Author's Note: Thanks for trying to give this story a read. I know this is listed under Sebastian and Santana, but I think I'll tell you in advance that Santana doesn't appear until Chapter 2. Instead, there is some Sebastian x Quinn in this! (There will be throughout the whole story, really, but I don't want to give away too much so I'll leave it at that for now.) I guess you could say this chapter is a bit of a preamble to introduce the setting and situation. That being said, I hope you enjoy this fic!
Chapter One: Pilot
He jolted into a sitting position with such speed that he very nearly fell off the couch, catching himself on the edge of the mahogany coffee table just in time. His other hand instinctively flew towards his left hip, where his trusty 9mm pistol was always kept tucked into the waistband of his jeans. He was just beginning to panic as his fingers came into contact with nothing but his prominent hip bone through the thin cotton of his shirt, when he realized that the gun was on the floor by the sofa, right where he had left it before his mid-afternoon nap.
He sighed and dragged his hand across his face as he carefully assessed his current situation through the fog of sleep that was clouding his brain. Judging from the glaring sunlight shining blindingly through the windows, it was about sunset. He couldn't be bothered rifling through his mess to find his watch. Not that it mattered – things were exactly the same as they had been for the past five weeks.
Since the first wave of the apocalypse had struck four months ago, the human population had plummeted. The survivors managed to get by for the next two months, but when the second wave struck the government had decided to step in. Their involvement had done more harm than good, further reducing the population by - well, a lot.
He was one of the extremely rare few that had survived both waves of the pandemic as well as the government's intervention. He had lost all of his companions at different stages along the way. He had been completely alone for the last seven weeks.
Living in the Zombie Apocalypse was hard.
The hunger, thirst and heat were one thing, but the complete lack of companionship was really beginning to eat away at him. After not having had a decent two-way conversation with someone not trying to eat his brains for so long, he really began to worry that he was gradually losing his sense of humanity. It had reached the point where he began to fear that should he ever find another non-infected human, he wouldn't remember how to engage in a social conversation, or unknowingly defy all rules of social etiquette while attempting an innocent interaction. Like talking.
"Pfft. Right. Not gonna have to worry about this for quite some time now do we, Sebastian." He scoffed aloud. Getting off the couch, he stretched out his stiff muscles with a loud yawn and walked towards the kitchen.
"What's for tea today Sebby…" he mumbled to himself and let his voice trail off as he selected a can of tinned peaches from the larder. Cracking open the top, Sebastian dipped his fingers into the thick syrup and scooped out a slice of the preserved fruit, bringing it to his parched lips. He strode out to the balcony, leant against the railing and watched the sun make its slow descent across the clear pink and orange sky.
Sebastian Smythe had it all. Dashingly good-looking, intelligent, charismatic and athletic, he aced in everything life threw at him. He seized opportunities and at the worst of times, made his own.
To say that he was popular in high school was a colossal understatement. The talented star of both the Soccer and Lacrosse teams, the charming Honours student who achieved countless distinctions in multiple Olympiads and the talented singer and dancer heavily involved in the school's performing arts programme (He played the male lead for four consecutive years of the school's annual musical – It became rumoured that the school board had changed the Musical from a biennial affair to an annual one just for him).
But despite all his achievements, Sebastian remained humble and kind. Teachers adored him, his peers admired him and everyone as a general who knew him saw him as the charming young man who would accomplish great things in his life. The list of girls (and boys) that had a crush on him went for miles and every Valentine's Day his locker would practically overflow with letters and flowers of adoration. But everyone knew that the effort they had painstakingly put behind every scripted profession of love was in vain - for Sebastian had Quinn.
Quinn Fabray was the shy freshman who transferred to the school halfway through Sebastian's sophomore year. She managed to skim through the semester fairly unnoticed – people registered her presence but she was forgettable enough. She was just an average girl, in an average school, in an average town.
Only she wasn't. Quinn had always been ambitious and determined. She had set her goals on studying journalism in Columbia University, and nothing was going to get in her way.
She often studied late into the night, then oversleeping the next morning and leaving the family mansion for school in a rush. She hardly ever bothered with fancy outfits or makeup, since she believed that school was for studying and nothing else. The cold seasons were arriving when she joined the school, hence her everyday outfits comprised mostly of oversized sweaters, jeans, beanies, mittens and sneakers or boots – neutral clothing that kept her warm and prevented drawing any unwanted attention to herself. Her wavy dark blonde hair was always worn in either a messy bun or braid since she never bothered to style it in her haste to leave the house, and thick-framed glasses hid half of her face. In other words, Quinn had mastered the art of being a wallflower. She was quiet, reserved, yet observant and intelligent. She would be found in the school library on most days after school, poring over books and model essays and meticulously jotting down notes. It was on one of these days that she met Sebastian.
Quinn knew who he was, of course. It was hard not to when all her teachers and peers were always singing endless praises about one Sebastian Smythe. Heck, on her first day in the school, there happened to be an assembly and the Principal had spent a full fifteen minutes raving on in excruciating detail about the Lacrosse Team's outstanding sudden-death triumph over the school's long-time rivals to take home the trophy. Mr. Hillsborough had paid special attention to the fact that the winning point was scored by none other than the gifted young captain of the Team - Sebastian. She had watched with disinterest as a tall junior with a pleased but somewhat-sheepish grin was welcomed on stage and mentally noted the collective longing sigh from majority of the female (and some of the male) student population. Quinn had rolled her eyes and gone back to studying the school map, planning her route through the unfamiliar halls to get to her classes and tuning out Sebastian's thank-you speech. She had seen enough of Jocks and their often oversized egos.
Over time, however, Quinn caught simple gestures which made her rethink her initial judgment call on the boy – He was polite and mature, not rude and childish. He was intelligent and witty, not stupid and bawdy. He was diligent and humble – he studied hard and was never cocky or arrogant. She once saw him walking down the hallway with his nose buried in a copy of Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, completely oblivious to the annoying group of acquaintances which followed him around like parasitic creatures leeching off his popularity. He was utterly absorbed in the book, which made her smile a little to herself. In that moment it had seemed like Wonderboy was really just a normal teenager after all.
A particularly harsh thunderstorm had struck one late-November day. Quinn was in the library researching on her double-credit History project, but had encountered a dead end. Even though the assignment was only due in a few weeks, she had refused to go home until she found a solution. The pile of reference books on the antique wooden desk was reaching a dangerously unstable height when she finally accepted that her brain was absolutely incapable of taking in any more information under the given circumstances. She had been at it for three straight hours and desperately needed a break. Battling her imminent migraine, she hastily grabbed her satchel and folders and left the warm building in search of a good, hot cup of strong coffee to clear her mind.
Juggling a heavy stack of textbooks and folders, Quinn turned a corner only to run smack into a tall figure.
"Shit." Quinn swore in a hurried breath as she knelt down to gather all the loose sheets of paper that had previously been sandwiched between the heavy book covers. "I'm so, so sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going and I just spent the last three hours arranging these and damn it. Crap. Now everything's a mess and I'm sor-"
Her ramblings were cut off when Quinn felt the weight of a strong, warm hand rest on her forearm. She looked up, flustered and prepared to receive a lecture from the person she had just unceremoniously attacked, only to find herself face-to-face with none other than Sebastian Smythe. He was watching the flurry of emotions – penitence, surprise, confusion, and finally, embarrassment - race across her face with an intrigued smile tugging at the corners of his full lips.
"Hey, it's alright. I should be the one apologizing for not looking out." He said, grinning playfully.
Though Quinn had never really paid much attention before, she knew fully well what the school thought of this boy's physical appearance. But now, seeing him up close… well, Quinn had to admit that he was undeniably attractive. As he gathered the rest of her books from the ground, she noticed his high cheekbones and the straight line of his nose, his dimples and the faint laugh lines around his eyes. His dark chestnut hair was tucked into a navy blue beanie, apart from a few loose bangs which now rested diagonally along his brow. His sea green eyes, framed by thick lashes, contained a mischievous sparkle that matched his amused expression.
"Here you go. I think that's all, though I am sorry the order was messed up. You have really pretty handwriting, by the way."
Sebastian's smooth, gentle voice had snapped Quinn back to her senses and she realized she had been staring. Blushing, she promptly averted her gaze and took her books back from Sebastian with a mumbled "thank you".
"No worries at all. Do you need help rearranging those notes back? It's the least I could do after my carelessness caused you to throw three hours of work down the drain."
Quinn had blinked at him in surprise. The most popular boy in school was being nice to her? That was a first. People like him generally didn't care the slightest about people like her.
"Earth to..." he sneaked a look at her textbook "Quinn?"
"O-okay" Quinn had managed to choke out through her shock. "But I was just.. uh.. I was just heading out to take a coffee break since my brain can barely even function anymore and I need the caffeine boost and I-"
"Great. I could use a cuppa myself. Ever heard of Estelle's Coffee House? It's just a five minute drive from here. The coffee is fantastic and the atmosphere there is really warm and cosy. We can sort your stuff out there." Sebastian beamed, inadvertently exposing a row of perfect white teeth.
His smiled faltered when he took in the hesitant expression on Quinn's face. He had mentally kicked himself when he realized he had just asked a girl he'd met literally two minutes ago to grab a coffee with him. Of course she looked nervous. He might be some creep for all she knew.
"Only if you want to, of course." He added gently. "I didn't mean it as a... date, or anything. Just as a proper apology to ease my guilt. I promise I'm not a stalker."
"Well, you would have told me that even if you were a stalker, now wouldn't you?" Quinn replied, and Sebastian felt relief wash over him as her uncertainty was replaced by amusement.
"Very true." He admitted in mock defeat.
The sounds of their laughter combined with the steady howling of the wind outside, harmonizing into a lovely symphony which broke the silence of the library.
"I'm Sebastian." He said, extending a hand
"I know." She replied, taking his hand. "Quinn."
"I know." He repeated, gesturing to her textbook.
With a renewed fit of laughter, they shook hands.
Unbeknownst to either one, the prologue of their story had just been written.
With a final slurp of syrup, Sebastian crushed the now empty tin in his hands he chucked it off the balcony where it was claimed by the tangle of branches from a dead shrub five stories below.
Next on his agenda – Target Practice.
He dumped a few spare magazines for his pistol and ammunition for his sniper rifle into a duffle bag. After some consideration he added one of the precious remaining bottles of water and a packet of crackers into the bag too. Slinging the bag over one shoulder, he grabbed the sniper rifle from the top of the cabinet and left the apartment without a backwards glance.
Sebastian first climbed the staircase to the roof of the apartment building. He reckoned that at some stage, it was probably a roof top garden of sorts - the empty toppled flowerpots, their vibrant painted exteriors concealed by thick layers of dust. The scaffolding of an uncompleted greenhouse was in the far corner opposite the huge, broken satellite dish.
Dumping the bag on a lawn chair, he balanced the sniper rifle on its bipod on the parapet of the roof, positioning himself comfortably and scanning the ground twelve stories below him through the scope.
He singled out a target. He squeezed the trigger.
Bingo.
The single bullet flew straight through the putrid, green-tinged flesh, leaving a clean puncture wound on either side of the creature's neck where the bullet had entered and subsequently exited. Grabbing desperately at its throat with loud moans of pain, the zombie keeled over sideways and collapsed in a broken pile, a gooey black substance beginning to seep from the wounds.
One was all it took. The cries and stench of a fresh kill soon attracted at least four more creatures within the next few minutes. Sebastian dealt with them with four more shots.
After about half an hour of shooting, he checked his watch – 6.02 p.m. There were surprisingly few creatures on the prowl. Usually around dusk their numbers increased dramatically as they preferred the cool evening air to the scorching heat of the sun. As he pondered over the unnervingly small number of undead roaming the streets, Sebastian took a few sips of water and munched lightly on a few of the crackers.
After a while, he gave up and decided to head back to his room. After packing his belongings back into the bag, he walked into the staircase landing and began the seven-storey descent back to the apartment he had been calling home for the past five weeks.
He had grown quite attached to it, actually. He had come across it while making a rest stop before continuing his pointless journey to nowhere.
After the incident, Sebastian knew he had to get away. He didn't care where to. He just needed to escape. Escape from the past events which threatened to destroy him from the inside out. So he had wandered. For two weeks, he had lived each day through a hazy numbness, feeling nothing. He had no appetite, (the stench of death in the air took care of that) so he ate and drank just enough to survive. His mind was a blur, so he slept just enough to curb his physical exhaustion. But that didn't stop the nightmares. While on the move, he had killed more creatures than he could count, but it wasn't like he was keeping track. He never stayed at any one place for more than a few days.
It was on a hot, cloudless summer day; the sun scorching mercilessly on his sweat-soaked back, that Sebastian had finally come to his senses. It had been two days since he last slept and was absolutely worn out. The numbness was receding and the effects of built-up thirst, hunger and exhaustion over the past two weeks were hitting him like a freight train of pain. Darkness was falling and he needed a safe place to settle for the night before he collapsed from fatigue in the open, completely vulnerable and exposed.
So he had entered the nearest building – an old, solid brick structure with a few concrete steps leading to the twin wooden front doors – vaguely registering the words "Oakrigde Apartments" spelt out in bold brass letters on the building's front. The doors were shut, but unlocked. This was a good sign that the apartment complex was hopefully creature-free – they weren't quite smart enough to learn how to open doors – and Sebastian was not disappointed in this regard. The building was deserted, with no additional stench of decomposing flesh.
Too tired to do anything else, he had climbed a few flights of stairs until he felt far enough from the ground to be safe, picked the lock of the nearest door and stumbled in. After a quick check that he was alone, Sebastian had thrown himself on the bed and was immediately consumed by the lulling blackness of sleep.
When he awoke a full day later, he found a renewed sense of vigour in him. Maybe it was the bright, cheery décor of the flat. Perhaps it was the sunlight that streamed through the wooden slats of the blinds, warming up the room. Possibly, it had been the children's colourful toys that littered the living room floor. But somehow, it motivated him. It brought him hope.
He could do this. He would do it for her. He had proceeded to eat as much as his shrunken stomach would hold, making up for the three days he had starved himself. Sebastian then spent the rest of the day going through the rest of the apartments in the building, making trips back and forth to stock up his apartment with all the useful supplies he could find. Food, water, soap, batteries, rope, guns. Especially guns.
Over the next few days, he had built up enough strength to venture out of the safe confines of his new home. He made short trips during the hottest part of the day, when Zombie activity was low, to go searching for supplies from shops and other houses. Part of him yearned to find a companion, but over the last few months Sebastian had pretty much given up on that wish.
During his five week stay at the Apartment, Sebastian had eaten well, worked out and gotten strong. He tapped back into his athletic roots and practiced shooting, combat, agility - skills that would get him through the apocalypse. He was in the best shape of his life.
As he descended the final flight of stairs to the fifth floor, Sebastian decided that as sad as it may be, a fact was still a fact - the apartment was the best thing that had happened to him in the past few miserable weeks.
So imagine how his heart sunk when he found the door ajar, with no less than ten undead bodies staggering around the small cheery room, destroying the positive atmosphere and marring it with death.
What had been his sanctuary and safe haven was now his own personal hell.
Up next: As we find out a little more about the incident that's been affecting him so badly, Sebastian has a run in with an old friend...
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading... This is my first ever fanfic so I do apologize for any flaws. I love zombie fics and Sebastian is probably my favourite Glee character at the moment (: And Santana, of course. I will be introducing some other glee characters throughout the length of this story and I hope you support the way I do. I'm always open to suggestions though. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.