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1. I Can't Find You by Anonymous

   Fandoms: The Thing (1982)  

   • Mature
   • Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
   • M/M
   • Complete Work

   13 Sep 2025

   Tags

   • Graphic Depictions Of Violence
   • Major Character Death
   • Childs/R. J. MacReady (The Thing)
   • R. J. MacReady (The Thing)
   • Childs (The Thing)
   • Alternate Universe - Ghosts
   • Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
   • Angst and Hurt/Comfort
   • Forced Proximity
   • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
   • canon compliant if you squint
   • Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism
   • Implied/Referenced Suicide
   • Implied Sexual Content
   • Post-Canon
   • Past Relationship(s)
   • It's not cheating if you're dead
   • creative liberties were taken
   • Not Beta Read

   Summary

   Childs was very pragmatic about these things. He was willing to understand the aliens— he had to, after all— but this was entirely different. He glanced at MacReady, then at his own corpse, rotting skin and all. It was all too real to be a hallucination. A loud wind passed through him, the feeling almost sending a chill down his spine. Almost. He couldn't touch or feel or leave any marks. Nothing except for his body, and the camp, showed that he ever existed. There was no way of knowing how long it would be like this.

   OR...

   Neither of them were the Thing, but both of them became ghosts.

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   9,403

   Chapters:

   5/5

   Collections:

   1

   Comments:

   12

   Kudos:

   32

   Bookmarks:

   2

   Hits:

   302