Tommy should have been able to guess most adults were liars.
The surface wasn't anything like what they'd described it to be back in the vault. He'd been up top a grand total of three days and he hadn't been mauled yet, hadn't been torn to pieces by any mutant ravagers, hadn't had his skin peeled off, or been melted into a radiated mess by the toxins that lingered in the environment. Nothing terrible had happened at all!
The worst he'd had to deal with so far was Technoblade's terrible fucking attitude.
And the sun was so much brighter than he expected after only reading about it in books his whole life, it burnt his eyes whenever he tilted his chin up. The air was fresh and endless, without that underlying smell of artificial oxygen recycling that was inescapable in the vault - that shit made every breath taste like plastic. He didn't feel locked up anymore, squeezed into a tiny space while standing in line at the canteen waiting for food distribution to start. Tommy hated that feeling more than anything, hated the tightening of his chest when he was trapped with nowhere to go.
Even as a little kid he couldn't imagine spending his entire life in the vault. But fear held him back, because stories about the surface were always so horrific. Turns out they were lies, or very exaggerated. Tommy loved it up top.
Technoblade wasn't much of a talker, though he tended to mumble to himself a lot. Tommy didn't mind that, he didn't have many people to talk with back home either. Only Wilbur, before he left. Before he got all weird and sullen and dumb. Tommy was more than willing to carry on conversations for the both of them, he was very interesting and had a lot to say anyway - and he'd even roped Techno into a few games of eye spy when he got bored.
His feet hurt, which was a bit of a pain in the ass, but Tommy was getting used to walking a lot. Techno didn't like taking too many breaks, and they were still a fair distance away from where they were supposed to split up. Tommy hadn't entirely decided what he would do once they got there. He had to think of a way to convince Techno to come with him, all the way to Vault-Tec or wherever Wilbur was hanging out. But talking to Techno was like talking to a brick wall sometimes.
"Stop."
Tommy stopped immediately, crouching lower to the ground while Technoblade did the same. They'd been through this routine a few times already. The first time, when Tommy didn't react fast enough, Techno had really chewed him out and threatened to send him back to Novac. He said Tommy not listening could get them killed. Apollo huddled down with him, though the dog clearly had no idea what was going on, tail wagging as if it were a game.
"Raiders?" Tommy asked in a whisper. There were increasingly more of them the further they went out from Novac, away from the military-controlled areas. Tommy had seen them from a distance, but they'd always managed to stay undetected and sneak past them. Large groups of people, sometimes on horseback and with more weapons than he could count.
Not that Tommy was scared of them or anything. Just… Techno was probably right that they didn't need the trouble.
Techno sighed and stood up again, shoulders raised. "Worse." Tommy didn't get a chance to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean. "They've already seen us so there's no point hiding. Stay behind me and keep your mouth shut, yeah? I'll take care of this."
Tommy rolled his eyes at him but obeyed, knowing Techno must have his reasons for asking that. But from what he could see these strangers were just three men. While they approached, Techno started walking to meet them in the middle. Tommy gripped his baseball bat a little tighter and followed, careful to linger a couple of steps behind like had been asked of him.
Ten feet across from each other both parties stopped.
"Technoblade! Man, we haven't seen you in ages, I was starting to think you were avoiding me." The guy who stepped forward was wearing a green poncho-type cloak with a big hood and a strange mask that was covering his entire face. Tommy didn't like his voice, melodious and with a drawl to it as if he was making fun of people with every word he said. The man gestured with his arms in an overexaggerated fashion.
"That's because I am," Techno said flatly, and the man laughed.
"Ouch. I thought we were friends."
"Whatever gave you that impression?" Techno didn't wait for him to answer, shifting the rifle on his back, fingers twitching in anticipation. "We're just passing through, Dream. Is that gonna be a problem?"
The masked man was named Dream? Kind of a stupid fucking name if you asked Tommy. Apollo growled, probably agreeing with him.
The two men behind hovered ominously. They were both dressed in white shirts and black pants, though one of them was blond and had spray-painted his leather and metal armor gold in a way that caught the light and made Tommy squint at the glare. The other had black hair and a dumb strip of cloth around his head.
Dream clicked his tongue, mock remorse dripping from his every word. "Well you see, normally I'd be more than happy to let you through, Techno. For old time's sake if nothing else. But my friends and I are actually here on business today."
"I figured." Techno sighed, dropping the rifle from his shoulder into his hands. Dream didn't react to this blatant display of hostility but the others pulled out their own guns, prepared for a fight. "Will you at least tell me who put out a bounty on me this time? I don't remember stepping on any toes recently."
They were bounty hunters? Tommy stepped up to kind of peek around Techno's shoulder. Dream's head moved and it was as if he could feel those eyes land on him from behind the mask, sending a shudder through him. A smile stretched out from the small section of Dream's face that was left visible, pearly white and unnervingly sharp teeth on display.
"Paranoid as always... But we're not actually here for you." Dream gestured with his hand at his friends, making the man with black hair kept out of his face by the white headband step up. "Grab the kid, but don't hurt him too badly. The customer's paying for undamaged goods only."
Tommy felt as if a solid rock had been dumped onto his stomach, moving to hide behind Tehno's back on instinct. "What?"
Did that mean somebody put a bounty on him? How? Why? When? Tommy hadn't even been on the surface for a week, he didn't do anything.
In one swift motion, Techno brought up his rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger. A sharp crack made Tommy flinch - he'd never actually been around a gun being fired before - and then a bullet found home in the ground mere inches in front of the black-haired man's raised foot.
"You're going to have to explain to me what you want with the kid," Techno demanded firmly.
"Wait, you didn't know? Oh my god, Techno, please don't tell me you didn't know?" Dream was chuckling a little, but when silence was his only answer he stopped, tone turning serious. "And here I was thinking you were just trying to claim the bounty for yourself. I'm almost disappointed."
"If I wanted to hunt people for sport I would have joined your merry band of losers when you begged me to," Techno said. "You know that's not my thing."
Dream scoffed but didn't appear too affected by the words. Or maybe he was trying to hide how much the rejection hurt. "Apparently your new friend is worth quite some money to the right people, so he's coming with us."
"Why? And to whom?" Techno asked calmly. Too calmly, Tommy could hear the underlying confusion plain as day. So that made two of them.
"Afraid I can't say. You should know better than anyone that we don't ask questions, we just do what's needed to get paid." Dream shrugged. "Hey, if you want we can take him in together and split the money. It'll be a bigger profit than whatever you got paid to escort him."
Tommy swallowed, glancing at Techno's face. Keeping his gun aimed between the three as if daring them to make a move, Techno seemed to be thinking over their options. They were outnumbered, and each of them had at least one gun compared to their single rifle. He'd never admit to it out loud, but a tiny part of Tommy was almost worried Techno was going to sell him out.
Then Techno turned his head towards him. "Run."
"What?!" Tommy got closer to him. "I'm not going to leave you-"
"I'll be fine." Techno kind of shouldered into him, urging him to move. "Run, Tommy. I'll catch up with you later." When he was still not showing any sign of listening, Techno yelled louder. "Now! Go!"
And Tommy did.
Shouts rang out from behind him, then more gunshots followed. Tommy's legs were shaking so bad, he almost tripped over his own feet several times. He wanted to go back. He wanted to turn around and stick at Techno's side and he wanted to be brave and strong and fucking useful like he'd never been to Wilbur but he couldn't because what if it was his fault Wilbur left in the first place and now it'd be his fault if Techno died and-
Somebody was running to catch up to him, he could hear them. And he could hear it wasn't Techno.
"Shit!" Tommy ran faster.
The cut he'd gotten a few days ago shouldn't be bothering him anymore, except it clearly disagreed with his decision to sprint and Tommy felt how the skin started tearing open again, pain radiating up and down his leg. He couldn't outrun whoever was after him for long, so he had to think of something better.
As if the universe itself was looking out for him, the burnt-out shell of a building came within view.
Not wasting any time to consider if he was stupidly getting himself cornered, Tommy ran into it. Outside in the open, he'd have no chance. At least this minimally increased his odds. All the interior walls were still up, turning the house into a maze of rooms he ducked between, trying not to fall into overturned and burned out furniture. He found a door to hide behind and clasped both hands over his mouth to muffle his own breathing like he'd seen people do in the old horror flicks Wilbur sometimes played on their black-and-white TV in the vault.
The sound of heavy footfalls let him know his pursuer had entered the house after him.
Tommy pressed himself closer to the wall, barely daring to blink. All his muscles were tensed up from how hard he was trying to keep still, terrified of making a noise that would give his position away. He could hear them moving through the house slowly.
The wooden staircase creaked, maybe they were going upstairs?
His heartbeat was loud enough he could hear it in his fucking head, pounding, pounding, pounding. Very carefully, Tommy leaned forward to try and peep through the door's crack. Nobody was there. He could either stay put and risk the person searching the house finding him, or he could try and escape. Make it back to Techno maybe. Shuffling his feet because he didn't want to make any noise, Tommy slipped through the opening. He should try to make a run for it.
"Gotcha!"
A hand closed around his wrist, the grip tight like a vice. Tommy jolted but there was nowhere to go as Dream pushed him up against the wall.
"Let go of me, you ass!" Tommy yelled. He had dropped his baseball bat to the floor when Dream grabbed him but he wasn't above fighting the fucker barehanded. He lashed out, knuckles splitting open on the plastic of Dream's mask when Tommy punched him in the face. The mask was shoved to the side by the action and Tommy's eyes widened as he saw what was hidden beneath.
Dream's entire face looked like Techno's jaw did, all rotted away and fucked up. The flesh had gashes in it that exposed tissue and bone beneath, and Dream's cheeks were sunken into hollow gaps. It made Tommy want to puke. Dream's unnaturally bright green eyes narrowed.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he hissed, though the statement was horribly undercut by the way he curled his fist into the fabric of Tommy's shirt, lifting him off his feet and squeezing his wrist painfully. "But you're lucky they asked me to bring you back alive.
"Fuck off!" Shoving Dream against his shoulders was about as useful as trying to shove over a brick wall. The straps of Tommy's backpack were sliding off but he didn't care, kicking his feet instead and clawing at the hand holding him even though it was in vain. Where Dream's sleeve hiked up, it revealed more ugly rotten flesh. When his bag slipped down onto the ground Tommy barely noticed.
Until Dream turned to see what he'd dropped and grinned.
"Look at that, you brought little vault souvenirs when you came up top? You won't need those where you're going so I'll be sure to sell them for a pretty penny, hm?" He was talking about Tommy's discs, which had spilled out of his bag when it fell. Dream nudged them with his foot, crinkling the carton covers beneath his boots. Putting his dirty shoes on Tommy's discs.
For a split second, all Tommy saw was red.
Letting go of Dream's wrist, he reached for the knife tucked into his belt instead. With zero hesitation he pulled it out and plunged it into the side of Dream's neck, forcing it as deep as his strength would allow him to.
Everything happened very fast after that. A flood of blood covered Tommy's hands, his arms. He'd pulled the knife out again without thinking and Dream was using his own fingers to try and stop the flow but it was too much, spilling everywhere. He was screaming. Tommy was dropped onto his ass and barely had time to grab his stuff and pull it into his lap to protect it from Dream's wrath. The man was towering over him, every inch of his body betraying how absolutely livid he was and Tommy was still holding his knife, clutching it like a fucking lifeline, thinking that he'd had a good run but this was it for him. He was about to die.
He'd still rather die than allow Dream to lay a finger on any of his things or Wilbur's things.
"Tommy!"
The door to the house was thrown open with enough force to hit the wall, followed by the hurried noise of Techno searching every room and Apollo barking. Just like that Dream was gone – he must have run off as soon as he didn't hold the advantage anymore, or maybe he didn't want to fight Techno. Fucking coward.
Tommy exhaled shakily and finally lowered the knife, unsure why he felt like sobbing suddenly.
"Tommy?" Techno found him and rushed towards him, dropping onto his knees. His hands prodded at Tommy's shoulders to inspect him. "Are you alright, did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine," he said, numb. Techno was tugging on his sleeves to check for injuries and Tommy pulled his arms away. "I'm fine," he repeated louder. "It's not my blood."
Techno nodded, not asking whose it was then. He probably already knew.
"Did I..." Tommy took a sharp breath and rubbed at his face, ignoring the sticky sensation of blood on his cheeks too. "Did I kill him?"
"What?"
"Dream, I-" Tommy motioned awkwardly, unable to say it out loud so he pantomimed stabbing himself instead. He'd never taken the life of another person, had never even thought about it being a possibility.
It horrified him. Though Tommy could at least recognize he'd met with one of the few humans who probably deserved it.
"Oh. No, you didn't. Dream won't go down that easily, trust me I've tried. They all tucked tail, we won't see them for a while," Techno said.
Tommy didn't know whether to feel sick or relieved so he settled on a bit of both.
When Technoblade continued his voice was a lot graver. "Tommy, if you know why they're after you, I need you to tell me right now."
Tommy frowned up at him, muscles tensing. "I don't."
Not taking his answer at face value, Techno continued. "What happened before you met me? When you came out of your vault, did you meet anyone? Speak to anyone? You need to be certain, this is important. You could get us killed."
"I already told you about it, you're not a good listener man-"
Techno grabbed both of his shoulders, shaking him. It kind of hurt. "I'm serious, Tommy. No lies. If you want me to trust you, if you want this to work between us, there can be no lying."
"I'm not lying!" Tommy snapped, a bit more harshly than he intended. "I don't fucking know! I really don't!" He put both hands on Techno's wrists, but then didn't feel like pushing him off so he left them there instead, fingers pressed to skin. "I swear you are the first person I saw, I don't-" His voice hitched, but he was stubborn enough not to cry and bit his bottom lip instead. "I don't fucking know why anybody would be after me, Techno."
Maybe that was the part that scared him. Somebody out there on the surface paid three guys to catch Tommy and he had no fucking idea why. That was terrifying to him.
Techno wasn't shaking him anymore, but didn't let go either. He just held on to Tommy. His eyebrows pinched together. "Do you think it has something to do with Wilbur? He came to the surface before you, right? Maybe he pissed people off."
"I... maybe? I suppose it could." Tommy didn't think Wilbur would do something like that, but he also had no clue why Wilbur left the vault.
"Okay." Techno nodded and sat back, acting as if this was helpful information while it really fucking wasn't and he probably was only trying to seem nice or some shit. Tommy felt all wired and jittery, but he did his best to exhale and look at Techno properly.
"You're bleeding," he observed out loud, noticing the stain of blood spreading against Techno's upper arm.
Technoblade barely glanced at it. "Just a scratch, a bullet grazed me. They really should spend some time practicing their aim." He finally let go.
"Who were they?" Tommy asked, wiping his hands on his pants and staining them red.
"Bounty hunters," Techno said, helping him up. Tommy's legs were about as steady as gelatin at the moment, but he could probably walk. At least for a little while.
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." As was to be expected from a surface walker, the reference did not seem to register for Technoblade, who blinked at him. "I'm asking how you know them."
"I wouldn't say I know them," Techno dodged the question with all the grace of a newborn fawn stumbling over itself while learning to walk - so none at all. Tommy laughed in disbelief.
"What did you just say? 'If you want this to work between us, there can be no lying'? You're such a hypocrite!"
"Don't use my own words against me," Techno complained, clearly annoyed. Which meant Tommy was definitely going to use his own words against him more often. "And I don't know them. Just Dream. We have... history, I guess you would call it."
"Like what, you used to be friends or something?"
Techno half-laughed at that. "Eh, debatable. But we were stuck in a real nasty place together a long time ago, so that's where we met. We parted ways after getting out and since then I usually only run into him when there's a bounty on my head."
Tommy bent down to pick up his backpack, taking extra care with the discs. "And that happens a lot?"
"A lot more often than I'd like, yeah." Techno looked around. Outside, the sun was already setting. "Let's talk about this later. We can probably stay in here for the night, maybe in another room though." He nodded at the blood pooling at their feet.
Tommy felt exhausted, so he wasn't about to complain. It would shelter them from the elements, and while Tommy did miss sleeping in an actual bed, the wooden floor would still be more comfortable than the wasteland ground. Not that it'd matter. With the blood still warm and half-dried on his hands, Tommy knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.
"Pick a good spot," Techno said, dropping his backpack into Tommy's arms. "I'll gather up some stuff for a fire."
"I can help," Tommy said, suddenly viscerally put off by the idea of being alone. But Techno shook his head.
"They might be keeping an eye on us," he said.
Which only served to make Tommy feel more uncomfortable. He nodded tightly, watching Techno turn around and whistle for Apollo. The dog barked happily and followed its owner. That was good. Apollo could probably smell Dream's nasty stench from a mile away, he would alert Techno if the bounty hunters came by again.
Tommy walked around the house for a bit, trying to find a nice place to camp. They needed a room that had all the walls intact and the ceiling too, preferably one with multiple exits. He settled on the kitchen, because there was a barely damaged table they could use as extra cover. If Techno threw his tent over it, maybe it would almost be like the pillow forts Tommy and Wilbur used to make back at home. The fridge door had come off the hinges, leaning against the counter. A few magnets were still attached to the metal outside.
Tommy picked one up, turning it over in his hand. It was some sort of animal. Tommy thought it was called a cow, he'd been taught about them during his lessons. Most lactose products in the vault were lab-produced, but cows also made milk somehow. Kind of gross, in an interesting way.
He put the magnet in his pocket and set about unpacking their stuff.
By the time Techno came back, Tommy was quite proud of the little hidey hole he had created. It was almost like a cave. He even stole the less dirty-looking cushions from a couch to make it. Techno didn't comment, simply hummed his approval and grabbed some food before heading outside, where they'd be making the fire to cook it. Tommy grimaced a bit at the dried meat cubes that Techno was skewering onto a tin metal rod. Vault rations weren't the best, but Techno's cooking might possibly be worse. Tommy missed the bread Niki made for them that had run out yesterday.
"You should clean yourself up," Techno told him, holding out a bottle with a bright yellow tape around the bottom half. Tommy realized why Techno had gone through the trouble of marking it so when he screwed open the top and immediately got hit by the scent of chems burning his nostrils.
He gagged. "Fuck, man, what's in this thing, pure acid?"
"I wouldn't suggest drinking it," Techno said with a vague smile. "But no. Cleaning solution. Try to keep it away from open cuts."
"You're going to make me start missing vault showers," Tommy muttered. And that was saying a lot, since those were restricted to three minutes every other day, getting pelted by cold recycled water from plumbing that could never get the pressure right. Though Tommy knew he should be grateful, there were plenty of vaults where the water installations had failed years ago. He couldn't imagine the smell.
"Clean water is too valuable up here to waste on washing," Techno said. "You get used to it."
Tommy carefully upturned the bottle over his arm, using his hands to spread the lightly foaming white fluid all over. The color quickly changed into a pink tinge, almost similar to Techno's hair. Tommy kept rubbing until his skin stung with it.
"So, is it later yet?" he asked.
Techno, who was busy cleaning the bullet graze with a small wipe, looked at him. "Heh?"
"You and Dream. You said we could talk about it later."
"I already told you everything there is to know," Techno said.
"No lying, remember?" Tommy shook the cleaning solution off. "How did you two meet?"
With a deep sigh, Techno picked up a bandage. "When I was younger, I ended up in this place called The Pit. Real cozy town, definitely not named that for any suspicious reasons." Tommy chuckled at the sarcasm. "There's an arena there. I fought in it and so did Dream."
"Like prizefighting?" Tommy asked. He'd read about it in a novel once.
Techno took a moment too long before answering for it to be believable. "Something like that," he settled on, shrugging.
"And you escaped together?"
"More like we happened to escape at the same time. Some stuff went down, a riot. We covered each other's backs for a while."
Tommy pressed his lips together, poking at the fire with a stick. The way Techno was talking about it confused him, since he said before they weren't friends. But they did work together at some point. And Dream clearly thought there was a chance Techno would give Tommy up for money.
But he hadn't. He hadn't done that.
"If they try something again, I'll deal with it," Techno said. He meant for it to be reassuring, though Tommy wasn't exactly keen on running into them anymore. He kept thinking about those green eyes, the bruises on his wrist.
What the fuck did that guy even want from him?
"Meat should be done," Techno said. He picked up a skewer and waved it around to let it cool down. Apollo barked and put his front legs in Techno's lap, tail wagging a mile a minute. Techno laughed, pulling off a cube to feed it to him. Then he popped one into his own mouth and started chewing, only to hunch over.
"Techno?" Tommy asked, alarmed.
Techno didn't respond, chest heaving as if trying to hold something back. Tommy thought he was choking and his mind was already running fast-paced through the vault's mandatory first aid training. Would he have to do the Heimlich maneuver? Tommy had never tried it before, but he knew how it worked in theory. However, by the time he stood up, Techno had already spit out the meat cube and then some more, puking into the grass between his feet.
"Ah, fuck," Tommy cursed, now also trying not to step in the vomit. Not that his shoes could get any dirtier, but whatever. Techno grasped his own knees, gasping for breath. "Are you okay?" Tommy asked. A dumb question because the answer was obviously not.
"Can you…" Techno started, the sentence dragging out into a wheeze. With his arm, he was reaching towards his pack, which he'd brought outside with him when they made the fire. Tommy quickly went to grab it and brought it over.
Techno fumbled with the clasps so Tommy undid them for him. "What do you need?" he asked.
"Yellow bag," Techno managed to force out. Tommy shifted through loose ammo, cans, and other crap to find a small plastic bag tucked away in the bottom of the stash. He pulled it out, holding it up when he noticed a long piece of tube trailed from the bottom.
An IV bag. And it was partly filled with a strange deep yellow liquid.
"What is this?" he asked automatically, before realizing Techno wouldn't be able to answer in his current state. His concentration was fully on grabbing the end of the tube, sliding out the needle hidden inside. He hesitated, probably considering if he should disinfect his skin or something before literally injecting shit straight into his veins, but apparently Techno didn't think it was worth it. He simply slid the needle into his inner elbow with practiced ease, turning the valve so the medicine could enter his bloodstream. Tommy hissed in sympathy, even if Techno didn't have much of a reaction himself. Tommy held the bag up high for him, vaguely aware that was what one needed to do when giving an IV.
He waited a few minutes for Techno's hyperventilation to stop before he spoke.
"What the fuck was that?"
"RadAway," Techno said. Tommy turned the bag over, seeing that it was indeed the name crudely scrawled onto the label with a black marker. "It's medicine against radiation sickness."
"Like Rad-X?" Tommy asked. He'd heard about that stuff. He was actually thinking he should get his hands on some, he'd need it if he wanted to track Wilbur.
"No, Rad-X is preventative. It stops your body from absorbing radiation in the first place," Techno explained, still struggling somewhat with the words. "RadAway is what keeps me from getting sick."
"But you're a ghoul," Tommy said.
"Part ghoul," Techno corrected. "And that means I still get all the fun symptoms of radiation sickness. I just suffer from them constantly if I don't mitigate them with chems."
A vivid image came to mind for Tommy then. He didn't see his mother die. She was taken to the infirmary days before, and no visitors were allowed on the quarantine levels. His father just came to their room one day and matter-of-factly told him his mother succumbed to her sickness. And Tommy, six years old, a little confused why she'd been sent down there in the first place since she didn't seem that ill to him, was scolded as to not ask too many questions.
When his father died three years later, he did so in the middle of the night cycle, hunched over on the bathroom floor with a fever. Tommy informed the overseer himself.
"You should take your meds properly if you start puking without them," Tommy said sternly. Techno closed the valve on the IV bag.
"I'm rationing. I don't have a ton left over, so half doses are better than none. I can cope."
"Cope with what?"
Techno hissed through his teeth as he pulled the needle out, going about rolling the tube back up. "Nausea, vertigo, headaches… It doesn't get much worse than that unless I skip too many doses."
"We should get you more RadAway then," Tommy said. The bag only had a third left in it.
"I'm always on the lookout," Techno said. "You don't exactly find these lying around." Less shaky than before, he pulled his pack towards him and stowed the medicine away. "Sometimes you can find them in vaults or settlements, but I don't go into them often. Not sure if you noticed, Tommy, people aren't jumping for joy to see me."
"Because you're part ghoul?" Tommy guessed. Techno did say he had a bad rep because of it.
"They think I'll be feral."
Tommy frowned. "You're not though."
"Doesn't matter to them," Techno answered. He pushed his pack away with a grunt, kicking some sand over his vomit to cover it up. "Eat before the meat gets burnt."
Tommy went to sit back down again. "Is Dream a ghoul too?" When Techno stared at him in surprise at the question, Tommy shrugged. "I knocked his freaky mask off. He was all rotten under there."
"Yeah, he is." Techno didn't try to eat again, content to feed the rest of his meat to Apollo. "In other words, don't feel too bad about stabbing him some more next time. He's a full ghoul so it won't kill him."
"How come you only partly turned anyway?" Tommy asked.
"Guess I'm just built different."
Tommy squinted at him, almost making another remark about not lying to each other. Techno held up his hand before he could.
"Seriously, I have no clue."
Dissatisfied, Tommy picked up a skewer. "Yeah, whatever."
He was too tired to argue, despite not really believing Techno didn't know. How can you become part monster and not find out why? Seemed pretty fucking weird to him.
He'd worry about it tomorrow though, when he also had time to worry about finding Rad-X and whether Dream was still stalking them and where the hell Wilbur went off to and why anybody would put a bounty out on his head.
The adults in Tommy's vault were right. The surface definitely sucked.