DISCLAIMER: Okay, So I may or may not have forgotten to place a disclaimer in here before. What? Don't look at me like that with your cold, feely eyes. ಠ_ಠ Anyway. These characters do not belong to me. Also, I didn't like all my proper nouns, so I changed it up a bit. Yay.
glee © Fox, Ryan Murphy, not me
A lone bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as her neck strained to show unbelieving eyes a wave of reality. Her hand clasped with another even tighter as her legs pushed forward. Blonde hair swept across her face in retaliation when she turned her attention back to the escape route.
"Rachel, you have to trust me," her throat growled.
"Quinn… What's going on?" Rachel sobbed.
"I don't know," deadpanned Quinn. She looked over at Rachel who had been fairly blind since Miss Fabray had found her. Approximately a mile and a half of running later, Rachel Berry was still crying.
"What happened to them?"
"If I had to guess… Well, I don't know. I don't have one that makes any logical sense. Now be quiet for once, Rachel. You're going to wear yourself out," Quinn murmured. The only reply was a whimper.
Don't worry, baby. I'll get us out of here.
Quinn glanced over her shoulder again to make sure there were no more walking corpses following them through the woods before she slowed to a trot. Forty-five minutes had passed since she had seen a walking corpse and forty since Rachel had stopped crying, so she figured that they had earned some rest. A hand wandered into her messenger bag, fumbling about for a bottle of water she had stored away. She gingerly unscrewed the cap and offered the other girl a drink before she, herself, took a sip.
A very exasperated Rachel Berry accepted the gift. Shaky hands nearly spilled the drink before Quinn's hands soothed them. She released one hand to pull her trembling acquaintance into an embrace. Rachel jumped at the sudden contact.
"Hush… You'll be okay," she cooed.
"But, Quinn… What in the world is going on? What was chasing us? What happened to everyo—?"
A finger silenced the onslaught of questions. Even she didn't know where to begin. The truth is always a good place to start, some part of her answered. Here goes nothing.
"Sit down," she commanded to which Rachel folded onto the ground in a sobbing heap, pulling her savior down with her. She continued, "I think the dead are coming back to life. I know you must think I'm crazy—God knows I feel crazy, but I simply cannot think of another explanation for what's going on."
"Oh…"
An eerie silence filled the cracks between the two. Quinn engulfed the girl in a full embrace in an effort to dispel the unwanted air.
"Quinn, please don't take this the wrong way."
She froze, afraid that Rachel could feel her heart beating so quickly from the running and was misinterpreting it. She would have been misinterpreting it, right? Of course. Why else would her heart have been racing, especially considering the circumstances? Oh, no, what if there had been another reason for such rapid heartbeats? Fear is the only alternative explanation. Although, her heart wasn't beating this fast before, not even when they had been running for what seemed like eons. What could this possibly mean?
"You're going to spill the water if you get much closer to me…"
"Oh!" she yelped as she released Rachel altogether. "I'm sorry."
"Normally, you would have been perfectly fine, I assure you. It's just that I have this, and I fully intend to drink some while leaving some for you in return. This is exceptionally kind of you, Quinn. I just have one question…"
Anxiousness prickled the back of her neck. Her lips parted ever so slightly before Rachel continued:
"Why did you save me? Out of all the people you could have gone after first, you went after me. You could have gone to Puck's or Santana's or Shelby's… Oh, no! Do you know if Beth is okay? Why, Quinn? Why did you go after me instead of your own child?"
"Of course I made sure Beth was fine before I picked you up." She picked her phone out of the bag and showed her companion a text. "See? They're going to meet us a few miles north of here. Apparently Shelby watches as many horror flicks as I do. Finally something I did that's actually going to pay off," she scoffed.
"You still didn't answer me…" Rachel slanted her eyes in suspicion and befuddlement.
She looked away from the dark eyes and whispered, "You were the only person I could think about."
Rachel's grip around the water bottle relaxed a bit as she brought it up to her parched lips, unable to conjure any words she may have deemed appropriate in the current situation. She could only hum in response. After a few small gulps, she returned the mostly full plastic container to her companion. Quinn licked her lips and took a sip.
"Well," Rachel stood with as much pep as she could muster, "I best be off, then. Thanks for the help, Miss Fabray. I won't burden you any more with my voice, lovely though it may be, and my uncanny ability to take up half the supplies on your courageous endeavor." She turned to walk away.
"Wait! Where exactly do you think you'll be able to stay? I didn't save you just so you could throw away what little chance at life you have," the strong throat begged a little too loudly as she frantically grabbed at Rachel's sleeve. "I mean, really. Are you going to ignore the huge risk I took to get you here in the first place?"
She stopped. "I-I hadn't thought that far." A quiver shook her throat.
"You don't have to leave, Rachel. You're welcome to stay with me as long as you like. Please, don't leave me alone tonight. I need someone I can trust. I need… You."
At that confession, Rachel gawked at the desperation grasping her shirt sleeve. For what she thought was the first time, the blonde was actually seeing her. As far as Quinn would care to admit, it was.
"Nobody will ever know how long I've waited to hear that," Rachel whispered so only she knew that the words had actually been spoken aloud.
"So, are you staying or not?" she asked with little hope in her voice.
"Of course. I've always been here, Quinn."
She moved toward Rachel who captured her in a hug. The tears that Quinn hadn't dared cry before poured from her. The warmth from the smaller girl's body sank in past her clothes all the way into her heart. She had been able to deny it before for a time, but now she couldn't reject the feelings she had for the beauty of a brunette who she was held.
"I won't leave you behind anymore," she wept.
A rotting moan sloshed through the blonde's sobs. Rachel's voice pierced the air. Adrenaline rushed through Quinn's veins. She grabbed the arm dangling uselessly in the air and started running.
"Come on!"