Receeding Tides (mcyt)

Chapter 2

"Hello there, Tommy." Dream spoke without warning and knelt to Tommy's level.

Dream's trademark mask covered the upper half of his face save a few tuffs of dirty blond hair, and the basic black mask covering his mouth only revealed his nose bridge. His faded green hoodie poked out from under a long trenchcoat, and his black sweatpants were tucked into a pair of worn down hiking boots. No shitty, over-used sneakers. Everything he wore was torn in several places. There were so many holes it would put a sponge to shame. Tommy blinked taking in Dream's face for the first time.

"You look like fucking shit."

Dream chuckled, "What else do you expect from the apocalypse?"

Tommy laughed still processing this, "Good point, Big Man. Nice shoes by the way."

Dream visibly cringed. He had the build of a swimmer. Broad shoulders and tall just like he had described to Tommy, and his burned hands were covered by fingerless gloves. Tommy thought for a moment about leaking Dream's face. Twitter would have had a field day.

"Well I highly doubt you're here to sightsee. There isn't much to see nowadays."

"I noticed. But that's not why I'm here," he took a deep breath. "I came to find you, Tommy. Because I need your help."

Tommy's shoulders tensed. What could Dream be in Europe for? Surely, he must know the danger of what's left of Europe. Hardly anyone didn't know. Tommy's brain still couldn't register the man's presence, so he remained wary. Dream sighed.

"Someone said there was a ahem- 'hunchback with a sailor's mouth' so here I am. You know Britain better than me and I need to get to Mainland Europe to find George and Wilbur and-"

Tommy eyes lit up, and his wariness melted, "Hell yeah. I'm in, Big Man!"

"They've gotta be somewhere on the mainland but I know you've already got a place here so I understand if y- wait, did you just agree?" Dream's shoulders visibly relaxed.

"Yeah," Tommy replied like Dream was dumb. "You had me at 'Wilbur.'"

"That was literally the second to last word I said-" Dream sighed, "Never mind, you don't have to get any of your things?"

"Nope," Tommy frowned behind his bandana. "Everything I own was either stolen or is already on me right now."

"Alright then," Dream sent a handgun flying towards the boy. "Let's rock n' roll, buckaroo."

Tommy fumbled trying to catch the weapon, and he let it fall to the ground hoping it wasn't loaded.

"Don't leave a gun on the ground!" Dream scolded him, "You don't know if the safety is on. Someone could easily snatch the thing too."

Tommy picked it up and sucked in a shocked breath at the feeling of a gun in his hands. It was cold and foreign, but his hand fell naturally into place. Fingers gripped the handle. Index hovering over the trigger.

"I uh, I don't know how to use one of these," he admitted.

Dream sighed. Right, guns weren't as prominent across the Atlantic, and they were far more common in the States. It wasn't Tommy's fault gun laws in Europe were stricter than in America, but it was a damper that he didn't know how to use one. Using a gun was almost a common knowledge in the United States.

"No time to teach right now but you'll learn," he replied, "Besides, you won't have to use it until the time is right."

"How will I know when it's the right time though?"

Dream limped towards the nearby highway as if he were trying to get out of gym class, "You'll just know. Believe me, you'll know."

Tommy nodded and followed closely behind. He clutched the gun like he'd seen people do in crime shows and movies. This wasn't his vlog gun or anything of the somewhat harmless sort though. He was holding a real gun loaded with real ammo. One that could easily end someone's life. Could Tommy even end a life? He couldn't fathom the thought. It only took a flinch of his finger to wipe another life from this life. Not even his parents let him carry a weapon this deadly. A knife sure and even a molotov cocktail on occasion but never a gun. When they reached the road, Dream took off jogging.