse since their first meeting a few hours prior. Four college students who never even studied and probably didn’t even know what they were taking, two middle aged men who probably couldn’t even survive a night camping, and lastly whatever freakshow you could class the trio as. 

“This is exactly like Shock waves , I was actually supposed to be in that!” Richie Rich proudly exclaimed, “I was actually supposed to be in that- I was supposed to play-”

“You weren’t in the industry then?” Catflap interrupted, Richie Rich just looked at him with a look of confusion that then turned into him forcing a laugh.

“Yes I was, I used a stage name and then got plastic surgery and used my real name to start over! My stage name was Clint Eastwood ,”  Nobody bothered to respond to his lies. For someone who claimed to be an actor worthy of The Globe Ensemble, he was a horrific lier, yet again maybe his poor lies were an attempt at humor? If so, he wasn't very funny. 

Chapter Text

A loud screeching came from the speakers. A faint song began to play. A heavy metal, repetitive song to be exact.

“BAD NEWS, BAD NEWS, BAD NEWS, BAD NEWS!!!” Echoed over the shop. 

“What's that ruddy noise!” Rick cried out to the group. Before anyone could respond to his rhetorical question, the noise of footsteps surrounded them. They couldn’t see anyone, it must've been people potentially running?  No… it couldn’t be people, nobody would be so stupid to be that loud in the circumstances- well, apart from the protagonists of this story.

“Can you hear that?” Richie asked the group.

“What, that terribly loud music? No, I can’t say I did until now,” Eddie responded. Richie simply sighed in reply.

“No! Those footsteps! Who are they? Or what are they…” Richie scoffed. The group carefully listened- soon, one by one they all heard the footsteps. They all froze as if you’d just told them the worse news of their lives, well considering that Cliff Richard would likely never release a new song or host a concert nothing could be worse to Rick but he still froze.

“Oh…” Was all that Eddie could say, he picked up some bottles of rum and tilted his head, “Where do we go now?” He asked the group. He had no clue where to go as he’d never been in that area of London before- plus he and Richie were never particularly skilled at reading maps.

“How are we supposed to know!” Rich snapped at him- his voice shaking, hisface shook and scrunched up and his tone was heavy indicating he was terrified, surprisingly something scared him more than being a ‘talentless nobody’ as he’d put it.

“Calm down, daughter, I have a plan- pass me a drink would you?” Ralph reassured him. Rich compiled and passed him a bottle, carefully listening to what Ralph had to say.

“Well?” Everyone, but Ralph asked as he took a swig from the bottle. Ralph looked at them all and raised his eyebrow.

“Huh?” He muttered, “Oh yeah, sorry I forgot,” he took another sip. The group dramatically sighed at this disappointment. The footsteps were now closing in.

“Can someone think of something! I can’t die yet! Not while Thatcher is in power!” Rick dramatically complained, which earned him a smack on the head by Vyvyan.

“Would you stop complaining, you big girl!” Vyvyan mocked, which had surprisingly not earned a response from anyone- Rick hadn’t even rolled his eyes or turned away from him. They all just stood in a circle and thought, some of them were actually  thinking of ways to make it out of this mess, while some were just mentally complaining about the upcoming probable death. 

“What did you want to do with your lives?” Neil asked the group, everyone was slightly taken aback by the sudden deep question asked by a man with such a simple mind as his.

“What?” Catflap asked, curious as to what he was asking- even though it was obvious, it felt so odd how basically a stranger was asking such a personal question.

“I mean, if you got to choose how your life played out,right? Would you, like, change it?” Neil reiterated, nobody replied, they all retreated back to their minds to think of an answer to a question like that. “I would,” Neil continued, “I’d make it so I wasn’t treated like your mums- well no worse that if I weren't around you wouldn't survive!... why haven’t you, like, interrupted?” Neil was confused as to why nobody had told him to shut up, or told him he was being ridiculous.  

“I wouldn’t change a thing!” Rich called out, “My life as a successful and adored actor is perfect!”

“You aren’t though, are you daughter?” Ralph continued, “I would change my life so that I was agenting successful actors,” Rich didn’t reply and instead looked at the floor, maybe now he was accepting the fact that he was not quite as successful as he’d like to be- or made himself out to be. “That was a bit harsh…” Ralph murmured to himself.

“I’d make it so that the kids were able to read my poems and we can overthrow the mega bitch Thacher , free Britain from the deceiving hands of the torys!” Rick proudly exclaimed, this got a laugh from Vyvyan. “Well what would you do! Nothing because that’s the type of person you are!” Rick argued.

“I probably wouldn’t change much- I would make sure I never met you though!” Vyvyan responded. 

“Why are you two like that?” Richie asked. The two looked at him for a moment.

“Because he’s a complete bastard and I hate him!” They both yelled in unison. Rick's jaw practically fell open.

“Oh right, so you’re copying me now, is that it!” Rick yelled at Vyvyan.

“No! If anything you’re trying (and failing) to copy me!” Vyvyan yelled back.

“I’d change living with these two, Neil’s okay because he does the cooking and cleaning- he’s like a housewife you don’t have to please,” Mike commented. Neil slightly smiled at the slight compliment. 

“He’s like you, then?” Eddie joked to Richie, Richie simply rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, a more annoying version of me,” Richie quietly complained. Before Neil could argue back, or just go on a long and boring tangent as to why he was wrong- which would probably prove his point, Vyvyan interrupted.

“That’s it!” He yelled, “I know a place we can go! I know this abandoned house, it’s hard to get into if you don’t have a strong intent to get in. You have to enter from the roof.” He turned his normal voice down a notch, it was still screeching but less, he placed his hand on Rick’s shoulder, “I know you might struggle with this so if you like we can leave you here,”

“Oh, haha, very funny, Vyvyan,” Rick scoffed.

“I’m not joking,” Vyvyan said in a sarcastic tone of voice as he removed his hand. The footsteps were now so close- they could actually see the… things surrounding them. Vyvyan picked up a bottle and threw it at one of them before sprinting away. The rest quickly followed. But this didn’t magically shake them off as now they were being followed by these creatures. Heavy loud groans and pants followed them. 

“How far is this place then! I’ve already got a stitch,” Catflap complained, moving his hands to grab onto his side. 

“Isn’t that supposed to be your bodyguard? He’s not very… I don’t know how to put it,” Eddie asked Rich, Rich sighed.

“I know, but in showbiz, you take who you can trust,” Rich explained, Eddie just nodded along. The real answer to his question was probably just that paying someone a bottle of tomato sauce and vodka each week was less painful on the bank than a salary. Or maybe they did like eachother more than they cared to admit. 

“I think we might have to actually fight!” Richie yelled to the group. To which, multiple turned around and started to do what they could- punch, kick, throw stuff. Broken bottles slice the zombies skin, the punches and kicks tore the skin open as their decaying bodies were easy to mutilate.

By the time the last zombie was killed, the group were all covered in blood and that black liquid that for some reason oozed out of them. Eddie's eyes soon caught onto something.

“Y-you’ve been bit!” He hissed at Rich. Rich looked down at his arm- and there it was, clear as summer daylight, a large bite mark with his own blood trickling down his arm. “What do we do?” He asked the group.

“Well, we can’t let the infection spread, can we?” Rick told him, everyone but Catflap nodded in agreement.

“You aren’t suggesting what I think you are?” Rich’s voice trembled as he asked, the group nodded. 

“Quick or slow?” Ralph asked.

“What?” Rich could hardly process a thing.

“Would you like your death to be quick or slow? It’s probably quick- someone go find something,” Ralph ordered, they began to move before they were stopped.

“No- please ! You can’t! I’m still me! See?” Rich argued fighting back tears- if he was going to be killed, he couldn’t go out as a coward. He looked at the group but nobody looked at him with normal eyes- they were all filled with fear, with hate. He then turned to Catflap, he looked somewhat sympathetic- or as sympathetic as he could be. “Tell them!” He yelled to Catflap.

“He is still human now isn’t he? You can’t kill him yet, he’s still a man,” Catflap bargained, questioning what he should say.

“Not for long! Once that spreads-” Vyvyan began to say.

“Exactly! Once it spreads ! Rich, you may hate me for saying this- but if we cut his arm off, wouldn’t he stay human?” Catflap asked, turning to look at Rich. Rich swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Do it,” Rich responded, throwing his cares and worries aside. He gripped onto his arm and looked into Catflaps eyes. Catflap looked down at Rich’s arm and grabbed onto it.

“Are you sure?” Catflap asked, stroking Rich’s wrist, Rich avoided his gaze and nodded. “Can someone get me a knife or something?” His voice shook and broke as he asked, he loved his friend, he couldn’t imagine letting him go through such pain- especially if it was him inflicting it. Ralph departed from the group and soon returned with a large kitchen knife.

“Are you sure you want to do this? We could always leave him,” Ralph reminded Catflap.

“I won’t leave him- it’s good to know you would in an instant, though,” He replied. Rich rested his arm over a stool. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“Of course I’m not! Please, just do it? Get it over with…” Rich scolded. Catflap rested the knife and bagan to slice down- after about 15 minutes Rich’s arm was now off. Vyvyan then took over with dressing the newly acquired wound. Once it was over with and Vyvyan backed away from Rich, Catflap pulled him into a loose hug- neither of them typically hugged, only after extreme things happened, good and bad. This occasion could fit both- good because Rich was now going to survive, but also it was terrible because he was now missing an arm.

“Thank god you’re alive!” Catflap exclaimed to Rich. Rich wrapped his arm around Catflap, but he stayed silent. 

“We should go now,” Rich eventually groaned, Catflap helped pull him up. The group then walked out as if nothing had happened. Vyvyan took the lead with Rick by his side arguing, Mike and Neil followed exchanging a couple of words, Eddie and Richie followed talking about their usual nonsense, Ralph walked along on his own drinking and Rich and Catflap followed behind him. 

Chapter Text

The men all walked along, the sky fell into a deep blue coulor and the moon began to watch over them. The air now spiked down to a harsh breeze, the streets were now lit by the occasional working lamp post. 

“Is your arm okay?” Catflap asked Rich as he peered at where his arm used to be. 

“Yes, thank you… how are my fans going to react?” Rich croaked. Catflap thought for a moment on how to respond.

“Does it impact your performance? I’m basically a fan- I follow you everywhere,” he joked, “Your the same narcissistic Richie Rich people hate, aren’t you?” Rich didn’t take kindly to the insult- but his face had a softer expression than normal.

“I suppose you're right…” Rich murmured, averting his gaze ahead of him.

“Don’t you think we should stop for the night?” Rick nervously asked Vyvyan. Vyvyan raised his eyebrow and looked at Rick’s face.

“Scared of the dark, you big poof?” He joked, Rick gave him a disgusted and offended look.

“What? No, I just think it’d be best if we all had a rest!” Rick yelled at him.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Rick’s right, we should find somewhere to spend the night,” Mike interrupted before Vyvyan could bite back- verbally and physically. Vyvyan let out a quiet sigh.

“Alright, where are we going?” Vyvyan grumbled. Mike thought for a moment.

“I know a place,” Rick chimed in.

“Posh and poofy is it?” Vyvyan asked. Rick didn’t reply this time.

“Where?” Mike asked.

“It’s a writing studio- I had a job there for a week. I left because of political and tallent differences!” Rick explained- everyone could tell he probably meant that he insulted the owner and got fired. 

“Yeah, posh and poofy!” Vyvyan cackled. 

“Alright, we’ll go there,” Mike told Rick. Rick let out a smug smile and began to walk a bit faster than Vyvyan- causing him to speed up to follow. 

“They’re like bickering children, aren’t they?” MIke asked Neil. Neil simply shrugged.

“I suppose so,” Neil responded while tucking his hands into his pockets and gazing to the floor.

“It’s not often I care about your feelings Neil, but what’s wrong?” Mike asked- a slight tone of concern was in his voice. Neil was visibly struck by the question. 

“Oh- I…” He took a moment to think, “I’m fine, thanks, man,” Neil smiled at Mike, Mike simply glanced at him before smiling back. Although Mike would never admit it, he did slightly care for Neil. Even though Mike often acted a bit uncaring to him it was the contrary. Neil slightly knew this, because unlike Vyvyan and Rick, Mike actually treated him like a human, like a person. 

“You're welcome, if it weren’t true, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?” Mike asked him. Again he’d never admit it, but he did often worry about him- threats to kill yourself loose meaning to people after the 100th time, but to the person threatening it, the more it feels like the only option.  Mike also knew that the more Neil tried to kill himself, the more likely he was to succeed and he would do anything to make sure he didn’t have to bury his… friend?  Not while he was only in his twenties. 

“Yeah, probably,” Neil responded.

“No,” Mike continued, “I’m not looking for a probably, I’m looking for a yes or no,” he knew his tone was harsh- but it really needed to be, not like the other times when he just felt like victimising Neil that day.

“Alright, man! Yes, yes I would,” Neil declared. Mike just nodded to the information. Neil raised his head to look at Mike.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Mike asked when he noticed Neil’s eyes on him. 

“Nothing… just looking,” Neil reassured, Mike smiled at this information. 

Eddie looked ahead of him, deep in thought- or whatever went on in his brain. 

“Eddie?” Richie’s voice murmured, lookin at him. Eddie raised his head and looked at him.

“WE’RE HERE!” Rick’s voice screamed at the group, before being shushed by the rest of the group. They had reached a small building with only one window and a poorly looked after door- paint was falling off of it and it had splinters practically covering it. They all entered to see a few desks with nothing but paper and pens spread across them. It was dimly lit before Neil switched the light switch on, the bright fluorescent lights burned the group's eyes- it’s no surprise Rick “left” that job. 

Filthy, Rich and Catflap all went in a corner. Eddie and Richie in another. Neil and Mike in another. Vyvyan sat in a corner on his own while Rick sat at one of the desks. The duos all quietly spoke to each other. Rich had gone to sleep, Catflap occasionally checked to make sure he was still alive. 

“What was your job here, then, Rick?” Vyvyan called out to Rick. Rick sat up in his seat and thought if he should even say- as he would most likely be mocked by Vyvyan for it.

“I would write poetry for it,” Rick finally admitted. This took Vyvyan by surprise, surely a job like that would have Rick announcing to the house every five minutes that he was a published poet?

“How come you never told us!” Vyvyan asked. Rick just shrugged, as if this was a normal thing he’d keep secret? Vyvyan knew for a fact that Rick was hiding something. “Well where did you sit?” Rick tapped the table he was on, Vyvyan walked over to it and began to inspect it. 

“What are you looking for!” Rick scoffed as the desk was practically being torn apart by Vyvyan.

“I don’t know! Anything to prove you never worked here!” Vyvyan continued, “This isn’t something you’d hide! You’d make about a hundred pins on it!” Rick raised his eyebrow, why was Vyvyan so upset over that?

“I’m going to sleep now,” Rick sighed as he shut his eyes and began to relax in his chair.

Vyvyan spun around to question Mike on Rick’s old job, but saw him asleep with Neil, also asleep. When he noticed everyone was asleep he sat back in his corner. He saw Catflap shake himself awake to check if Rich was still breathing- being careful to not wake Rich. Vyvyan watched him each time. 

“Are they-.... No…” He muttered to himself, dismissing any theory that came to mind. 

The next morning they all woke up rather early. 10PM- which was early for most of them. 

“Did everyone sleep well?” Richie asked the group. Neil smiled as he heard the question.

“Yeah, which is weird because usually I can’t sleep,” Neil replied. He visibly looked better than most days- his eye bags were lighter, they were still there, but they looked a bit better, his eyes also carried a bit more emotion, Mike couldn’t help but feel happy seeing him in this state- like when they first met at school, the longer he went there the less he was himself, it was nice to see him start to retreat back to his old self, even if it was just one step. 

“That’s nice,” Mike told him, with zombies running around, it would be way easier to kill himself. So responding to what he said, actually showing how much he cared about him could prevent that. It was long overdue, anyways.