"What will you do if I sang out of tune?" Noah Puckerman sings out loudly, walking through the underground tunnel with the rest of his squad. His rifle is up against his shoulders and his arms are hanging limply around it. Finn Hudson's walking right next to him, picking at something between his teeth with his fingers, and Sam Evans is rounding up the back, humming along with the old Beatles tune that Puck just started singing and walking next to his schnauzer, Buddy.
"Jesus, Puck," Santana Lopez spits out a few feet in front of him. She's got slightly blood soaked bandages wrapped around her right arm. "You are singing out of tune. You're not helping my headache."
Puck just laughs. You know it's a good day when Santana's telling you to shut the hell up. That means that they're all alive.
"Cheer up Santana," Mike Chang tells her, adjusting the medic kit on his back. Santana shoots him a look and he visibly retracts. "Or not."
Sam runs up to her and slings his arm around her and Buddy runs up to the pair.
"We'll find you a new hand gun tomorrow," Sam reassures her. They all stop because they've reached the final gates. Santana sighs.
"I guess," She relents and Finn hocks up something before talking.
"Dude, it's like we said. You've got us. Your boys have it covered," He flashes her a smile and Santana just rolls her eyes before pushing him aside and standing in front of the scanner. She puts her palm against the screen and lines her eye up against the round scanner and the triple locked gates slowly open up, letting them into the barricaded base just outside of what used to be the city of Chicago.
They said they came in peace. Broadcasted on television screens and billboards and radios, they claimed that they only wished to form an alliance with the human race and to study what it is that made humans human. In exchange, they would offer advances in science and technology and hopefully revolutionize medicine.
A few were suspicious. Some were hesitant. But most welcomed the extra-terrestrial visitors with open arms. They took human form after all, beautiful humans with perfect skin and piercing eyes and large smiles.
It was peaceful for a year or two. Together, humans and aliens found the cure for cancer. They modified food sources and greatly alleviated the hunger dilemma gripping the world. They lived among humans—learned their customs, picked up various languages—all in an attempt to understand what it meant to be human.
And then, right around Christmas time, an entire town disappeared. A small farming town in southern Ohio became a ghost town over night, the six hundred inhabitants disappearing without a trace.
And then a Russian town disappeared. Followed by a small village in Bolivia. All around the world, people were vanishing. Suspicions rose and before world leaders could convene, the aliens bombed major cities around the world—the entire city of New York was reduced to a crater in two seconds.
"What's up Art?" Sam calls out, walking into the room. Artie Abrams looks away from his maps, pushing his duct taped glasses up his nose.
"Hey man, how was the mission?" Artie greets him as Sam comes up next to him. Sam lets out a sigh.
"It was a close call," Sam recounts. "Santana saved our asses again but she lost her favorite hand gun in the process. I thought that like, she'd snap and kill us all while we made our way back."
Artie whistles.
"Captain Lopez can be scary when pissed," He mumbles.
"Especially when you call her captain," A voice behind them says and Artie closes his eyes. Heavy boots make their way over to the table and a firm hand lands on Artie's shoulder. There really is no organized military at this point. None of them were ever enlisted soldiers, bar Santana, and most of them have never even held a gun before everything went to hell.
That's what most of this base is. That's what the rest of the other rebel bases scattered across the country are: a rag-tag gang of survivors that refuse to go down without a fight.
"What do you have for me, Abrams?" Santana asks him, studying the table in front of her. Artie gulps loudly.
"I've updated the coordinates," Artie starts telling her. "There seems to be more evidence supporting the rumor that the aliens burrowed their mother-ship not too far from here."
He pulls up a map of what used to be the United States in front of the screen, zooming in on Ohio. Santana narrows her eyes at the red dot pulsating on the map.
"And they're crawling through Indiana," Artie say finally, looking intently at the map. Sam looks at the map quietly.
"That's just fucking great," Santana mumbles, touching the screen and zooming in on Indiana. "Well they're not going to get past us. We're gonna blow those mother fuckers to pieces."
Sam nods and Artie does too.
"There's one more thing," Artie continues and Santana looks at him. "We just got a wave of refugee fighters that came in from the east."
"Hey there princess," Puck coos as he saunters up to the blond getting soup in their crowded and dimly lit mess hall. She doesn't even give him one look. "Don't think I've seen you here before."
Puck stares at her expectantly but the woman doesn't say anything back.
"You must be with the refugees that just landed," Puck continues, edging along as the woman picks out one of the preserved fruit cups. "Need a tour? I know this place like the back of my hand."
The woman turns to look at him finally and her olive green eyes stare daggers into him. He almost recoils.
"No thank you," She says simply. "Your hand can keep you company while you tour this place. I'm sure it's been serving you well."
And with that, she takes her food and walks to an empty area in the room, leaving Puck with his mouth hanging.
"Dude, that was embarrassing," Finn chides as Puck walks to their spot on the floor. Mike is snickering next to him, digging into his hummus. "I thought she was going to like, take the soup and pour it over your head or something."
Puck scoffs.
"Shut up," Puck snaps. "She can't resist this."
"Can't resist what?" Artie asks a he steadies himself on his crutch. Sam is right next to him, drinking out of his flask.
"Nothing," Mike fills them in, scooting over to make room for the two of them. "Puck over there just got shot down by the mystery blond sitting yonder."
He nods over to the side of the room where the blond is still eating and Sam and Artie follow his line of vision. They're all staring at her when she looks up and their heads immediately snap back down to their food.
The mystery blond gets assigned to their squad. They're all walking to the front gates for a mission when they find her there, leaning against the wall with her rifle. They stop and dare each other into talking to her, but no one seems to have the balls to do it.
In the end, Sam's dog decides to man up and run up to the girl.
Sam curses out loud before running up to his dog. He stops a foot away from the pair. Buddy startles the blond for a little before she breaks out into a small smile and kneels to pet him.
"Is he yours?" The blond asks, looking up at Sam. He laughs nervously.
"Ye—um, well no," He stutters. "He was um, my brother's."
The girl nods, paying attention to the dog again.
"Hi, Buddy," She says to the dog, reading his name tag. "He's a tough one."
"Oh yeah," Sam starts excitedly. "He always goes out with the squad. He helps a lot. He's like Robin and I'm Batman."
The woman just looks at him.
"Uh, I'm Sam, by the way, Sam Evans," He tells her, sticking his hand out. She looks at his hand but makes no indication that she's going to shake it. Sam just laughs nervously before taking his hand back.
"Yeah," He starts hesitantly. "Um..."
"I'm Quinn," She offers. Sam stops and it takes him a while to realize what she just said.
"Oh," He manages to mumble out. "Nice to meet you, Quinn. Let me introduce you to the guys. And to Santana, if she decides to show up."
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Puck yells out, pushing his back against the abandoned car. He reloads rapidly and looks at Finn next to him. They're somewhere in Indiana, on some guerilla style mission to ambush an alien squad scouting through for humans to abduct. The aliens are slowly spreading through the North American continent, bleeding through America from the east coast.
Puck looks through a crack and sees an alien behind a barricade.
"Dude, aren't you like, Jewish or something? You're not supposed to believe in Jesus," Finn asks with a smile on his face, catching his breath. Puck shakes his head.
"I swear Hudson," He says. His radio buzzes in and it's Mike.
"Guys get the fuck out of there!" His voice comes statically through the speaker. "They've called for back-up and I can see them."
Puck looks at Finn.
"Shit."
They're fucked.
"Come on, let's make a run for it," Finn tells him, getting up slowly.
They're inching back when a bullet hits Puck's leg.
"Fuck!" He yells out and Finn comes to a screeching halt, looking back at him. He scrambles back and throws Puck's arm over his shoulder. He doesn't know how they're still alive, with bullets constantly raining in on them. They take cover behind a bus tipped on to its side.
"Dude, run," Puck spits out. Finn looks at him.
"Dude," He starts. "Stop being a diva or whatever. You're not gonna die today."
Just then, they hear an explosion behind them. Puck looks up and sees Quinn up on a roof. She's holding a gun and taking down the bastards one shot at a time. She doesn't even blink.
"Quinn and Santana have you guys covered so hurry your asses up!" Mike's voice comes through the radio again. There's another explosion.
Barely, they make it to safety and the two women manage to wipe out the entire mob.
"Fabray, you have one hell of a shot," Santana tells Quinn.
Finn nods from right next to Santana. They're camping out in an abandoned house they found somewhere between where he almost got killed and home base. He rubs his hands in front of the fire. Quinn looks up from cleaning her rifle.
"Thanks," she says quietly.
"No, really," Puck chides in. "Ow, that fucking hurts Chang!"
Mike sighs while he cleans Pucks wound.
"Just stop moving for crying out loud," He mumbles, busying himself with extracting the bullet. He finally gets it out and he holds the bullet out by Puck's face. "There, now stop crying."
Puck scoffs, taking another swig from his flask. He throws the flask to Quinn, who catches it.
"I don't drink when I'm out on the field," She tells him, passing the flask to Sam, who gladly takes it.
"Really?" Sam asks.
"How am I supposed to keep saving your asses if I'm drunk?" Quinn says simply. Puck looks at her with his mouth hanging open. Santana laughs.
"Puckerman, chill," Santana says between laughs. "She's kidding."
"Good one, blondie—agh! Chang, I swear to god," Puck screams out.
Mike looks at him.
"Puck, I have to close this up," He explains.
"Yeah Puck, just suck it up," Finn says. "Mike knows what he's doing."
Quinn speaks up.
"Are you a doctor?" She asks simply, referring to Mike. He looks at her briefly before returning to Puck's leg.
"I was going to be," He offers. "I was in my fourth year of medical school when this all exploded."
He's quiet for a second and then the sound of scissors cutting the stitches fills the empty house.
"There," Mike says proudly, looking at Puck. "Done and done."
"Thanks," Puck tells him, sitting up more.
"I was definitely the best one there," Artie boasts while they're eating their gooey dinner in their makeshift cafeteria. They're all sitting in circle on the floor and Quinn is listening quietly.
"Artie, it's geek squad," Puck says. Artie looks at him.
"Hey, watch it," He warns and Puck just laughs, throwing his empty fruit cup at him.
They're all reminiscing about their lives before any of this happened. Artie's been recounting his adventures as a member of Best Buy's geek squad.
"I used to swing dance every Saturday," Mike suddenly offers and Finn laughs a little. "What? It was cool."
"You dance?" Finn asks.
"Yeah," Mike tells him. "I used to go to one of the bars in Madison and swing dance with Tina."
He falls quiet and so does everyone. They all try not to mention loved ones who didn't make it. Like Sam's kid brother, who picked Buddy out at the local animal shelter. Or Mike's girlfriend Tina, who convinced him to pursue medicine in the first place. Or Puck's Jewish princess—his little sister who now only lives in a picture that Puck carries with him everywhere. Or Finn's younger brother—who was studying in New York when the aliens reduced it to a crater.
It gets harder and harder every day.
"Um, I totally worked for this awesome comic book store," Sam suddenly says. "We had like, every comic book ever."
"Did you have any Archie comics? I love those!" Finn asks innocently and they all laugh.
"They're all idiots," Santana mumbles next to Quinn, rolling her eyes. Quinn's realized early on that despite being one of the few people with an actual military rank around, Santana gives no fucks and hangs out with her boys either way.
"Idiots," She repeats, her lips curling into what almost resembles a smile.
Their squad is out to ambush a supply caravan and Quinn is on night guard while everyone else sleeps. It's dark and freezing in the abandoned barn that they've camped out in and Quinn rubs her hands for warmth. Santana comes up from behind and sits down next to her.
"How's it looking?" Santana asks, taking the night vision binoculars in front of Quinn. Quinn looks at her, still holding her rifle close to her.
"No movement as far as I can tell," Quinn says quietly, turning back out to the horizon.
"Puckerman snores too much," Santana starts. Quinn nods because it's true—she can hear Puck from where she is.
"But they're good guys," Santana continues fondly, wiping the binoculars with her shirt. "Reliable guys."
"That they are," Quinn responds.
"It's hard to believe that none of them were trained soldiers before shit hit the fan," Santana muses and Quinn looks at her. "Chang was going to be a swing dancing doctor for god's sake. Sam was the dorkiest fan boy and the only time he ever held a weapon was a fake sword for some comic book convention he went to all the time. Well, he's still the biggest dork. Just with a real weapon now."
Quinn actually laughs.
"Puckerman was a firefighter in some town in Texas, although sometimes I feel like he was the one setting shit on fire," Santana explains, her face scrounging up. "And Hudson worked at his dad's garage. He's a pretty good mechanic, just don't ask him to do addition or subtraction."
"And you?" Quinn asks and Santana looks at her. She's quiet for a minute before looking away.
"I was in Afghanistan when all this shit happened," She says. "Almost done with my first tour."
Quinn nods slowly, looking back out.
"And my girlfriend was in New York, dancing for a dance company."
Santana doesn't look away from the black nothingness in front of them.
"I was going to go home and see her dance on that stage," She reminisces, looking through the night goggles one more time. "Brittany always looked like she was floating whenever she danced."
"That must have been something to watch," Quinn says quietly. Santana nods but doesn't say anything for a long time and Quinn realizes that's the end of that conversation.
"What about you?"
Quinn doesn't look at her.
"I was from a small farming town in southern Ohio," Quinn starts saying. "About six hundred people lived there. You might have heard of it."
Santana immediately looks at her.
"I thought everyone disappeared," She starts hesitantly. Quinn looks at her.
"Everyone but me," She finishes quietly before turning back out to the darkness. Santana just nods slowly before leaving it.
"The world is gonna need good guys like ours after all of this shit clears," Santana says after a moment. She unlaces her boot and ties a tighter knot. When Quinn doesn't say anything back, she looks up at her and sees Quinn giving her the most peculiar look. Like she's never even given any thought about life after this mess.
"This is going to end, Quinn," Santana tells her. "At some point, this is going to end. And when that time comes, we're gonna rebuild and shit. Except better. Kinda like a do-over."
"I…" Quinn trails off. "I just never even thought about that. We can barely get through each day. We're lucky we're still alive."
Santana shrugs.
"You shouldn't think like that, Fabray. We're gonna get out of this mess."
"Fall back!" Santana screams. It's the day after and the supply caravan they were told about is armed heavier than what they were expecting. Santana looks back and sees that Quinn isn't moving.
"Fabray, get your fucking ass back here!" She yells out. "That's an order!"
Quinn looks at her once before turning around. She's already sniped most of the green aliens that are now littered around the caravan. The fucking bastards—who somehow find it fitting to go out into battle in their deceivingly human form—revert back to their alien bodies after death.
Santana watches as Quinn inches closer.
"I'm gonna kill that bitch," She mumbles under her breath, reloading and moving closer.
What Quinn does next is nothing short of a miracle. She throws a stun grenade, before raining bullets on the remaining aliens. She manages to stick the C-4 on the delivery tank before turning right around and sprinting back.
"Well, fuck," Santana breathes out, stopping at her feet. Quinn comes up to her and grabs her arm, dragging her back while the massive explosion behind them destroys the entire supply caravan.
They stop a few feet short from the guys and Santana literally falls to the ground, out of breath from all that running. Quinn sits next to her, also out of breath.
"You're fucking crazy," She manages to say between her labored breaths and Quinn just looks at her.
"What happened to my back up?" She says and Santana just shakes her head, shoving her aside.
Ironically, it starts snowing while they watch the fire in front of them.
Quinn sort of becomes a celebrity at the base after that mission. After smiling and ducking from far too gracious compliments and pats on the back, Quinn disappears.
She's hiding out for some peace in a store room when Santana finds her.
"Can't handle the fame?" Santana jokes, sitting down next to her on the floor. Quinn shakes her head.
"Did you ever build a snowman growing up?" Quinn asks out of nowhere. Santana stops, the random question taking her by surprise.
"Um, no," She offers. "I grew up in Tucson so no snow for me."
Quinn nods.
"My little girl would have been seven now," Quinn says out of nowhere. "She would have loved to build a snowman."
"What was her name?" Santana asks quietly. Quinn looks at her before leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes.
"Beth."
Quinn wakes up to someone shaking her.
"Fabray, get up," Santana whispers urgently. Quinn rolls over and looks at her. Santana crouches down next to her in full gear, waiting impatiently. Quinn immediately gets up and grabs her things around her, trying not to wake up the other occupants currently sleeping in the room
"Our scouts found another caravan crossing into Ohio," Santana explains.
"A supply caravan?" Quinn asks, putting her hand gun into her holster.
"No, a human one."
"Be safe you idiots," Santana hisses as they all split up. They're out with an entire company and Quinn sees that it's a big caravan. The other squad is serving as the decoy, wiping out most of their artillery while Santana's squad takes the captives out of the cross-fire.
Santana turns to her while loading her gun.
"I got your back," She says quietly and Quinn nods. This has sort of become their before battle ritual.
"And I've got yours," Quinn replies before signaling Puck and Finn to follow her. Santana waits for them to disappear around the corner before moving on with Sam and Mike.
There's an explosion ahead of the caravan and the aliens come to a startled halt. Quinn waits for a majority of the alien guards to pull away from the caravan.
"Look at those bastards, pretending to be humans," Finn spits out from behind her.
"Remember," Quinn says quietly. "The aliens have gold eyes."
Finn nods.
"Don't worry, I won't shoot civilians," Puck chimes in.
Seeing the guards thinning out, Quinn holds her hand out before slowly getting up. She counts to three in her head before signaling and rushing out. She takes one alien out with a shot between the eyes. Puck and Finn are busy with opening the caravan door and Quinn takes another one out from behind.
"Quinn, look out!" Puck yells and Quinn turns just as a shot is fired.
There's a dead alien reverting back in front of her and she looks up and sees Santana holding a gun from higher ground. She nods quickly before returning to business. She hears the latch and the door sliding open.
"We've got em," Puck says into his radio. "Evans, hurry your ass up."
"I'm coming," Quinn hears Sam from the radio before he checks out. Finn and Puck start helping the people out while Quinn stands guard nearby. She sees an alien within range and takes it out with a shot to the head.
Sam pulls up nearby and they all usher the survivors to the back of the truck. It's utter chaos with all the freed civilians freaking out.
"Finn?" Quinn hears a voice from the caravan door. "It's my brother! Oh God!"
Finn immediately turns and Quinn watches him sprint back to the caravan.
"Kurt! You're alive!" He yells, reaching out to help his brother down. Quinn hears noises and realizes that there is a whole squadron that's retreating back to stop them.
"Finn! Grab your brother and go!" She yells out, running back to the caravan. Finn sees what's behind her and he immediately grabs his gun and his brother, running back to their truck. They're halfway to the truck when Quinn finally understands what Kurt has been screaming.
"Wait! There's someone else in there!"
Quinn's eyes widen in realization. She comes to a halt and runs back.
"Quinn!" Finn yells out.
"Keep going Finn! Tell everyone to cover me!" She yells back, jumping into the caravan. She hears a scared gasp from a dark corner. "It's okay. I'm here to help you!"
She hears several feet scramble and that's when she realizes there are two people. She reaches out her hand.
"Hurry!" She says, hearing shots being fired from the outside.
"He's hurt," A woman's voice tells her. "He's been going in and out of consciousness."
Quinn looks at the little boy—probably eleven or so—and sees that he has blood running down his leg.
"I'll carry him," She says, picking up the boy and putting him against her back, telling him to hold on tight. She turns to the other person, holding her hand out.
"Come on," She says.
"What if we get shot?" The woman panics. There are more gunshots outside.
"Hey, look at me," Quinn tells her and is met with deep brown eyes. "You're with me. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."
Quinn looks at her and the woman nods, getting up and grabbing her hand.
"I need you to run as fast as you can and not look back," Quinn tells her and the woman nods. "Ready?"
"Ready."
The three of them jump out of the caravan and the woman holds on to Quinn's hand tightly, never letting go until they've made it safely to the truck.
"How is he?" Quinn asks as she enters the makeshift infirmary. Mike looks up at her and she makes her way to the bedside, eyeing the young boy she carried on her back.
"He's doing well," Mike explains. "It was a flesh wound. I think he has asthma—which explains why he was having such a hard time in that caravan. He couldn't breathe."
Quinn nods, looking at the boy.
"He should be fine by tomorrow," Mike reassures her and Quinn nods. He suddenly notices something behind Quinn.
"Hey!" He says sternly. "You're not supposed to be in here."
Quinn turns around.
Standing hesitantly by the door is the woman she found with the boy. She's still wearing the same clothes that are stained with the little boy's blood. Her long brown hair is disheveled and there's dirt all over her body. Her brown eyes are slightly watery and Quinn sees her lip quivering.
She's beautiful.
"I—I apologize," The woman starts to speak. "I just need to know how Rory is doing."
Quinn sort of just looks at her.
"He's doing okay," She hears Mike say. "Unfortunately, I can—"
"Just let her stay, Mike," Quinn suddenly blurts out. Mike looks at her with a weird look.
"I have to go tend to other people," Mike explains. "I can't leave her here unattended."
"I'll stay," Quinn immediately offers. Mike eyes her for a second before giving in.
"Fine," Mike relents, gathering his charts and walking away.
Quinn looks back at the woman and nods her head towards the little boy.
"You can see him if you'd like," She offers quietly and the woman smiles, practically running up to the bed.
"He's fine," Quinn explains. "He had a flesh wound. It was the lack of air that caused him to lose consciousness."
The woman nods, taking it all in.
"Is he your brother?" Quinn asks hesitantly. The woman shakes her head.
"He was here vacationing with his parents," The woman offers. "He's from Ireland."
Quinn nods quietly.
"I found him at a survivor camp just a year ago," She continues. "He's orphaned. That's where we were hiding out until an alien squadron took us."
The woman looks at Quinn.
"Thank you, by the way," She offers with a smile. "I never got to thank you for coming back for us."
"Oh, I'm just glad we both made it back in one piece," Quinn laughs a little. "The squad saved our butts."
"Well I'll be sure to thank them as well," The woman offers. "But thank you, for keeping me safe and holding my hand."
"You're welcome," Quinn stutters. "I uh, I better go. I've got something…"
She trails off and the other woman just laughs.
"Of course," She says. "You have to save more people in distress."
"Yes, that," Quinn tells her. "Um, let me know how he's feeling when he wakes up."
She nods, walking next to her. They're out of the infirmary and Quinn's turned to walk in the opposite direction when the woman speaks up again.
"Unfortunately, I don't think I ever got your name. Should I just run around asking for the blond soldier with olive green eyes?"
Quinn turns slightly.
"Um…Good point," She mumbles. "It's Quinn. Just look for Quinn Fabray."
The woman smiles.
"Hi Quinn, I'm Rachel Berry and it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks," Quinn says as she walks into Santana's office. Santana looks up from her papers.
"Huh?"
"Thanks for earlier," Quinn clarifies. "For shooting that guy before he shot me."
"Told you, I got your back," Santana explains. "And you've saved my ass a million times."
Puck barges in at that moment.
"What are you guys doing here? Evans found us some beer. Come on," He tells the two of them.
"I've got shit to do," Santana explains. "Ah, what the hell. Let's go."
She grabs Quinn's arm and drags her with and Puck leads them to his room. They open the door and are met with cheers.
"Ey!" Sam cheers out, handing them all beers. Mike walks in a minute later, taking a break from his rounds.
"Alright bros," Finn says, getting up. "And girls," He adds after a look from Santana. "I hafta go. The infirmary should've cleared my brother by now."
"I have to get back there too," Mike adds, taking a pointed drink.
"Aw," Sam calls out. He gets emotional when he's drunk. "I mean that's awesome but no more squad bonding."
He pulls Buddy closer before sticking his beer out for a toast.
"To my brother," Finn suddenly calls out, holding his beer out.
"To beer," Puck mimics him, holding his own beer out.
"Um," Artie says, unable to think of anything. "I got nothing."
"Oh, wait," Artie adds before anyone else says anything. "To our captain."
"I second that," Mike chimes in. "To our captain."
"To you assholes," Santana rolls her eyes, clinking her beer with theirs.
"Are we really doing this?" Quinn adds and Santana pulls her hand with the beer up.
"To humanity," Sam finally adds, clinking his own beer before they all finished their beers off.
Quinn is in the kitchen when Rachel Berry comes up to her. The place is packed with the survivors they just rescued milling about.
"Quinn?" Quinn hears someone call from behind her and she turns.
"Rachel, hi," She says. "How have you been?"
"I've been doing marvelous," Rachel tells her. "This place is exciting."
Quinn can't help the corner of her lip quirking up. It almost looks like she's smiling.
"I got lost after we separated from that quaint makeshift infirmary," Rachel continues talking and Quinn sort of just watches her. "And I got lost again today after I left Rory's bedside to get some food. I'm going to need assistance from a map."
If they weren't a couple hundred feet underground right now, if they just hadn't returned from what was easily an ambush, if the possibility that today could be the last day they'd see each other didn't loom over their heads…this almost feels normal.
"Who knew that we could survive underground," Rachel muses with a slight pout, focusing on the wall behind Quinn absentmindedly. Quinn's just about to ask about Rory when she hears someone clear their throat next to her.
Quinn looks over her shoulder and sees Santana standing with her food. Quinn just looks at her blankly before realizing what she's actually hinting at.
"Oh, sorry," Quinn says. "This is Rachel Berry; she was in the caravan we intercepted the other day."
Quinn turns her attention to Santana.
"And this is Santana Lopez—"
"Captain," Santana interjects and Quinn rolls her eyes.
"Yes, Captain Santana Lopez," She corrects herself.
"You're a captain?" Rachel asks and Santana straightens up.
"Yep, I'm her boss," nodding in Quinn's direction and Quinn rolls her eyes again.
"Kind of a big deal," Santana says in a joking manner.
Rachel just laughs.
"So do I talk to you if I want to enlist in the rebel forces?" Rachel asks genuinely and Quinn has to bite the side of her mouth to not laugh. Rachel has the most interesting diction she's ever heard.
"We can always use a lovely, young, and smart woman like you out there to kick alien butt," Santana replies with a smile. She tilts her head to the side. "You should swing by my office, I'm sure we can find a place for you."
Rachel literally looks like she just won the lottery.
"That sounds wonderful, thank you!"
"Quinn!"
Quinn turns around. She just left dinner early to check on Rory in the infirmary and she got about five feet away from the kitchen door when someone calls out to her.
"Rachel," She says, barely being able to hide her slight surprise.
"Uh, hi," Rachel starts. And then she laughs, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I don't really know why I ran after you."
"Well, I was just going to go visit Rory," Quinn says simply, nodding her head towards the infirmary's direction. "Did you want to come with me?"
There's a soft look that takes over Rachel's face and she nods slowly.
"Let's go," She says, walking past Quinn and turning around to walk backwards and face her. "Come on, slowpoke."
Quinn raises her eyebrow with a hint of a smile on her face. She ends up shaking her head before trailing after the shorter woman.
"Rachel!" Rory all but screams as they walk into the makeshift infirmary. Rachel sort of bounces over to him, engulfing him in a hug and kissing his forehead.
"I hope you're feeling outstanding today, Rory," Rachel mumbles, pulling away to beam at him. "I'm sorry I left your side. I figured that you would be famished when you wake up."
"I am," Rory pouts with his peculiar accent. It takes him a second to notice Quinn standing behind Rachel.
"Hi," Quinn greets awkwardly, waving her hand. Rachel quickly turns to Quinn before turning her attention back to Rory.
"Do you remember her?"
"She saved us!" Rory says suddenly, remembering what happened. "You carried me back, didn't you?"
Quinn just nods. "I'm Quinn. How are you feeling, Rory?"
"Better," He answers. "Are you a rebel soldier?"
Quinn shrugs. "I guess?"
Rachel laughs, looking at Quinn and shaking her head.
"Oh stop being so modest! Don't listen to her," Rachel tells Rory. "She's quite skilled. And she saved us both. She carried you, warded off the enemy and never let go of my hand. All at the same time!"
Rory looks at Quinn with newfound awe and respect.
"Really?" Rory asks. "That's so awesome!"
Quinn actually laughs.
"I wanna fight too!" Rory exclaims and Rachel immediately puts a hand on his arm.
"You have to get better first Rory," Rachel explains softly. "And I'm certain there's some adequate training involved."
She looks at Quinn and she just shrugs.
"See?" Rory points out, insistent.
"You're no help!" Rachel fake pouts, shaking her head at Quinn.
They're walking back to the kitchen after Rory gets cleared.
"Why is it so empty?" Rory asks once they get into the kitchen, visibly deflating at the sight of an empty room. Quinn looks around.
"People probably went back to work," She observes.
"But Rory needs sustenance," Rachel explains and the corner of Quinn's lip twitches slightly.
"Don't worry," Quinn responds, walking away and waving them over. "We can make some food together."
"Come on," she adds with a nod towards the back. Rory lights up and pulls Rachel along.
"Let's go Rachel!"
Rachel just laughs.
They end up putting together a version of chicken noodle soup for Rory. Grateful, he plops down between the two of them and starts working on the soup immediately. He's absolutely taken by Quinn, asking her about fighting and saving people and how heavy her dirty boots are and exploring the makeshift base. Quinn is patient and more than happy to entertain Rory. Rachel just watches and it becomes evident that Quinn really knows how to handle children.
"Are you married?" Rory suddenly asks and Quinn just snorts.
"Nope," She answers immediately.
"So you don't have a family either?" Rory asks. Quinn looks at him. And for the first time, she remembers what Rachel said earlier. She's looking at a boy orphaned at ten years of age. She smiles sadly.
"No," She starts, looking at him. "I lost my parents too. And…and my little girl."
The trio grows quiet after Quinn finishes talking and Rory looks like he's going to cry. Rachel, though, is looking so intensely at Quinn that she has to look away.
"Hey!" Rachel suddenly says. "We haven't met the rest of the other rebel soldiers yet! Rory, why don't we visit them and maybe get explore after you finish eating?"
Rory's face lights up and he actually smiles.
"Can I do that?" he asks, turning to Quinn.
Quinn smiles softly and nods.
"Of course," She tells him and Rory excitedly grabs his soup again and starts eating enthusiastically.
"Alright, Rory," Finn calls out. "You ready for this?"
"Uhuh!" Rory yells back, his toothy grin prepped with his baseball mitt.
Finn winds back and throws the ball with just enough force for Rory to catch it. Rory stares at the ball, inching to the left to catch it. When it lands in his mitt, he holds the ball up excitedly and gives Rachel a proud smile.
"Good job Rory!" Rachel tells him from next to Kurt and Artie. Rory runs up to everyone one by one, giving them high fives. He makes it to Puck last and Puck holds his hand up slightly above Rory's face.
"Up top little man," He says as Rory high fives him. He then puts his hand palm up just by Rory's chest. "Down low."
Rory gives him another high five, laughing.
"Andddddd, pound it!" Puck says finally, forming a fist and holding it up in front of Rory's face.
"Boom, explode!" Rory says, pounding his fist and pulling his fist back, unraveling his fingers in what looks like an explosion.
"Nice!" Mike comments from next to Puck.
"Dude," Finn suddenly says, turning to look at Kurt. "Remember when you broke dad's windshield?"
Everyone, literally everyone in the little open area that they are playing baseball with, starts laughing. Kurt's face turns a particular shade of red.
"Finn," Kurt hisses, face-palming. "You are as nice and charming as you are embarrassing."
"Come on Kurt!" Sam waves him over. "Show us some of your skills!"
Kurt's face becomes even redder and he looks at Rachel for support.
"Don't look at me! I'm not going to risk breaking my nose!" Rachel cries out in disbelief. But Rory has other ideas. He runs up to the two of them and grabs their hands.
"Come on!" Rory urges them.
"Goodness, this child will be the death of me," Kurt relents, getting up. Rachel looks at him with alarmed eyes.
"While I enjoy exercise," Rachel begins in protest, not wanting to get up but giving in after Rory pouts. "I do believe we don't have the proper gear."
"Yeah we do," Quinn says, walking up to the trio. She takes the old baseball helmet they found and puts it on Rachel's head. The other woman looks at her and laughs as she adjusts the helmet.
Rachel keeps smiling and Quinn can't help but think that she looks adorable in the helmet that is obviously too big for her. Quinn knocks on the helmet softly.
"Go get 'em," She says with a slight smile. She holds up a mitt in front of Rachel.
"I'm ready!" Rachel calls out, beaming at the guys. She grabs Quinn's mitt and Kurt's hand and ignores Kurt's protest ("Why don't I get a helmet?") and runs up to the guys.
Quinn watches her and sits down on the ground. Rory takes a seat next to Quinn. They're both laughing, watching as Rachel attempts to protect her nose and catch the ball at the same time. It narrowly misses her face.
Quinn is so entranced that she doesn't notice Rory watching her.
"This is better than watching SNL," Quinn muses, turning to look at Rory. She arches an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Oh nothing," Rory says with a bright smile.
The second time Puck pitches an underhand throw; Rachel sets her face with determination. She closes her eyes shut the last minute and sticks her mitt covered hand up. She barely catches the ball, but when she cracks her eyes open and sees the beat up baseball lodged into her baseball mitt, she starts screaming and jumping up and down in joy.
Kurt screams excitedly next to her, crushing her in a hug and jumping up and down. The boys just laugh and Sam actually starts clapping his hands.
In the middle of it all, Rachel looks over to Quinn and Rory, waving the ball and smiling at them.
Rory waves back with his entire arm and Quinn just gives her a small wave, actually smiling.
"I swear, that smile can light up the world," Quinn says quietly, not really meaning to say it out loud.
Rory just smiles.
"That's why we'll protect it together, right?"
Quinn looks at him and sees that he's holding a fist out. She nods slowly, putting her own fist against his.
"Right."
"So what's this I'm hearing that you're not going out to the field with us tomorrow?" Quinn asks as she walks into the information room the next day. Santana looks up from the map from the desk.
"That's what happens when you're surrounded by ex-military dumbasses who think they're still running shit," Santana responds with a grumble, angrily shuffling through the papers in front of her. Quinn walks over to the map tacked up on the wall. She stares at the push pins scattered across the country. Her hand touches the one tacked above where Lima, Ohio would be.
"Rachel just started working with Artie and them," Santana says with a smile, looking up at the far end of the room where Rachel is looking intently at something while Artie explains something next to her. Her eyebrows are knit together and she looks like she's concentrating her hardest. "She wanted to be out in combat…but I convinced her to stay here. Away from the danger."
Quinn nods.
"She's something, isn't she?"
Hearing Santana's comment, Quinn looks away from Rachel and sees Santana looking at the same girl. If Quinn didn't know any better, she'd say that Santana is blushing. She's never seen Santana like this. And she's only ever seen that look on Santana's face once before. When she was talking about Brittany dancing like she was floating in the air.
Truth be told, Santana has actually been smiling more ever since Rachel came into their lives. It's like sunshine finally found its way back into whatever didn't die with Brittany.
Quinn doesn't say anything back.
Later, Quinn is on her way to get some sleep when Santana catches up to her and walks quietly next to her. She doesn't actually say anything until they're about to separate ways.
"Hey," Santana starts slowly. "I…Can you…This is stupid."
She sighs in frustration.
"You alright there, chief?" Quinn asks her, leaning against the door.
"Yeah, fuck," Santana says, bringing a hand up to rub the back of her neck. "I just haven't done this in so long."
"…Okay."
"I mean, with Rachel," Santana finally spits out. "And stuff."
Oh. That's what Quinn thinks of when she finally understands what is happening here.
"I got your back," Quinn says confidently.
Santana just looks at her before smiling slightly.
"Thanks."
Quinn's made it a habit to arrive at the main gate earlier than the rest of the team before their missions and it takes her by surprise when she sees Rachel sitting quietly on a ledge nearby.
"Hi," Quinn says quietly, walking closer to Rachel. Rachel is also a little surprised and she looks up to meet Quinn's eyes.
"Are you about to head out for a mission?" Rachel asks her quietly, dangling her feet as she sits quietly on the ledge.
"Yep," Quinn responds, putting her gun down. "Just waiting for the guys."
Rachel nods slowly before looking away and staring at the ground.
Quinn's only known her for several days, but she's known her long enough to know that being quiet isn't one of Rachel's best attributes.
"Couldn't sleep?" Quinn starts slowly, hopping up on the ledge next to her. Rachel nods her head softly.
"I just remember too much," Rachel says after a minute of silence. "Sometimes it's still hard to believe that all of this is real."
"Yeah…" Quinn trails off.
"Anyhow," Rachel says a little more loudly, shaking her head. "Fret not, Rory and I will man the fort while you're away."
"Santana will be here too," She tells her, suddenly remembering Santana's blushing face yesterday.
"She is? I'd assumed she would be with you, soldiering on and commanding the troops."
Quinn actually laughs.
"Nope," Quinn responds. "She hates it, but I think she does need to be here. You know, she believes that one day all of this will be over and we'll have a chance to rebuild. Maybe get some things right this time around. Santana's a great leader. We need people like her if we're ever going rise up from the ashes. So she should stay here and let us do all the fighting. Here with you, where it's safe."
Rachel just stares at her.
"She does seem to be amazing, albeit reluctant to own it. And you speak so highly of her."
"I know I can count on her to have my back," Quinn explains, smiling a little. "She's a good friend."
"You should get to know her," Quinn adds, jumping off of the ledge once she sees the rest of the group approaching. She holds out her hand.
Rachel smiles and nods, taking the hand being presented in front of her.
"I think I will," Rachel responds before knitting her eyebrows together and looking at Quinn. "Although I think you're wrong about one thing."
"Yeah?"
Rachel nods, hopping off of the ledge and landing gracefully in front of Quinn.
"I do believe the world will be a better place with you in it, Quinn," She says in a matter of fact tone, not letting go of Quinn's hand. "So it would be ideal if you came back in one piece."
She laughs slightly, letting go of Rachel's hand. Rachel looks past her and waves at the boys.
"I'll try," Quinn says quietly.
"What's with the long face, Abrams?"
Artie looks up and sees Santana walking up to him. He sits up straight and pretends to be busy with his papers.
"Nothin," Artie tells her. He lets out a laugh and Santana raises one eyebrow.
"I always played mock battles with my cousins when I was younger," Artie muses. "I had a cheap plastic sword I practically forced my mom to buy me from Target."
Santana leans against the table, staring out at the empty room in front of them.
"We would have invaders coming in, and the battlefield was our backyard. We won. Every single time. We kept our land safe."
He looks at Santana.
"I was thirteen when," He starts her, looking down at his prosthetic leg. "My mom's car was T-boned by some drunk driver. I lost my leg and my mom on the same day."
They're both quiet for a while before Artie speaks again.
"I'm just jealous," He muses with a small smile. "I'd give anything to be out there with the guys and Quinn. Actually doing something."
Santana straightens up from the table.
"You are, Abrams," She explains, going up to the map. "This whole operation would collapse without you. Don't doubt it."
Artie sits there, still unconvinced.
"But when the time comes, and you need to step up," Santana continues. "I won't stop you."
She looks at him and he nods. Just then, Rachel walks into the room with another girl. Santana recognizes her as Mercedes, one of the refugees they rescued shortly after Rachel joined them.
"Good morning Captain Santana, Artie," Rachel greets them both before walking ahead. "Mercedes, I highly doubt you've seen what I'm talking about."
"Girl, please," Mercedes retorts with a slight snort. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, and you let her call you captain," Artie hisses after the two are out of earshot. Santana just shushes him.
"God, even that nasty goo they're trying to pass off as oatmeal sounds really good right now," Mike sighs, putting his hand against his stomach. They're currently walking down the tunnel to the main gates. The mission took longer than expected and they have been gone for three days.
"Oh man, yeah," Sam agrees. He looks down at Buddy. "Buddy totally loves that stuff. And I do too. All you have to do is close your eyes and if it gets past your gag reflex, you can almost pretend it's your mom's homemade oatmeal."
"Amen to that," Puck adds next to him, scratching the back of his ear. Finn gives him a weird look.
"Dude, I'm serious," He says. "I thought you're Jewish."
Even Quinn laughs at that. She lines up in front of the scanner and removes her gloves.
"You keep saying Jesus and Amen and stuff," Finn reasons behind her.
Quinn rolls her eyes and puts her hand against the scanner. The gates start pulling apart and she starts walking in.
"I told you, you're more than welcome to use Jewish phrases if you're so jealous," Puck chides Finn.
"Are there any?" Sam pipes in.
"Sure, there's a wh—" Puck stops midsentence. They've made it into the base and the last gate is closing behind them. And they're met by one Rachel Berry leaning against the wall. She looks up the moment that she realizes their presence.
"Hi!" She greets them, bouncing over to the squad.
"Where's Quinn?" Santana asks, picking at her own bowl of goo. She was thoroughly surprised when Quinn didn't make a beeline for her the moment their squad made it back. Instead, she sent Puck to report to Santana.
Finn shrugs next to her.
"Probably with Rachel. She was waiting for us when we got back. Well, I think she was actually waiting for Quinn…and us, because we're kind of all together," he says hesitantly, as if he's still trying to make sense of it all in his head. He finishes off his bowl before gulping down his water. "That was nothing like my mom's oatmeal."
He has a disappointed look on his face and the other guys laugh.
"Dude, that's why you have to pretend," Puck chides.
Nobody notices the scowl that is on Santana's face.
"Where are we headed?" Rachel asks as they make their way down the stairwell. "You could be leading me to my imminent death for all I know."
Quinn snorts.
"Then I would've cleaned up after and not before meeting up with you," She drawls out. Rachel gasps a little.
"And here I thought you wanted to make sure that my last thoughts of you were, 'wow she smells like vanilla and gardenias.'"
Quinn just rolls her eyes before pushing the big metal door in front of her. They enter a dimly lit room. The floor is composed entirely of grating and there are a lot of machines around them.
"This is the main generator," Quinn tells her, sitting down on the floor at a relatively empty corner. Rachel hesitantly follows suit and she gives Quinn a questioning look.
"I come here when I need a moment myself," She admits sheepishly. "It's pretty quiet most of the time. The generator only powers up every two hours or so. That's when it gets loud in here."
"Okay," Rachel responds. "This place is peaceful. Never thought I would ever say that about a room full of angry looking machines."
Quinn laughs.
"I think angry looking machines should be the least of your worries," She teases.
"Santana!" Finn calls out after Santana as she leaves the kitchen. She turns around and stops.
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen Kurt?" Finn asks, scratching his head. "I've been looking everywhere for him. And I know Rory wanted to play some more baseball when we got back. I can't seem to find him either."
"Oh," Santana starts slowly, not blinking. "They left with a caravan yesterday. There's a settlement not too far from here. Something about bringing more kids into the base to protect them."
Finn's face drops.
"He didn't even wait for me to get back," He says quietly, knitting his eyebrows together in disbelief. Santana visibly swallows hard.
"He'll be back before you know it," She says firmly, shrugging. "He was waiting for you, you know. He started to get worried, so I thought a mission like this might help."
Finn nods slowly.
"You're right," he muses. "He's always been my little brother, you know? The one I taught how to do stuff like, how to ride a bike, and how throw a football, or at least try…"
Finn laughs to himself.
"He was the one who picked out my prom tuxedo," he tells Santana. She tries to escape his gaze but Finn doesn't notice. "I guess I never really realized that he's grown up too, taking care of Rory and all. I guess, now, he's like a big brother too."
Finn smiles at her and Santana just nods.
Rachel opens her mouth to say something but as soon as she starts talking, the generator begins making a lot of noise. Quinn's lost track of time, not really sure how long they've been sitting here, talking and sharing the preserved peaches that Rachel found somewhere in the kitchen. Rachel immediately scrounges her face and covers her ears. She keeps on talking despite the noise.
Quinn can't hear a word she's saying.
"I'm sorry! I can't hear you!" She yells out, pointing to her own ears. Rachel stops talking and looks at her before laughing. And even though she can't hear the sound, Quinn feels something stirring inside her just at the sight of Rachel laughing. She feels like she's seeing Rachel for the first time and she can't seem to make herself look away.
Rachel stops laughing and she looks like she's about to start talking again. Quinn suddenly panics, because she feels like this is a moment and it's passing her by.
So she leans in and kisses her.
Whatever Rachel was planning to say again seems to have been forgotten. When Quinn starts pulling away, Rachel immediately moves in to catch her lips. If that first kiss was chaste, this one was far from it to say the least. Quinn puts her hand on Rachel's waist in an attempt to pull her closer and Rachel echoes her attempts by putting a hand behind Quinn's head.
It warms her up. Quinn feels the ice breaking, the heat spreading from her core to her arms and legs all the way to the tips of her fingers. She's forgotten how to breathe, really. And now it feels like she's breathing for the first time in her life.
Rachel's hand finds her own and once Quinn has a hold on it, she's not sure if she can ever let go again.
"Hey, have you seen Quinn yet?" Santana asks, poking her head into the information room. Artie looks up from his desk and shrugs.
"Nope," Artie responds. "You don't think she fell into some hole did you?"
Mercedes actually laughs from next to him.
"Oh please," She starts. "That girl ain't never gonna be unaware enough to fall into a hole. Even if you push her."
"Who's falling into a hole?" Sam asks, suddenly appearing next to Santana.
"No one," Santana mutters. She turns to Sam. "Have you seen Quinn?"
"No siree," Sam hums. "No clue where she disappeared off to."
"Okay," Santana says quietly. She nods before turning to leave.
"Good night," Rachel whispers with a smile on her lips, standing on her tiptoes to give Quinn a peck on her lips.
"Night," Quinn responds, her own small smile creeping its way onto her face. She watches Rachel disappear into the barracks before turning around.
She never even notices Santana watching her from a distance.
"Hey, Santana," Quinn calls out. It's the day after and Quinn has been looking for Santana all over the place. "Wait up for me!"
She runs up to the other woman with a slight smile on her face. They haven't seen each other in almost four days.
"Santana—" Quinn starts when she finally catches up to her right outside the kitchen. She reaches out for Santana's arm and stops abruptly when Santana immediately yanks it away.
"Stop yelling like an idiot," She snaps. "And do me a favor? Don't fucking talk to me again."
And with that, she walks away, leaving Quinn alone in the hallway.
"Dude," Finn says suddenly, looking up at nothing in particular as he screws his face to think. "You never told me about Jewish phrases I can use and stuff."
Puck looks at him.
"Yeah, you were gonna tell us and stuff," Sam quips in, shoveling a mouthful of oatmeal into his mouth.
Mike just looks at him and then at Finn before shaking his head and snickering into his oatmeal.
"Guys, I don't think Puck was—" Mike is saying but Artie cuts him off.
"Hey, Santana!" He screams, waving his spoon up.
Quinn has been quiet the entire time, still mulling over the words that Santana practically spat in her face. The boys have been joking around next to her and she just ate her lunch quietly, nodding and smiling occasionally. When Artie calls out to Santana from across the kitchen, her head immediately shoots up and her eyes find Santana.
Santana holds her gaze for a minute before turning around and walking out of the kitchen with her food.
Artie's hand freezes in midair before he slowly brings it down. All the other guys are staring after her with the same expression.
"What just happened?" Sam asks. They all start talking about what could have possibly pissed Santana off. Quinn just looks back down at her food. She knows.
"Rachel, hey!"
Rachel turns around and sees Sam and Buddy running up to her. Rachel just smiles and crouches down to pet Buddy.
"Hi Buddy," She says to the dog. "Did you miss me? You're so cute. Thanks for keeping the boys safe!"
Buddy barks and Rachel just laughs. She looks up at Sam and smiles.
"Hi Sam," she starts. "Are you and Buddy out for a mid afternoon stroll?"
"Uh," Sam deadpans. "Sure."
"Do you mind if I join you?"
"Oh, no, not at all," Sam tells her. "I like to keep Buddy active between the missions and stuff."
Rachel starts humming as she watches Sam throw a small ball for Buddy to run after. Buddy barks and immediately takes off and Rachel feels herself smiling.
"You like to sing, huh?" Sam asks her suddenly, looking at her with a curious look.
"Me?" Rachel says, breaking out of her trance. "Yes I do. I was in school in NYU. My greatest dream was to sing on Broadway."
"Wow, that's awesome. Nobody sings around here anymore," Sam muses. "Well, I think I might have heard Quinn humming once when we were on a mission and she thought everyone else was sleeping."
Rachel's lips immediately form a smile at the mention of Quinn's name.
"Well I wish I could have been there to witness that," Rachel says.
"You can ask her to sing to you," Sam responds with a shrug. "I bet you she'd do it. She gets this, like, look when you're around."
Rachel slows her pace just a little.
"Hey," Sam says slowly, noting the change in Rachel's facial expression. "Did I say anything wrong?"
"Oh, no," Rachel shakes her head. "I just…"
Sam shrugs and smiles at her.
"Dude, don't worry. Puck, Finn, Mike, and I? We're your guys. We got you."
Rachel smiles after a while and nods.
"Besides," Sam starts, rubbing the back of his neck. "You make Quinn smile. She's always so set on protecting everyone else. She forgets to take care of herself sometimes."
Buddy runs up to them with the dilapidated tennis ball in his mouth. Rachel crouches down to pet him.
"Look out for her will you?" She says, looking up at Sam.
Sam smiles.
"Always."
"Quinn?" She hears a voice breaking her trance.
Quinn straightens up from against the wall and sees Rachel walking up to her. She waves slightly, unable to stop herself from smiling when Rachel walks over and beams at her.
"Hi," She says quietly, looking up at Quinn.
"Hello," Quinn responds. "I was just going to say goodnight."
Rachel looks at her with a weird expression. Like she can't quite believe what Quinn is saying.
"Well," Rachel starts slowly. "I have quite a lot of room on my patch of flooring. And I'd appreciate an extra blanket. Even if it snores."
Quinn's mouth drops in disbelief.
"I do not snore," She says, aghast.
Rachel just laughs.
"I kid, I kid," She tells Quinn before tugging at her hand and leading her into the sleeping quarters. "Come on. And try not to wake everyone with every stomp of your boots."
Quinn almost protests but then the silence makes her aware of just how much noise her boots are making. She attempts to tiptoe quietly around the other sleeping people until Rachel stops at an empty spot. Rachel looks at her quietly before sitting down and pulling her with.
"Let me take my loud boots off," Quinn whispers and Rachel smiles.
And then she's just lying there on her side, using her arm as a pillow and trying to make out Rachel's face in the darkness. Rachel pulls the covers and Quinn's jacket over their heads and before Quinn can ask what she's doing, she turns on a flashlight. It's dim and obviously running out of batteries, but it's giving off enough of a faint glow for Quinn the see Rachel's brown eyes looking up at her.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asks her softly. "You seemed upset earlier."
"Oh," Quinn responds, averting her gaze. "It's nothing."
Rachel frowns. She puts her hand on Quinn's arm.
"Nothing?"
"Well," Quinn starts. "Santana's a little upset with me."
"Really?"
Quinn nods. She waits for Rachel to ask about why. About what she did that upset one of her closest friends to the point that she can't even look at her. But Rachel doesn't.
Rachel just offers her a smile.
"I'm sure you two will eventually work it out," She tells Quinn. "It'll be okay.
Quinn finds herself nodding, even if she's not quite sure she believes what Rachel is saying.
"I miss Rory," Rachel says quietly. "And Kurt. It's particularly weird, since I've been with them every day for months now."
Quinn nods. She misses both of them too. She was looking forward to playing more baseball with the two of them when they got back. And she a toy in one abandoned house they slept in while they were away for their mission that she thought Rory would have enjoyed. It's still tucked away somewhere in her backpack. Finn told her about Rory and Kurt leaving to bring more children back to the base. Or something like that.
"But Santana says the two of them are going to be back soon, so…"
Quinn decides to distract her.
"Rory told me that you have a beautiful voice," Quinn says. Rachel smiles.
"Brilliant, simply outstanding, beautiful voice," Rachel starts. "I am an equal opportunity compliment taker."
Quinn shakes her head and smiles.
"Music was the love of my life," Rachel says, her tone more serious. Her eyes gloss over and Quinn watches her quietly. "I've always wanted to perform on Broadway. That was my greatest dream."
"Which Broadway musical did you want to be part of?" Quinn asks her. Rachel's face immediately lights up.
"Wicked," She explains. "I felt like one of the characters growing up. She had a hard time fitting in too."
"Elphaba?"Quinn asks and Rachel looks at her with a slightly surprised look on her face. She nods.
"I find that hard to believe," Quinn tells her. "Your smile is contagious."
Rachel looks at her quietly. And then she smiles a very subtle smile.
"Well, we live in quite a bleak world," She elaborates. "I like to look at the good things that survived."
She hesitates before leaning in and giving Quinn a shy kiss.
"And the good things that come when we least expect it."
They're quite for a minute before Quinn speaks up.
"I would love to hear you sing," She muses and Rachel just raises an eyebrow.
"Someday," Rachel tells her with a teasing look and Quinn shakes her head. Her expression changes to a sad smile and Rachel pulls her closer.
"My little girl always insisted that I sing her a lullaby before she went to bed," Quinn muses sadly.
"She had wonderful taste," Rachel tells her. "It probably kept the monsters at bay."
She hesitates a little before speaking again.
"What was her name?"
"Beth," Quinn whispers under the covers. "Her name was Beth."
"What a beautiful name," Rachel responds. She reaches out to touch Quinn's face and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just like her."
She smiles.
"Just like you"
Quinn covers the hand currently cupping her cheek with her own and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes, she finds Rachel staring at her.
"She would have liked you," Quinn starts quietly. "And she would've made you sing until your throat hurt."
Rachel laughs softly.
"I would have gladly done it."
If the tension in the room were any thicker, the boys would have suffocated from it. Its past midnight and they've all been summoned to the information room. No one else is there except Santana. Sam looks nervously between Santana and Quinn while Finn avoids eye contact with any of them. Santana has her back turned while she studies the maps tacked up on the wall while Quinn is leaning against the opposite wall, reading a book.
"So, uh," Puck starts hesitantly, looking at Santana carefully. "What's going on?"
Santana looks away from the papers scattered in front of her and turns to face them. Just then, two other rebels walk into the room, one of them giving Santana a not so discreet nod.
"We recently received information that there is a group of survivors hiding out in what used to be the loop district of Chicago," Santana begins explaining. "We need to get them to safety before the aliens take them."
She looks at them.
"That's where you come in."
"Okay," Mike starts slowly. "When are we going? Now?"
"You'll be leaving tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn," Santana says simply.
"Wait?" Finn stumbles out. "You're not coming with us?"
Santana shakes her head. "Fabray, you're in charge."
Quinn still doesn't look at her even though five sets of eyes are trained on her. Santana clears her throat and keeps talking.
"Being the best and most capable squad we have, you guys are going to go in and evacuate those civilians. We can't bring more people because that will just attract more attention, but we will have a convoy waiting for you just outside the city," Santana continues. "We need you all to be as quick and discreet as possible. Understood?"
There's a murmur of yeses and nods. Santana dismisses them but Quinn doesn't leave. Once everyone has left, she steps closer to Santana, who is rifling through the papers scattered on the desk.
"Where did you get this information?" Quinn asks.
"From a reliable source," is all that Santana says.
"Santana," Quinn says with a tone that reminds Santana that she's stubborn as fuck.
Santana stops moving for a split second before turning back to the papers.
"We have two rebels who infiltrated the alien base, one posing to be a dissenter and another farther out, relaying information to us."
Quinn knits her eyebrows.
"…Who?"
Santana's shoulders stiffen but then she regains composure and looks down.
"Kurt," She says quietly.
The shock that overcomes Quinn is powerful enough that she almost misses the second name. Almost.
"And Rory."
Suddenly, Quinn feels like Santana just walked over and stabbed her in the stomach. She feels all the color drain from her face and down to her fingertips and she has to curl her hands into fists so that she doesn't strangle the other woman.
"What? Santana, you had no right!" Quinn yells out. Santana still doesn't look up from the map in front of her. "How could you take advantage of Rory like that? He's a child!"
Santana slowly turns around and Quinn sees the murderous look on her face.
"Because he came up to me and asked me how he can help. Because he came up with the idea and volunteered," Santana says with gritted teeth, slamming both her hands on the desk. "Because he said he wanted to be just like you and protect Rachel's smile!"
"Because he fucking believes in you!"
Quinn clenches her jaw.
"That's why," Santana continues, staring at her directly in the eye. "So fuck you, Quinn! Don't you dare fucking yell at me for all of this shit."
They're both quiet for a minute and Quinn clears her throat.
"Rachel doesn't know, does she?"
Quinn sees Santana take a deep breath before looking away and nodding her head. Quinn bites the side of her mouth, nodding slowly and taking all of it in. She turns around and leaves, letting the door slam behind her.
She's seething with anger. Everything is red and she's trying her hardest to breathe. Her instincts take over and her feet suddenly have a mind of their own. By the time she makes it to one of the female sleeping quarters and tiptoes over to where Rachel is sleeping soundly, most of Quinn's anger has dissipated. She leans over and gives Rachel a kiss on her forehead, pausing slightly to look at her. Then, she straightens up and pulls on her rifle, quietly walking away.
"Dude, where is she? She's like always on time," Finn wonders out loud, lighting a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. Puck shrugs next to him, grabbing the lighter from him to get his own cigarette lit up.
"Probably on the shitter," he jokes.
Sam looks at the two of them with a confused look.
"Dude, girls don't poop," He says with a straight face, scratching the back of Buddy's neck.
Finn and Puck look at each other before bursting out in laughter and Mike puts a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"What? It's true!" Sam cries out, scratching the back of his neck.
"What's true?"
They all turn around and see Quinn approaching them, her rifle strapped over her shoulder. She looks like hell.
"That Evans is gullible as shit," Puck says, laughing and putting his hand against the scanner to unlock the gates. "Let's get this show on the road."
The sun is up by the time they make it to the outskirts of the former city of Chicago. There are abandoned cars lining the interstate and the streets and the boys bar Mike have all decided it would be fun to run on top of the cars.
"Come on, Quinn!" Sam yells out, running after Buddy and looking down at Quinn walking on the street. "This is really fun."
"Yeah, Quinn," Finn chimes in as he hops from one car to another. "Why are you so grumpy?"
Quinn ignores them.
"Leave her alone guys," Mike sighs, adjusting the straps of his medic bag.
Suddenly, there's a loud crash.
"I'm okay!" Sam yells out and Quinn can see his hand sticking out from between two cars. "I'm okay!"
"Evans, you're an idiot," Puck snorts, jumping off of a car to help Sam up from the ground. "You aight?"
"Yeah," Sam says as he dusts his pants. "I'm just gonna, you know, stay on the ground for now."
They all just laugh at him. Puck ruffles his hair before moving along.
Walking into the loop sector of downtown Chicago, Quinn already senses that something is off.
"Shh!" She warns the other guys to tell them to stop horsing around behind her. While there hasn't been any alien activity reported in the city since the invasion, that doesn't mean that they aren't there.
Quinn looks around at the tall sky scrapers. She's been to Chicago several times in the past and part of her has always wondered why the city was spared while New York and other major cities in the United States bit the dust.
Maybe even the aliens found the city as beautiful as she did and decided to spare it…
"Quinn, watch out!" Sam yells, shoving Quinn aside. The ground immediately gives in under Sam. The deserted city echoes with the loud sound of the crumbling pavement and a dust cloud erupts from the ground.
"Sam!" Quinn screams, covering her mouth and grabbing her rifle. Buddy starts barking, running up to the edge of the hole.
"Evans!" Puck yells out, scrambling to his feet.
The smoke clears and they all inch towards the massive hole.
"Sam!" Finn screams down, holding his flashlight above his head. "Dude, say something!"
They hear coughing and they all collectively sigh in relief.
"I'm okay!" Sam yells from somewhere underneath them. He coughs some more, taking his flashlight out and looking around him. "I hurt my leg though."
"I think I'm on a train platform or something," He says loudly, looking up at the hole above him. Quinn looks away from the hole and looks around for a street sign.
"We're on State Street," Quinn calls out. "Which means you're right Sam, you're at what used to be a subway station. I'm pretty sure there should be some stairs that lead up to the surface. "
"Um, okay!" Sam yells back, looking around and waving his flashlight.
Buddy starts barking next to Puck and Sam's eyes widen.
"There's something down here," He says.
"Shit," Puck spits out. Quinn immediately gets up.
"You guys cover him from up there," She yells as she starts running to the nearest subway entrance she can find. "I'll help him get out of there."
She's about a block away and a foot from the subway entrance when she hears gunshots being fired.
"Damnit!" She curses as she runs down the stairs desperately, Buddy following closely behind her. Skipping down the steps, Quinn stops the moment she reaches the platform. She sprints cautiously, following the sounds of gunshots. Her feet can't move.
Sam is behind one of the pillars, his back pressed against the wall as he shoots the aliens behind him. Quinn notices that his leg is bleeding. Finn, Mike, and Puck are keeping the horde away from him with a rain of bullets.
She immediately springs into action, throwing a stun grenade past Sam.
"What took you so long?" Sam jokes as Quinn throws his arm over her shoulder.
"Your dog was running too slowly," Quinn quips back, hurriedly directing him back as the guys continue to shoot from above. Buddy runs up next to them.
"Shit! Quinn! They're up here too!" She hears Puck yell from above the ground. "This is a fucking ambush!"
Sam groans next to her and that's when Quinn realizes that he's clutching his side for a reason—he's been shot. And not just once, but twice. They make it to the stairs and Sam fires back as Quinn concentrates on getting the three of them out of there.
"Come on, Sam," Quinn tells him, running back to where Finn, Mike, and Puck are now holding back a squad coming in.
"Puck! Finn! Mike!" Quinn yells out at the three of them. The guys look at her just as Quinn realizes there are figures on the rooftops. She starts to scream, pointing to the building behind them. "Run! Get inside that building!"
Puck, Mike, and Finn realize what's happening and they spring for the building just as Quinn and Sam hurriedly run toward the same building. Puck holds the door in front of them and urges them to hurry. They're about to step onto the sidewalk when something explodes nearby, causing Quinn and Sam to fly back.
"Sam!" Quinn yells, watching as Sam slowly gets up a few feet away from her. "Sam, we're almost there!"
Sam nods, getting up slowly. Buddy runs up to him and nudges him to go forward. Just as Sam gets back on his feet, a shot flies through the air and burrows deep into his chest. He lets out a blood curling scream, falling to his knees.
"Sam!" Quinn cries out. She immediately shoots the bastard who shot Sam and then runs to his side. Puck runs up to them.
"Evans!" He yells, picking Sam up. "Hang on!"
They run frantically and the five seconds it takes them to cross the few feet separating them from the building feels like an eternity.
"Santana! It's a trap!" Quinn yells into the radio. She looks over to Mike applying pressure on Sam's chest to stop the bleeding. He's spewing blood like a goddamn fountain.
"What? How can you be so—"
"We're surrounded Santana," Quinn explains. The ground shakes and that's when Quinn realizes that they're being bombed. The building can only hold them off for so long…
"It's a set up. And I think they know what Rory and Kurt have been doing. You need to find them."
Santana doesn't say anything.
"Santana, you need to send help," Quinn says quietly. Almost desperately.
She looks back at Sam. There's blood everywhere.
"Santana," She whispers. "We're going to die here."
The sun is going down.
She can hear Puck yelling at Finn to aim for the weird tank looking ship. She can hear shots being fired and explosions and screaming. And she can hear Sam yelling, his head on her lap as Mike extracts the bullets. She sees them all on the ground, three bloody bullets. There should be one left.
When she sees Mike look at her before shaking his head, it hits her. They can't take that last bullet out without killing Sam.
Quinn swallows hard, taking her gloves off and fixing Sam's hair.
"Is—Is Buddy okay?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, Sam, he's good," She tells him quietly.
"I—Can I," He struggles to say before coughing.
"Shh, just close your eyes Sam," She says quietly. "You'll be alright."
She looks at Mike's face before looking back down at Sam.
"You're safe now."
She feels Sam nod and Quinn clenches her teeth, taking a deep breath.
"Quinn?" Sam asks weakly, not opening his eyes.
"Hmm?"
"Can you sing?"
Quinn purses her lips.
"I can be persuaded," She whispers. "Do you want me to sing?"
Sam nods, before coughing again. This time there's blood.
Quinn shuts her eyes tight, humming a lullaby that used to put Beth to sleep.
She fixes Sam's hair and he just smiles.
Sam's heart stops beating before Quinn finishes humming the lullaby. A couple of minutes later, an explosion takes out a wall a few feet away from them and it takes Quinn a moment to realize that the hand on her shoulder is Santana's.
"They're back!" Artie yells out.
Rachel looks up. She's in the intelligence camp and the frenzy around her stops. She looks nervously at Mercedes across from her. She's been anxious to find out how Quinn and her squad are doing. Everyone in the room heard about the ambush in the loop sector.
She hurriedly gets up and runs to the infirmary, where she knows she can find one of them—either Quinn or the boys.
Once everyone has been settled, Quinn immediately turns around and runs out of the infirmary.
"Where do you think you're going, Fabray?" Santana yells out after her. Quinn doesn't respond and Santana just shakes her head as Quinn exits the infirmary. She turns her attention back to Puck and Finn, both with minor cuts and bruises.
Quinn rounds the corner and literally runs into Rachel. Rachel clings on to her for her life and Quinn buries her face into Rachel's hair. They stumble into the store room right next to them and Rachel is practically hysterical.
"I thought you'd been hurt," She's crying, saying these things in between frantic kisses. "I was so worried. I didn't know, I—"
Quinn pulls away and looks at her.
"I'm here," She reassures her before kissing her again. "I'm here."
And in the back of her mind, she wants to say 'but Sam isn't.' She wants to stop. Because here she is, holding Rachel and feeling the other woman's heart beating against her own and Sam's heart stopped working while she cradled his head on her lap and…
And…
She cries. Quinnn cries and kisses Rachel and pulls her closer and buries her face in Rachel's neck. Like she's the only lifeline she has.
"We have a transmission coming in and it isn't human."
Artie's voice booms through the PA system and Santana's head snaps up at the screen in the infirmary. Mike stops bandaging Puck, and Finn sits up on the next bed.
A strange voice coming from the speakers pulls them apart. There's a television screen by the clock and the alien leader—in the form of a human man—opens his mouth to speak. His gold eyes are piercing and Quinn feels her stomach turn.
"Humans," The strange voice booms through the speakers. "Resistance is futile. And while I admire your attempt to mislead us, let it be known that from this day forth, we shall show no mercy."
Rachel gasps as the screen switches. She lets go of Quinn and looks at something behind Quinn in terror.
Quinn looks at her and she's crying, covering her mouth with her hands.
Looking behind her, she watches in horror as the transmission focuses on Rory's tear stained face. She watches him swallow hard and hold the tears back and looks at his determined eyes.
As if he's telling the world that at eleven, he's an orphan, he is a soldier, he is a friend, and he is part of this family.
He doesn't blink once.
Quinn watches, not once breaking his gaze and curling her hands into fists as they reduce him to dust. And then he's gone.
"We will wipe the universe of human filth," the voice continues and the camera pans to a sack. Someone pulls the sack, revealing Kurt Hummel's face. "One day at a time."
He looks at the camera with a strong facial expression and his nostrils flare with every breath he takes.
Someone bags his head again and the transmission ends.
Rachel screams behind her and Quinn grabs her, holding her tight.
"Let me go!" She screams. "Let me go, Quinn!" She punches Quinn and struggles.
"I'm going to kill them myself!" Rachel shrieks in rage, sobbing hysterically now and losing the energy to struggle against Quinn. She attempts to punch Quinn one more time but her hands just fall against Quinn's chest and she cries uncontrollably, mumbling over and over again. "I'm going to kill them."
Quinn steadies her, but she's furious with anger. She's also crying. And when she hugs Rachel tight, it's not just for the other woman's sake. First Sam and now…and now, little Rory is gone too.
"I'm going to end this," Quinn says with a steady voice, kissing Rachel's temple. "I promise."
She almost misses Rachel's quiet response.
"I'm coming with you."
Quinn makes her way down the dim and cramped halls of the camp, dodging people frantically flocking to whichever direction. It's grief and shock and panic gripping everyone all at once and it's frightening. The message was clear and whatever hope they had of regaining their home planet has been extinguished for good.
Quinn's resolve grows stronger with every step she takes. She eventually makes it to the control room and finds the one person she's looking for.
"Santana."
Santana looks away from the strategy table and sees Quinn standing there with her rifle.
"What are you doing here?" Santana asks her icily. "You should be assisting civilians to evacuation ships."
"I need to talk to you."
Santana looks back at her before excusing herself from the other rebels at the table.
"What do you want?"
"We can't just give up," Quinn reasons. "This is our home."
Santana looks at her incredulously.
"Are you fucking crazy? Have you finally lost your damn mind?"
Quinn grabs her arm and forces Santana to look at her.
"Sam is dead!" Quinn yells abruptly. "So is Rory. And chances are Kurt won't survive tomorrow."
Santana shuts her mouth.
"Someone once told me that one day, all of this shit is going to be over," She says firmly and Santana looks at her. "Well that's today, Santana. We're going to fight. We're going to win. And for everyone we've lost—for Sam and Rory and Brittany and Beth—we're going to rebuild."
"I don't suppose you have a plan," Santana says hesitantly.
"I do," Quinn tells her. She takes a deep breath and lets go of Santana's arm. "But I need a favor from you first."
When Quinn gets to the main gates, she sees Puck and Mike leaning against the wall. Finn is sitting on the floor, staring at nothing and absent mindedly petting Buddy—both of them commiserating together. She stops, not expecting to see any of them there. She pulls her rifle closer and takes a deep breath before walking towards them. Buddy senses her and he immediately runs over, putting his face against her leg.
She crouches down and puts her hands around his face.
"I miss him too, Buddy," She whispers.
"You weren't about to sneak out without us, were you Quinn?" Puck asks her, standing up straight and walking over to her. He sticks his hand out.
Quinn looks at his smirk and then Mike's quiet nod. How did she even think that she could do this without them? They almost died with her in that crumbling city. They all clung on to life desperately as it drained out of Sam. And they all watched helplessly as little Rory—the adorable eleven year old boy they rescued together and taught how to play baseball—was reduced to a pile of dust. They've lost friends, and…
She sees Finn's normally happy and cheerful face etched with determination. He's not saying a word.
Quinn shakes her head.
"Never," She says quietly, taking Puck's hand and getting up.
"You fools ready to go?"
They all turn and find Santana standing there. She's armed and ready, but she's not making any indication that she's going anywhere.
"Are you coming with us?" Mike asks, looking at Quinn and then at Santana.
"Pfft," Santana lets out. "I got better things to do. Like take the entire population of this base from point A to point evacuation ship safely."
"Well damn, you really are a slave driver," Puck lets out and Santana hits him on the side of his head. "Ow!"
Even Finn laughs a little.
"You're the best assholes I've ever had to work with, you know that?" Santana says with a scowl on her face. "And as much as it sucks to not go out there and show all your asses up, I've got complete faith in all of you."
She looks at Finn.
"So go get Kurt. And make Sam and Rory proud. This is almost over," She says firmly. "I'll see you guys later."
The boys nod and say their goodbyes, gearing up and walking towards the gates. Quinn looks at Santana and gives her one final nod before turning around to leave. The gates shut tight behind her and Quinn feels Finn put his hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go."
Santana watches them walk away and waits for the gate to seal shut. Then she turns around and heads straight for one of the sleeping quarters. She wades though the panicking crowds attempting to organize themselves and stops at the door. Rachel is crouched down, collecting her belongings and throwing them into her bag.
"Rachel," Santana says slowly. Rachel stops and looks at her.
"Yes?"
"I need your help," Santana explains, walking over and sitting down to face Rachel. "We're evacuating the entire base. And we need to get everyone to safety. There are some evacuation ships getting ready to launch soon. We've got about twenty kids in our group and we all know that my temper and kids don't really mix well."
Rachel watches her quietly.
"Quinn and the boys left for their stupid suicide mission, didn't they?" She asks her voice hoarse and grave.
Santana nods.
"So it's up to you and me now," Santana says, holding her hand out and looking straight at her.
A million emotions flit through Rachel's eyes and it takes several moments before she nods and takes Santana's hand in front of her.
"Where are the children?"
"So, how exactly are we gonna to do this?" Puck asks.
The four of them are hiding by the edge of the forest, eyeing what they've deduced to be the tip of the alien mothership. It looks like a command tower—but they all know better. Underneath the ground is a much, much bigger ship. And somewhere in that ship is Kurt.
Quinn looks at the tower quietly. They've been traveling since the crack of dawn. And by now, hopefully, Santana's convinced Rachel to leave with the rest of the base. By now, Rachel should be several miles from that evacuation ship. By now…
"Quinn?" She hears Mike say and she snaps out of her trance. She looks over at the three of them looking at her expectantly.
"I think we need to split up," She starts slowly. "Puck, you should go with Finn and grab Kurt. Buddy can help you locate him."
Finn nods. Quinn turns to Mike.
"You and I need to disable that destroyer beam they have," Quinn explains. "It's how they destroyed New York in a heartbeat. Our evacuation ships don't stand a chance if we don't disable those."
"How are we going to do that?" Mike asks her, realizing that neither of them know anything about computers.
"We're gonna blow it up."
"Okay," Puck responds. "That sounds kickass."
"Yeah," Mike says with a smile. "Now how do we get in?"
Quinn hums, looking around for a way to get them in. She spots what looks like a massive disposal bin a few feet away.
"Follow me."
She's about to pass out from holding her breath for so long when she feels the bin stop moving. It knocks her to the wall and she has to steady herself for several moments before getting back up on her feet.
"You guys alive?" Quinn whispers, looking around at them. The guys each give her a mangled variety of 'yes, I am alive, just suffocating.' Puck nods, holding Buddy close.
Quinn slowly looks out of the bin, and when she realizes that there's no one left in the hanger, she signals for the boys to follow her and she crawls out of the bin. They're all hiding behind it now, their backs pressed against the wall. Quinn looks at Finn and then at Puck. And she pets Buddy's head.
She nods curtly.
"I'll see you three later," She whispers before moving out and signaling Mike to follow her.
They've been travelling for hours now. Santana's driving the truck with Rachel, Mercedes, and the children in the back. Artie and several guys are behind them, driving the jeep and looking out for any aliens that might ambush them.
About a mile away from the evacuation ships, the truck finally runs out of gas.
"Shit!" Santana curses, slamming the door. "Fucking hell."
She runs up to the back and starts ushering the children out. Rachel's already on the ground, helping a little boy down.
"It'll all be fine, Santana," She reassures her. And somehow, that calms her down a little.
Santana runs over to the jeep to see how Artie's doing with the fuel. She's just about to climb up when she hears Rachel screaming her name.
"Santana!"
There's a loud explosion and debris is flying everywhere. Santana is thrown back and she lands flat on her face.
They're being bombed.
"Augh…" She lets out, slowly getting up and looking around her. When the smoke clears, she sees that Artie's artificial leg has been blown away but he's alright, sitting up and clutching his head. The other soldiers are firing whatever they have, attempting to shoot down the thing that just dropped a bomb on them.
Santana looks around and her heart stops beating.
"RACHEL!" She hears Mercedes yell out, running up to what looks like Rachel's lifeless body sprawled on the ground.
Santana walks over to Rachel's body, falling to her knees.
"Oh god, Rachel, you have to wake up!" Mercedes cries, her hand on Rachel's shoulder.
"No," Santana whispers, running her hands through her hair.
"Rachel!" She hears Mercedes scream.
"Santana!" Artie screams, pulling himself over to her. "Santana!"
But she's not snapping out of it. She just stares at Rachel's body and the gaping hole on her side. There's blood everywhere. She looks at Rachel's face. She looks like she's sleeping. Santana can't even think of anything right now. She just…She just…
"Captain Lopez, snap out of it!" Artie yells in her ear, slapping her face. Santana immediately turns her head and looks at him.
"Santana, you're the highest ranking officer here," Artie reminds her. "You have never ever let us down. You need to take everyone to the evac ship right now. Rachel will make it. Hurry."
Slowly, Santana nods. She picks her gun up and walks over to Rachel.
"Guys!" Santana calls out and people immediately look at her. "I need you to keep pushing. You've come this far. I promise you, we're going to make it."
She gently picks up Rachel. Looking around, she sees Artie reloading his guns.
"Artie!" She yells out, walking closer to him. "Come on!"
Artie turns to look at her with determination set in his eyes. He takes the flame thrower from the back of the jeep and draws a line of fire between him and the rest of them. He shakes his head defiantly before helping himself up to the broken down jeep. He steadies himself, holding on to the machine gun attached to the bed on the back of the jeep.
"Abrams, get the fuck down right now!" Santana calls out. "Don't make me come up and get your ass!"
Artie turns around and looks at her.
"I'm only going to slow you down, Santana," He yells, taking a second to look down at his missing leg. "You're not going to get that far with a whole slew of them running after you. I can stop them!"
Santana just stares at him.
"This is me stepping up," He tells her with a firm voice.
Santana stares at him before nodding, remembering a conversation they had not too long ago. There's no point in lying—this is the last time they're going to see each other and they both know it.
"And I'm not stopping you," She tells him, backing away from the flames and holding Rachel closer to her.
Artie nods, putting two fingers against his forehead and giving Santana one final salute. Santana gives him one final nod before turning around and running with the rest of the survivors.
He turns around, pushes his glasses up his nose and grips the handles of the machine gun firmly, shaking his head.
"Come at me, you motherfuckers," He says with gritted teeth.
The first few aliens appear, now in their true forms, and Artie takes a deep breath.
"Ahhhhh!" He screams, pulling the trigger and raining bullets on them.
Quinn feels them descending further underground with every step they take. They've had two close calls now, one that almost led to them being shot on the spot. Mike, who learned how to read the alien language before the invasion, leads the way in front of her.
They dodge behind a storage unit one more time before running across the hall and into the room that Mike has deduced to be the main generator for the beam.
"You ready?" Mike asks her, putting the duffel bag down and fishing out the explosives.
"Yeah," Quinn says simply, grabbing some of the explosives. She's ready. She's been ready since the day that she came back from a one day interview in Chicago with a stuffed bear for Beth only to find that everyone in her life had disappeared.
They quickly empty out their duffel bag full of explosives. Before they could detonate all of it, they hear a set of footsteps coming back. Mike and Quinn look at each other before hurriedly scramble to hide. They're separated in the process. If the alien sees their pile, the entire mission would be futile.
"What the?" An alien soldier starts to say. He doesn't get to finish it though, because Quinn throws a hand grenade near him. He's blown to pieces, and the explosives all detonate one by one, throwing Quinn back.
"Come on, Buddy," Finn whispers. "Where's my brother?"
Puck silently takes out another alien. Infiltrating the base is harder than they thought it'd be. Buddy stands quietly, sniffing around while Finn holds on to his collar.
The aliens suddenly rush by, and they hear something about an explosion in the lower sector.
"Let's go," Puck says quietly, watching Finn let go of Buddy. They sprint after him, stopping when Buddy screeches to a stop in front of a door. Finn immediately breaks the door open and they find an empty dark room. There's nothing. Puck stays by the door to cover him.
"Kurt?" Finn whispers urgently, walking into the room slowly and using his flashlight to look around. "Kurt? It's me."
Finn waits for a response. Someone coughs a second later.
"Kurt!" Finn yells out, running to the source. He finds Kurt bolted down on a table, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Jesus, what did they do to you?"
"Finn, hurry your ass up!" Puck calls from the door.
Finn fumbles around the controls, attempting to unlock the shackles.
"Kurt, can you hear me?" He calls out, pressing random buttons. "Oh God. I'm gonna kill them all."
Finally, Finn manages to unlock the shackles holding his brother down. He slings Kurt's arm over his shoulder and carefully walks back to where Puck is standing.
They start walking back cautiously when they hear someone yell behind them. Puck turns around and starts shooting while Finn hurriedly tries to put Kurt down somewhere safe.
"Holy cow!" Finn screams as he ducks from a bullet that missed his face by a hair. He puts his disoriented brother behind a tank and immediately whips around and shoots.
"Dude!" Puck yells out. "Five points if you get their head!"
For the first time in what feels like an eternity, Finn laughs.
"Don't even, you've got no game!" Finn calls back. He grabs a grenade off of his belt and motions to it, hoping Puck would get the message. He throws it back just as they run to where Kurt is. The grenade explodes behind them, sending debris everywhere.
"AUGH!" Finn screams. A shard of metal flies from the explosion and embeds itself into his calf. He falls to his knees.
"Finn!" Puck screams two feet away from Kurt. He starts running back.
"Stop! Keep going!" Finn begs him. "Puck, get my brother and go. Please."
Puck doesn't stop running, stooping down to help him up.
"Don't be a fucking drama queen," Puck berates him, slinging his arm over his shoulder. "I'm not gonna let another brother of mine die. Not on my watch."
"QUINN!"
Mike yells out, scrambling to his feet after the explosions clear. He stares hopelessly at the wall of debris in front of him. He immediately runs up to it, attempting to move some of the debris.
"Quinn!" He yells out one more time, a little bit more desperate this time. "Please be alright. Please."
He suddenly hears coughing.
"Quinn?"
"Mike?" Quinn's voice comes from the other side of the wall. She coughs again, slowly sitting up and looking around her. "Are you okay? Did we blow it up?"
"Oh thank god!" Mike' voice reaches out to her on the other side. "Yeah. We blew it up good. Don't worry! I'll get you out of there."
Quinn can hear him struggling on the other side, just as she slowly gets up on her feet. She looks around and spots a vent nearby. And then she hears what can only be the sound of the aliens coming closer.
"Shit," She hears Mike say. "Shit. Shit."
"What?" Quinn screams from the other side. "What do you see?"
"They're coming!" He tells her. "I have to get you out of there. I can't just—"
"Mike!" She yells louder this time. "You need to go."
"What are you talking about Quinn? I'm not leaving you here!"
Reloading, Quinn steadies herself against a wall.
"Mike, listen to me," She says slowly. "They're going to kill you if you stay. You need to get out of here. There's a vent here…I'll find a way out."
"Quinn," Mike starts to argue.
"MIKE! You're not listening to me!" Quinn snaps. "You need to go. Kurt probably needs medical attention."
When Mike doesn't say anything, Quinn takes a deep breath.
"I'll see you back at the evac ship," She says firmly, mustering up all the optimism she can afford the situation.
"You promise?" Mike asks her urgently.
"We don't hav—"
"Promise me, Quinn!" Mike cuts her off. Quinn is quiet for a minute before nodding slowly.
"Promise," She says quietly, gripping her rifle.
"I'm counting on you," Mike says and Quinn can hear him strapping his backpack on. "I'll see you soon Quinn!"
"Bye Mike," She says quietly.
His footsteps echo from the other side and Quinn can only hope that he makes it out safely. She turns around and kicks the vent nearby, taking her flashlight out and bracing herself for whatever is on the other side.
Quinn crawls through the vent, gritting her teeth because she hasn't got a damn clue where she is. When she passes by a vent that's letting light shine through, she stops. Looking down, she realizes that this must be some sort of control room. She also realizes that the light she's seeing is natural light…which means she's somehow made it above ground.
She slowly pulls her rifle out, because there's a dent in the rafter and this is the perfect spot to snipe.
By the time she's finished off several aliens, the one in charge—she realizes after she recognizes his face from that broadcast—finally deduces that she's hiding out in the vent. Quinn eventually finds a way down to the floor, kicking the vent cover open and immediately taking cover behind a massive tank. She takes two more aliens down.
Then it's just her, the alien leader with piercing gold eyes, and two bullets.
"You can't hide from me forever," The man taunts her. Quinn takes a deep breath.
"You know, you humans are proving to be far more difficult than we anticipated," The alien continues. Quinn can hear him walking off to some direction. And then she's lost sight of him completely.
"We took the time to study humanity to see if you were even salvageable. If you even deserve to be kept on this planet that you are destroying, with all of its precious resources that we would be more fit to harness."
Quinn tightens her grip around her rifle. And then the sound of someone approaching in the vent alerts her. She immediately aims, waiting for whoever is going to emerge from the vent. She holds her breath and prepares to shoot.
She finally exhales when she realizes that it's Santana.
"What are you doing here?" She hisses, helping Santana and yanking her into her little corner. They both press their backs against the massive tank and Santana takes the time to catch her breath.
"And you know what we deduced?" The alien's voice continues to carry over the room and both Quinn and Santana look up in an attempt to locate the source. "Humans are just like viruses. You multiply at an alarming rate. You destroy your resources, sucking the life out of everything around you. What a waste."
Quinn looks at Santana.
"Who the fuck does he think he is?" Santana says.
Quinn grabs her arm.
"What are you doing here?" She repeats through gritted teeth. Santana yanks her arm away.
"Saving your ass, what else?" She scoffs. Quinn gives her one more look before looking out at the crack behind her, attempting to spot the alien that's been waiting for her to make the wrong move.
"I've got your back, remember?" Santana tells her and Quinn just rolls her eyes. "While you were playing hide and seek, I lined this place up with a healthy load of explosives."
"Seriously?" Quinn asks in disbelief and Santana just laughs.
"Seriously."
"Wow," Quinn lets out before turning her attention back to the sniper.
"She got on the ship," Santana says with a serious tone, not looking at Quinn. "Rachel boarded the evac ship safely with Mercedes and them."
Silently, Quinn looks at her and nods.
"Listen," Santana continues talking softly. "I'm sorry."
"…For?"
"I'm sorry for being such a bitch," Santana ignores her, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "You're the one that she chose, you know. Don't know why she'd pick you over someone infinitely hotter like me…"
Quinn actually laughs.
"But she chose you," Santana says finally. She gives Quinn a pointed look and Quinn slowly nods.
"We both screwed up," Quinn tells her. "You're not the only one."
"Yeah, but I'm the one who threw our friendship out the window."
Santana clears her throat.
"And now, I'm going to help you, and we're going to end this right here," She says with a firm voice.
"What are you talking about?" Quinn asks, turning to look at her.
"I'm going to show you where this son of a bitch is, and all your lazy ass has to do is shoot," Santana says with a smug smile.
It takes Quinn a heartbeat to realize that after all that they've been through, Santana is giving her this one last thing. Everything. Rachel, the future she's always talked about, and her life. Santana is giving her everything.
Santana lunges forward and holds the side of Quinn's face, planting a kiss on her forehead.
"Santana!" Quinn half screams as Santana gets up and runs into the open space. Immediately, shots are fired and bullets are flying through the air, hitting Santana all over her body. She staggers, before walking forward defiantly and aiming her gun upward. Another bullet cuts through the air and it hits Santana square in the chest. This time, Santana lets out a painful sound and falls to her knees and Quinn freezes for a split second before remembering what she's supposed to do.
She turns her attention to a rafter a few feet away and pulls the trigger. She hits the alien right between the eyes. The bastard stumbles for a little bit before falling over the railing and plummeting to his death.
Quinn runs to Santana.
"Oh God!" Quinn cries out and for the first time in years, she's actually crying. She reaches out for Santana's wounds but then holds back once she realizes how bad the situation is. "Santana, I'm going to get you out of here."
"They're going to try and lift off," Santana ignores her. "They can't—we can't let them leave."
Quinn manages to pull Santana over and sit her up against the wall. Santana grabs her arm.
"I'm going to give you as much time as I can," Santana struggles to say, blood gurgling at the back of her throat. Quinn's eyes trail down her body and she sees that Santana is clutching two grenades with her other hand. She looks back at Santana, who's gritting her blood stained teeth. The walls start to shake.
"Santana—"
"Run, Quinn," Santana tells her.
Slowly, the realization of what's happening here dawns to Quinn and she nods. She leans forward and gives Santana a kiss on the forehead and Santana closes her eyes.
"Go, you idiot," She whispers and Quinn nods one more time before getting up on her feet and running for her life.
Mike and Puck are supporting Kurt with their shoulders and Finn is limping behind them with Buddy in tow when the ground starts shaking. They all stop and turn to look as the alien mother ship slowly rises from below the Earth, rising up to the atmosphere.
"Shit," Puck breathes out, looking up hopelessly at the escaping vehicle.
And then, without any missiles hitting it, tiny explosions erupt on the surface of ship. It hangs in midair for a split second before descending back down. With a crash, it hits the ground and the whole thing explodes.
Silently, the four men watch the inferno that is the mother ship burning to the ground.
Two months later...
"Can you just che—"
"I told you, there's nobody here by that name," Emma tells the soldier in front of her with a slightly annoyed tone. "I know she was here a week ago. But you can see how chaotic this hospital is. With the onslaught of patients and our billing technology still down, I don't know anything for sure. I don't even know half of the patients' names."
The soldier is about to insist one more time but Emma's response comes out before another question is posed.
"Look, I'm sorry," She says with a final tone, snapping her binder shut. "But odds are there is no Rachel Berry in this hospital."
And with that, she walks away. She can feel those olive green eyes watching her as she walks away. Really, she feels bad but she doesn't have the time to look for a missing person. She's a nurse, for god's sake. And the makeshift hospitals are already over flowing with injured survivors.
She's making her way down the narrow aisle between the crammed patient beds when she sees that the soldier hasn't moved and is currently scanning the room. Sighing, Emma turns around and walks back to double check her records one more time. She opens her mouth to say something but the blond soldier starts walking away from her. Emma stops, watching as the soldier dodges medical carts and nurses and broken legs casted in cement sticking out of beds before stopping by a bed towards the far end of the room.
She hesitantly puts her rifle down and the brown haired woman on the hospital bed turns her head to look up at her. The blond soldier slowly smiles before sitting down on the edge of the bed and reaching for the other woman's hand.