SUMMARY: It all began in Ohio, a few scientific discoveries and a disaster later and the world as Kurt Hummel knew it was gone and taken over by zombies.

Author's Note:

I just finished catching up on The Walking Dead just as glee came back and so this the result. I don't know how long it will be...or even how often I will update, but this is my klaine zombie AU.

Although I had originally planned for the story to jump right into a world where the zombies already roamed the earth, I decided to start it before that...so this chapter sets up how it happens and where our characters are. It is set sometime in the next school year where Sam, Blaine, and Artie have all moved to New York.

Everything in cannon has been taken into account so far.

Also, this is unbeta'd.

INFECTED

Chapter One

IN THE BEGINNING

In a locked room, with only an oblong table and eight chairs, the world changed. A meeting between five men and two women on the eve of a breakthrough, had consequences that no one would have foreseen.

"The trials have all worked. I think we're there. Five years later and we have a cure," one of the women said. She was of average height and weight and wore a stained white lab coat.

"Dr. Green, I am astounded," one of the men said, fixing his tie, "I must admit that I did not see this meeting today ever happening."

"Oh, pish posh, Grimes, all you've been worried about is your money. You don't care that Ellen or Miles have been killing themselves working on the medical trials because you had this deadline hanging over their heads."

Grimes had the decency to look a little abashed.

"And the FDA?" the second woman asked, she was the opposite of Ms. Green, looking almost model like.

All eyes turned to Ms. Green.

"It's a go," she said, "the new treatment is a go. We have new patients ready and waiting across the country and with all of our results it looks like AIDS will be eradicated. All treatments will begin starting tomorrow."

"In this room," Miles said, "we have just changed history."

"Again," added another of men that had yet to speak.

"Again," repeated Grimes, "and all because of my generosity."

Miles rolled his eyes, but it was the man that had called out Grimes earlier that spoke, "All because of the Green's. Look, we all get you funded most of this, but think of the amazing things your funding has done for the world. Think of your wife saved from Cancer because of other of our research scientists. Now we're defeating AIDS. Your money has gone to a good cause."


All over the news there was only one story that everyone heard or read about, and that was the amazing story of a small medical research company in the Midwest that had been the source of two life changing discoveries. Two different groups of scientists, both funded by a man that went only by name of Grimes, had come up with a treatment/cure for both Cancer, and a few months following that announcement, AIDS.

Kurt Hummel was tired of hearing about the discovery. It was all anyone talked about for months after the second announcement. Even his boyfriend couldn't get enough of watching all the interviews of Dr. Ellen Green or her husband Dr. Miles Green. They were a fascinating couple of course having both played a central part in each discovery, but each interview was getting to be all recycled answers that Kurt didn't think required repetition time and time again.

On top of the doctors themselves being interviewed, there were the first cured patients. These were a little more interesting, but Kurt couldn't listen to another sob story.

That's why while he sat in one of the hard subway chairs on his way home from NYADA, he tried to tune out the two women talking about how one or another of their family members had been doing the Cancer treatment and it was fully working. Instead, he focused on his phone and pictures of he and Blaine from just the past few weeks.

A few stops later, it was his turn to get up and head back up to the street. He would walk just a couple of blocks and then he'd be home. Blaine had promised pizza and cuddles and Kurt couldn't wait for either.

When he got up to the loft, it was to find Santana sitting in front of the T.V. with a familiar script sitting beside her. She didn't even greet him when he walked in.

"Is Blaine here yet?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "He had a morning class so I figured he'd be home by now."

He walked towards the portion of the loft that was his and Blaine's. So far, they had been living together for three months. Blaine had wanted to move as soon as his graduation was over, but Kurt had convinced him otherwise due to all the Rachel and Santana drama. Instead, as soon as Kurt was done with the semester he had gone back to Lima.

Then, in late July, he had helped Blaine pack up all his things and he, Blaine, and Sam had driven all the way to New York because Blaine insisted that one of them have a car in case of emergencies. There hadn't been an emergency since they'd arrived, but they had gotten to use to drive to New Jersey and spend some time on the shore before the summer was over. In the end, it wasn't a bad idea to have a car and Blaine's parents were willing to keep paying for the insurance so at least there was that.

For the first month following their move, Sam and Blaine had both been living in the loft with Kurt and Santana. Rachel had gotten her own place and Sam had taken to staying at her place some nights until eventually he moved in claiming that he was sick of sleeping on the couch and he'd be able to fit a bed at Rachel's tiny apartment. Santana had practically packed his bags for him and sent him on his way.

So, it was just Kurt, Blaine, and Santana at the Bushwick loft and Kurt thought it was the perfect set up. Santana still spent too much time in the shower, and sometimes she liked walking in on him and Blaine, but she didn't sing in the middle of night because she couldn't sleep and she understood the need for Kurt and Blaine to spent time alone as long as she could do the same with Dani on occasion. It was all working out.

"Breaking News, an explosion has just occurred at Coutt's Medical Research Laboratories. No one knows exactly what happened, but the labs that brought us two amazing discoveries have all but been destroyed."

Kurt paused on his way to his room. Santana had sat up and was staring at the television with interest and Kurt stepped over to the couch to join her. He might have gotten sick of hearing the repeated stories about the cures, but this was big news. A lab blowing up, when did that happen?

The reporter on the screen was relaying the whole history of the lab and Kurt paid her no mind until she stopped.

"We are on the scene now, field reporter Roberts, what is it like out there?"

The screen changed and they could all see what the scene was like on the screen. There was mostly smoke, but some fire could still be seen.

"As you can see," Roberts said, "it doesn't look like any of the lab has made it. About an hour ago, people in the surrounding areas started hearing an alarm. Some minutes later the explosion happened. No one knows the cause of it yet, and an investigation is sure to begin in the next few hours but for now the focus is finding survivors. No one from the lab had yet to make an appearance. Famous Dr. Ellen Green and Dr. Miles Green are said to have been within the lab."

This was the moment when Blaine entered the loft, followed by Sam. They were both laughing and bickering but stopped when they spotted Kurt and Santana by the T.V.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"The labs, the ones the cures came from, they blew up," Kurt said, "no one knows what happened yet."

"Wow," Sam said, "I said someone would do that. Didn't I say that they would be targeted by terrorists for doing something good for the world?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yes, you also said the treatments wouldn't work and cause death."

The four of them sat in front of the T.V. for an hour watching the coverage, and then when it went back to normal programming Kurt declared it was time for a shower and for them to order something for them to eat.


Three days later, the news was still covering the explosion and the investigation as to what happened within the labs was still ongoing and no one had any answers, even Kurt was curious as to what happened. Theories were abound and one was crazier than another. Then, late on a Saturday evening, another news story took its place.

A man was found dead in a home not too far from the labs by a police officer. While that wasn't a weird occurrence, the weird part was that the man looked like some animal had attacked him and eaten him. A picture had not been shown but a description had been enough for Kurt to shudder.

A few days later there was another dead body. Then two more. Three.

After a week, there were five. Sam claimed that there had to be more, it couldn't just be five. A search for a wild animal or a pack of animals began.

No more deaths were reported after the sixth, a little girl, but Sam thought there had to be more and they just didn't want the public to know about them.

Both of the news stories died down when there was nothing new to report and Kurt continued with his routine of school, working at the diner, and going to the offices for the five hours that he was now limited to spending there. He and Blaine went on a few dates, but more often than not they stayed in and told Santana to stay out of the apartment.

Sex had only gotten better since they were both in New York, probably because they weren't sneaking around parents and because it was such a constant in their lives. They had the freedom to take hours to explore every inch of skin on each other's bodies and try all the things they'd always wanted to do like tying Blaine's hands to the headboard while Kurt worked his mouth on Blaine's cock, or Kurt getting to be as loud as he wanted to be while Blaine pounded into him. There was also slow, torturous sex that led to the best orgasms.

And it was on one of the nights when Santana had been told to strictly that she had to stay out of the apartment for the night that loud rapping on their door stopped their activities before they'd even begun.

"I'll get it," Kurt sighed.

"Get rid of them," Blaine whispered, "I'll be waiting."

It was hard for Kurt to walk away and not just ignore the knocks that continued.

Sam and Rachel burst into the loft. "Have you heard?" Sam said excitedly, and then, "where's Blaine?"

"Well come right on in, you're all invited to interrupt—"

Sam ignored him and cut him off, "this is serious, Kurt."

It was only then that Kurt really took in their genuinely concerned faces. Sam had some excitement on his, but Rachel looked downright scared.

"What – what happened?" he asked, unsure if he even wanted an answer.

"There's something going on in Ohio," Rachel said.

"Hey, Kurt, why are you taking so long?" Blaine had redressed, and he stood looking a little disheveled just outside of their room.

"Sam and Rachel have something to tell us," Kurt said.

"Blaine!" Sam exclaimed, "I think the zombie apocalypse is upon us."

There was a beat, and then Rachel rolled her eyes dramatically. "Now that is going too far," she said, "but there is something going on. My dads were in Columbus this morning at the hospital visiting a friend and they told me they saw a man being admitted with a bite that looked like the ones from all those dead bodies. Anyway, they overheard one of the doctors saying that there is no way an animal would have bitten anyone like that. They said it looked like it was caused by a human."

Sam jumped in, "zombies, it has to be. Fact: they like to eat humans. Fact: they originate from a deadly uncontained virus."

Rachel glared at Sam. "Look, the facts are that the lab is in Portsmouth and most of those deaths took place there or near it, but this guy that got away, well, he's from Dayton so whatever it is, whoever it is that's doing that, they're not far from Lima. The authorities, they aren't reporting this stuff and frankly my dads are worried. They won't get back to Lima until tomorrow, so I thought you'd want to call your dad, Kurt."

Kurt had already pulled out his phone, but his dad didn't answer. When he phoned Carole it went to voicemail. He tried not to worry about them.

Blaine pulled his phone out as well and he spoke to his mom who Kurt knew was probably only humoring Blaine because that was the kind of woman she was.


The days following Sam and Rachel barging into the loft had Kurt listening for any story related to Ohio on the news. He had finally gotten through to his dad, but his dad had shrugged off the danger as rumors.

"Kurt, I'm a Congressman, I think I would have heard of something by now. Sorry to disappoint Sam but there are no such thing as zombies."

Kurt was reassured, but something in his gut told him that there was still something going on. There was another reported death, but more mysterious than that, were the missing person reports. At first it was just two or three in Columbus, a couple in Dayton, and then one in Westerville, and some more in Dayton, a few in Portsmouth, and finally one in Lima.

Kurt called his dad again.

"Kid, I'm flattered you want to call your old man every day, but there's nothing to worry about."

"Dad, even if this isn't zombies, there are still an awful lot of missing persons and deaths. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

His dad had shrugged him off. "Listen, kid, I know you have something alerting you whenever anything happens in Ohio so now you're actually hearing about it, but things like this happen all the time. Nothing to worry about."

Other things distracted Kurt at that point and he once more lost himself to his routine until the day when his phone rang at 3 a.m. in the morning.

"Kurt, I have to make this quick," his dad's hushed voice said, "I shouldn't even be calling."

"Wha—dad?"

Kurt pulled away from Blaine's arms to sit up and he heard Blaine wake up. "Kurt, what's going on?"

"Listen, Kurt, just listen. You were right. You and Sam and Blaine you were all right. Something is going on. We were trying to find a cure, fix it somehow, but it's out. It can't be contained and it's mutating."

It was hard to understand what his dad was saying while he was so groggy. He nudged Blaine and somehow managed to get the phone on speaker.

"They'll announce it tomorrow," his dad said, "you'll know everything then, but I want you prepared. Buy water, food, toilet paper. Anything you'll need just in case – use your emergency card, it doesn't matter. Tell your friends too. If it can't be stopped here, things are going to get bad."

"Dad?"

"Mr. Hummel?" Blaine asked, and then he looked at Kurt, "what's going on?"

His dad didn't speak for a moment.

"Sorry, had to make sure they don't know I'm calling. Boys, take care of each other. I love you, both of you. Don't – if things get bad here, I don't – I don't want you coming to look for me. Promise me, that. Kurt, promise."

His voice was shaky when he answered. "I promise," he whispered.

"You too, Blaine."

"Sir, I—"

"Blaine, please."

"I promise."

There were some loud sounds from his dad's side of the conversation and then a rustling.

"I have to go," Burt said, "I'll be okay. There are measures being put in place. I have to go. I love you."

"Love you, dad," Kurt mumbled, but it was to a dial tone.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked.

Kurt dropped the phone, uncaring of where it landed. He turned to Blaine. "I think my dad is saying Sam was right, or partially right I still don't believe in zombies. Something's happening."

Blaine reached for him and Kurt fell into his chest.

"It'll be alright. They'll stop it, whatever it is."

"And if they don't?"

"Then, we fight or we hide and survive. We figure something out. The point is I'll always be with you at your side and nothing can get us as long as that's true. I love you, Kurt."

"I love you too," Kurt whispered.

They lay in silence for a while and Kurt tried not to imagine every possible horrible scenario of what might be going on. His dad hadn't been very open in detail about what was going on, just that it was getting out of hand to the point where it couldn't be hidden anymore. He was tempted to buy a ticket on the next plane to Ohio and ignore his dad's warnings, but the promise he'd made in the end made him stop.

"Tomorrow we have to stock up," Blaine whispered, "like your dad said. We'll tell the rest and get prepared."

Kurt nodded. He hoped his dad was right and there was no need to be prepared for anything. Maybe his dad was just being extra cautious.


Kurt didn't hear from his dad the next day. He and Blaine skipped school and dragged Sam and Santana with them in Blaine's car to New Jersey and a Costco. There they managed to buy everything they might need in bulk and also explain why they were doing so to Santana and Sam.

When they got back in the city, it was time to tell Rachel and Artie and a few other friends. They phoned Mercedes, Tina, and Mike and explained the situation. Rachel called Quinn and Puck. Sam called Mr. Shuester. It was hard to sell the necessity for them to be prepared for anything, but they tried.

Just like Kurt's dad had predicted there was an announcement that night. Kurt, Blaine, Sam, Rachel, Artie, Dani, and even Elliot were in the loft glued to the T.V. while some government representative spoke.

"We are in a state of emergency," the man said, "one that I never expected to deal with. It is not one crisis that anyone could have expected. A deadly virus has escaped into the air. We are working to contain it and eradicate it, and have been doing so since it's discovery. It is sad to say that this virus could have come from Coutt's labs. It is unclear if this was something created or a combination that came out of the explosion. So far, there have been multiple deaths related to the virus but the number of infected is not known. These cases have been isolated to Ohio."

He paused, as if readying himself for the next thing he would have to say and after what felt like a few long minutes, he continued, "As of now Ohio has become quarantined. No one will come in or out until we are sure that the threat is eliminated."

Rachel gasped. "Oh, god," she said, "it's bad then."

Kurt could remember his dad's worried voice from last night. He'd known this was coming.

Reporters had begun asking questions. Kurt only half listened. A few were about technicalities. Others questioned if it was possible for the virus to have already gotten out of Ohio.

The last question was the one Kurt really listened to.

"So, what are the symptoms? How can you tell when someone has it?"

"This virus is not like a flu," the representative said, "we don't know how it begins yet, but we know it affects the brain. We think it drives people insane. They become cannibals."

No one said anything for a while, and then they all looked at Sam.

"It is zombies, isn't it?" He asked.


Author's Note: Hope everyone liked this one. It's a lot of introduction stuff...but once the zombies come in I'm sure that things will just get awesome and I'm super excited to work on that.

Please review.

You can find me on tumblr, btw, and I'll probably end up posting previews or how things are going for the fic there. my name on there is: emquin.

Thank you.