The outbreak started six weeks ago. I was sat in biology like always on Thursday's fourth period. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, nothing signalled a change, and nothing would be the same after that. Principle Figgins had announced that we were to all go home immediately and that there would be no school tomorrow or any time in the foreseeable future. I remember my class bursting into conversation. Some panicked, some laughed and the unlucky ones left straight away. We soon found out that is wasn't safe outside, hell, it wasn't safe anywhere. People became monsters, creatures that solely belonged in fairy tales and horror movies- not on the streets. The living died and rose again as mindless, killing machines. Mothers, fathers, siblings and friends were lost to the infection. No one knew where it came from or how it happened and any chance of stopping it slowly became a fantasy for the delusional. On the day of the outbreak, I headed home only to find that my parents had fled. They had packed up their home and abandoned their daughter, not even bothering to find out if I was still alive. It hurt, but I quickly got over it. I had to if I wanted to survive in this new world.
The crackling of my small fire knocked the memories right out of my head, sending my heart racing and my knife raised. I exhaled slowly and ran a hand through my blonde hair. I am Quinn Fabray, I told myself. Get a grip. I shivered from the winter air and scooched closer to the fire. It was only a small one. Anything bigger would attract unwanted attention, whether it be from the Walkers or simply people who wanted my stuff. I paused and took a sharp inhale when I heard a noise to my left. It sounded like a twig snapping. Maybe it was nothing but I couldn't afford to take chances. Not when my life depended on it. Slowly, I pushed to my feet with my trusty twelve inch knife in hand. I stomped on the fire, dismissing the flames along with the light. I quickly pushed my back up against a tree, feeling clever for wearing all black. No one could see me. But would they smell me? Walkers had an unusually good sense of smell for meat that wasn't decaying and that made me vulnerable.
I gripped my knife tighter, feeling the blood drain from my knuckles with the grip I had on it. I was ready to defend myself but my body was ready to run. My knees shook and my heart pounded so loudly in my ears that I was deaf to any noise around me. I mentally forced myself to calm down, after all, it wasn't the first time I'd been up against one of these things. They were vicious and strong in groups but on their own they were slow and easy to get the upper hand on- if you didn't get too close. My back pressed up even harder against the bark as another twig snapped, closer this time. Just breathe Quinn, breathe. I screwed my eyes shut, concentrating solely on any sound I could pick up.
Three, I started to count down. I was going to face whatever it was head on, I refused to run. Running made you weak and susceptible to danger. Two. I exhaled silently. O- An arm gripped my shoulder, causing me to flinch and drop my knife. Shit! I flipped round and kicked my attacker square on, pushing them back with every bit of muscle power I had.
"Fuck Q!" A familiar, husky voice rang out, making me come back down from my panic high and actually acknowledge the situation.
"Santana?" I asked into the darkness.
"You thought I was a Walker? Do I really smell that bad?" I laughed and stepped forward to the other girl who was clutching her stomach. "Fuck!" she cursed again.
"I'm so sorry, I panicked. Why were you sneaking up on me in the first place?" I asked my friend who had not long ago announced she was going on patrol.
"I was gonna scare the shit outta you but then you went all Jackie Chan on me, puta loca," she trailed off in Spanish.
I scoffed. "And what did you expect me to do? You could have been anything." Santana didn't reply but I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes at me. "Where's Britt?"
During my second week alone, I had found Santana and Brittany. Both their parents had been been killed by those things and they didn't want to stick around to see their parents turn into monsters so they fled together. They were smart enough to jack a car and they found me sitting on my ass on a road, nearly dying of dehydration. The relief I felt when I found people who didn't want to kill me overwhelmed me and instead of getting into the VW Campervan I cried. Santana thought I'd gone insane and wanted to kill me, thankfully Brittany talked her out of it. Ever since, we've been running, killing Rotters, and looking for survivors which so far, were were unsuccessful at. The only people we found either tried to kill us outright or cosied up, trying to steal what little we had. Animals. The plan was to drive to the military base in Washington. It was a hellova long way but on the last broadcast I heard, They had offered protection, shelter and food and right now that was our best shot at getting through this. It seemed like a smooth plan but the same day I was rescued, a tyre blew, landing us in the middle of nowhere and still in Ohio. There were no other cars around, at least not for miles. So once we were rested and capable we resumed the trek on foot. It was more dangerous but we had no choice.
"Quinn, San?" A soft voice asked, and Brittany appeared in the darkness. They'd gone on 'patrol' together.
"Over here Britt," Santana replied, grabbing for her hand.
Once reunited, we relit the fire and huddled around it. San rummaged some tattered blankets out of her backpack, handed one to me and draped the other around herself and Brittany. It felt warmer but not by much. It was only October, and the nights would get a whole lot colder soon. I didn't even want to think what we'd do then if we hadn't reached Washington by the time the harsh weather was due to hit.
"Who's taking first watch tonight?" I asked.
"We will," Santana volunteered herself and Brittany. I nodded and snuggled further into my blanket, letting my eyes shut. I didn't even realise how tired I was, I was out like a light.
Sometime later, I began to stir. "Q?" Santana whispered, knocking me from the clutches of sleep.
"Wha-" she clamped a hand over my mouth.
"Shut up," she hissed and motioned to my right, tapping her left ear as a signal for me to listen. I shook my head, getting rid of my dreariness and concentrated. My eyes widened and Santana put her her finger to her lips. The fire was out and both of my friends crouched, unmoving. I heard a voice. It was high pitched and I couldn't work our if it was a woman or a child. Whoever it was, they were being loud and reckless. Noise attracted them. It was a wonder this person hadn't been killed already.
"Help!" I heard the voice more clearly this time. It was definitely a woman. I also heard her crashing through the foliage, making a racket. She wasn't heading in our direction, but still, just like we could smell Walkers far away, they could also smell us.
"What should we do?" I whispered as loud as I dared. "Should we help her?"
"Fuck that! I'm not risking my neck for this dipshit. If she's not going to get herself killed now, she will do sooner or later and probably us too."
"San," Brittany said sadly, placing a hand on Santana's shoulder and shooting her puppy dog eyes. I smirked. Santana's well known weakness was Britt.
"Oh for the love of- fine. Lets go save this bitch's ass. But I swear, the second she puts any of us in danger, I'm killing her," Santana grumbled as she got to her feet, pulling the blonde up with her. Santana was always cold but she'd grown even frostier since the outbreak. I truly believed her threat.
We quickly but lightly sifted through the trees, getting closer and closer to this obnoxious woman. I was starting to change my mind about helping her. Santana was right, she was being way too loud. We were so close, I could feel her feet pounding along the forest floor. Santana and Brittany were a few feet behind me. I could easily dart out and grab her before she made any more noise. I looked over my shoulder and saw Santana shake her head, as if she knew what I was about to do. Without hesitation, I bolted from my spot, through some shrubbery and into a clearing. I saw a figure running towards me, the surprising scent of perfume carrying in the air. Damn she smelt good but that just meant she was a target for everything. Before I knew it, she crashing into me and we toppled to the floor. She screamed and I quickly clamped my hand over her mouth.
"Shut up!" I warned through clenched teeth. We were definitely in a bad spot. There was no coverage at all. "I'm not going to kill you, my friends and I heard you calling for help," I explained and I felt her body relax a little. I couldn't see her but I felt her head nod along with my hand and I felt her heart drumming against her ribcage. I slowly removed my hand and helped her up.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I started to make out the woman's features. She was small, that was for sure, and her hair was dark. I squinted at her, then felt my eyes widen as I realised who was stood in front of me. How the hell had Rachel Berry survived for this long? Berry looked over he shoulder and started to squirm, trying to push me on.
"T-those things, they're coming, we need to get out of here!" she shrieked and I flinched.
"Berry, shut up," I scolded, looking around for the other girls but there was no sign of them.
"How do you know my-"
"Shit!" I cursed loudly. A herd of Rotters was heading right for us. They could probably smell her all the way from the next state over. I grabbed her hand, denying her an explanation of how I knew her name and who I was. That would have to wait. I started running at a break neck speed, dragging the slower girl behind me. "Hurry up!" I whispered urgently as we made it back to the cover of trees. I ran back the way I had come, looking for any sign of Santana and Brittany but they'd gone. Probably back to camp. I pulled Rachel back to our little set up only to be met with nothing but an unlit fire. Where had they gone? I shook my head, I couldn't worry about that now when there was a herd of those things following us. Santana was resourceful, she'd keep her and Britt safe, she'd done it before when they'd been separated from me.
"Quick, up this tree," I said, pushing her towards a tree with plenty of branches to climb. Rotters weren't capable of climbing trees, they were far too clumsy. Berry did as I said, surprisingly without putting up an argument and if I remembered her correctly from school, she had a habit of doing that. Thank god she decided to listen. Once she was high enough, I started to climb, thanking Sue Sylvester for making sure our agility and endurance were top notch for cheerleading.
We watched as the herd passed right below us, some of them occasionally pausing to sniff the air. Shit, they could probably smell Rachel. I covered my nose to avoid retching from the pungent smell below. As long as they didn't figure out where we were we'd be fine. Once one found out your position, so did the rest of its friends and I didn't fancy being stuck in a tree with Man Hands whilst a group on ravenous zombies waited for me at the bottom. I'd managed to position myself next to Rachel and once again, had my hand over her mouth. I wasn't taking any chances. But I found myself wondering how the hell her lips were so damned soft during and apocalypse.
About an hour later, the Walkers had moved on, but there were probably more lingering about now, which meant we had to get out of the woods and find a new hideout and I'd have to find my friends. When I was sure that it was safe enough to get down and make a run for it, I broke the silence first. "It's Quinn, Quinn Fabray," I told her, shocking her from her thoughts.
"As in head cheerleader Quinn Fabray?" she questioned.
"Uh-huh,"
"Oh, well, thank you for saving me. I really didn't think I'd be alive right now, let alone sat in a tree with Quinn Fabray," she said, and I caught the edge in her voice.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She swallowed. "You made my life a living hell, I mean, nothing compared to what's happened but still. You bullied me, slushied me, spread rumours about me and now you're the one that's saved my life. Kind of ironic don't you think?" I couldn't see her face but I could hear the hurt in her voice and I felt a stab of guilt. "Though I suppose none of that even matters any more. Those days are over," she muttered wistfully.
"You're welcome," was all I said as I started to ease myself to the ground. I spotted a slight glint of reflective light, and grinned when I retrieved my knife out of dead leaves.
Rachel shimmied down after me, trying to stay as close as possible. She didn't like me and I didn't like her very much, but she didn't want to die and right now and I was her best bet at survival. Besides, I couldn't just leave her for the Walkers. Christ, Santana was going to have a field day when she realised who we'd stuck our asses on the line for.
"Are you out here alone? How have you survived?" Rachel quizzed, backing off when I turned on her suddenly. I saw her flinch and I eased up a bit. The girl was shit scared as it was.
"No, I'm with... friends," I decided not to tell her who, she'd probably run to the Walkers if she found out Santana was still around. "and there's ways of staying alive, one of them being avoid making noise," I stated, obviously referring to Rachel's loudness before. "How the hell have you managed to survive?" When she didn't reply, I snorted. Fine, whatever. It wasn't like I'd just saved her or anything. "We'll just call it a miracle from God then shall we?" I mumbled sarcastically. I didn't know if she heard me or not, I didn't really care. She was Rachel Berry, a looser, a nobody. Without highscool, you're a nobody, a nagging voice rang in my head and I felt that stab of guilt return. We were all in the same boat here, even if we didn't like each other, I was all Rachel had at the moment and without my friends, she was all I had. No one deserved to be alone in times like this. "We need to find my friends. We were separated when we went to save you, I was ahead of them and I should have waited up," I told her, careful not to make it sound like I was blaming her. The last thing I needed was her arguing with me and drawing the Walkers back to us.
"Okay," Rachel said quietly.
We moved on, retracing the place Santana and Brittany had been hiding but they were gone. They'd probably run into Rotters and had to make a quick escape, or maybe they thought I was dead. I should have listened to Santana, I should have waited. But then again, would it have been too late to save Berry if I'd have waited? I rubbed my temples as we walked. It didn't matter, what happened happened and I couldn't change it.
"So where are your friends?" Rachel asked timidly.
"Gone, by the looks of it. They probably took one look at that herd and headed for safety. It's happened before, we always manage to find each other again though," I said, shrugging as though it was no big deal, but really, I was starting to panic. After all, there was a good chance that I would never see them again. My Jaw clenched. I couldn't think like that. Worrying got people killed, they became sloppy and careless.
"Okay, then what do you propose we do?"
"Well, we can't stay here. We'll have to head out of the forest now, there's too many of those things in here to risk staying. Plus it's dark, we're more vulnerable at night." I heard Rachel sigh and I bit my lip from making a sarcastic comment.
"Which direction are we heading in? How're we going to avoid those things? Where are you even going?" I spun on the small girl, effectively silencing her.
"Can you shut up for like- five minutes? I need to think," I snapped and Rachel lowered her head, frowning. I rolled my eyes. What did I sign myself up for? Santana was right, this girl probably was going to get us all killed. Just great.
Without saying anything I began walking. The Walkers went the other way so we should have been safe. One on its own wasn't much and that was the most I was hoping to encounter. I could take em with my knife, it was Rachel I was worried about. The girl seemed useless. I really was curious as to how she wasn't zombie chow by now. How had she gotten here? What was she even doing in the woods? Where were her family? Questions kept popping into my head, but I wasn't going to ask. She probably wouldn't tell me anyway. I looked over my shoulder to Rachel who was still stood in the same spot, staring after me. I let out a heavy sigh. "Standing there's gonna get you killed you know," I called back. I saw her body stiffen and she inhaled sharply. She clumsily walked over, tripping over anything and everything. I sighed again, we were really going to need to work on her subtlety skills.
New story! I've been wanting to write a zombie Apocalypse story for a while now so I'm eager to see what you think and if I should carry on? I will still be updating Angels With Dirty Faces, but if you like this, I'll be working a lot on this fic too :) Thank you for reading!