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At this point, Abed has realized that only one of them can make it out before the zombies break through the gate.
He wants Troy to be one who makes it out. He tells Troy it’s because he wants to subvert a bad trope, but that's not completely true. He knows that Troy is going to come back to adjust the air conditioning. It's what would happen in an apocalypse movie: when all seems lost, the hero comes back and saves the day.
But Abed knows this isn't a movie. Even if Troy is a hero (at least to him), there's a chance the plan won't work. They don't know that Rich's diagnosis is sound. Everyone at the party might already be doomed.
That's the real reason why Abed wants Troy to leave. He wants Troy to run as fast as he can and never look back. He wants Troy to live a safe and happy life, even if he can't be a part of it. He recognizes this for what it is: the big romantic gesture, the sacrifice for a loved one. He knows that this is as close as he'll come to being the hero of a story.
This is the undeniable truth: Abed is in love with Troy. He doesn’t think he could stop being in love with Troy if he tried, but he knows that he doesn’t want to stop. The love he feels for Troy is something he has never felt before. It’s an authentic love: he knows Troy sees him for all that he is, and that’s how he sees Troy as well.
Abed can also tell that Troy loves him back, but he’s had trouble being able to accept and vocalize his feelings. It’s a side effect of the jock persona that Troy tried to fit himself into unsuccessfully. Jocks, at least to society, aren’t supposed to have romantic feelings for other men. While Troy has mostly shed that role because it doesn’t suit him, there are some behaviours that linger behind due to habit. Abed thinks that’s what might have happened tonight with their costumes, why Troy called him a nerd even though they picked out their costumes together. A part of Troy still holds him back from being his authentic self, even though there often isn’t a crowd of people judging him. He doesn’t quite understand it. Troy is the best person that Abed knows, and he deserves to feel comfortable in his own skin.
Abed has made peace with Troy being unable to confess, because they still had so much time to express their feelings, or at least that’s what he thought until now. Looking up at Troy in the window, Abed wishes that they had more time, but he knows that no amount of time would have been enough. As the zombies pile onto him, he thinks about the confession Troy just made. Even if Abed is going to die, he can die knowing that Troy was able to finally accept a part of himself that he struggled with for so long. Maybe he can get away from the zombies and begin to love himself, like how Abed has loved him.
When the zombies bite into Abed, he thinks about the missing pieces of the confession, of what was left unsaid between the pair. He has a hard time with the hidden cues that people give in conversation, but he is positive he can read between the lines this time. He understands what Troy is unable to say, and he knows that Troy will understand what Abed can’t verbalize either.
“I love you.”
I wish I could have said it out loud until now, I wish I could have told you how much I love you. I’m sorry I wasn’t brave enough to tell you before in a way that the world could see and I’m sorry we missed out on so much time.
“I know.”
It’s okay, I heard you say it anyway. I understood, it doesn’t matter that everyone else didn’t. What we had was special and just for us. I’m thankful for every moment we had together. I love you too.
As the pain from the bites overtakes him, his last thought is a memory of Troy with a radiant smile on his face just for Abed, unabashedly warm and open for the world that the two of them had created together. It’s comforting and helps him to feel less alone as his mind fades into darkness.