Okay, so…welcome to what I've been working on for the past month! I debated on whether or not I should make this a one shot, but I ended up deciding to post it in seven parts. I'll be publishing a chapter a night, the last chapter being up on December 21st. Each chapter is a day, so the story will take place between December 21st and December 27th. The first half of each chapter will be from Rachel's POV and the second half will be from Quinn's.
Fair warning, there are going to be multiple character deaths.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Glee characters.
Day 1
Rachel looked around the room, immediately spotting Finn and sighing; she hadn't seen him since she came back to watch all of her old friends in Grease. It had been a huge mistake, but she knew it would be; she let herself be talked into it, though, and it had only made things worse for her and for Kurt. She just wanted everyone to be civil tonight and for things to not be awkward; she was probably wishing for too much, but hadn't she always?
"Are stars supposed to fall from the sky?" Brittany asked, drawing Rachel's attention toward the other side of the room.
"It's probably just a shooting star," Sam answered, leaning over to look out the window Brittany was staring out of.
From where she was standing, she could see Santana glaring at the back of Sam's head; she had heard through the grapevine that Santana and Brittany had broken up or were on a break or something. She had heard several different stories and didn't know which of them was the truth, if any were. Half of her friends might be out of high school, but everyone still loved to gossip on the rare occasions she or Kurt talked to them. She was very busy most of the time, so any conversation usually took place over Facebook, which she hated; it was so impersonal, but with everyone spread across the country, it usually the only convenient option.
"Excuse me," Kurt said, heading toward the hall.
She noticed him looking back and followed his gaze, where she found Blaine talking to Artie. She wondered for a moment if she should follow Kurt, but he probably just needed a moment to compose himself. His breakup with Blaine had been difficult, as she had seen firsthand. Blaine didn't exactly seem like he was doing great, either, and she figured it was only a matter of time before they tried to patch things up. Kurt was adamant that that wasn't going to happen, but he had been so sad lately and she knew he missed Blaine terribly. It wouldn't be easy for them, but she was still holding out hope that they would somehow make it.
"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Santana said, smirking at her, finally noticing her presence in the house.
"Hello, Santana," Rachel greeted.
"I'm surprised you're here, Berry; you're not exactly one to come to Puck's parties," Santana said, crossing her arms, and sitting on the arm of the nearby couch.
If anyone else had been throwing the party, it would be for the holidays; instead, Puck was throwing his "End of the World" party. She highly doubted he believed the apocalypse would happen tonight, but this was Puck, which meant he would use any excuse for a party. She was mostly surprised he had managed to restrain himself and only invite the former and current members of the Glee club. Rachel suspected it was the only way his mother agreed to letting him have the party at her house, though.
"While that is generally true, since I only have a few days, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see everyone while I am in town," Rachel replied. "Kurt and I are flying back to New York right after he spends Christmas with his family; we agreed that, since it is our first year living in the city, we have to be there to get the quintessential New Years' experience of watching the ball drop in Times Square."
"I forgot how much you talk," Santana said, narrowing her eyes.
Rachel sighed. "I see you haven't changed."
"Would you really expect me to?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrows.
Rachel watched as Santana stood up and approached her; for a few seconds she thought she might have angered the other girl and that she was about to be hit. Much to her surprise, though, Santana opened her arms and pulled her into a very stiff hug. It only lasted a few moments and, before Rachel had even realized the former Cheerio was hugging her, she was already walking away and back to sitting on the couch.
"Santana Lopez just willingly hugged you; maybe the world is going to end tonight."
Rachel whipped her head around to find Quinn smiling at her. "Quinn!"
"Hi, Rachel," Quinn said.
The blonde's arms wrapped around her and Rachel hugged Quinn back, smiling softly to herself. Despite the fact they both had Metro cards to see each other, neither of them had made the trek yet. They occasionally exchanged emails, but they were both busy with their first year at their respective universities, so the messages were few and far between. Out of everyone, though, Quinn was probably the person she missed most.
"How are you?" Quinn asked, pulling out of the embrace. "I'm sorry we haven't talked for a while; finals were really hectic."
"That's completely understandable," Rachel said, waving her off. "And I am very well, thank you for asking. What about you? How have you been? How did you do on your finals?"
"I—"
"I think the town is on fire," Brittany suddenly stated.
"Someone in town is probably just shooting off fireworks, B," Santana said, taking a sip of beer.
"Santana is probably corre—"
Suddenly the lights went off and Rachel stopped speaking; the room was pitch black and she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. She felt someone reach out, brushing their hand against her side, before finally reaching her arm and grabbing hold of it. She knew it had to be Quinn because she had been the only one within arm's reach when the lights went out.
"Dude, didn't I tell you not to turn everything on or you'd trip the circuit breaker!" Puck yelled from another room.
"I didn't!" Artie's voice came from within the room.
"Maybe the lights in the sky made it go dark," Brittany replied.
"Britt, what are you—"
Before Quinn could finish her question, there was what sounded like an explosion and the whole house shook. Quinn's grip tightened on Rachel's arm and the blonde pulled her closer, so their shoulders were touching. Rachel was grateful for the contact; it was very disorienting being in a house this dark, especially one she wasn't overly familiar with.
"What's going on?" Mike asked followed by what sounded like him running into something.
"Maybe Marley's mom fell down."
"Do you always have to be such a bitch?"
"What? Did you think I was going to be nice just because we're in your loser brother's house?"
"Noah, where are your flashlights?" Rachel asked, raising her voice so he could hear her over the squabbling teenagers.
"We don't have any," Puck said, his voice sounding nearer than before.
"What about candles," Rachel tried again.
"The only candles in this house are birthday candles," Puck replied, sounding as if he was in the room now.
Rachel sighed and pulled out her cell phone; she pushed a button, turning the display on, so she could at least illuminate the room a little bit. As she suspected, Puck was now in the room and Kurt was coming through the hallway with several others in tow. Just as he entered the room, the house shook again, this time much more violently than the first time; several pictures fell of the wall, shattering the glass in them.
"What the hell was that?" Puck asked
Rachel opened her mouth to answer but quickly closed it; she had no idea what was going on and had no idea how to answer his question. Instead, she turned to where Brittany was sitting and walked over to her. Quinn still hadn't let go of her arm, so she followed close behind, and Rachel wondered if maybe the blonde was afraid of the dark even though the idea seemed preposterous.
"Brittany, what have you seen out the window?" Rachel asked.
"I told you, stars are falling from the sky and there are a lot of lights and I think the town is on fire," Brittany said, looking at her.
Rachel looked out the window and looked up at the sky; she couldn't see anything but darkness. When she moved a little bit, though, something caught her attention. Well off to the right, she could see what Brittany must be talking about when she said the town was on fire. There was glow coming from that direction and actually did look like something might be on fire.
"I think there is a fire," Rachel stated. "It must have taken down the power lines."
"What about the lights in the sky?" Brittany asked.
"What lights?" Rachel asked.
"Those lights," Quinn said, pointing out the window.
Rachel looked again and now she could see what Brittany was talking about. She was tilting her head, trying to figure out what in the world it could possibly be, when another light flew right over them. Whatever it was, it was moving fast, and it appeared to be heading toward town, where the other light was.
"Britt, how many of these lights have you seen?" Quinn asked.
"A bunch," Brittany replied. "They all came from the sky and some of them went away, but a few of them stayed here."
Rachel looked at Quinn, who looked back; the blonde looked just as confused as she felt.
"How many is 'a bunch'," Rachel asked.
"Why are you even bothering? We all know Brittany is stupid, but none of you want to admit it."
Before Rachel even knew what was going on, Quinn rushed forward and grabbed Santana, who was already lunging for the blonde that had made the comment. Rachel had never actually met the other girl, but she assumed it was Kitty, who she had heard quite a bit about from Tina. Santana was screaming at the girl in Spanish and the blonde had actually backed away, probably sensing that she was going to be murdered if Quinn somehow lost her grip on the furious brunette.
The only reason Santana finally stopped was because another explosion ripped through the air, this time much closer than either of the previous two. It almost felt like an earthquake and Rachel nearly toppled into Brittany, but the blonde steadied her before she could completely fall into her. There were several sirens in the distance, but their sound faded away after only a few moments.
"Guys, what's going on?" Finn asked, and it sounded like he was running down the stairs.
"Oh, you just now caught that something was up, tubbers?" Santana asked.
"Now is not the time to fight with one another," Rachel interjected before Finn could say anything back to Santana. "We have to figure out what is going on outside, which means we need to stay calm and be rational about everything."
"Rachel is right," Quinn replied.
Santana half snorted, half scoffed. "Of course you would agree with the dwarf."
"Not now, Santana," Quinn snapped.
Rachel looked between the two friends, feeling a weird vibe from both of them, but she shrugged it off. "Noah, what are the chances you have a radio for emergencies?"
"Berry, you have a phone in your hand," Santana said, pointing to the device. "Why don't you use it?"
Rachel looked at her phone and was happy it was too dark in the room for anyone to see her blushing.
"I'm not getting a signal," Kurt said, waving his phone in front of him. "Is anyone else?"
Everyone pulled out their phones and the room became significantly brighter as everyone checked to see if they had a signal. There was a lot of everyone walking around the room and scowling at their phones before, one by one, everyone seemed to give up and shake their heads in defeat.
"Whatever took out the power lines must have taken out the cell phone towers as well," Rachel reasoned.
"End of the world," Sam whispered.
Everyone stood around and glanced at each other; some people were starting to look more alarmed than others as Sam's words sunk in.
"It's probably just a prank," Artie stated. "Some idiots from school probably thought it would be funny to cause some damage tonight and somehow knocked out the power."
"And the cell phones?" Mercedes asked.
"It could be a coincidence," Artie replied. "If you do any research about today, you will see that the Mayans were not predicting the end of the world; it's a misconception and everyone has jumped on the apocalypse bandwagon. It's Y2K all over again and we know how that one turned out."
"The lights are shooting lasers," Brittany announced.
"What?" Rachel and Quinn simultaneously said as they made their way toward the window again.
Santana pushed between them, so the four were all staring out the window; three had their mouths hanging open, but Brittany looked like she was enjoying the lightshow. Several others, including Kurt, Finn, Puck, Mike, and Tina rushed to various other windows around the house. Tina was standing on the tips of her toes trying to see how the window in the front door and Finn was trying to see above the four women in the living room.
"What the hell is that?" Tina asked, and when no one answered, it was clear that no one knew how to answer her question.
"Let me see," Kitty said, walking forward, and shoving Rachel out of the way. "Whatever it is, it obviously isn't the end of the world; I'm still here, after all."
Rachel frowned, confused by her statement. "What do you mean?"
"Don't ask," Santana said, rolling her eyes.
Rachel shook her head and turned back to the window, where there was a lightshow in the sky. Two round lights were flying through the sky and beams of light was coming from one of them. She couldn't be sure, but it did look like there might be several fires; she couldn't see a lot because of all the other houses and buildings around, but there was now a glow coming from multiple places and there appeared to be smoke rising from them.
Suddenly, Sam gasped and everyone looked at him curiously. "Guys, I think I know what that is!"
"Would you care to inform the rest of us?" Mercedes asked.
"Aliens," Sam said breathlessly.
Several people laughed and Santana scoffed, replying, "Those aren't aliens, dipshit.
"Well, what do you think they are?" Sam asked, frowning at her.
"How should I know, but seriously—aliens?" Santana replied, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I think he's right," Brittany stated.
Santana stared at Brittany and Rachel could tell she wanted to argue with Sam more, but that would mean she would also be arguing with the blonde Cheerio. So, Santana turned away and it was probably the first time Rachel had ever seen the other woman back down from an argument.
"We should all go home," Finn announced.
"Are you crazy?" Tina asked. "I'm not going out there."
"Do you seriously think aliens are flying over town?" Finn asked.
"Aliens or no—something is out there and I am not leaving Puck's house," Tina replied.
"Tina is right," Quinn said, still looking out the window. "We don't know what it is, but something is obviously going on and we should stay where we are."
"Well, I'm not staying here," Finn said, grabbing his coat from the hook near the door. "Who's coming with me?"
"I am," Ryder said, speaking for the first time. "Marley?"
The brunette shook her head. "I don't think we should leave."
"That's too bad," Kitty said, walking forward. "I'm sure Ryder and I will have lots of fun without you."
"Anyone else?" Finn asked, looking around. "Rachel?"
"I think we should all stay here, Finn," Rachel replied.
"I don't want to leave you here," Finn whispered, coming closer to her. "Please, come with me."
Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry, Finn, but if you leave, you're leaving without me."
Finn huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not leaving without you, Rachel; quit being stubborn and come with me."
"Finn, you are neither my fiancé nor my boyfriend and you are not going to make demands," Rachel said, whispering harshly. "While I would advise you to not leave, it is your choice as to whether or not you do, but I am staying here."
"You're not—"
"Finn, she doesn't want to go with you," Quinn said through clenched teeth.
"Fine," Finn said, clenching his jaw. "I'm leaving, and if anyone else would like to come with me, I have room in the back of my truck for several others."
With one last look at her, Finn turned and walked away; Ryder followed right behind him and Kitty smirked at Marley before running to catch up, falling in step beside Ryder. As soon as they were out the door, Tina immediately locked it behind them, and stood on her toes again, watching the three leave.
"I'm going up to Noah's room," Rachel announced. "Maybe I'll be able to see what's going on a little better."
"I'll come with you," Quinn quietly said.
Rachel used her phone to light the way and was proud of herself when she managed to only trip over one step on the way up. When she walked into Puck's room, she was hit in the face with a strong stench; she had no idea why, but with the exception of Kurt, every boy's room she went into always had an odor. She tried to ignore it, though, and walked to Puck's window, that faced the road in front of the house; when she looked out, Finn was just backing out of the driveway.
"Do you see anything?" Quinn asked, coming up beside her.
"I think the town hall is on fire," Rachel said, nearly pressing her face against the glass.
"Are you sure?" Quinn asked, putting her hand on Rachel's back, and leaning to the left so she could see out the window better. "What is going on out there?"
As soon as the question was out of the blonde's mouth, there was an explosion nearby and the two ducked out of instinct. Rachel was covering her head with her hands and Quinn was doing the same beside her. When the noise was over and the window was no longer vibrating, Rachel peeked up, looking out. Tears sprung to her when she realized there was a big ball of fire where Finn's truck had been only moments before. Her ears were ringing and she was vaguely aware that Quinn was talking to her, but she couldn't seem to make out what the blonde was actually saying.
"Rachel," Quinn said, holding the brunette's head in her hands, and trying to get her to look at her. "Rach, breath."
Her brown eyes were unfocused, her breathing was erratic, and Quinn was afraid the girl was going to have panic attack. She disliked Finn more than anyone else on the planet—well, except maybe her father—and even she was trying not to cry, so she could only imagine what Rachel must being feeling right now. She never understood how the brunette could possibly fall in love with the dimwitted boy, but clearly she had, and now he was gone.
She wondered if anyone downstairs had witnessed what had happened, but from the lack of noise, she figured they were they only two who had seen it. Her first priority was to take care of Rachel, though, so everyone else would just have to remain clueless for the time being. Plus, she didn't know what would happen once they did find out; she didn't want everyone to panic even more than they clearly already were.
"Rachel, talk to me," Quinn said, trying to get eyelevel with the brunette.
The other girl was obviously in shock and Quinn had no idea what to do; she liked to be in control, but right now, she felt completely helpless. She wiped away her tears that start falling and averted her eyes; even though Rachel didn't appear to be looking at her, she still felt self-conscious about crying in front of her. She knew she needed to be the strong one right now, which meant she couldn't break down.
"Are you tired?" Quinn asked. "It's been a long day—maybe some sleep would do you good."
Even though the brunette didn't respond, Quinn looked around for a place for the other girl to lie down. She cringed at the thought of Rachel laying in Puck's bed, so she gently guided her out the door. Luckily her legs seemed to be working just fine; the girl was small, but Quinn didn't know if she would be able to carry her. She brought Rachel to Puck's little sister's room and sat her down on the twin bed; it had pink sheets with stars all over them and Quinn smiled softly. If Rachel had been in any state to notice it, she imagined the brunette would comment on the little girl's excellent taste in décor.
"Lie back," Quinn instructed, gently putting her hands on Rachel's shoulders, and guiding her back.
Quinn removed the girl's high heels, hoping she would be more comfortable, and grabbed the comforter from the end of the bed, throwing it over Rachel. She knew she needed to go downstairs and let the rest of the group know what was going on, but she hated the thought of leaving Rachel all alone. So, instead of leaving immediately, Quinn sat on the end of the bed and ran her fingers through the brunette's hair; she didn't know if the other girl found it comforting, but her sister had done it to her when she was a little girl and it always made her fall asleep.
She paused for a moment, the thought of Frannie making her heart clench; if this was going on in Lima, did that mean it was going on in other places? How many other people were dead just like Finn, Kitty, and Ryder? She wondered if her mother was okay, completely unaware that anything was wrong or if her house was currently in ruins. With the phones completely dead, she had no way of contacting them to ask them if they were okay or to tell them to get to safety.
Quinn continued running her fingers through Rachel's hair; it took a while, but the brunette eventually closed her eyes and a few minutes later, her breathing evened out. Even though she was pretty sure the other girl was asleep, she still didn't get up for a while longer. She didn't want to risk waking Rachel, but she also didn't want to take her eyes off of her. She sighed quietly, though, knowing what she had to do, so she stood up as quietly as she could and walked to the door. Looking back on last time, she left the door cracked the littlest bit, hoping she would be able to hear Rachel if she woke up from a nightmare or anything.
When she walked downstairs, everyone was standing around, quietly looking out the windows. Only Kurt and Santana looked up at the sound of her footsteps; she could tell by the look on her friend's face that she knew something was wrong. The other girl could always read her like a book, but, luckily, she wasn't one for talking about things and usually didn't comment on anything.
"Where's Rachel?" Kurt asked.
"Upstairs," Quinn said, nodding. "Santana, can I talk to you for a second?"
Santana vacated her spot next to Brittany and followed Quinn into the Puckerman kitchen; as soon as they were away from the rest of the group, Santana turned to her with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Listen, I need you to go upstairs and sit with Rachel," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"I will as soon as you tell me what the hell is going on," Santana said, scowling at her.
"Finn's truck exploded," Quinn stated, getting a shocked look from Santana. "It's what the last explosion was; don't ask me how it happened, though. One moment it was there and the next I was ducking because I thought the glass was going to shatter. When I looked back out the window, there were flames where the truck was."
"Dios mío," Santana muttered, grabbing the nearest chair to sit in.
"She's in shock right now," Quinn continued. "I put her in Abi's room; she's asleep now, but I don't want her to be alone and I need to tell the rest of the guys what's going on."
Santana nodded. "I'll stay with her."
"Thanks," Quinn said, giving her friend a brief hug.
The two walked into the living room and Santana immediately headed for the stairs. Quinn was grateful the other girl didn't ask questions because she knew she wouldn't be able to answer them.
"Okay, I can tell that something is wrong, so what is it?" Kurt asked.
"Finn's truck—" Quinn took a deep breath; everyone's eyes were on her and she closed her eyes, trying to block herself from seeing their faces when she delivered the news. "When we were upstairs, we saw the truck explode."
"What?" Tina asked, looking like she was about to fall down until Mike wrapped his arm around her waist.
Quinn looked around; Kurt had his hand over his mouth and tears were streaming down his face, Jake had his arm around Marley's shoulder and she was crying into it, Puck looked like he had been punched in the gut, and everyone else looked like they were in various states of shock.
"Are you sure?" Joe asked, holding his cross necklace in his hand.
"I'm sure," Quinn quietly replied.
"Did you see what happened?" Artie asked
Quinn shook her head. "We were looking out the window and I was watching the truck when Rachel said she thought the town hall was on fire, so I looked over there. There was another explosion, so we ducked, and when we stood back up, there were flames were the truck had been. I don't know what happened; one moment they were driving alone and the next, there is a ball of fire where the truck was."
"Maybe we should go get help," Sam said, wiping at his eyes.
"No," Quinn said, shaking her head. "We should all stay right here."
"Who made you the boss?" Sugar asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Did you not just hear what happened to Finn?" Quinn asked, raising her voice.
"She's right—we should all stay here," Puck said, standing up, and walking over to stand beside Quinn. ".None of us know what the hell is going on out there, and until we do, we should stay where we're the safest. At least we're not out in the open, so maybe whatever is out there won't touch us here."
Quinn looked around and most people were nodding, but several looked like they still wanted to leave. She couldn't blame them, though; she wanted nothing more than to be safe and sound in her dorm, but that wasn't exactly an option.
"They're right," Artie stated. "We're safer here, as a group, than outside."
"It's settled, then," Blaine said, walking toward the middle of the room. "We stay here tonight."
"I know it's going to be hard, but we should all try to get some sleep," Quinn said, looking around at everyone. "We need to take turns keeping a lookout, though."
"I can take the first watch," Mike said, rubbing Tina's shoulder.
"Where's Santana?" Brittany asked.
"She's upstairs with Rachel," Quinn answered.
"I should be with her," Kurt said, standing up, and trying to wipe away his tears.
She nodded and squeezed his hand as he walked by; Finn was his stepbrother, after all, and he could commiserate with Rachel a little better than Santana could. As soon as he was gone, the other inhabitants of the room started slowly finding any bit of floor they could sleep on, since it looked like Mercedes had already claimed the couch and Jake and Marley seemed as if they were going to share the recliner.
Quinn walked over to Mike, who was getting as comfortable as he could perched on the windowsill. "Keep lookout for a few hours or until you're too tired to do it any longer; when you're done, find me and I'll take the second watch."
Mike nodded. "Do you have any idea what's going on out there?"
"I wish I knew," Quinn said, shaking her head.
I know I'm posting regardless, but reviews are always wonderful and very much appreciated. So, if you like it (or don't like it), please leave a review and let me know your thoughts/questions/comments on the story.