The Apocalypse [Dreamnotfound AU]

Karl's Gone

Tw: swearing, zombies, blood, weapons, injury

Sapnap's nails bite into his skin as he balls his hands into fists. The words tumble out before he can stop them. "Karl's gone."

Dream and George both sit up immediately. "What do you mean he's gone?" Dream asks, worry creasing his features.

Sapnap exhales, trying to get his thoughts in order, to remember the last half hour. "Okay, listen. I was fighting zombies with Techno after our meeting," he says, nodding at George. "And then I ran into that dumbass, Quackity, and he said he couldn't find Karl. They were together and then Karl just disappeared. We looked through the whole school and we couldn't find him."

George is already standing up, his crossbow balanced in his hands. "Maybe you just didn't look hard enough, idiot," he says with a scoff, but the concern is obvious in his voice.

"I looked everywhere, nimrod," Sapnap growls, and then realizes that he's used Karl's word again. A new pang of worry hits him and he grinds his teeth. "Can you guys help me?"

"Of course we can," Dream says, sliding his knives out of his belt. "I'll take this floor and George can take the first floor. Sapnap, go search outside. If he left the school, he couldn't have gone far."

Sapnap curses himself for not having thought of that. "Alright," he agrees, and the three of them split up at the classroom door.

Dream nods at them and starts down a hallway, checking each classroom door as he goes. Sapnap and George take the stairs two at a time and George puts a hand on his shoulder before they part ways.

"We'll find him, Sapnap," he says and Sapnap can't do anything more than nod numbly back at him.

When he's alone, George's footsteps disappearing behind him, all of his worry hits him again, like a punch to the stomach.

He hadn't explained the whole story to his friends. Quackity had burst into the classroom him and Techno were in, out of breath, wide-eyed and panicking. "Karl's missing," he'd told Sapnap, his tone half-desperate, half-accusing. "You need to find him."

"He's missing?" Sapnap asked when his brain finally caught up with Quackity's words. "You lost him?"

Quackity seemed too worried to be affronted. "I didn't fucking lose him, he just disappeared. I can't find him anywhere." Quackity sighed, pulling at his beanie. "I need your help."

"If this is another fucking prank..." Sapnap growled but he ran out of the classroom faster than he'd ever run in his life, Quackity rushing behind him.

They'd searched the school for half an hour, Techno even taking a break from killing zombies to help. They found no trace of him.

Presently, Sapnap knocks aside the barrier at the doors, trusting that Techno or someone else will fix it. A group of zombies drags toward him, retching and lurching, and he slices at them with his rifle, the metal bursting through their skulls and splattering blood everywhere. He barely notices it, even as it splashes over his face and clothes. The grounds around the school seem barren as a wasteland and he sees no trace of Karl anywhere.

"Fuck," Sapnap growls as he fights his way through the crowd of zombies blocking him from seeing the back of the school. Their mangled bodies fall, and he wades through them until he's out of ammo and he has to use his gun like a sword.

The back of the school is as empty as the front. Sapnap's desperation finally gets the best of him and he screams, "Karl!", his voice breaking. He shouts his name until his throat is raw. A zombie claws at him and he swats it away, realizing that he's being backed against the school wall.