Chapter Text
“This morning in green point a woman was mauled by what she thought was muggers. It turns out that there is a serious virus spreading throughout the town- People are advised to stay inside.”
The anchor was as mundane as everyone on tv usually is. Richie thought about it for a while and realized that the only thing that had ever sparked interest in him was always something crazy, something dangerous. He considered for a moment what was going on outside, behind that door that was blocking him from the rest of the world. He was curious and yet terrified at the same time.
Richie yearned to go outside again. He missed the feeling of the wind on his face and sun warming his skin. Ever since the government had announced a plague had begun to sweep through the country everything just went to shit, it’s like there was no sense of humanity left in people, but still Richie wanted nothing more than to go outside, at least once.
Everytime he had those thoughts, he quickly shut them down. As much as he yearned to go out there and back into the city. To check on his friends, for fuck sake even go to school- His mother had pulled him out at the beginning- He thought about his sister and how even though she was as firey as her red hair and her rebelliousness matched his own, He couldn’t put her in danger and he definitely couldn’t leave her alone in this world, especially if one day his mother never came back from work.
He wouldn’t know what to do if his mom and him never came back, he and Bev would somehow have to find a way to survive without her, but how would they even begin to do that? How could they live in a world without Maggie Tozier? How can someone even begin to comprehend the mere fact that their mother is no longer around?
Richie quickly shook the morbid thoughts from his mind before they could consume him. Thoughts like those plagued him ninety percent of his time. He feared he’d lose his mother, yes. The biggest fear he had was losing his sister, they’re twins, they’ve spent their entire lives together up to this point. He couldn’t even process the fact that he might lose her to this virus? Is it even a virus? Its making people go nuts, How do you prevent something like that? How the fuck is he supposed to protect her?
Now he had a suspicion of what it’s like to lose someone, or at least worry about someone so deeply that you can’t possibly bare the idea of eating anything. To the point your stomach is constantly twisting in unpleasant anxiety. His mother was supposed to be home four hours ago. Cell towers had been down for at least a week, He was without any communication from his mother and the worry was beginning to eat at him. Beverly was sitting next to him rubbing soothing circles on his back, attempting to keep him calm- It was his job to keep her calm but he was frankly losing it. If his mother was gone, it was him and Beverly against the world. He wasn’t yet sure how he could handle that.
Another hour passed and his mom still hadn’t shown up. Where the hell could she be? He got up from the couch no longer able to sit and paced back and forth, peeking through the windows, hoping and looking for any sign of his mom’s safety. Richie couldn’t stand waiting anymore and walked to the closet for coat.
“Where are you going?” Beverly asked, in apprehension.
Richie looked at her with a pained expression, “Bev, I’m gonna go look for ma, I’ll be back.” He didn’t look back at her or expect a response as he crossed the room and to the door. It only took the twisting of the knob and the opening of the wooden door for his world to come crashing down. If he hadn’t been thinking of Beverly in that moment, He would have crumbled into ash. In front of him was his mother’s jarring appearance. She no longer had her beautiful brown locks of hair, they looked greasy and he noticed the red splattered in her mess of a head. What really caught him off guard was the look in his mother’s eyes. It was empty, as if her entire soul was sucked out of her body only leaving a shell and nothing else. The next thing he noticed was the missing piece of Maggie’s neck, all torn to shreds seeping blood as if she was still a fully functioning human being- But what he saw in his mother wasn’t human at all, as she came at him with her arms in a grabbing position. He had barely been able to get back into the house before she could touch him. The only possible sound he could hear after that was the banging on the front door, and the terrified scream that Beverly let out as his mother walked past the window.
“Bev.” He whispered, but it was followed by a shout as he shook his sister, “Bev! Don’t look!”
Richie quickly closed the blinds so Beverly wouldn’t have to see what was left of their mother. He wrapped his arms around her, listening to the erratic beating of Bev’s heart and whispered soothing words to try and calm her down. “It’s going to be ok Bev, it’s going to be ok.” But Richie wasn’t sure if he really believed those words the only thing he knew for sure was that they had to get out of there.
“Beverly, I need you to listen to me ok?” Richie said turning Beverly’s head so she was looking at him, “I need you to go upstairs and pack a bag, we gotta go and we gotta go now.” Beverly looked at him with scared eyes, before nodding her head and running up the stairs. Richie ran his hand through messy mop of curls, not sure what the fuck he was going to do. He walked to his room and began packing a bag, but honestly, what was the point? What do you pack during a zombie apocalypse? He only knew of one thing for sure that Bev and him would definitely need. Their father’s gun. Their dad had passed away the year before and now with their mother gone, Bev and Richie were truly all alone in the world.