The Railroad

Chapter 28

"Wil," George reasoned, taking a cautious step backwards. George, he won't hurt you. This is Wilbur we're talking about. But this wasn't just any old version of Wilbur. This was a starved Wilbur, so starved that he became less himself with every passing second.

Out of the corner of his eye, George could see Dream thrashing against the guard, whose grip held firm on his arms, shouting at the top of his lungs for George. The brunet wasn't paying much attention, focus trained mainly on the taller boy who was getting even closer.

"Wilbur, please," George tried again, but Wilbur didn't so much as flinch at the pain in George's voice. "Please..." George's voice broke. Wilbur please come back. Wilbur, you can be strong and fight the hunger-

Then Wilbur lunged for him. It all unveiled seemingly in slow motion. George grabbed the syringe from his pocket, jabbing it directly into Wilbur's heart and injecting the liquid in. This merely caused him to be momentarily stunned, since the cure still wasn't done, but George knew what he had to do.

He punched Wilbur square in the jaw, making him fall to the ground. When he was distracted, George got on top of him, using the syringe to stab himself and draw blood. Then, he let the blood drip into the open wound on Wilbur's chest. And suddenly, the brown blood seeping through his shirt turned red. And the stench went down ever so slightly. And the light returned to Wilbur's eyes.

"George," he murmured, tears of happiness and despair finally flowing, "You did it."

"I told you I would, didn't I?" the brunet choked out through his own tears.

The two hugged tightly, joy going back and forth between the two as they were finally reunited after two years. They were both a mess, tears streaming down their cheeks, making their faces hot as the disbelief clouded their minds and the thought of being able to hug again overcoming everything else.

"I can see my family again," Wilbur remembered aloud. "And Sally! She'll be so hap-"

A shot rang out and a scream erupted directly in George's ear.

He felt Wilbur slump in his arms at the same time warm liquid dripped onto his arms. The other boy fell back against the floor, holding the gunshot wound that was maybe an inch above his heart. Strained gurgles tore through his throat as he grasped at George's arms, chest, anything to save him from the hole he was falling into.

"Wil..." George gasped, too shocked to fully process what had just happened.

There was no way this was happening. Just when Wilbur had become human again... he couldn't allow this to happen, this couldn't be happenening.

"It's okay, Georgie. It was never meant to be. Tell my family I love them; tell Sally I'll miss her..."

Wilbur collapsed, gasping for a breath that he would never receive again. George shook his shoulder gently, more tears continuously falling from his eyes like they would never stop. Gently turned to aggressively as Wilbur's brown eyes continued to stare at nothing, a glaze over them that would never allow him to portray anymore emotions. He also began shouting his name, screaming it until sobs were tearing through his chest.

All Wilbur wanted was to be cured, to see his dad and brothers again, for them to be able to look at him without fear and disgust in their eyes. But he would never get that. He would never see his brothers or his beloved dad again, not his best friend or his girlfriend. Because Wilbur was dead.

~~~

George whipped his head around to see the owner of the gun. It was Punz, that same damned guard.

The brunet leapt up from the ground, shoving the blond against the wall and hitting his chest repeatedly as pain ripped him apart. Punz didn't try to stop him; George was sure it hurt but not terribly.

It didn't take long until arms were around him. But they weren't the ones he wanted. He wanted Dream, so badly. He shoved at his dad, clawing his arms so he could get away. This time no one held Dream back as the blond broke free of the grip of the man and swallowed George in his embrace.

"I'm so sorry George. Breathe for me, princess. Please breathe. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be alright. Breathe, baby."

"He's gone," George sobbed in a heart shattering voice. "He's dead. The only reason I did all this. He wanted to live and get back to his family, but now he never will. And it's my fault. I should've given him that stupid cure when I had the chance."

"Shh, I know. It's okay, you did all you could darling," Dream murmured in his ear, rocking them back and forth while George continued to release pained cries.

The blond could see the other four men standing awkwardly to the side. What did his dad think was gonna happen? Did he think that George just wouldn't care if he killed his best friend? Did he think this wouldn't completely destroy him?

There was no possible way he could've actually thought any of that. If he did, he was an even bigger idiot than Dream thought, if that was even possible. The blond hated these men for what they'd forced George to witness. They'd wanted him to kill his best friend in order to show him that Wilbur was a monster, but he'd found a way around it. Wilbur had literally been healed, no longer the thing that was so hated, living proof that everything could be okay, and they'd killed him. Right in front of the brunet's eyes.

Right in front of the best friend who'd gone to the ends of the earth and back just to give him the one thing he so desired: his humanity back. That's all Wilbur wanted, that was evident by the few words Dream had heard him speak before his death. These people were the real monsters if they could take that away from him and not even feel any remorse for it. They were only thinking about it now because George obviously didn't react like they'd wanted.

Dream felt guilty about every life he had taken. He felt guilty about his father, about Corpse, about the many zombies he'd killed. But killing your child's best friend in front of him? After he'd gotten just what he'd wanted? There was nothing more cruel that you could do.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, son," the brunet's father said, any kind of regret leaving his face. "One day you'll understand that this was for the best."

The audacity, Dream thought, glaring up at him with every piece of hatred he could find within himself. He stood, only allowing George to leave his arms so he could destroy this horrible human being who didn't deserve to be known as his princess's father.

As the blond got closer to the powerful man, the sounds of guns cocking came from the other men. But before they could shoot, a small hand stopped Dream from going any further. When he turned around, Dream saw George standing there with a tear stained face, sniffling every few moments. The sight broke him and angered him all over again.

The smaller pushed past him, walking up to his father with all the confidence he could muster. The guards didn't bother raise their guns at the boss's son, so for a moment, all was silent. Until the sound of a crisp slap interrupted the silence, as well as Mr. Davidson's gasp.

George's hand hovered at his side as he glared up at his father. His father stared back down at him with shock that slowly morphed into confusion, then anger.

"You were always ungrateful, boy. I gave you everything, taught you everything, but you took it for granted. Now let's see how you react when I take everything you care about from you."

"What?" George stuttered, all confidence slipping as he glanced back to Dream.

Punz grabbed him once more, slipping cuffs onto his wrists and beginning to tow him out of the room. As Dream tried to stop him, he was restrained by the two remaining guards who had to use all their strength to hold him back.

"GEORGE!" he screamed.

"DREAM!" George called back, fighting but failing miserably to get away from Punz.

The brunet was shouting so loudly he was losing his voice, especially when combined with the strain from crying. Since the guards were starting to lose their fight with Dream, they had to stop him by knocking him out, which only made George scream more as he thrashed around in Punz's hold.

And then, with a sharp sting in his neck, everything went black.

~Word count: 1,452~

A/N: lmao.