Title: Breathing Through Corrupted Lungs
Rating: M
Warnings: Minor character death
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters featured, it was just my idea to put them in this verse.
Summary: In a future where the electricity has gone, the government has full power and every person has to fight for survival. For Kurt Hummel this means escaping his dreary town and getting himself out there as he follows a group trying to bring the power back. But nothing is as easy as it sounds and when the secrets he discovers and a blooming romance with a recruit named Finn get entangled things get darker then Kurt could have ever dreamed.
Authors Note: This fic was betaed for me by a friend and features her OC, Damien briefly as a sort of thank you. This fic is the result of months of hard work for the Pinn and Kinn Big Bang 2013 so I hope you all enjoy!
Within an hour everyone in the village knew about the visitors. People crowded into the center, desperate to get a glance of the strangely dressed men and woman as they called out for people to listen to their tale. My footsteps were drowned out by the voices growing louder as I slipped into the crowd. This was the sort of thing I'd only read about in books. It was an escapist's dream come true, I had to get to the front. As I pushed my way through I felt a hand grab my arm, startling me out of my reverie.
"Kurt! Watch where you're going," was all I heard as I looked up into the familiar face of my father. I nodded before I slid into place beside him. I took the chance then to look through the throng of my neighbors. The head of the group stood at the front, a curly haired man in a floor length white coat. He looked to be in charge but the people behind him appeared to be so relaxed, even laughing along with him. They didn't seem to be Enforcers, they weren't organized enough, but they didn't appear to be ordinary travelers either. I let my eyes drift over the boy and the girl stood directly behind the man, they wore the same coats but appeared to be around my age. The boy was tall, quite handsome but somewhat scruffy whilst the girl wore her brown hair loose and kept a confident smile on her lips at all times.
Whoever they were, they weren't like anyone I'd ever seen before.
"I'm not sure I like the look of 'em," Dad muttered. I elbowed him discreetly as I watched the leader step forwards. I didn't want to make a judgment on them until I'd heard them speak though I knew my dad would say that they'd already won me over just by being different.
As the leader raised his arms slowly, the crowd around me fell silent. His eyes raked over us all, taking us all in as a smile lit up his face, inviting us all to listen to his story. Finally, he spoke up.
"It's a pleasure that so many of you have come out to listen to us. We won't take up much of your time but the fact is that we've discovered something. Something that could make all of your lives a lot easier," he paused. Around me the crowd had started to whisper among themselves. How could their lives be even easier? President Figgins had improved the country drastically by anyone's standards. I let their voices fade out as I tried to focus solely on the man. Sure, we were all fed and educated. Sure, we were all guaranteed jobs and now it seemed like we were guaranteed long lives. But life still wasn't perfect. I couldn't be the only one who wanted to listen.
"Recently I inherited a property from my father, a large house in New York State. The house contained many antiques from the past. From books that the government have long destroyed to bottles of oil that we can no longer get out of the ground and a generator. A piece of machinery that with the right kind of fuel can create electricity..."
He didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence before the crowd reared up, everyone trying to shout over each other about how dangerous electricity was. If anyone important found out about this then the heretics would be hung. Electricity was dangerous. Electricity led to people becoming lazy and too reliant and led to discoveries of things that could kill them, things that spread illness. They surged forwards, trying to get to the man and the two teenagers. My dad's arms wrapped around me again, pulled me back out of the group. I could only watch as the curly haired man turned around and signaled to the teenagers to move. They were running before anyone had the chance to get near them. A couple of the more athletic guys chased after them, even grabbed a few rocks and threw them at them but they didn't hit. Part of me wanted to go after them myself, wanted to hear more about electricity. About how they'd discovered it.
All I knew was what I'd been taught in school and the church didn't like preaching about what really happened in the past. They just passed on the propaganda that would make people loyal to God and the government. I doubted half of what they had taught me had even been true.
"People like that are just asking for it. They can't go around preaching about the past like that," Dad commented as he let me go, I turned my head to look up at him. I couldn't believe that he actually thought that.
"The only thing they're asking for is for us to listen. They wanted to help us. It's stupid that we're pushing the past away so hard. It can't have been that bad," I responded as I pushed away. My one chance of something interesting actually happening in this dumb community and it had been taken away because no one knew what had actually happened in the past. I sighed and started back off towards home. I had to go out again in a little while, see if I could hunt down any plants that we could use for remedies or cooking that didn't grow in our little vegetable patches. It wasn't fun and I wanted the chance to read a little before I went.
The thing about living in a village was that you learn to expect anything. Visitors were sparse but the dangers were still there, and if any of the Enforcers came by on one of their check-ups and you were caught…well, let's just say that it wouldn't be a pleasant horse ride you were going on. I knew this and yet I never took the utmost care, not as much as my Dad would have liked me to take
That day was no different.
I had let my mind wander as I looked around for plants and scraps of anything we could use. What had the curly haired man been talking about, and had it really been smart to chase him out of the village? People around here were too scared of the past and too scared of taking chances. Anything different and they would chase it out of town. My lips curled into a self-depreciating smirk as I looked down at myself. I was surprised that they hadn't done away with me yet. Though, I could easily say that it wasn't for a lack of trying on certain individuals parts.
I sighed and moved to turn in another direction when a scrap of white fabric caught my eye in the distance. I paused, eying the copse of trees warily. I padded forward carefully, making sure to avoid any branches and leaves. The closer I moved, the clearer it became what, or rather who, was down there. Their voices reached me first, a female one, loud and high as she ranted away.
"I just don't get why we have to stay out here. We're doing something that could help them. If they had just listened, they might have earned some respect for us!" Something hit the ground then and I can only assume she stomped her foot.
"You know it's not that simple, Rachel. They aren't ready. In the middle of nowhere they're too far into Sue's territory. If anyone hears that we were there then they could be in trouble and they know it," the more familiar voice responded. He definitely had to be the leader, but what did they mean by being in Sue's territory?
My mind flicked through facts from the papers and what we'd been taught in school. Sue Sylvester was the name of the vice-president, but she didn't have anything to do with the area. She was powerful sure but everything she did had to be run through President Figgins first. I frowned, wanting to get closer so I could hear more. Maybe I'd understand things better.
"But we have to try Will! We're the ones who are finally going to do something good for this country! We'll be the people they look up to and write about, but if we can't make any progress in places like this without being run out into the dark then we need to push harder!" The girl's voice was starting to grate on my nerves now, whatever she was so passionate about; she clearly did not care what other people thought. There was silence again and I wondered why the third guy wasn't speaking up. I'd certainly taken note of him but I was starting to wonder if he was just the brawn of the operation, the guard so to speak. Would that mean he would be alert to anyone listening in? I froze again, dropping to the ground as I tried to listen more closely. The man and the girl were just murmuring now and I could see the smoke from the start of the fire. They weren't going to be leaving then if they were settling down this soon. There were still a few hours of daylight which it would be best for them to use if they had any sense of safety. I hadn't seen any of the other scavengers around but you could never be too careful. I crawled forward on my belly but it didn't make any difference. Unless I stood up and joined them, I wouldn't be able to hear anything. I groaned under my breath and moved to slip away and stand up. I couldn't be seen with them, as curious as I was.
I pushed myself to my feet, planning on making a speedy get away when I saw him, the younger male. And he was standing right in front of me.
Shit.
My eyes widened slightly and I stepped back, not sure what to do. The boy's mouth hung open as he took in my appearance. I looked down and realized that I had dirt stains on my legs from lying on the ground and that my shirt was creased in a way that did me no favors. It couldn't have been more obvious what I had been doing. His mouth snapped shut and he stepped back, watching me curiously. As if he was waiting for me to speak.
"Hi. I hope I wasn't being rude or anything, I just saw you down here and I was just curious as to what it was that you actually wanted to tell us," I greeted. The boy seemed to ponder my explanation at first before he nodded and his lips broke into a wide grin.
"That's awesome, dude! I knew someone must have wanted to listen, I'm Finn," he introduced before he went to grab my shoulder. I stepped out neatly from under his arm, peeking into the copse to see the girl and curly haired man watching our exchange curiously.
"I'm Kurt. I'm sorry about what happened earlier, people just can't accept anything different around here, you just grow used to it," I replied. I stepped into the trees with a small smile. The girl was eying me up suspiciously while the man just looked pleased that someone was there. Not that I could blame him, I wouldn't want to be stuck alone with that girl for too long either. I eyed her up myself, taking in her dress and coat in more detail, studying the way she'd kept her hair whilst traveling. She looked a mess really, and as far as I cared, you could tell a lot about someone by the way they dressed and looked after themselves. I turned back to the boy who had remained in the entrance of the trees.
"I'll be back in a minute," he called back when he realized they were watching him and lumbered off. I watched him retreat, the view wasn't half bad actually and what I'd seen of his face earlier was handsome too. He maybe wasn't the best kept together but his whole bright demeanor meant he gave off a vibe of looking after himself without being annoying. It was interesting how all sorts of people could mix for a joint cause.
The man, Will I assumed, cleared his throat and I turned back to him.
"Will Schuester. I'm in charge of this operation. And this here is Rachel Berry, one of my most helpful assistants," he introduced holding a hand out. I took it hesitantly to shake but I wasn't surprised when Rachel didn't offer me the same courtesy.
"So why exactly were you listening in on our meeting?" she asked. Unfortunately she had a point. I shouldn't have just been listening in but I was not going to just let her talk down to me like that. I opened my mouth to argue but before I could say a word, Will had stepped between us.
"We'll find that out later, Rachel. For now, what must we do?" For a moment, Rachel slumped forwards but when she straightened up seconds later and started to gesture for me to take a seat; I almost could have sworn I imagined it. A flask was passed around and I took a quick drink of water to seem polite but I didn't want to drain their resources. I could drink plenty when I got back to the village. Once the little ritual was done and I seemed settled enough for the pair, Will cleared his throat.
"So why were you listening in?" I opened my mouth to repeat my earlier excuse about wanting to hear what they'd had to say in the village but Will shook his head.
"I understand that you want to hear us out but that doesn't explain why you'd listen in like a spy. Are you working for the government?"
The government?
My mouth fell open for a second as I looked between him and Rachel. They had mentioned the vice-president, but what was that to do with any of us? Why would Sue or Figgins have anybody working for them in the village like ours? The school was under control of the church and the Enforcers came around often enough to stop any trouble from forming. Wasn't that enough proof that there weren't any government workers around?
"No! No one I know is. I'm not going to report you; I just couldn't let anyone see me with you. It's too dangerous." I didn't need to say that I couldn't be sure whether they were dangerous or not themselves. Something I said must have rang true though as Will nodded at Rachel and sat back down. Rachel didn't join him; instead she gaped at Will for a moment before she crossed her arms and turned back to Kurt.
"We can't trust him. We were chased out of his village and then he was spying on us. If we tell him anything then the Enforcers will be on us in no time!" And I couldn't argue, she had no reason to trust me, just as I had no reason to trust them. But a blind hope kept me in my seat. If I could just get them to tell me what was going on, what they had discovered about electricity then maybe I could do something to help. Maybe I could finally get out of here and live my own novel. My body tensed as I made my decision. I had to do something.
"You might not be able to trust my word but this is no different than you all talking to the people of my village earlier. Here you have someone who is actually interested in helping and you're pushing me away because you can't trust me. Not everyone in the village is the same. I want to do something for this country. I want my name to mean something," I said, my voice growing in volume as I met Rachel's eyes. I needed to make her believe me. Will was already giving me a chance but if I didn't win her over now then there would be opposition every step of the way. And I didn't need that. I watched as she pressed her lips into a thin line but eventually, she sat down without a word.
The minutes passed silently and when it was clear that neither Rachel nor I had anything else to say, Will finally spoke up.
"I said earlier on that I've inherited an estate. It's just outside of New York City. It has fairly large grounds with a small man-made lake. When I first visited, I didn't think I would find anything special. My great-grandfather had been known to be quite an eccentric but most of what he talked about no one had thought would come to pass. Even when people started dying," he paused briefly as a branch cracked nearby. Finn stepped in through the bushes, a sheepish look on his face before he sat down beside me.
"My great-grandfather's worries paid off though as what I did find was a generator. When we provide it with fuel it can run the electricity on the grounds. It also has solar panels so we will eventually be able to use the sun to keep it running but we're in the middle of figuring it out. The aim of our group is to inform people that electricity is still out there, we can still use it. We just need to work out how and to gather enough fuel. It's going to take some time before we can put it into use anywhere other than the estate but that's our long term objective," Will explained. They wanted to bring electricity back fully. No wonder they were worried about government spies.
"But the government shut the electricity down for a reason. Before any of us were even born. What makes you think that one group can possibly change anything?" I had to ask. Will looked between his two assistants and Rachel stood back up.
"Being a part of something special makes you special, Kurt. And if we can get enough people together, we can make a difference. We can stand out of the crowds and make people listen to us, to see that we're right. We're only trying to do what's good for the country. And if some people can't accept that, if you can't then you might as well walk away right now." Her words, though maybe somewhat nonsensical struck a chord within me. She was right. If you were part of something then you could be special and you could make a change. Wasn't that what my books suggested? Wasn't that why I had always spoken my mind, even if that got me in trouble with other people within the village? I was different but that didn't mean I couldn't make a change.
"Then I'm in." My words surprised even me, Rachel had opened her mouth ready to argue but she fell silent with my assent. I heard Finn cheer quietly next to me and felt his large hand drop onto my shoulder.
"Alright, dude! You've definitely made the right decision!"
I just really hoped that I had.
"You were gone a long while."
I just hummed in response as I hurried past my Dad and into my bedroom. I heard him following me but I didn't have time to make any excuses. The other scavengers would be back soon, I was usually the first but if I wanted to get away from here with Will and the others then we had to go now.
"Find anything interesting?" Dad asked, I just shrugged and grabbed couple of clean pairs of pants and shirts from my drawers. I didn't even have time to carefully pick out a few outfits. Would I even have time to change during the journey? Probably not but it didn't hurt to be prepared. I folded them into a bag; I'd be able to do something with them later. I headed towards my book shelf next, grabbing a couple of my favorites before I moved to pick up my comb and a few other necessities.
"Kurt?" I paused at the sound of my Dad's voice this time. I turned back to him, my bag clutched to my chest. Without me even saying a word, he seemed to understand. He sighed, his shoulders slumping as he slipped his hands into his pockets.
"I was going to say goodbye," I murmured as I watched him. This was the man that had always been there for me, the man who had single handedly raised me since I was eight years old. He was the only person who I trusted enough to be completely honest to. And I was just going to leave him. "I'm sorry. I just...I want to do something." Dad shook his head at me, forcing his lips into a small smile as he stepped towards me.
"Don't be sorry. I get it. You're bigger then this town," he said. I smiled back at him, dropping my bag carefully to the floor. If I was going to leave then he deserved a proper explanation at least.
"I know and those people, they're bigger then this town too. They're going to do something about the state of this country," I tried to explain. As soon as the words left my mouth, I witnessed a change in my Dad. His entire body stiffened and he started to frown. It hadn't taken him a moment to realize what people I had meant and I didn't have time to reassure him. With a small sigh of resignation, I picked up my bag and went back to packing up my meager belongings. Maybe it was good that I didn't have much outside of my clothes and books. There was less to miss when I couldn't take it with me.
"Those people are dangerous, Kurt. If the Enforcers catch up with them..."
He had a point. I bit my lip before I turned back to him. Dad wasn't angry but I could tell that he wasn't letting me go without a fight. Not now. He was stubborn and pigheaded but he cared about me. But I couldn't give into him. Not this time. This was what I needed, this was what was right. I wasn't going to give that all up for the sake of being safe.
"It's just a risk I'm going to have to take." Shouldering my bag I started out of my room, slipped past my Dad before he could even try and stop me. I expected him to follow but when I got to the front door, he hadn't moved from my bedroom. I watched as he moved forwards to sit on my bed and I felt my heart break slightly.
"I'll be okay, Dad. I'll even come back one day," I called out to him. He didn't look up, just nodded.
"You'd better, kid." Part of me wanted to go back in there and hug him but we'd never been the type of people to really hug our feelings out. Instead I opened the front door and with one last look, said goodbye.
"I love you."
As I stepped out onto the cracked sidewalk, one of the few remnants of the past, my front door slammed shut behind me. This place would be in my past now, I could become part of its history. All I had to do was follow my dreams and to help out where I was needed. I felt my guilt slip away as I started out towards Will's makeshift campsite. I went quickly but I couldn't help myself from slowing down and taking certain things in, the tree which my family had always had picnics under, the church and the school where the troubled children were only now coming back from detention. They were all familiar to me. It was then as I was silently saying goodbye that I heard footsteps come up from behind me.
"What are you doing, Hummel? Looking for some friends?" I turned around to see Azimio and Karofsky coming up behind me. The two young males were large; sneers on their faces letting me know that they were planning on making my evening a living hell. Unfortunately for them I didn't have time to hang around with them.
"No. I prefer my company to have more intelligence than that. I'm sure you'd get along with them a lot better," I responded. Azimio scowled, taking another step towards me.
"What exactly are you doing then?" he asked. I snorted, as if I was about to tell them. I was getting out of here. I didn't need to put up with this crap anymore.
"It's none of your business." I turned on my heel and started off again, speeding up the further away from them that I got. They muttered something to each other and then they were following me again. I had to lose them. I couldn't lead them to the group. I turned a corner at the end of the road and headed towards the market instead. I looked up at the sky, it was close to sunset so everything would be closing soon, but maybe that was the perfect way to lose them. I started to speed walk, having to hold myself back to stop myself from breaking into a sprint. They'd just chase me even harder and laugh at me for being scared. My grasp on my bag tightened as my palms started to sweat.
Something grabbed hold of my bag and I looked over my shoulder to see one of Azimio and Karofsky's fellow goons tugging at it. He turned back to his friends with a toothy grin.
"Lookie what I've got here! I've caught myself a homo," he declared. I felt a shiver run down my spine but all I could do was straighten up and glare as he pulled me closer. I couldn't remember this guy's name, he'd never been in school but the smell of his breath as he grabbed hold of my shoulder and leaned in close was enough to bring back plenty of unpleasant memories. I struggled out from under his arm but Azimio and Karofsky had moved close enough now that there was nowhere to run. I was surrounded. I cursed quietly and with a quick tug, pulled my bag to clutch in front of my chest like a make shift shield. Azimio scoffed and reached out to grab my bag, throwing it on the floor.
"Now listen here Ladyboy, you might walk around acting like you own the place but you don't. We're in charge here, so if you won't tell us where you're going, we'll make you," he threatened, his face getting closer and closer to mine per second. I met his gaze with my own, determined not to give in. I pressed my lips together tightly, my head held high as I waited for him to crack. It happened sooner than I expected.
A fist slammed into my stomach as the guy behind me grabbed the back of my shirt to keep me upright. I stumbled back a couple of steps, my arms wrapping around myself to protect my stomach. The next shot hit me in the jaw but before I could grab at my assailants arm, my feet were being swept out from under me. My captor had released my shirt. If I was going to get out of here relatively unharmed then I needed to move now. I pushed myself onto my knees, slightly shaking before I jumped up. Azimio, Karofsky and their friend just laughed, gesturing that I should come at them. So I gave them what they wanted, I rushed forward slamming my side into Karofsky before turning my body to kick Azimio in the groin. I put as much force as I could into my attack, the two larger boys stumbling to the side giving me the freedom to pass through. As soon as my foot hit the ground again, I was off darting past them to head towards the edge of civilization. I'd given myself an advantage by shocking them but I knew it wouldn't be long until they were after me. I felt a twinge of annoyance at leaving my bag but I had no choice. Just as I reached the outskirts of the village, I heard them thundering up behind me but before I could duck away, someone had grabbed at me. They twisted my arms behind my back and shoved me to the ground. I couldn't get my arms in front of me in time to catch myself. My face scraped against the dirt as my knees collapsed beneath me. A foot collided with my chest as I tried to roll over, winding me again. I wanted to say something, to tell them to stop, but the foot came again and again and again. The air was torn from my throat as someone else aimed higher and kicked me in the throat then the head. Pain bloomed in every part of my body and I knew, I just knew, that I wasn't going to make it. I had squeezed my eyes shut at some point but when I heard, shouting, I opened them again. I could have sworn that through the tears I could see two figures running towards me. My attackers noticed them when I did and started jeering but when one of them waved something they turned and started muttering to each other. I couldn't focus on a single word they said until someone kicked me in the side again.
"I should have known you'd turn traitor, Hummel. You deserved everything you got." That was Azimio's voice, I heard someone spit and felt wetness on my arm but that could have been blood for all I knew. The three young men turned on their heels and ran off. Probably to tell everyone where I was and what I'd been trying to do. They'd call the Enforcers in and then I'd be done for. My Dad had been right and I hadn't even managed to get out of the village.
When a few minutes later I heard more voices in the other direction, I attempted to roll over. I had to get away. The movement made me dizzy and the pain in my chest was unbearable, it almost felt difficult to breathe. Had they damaged my ribs? I patted at my chest feebly but I wasn't in the state to be able to tell anything other than the fact that hurt. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing shallowly when someone stopped in front of me. My eyes snapped open and Rachel gasped, Rachel, it was the group. They'd come to find me. I tried to breathe a sigh of relief but even that was difficult right now.
"Can't move," I croaked out. Was that really my voice? Will nodded as he crouched down in front of me. He reached out and helped me sit up slowly, frowning every time I winced.
"We need to find the others and quick. He needs a doctor," Will said. I opened my mouth to voice a complaint but no words came out. The older man gestured towards me and Finn lumbered forwards to pick me up. I tensed, expecting the movement to be a lot rockier then it was but pain went shooting through me. I slumped against Finn's chest as he held me there, one arm beneath my legs and the other supporting my back. I dropped my head on his shoulder, breathing in his smell. It was unfamiliar but it made me feel comfortable. I was safe for now.
"But they aren't expecting us for another couple of days. They might not be ready for us," Rachel replied. I let their conversation wash over me and eventually they decided that my wellbeing was more important than going onto the next town tomorrow.
After that I faded in and out of consciousness for a bit. Every time I awoke I was in Finn's arms but the setting was somehow different. At one point I think I asked him if I was too heavy and did he want to put me down. He told me it was okay, he could handle me and he wouldn't drop me even if his arms did get tired. I didn't know how much time had passed but when I woke for the final time and heard unfamiliar voices, it was dark, and there were two new men and a woman staring at me.
The damage wasn't too bad fortunately. My ribs were badly bruised but they weren't broken, it just felt like they were. It would take a few weeks for them to heal but provided I took the pain medication that Carl had provided me with, I would be fine. Carl was one of the men we'd met up with, he was handsome and around the same age as Will. He was a doctor with all the basic training but none of the money; he preferred to just help those who needed it for free. It was why he'd joined up with the group. The other two people were a young black woman called Mercedes and a young man who, apart from Rachel, everyone called Puck. None of the newcomers seemed to know what to make of me but I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to get into any more trouble today. I was lying down on a cart beside the fire, Finn sat up next to me as he chatted away to Puck. It was almost like I was on a normal camping trip. If my side didn't ache so much, I may even have been able to enjoy myself. Instead, I just lay there until I managed to fall back asleep.
The next day the entire group started traveling together. I stayed in the cart, the bumps now and then jolting my body but the journey was smoother then it would have been by foot or on a horse. Will walked by my side as Carl led the group. After a few hours of comfortable silence and unfamiliar surroundings, wooden poles with wires strung along the top of them and abandoned towns that I'd never heard of, I finally spoke up.
"Where are we going?" Will turned to me, a smile on his face as he did so.
"Back to the compound. It'll probably take just over a week to get there," he explained. That would give me a little time to heal then. I hadn't wanted to be a useless burden they'd be stuck with when I'd signed up to help. I should at least try and do something during the journey; a sharp pain ran through me as I shifted slightly, when I could move I would help.
"Could you tell me something about what I'll be doing there?" I asked. It would be good to prepare myself in advance; it wouldn't all be traveling and talking to people. Before Will could answer me, Carl called him up ahead and I was left with my thoughts. This could be a long journey.
The next week passed quickly. Every day was pretty much the same but with the pain medication Carl had given me, I was eventually back on my feet. My ribs hadn't healed but I was at least able to move about without much pain. My chest was bandaged up to constrict it in the hope that it would help my ribs heal back in place, just in case Carl had been wrong and I had fractured them instead of just bruised.
The first day I was allowed to walk, I joined Rachel for part of the way. As irritating as she was, I felt like she'd also be one of the most informative. As I stepped beside her, I watched her face fall for a moment before she had a smile on her lips again.
"Kurt! I'm glad you'll finally be able to join us properly," she greeted. Oh yes, I could totally tell that she was being sincere. It took most of my self-control to stop myself from snorting.
"I'm not sure that I can really do anything yet though," I started, waiting for her to frown once again so I could see how she truly felt about me. Oh, it would be wonderful to actually start an argument. There was nothing more boring than a silent journey in a cart. Rachel clenched her jaw but her smile didn't waver.
"And why's that? We can't have freeloaders, Kurt. We're all in this together and there is a lot of work still to be done." All of a sudden I didn't feel so much like teasing her. Something in my gut stirred and it made me want to hit something. Rachel preferably.
"I'm not a freeloader. I joined to help the cause," I responded before I sped up. I couldn't walk beside her right now; I didn't really want to walk with anyone.
I didn't know why her words made me so angry. I'd never been a freeloader in the past, in fact, it would have been impossible in the village. But since the journey had started, I'd been useless and I hated it. I was used to being in school or working. I sighed, maybe she'd been right. I might not be able to do much but I at least needed to offer. I turned my eyes up to the sky; the sun had started to set which meant that within the next hour we'd be stopping to make camp. That would be my chance. I padded along not speaking to anyone until Carl shouted something up ahead. Suddenly everyone started to turn and the unfamiliar boy shoved into my side as he pushed me towards a small wooded area. I wobbled slightly, confused as I looked around me. This wasn't like anywhere we'd camped before. I followed anyway, I could see a river sparkling in the close distance out of the corner of my eye and the trees in front of me looked thick. There was no way that we were getting the cart in there. Up ahead Will and Carl had reached the trees and were signaling for us to hurry up. I was the last of the group to reach them and slipped in between Finn and Rachel.
"Right guys, we arrived here later than originally planned so we need to get the cart away quickly. Finn and Puck, I want you both on that with Carl. Rachel and Mercedes get the food and blankets off and bring them to the camp site. Kurt, I want you to follow me," Will assigned, looking around the group. No one complained about their jobs so when Will was happy, he started off. I didn't follow though. I watched as Finn and Puck seemed to be messing around with some of the tree branches that hung heavily to their left. When lifted up a larger space seemed to open up and my mouth fell open as I realized what was going on. This place was theirs, wasn't it? The group had been here before, had been only a week away from my village. It had felt like quite a distance along the way but in the scheme of time, it wasn't too bad a journey. They could have come by and changed my life anytime. They'd probably been by the village before and hadn't said anything. They might have even-
"Kurt?" Will called. I turned back to him; I couldn't just follow him to the campsite yet. I wanted to know more.
"I was going to get some of the blankets with the girls," I said, though I hadn't taken a step forwards. I moved to finally do so when Will called my name again.
"I told you to come with me," Will stated, his voice carrying more authority than I'd heard him use before. I was torn, I wanted to help but I didn't want to make Will mad at me either. I could see the girls looking between me and each other worriedly and I knew I had to follow. With a sigh, I turned back around and joined him among the trees.
The wood turned out to be not that deep. The trees being so close together gave an illusion of density that made it darker than it actually was. Several times I stumbled forwards and had to grab onto Will to keep my balance. I didn't really want to fall over right now. Someone might actually step on me, probably Finn. I could hear the other boys coming up behind me as they finished with the cart. Quickly enough we were out of the trees and back out into the open space. The campsite was a large circle of which the woods skirted around. There was a hole in the middle for a fire and the dirt around it looked clear of stones so people could comfortably rest there. Will gestured ahead for me to go sit in front of the hole as he commanded the other boys to go pick out some wood for the fire. I heard them groan but they slunk off anyway. Probably eager to settle down and get some hot food in them before they slept. The girls joined us just as they left, their arms full of food and blankets which they handed me a blanket from and started to organize the rest. By the time the sun had set fully, we were all settled down with blankets. Dinner had been cooked and served quickly and everyone around me was chatting quietly amongst themselves. I lay back as I listened, not trying to involve myself with any particular conversation but just enjoying the sound of people who were actually happy with what they were doing. The conversation eventually lulled me to sleep.
The fire was still alight when I woke but it seemed that everyone else around me was asleep. The night was silent as I sat up, the woolen blanket falling into a heap in my lap. The moon was still high in the sky so I knew I couldn't have slept for long. Part of me was still tempted to just lie back down and attempt to sleep the night through but my body itched to get up and actually do something.
"Can't sleep either?" I looked up as Finn sat down beside me, a crude cup made out of clay in his hands. I was surprised, I hadn't heard him move but I suppose being out here with everyone, he must have learned something about being stealthy. Even if he looked like he tumbled everywhere noisily.
"No. I just want to do something, I guess. Everyone else did their share and now they're resting. But Will's been treating me like I'm made of porcelain. I haven't done a thing all day. I should be up keeping watch or something!" I responded, throwing the blanket down onto the dirt beside me. I looked down at my chest, catching a glimpse of the bandages that crossed my chest through the collar of my shirt. I'd proven myself to be weak before I'd even had the chance to do anything. Now they didn't even trust me with basic chores. Great new recruit I was turning out to be. My eyes welled up out of frustration but I didn't let the tears fall. I couldn't let them fall. Finn wouldn't see me cry.
"Well, your skin is pretty close to that shade, dude," Finn's words came out of nowhere and the absurdity of the statement was enough to draw a laugh out of me. I stared down at my hands and tried to bite back a smile.
"I suppose you're right there." I turned to look at him, glimpsing at the profile of his face in the fire light. He was very handsome. A lazy smile played on his lips show casing his dimples and the night seemed to make his eyes a deeper shade of brown. He was everything a romantic hero should be described as being. I lowered my eyes again as he turned to look between me and the other members of our camp.
"Nobody thinks you're weak Kurt. But you need to give yourself a chance to heal. Those brutes did a good job on you," he paused as glanced at my chest like he could see the bandages through my shirt. I crossed my arms. Finn cleared his throat, looking away for a moment. "If you really want to feel helpful then you can always offer to help someone out. They'd be grateful, I'm sure. Just…be careful," Finn said. As he words sunk in I finally understood. They were all looking out for me. I'd left my home and my family to join them on their quest and I'd been injured for doing so. They were still going to give me a chance. I could still prove my worth to them.
"Thank you," I murmured.
Finn just shrugged in response. The cup in his hands was shoved towards me and I caught a waft of something sweet as I took it.
"I'm just saying what any good leader should. I don't want anyone to feel left out," he replied. I felt him stand up beside me and heard his footsteps take him around to the other side of the fire as I stared into the cup. He was just doing what a good leader would. His words echoed inside my head. I was sure that he must be a good leader; he was certainly a good guy. He'd just done what he thought was necessary to make camp life easier. It wasn't just for me. So why did it make me feel so warm inside. I risked a glance up across the fire at him. He caught my eye and smiled at me, gesturing towards the cup in my hands. I raised it towards my lips and sipped at it before I very quickly dropped my gaze. What had happened to the confident young man I'd been when I'd first run into them? Ugh, I shook my head at myself. Yes, Finn was very attractive and yes, I could accept that maybe, just maybe, I had the tiniest crush on him. But that wasn't what mattered right now. I had to get settled into the group and to find out what this was really about. What they were really going to do.
Plus I was pretty certain that I couldn't be the only one with such feelings towards Finn.
Time would tell whether he deserved them or not. We'd certainly be spending enough time together. If something were to happen between them one day then I would certainly fight for it but until then it didn't matter. This life I had chosen to enter into came first. I nodded to myself and drained the rest of the sweet drink. It was fruity with some sort of bitter edge and I was unsure of what it was but the effect of it and Finn's words had relaxed me. I placed the cup down and lay back down, pulling the cover back over me.
Tomorrow morning, I was going to start doing something.
The morning activity was in full swing by the time I had woken up again. I jolted from my place on the ground, wincing at the pain my sudden movement had caused. How had I slept through all of that?! I caught sight of Finn on the other side of the camp site, laughing with the mohawked guy as they headed back towards the wood to collect the cart. The drink. He must have put something in it. That was the only explanation. I scowled, already taking one step towards him when I heard an unfortunately very grating and familiar voice.
"It's about time you woke up. I know you're injured but surely you could be helping us out by now. We have a lot of work to do!" I turned towards Rachel, my hands clenched into fists by my side.
"I wasn't asleep by choice, believe me. And I'm perfectly willing to help out. If you'd care to tell me what to actually do rather than focusing on what you want to do," I responded. She blinked at me, clearly surprised by the animosity in my tone but she quickly shrugged it off.
"You can help Mercedes out. She's collecting some water for the horses and us. There are a lot of flasks to refill so it'll be quicker with two of you," she explained. I was off before she'd even finished speaking.
This morning already could not get any worse.
I trudged through the wood to my left and towards the river where the black girl I'd seen around was kneeling. She was singing to herself, her voice big and impressive. I stood back a few seconds to listen to her before I leaned down to join her. At the sight of my hand she jumped and turned on me with narrowed eyes.
"You don't sneak up on a girl like that! Give me some warning next time! Or didn't your parents teach you that," she snapped. I eyed her up and down, debating whether I could take her on if things had turned physical. Probably. I might not have been the biggest guy around but I was lithe and I had muscles that mostly went unnoticed. I'd be able to get in a couple of hits and make a run for it. I was used to running.
"My parents taught me to help out when needed. That's what I'm doing," I responded, scooping up a flask and kneeling down to fill it up with water. We'd probably want to boil it before drinking it. I for one wasn't going to drink water when who knew what could have pissed in it. I wrinkled my nose. The girl was still staring at me.
"You're the new guy, right? The one who got beaten up?" she asked. It was wonderful to hear that my legacy preceded me, just wonderful. I was forever going to be known as the guy who had been beaten up for trying to leave town. Funny how no one asked how many times I'd escaped those Neanderthals in the past. I huffed but nodded.
"I'm Kurt. Kurt Hummel," I offered, holding out my free hand for her to take in the old style of greeting. She looked at my hand unsurely for a moment before she took it and shook my hand.
"Mercedes Jones. So Rachel sent you over here I'm guessing?"
The conversation felt easy after that, free. Mercedes didn't share my love for reading but she appreciated music and we talked about the songs that our Mothers had sung to us as kids. I didn't mention that my Mother was dead. Not this time. It just didn't feel right to taint her memory with that cold hard fact right now. We got on with the work quickly and efficiently. We couldn't hear the others behind us but I supposed we couldn't risk anyone overhearing us. If the Enforcers passed by at the wrong moment, we would all be dead. At least two of us on our lonesome could claim to be traveling to visit friends or family. But it was still risky and it was that thought alone that spurred me to work faster. I heard Mercedes mutter something under her breath but didn't catch what. I just focused on finishing up the last few flasks, gathering them up when I had finished. Mercedes picked up the few I'd left behind and shook her head at me.
"Wow, I think we finished in record time. What's your hurry?" she asked, falling into step beside me as we walked back towards the others.
"I just had the sudden thought that we could be spotted out here. I don't know about you but I don't feel like running into any Enforcers today." Her lips turned down into a grimace as she shuddered slightly. I knew the same thoughts were crossing her mind that had crossed mine. No one knew what happened when the Enforcers took prisoners, but we knew that it wouldn't be pleasant. The pair of us lapsed into silence as we hurried back towards the others. When we passed through the trees, we could see them headed towards the tree line on the other side. It looked like we were packed and ready to leave. I bit my lip, I'd wanted to speak to Finn about what he'd done but there was no way I was asking him while we were moving. What if he decided to drug me again and leave me on the side of the road because I'd stood up to him? I tried to picture Finn like that but couldn't, even for a second. Okay, maybe that was unlikely but I didn't know why he'd done it and I didn't want to push too hard when other people could overhear. I could handle this myself. I didn't need people siding with him or worrying over me just because I was injured. I wasn't fragile. I felt a hand on my shoulder pushing me gently and I turned my head to see Mercedes take over me and I followed after her, dumping the flasks where she gestured before I climbed up beside them.
I'd figure everything out in time.
Days passed and I still hadn't managed to find the time to interrogate Finn. I hadn't accepted anything from him either but we were always surrounded. He always seemed to be asleep when I woke up in the middle of the night even though I knew he should have been on guard duty some of those times. I don't know if he'd been avoiding me or he really just was that useless. The journey was coming to an end though, everyone seemed to be getting more impatient, complaining more and saying what they'd do the moment they got back to the compound. Just when I thought that they were over eager, the countryside seemed to change. The trees at the side of the road petered away to green fields, the dirt track turned to paved , and up ahead in the distance I could see a large walled house.
I rubbed at my eyes but when I pulled my hands away, the building was still there. I looked around at the others as they quickened their pace, only the horses remaining calm as Will and Carl rode them along. I jumped off of the back of the cart, jogging slightly alongside it to trot alongside Will's horse.
"Is that it? Your family's house?" I questioned, pointing in the direction of the walls. Will nodded, smiling brightly at me,
"That it is. Welcome to your new home, Kurt." His words tugged at something within me. I had a home, some place I could finally belong and that I could actually do something for the world. I could become someone great here. An image of my Dad floated to the forefront of my mind and I felt an ache in my chest. It wouldn't ever really be a home without him here, but I could try. If I could do something worthwhile then I could go back to the village, maybe even bring him back here. But I wasn't going to forget about him. Not now, not ever.
"Are you alright?" I looked up to see Will was still by my side and nodded, my hands coming up to my face to quickly wipe at the tears that had started to fall. I wasn't going to let my emotions get the best of me now. I could see the others my age all hurrying up ahead, calling to each other and laughing as they ran up the road to their home. Within seconds I had joined them, the ache of my side nothing compared to the joy I felt that I'd made it here and now I could finally settle.
The main entrance of the house was grubbier then I'd expected. Someone who had come in before us had trod mud into the carpets, and there were obvious marks of dirt from the years that had passed on the painted walls. But it felt kind of cozy at the same time. A ginger woman stood in front of me, her hands clasped neatly in front of her as she watched Will and Carl finally make it up into the house behind me. As the doors fell shut, she finally spoke up.
"Are you the only new recruit?" she asked, when I nodded, I felt Will's hand fall on my shoulder.
"Emma, this is Kurt. He's the reason we came back early, he got injured so we didn't have much time to stop anywhere else," he explained. Her face transformed then, pinched with worry her eyes looked even bigger.
"Oh dear! Are you okay now? How did you manage to make it back?" As Emma rambled away, I wasn't quite what sure what to do. I still wasn't used to people fussing over me. At this rate I just wanted to find out where I was sleeping and where I could go and wash. I just wanted some time to sort myself out. I knew I must look a mess after so long on the road, I was almost dreading looking in the mirror.
"I'm fine. I just bruised my ribs. As long as I'm careful they'll heal up," I answered quickly. Emma still looked at me as if I was about to break any second but she nodded and straightened up.
"Alright then, I guess you'll want to know where you're staying."
Finally we started up the main staircase, the others had all rushed up their earlier and I could hear chatter coming from inside of the rooms. I wondered how many other people they had here already as we passed through the corridor, all the doors shut until we finally reached an open door at the end of the corridor, right next to the window. Emma gestured into the open room and I entered it. It was bigger than my room at home, a large window along one of the walls and large double bed against the other wall. The spaces between had been furnished with a large wardrobe, two bookshelves and a desk with a chair sat in front of it. The basics seemed to have been provided. For the second time that day, I felt my lips curling into a smile. This was going to be perfect.
"The boy's bathroom is the room across the hall. The girl's is the first door on the right at the beginning of the corridor so make sure you don't use it by mistake. Will, Carl, and I all have rooms on the east side of the house if you need us. The kitchen, library and main dining room are all downstairs. When it's time for dinner you'll hear a gong, just follow the others down," Emma listed off, her hands clasped neatly in front of her once again as if she was waiting to be dismissed.
"Thanks, Emma. I'll come and find you if I need anything else," I replied. With a noise of something that had to be agreement, Emma nodded and finally left me alone, shutting the door behind her.
I looked around the room once again, at all the space that was mine. No more camping on the cold hard ground, no more walking for hours upon hours until I was basically worried back onto the cart as no one wanted me to over exert myself. Here I had a bed and a bathroom and clean clothes and I could finally get down to helping everyone. There had to be stuff I could do sitting down, right? For now though, I couldn't help but eye my bed thoughtfully. Maybe I'd lay down for a few moments, just to get a feel for the bed. I'd have to find some clothes afterward though; the bag I had packed had been forgotten in the rush to get me to Carl. My books and clothes were gone but I'd pull something together, I'd tear up and alter the curtains into something stylish if I had to. As I fell back onto the bed though, I hoped that I wouldn't have to. Just as I started to daydream about the type of clothes I might be able to find around here, I felt my eyes slip closed and I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke to a knock on my bedroom door.
"Kurt? You in here, dude?" Finn's voice called, I sat up slowly and yawned. Did I really want to deal with him just yet? No, I didn't want to have to demand any answers out of him until I was back to my best. As I passed a mirror hidden beside the wardrobe, I paused and took in my appearance. My hair was greasy and messy, my skin dirty and a not exactly favorable tone of my natural skin color and my clothes well, I didn't have to bring them to my nose to know that I smelled rank. Dear god, I was not talking to him like this.
"Go away, Finn. We'll talk later," I responded. I heard Finn snort outside followed by a light thud.
"You missed dinner. I thought you'd appreciate it if I brought you some food," Finn said. I paused for a moment before I shrugged and opened the wardrobe doors instead, grateful to see that someone had left some old clothes in here. I'd be able to do something with them. I pulled a couple of things out and shut the doors.
"Is it drugged? If I remember correctly, the last time I accepted anything from you, it put me to sleep," I mused, as I opened the bedroom door, stepping neatly to the side when he stumbled in. As he pulled himself to rights, his jaw opened and closed as if he was trying to think of a good retort or explanation. I gave him a second before I pushed past him and headed towards the bathroom. It wasn't the tidiest bathroom I'd ever seen but it looked hygienic and there were clean towels folded on the shelf near the entrance. The room itself was fairly large, a tub on one side with some sort of glass walled cubicle beside it, something that appeared to be a toilet but didn't look like it could be easily emptied on the other side. I stood there for a few moments, blinking, not thinking that I hadn't yet locked the door. It swung open behind me and Finn stomped in after me.
"It was on Carl's orders, okay?! He just told me to give it to you if you got up at night," he finally argued. He'd followed me into the bathroom. I realized that this was a communal bathroom and that we were both guys, but had he not heard of privacy?!
"Finn, if you haven't noticed, this is the bathroom," I replied, placing my clothes neatly on a shelf with a towel as I turned to face him, finally noticing that he wasn't actually carrying any food. "And what did you do with the food you brought?" His face seemed to twist into one of confusion as he pointed at the door briefly. Was he actually confused as to why I was upset he'd followed me in here? I didn't realize that anyone could actually be that slow, had I really found him attractive? I eyed him up as he seemed to return to his senses and bit back a sigh. Okay, he was still attractive in a sort of dorky way. But maybe I had judged him on his appearance before actually getting to know him.
"I'll leave you alone in a second. But you don't know how to use an electric bathroom, right? So let me show you," Finn said. He had a point, I'd seen pictures of bathrooms like this but I wasn't sure what everything was. The first thing he started with was the switch by the door.
"Light switch. Turns the lights on and off, it's the same in your room so you don't have to wander about in the dark when you go back in there," he explained, demonstrating by flicking the switch and leaving us in the darkness before he turned it back on again. He moved further into the room and pointed to the handle on the toilet. "This is the toilet, you just turn that handle to flush and your crap is gone! The thing next to it is the sink, you turn these and the water comes out so you can wash your hands," Finn went on. I noted these things down briefly in my head, my arms crossed over my chest as I watched him. When he reached the other side of the room, he put one hand on the tub and the other on the box. The bath works the same as the sink, red is the hot tap and blue is the cold. There's a plug you pop in to stop the water from going out and you pull it out to empty it at the end. And this is a shower; it's a bit like an electric waterfall. It's all set right now to run a nice, warm shower so you just have to press the button and you can get clean." With those words, he pressed the button and stuck his hand under the water, after a minute he pulled it out and nodded at the shower.
"It's all yours, man," Finn told me, pausing to open the door to the cupboard between the tub and the shower to reveal bottles of shampoo and other male beauty products. Oh, I was in heaven right now. Finn quickly retreated out of the door whilst I was distracted so I never even got the chance to tell him that I hadn't quite forgiven him just yet. I pursed my lips and quickly moved to lock the bathroom door before I picked up my selected products, slipped out of my clothes and stepped under the stream of warm water. I didn't even know that you could have water running warm from a tap anymore. I was living a life of luxury now.
Once I had scrubbed myself of all the dirt and I felt fresh again, I pressed the button and dried myself off quickly. The clothes I'd picked out weren't perfect but they'd be okay for hanging around my new room in, I could see about some alterations after I'd had my dinner. I was pretty sure I'd seen a sewing box in the corner of the wardrobe, obviously for emergency repairs. Well, this was an emergency, wasn't it?
I didn't see anybody else until the next morning.
I was woken up at eight by the sound of the gong ringing and people hurrying into the corridor, arguing about who could use the bathroom first. I dressed quickly in my newly altered clothes, the black pants now hemmed better using red material from another more hideous pair of pants, the white shirt I wore on top was fitted and long-sleeved and I'd found right at the back a cropped red waistcoat that went nicely with the ensemble. I'd have to inquire about getting one of those white coats the others had been wearing later. Feeling more like myself now I was clean and about as well dressed as I could get, I stepped out into the corridor. Ahead of me I could see Mercedes banging on the girl's bathroom door as three unfamiliar girls leaned back and watched her with matching sneers.
"Rachel, if you do not get your white girl ass out of there soon, I swear to god I am going to make you regret it," Mercedes bellowed, I watched on bemused as I walked towards boy's bathroom door. It was shut but within a few seconds a short dark haired boy exited, running his fingers through his sticky looking hair. He wasn't looking where he was going and I had to step to the side to avoid him as we passed each other. As our arms brushed, the boy seemed to come to his senses and he stopped. He turned his head and looked at me, confusion clouding his features for a second before he seemed to shrug it off and beamed at me.
"Hello! You must be the newbie, I'm Blaine," he greeted. He held out his hand to shake and for a moment, I was at a loss. It was great that I was being welcomed but I was on my way to the bathroom. Was it normal here to interrupt people when they wanted to wash? That wasn't really sort of thing I'd signed up for. Even so, it would have been rude to ignore him so as I stood there questioning my own judgment, I took his hand and shook it.
"I'm Kurt. It's nice to meet you." And it was, just it felt slightly unusual to be talking considering where we'd met. That fact didn't seem to have bothered Blaine though and he beamed at me one last time before he hopped off calling back,
"I'll see you down at breakfast then!" I shook my head as he hurried away, still wondering what was actually going on in this place. I carried on into the bathroom, determined to have a little time to myself before I went down and joined them all for breakfast. I'd probably be a little late but that just meant that everyone would notice me and introductions could be moved out of the way quicker. At least, that's what I told myself as I slowly washed and dealt with my hair. When I finally exited the bathroom, I found I wasn't the last one ready. There was still a small queue outside of the girl's bathroom and I shook my head. I supposed I shouldn't be surprised but I'd never spent that much time around girls, I'd assumed those who were rebels probably wouldn't care about their appearance that much. I slipped through the queue and wound my way downstairs. I couldn't see anyone ahead of me but a little further down I could hear chatter from behind a large set of oak double doors. One of the other doors on the corridor opened and the smells of porridge and cinnamon seeped out as Emma stepped into the corridor, her arms full as she carefully balanced a tray with more than a few bowls piled up on it. I hurried forwards as one of the bowls teetered on the edge but with a practiced grace, Emma tilted the tray slightly until all the bowls righted themselves. She didn't even miss a step. I blinked after her before I carried on, overtaking her just in time to push open one of the heavy doors for her.
"Thank you, Kurt. It's nice that we finally have another gentleman," Emma said, smiling at me as she slipped into the room. She placed the bowls down in front of the gathered teenagers quickly without a single spillage. The table was spotless, even with the evidence of empty bowls that somebody had clearly left to be picked up after them. In fact, the whole room was cleaner then the hall we'd just stepped in from. Emma picked up the empty bowls as I looked around to see who I could sit next to. Mercedes, Blaine and Rachel were on one end of the table, Puck and Finn at the other. The empty bowls had sat between the two groups. As I stepped closer to the table, Finn looked up and smiled at me but he didn't gesture for me to come over. So instead, I chose to sit with the evil I knew and took the seat next to Mercedes.
"Didn't see you at dinner last night," Mercedes greeted, I shrugged in response, smiling at both Blaine and Rachel. Only one of the pair gave me a particularly sunny look in return.
"I fell asleep. Finn woke me up with some food at some point," I answered, Rachel seemed to stiffen in front of me. She dropped her spoon on the table, eying me curiously as if I was something offensive.
"Why did Finn bother? You should be getting used to our schedule, not having someone chase after you," Rachel snapped. Mercedes and I shared a look as Blaine seemed to look at her pityingly. If Rachel was going to get jealous over something as simple as making sure the injured guy ate, she clearly had it bad. Before I could reassure her, Emma had popped up at my shoulder.
"Right, Kurt. We usually take turns to cook breakfast in the morning. We'll schedule your time in later. For now I just need to check and see if you have any food allergies or preferences that we need to know about?" The immediate barrage of information was a distraction and I actually had to pause and think. I'd been cooking for myself for so long, the same recipes over and over that I didn't even think about things like that anymore.
"No allergies that I know of. But would it be okay if I had some honey on my porridge?" I answered. Emma nodded before she left the room, now balancing the empty bowls on the tray as carefully as she had the full ones. I didn't need to open the door this time as just as Emma was about to walk out, a beautiful blonde girl walked in followed by a Latina girl and another blonde. They were the three sneering girls from earlier. They held the door open for Emma but once she'd slipped out, they let the door fall shut with a roll of their eyes. The smallest blonde took the lead once again and weaved her way around the table to meet Finn whose face had brightened considerably. He stood up in his seat, wrapping an arm around her slender waist eagerly as she greeted him quietly. The other two girls took a seat each next to Puck, his arms wrapping around them with a sly grin.
Oh.
I tore my eyes away but not before my three companions had noticed. I just hoped the momentary pain I'd felt wasn't as noticeable as it felt as Rachel smiled sadly at me. I wasn't going to put myself in the same position as her. There was no way in hell. I didn't care that much anyway, Finn was still kind of in my bad books. Even if he had apologized, brought me dinner and had showed me how to use the bathroom. He still wasn't as great as I'd first thought. The four of us sat in silence, listening to the quiet chatter from the other end of the table until I couldn't stand it anymore.
"So who are they?" I asked. Rachel jumped slightly, pulling her own eyes from where they'd been stuck on Finn and the blonde girl. She'd sat down next to him now and he had an arm around her shoulders. He reached out to toy with her hair and she slapped his hand away, turning a scowl on him. I grimaced slightly before I made myself look back at Rachel.
"The girl next to Finn is Quinn Fabray. She's the leader of their little group. The darker girl is Santana and then you have Brittany. If you don't want trouble then I'd advise staying out of their way," she explained. I looked back at them as I heard the door open once again, wondering what exactly Rachel had meant. They looked normal to me but as I caught Santana's eye, she turned to gesture obscenely at me and Puck just laughed. Maybe Rachel was right for once, I don't think I did want to get involved with them. I turned back to my companions as a bowl was placed down in front of me and we all started to eat quietly.
It took the majority of my bowl being emptied before Blaine finally decided to speak up.
"Will asked me to help Artie out in the school today." Rachel placed her spoon down, her head jerking up slightly at the news.
"Have they finished growing then?" she asked, Blaine shook his head.
"Not quite yet, but they should start reproducing soon," he answered. What did they have growing in the school? That didn't sound like it had anything to do with electricity. Unless I'd missed something in the old books that I'd read.
"What are you growing?" I asked, my curiosity piqued as I looked between the three of them. This seemed to be a topic of conversation that relaxed them and Blaine gestured that I hurry up eating.
"Why don't you come with me and see."
The school turned out to be a large building on the west side of the grounds. It was ideally placed with a view of the lake and a small copse of trees just behind it. That was where Blaine led me that morning. A boy around his age was sat there in a wheelchair, a notebook in his lap as he made notes about whatever was in front of him. An Asian girl crouched down next to him, clearly getting a better look.
"This is the school garden. It's where we're growing mushrooms as part of a larger experiment," Blaine explained but as soon as the word mushrooms had left his mouth, I'd fallen back. My mouth dropped open and all I could do was shake my head. I wasn't going anywhere near any mushrooms. Did they all have a death wish? When those mushrooms started reproducing then the air they were breathing around the fungi would become filled with spores, and then those spores would kill them. I felt the breath catch in my throat as I started to panic. Blaine had stopped by the other two teenagers by the time he noticed I'd stopped. He took one look at my face and came straight back over to me.
Blaine's hands found their ways to my shoulders as he looked up at me with a small frown. I must have looked pale as he urged me to sit on the ground.
"We've got to get away-" I started by Blaine shook his head, stopping me in the middle of my sentence. "They're not dangerous, Kurt," he said. Clearly the spores had already found some sort of way to affect his brain. That was just crazy talk; everyone knew that mushrooms were dangerous. Figgins in the last ten years had sent soldiers and scientists around the country to destroy any fungi that had still been growing. Over that period of time, people had slowly stopped dying from the virus. But I could still remember the warnings, the way my Mom had made me wear a face mask as she walked me to school. Even when one of the others boys had stolen my mask during the day and had torn it up, Mom had given me her face mask so I would be able to breathe safely. If she hadn't of done that maybe...
"Kurt!"
I was being shaken as I was pulled out of my reverie. Blaine was frowning down at me and the boy in the wheelchair had wheeled himself over, looking down at him with worry. How did he even get about the compound?
"Did you hear what I said? These mushrooms aren't dangerous. They're not even poisonous to eat and we didn't use any of the government fertilizer. They're safe, we're all safe," Blaine insisted. I tried to let his words sink in, to believe them, but it was difficult. Didn't they know what they were messing with? This could be dangerous, more dangerous than bringing back electricity even was.
"How can you be certain though?" My voice rasped as I breathed in deeply, trying to calm down. My ribs had started to twinge, I hadn't noticed that I'd been shaking and rocking. I was really freaking out. Blaine turned to the boy in the wheelchair who nodded towards the school building.
"I can show you." As the boy started to wheel off, I pushed myself up onto my feet slightly shakily. It was embarrassing how I'd reacted. I never usually let anyone see how I was feeling. No matter what they had to show me, I wasn't going to get upset again. I breathed in deeply, grimacing as my ribs ached slightly and followed after them. Blaine quietly told me that the boy was Artie and the girl with him had been Tina as she joined our group, going ahead to open the door for Artie.
Inside of the building there was a small entrance area, with a couple of comfortable seats and a low coffee table on which there lay stacked a couple of books and a newspaper. The room opened straight off into a hallway, the doors of each room had a large window in so I could peek inside. The first room looked like a normal classroom with no one in there, the second room like a miniature library, and the third door we came to opened into a large open plan room filled with tables, a couple of sinks to one side, and a lot of apparatus that looked like something I might have seen in our science text books in school. We'd never have been allowed to touch them ourselves, it was considered too risky. Artie moved over to one of the equipment filled tables and we all followed, watching closely as he pulled on a pair of gloves and held up a small glass square with something inside. He eyed it closely before he placed it on the equipment.
"This slide has part of a mushroom pressed between it. One of the ones that was deadly. It's safe on the slide but come here and look at the spores," Artie gestured, lifting up his glasses to press his eye against the apparatus. I moved closer and he pushed the object towards me. Grabbing it in the way he had, I leaned down to press my eye where he had and I was startled by what I saw. The image below me was like something sketched in one of my text books. It didn't look familiar but the spots were large and obvious, all clogging together on the slide and leaving no space for anything else. I pulled away and looked at Artie, a question on my lips but he held up a hand and switched the slide for another one that looked exactly the same from where I was standing.
"This slide has one of the mushrooms we're growing outside on it. Compare them and tell me what you see," he said, pushing the object back to me again. Once again I looked into the apparatus and I saw dots only this time they were smaller and more spaced out, a different color too. I repeated my findings to him and Artie nodded, pulling the metal item away from me for a final time and fishing the slide out.
"The spores in the first mushroom mutated because of a fertilizer the government had been testing out. It and the spores were in the air for years but now it seems things have settled enough for normal mushrooms to be able to grow again. So we've been experimenting," Artie explained. It still didn't make sense to me why they were holding this experiment but my head was still spinning with my earlier panic attack and I didn't want to think about it anymore. So I just nodded and moved away from the object, brushing off Blaine's hand as he reached out to make sure I was okay. There was one more thing that I did want to ask though.
"What is that? The object we looked at the mushrooms through?" Artie seemed to have gone back to his studies, Tina putting things away as he compared the slides to the notes he'd made earlier.
"A microscope," he answered. I nodded and took the two word answer as a goodbye and I turned to exit the classroom, Blaine didn't hurry after me. Instead he moved to help Tina back inside the room, I watched through the window as they laughed together and sighed. I needed to find Will so I could get my task to do for the day. I wanted to be able to enjoy my work with friends too soon. I trudged back towards the main building, taking the shortcut Blaine had pointed out through the vegetable garden. An Asian boy and a black boy my age were working in there at the moment, pulling weeds and chatting away. I paused by the doors to turn to watch them, wondering if it would be a bother to introduce myself now. The door behind me slid open and I heard a sound of delight.
"Kurt! There you are, dude. I've been looking everywhere for you!" I sighed and turned towards Finn who was grinning down at me. This was not another headache that I needed. I was starting to realize that from afar, I was able to nurse a small crush on Finn but as soon as he was actually speaking to me, it started to wither away. Handsome and sweet he was but also incredibly annoying.
"Well now you've found me," I replied. Finn nodded, his face falling at my less than enthusiastic tone. I immediately felt bad, Finn being sad just felt wrong somehow.
"What do you want?" I asked, forcing my lips up into a smile. His expression didn't change.
"Will wants you to work with me this week." I was torn then. Part of me was ecstatic to help but after freaking out earlier, I just wanted a break. I watched Finn's face fall further at my silence before my more pragmatic side finally won over. I couldn't keep relying on everyone else, especially after my complaints during the journey.
"Okay. What are we doing today?" The effect my words had been instantaneous. Immediately Finn barreled past me and gestured for me to follow him over towards the other two young men.
"Matt, Mike, this is Kurt. Kurt these are Matt and Mike," Finn introduced, pointing out each boy in turn as they paused in their work, "We're all on garden duty." I looked around me, the garden consisted of beds of crops, a few trees and overgrown bushes that were heavy with fruit. They all lined the back of the house, separated only by a path from the back doors that ran through the entire ten feet of crops and out onto the main lawn of the compound. Clearly this job was going to take some time, even with four of us working together. Matt and Mike traded their watering cans with me and Finn for two clipboards. We separated off into pairs and for the rest of the afternoon I watered crops as Mike ticked them off. Around lunch time the four of us met back up in front of the doors where a blond boy stood waiting, a basket in his hands. Finn immediately jumped on him, grabbing for the basket as the blond laughed.
"Sam! Dude, please say you packed the chicken?!" Finn pleaded as he opened up the basket lid, laughing as Finn's face lit up at the contents.
"There's enough chicken sandwiches for all of you. There's also some cake in there that Quinn and the girls cooked," the blond listed off as Finn pulled out a flask. "And there's fruit juice to drink," the blond finished leaving the four of us to murmur our thank yous as Finn sat down on the ground and started handing out the food. Before the blond left though, he turned to me with a smile.
"Before I go, I'm Sam," he introduced, holding out a hand to me. I took it, shaking it briefly as he shot me a rather charming smile. He wasn't actually that bad looking.
"I'm Kurt, it's nice to meet you," I responded, once he released my hand he turned around to head back inside, leaving us with wave as I stood there watching me. I felt someone pull on the back of my shirt and I turned around to glare at whoever thought it was okay to handle my clothes to see Finn looking up at me with a sandwich held out towards me. I huffed and snatched it, taking a seat next to him, content to sit quietly while the others talked. I didn't miss the fact that Finn kept turning to look at me as he talked with the others, his bright smile turning more thoughtful whenever he did. Once we'd all finished our food and were just taking a little time to relax before we returned to our work, he sidled slightly closer to me.
"Do you like him then?" Finn asked. I'd lain back at some point before he'd spoken and I lifted my head at his question.
"Like who?"
"Sam. You were watching him." Finally Finn started making sense and I snorted quietly as I dropped my head to the ground once again.
"I don't exactly know him to like him, Finn. But he's kind of cute," I responded with a small shrug. I heard Finn hum in response before he turned back to his friends. I had no clue why he'd been asking but it wasn't exactly his business. Some of us didn't want to concentrate on our romantic lives for the moment.
The next few days passed by in a similar fashion. I'd eat breakfast with Rachel, Mercedes and Blaine as we watched the others from a distance. Artie and Tina joined us once as well and the conversation had turned more work based. After that Finn would meet me in the hall, we'd go check the work rota and we'd head out to do whatever job we had to do that day. Finn didn't ask me anymore about Sam and I didn't ask him about his own romantic attachments. I saw enough of that at meal times. As soon as we were free from our jobs I'd head back inside to my room. The time before dinner I spent altering any clothes I could get my hands on so I actually had a choice of clothes, and after dinner I met up with Rachel and Mercedes again and we'd spend the rest of the evening acting out scenes from our favorite books and singing. I was slowly becoming part of the group and for once I could honestly say that I was actually enjoying my life.
Once a week had passed, Will finally pronounced that the new work rota had been scheduled and he officially welcomed me to the group.
For some reason, Will asked me to follow him on my first day of working alone. I wasn't sure why, I'd grown used to the various duties over the past week and I wasn't sure that I needed anymore guidance. He led me across the compound to a building I'd never been in before. I knew this was where they stored the weapons; I'd seen some of the others come out of here every now and then. I wasn't sure I was comfortable working with weapons straight away. Will didn't lead me into the main door though; he led me through a small door to the side. Inside there was another smaller door to the left that obviously led into the main part of the building. There was a large table in the center on which there was piles of dirty shirts, a wicker basket sat on the floor beside it.
"I want you to start by cutting these up," Will said. I stared at the pile of stained shirts and frowned.
"Why? What's that even going to do?" I asked, reaching out to pick up one of the shirts. "And why do they stink?" I dropped the material with a huff but all Will did was smile. This was stupid, was it supposed to be some sort of test?
"These are the shirts of people we've had leave us. They've either been moved or died and we use the rags as filler when necessary," the older man started to explain. He picked up one of the shirts himself along with the scissors and started to cut the material up.
"Everyone here has to do their bit and every job is as important as the next, Kurt. I know this might seem trivial to you but we've all got to work together, understand?" Will dropped the material into the basket but his eyes remained on me. Even now they held some sort of power over me, some sort of understanding that compelled me to listen and do as he said. He was a good man who just wanted to help them help people. I knew that but that didn't mean that I didn't think some of his methods were stupid. For now though I simply nodded and took the scissors from him.
"I understand." A smile crossed Will's lips again and he clapped me on the back as he moved away.
"Good. Come and find me when you're done and I'll walk you to your next job." With those parting words I was left in the dark room. This was so not what I wanted to be doing with clothes. As I started to cut, another question came into my head. If this was what we did with old clothes then how come there had been clean clothes in my room when we'd arrived? It wasn't like we'd sent a messenger ahead and they couldn't have known that they'd come back with one new member. I frowned, the question ricocheting inside my head, pulling out new questions each time it hit something. How many people could have come and gone anyway when the wing we all lived in wasn't that large? And why did these shirts seem so uniform? I dropped my scissors on the table and stepped away from the table. I had to think this through. Maybe the group had once had a uniform or maybe the uniform went with a former job. I didn't exactly know the area, so it was possible there was some sort of uniform job around here that I wasn't aware of. As for the wing, the compound was large and the main building had floors that I hadn't even explored yet. There could have been a wing on another floor that they all lived. Those rooms could be uninhabitable now or something. I stepped back towards the table and once again picked up the shirt I'd been working on and the scissors. There were only shirts here as well so they probably kept other clothes in the wardrobes of the spare rooms just in case. It all made sense really, I'd probably just read too many books not to be suspicious of anything that wasn't simple.
I'd ask Finn later to be certain though.
In the end it didn't take me long to get through the piles of shirts. It wasn't a nice job but it only took two large cuts to rip the shirts into usable bits of material. I'd hummed to myself as I'd worked, at one point Puck had stuck his head around the door to not so politely to tell me to shut up. I'd just hummed louder after that. By the time I was done, I'd been eager to leave. It wasn't even lunch yet, and I hurried back to the house to find Will and my next job that would hopefully be less smelly. I headed back through the back garden where I found Sam and Mercedes working together on one side of the garden. We waved as we passed and once Sam had turned away, Mercedes pointed at him and fanned herself. I laughed quietly as I headed indoors. Clearly I wasn't the only one who thought Sam was kind of cute. I was happy to leave him to her. Once indoors I padded upstairs towards the east wing on the first floor. I paused at the bottom of the second set of stairs, wondering as I had earlier what was up there before I carried along my way to Will's office. There was an extra set of doors between the main staircase and the hall with the adult's rooms that wasn't replicated on the recruit's side. It was as I stood outside of those doors that I heard two familiar voices on the other side.
"You shouldn't be listening in, Finn!" a female voice snapped. I froze for a moment; I probably shouldn't go in there if they were fighting. I didn't want to be accused of eavesdropping either. It couldn't hurt to actually listen in though. I stepped closer to the door, turning the handle to open the door a crack. I paused just in case one of them had heard but their argument didn't abate. I sighed with relief and peered through the crack, listening carefully. They stood outside Will's office, Quinn's hands were on her hips as she shouted at Finn whose shoulders were slumped, his hands held up as if in surrender.
"I didn't want to interrupt that was all! I didn't think you talking to yourself was such a big thing," he argued. Quinn took a deep breath, shutting her eyes for a moment as she clenched her hands into fists.
"Is that all you thought was happening?" Finn shot her a funny look as he put his hands down.
"Well duh," he answered. Quinn muttered something unintelligible under breath and turned back to Finn with a small smile.
"Well, why didn't you say so you dummy," she responded, a more playful note in her town as she stepped back towards him, her fingers reaching for his shirt. I turned away then but I could hear them kissing. Time seemed to drag slowly before I heard Quinn speak again,
"Just don't tell anyone you saw me in Will's office, Finn," she murmured. Alarm bells were ringing in my head by this point, what had she been doing in there if Will wasn't and where was he? I was about to retreat back downstairs when the door beside me was pushed fully open and Quinn stood in front of me. I froze as she looked me up and down.
"Well, looks like we had another spy," she drawled as Finn came up behind her.
"Kurt, what are you doing here?" he asked. I had a moment to either come with an excuse or at least some version of the truth.
"I was looking for Will." Quinn sniffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Right, that's why you were standing with the door open watching us," she retorted. I just snorted, right, because I'd really wanted to watch them kiss. She was the one who'd clearly been acting suspiciously.
"I'd just opened the door when you came through," I replied calmly. I could tell Quinn didn't believe me but she didn't press any further. She stood watching me for a second before she moved to push past me.
"Come on, Finn," she called back. Finn's eyes darted between her departing back and my face, I watched the nervousness dance over his face before he decided to stay put.
"I'll catch you later, Quinn," he called back. Quinn made some sort of noise of annoyance before she stormed back downstairs. As she reached the bottom floor we heard her call out for Brittany and Santana. I turned back to Finn with a question on the tip of my tongue but before I could speak he gestured back towards the doors. I slipped between the two doors and Finn followed, making sure to close them before he leaned against them.
"Why were you really listening in?" he asked. Before I could open my mouth to give him the same answer that I'd given Quinn there was a shot.
I jerked around quickly, I could see the birds flying away from the trees surrounding us out of the window. Finn ran towards the window and I followed. Below us lay an unfamiliar boy, he was wearing a shirt like the ones I'd cut up earlier only his was soaking through with blood as he twitched on the ground. There were loud voices and within seconds Puck was beside the boy, a gun in his hands. Someone gasped, I didn't realize it was me until Finn turned and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked, I shook my head before I looked out of the window again at the now still body, blood pooling shallowly around me as Puck frisked him. Oh my god, Puck was frisking a corpse. What had I gotten myself into?
"What about that guy? Somebody should-"
"He was a prisoner, Kurt. He was probably trying to escape," Finn's words did little to settle me. Finn frowned at me and the hand on my shoulder started pushing me gently back towards the doors.
"You're shaking," he murmured. I realized that I was but I couldn't stop. Finn pushed me all the way down the corridor and back into the west wing. He stopped at a door closer than my room and pushed me inside gently. He led me to the bed and when he was certain that I was okay to sit down, he left the room. I guessed I was in his room but I couldn't focus on that part for now. Puck had shot a guy. Finn said he was a prisoner. Why were there prisoners around here? There weren't any jails anymore. People were punished in their homes by the Enforcers or killed so they had to be prisoners of...
Oh god, this wasn't making sense. Why would a group like this have prisoners?
The door opened again and Finn came back in followed by Emma and Will. Emma took one look at me and hurried over. She sat on the bed next to me and moved to wrap an arm around my shoulders. Something stopped her though and she paused before placing her arm back in her lap. The look on Will's face echoed Emma's worry as he moved to stand in front of me.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Did I look like I was okay? I shook my head, Will frowned and turned to Emma.
"That must have been quite a shock. Finn said you saw Puck shoot someone," she probed gently. I shook my head once again. I hadn't seen Puck shoot anyone. I'd just seen the corpse after Puck had shot him. I opened my mouth to tell them that before something inside of me shocked me. They weren't going to see it my way. They just didn't want to scare the new recruit away.
"I just saw the body. The gunshot surprised me, that's all," I eventually answered, my voice steadier then I expected. I didn't miss the look Emma and Will shot each other as Will backed away. I caught sight of Finn again then, he was standing by his door with his back to the wall. He was watching me curiously but he didn't say a word.
"I'm sorry for worrying you all, but I'm fine. Finn couldn't have known that," I carried on, finally pushing myself onto my feet. Emma looked as if she wanted to say something else. I waited for her to challenge me but instead she shook her head at Will. Without another word, Will turned and exited the room, leaving me with just Emma and Finn. Emma had scurried after Will but she paused by the door to turn back to me.
"If you ever need to talk about this, Kurt, come and find me," she insisted and then she was gone. Finn and I stood in silence. I was waiting for him to say something, to ask me once again why I'd been listening in or why I'd lied to Will and Emma. He'd been with me. He could clearly see that I hadn't just been shocked by the gunshot. When he didn't say anything, I started back towards his door. Before I could open the door, his hand reached out and grasped my wrist.
"It's not all bad here," he said. I looked back up at him briefly, his eyes brown eyes darker with something that I couldn't understand. I shook his hand off and opened the door.
"I know."
Back in the safety of my room, I finally allowed myself to break. The tears slid down my face as I dropped down onto my bed. I'd witnessed death before but never like that, and the question of prisoners haunted me. I could have asked Will or Emma but they'd have only tried to excuse themselves. I'd joined this group because I'd been told that we would be trying to do good and that we'd be trying to bring the electricity back. But it wasn't as simple as that, was it? There were experiments that I didn't understand, tensions within the group, and now it turned out that there were prisoners somewhere on the compound. The constant pounding of questions was starting to make my head hurt. At least one thing was obvious; I couldn't allow anyone else to see me getting upset. They might have excused it as me being new but I didn't want Will and Emma sticking their nose into my business any more than they already had. I was strong and I'd been through a lot but that didn't mean I wasn't breakable. The shock of the mushrooms, of the shot, they'd knocked me back but I couldn't slip up like that again. I was better off if I kept everything inside, and if I needed to cry or shake then it would have to wait until I got back to my room. I couldn't show weakness. If something was going on here, and I wasn't sure if there was, then I couldn't give them anymore power over me. With my mind set, I sat up and wiped at my face.
A few hours had passed since I'd returned to my room. The dinner gong had long passed and I knew that I should have gone down, but I couldn't bring myself to leave my bed. Instead I lay there trying to make some sort of plan. I had to find out more but I couldn't ask anyone. Even if I could trust Mercedes or Finn I wasn't too sure that I could ask them about this. They'd neglected to mention that there were prisoners on the compound until one had escaped. Surely that could have been dangerous? I frowned. The guy had been wearing a shirt like one of the ones I'd been cutting up earlier. Either they'd let the shirts pile up or they'd been disposing of more prisoners then they'd let on. I didn't doubt that there were bound to be more around somewhere. Puck had been in the guardhouse with me earlier, I hadn't heard him leave the building. If he'd still been in there when the prisoner escaped then that meant they had to be kept somewhere around there. Thinking about it I'd never actually been inside the guardhouse until today and even then I hadn't gone inside the main part of the building. Wouldn't it make sense to keep the prisoners there? I mused over other probable locations for a few moments. No, it had to be the guardhouse but I was going to have to check the building out to be certain. Would they even let me in there though? Would they let a new recruit see the prisoners? Probably not. I frowned as I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.
"I guess I'm just going to have to sneak in then," I murmured to myself. Saying the words out loud made my plan feel all the more real. I'd only been here a week and I was already possibly getting myself in trouble. My father would have a conniption. I smiled to myself as I turned my thoughts to him. I would have to find time to write to him soon. Let him know I was okay. For now though, I eyed my wardrobe out of the corner of my eye. I was just going to have to dig out some dark clothes and make my way out as soon as it was dark.
The path out to the guardhouse had been relatively clear. I'd had to duck into a dark alcove on my way to the back doors, Emma had been talking to Sam about something. I'd heard my name but I'd been unable to catch anything else as they'd passed. As soon as the coast was clear, I'd slipped out the doors and had hurried through the garden. Now I was stood by the guardhouse door, I was starting to question myself. Was it really smart to try and speak to the prisoners now? Whilst I was alone and defenseless? No one would probably come to my room to check on me until the morning now. I cursed quietly under my breath. If something happened to me then there would be no one to rescue me. I looked at the thick wood door once again, I tried to envision the inside layout. If the weapons weren't locked away I could probably take something just in case. With a deep breath to calm myself, I tried the handle. I was half expecting it to be locked after earlier. The handle moved down smoothly. This was it then. I pushed the door open and smoothly stepped inside, shutting the door quietly behind me. The dark room lit up instantly. I was in a small square room with a table in the center. It was similar to the room I'd been in earlier. Only there were shelves upon shelves of weapons on the left wall.
"Shit," I muttered quietly as I stepped closer. Nothing was locked up so why hadn't the prisoner taken anything earlier? He probably would have stood a better chance of living longer if he had. I shook my head and turned back to the rest of the room. I could see the door into the other part of the building Puck had stuck his head around earlier on the other wall. Beside that stood another door, this one was locked but the key remained in it on my side. Clearly security around here wasn't all that tight. No wonder someone had escaped. Or maybe it was that someone had known I was coming. I shook my head at that notion. I'd been careful, there was no way that this was some sort of trap. I had to believe what Finn had told me earlier. This place couldn't be that bad. I just needed to see the prisoners for myself, to see how dangerous they were to know that.
I quickly grabbed a knife from one of the shelves, I wasn't confident that I'd be able to shoot a gun, and made quick work of crossing the room and unlocking the door. The door led to staircase that went down into the ground. Obviously they had underground prison, of course. All the better for keeping the prisoners spirits low. I snorted to myself quietly and made my way down, my footsteps echoing throughout the small cavern. The staircase ended in a cavern lit by oil lanterns. There was one wooden chair beside one of the lanterns and the rest of the cavern was separated off by a wall of metal bars. On the other side seven young men around my age sat or lay slumped in various positions. They all were the same shirts as the boy earlier. The smell of sweat and urine hit my nose the closer to them I got; I had to bring the sleeves of my shirt up to my face to cover my nose before I gagged.
"Not a pretty smell is it, Princess?" one of the boys drawled as he pushed himself to his feet. His already dark hair was darker with grease as is stuck in different directions, his face that would have otherwise been handsome was smeared with dirt. But that didn't take anything away from his smirk as he sauntered over to the bars.
"It's a bit late for a newbie to be exploring isn't it?" the guy carried on. I frowned, wondering how he knew that I was new to the group.
"There's nothing to say that I can't," I responded as I took another step closer but the closer to the bars I got the worse the smell was. I backed up and took a seat on the chair, placing the knife on my lap within easy reach before I placed my hands on top of the handle. The dark haired boy laughed quietly but he didn't argue. When it didn't seem like he was going to say anything else, I took it as my chance to take control of the situation.
"What's your name?" I demanded, but I knew my eyes would betray the fact I was purely curious. I could act, yes, but in new situations my expression usually gave me away. The guy didn't seem to be that bothered by the question,
"Sebastian," he answered. I eyed Sebastian once again, he didn't look dangerous. But then again you could never really tell a book by its cover, you could only ever have a pretty good guess as to the contents.
"Someone escaped from here earlier, Sebastian. He was shot, did you know that?" I probed, watching his reaction carefully. I heard one of the other boys locked up gasp, another boy close to him reached out to comfort him. Sebastian's expression didn't change though, instead he just shrugged.
"Hunter. We told him he wouldn't make it." I don't know what I'd been expecting but his apathetic response was not it. Maybe these boys really were capable of terrible things. Maybe I'd done the wrong thing in coming down here. I wrapped my hands around the handle of the knife, squeezing it tightly as I tried to figure out what to say. Sebastian's eyes seemed focused on the weapon in my hands.
"I think it's my turn to ask some questions," he started. I glared at him but I didn't argue, fair was fair. "Who are you and what exactly do you want with us?" I snorted, just because he was behind bars didn't mean that I was going to be stupid enough to tell him my name.
"I came down here looking for answers, that's all you need to know." Something about my response must have intrigued him, Sebastian's eyes almost seemed to have lit up as his smirk grew.
"Have it your way, Gay Face," he drawled. I glared at him for that name; maybe it would have been better to tell him my name. As if I was going to give him that courtesy now. Instead I just sniffed and tightened my grasp on the knife.
"You wanted to know what I want with you. Well, I just want to know why you're all locked up," I pressed, the sooner I got the information I wanted, the sooner I could leave. I was starting to crave fresh air by this point; I don't know how the prisoners put up with the smell. Then again, maybe they'd been here so long that they were just used to it. Sebastian crossed his arms as he leaned back against the wall, still watching me carefully.
"Why should I tell you? What's in it for me?" I wanted to answer nothing, he was the prisoner. I wasn't going to break them out just for the answer to one stupid question. I stood up, it was time to leave. I wasn't getting anything out of them. I should have known better. This had been a waste of my time. As I placed one foot on the step, an unfamiliar voice called out to me,
"Wait! We'll tell you if you bring us some more water." I stopped and turned to see the chubbiest boy in the group had moved towards the bars. He looked so desperate and Sebastian was glaring at him, I couldn't help but want to agree to help him.
"I'll bring it tomorrow," I responded. The boy who had spoken slumped back, relief clear to see on his face.
There was nothing else I could say or do now. I returned to the weapons room of the guardhouse, locking the door to the cell once again behind me before I deposited the knife back where I'd found it. It didn't look like anyone had been in after me. It was possible that they didn't have anyone out here after dinner. With people locked up, who needed to worry about having guards?
"Where have you been?"
Rachel had been the last person I'd expected to see in my room. I shut the door behind me, my mouth remaining shut as the dark haired girl crossed her arms over her chest.
"Where were you, Kurt?" she repeated. I slipped my shoes off and sat down on my bed, still not answering her. What right did she have to be in my room? And what business of hers was it where I'd been?
"Finn told me how freaked out you were over the prisoner earlier," she told me. I pressed my lips together as I finally turned to her. I would kill him but I knew he'd only done it to try and help me.
"I told Will and Emma, the gunshot just surprised me. I wasn't freaking out," I responded slowly. I wondered how much Finn had told her.
"Finn said you were shaking. No one shakes because they're surprised," she retorted. I scowled, crossing my own arms over my chest as I glared at her. I wasn't talking about this with her. We might be able to get along while we were singing but I still found her really annoying. The longer I glared, the more Rachel seemed to deflate. She dropped her arms to her side and sat down on the bed beside me.
"Finn's worried about you. You might not care what I think but I know you care about him," she said softly. I turned away from her so she couldn't see my face.
"I just needed some fresh air," I lied. I couldn't stay on the subject of Finn, not when I knew that it would just lead to pain for both myself and Rachel. We both liked the man Finn could be, but sometimes it was just easier to focus on how annoying he could be when we were face to face. I heard Rachel sigh and felt the bed shift as she stood up.
"I'll tell him not to worry then."
I nodded but I didn't look up again until I heard the door open and shut behind her. What was I going to do? I had no clue what was going on but I was already bonding with people. If the whole rebellion turned into something a lot more sinister then I wasn't too sure if I'd be able to get out so easily if I was attached. I knew I cared a lot about Finn, about Mercedes, about Blaine. Hell, I was even starting to care about Rachel somewhat but until I knew what was really going on, I should be keeping my distance. That wasn't going to happen though, I knew that. Especially not with Finn.
I cursed quietly under my breath. Finn wasn't even the only guy I was attracted to here. But he was the guy who cared the most, who'd carried me out of town and wanted to make sure I was okay. Sure, he'd drugged me but he'd said that was under Carl's orders. He could be a little strange and full on but in a way, those traits could be kind of endearing. It wasn't like I could even stay mad at him for long either. I groaned and flopped back onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling above me bleakly. I was in a possibly dangerous situation miles from home and all I could worry about now was how I felt about one guy. Those feelings were slowly becoming clearer and clearer to me. I had a crush on Finn Hudson and I was totally fucked.
I knew something was up the second I stepped into the dining room the next morning. Quinn had forgone her usual spot beside to instead sit in between her two cronies at her usual end of the table. Puck sat across from them with Matt and Mike who had joined their little group today. They didn't seem so ensconced in the conversation though as they kept shooting worried glances in between the plates of toast to the middle of the table where...oh. To where Finn sat alone. Finn looked up from his plate and as soon as our eyes met, he was gesturing for me to come and side beside him. He even went as far as to pull out a chair ready. I looked at my usual spot where Sam sat with Mercedes. Blaine was on kitchen duty today so that meant I'd basically be at the mercy of Rachel while we watched our two friends flirt. I didn't really feel like dealing with all that this morning, so I made my way around the table and took the seat beside Finn, smiling at him gratefully.
"How are you feeling today?" he asked. I reached out to grab a slice of toast from one of the plates in the center of the table.
"I'm fine. I was fine yesterday too," I answered, looking at him pointedly. Finn looked away, muttering something under his breath.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that," I drawled as I turned back to butter my toast.
"I said, you didn't seem it to me." Diagonally across the table, Santana snorted. She was studying her nails rather than talking but we both knew that she'd been listening in. I glared at her but didn't say anything. I didn't know Santana and I didn't want to know her, she didn't exactly seem friendly after all. I turned back to Finn to carry on the argument but he seemed to have slumped back into his chair. I side eyed him curiously before I turned back to my breakfast.
"Are you alright?" I questioned, Finn just shrugged. It was weird, moments ago he'd been his usual chatty self and all of a sudden he seemed almost uncomfortable. I watched as his prodded at his toast rather than wolfing it down for once.
"Do you want me to go?" I tried, he'd seemed fine before I'd sat down. Alone, sure, but that was easily remedied. When he didn't say anything, I finished off my slice of toast and stood up to go. I was half expecting him to grab my wrist and stop me but when he didn't, I left the room, trying to contain my disappointment. Something was going on with him and I didn't have time to find out why. I'd started off towards the board when Artie wheeled himself to a stop in front of me.
"You're with me today, Kurt. You okay to work in the school?" His greeting took me by surprise and I flashed back to my reaction to the mushrooms the other day. I would have flushed if I wasn't trying to keep myself in control from now on. I nodded and gestured for him to set out for the back door.
"Lead the way."
Artie chatted away as we made our way out. I kept zoning in and out, wondering if there was something in the school that I could use to take the water to the prisoners tonight. Something that could hold more water than a canteen but wasn't too noticeable. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice that Artie had stopped in front of me, and I walked straight into him. I swore under my breath as my toes collided with his wheel and stumbled back. Artie just laughed,
"People usually notice when I stop so what's up?" he inquired as he started forwards once again. I nursed my foot for a few seconds before I hurried after him.
"Nothing really. I was just thinking." Artie shot me a look that suggested that he didn't believe me.
"Thinking about what exactly? You seemed pretty entranced," he prodded. It wasn't like I could tell him what was really on my mind, was it? Oh yeah, I was just thinking about how I was going to sneak water out to the prisoners later when no one's guarding them. That would totally sound completely acceptable. Instead I found myself saying,
"I was just thinking about somebody." My answer sounded weak even to my ears. Artie looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded in understanding.
"Oh, right. I totally get that. I nearly ran Emma's toes over yesterday when I was too busy thinking about Tina," he commented. Artie grinned at me as we reached the school, I moved ahead to open the doors for him. Once inside, Artie seemed to increase his pace.
"I think I've got something for you then." What on earth could Artie have that could help someone stop thinking about someone. I shook my head bemusedly but followed after him anyway. We returned to the large room we'd worked in last time but this time Artie had made a beeline to one of the cupboards. It wasn't exactly large and sat just above one of the counters. The bespectacled boy pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and used the smallest to unlock the cupboard. Inside sat a few glass jars filled with different colored substances. He rummaged about until he pulled out a bottle filled with something clear and he held it out to me.
"Lubrication. Makes it smoother and feel better," he explained. I took the bottle and looked down at it. What exactly did I need to lubricate to...then it hit me. Oh dear god, that's what Artie had thought I'd been thinking about. I felt my cheeks heat up as Artie grinned at me.
"It'll make it all better, trust me. I might be in a wheelchair but I still have the use of my penis," he reassured. I found my eyes drawn to his crotch for a second automatically before I turned away and tried not to blanch. Oh god, did Tina know he thought about her that way? Poor Tina. I slipped the small bottle in my pocket though to not seem ungrateful. Artie wheeled himself away and reached out for a clipboard that had been left on another counter.
"Time to get to work then!"
The work was certainly a pleasant distraction from where the turn the conversation had taken earlier. I got things out, prepared slides, measured substances and basically spent most of the morning on my feet. It was more work then I'd expected it to be. In turn Artie explained to me what everything was, I finally learned the room was called a laboratory, and everything was finally starting to line up with what I'd learned from my science text books. Maybe what I learned in school hadn't been completely useless after all. When lunch time came, both Artie and I washed our hands and moved into the waiting area. Usually whoever was on kitchen duty that day delivered lunch to the various work teams and if I was honest, I was kind of looking forward to seeing Blaine. It had been weird not having him there at the start of my day. So when I saw a familiar head of long blonde hair, I was understandably confused. The girl in front of us turned around, a smile that had to be forced on her pretty face as she held out the basket.
"Lunch for our scientists," she said. Artie moved forwards and took the basket from her with a quiet thanks before he moved to sit by the table and eat. I remained where I stood looking at Quinn and she looked back at me.
"Could I have a word...Kurt isn't it?" she asked pleasantly. The nicer she acted, the more suspicious I became. I nodded and Quinn walked back outside without waiting for me. I was half tempted to just leave her and eat my lunch, but I got the feeling she could probably make my life even more miserable if she wanted so I followed. She stopped a little way away from the building so Artie wouldn't be able to hear. No one else was around so I assumed this was to be a private conversation.
"Where are your cronies?" I couldn't resist but ask. Quinn rolled her eyes and the innocent expression from earlier fell from her face as her brow furrowed into a frown and her dark eyes flashed somewhat menacingly.
"I don't need them to deal with you. How much did you hear yesterday," she demanded. Of course, she wanted to know if I'd heard anymore then Finn had.
"Enough. Finn thought you were talking to yourself and then you insulted him." I didn't see any reason to lie, I hadn't heard anything incriminating. As far as I knew, she may as well have just been talking to herself in Will's office. What I didn't know was why she was in there but since I had been looking for him myself, well, it could have been for any reason. I crossed my arms over my chest, keeping my gaze level with her own. Quinn pursed her lips as she tried to figure out whether I was telling the truth or not. A minute or two passed before she relaxed, her face once again becoming pretty.
"Fine. I'll assume you have the sense to not tell anyone," with those parting words, Quinn turned to leave but I couldn't let her have the last word.
"Finn deserves better then someone who thinks he's a dummy," I called out to her. Quinn paused mid-step but she didn't turn around.
"Keep your nose out of our business, Kurt. He's not like you."
Quinn's words followed me around for the rest of the day. I didn't know why they were so important to me. Yes, okay, I had a slight crush on Finn but I'd had crushes before. I was used to nothing happening. I hadn't even planned on trying anything with Finn. Well, other than trying to be friends. I had other things that I should have been worrying about. Like how I was going to get enough water out to the prisoners and not leave evidence that someone had done something for them. I heaved a sigh and flopped back onto my bed. The feel of something solid pressing against my thigh surprised me and I stuck my hand in my pocket. When my hand closed around a glass bottle, I scowled, remembering Artie's earlier gift. Placing the bottle on the bedside table, I rolled onto my side to stare at it. I hadn't attempted to pleasure myself in that way in a while. Back in my small bedroom at home, it had always been awkward. I'd worried about my Dad overhearing and I hadn't particularly wanted to have that talk with him. Anything I did know came from the romance novels I read, of which most featured normal, straight couples. Not long after I'd come out to my dad though, I'd came home to a small pile of books focusing on gay romances. I was still pretty sure my Dad had left them there. I'd guessed he hadn't wanted to have that talk either. The fact of the matter though was, I didn't just want sex. The thought of masturbation even now made me feel awkward and well, if I wanted anything it was romance.
Romance and adventure.
But how often did real life let those things happen? The closest I was going to get to adventure here was finding out what was going on. I couldn't let myself get distracted with fantasies that would never happen. I wasn't going to impede on other people's relationships, even if Quinn didn't even deserve Finn. I had no clue as to whether he'd even be interested, though Quinn's words had suggested he wouldn't. Not that I was sure that I could even trust a single word she said. I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd tried to poison my lunch. She could relax though, I wasn't going to stick my nose into her business or try and steal her man. I had my own objectives to focus on and the first problem I needed to deal with was getting the water. Darkness was falling quickly outside of the window; dinner would be in an hour so my best chance would be then. As I had the night before, I slipped into the dark clothes I'd found then sat down to wait for the dinner gong. The clock on my wall ticked slowly, the incessant noise driving me crazy with impatience. My body tensed, my fingers drumming out a pattern on my leg until finally the familiar clang of the gong came. I breathed out a sigh of relief, my body relaxing. On the other side of the door, I heard a few people exiting their rooms and chatting away. I heard Puck cat call as another door opened and two pairs of footsteps headed towards the steps. Eventually the hall fell silent again. I waited a few more minutes in case someone forgot something and had to come back and then slipped out into the corridor. The journey downstairs was as easy as it had been the night before but getting into the kitchen wouldn't be as easy. As soon as I reached the corridor, I pressed myself up against the wall. I prayed that my dark clothes would be enough for me to blend in with the shadows. I inched my way across to the kitchen door, my heart pounding in my chest. It was all I could hear as I tried to listen for sounds inside. I couldn't be certain if the room was empty. I reached out for the door to find out when it was pushed open from the other side. I jerked my arm back beside me quickly. I stilled my body, holding my breath as Emma exited the kitchen. She had a couple of empty plates in her arms, spares. She was humming to herself. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I was certain she would hear it over her own voice. She didn't. She walked straight past me and disappeared into the dining room. I released my breath and ran a hand through my hair. I'd been lucky, I was sure of it. I reached for the door once again and crept into the empty kitchen. I looked around the room, I'd been in here once during my first week but I hadn't taken note of where anything was. When it was my time to work in here, someone else would be around to guide me after all. I started opening all the cupboards. I found dry food, plates and bowls but no flasks. I stopped by the sink, my gaze still darting about the room. They had to be somewhere around here. My eyes fell on a wooden chest besides the sink. There was a pad lock on it but someone had left it open. I tilted my head to the side as I studied it. It was a good a guess as any. I bent down and opened the chest; low and behold there lay a large pile of empty flasks. I grinned to myself and quickly calculated how much I could carry easily. I pulled out three of the flasks and set to work filling them up. I was going to have to bring them back, I couldn't leave them with the prisoners. There wouldn't be any possible way to conceal them so they'd have to drink or wash or do whatever they wanted it for quickly. Gathering the filled flasks in my hand, I shut the lid of the chest with my foot. I left the kitchen quickly and I managed to reach the back doors without running into anyone. I just hoped that my luck would hold up as I made my way across the grounds and across to the guardhouse. Once again the guardhouse was unlocked; they couldn't have realized that someone had gone in uninvited the day before. I didn't bother with the knife this time. We had a fair deal this time around, the water for the information. I dropped the flasks on the table, careful not to spill anything before I turned my attention to the door to the cells. It was unlocked. I felt tendrils of suspicion curl up in my chest. Something couldn't be right. They wouldn't just leave the door unlocked, would they? Either they'd known someone was coming after all or they'd be back pretty quickly to lock the door. No, they couldn't know. Leaving the door unlocked at any time was stupid. All it meant was that I didn't have that much time.
I frowned and pulled the door open. I grabbed the flasks off of the table and hurried down. If I was right then I'd only have twenty minutes to get things done. Once dinner was over someone would come over and I wanted to be out of there before then. I didn't bother shutting the door behind me; this wouldn't take long at all. By the time I reached the cell, all seven of the young men were standing in front of the bars. Sebastian stood in the middle his arms crossed as he looked at me expectantly.
"I don't have long and I can't leave these with you," I explained as I pushed the three flasks through the gaps in the bars. It was a tight squeeze but I somehow got them through. I watched as the lids were pulled off and the guys all fought to get a chance to drink. It was almost like they'd not drunk for days. How was it fair to treat anyone like that? Even prisoners deserved better than that. Maybe Will and the others really weren't as innocent as I'd first thought. The idea pained me but…it wasn't exactly difficult to accept. Once everyone had managed to drink and all three flasks were empty, they pushed them back through the bars towards me. I deposited them all on the chair behind me before I turned back to them and crossed my arms.
"Why exactly are you all locked up?" I asked, getting straight on topic. Sebastian's lips curled into a smirk,
"Can't you tell, Princess? We're prisoners," he responded. I shot him a sour look; I didn't have time for this.
"Answer me seriously or I won't be bringing you anything else," I snapped. The look on his face fell and I had to resist the urge not to smirk myself.
"We're all local. When we heard about what Schuester was trying to do, we didn't like it and we decided to stop him. We made our way here and pretended we wanted to join," he answered simply. I didn't miss the uncomfortable expressions on some of the others faces as Sebastian carried on; "Everything was fine until one of our members ratted us out. He told us later that he was just doing what he thought was best for the rest of us…" The pain in Sebastian's eyes was real. I was surprised, the reasons the group had for locking them up were sound. Their treatment and the fact Puck had shot Hunter wasn't.
"They tricked him, Seb. Once a Warbler, always a Warbler, remember?" a thin boy with white blonde hair had spoken up. His brow was furrowed into a frown and a shorter dark haired boy wrapped an arm around him seemingly as a gesture of comfort.
"He didn't care about us anymore, Jeff," Sebastian muttered. I looked between the two of them, if someone had given them up then were they still part of the group?
"Who gave you up?" I didn't have much time left that would have to be my last question. Sebastian just pressed his lips together tightly and turned his back on me. I turned instead to the blond who had spoken previously. He looked at the brunet next to him questioningly and the shorter boy nodded.
"Blaine," the blond finally answered.
With my questions now answered, I turned to leave. The visit hadn't cleared my mind, I was just as confused as I had been before if not more so. Okay, it was understandable for Will to want to keep these Warblers out of the way. But keeping them in conditions like they were was far from fair. Especially if they knew the person who had ratted them out was living in luxury in the house. And knowing that they'd kill any of them who tried to escape, I shuddered as I picked the flasks back up. It just wasn't right. I couldn't think of the group as evil for this though, cruel was one thing but evil was something else entirely. I'd just have to have a word with Will about the treatment. I'd see if I could change anything. Maybe they'd be less inclined to escape or ruin our work if they were actually treated like human beings. I reached the main floor of the guardhouse and turned my head to check the time. I should have ten minutes to get back before everyone finished dinner. I let out a sigh of relief and moved to kick the door back shut behind me. That was when the front door opened and Finn walked right in.
I froze, the flasks slipping out of my arms and clattering to the floor as Finn caught sight of me. We both just stood there as the minutes passed, staring at each other as if the both of us were waiting for the other to make the first move. I stepped forward and leaned over to pick the flasks up and the spell was broken.
"What were you doing in here?" Finn demanded. I sighed in annoyance, glaring up at Finn as I straightened up, this time successfully depositing the flasks on the table. This explanation was going to take a while, I just knew it.
"I came to get some answers," I replied. Finn frowned and stalked across to the table. He picked one of the flasks up and waved it at me,
"You needed flasks to get answers?" I rolled my eyes at him. Did it really matter to him that much?
"The prisoners wouldn't have told me anything if I didn't bring them water. It only seemed fair," I stated. Finn's face went from annoyed to shocked and straight back to annoyed again. His grip on the flask seemed to tighten as he slammed it back down on the table.
"Why were you even down there? You cannot be one of them!" he shouted. Someone clearly had a temper. I lay my hands flat on the table, making sure I didn't drop his gaze so he would know that I was speaking the truth.
"I'm not one of them," I insisted. Finn's shoulders slumped and he released his hold on the flask but was obvious that he was still mad.
"Then why?" His voice broke mid-sentence and something within me broke with him.
"Since I've been here so much has been happening. Half of the stuff you do here, I wouldn't have even expected and most of that stuff...I'm not sure if it's stuff I can trust," I started, my voice quieter then I'd meant it to be. "I couldn't ask you or Mercedes or Will because I didn't think you'd tell me the truth. After I saw Puck shoot that guy, shoot Hunter, I knew I had to get to the bottom of things. I had to know whether I could trust you all or not."
"And?" Finn pressed. I shrugged; I didn't really have an answer for that yet.
"I don't think you're all secretly evil if that's what you're asking." Finn sighed and rubbed at his eyes.
"You still should have come in the day. Something could have happened to you," he relented. Right, I could have come in the day when someone else probably would have followed me down and the Warblers would have been less likely to talk. I shot Finn a look and he held up his hands up in defeat.
"Hey, I'm just worried about you." My cheeks started to warm up slightly with his words and I turned away. "I mean, you could have been hurt!" I tried not to grit my teeth at that as I looked around at the shelves full of weapons.
"I can take care of myself, Finn," I retorted. I heard Finn snort, my head shot around to glare at him but he stared right back.
"Sure you can, that's why your ribs are bruised."
That was it, I'd had enough of his bullshit. Why did Finn always seem to do this? In the two weeks I'd known him I'd seen him at regular intervals go from being the sweetest guy ever to being a complete asshole. I didn't bother collecting the flasks back up, Finn could take them when he was done. It wasn't like my little visit was a secret anymore. I stomped back towards the door, Finn reached out to grab my wrist but I evaded him this time.
"Kurt, I didn't-"
I left the room and slammed the door before he could finish.
The next day I asked Will to call a meeting.
Everyone gathered in the dining room, it turned out the table was just about long enough to seat everyone with a few chairs empty. Artie sat at one end in his wheelchair and Will at the other in a more ostentatious chair that suggested he was the head of the table. I leaned back in my chair as I waited for everyone to settle down. No one else knew why we were here and the theories were actually kind of amusing.
"Kurt," I heard Finn whisper. He was sat across from me diagonally. It was the closest he'd been able to get, I'd made sure to sit in between Blaine and Mercedes. Rachel sat across from us and Finn was stuck next to her. She kept trying to draw him into conversation but he was more focused on me.
"We need to talk," he tried again. I ignored him, I didn't want to hear his apologies this time. At least not yet. It was better for me this way, I could focus on the more important issues. Will cleared his throat loudly and the room fell silent.
"Well everyone is here, what did you want to talk about, Kurt?" he asked. Everyone in the room turned their eyes on me. I stood up, taking a deep breath as I thought over what I was about to say. It was important that I got it right or I could just make everything worse.
"A couple of days ago, a prisoner was shot. Before then I wasn't even aware we had prisoners," I started. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Santana turn to Quinn and whisper something. "The fact we did have some came as a surprise to me. I didn't know why a peaceful group would have any so I went down to meet them." The table burst into whispers then, no one seemed to work out what my point could be. Will cleared his throat and again people quietened down.
"Our reason for keeping prisoners is fair but the way we're treating them isn't. I called this meeting because I wanted to suggest we change that," I explained. Across the table Puck snorted, I knew he was regularly in the guardhouse so he must be one of the jailors.
"They're prisoners, Hummel. How else do you suggest we treat them" he jeered. I clenched my hands into fists and turned to Blaine.
"You were their friend, Blaine. The people here gave you a chance but not them. Surely you have a problem with that?" I questioned. I was surprised when Blaine shrugged.
"We were supposed to all be in it together. If they'd have listened to me, they wouldn't be down there now," he responded. Clearly there were two sides to that story. I gritted my teeth and turned back to my audience as a whole.
"We can't leave them down there like that. I doubt they're getting enough food or water and their cell is disgusting. If we let this carry on then we'll be no better than the Enforcers," I tried to reason but my words seemed to fall upon mostly deaf ears.
"Fine. We'll move them somewhere else while we clean their cell. But they'll be going straight back as soon as it's finished. Puck, I expect you to make sure they all get three meals a day from now on. All with water," Will decreed. Puck nodded his agreement but I didn't miss the glare he shot my way. Clearly he didn't agree with me. The result itself wasn't the one I'd hoped for but it would have to do for now. It was a step in the right direction after all.
I got up to leave with my friends, Mercedes linking an arm with mine as she talked to Rachel. The plan was for us to go into the library and we were going to be reading out loud from an old book called Twilight, it was going to be fun. And a lot more relaxing then the last two nights I'd had.
"Kurt!" I grimaced as I heard Finn call out behind me. I was about to turn around and give him a piece of my mind when Rachel did something that surprised me.
"For goodness sake Finn, just leave him alone. He doesn't want to speak to you right now," Rachel snapped. She didn't even turn around, she just smiled at me. I turned my head to see Finn stop, blinking with confusion until Quinn grabbed a hold of one of his arms.
"Finn, sweetie, let's go," I heard her murmur. He let her drag him away but I could have sworn that he kept looking back at me as they left. I followed after my friends, my mind a mess. I wanted focus on the prisoner issue, on the group in general and maybe, just for a few hours, on my friends but my mind kept circling back to Finn. It wasn't until we were seated in the library that my friends – it was a surprise to me that I now seemed to consider Rachel a friend – noticed something was wrong. I was sat in my usual armchair, my legs folded beneath me and the book in my lap. Rachel and Mercedes had been arguing about something, who got to read out Bella's parts maybe. At least, that was the last thing I'd paid attention to. Both girls had since turned their eyes on me and were looking at me with pinched faces.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked. In all actuality I was fine but I didn't think it would be fair on them if I was daydreaming all evening, constantly torn between hating Finn and wandering what was going on with him.
"I'm actually kind of tired, I think I'm gonna turn in early," I told them. Neither Mercedes or Rachel looked very happy about this but they let me leave anyway.
The sound of my bedroom door opening woke me. My mind was jolted into awareness but my body didn't move. If I could pretend to be asleep then maybe I'd have the upper hand. I opened my eyes slowly, the attacker a familiar shadow in the moonlight. Familiar features made themselves noticed and I let out a deep breath I didn't know I'd been holding. For a second my ribs ached but the pain faded away within seconds as I flopped over onto my back. A phantom pain from the previous attack I supposed.
"What do you want, Finn?" I asked dryly. Finn froze in his spot by the window then stumbled over to my bed when he finally moved.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he whispered. Why was he whispering?
"Once again, what do you want?" I repeated. I rubbed at my tired eyes. This had better have been important. I was still mad at him and this was only making matters worse. Finn shrugged,
"I was going to write you an apology letter or something for you to find," he explained. Okay, that really wasn't important enough to warrant waking me up. I glared at him and pointed back towards the door.
"Get out." I felt somewhat ridiculous, lying in bed fighting the urge to shout at Finn as he sat beside me giving me puppy dog eyes. Dear god, a grown man was giving me puppy dog eyes. I'd have gotten out of bed and dragged him out myself if I wasn't so afraid of making things worse. In hindsight, maybe just sleeping in my underwear was not a good idea.
"Not until you listen to me," Finn argued, crossing his arms. I muttered a couple of less than friendly things under my breath and sat up. The blankets pooled in my lap and the moonlight hit my skin in what I hoped was a rather appealing way. If the way Finn's breath caught was any indication, it was. But I had to be imagining that surely?
"Speak," I commanded. Finn licked his lips, his eyes darting about the room as he just sat there. I tried to be patient but I just wanted him out of my room as quickly as possible. Just as I was about to give up hope and kick him out, he finally spoke.
"I wasn't trying to offend you yesterday." Great start, right there. I waited for him to actually apologize.
"I really wasn't. When I saw you in there, I just…" Finn fumbled for words, gesturing at nothing with his hands. "I panicked. You could have been hurt whether you want to admit it or not." I still disagreed there, the Warblers were locked up, what could they have done? My annoyance must have been obvious because Finn grimaced and ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't know what else to say, Kurt! I'm sorry," he exclaimed. I couldn't help but snort, maybe if he'd said that very important word in the first place.
"Finally, we have a winner," I drawled, I saw a muscle in Finn's jaw twitch. Okay, maybe making him mad again was not a good idea.
"Surely if you're really sorry then you get why I'm mad?" I pointed out, watching as Finn clenched his hands in the sheets.
"I get that you're too proud to be able to accept when you've done something stupid," he said through gritted teeth.
Okay, I wasn't doing this anymore. I pushed my sheets off and moved to slip out of bed as Finn grabbed a hold of my shoulder. I tried to pull away but he tugged me back down.
"I'm sorry! I never know how to react around you," Finn apologized but he didn't release me. My head brushed the side of his thigh as I looked up at him, my legs still slightly tangled within the sheets.
"You might want to let go of me," I muttered, Finn did as he was told, his expression guilty. I didn't sit up though, I kind of liked looking up at him like this. Not that I would admit it.
"Why exactly did you come to apologize if you still think you're in the right?" I couldn't help but ask. Finn shrugged in answer,
"I don't like it when people are mad at me. Especially you." That was kind of a strange answer but as I thought it over, it made sense. Finn was a leader, he'd already said that he wanted to do his best for people. He couldn't really do that if said people were avoiding him for doing something dumb. Even if said people kind of had to admit that there had been some truth to his infuriating choice of words.
"You barely know me but you already seem to be making a habit of annoying me," I mused. The mood seemed to be lightening now; I could almost feel my anger slipping away. I tried to hold onto it for a few more seconds but as I looked up at Finn's face again, I couldn't help but smile slightly. Damn him for being so cute! He was still a jerk even if he was trying to make up for it.
"Yeah, but I like you already, man. I want to look after you but you keep trying to do stupid things," Finn complained. I raised an eyebrow and looked between me and the bed. Finn flushed, "And maybe I keep doing stupid things too," he admitted. Well at least he could accept that, maybe there was hope for him yet. I guess he wasn't so bad really. He could be a complete ass at times, sure, but I doubted that he would be in here now if he didn't really care. I could try and be mad at him all I liked but damn, I really couldn't. At least, not unless he turned around and did something unforgivable all of a sudden. And I couldn't see him doing that.
I sighed gently and sat up slowly, turning my body so that I could face him better.
"You're forgiven but next time…have a little more faith in me," I murmured. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd leaned in to peck his cheek. His skin felt slightly rough under my lips but it was still obvious that he didn't need to shave all that often. I was surprised by myself and I moved to pull away, my lips tingling slightly. Finn's arm came back around my shoulders and he pulled me forwards, our lips crashing together. I lost myself in the kiss, nothing seemed to matter except his lips against mine, his hands on my skin. My hands twisted in his t-shirt as I tried to pull him closer. I wanted more. It was a dizzying feeling and I had to pull away to catch my breath. Finn looked at me with wild eyes and I was struck with a wave of desire so strong that I almost pulled him back in. Reality took that moment to slap me in the face. Finn was with Quinn. We couldn't do this. I took a deep breath to steady myself, my grip on his shirt loosening until I could flatten my hand and push at his chest ineffectively.
"You have to go," I said. Finn looked unsure as he finally returned to his senses. He looked about the room and all of a sudden was springing off of my bed. Both guilt and confusion passed his face as he hurried out of my room. As the door fell shut behind him, I was left alone in the silence.
I woke up after the gong the next morning. Only the clock on the wall told me that I actually had any time for breakfast before I had to get down to work. I was kind of hoping to run into Finn down there, to talk to him about last night before he had the chance to escape me again. I was confused about how I'd let that happen and I just knew that Finn was going to be a hell of a lot more confused. I'd witnessed the beginning of a gay freak out, I just knew it.
I dressed and rushed downstairs, making my way into the dining room as Puck exited, muttering something to himself about being late. I stopped and almost asked him what for, we still had another ten minutes of breakfast. Then I realized that he probably still hated me and I passed him. I pushed through into the dining room and my eyes automatically scanned the table. No Finn. I frowned and moved to sit with my friends anyway. I'd regret it if I didn't eat anything. Plus, maybe they knew where Finn was. I sat down across from Mercedes and Sam, glad that once again it was toast so I wouldn't have to wait to eat. One of the bonuses of Blaine being on kitchen duty I supposed, he wasn't exactly a skilled cook. He was the type of person who'd managed to ruin an entire batch of porridge, not that I knew for certain. But Blaine himself had told the story so. It was strangely quiet as I sat and munched my toast, it was only then that I noticed that someone was missing. I looked about and swallowed my mouthful.
"Where's Rachel?" I asked. Sam looked around and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd only just noticed that she wasn't there either. It was kind of funny, Rachel was so incredibly loud but no one seemed to notice when she was missing. Mercedes scowled, reaching up to fluff up her hair that actually looked messier than usual. And not in the good way. How was I just noticing these things?
"Getting ready to leave I suppose. She managed to take over the bathroom for most of the morning. I swear, one day I am going to kill her," she answered. That wasn't that helpful, I turned to Sam as recognition seemingly dawned on his face.
"Right, Will said something about going out to the city today! It's finally happening," he cheered. I looked between the two of them, trying to work out what was going on. Rachel was going into the city, so that would mean Will and...Oh, Finn were as well. Puck was probably going as well to help protect them, which would explain what he was late for. I felt my mood drop even lower. God, now I was going to have to wait however long to deal with whatever was going on between myself and Finn.
"What are they doing in the city?" I asked my voice on auto-pilot as I tried to sink back into the depths of my seat.
"They've found an old building they can hook a generator up to, a hotel. They're going to be hooking one up with solar panels as a sort of test run. It'll show the people what good electricity can do," Sam explained dutifully. I nodded, feeling like I should be excited but unable to dredge up the necessary energy.
The dining room doors opened again a couple of minutes before everyone was supposed to be done with breakfast. In stormed Quinn, her lackeys following behind her as per usual. They were dressed up more than normal and it didn't look as if they were planning on doing any work. Quinn threw herself on a chair, her pretty face marred by her anger.
"I can't believe he did that!" Quinn ranted at the girls as Santana practically wrapped herself around the chair beside her.
"Calm down, Q. Man Hands probably won't be able to find his dick underneath all that fat anyway," Santana sneered. Her smirk didn't fall even when Quinn turned her glare back on her.
"Not helping, Santana. God if I could ring that midget's neck, I would," Quinn snapped. I leaned back in my chair, still intently listening in as Mercedes and I shot each other a curious look. The gossip was doing wonders to bring me back to life. Especially as it sounded like well...it sounded like Finn had broken up with Quinn. Though, he wasn't fat so I had no clue where Santana was getting that from.
"What are you looking at?" Quinn snapped, turning her glower onto myself and Mercedes. I couldn't resist a small smirk. So if Finn had broken up with Quinn, he'd done it either after or before kissing me? Hmm interesting that, it really was a shame that I hadn't caught him earlier. Now that I knew he was single, I wouldn't be opposed to repeating last night.
"Oh, nothing. But I guess that's the problem, isn't it?" I responded lightly. Quinn growled and I bit back a laugh, finishing my toast in a much better mood. I didn't know for certain things would go my way when Finn got back but I at least had high hopes.
I said my goodbyes to Mercedes and Sam and made my way back to the dining room door.
"Wait," Quinn called. I paused, turning my head to see what she wanted. The calculating expression on her face was not the one I wanted to see.
"You seem in a good mood. After that little stunt to you pulled yesterday, I'm surprised you're letting me get away with insulting your friend," she commented. I suppose she was trying to frighten me but her words didn't bother me. The fact was, I was better than her and if Finn had seen that for himself then that was her loss.
"It's none of my business who you choose to insult, Quinn. I'm sure when she comes back she'll prove your assumptions wrong." That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Quinn's face fell and I saw a spark of anger in her eyes before she picked up the glass of water in front of her and stood up. She made quick work of dumping it over my head.
"Stay away from Finn. You can't make him like you," she hissed. Even as I was stood there with my hair dripping into my eyes, I couldn't help but feel some sense of accomplishment. Too late for that was the only thought I had.
Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, I discovered that Will had left me in charge of the prisoners while they were gone. I was to move them into one of the empty rooms, make sure someone was guarding them and instruct someone to clean out the cell. The first thing I did was rally together Matt and Mike for the cleaning. It was damn near tempting to ask Quinn and the others to do the job but I knew they'd just refuse. The job of guarding them was going to be trickier. None of the rooms other than the bathrooms had locks so someone was going to have to stay with them the entire time. I was willing to spend some time doing it but I was going to need a break at some point. That was when I had the perfect idea. A certain someone had to try and make it up to them, to show them that he wasn't all evil. That person could take turns with me in guarding them. I smiled and hummed to myself as I made my way back into the kitchen. Inside stood Blaine, talking to Carl about something as he washed the dishes. I hadn't seen the doctor since we'd arrived back at the compound. He hadn't even been in the meeting the day before. There was something I could ask him as well, now he was here. It was still sort of strange seeing him again.
I cleared my throat and both Blaine and Carl turned around, smiles on their faces.
"Kurt! What can we do for you?" Carl greeted pleasantly. I smiled back, glad that there were some people who were happy to see me at least.
"I was hoping to talk to Blaine about a job." Carl nodded and moved to leave but I held up a hand to stop him.
"I have a favor to ask of you as well, Carl. The prisoners are going to be moved in here later today, I was wondering if you could give them all a check-up?" There was a chance that he might refuse. Will hadn't written anything about checking on their health but I'd seen the Warblers and I'd seen the state of their cell. It couldn't hurt to check that they weren't about to keel over and die on me. Carl appeared to think it over before he smiled that comforting smile once again.
"Will do. I'll help move them over here myself, make sure they're clean as well as in good health," he assured. I thanked him and watched him leave before I turned to Blaine. As expected, Blaine didn't look so happy to see me anymore.
"Is it really wise to move them over now?" he asked. It didn't matter when we actually moved them over. There would still be opposition and they'd still need two people to guard them when inside the house.
"Yes. It's one less thing for Will to worry about when he gets back." I didn't mention that I thought they'd probably also be looked after better if I was in charge rather than Will or Puck. "Anyway, I want you to help me guard them." Blaine started to argue but I didn't listen to a word he said, instead I just turned to leave.
"You know them better than anyone, Blaine. You're less likely to be tricked," I stated. Blaine quietened down, I heard him sigh and I took that as his agreement to help me.
"I'll see you at three."
With that done, I set about finding a room to place the Warblers in. I searched the ground floor until I found a door I'd never seen before. I twisted the doorknob and the door opened into a dusty room. There were couches and some sort of screen on the wall that didn't look like it had been touched in years. Ornaments and pictures decorated the cabinets. The room was fairly large but was obviously out of use. Perfect then. I hunted down Sam and Mercedes and soon enough we had rags and a bucket of water with a small amount of cleaning solution that Artie had uncovered. The work wouldn't be hard with three of us covering the space. Mercedes and I took one side of the room whilst Sam aired out the couches on the other.
"What was going on between you and Quinn?" Mercedes finally asked after we'd managed to clean about one half of a cupboard. I'd been expecting the questions but that didn't mean that I knew how to answer them. I reached up to finger comb my long since dried bangs with an indignant look.
"I think she thinks I was part of some plot to break her and Finn up." Next to me Mercedes actually laughed, I smiled back, glad to have a friend that I could gossip about this sort of. "That girl is all kinds of crazy," Mercedes commented. I turned to her with a mock-serious look and said,"It's always the pretty ones." I let her take it whatever way she wanted, laughing hard when she turned to flick me with her rag. We messed around for a little bit longer before we returned to our work, Sam watching us from across the room with an amused grin. I was surprised he didn't try and join in.
"Why you though? I get Rachel, but you?" Mercedes wondered, I raised an eyebrow at her. Was it really so hard to believe that I could win Finn over? I felt kind of insulted. "Well, we have been spending time together and it's not like my sexuality is a secret," I responded primly. I kept my eyes on the cupboard as I scrubbed hard at one of the windows. Mercedes stopped beside me, her eyes focused on me as she took in what I said. I waited for her to catch on to what I was suggesting. Suddenly her eyes widened and she gaped at me,
"You didn't!" she gasped. Bingo. I smirked and shrugged one shoulder, "Depends on what you think we did or didn't do," I replied. Mercedes gasped again and slapped me lightly on the arm.
"My god, Kurt. Quinn's going to kill you if she finds out," Mercedes whispered, finally lowering her voice. We'd caught Sam's attention again and I didn't exactly want this getting out, at least not yet. I sighed and put my own rag down, looking at my reflection in the now at least somewhat clean glass.
"It was just a kiss. I pushed away when I remembered the fact he had a girlfriend," I admitted, Mercedes shot me a look that I guessed was supposed to be sympathetic but it just made me feel more like an idiot. "We don't know for certain that Finn ended it with her and we don't know why either. She treats him terribly, he might just have had enough," I amended, beginning to lose myself in the notion that Finn probably wasn't all that into me. Other than when we were making out, obviously. I couldn't forget he'd run out of the room when he'd pulled away. He'd probably been pleased when he'd found out about the trip, and not just because we were finally doing something. Whether he was interested or not, he probably wanted some space from me for a couple of days. I could handle that. As soon as he was back, I'd pull him away from the others and we could talk about the kiss like adults. If he wasn't interested, I would leave him alone. It was just a crush, I was sure I'd be able to get over him.
"Well who initiated the kiss?" Mercedes asked, picking up her rag once again. There was a knock at the door before I could answer and Carl stood there, Sebastian by his side.
"I've started the checkups. Everything seems okay so far, am I alright to send them in here when I'm done?" Carl checked. I nodded my approval and headed over to greet Sebastian. He was looking around the room, probably trying to work out if we'd brought them in here to try and brainwash them or something.
"You won't be here long, we're just cleaning up your cell," I informed him. I caught Sam's eye out of the corner of my vision and he pointed to one of the couches. Clearly he was done with that one.
"I wasn't expecting any of you to be moved so quickly but take a seat," I said, gesturing him towards the clean couch. Sebastian was still watching me cautiously but he did as he was told. I looked around for something to wipe my hands on, grimacing when I had to wipe my hands on the back of my pants as I looked about the room. It was just going to have to do; it wasn't like they were staying in here indefinitely. I turned back to Mercedes,
"Could you go and find Blaine for me? Ask him to bring some sandwiches with him when he comes down," I asked her. Mercedes shot me a look that said our previous conversation was not over, but left the room anyway. I started to help Sam with cleaning up the second couch.
"Why are you doing this?" I didn't turn my head when Sebastian spoke up. The fact they were here should be proof enough that I was trying to help them in some way.
"The way you were being treated wasn't right," I said. I didn't need to look at Sebastian to be able to guess that he was probably frowning. "I spoke to Will. You should be getting more meals and water plus your cell is being cleaned up. It's the best I could do," I carried on. I picked up one of the cushions and shook it away from me; the amount of dust that came flying off was disgusting. I wondered how long since anyone had actually used this living room. Sebastian snorted; I turned around to face him after placing the cushion back down.
"What? You couldn't release us?" he drawled. I put my hands on my hips as I glared at him.
"You know as well as I do that you've been locked up for good reason," I pointed out. Sebastian stared me down for a moment before he shrugged, leaning back into the couch as if he owned it.
"That's debatable but I respect that you're standing your ground," he admitted, albeit somewhat grudgingly. I returned to helping Sam with the couch, after a little while another one of the Warblers joined us and soon after that a third did. By the time Blaine had made his way over with a couple of plates of sandwiches, the Warblers had started to relax and were chatting amongst themselves.
The moment they saw Blaine though, they fell silent. The shorter boy looked somewhat awkward stood there, holding the food out like a peace offering. I gracefully got to my feet, Sam and I had finished not too long ago and had sat down to watch the Warblers slowly wander in.
"I'll leave you all to it. Make sure you play nice, Blaine," I said. I didn't miss the fact Blaine glared at me for that. Before I managed to even reach the door though, I heard someone call out behind me.
"Thank you for this, Kurt. If you ever need anything..." the blond boy trailed off and I smiled at him, wishing I knew his name. "It's okay, I couldn't stand back and do nothing..." I responded, gesturing to him. The boy caught my drift and swiftly introduced himself, "I'm Jeff."
With the blond boy's words fresh on my mind, I left the room pleased with myself. I was actually succeeding at doing some good.
Once the Warblers had been returned to their cell, the rest of our workload went smoothly. A week passed in a repetitive blur of eating, working and hanging out with Sam, Mercedes and Blaine. Quinn kept a close eye on me but neither her nor her friends tried anything to my relief. I went to bed every night exhausted but pleased with myself. By the time Monday morning had rolled around, I was actually happy to get up and get ready. I was even ready in record in time. As I stepped out of my bedroom door though, I saw Emma pacing the hall and my face fell. Something must have happened.
"Emma?" I called out hesitantly. She stopped and reeled around to face me.
"Oh, Kurt! I didn't know you were up yet!" she greeted, she was trying to sound breezy but I could see the tremor in her hands.
"What's going on?" I demanded, Emma seemed surprised by my abrupt question but she sighed, her hand rising up to fidget with her necklace as she looked away.
"Sue Sylvester is here."
The vice-president? I stared at her, that didn't make sense. Why would she be here? Then it hit me, we were technically breaking the law and hadn't Will and Rachel talked about her when I joined them? And right now Will wasn't even here to handle her. This wasn't good. Now I understood why Emma looked so nervous.
"She asked me to send in three of the girls to help look after her while she's here. I sent in Quinn, Santana and Brittany. Do you think that was a good idea?" Emma asked quietly. I wasn't sure why she was asking me, I had less of an idea of how to handle this then she did. I didn't even really know what the vice-president was like.
"As good as any I guess. We don't want to push her, she can already see we're doing something illegal," I replied, pointing up at the electric lights on the ceiling. They were off right now as it was daylight but we had too many electrical goods working around the compound for her not to know. Emma nodded again, still fidgeting with her necklace.
"Will and the the others should be back in the next day or so. I got a letter yesterday. If we can just keep her happy until then..." she murmured. I nodded,
"I'll go and warn the others. We'll cope, Emma," I reassured. She smiled at me then wandered off, I assumed to probably clean something. I headed next door to Mike's room and knocked on the door quietly.
Will and the others arrived the next afternoon into a flurry of action. Will was led straight towards the room that Sue had taken up residence in and the rest of us were left to wait outside of the bedroom door. We were all gathered together, murmuring between ourselves when Finn, Puck, and Rachel finally made their way up to join us. The door opened and we caught sight of a desk that had been moved into the middle of the room. Sue was sat behind it, her arms crossed. Will looked harried already and he actually glowered at us all.
"Get back to work everyone. You all have your assignments," he snapped. No one moved. "Now!" People finally started to move away but there was a nervous atmosphere in the air. I bit my lip but as I caught sight of Finn and our eyes met for a second, I remembered my earlier promise to myself. I had to talk to him. At least if we did it now, people were less likely to notice. As we pushed through the door back into the main hall, I looked around and mouthed,
"Follow me." Finn nodded briefly and we slipped past the others as they descended the stairs and made our way across the corridor to my bedroom. Neither of us dare say a word until my door was shut behind us.
I took a seat on my bed and crossed one leg over the other, trying to look unruffled though the nerves from earlier had now made their way down to my stomach and were mingling with my worries over Finn.
"So.." I started. Finn shuffled where he stood, his eyes looking anywhere but me now that we were alone. This was a great start.
"So..." Finn repeated. We both sat there in a strained silence until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Before you left, we kissed," I stated. Maybe just stating the obvious would help things along. Finn nodded, he looked awkward but at least he wasn't grimacing. "I just wanted to talk about that. About how you felt-" Finn cut me off with one hand as he stepped closer to me. My heart started to race as I wondered whether he was about to kiss me again.
"Listen, Kurt. I'm not sure now's the right time. I mean, kissing you was great and everything but I just don't know and I don't think you know either and everything's up in the air with the project..." Finn trailed off with a sigh, as he brought his hand back to rub at the back of his head. Excuses, that's what they were. I frowned and looked down at my lap, trying to ignore the fact my heart felt like breaking into a thousand pieces. Another part of me, the bigger part of me, refused to give up though. It was ridiculous and masochistic, I know but if I wasn't going to fight for what I wanted then I was never going to get anywhere. I was finally taking control of my life and my feelings. I couldn't lose that just quite yet.
I slowly got to my feet, my gaze still glaring down at my feet as my hands curled into fists by my side.
"That's the whole point, Finn. Everything is up in the air, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to spend with you," I said. My voice was soft but as I looked back up at Finn, I drew strength from my desires. "Sue is here. We're all doing something highly illegal. It'll either be the Enforcers or if we're lucky, they'll send us all home. I'll never see you again and I don't want to be wondering about what could have been." Finn deliberately turned away before he spoke,
"We barely even know each other. I don't even know what I want from you." Finally we were getting somewhere. I stepped closer and closer to him until we were almost breathing the same air. I reached out, cupping his cheek and slowly turning his head towards me.
"I'm not saying forever, I just want to be with you now," I murmured. Finn's eyes seemed to peel away all my layers as he looked at me, really looked at me. After what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than a minute he took a breath and said, "Okay." One of his hands covered mine on his face as his other grasped my waist, pulling me closer. Our lips brushed once, twice, and then he was really kissing me. His lips were rough against my own, more experienced. He bit my bottom lip gently and I gasped into his mouth, allowing his tongue to slip past my lips to meet my own. I started backwards, my free arm wrapping around Finn's shoulders as I led us back towards the bed.
I didn't know what I was doing, I don't think Finn really did either but we were too lost in each other to care.
We parted for air as the back of my legs collided with the bed frame. I used the time to lie back on the bed, quickly ridding myself of my shirt and pants. Finn's eyes widened at the sight and his clothes soon followed mine on the floor. He crawled on top of me looking completely overwhelmed. I pushed him down onto the bed, laying him back and kissing him again. His body slackened as our lips met, and I let my fingers run up and down Finn's chest. He was broad in the shoulders and his body wasn't exactly slender but I liked that. I pulled away to smile at him,
"You're gorgeous, you know that?" I told him. Finn blushed slightly and pulled me in for another kiss,
"Not as gorgeous as you," he murmured against my lips. I ran my fingers across his chest, pausing to tease one of his nipples. Finn groaned lowly into the kiss and I felt my cock twitch with interest. I teased the other nipple briefly, basking in the sounds I could get Finn to make as I moved my finger down, circling his bellybutton before stopping just outside of his boxers. I pulled away, my fingers toying with his waistband as I looked at him, a question in my eyes. Finn nodded. I let my hand slip beneath his boxers. I grasped a hold of his cock, listening carefully to the sounds from Finn's lips as I stroked gently. He bucked into my hand as I rubbed my thumb over the head. He was bigger then I'd expected but, I licked my lips, it wasn't anything I didn't think I could handle. I gently pulled my hand out and tugged his boxers down. Finn kicked them off and nodded towards mine.
"Can I see?" he asked. I smiled, suddenly feeling shy for some reason. I curled my fingers around the waistband and pulled them off, slipping them off my legs quickly. Finn's eyes roved my body, his arm reaching out to pull mine closer as his other hand explored my body quickly, carefully. His fingers brushed over my arms and chest, across my legs and thighs until he reached my cock. He took it into his hand, his grip at first unsure. He looked at me as if asking if it was okay. I nodded, his touch was rougher then I was used to but it sent sparks flying throughout my body. I let my eyes fall shut, moaning quietly. At the sound, Finn's touch grew surer and then his lips were on mine again. The kiss was messy, dirty, and everything that was right with the world. Finn's hand moved quicker, squeezing and twisting in all the right ways until I was spilling over his hand with a cry of his name.
Finn pulled away, looking surprised for a moment, before his lips turned up in a grin as if he was surprised that he was the one who'd made me react like that. I pulled him back into the kiss, my own hand finding my way back to his cock, my own movements more certain and faster this time. Finn came quickly, his seed spurting out across my hand and our chests. I released him, bringing my hand up to my lips with fascination. My tongue darted out to lick at the sticky substance. It was somewhat salty but no unpleasant.
"That is so hot," Finn groaned. I smirked at him as he slumped back against my bed. He held out an arm for me and I crawled over. We probably should have washed ourselves off before cuddling, our chests were kinda gross but I didn't want to move quite yet. I rested my head against his shoulder, content to just lie with him quietly.
We lay there together in a comfortable silence. Finn looked just about ready to drift off and I was about to suggest we wash off and leave when I heard someone out in the corridor.
"I told you we should have been in closer contact." That was Santana, I froze. Did they know we were in there?
"How could we have possibly been in closer contact, Santana? I told you Finn walked in on me on the phone, they could have been on to us," Quinn snapped back. This wasn't about us then and what was a phone? I looked back at Finn and he shrugged, his brow furrowed into a frown.
"You should have tried Q. You heard what she said, we're done," Santana argued back. Quinn let out some sort of shriek and I heard a voice that had to be Brittany's trying to calm her down.
"It's okay. Sue will give us another chance. We just have to give her something!" There was a pause,
"Britts might actually be onto something. We give her something we couldn't at a distance, she might take us back. We can live in actual luxury rather than this dump," Santana mused. I looked about my room, even after all these weeks it still felt like luxury compared to my room back at home.
"Okay then. We'll give her the hotel information and sell out the prisoners. If she can pull together something that proves these idiots have been doing something untoward then she'll seriously have a case." Quinn agreed. Their voices faded away after that as they seemingly moved away. Saying something about rich people and electricity and Sue's estate but the words were a jumble in my head.
Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were working for Sue. They were going to sell us out. I stumbled out of bed and picked up my clothes, pulling them back on with a grimace as Finn did the same. I was going to have to have a long, hot shower later definitely. But right now, we had more important problems to deal with.
Outside of my room we separated, Finn disappearing into his room as I hurried across the hall to the other bedrooms. The door that Sue had been behind earlier was open and neither she nor Will were anywhere in sight. Where could they have gone? The gong rang, causing me to jump. The dining room, of course. Clearly we were all going to hear about Sue's demands now. Maybe Quinn, Santana, and Brittany would all reveal themselves but I doubted it. I headed downstairs quickly, joining the crowd as everyone gathered inside the dining room. We all took the same seats that we had taken in the last meeting. I looked around the group, paying particular attention to Quinn and the others when they arrived only a couple of minutes before Will and Sue. I don't know what I'd been expecting of Sue but she was taller and more imposing then I'd expected. Her arms were crossed, a scowl on her face as she studied us all in distaste. I heard her say something about how we all stunk of failure and bristled. I was certainly not a failure.
Will didn't sit down, his face severe as he looked around. This time we all fell silent without having to be told. Well, all of us apart from Rachel.
"What's going on, Will?" she asked. This was the first time I'd really seen her today. She didn't look any different but it was almost as if the spark in her eyes that had been there before they'd left had grown even brighter. Somehow I knew that it meant that she wasn't going to let anything go down without a fight. I smiled to myself, covering my mouth with my hand so no one would see.
"Sue wanted me to speak to you all about what's going to happen," Will answered. The lack of feeling in his voice was as big of a warning as anything. Rachel pursed her lips together but didn't press anymore. When Will was certain that she wasn't going to argue back, he looked around the room again.
"Apparently, we should be grateful that Sue's turned a blind eye to our activities long enough but keeping prisoners and helping others to regain electricity is a step too far." We all looked around at each other, questions in our eyes but we didn't dare open our mouths just yet. "She's giving us a week to sort things out and by then, unless the hotel shows some improvement in the city, our operation is done."
That caused a stir among us. Over? The operation couldn't be over. Everyone here had worked too hard for that to happen. Bringing the electricity back was just too important. At least, that's what we'd all been led to believe so far.
"But what will happen to us?" an unfamiliar voice spoke up. I looked up and down the table before I realized that it was Tina. She pushed herself to her feet, a fire in her eyes as the usually shy girl glared up at both Will and Sue. "This is all our home and the operation is all we have! You can't just take that away from us!" Apparently her words were funny as Sue seemed to be on the brink of laughter. She looked around us all and seemed almost disappointed by what she saw.
"Oh, but I can Asian Number One. You're breaking the law and I will not tolerate that. You should be grateful that I'm not carting you all away now," Sue responded. Tina pressed her lips together tightly and sat back down but we could all still feel her fury. There was nothing we could say though, we were breaking the law. She had every right to shut us down, she was the vice-president after all.
"Where would you be taking us?" I asked instead. If I had to leave everything I'd started to build here then would I be allowed to go back to my Father or was I going to have to be forced into the unfamiliar wilds or into work in the city? I met Tina's eyes as I spoke, she nodded at me gratefully. It was partly what she'd wanted to ask, I then realized.
"Good question, Lady Face. I doubt I have any use for anyone who allows themselves to be led by someone with curly hair, but you'll all have to move to the city so I can keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't re-form," Sue answered. I felt Mercedes nudge my side gently and I caught sight of her shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. She wasn't the only one who was happy with this thought. Yes, I'd still be with my new friends but I'd never be free to truly live my life the way I wanted.
"This isn't fair on them, Sue. They should be able to return to their families. I'm the one who organized this all," Will spoke up. Sue turned to glare at him.
"My word is law, William, and you clearly don't care what really happens to them," she snapped. I expected Will to argue back, to say that he did care about us but in away, it seemed like Sue had a point. Not because of this whole operation but...after what had happened to Hunter...
After what happened to Hunter I couldn't help but wonder if Will really cared whether people lost their lives over this or not.
"Unless anyone has anything else to say that isn't stupid, which I highly doubt, I'd like to move on. I'll be leaving on later on today with the prisoners. Now, if any of you have already seen sense and would like to leave with me then I suggest you pack your bags now and come join me in the main hall. If not, I'll see you in a week when you're disbanded," Sue finished. Once again she looked around the room before she turned on her heel and swept out. No one moved from their seats but the room suddenly exploded with sound. People began arguing between themselves but I didn't dare take my eyes off of Quinn. They'd yet to move. I frowned, placing my elbow on the table and my head on the palm of my hand as I studied them.
"I'm surprised you're not following after her, Quinn," I called out. She raised an eyebrow as I spoke to her but her face didn't betray her true feelings about us all.
"Please, some of us here aren't traitorous bastards who don't think before acting," she responded dryly. I frowned, I hadn't done anything wrong. She was not going to turn this around on me.
"Really? Because from what I've heard, you're the traitor here," I replied. A glimpse of panic flickered across her face for a second before she relaxed her expression and just stared back at me.
"And where exactly did you hear that?" she droned. Beside her Santana seemed to her tensed, her gaze narrowing on me as Quinn's eyes darted between myself and Finn. I couldn't help but smirk to myself, I had them on this. I would reveal what they'd been doing and then we could get rid of them, no one else would report to Sue and we could plan a rebellion.
"Let's see, I was in my room and you were all in the corridors and you three were in the corridor talking about talking to Sue." There was no way they could get out of this. Santana snorted and relaxed back in her seat.
"Cut the crap Lady Hummel, you can't have the attention all the time," Santana said. I frowned, the room was quiet now. I hadn't even noticed that everyone had stopped talking to listen in.
"I'm not after attention. We heard you, didn't we Finn?" I snapped. Santana's smirk grew as Quinn's face twisted into something dark.
"Wow Finnocence, didn't know you were that desperate for someone to actually want your tiny dick," Santana taunted. I turned to look at Finn who's face had paled but he wouldn't meet my eyes. He wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't hear anything," he stated. His voice was flat and the way Quinn's face twisted suggested that neither she nor anyone else believed him. Whereas I just didn't know whether he'd been denying being with me or just overhearing the girls.
"Guys! That's enough. We shouldn't be arguing right now! We need to sort out what we're going to do after this week," Will bellowed, banging against a wall to get our attention. We all fell silent as he began to talk but nothing seemed to be able to lift us out of our state of disillusionment.
"Kurt, can we talk?"
I stopped in the corridor to see Finn behind me, his hands in his pockets. He shuffled about on the spot as if he was nervous. I sighed, I guess now I knew whether he'd been denying being with me or not as well as just overhearing the girls.
"Sure, Finn." I answered as I started to trudge back towards my room. He followed after me, his footsteps quiet. The moment we'd stepped back inside my room, Finn shut the door behind us and grabbed for my hand.
"I want to keep us quiet," he said. I stopped but didn't turn to face him.
"Why?" I asked. Finn didn't say anything, he just pulled me around to face him. "Why?" I tried again. Finn sighed but he didn't look away.
"Because I just broke things off with Quinn and we don't know where we're going or what they're doing." I met his eyes with my own. He was telling the truth. I looked away again. I guess I understood. We didn't need another reason for Quinn to create trouble for us with Sue, especially as we didn't really know what we were up against.
"I just don't want to mess everything up when we're just supposed to be enjoying ourselves," Finn muttered. I nodded and tried to make myself relax. He hadn't said he hadn't been there because he didn't want to be with me. So why was I still worried?
"We shouldn't even be talking about this right now, Finn. We've got more important things to discuss like how your ex and her friends can still report on us to Sue," I pointed out, rubbing at my eyes tiredly. Finn just grinned at me,
"That's exactly what we want, dude. We keep an eye on them and trick them." That was more devious that I expected from Finn. I raised an eyebrow. I wasn't about to ask what he had in mind as I had a feeling that he wouldn't have a concrete plan yet. But it was a very good idea.
"Okay, let's say we do. We're going to have to let some of the others in on it though..." Finn had released my wrist but his arms had slipped around my waist instead. He pulled me closer, his hands slipping up the back of my shirt, distracting me.
"Yeah, we will," Finn muttered, burying his face in my neck. His lips were doing a very good job of making me forget what we'd been talking about. Hadn't it been important? Finn pushed me back towards the bed that we'd only left an hour before, our minds clouding into a haze of lust.
The next week all I could think about were Finn and our plans. One moment we'd be talking about some crap at the dinner table that we'd made up with Rachel, the next I'd find myself pressed up against the wall in the corridor, our lips crashing together.
It was exhilarating but oh so scary, like I had everything that was good in the world then and there, but it was a distraction. Finn's everything would be my downfall. I felt that if we hadn't needed to work to avoid questions, we never would have left my room. For some reason that didn't bother me. Even though we were working to save our group's work, even though I was in my element., nothing seemed to matter when Finn and I were alone.
It was getting to be risky.
Someone was either going to find out and our hard work could be ruined or we were going to be separated.
I just knew it.
"You're thinking too hard again," Finn murmured, his lips brushing the juncture between my neck and shoulders. I hummed in response and Finn seemed to take that as a signal to bite down gently. I gasped, my hands suddenly gripping his shoulders. He pulled away with a small smirk. Over the last few nights we'd mapped out each others bodies, had learned what was good and what wasn't. We'd tried almost everything apart from going all the way.
Right now my head was muddled and I just wanted to forget once again, to just enjoy the feeling of our bodies pressed together.
My hand reached out to grab the open bottle of lubrication from the table where we'd left it earlier. Finn stopped when he caught sight of what I was doing. I paused with the bottle in my hand and met his eyes.
"Can we-" my breath caught in my throat as I tried to phrase my words right, "Can we go all the way? Now?" I asked. Nervousness flashed across Finn's face for a moment before he nodded, letting his eyes rove across my body. His tongue darted out to lick his lips and I finally moved. I poured the bottle into my hands and coated my fingers carefully. Lifting my hips, I slipped my hand beneath me and carefully pushed one finger inside myself. I spent time stretching myself as Finn took the bottle and stroked himself as he rubbed the lubrication in. I added in a second finger, scissoring carefully to stretch myself more. It was easier then earlier on in the afternoon, we'd experimented with stretching each other, trying to bring the other to orgasm by just stimulating his prostate. It had been amazing.
I slipped my fingers out when I thought I was ready and nodded at Finn. He still looked awkward. But he still wrapped his hands around my legs and pulled them around his waist. I grabbed one of the pillows from behind me and shoved it under my hips to keep them raised. Finn wrapped one hand around his cock and then slowly pressed inside of me. The stretch was nothing like I'd expected. Warm and wonderful but still slightly painful, even after the stretching. I winced slightly and Finn must have seen something on my face as he stopped. He leaned down and captured my lips with his own. As our tongues brushed, I felt myself relax and Finn slowly pushed in until he bottomed out.
"Is this okay?" he murmured against my lips. I waited a couple of minutes before I wriggled experimentally. It still felt kind of weird but the burn also felt kind of good.
"Yes, move," I replied. Finn complied and started to thrust. I tightened my legs around his hips, shifting about as he moved to change the angle. One deep thrust and he hit that tight knot of nerves that sent pleasure shooting throughout my body like electricity. I moaned lowly and Finn kissed me again, swallowing up the little sounds that I couldn't help but make. His thrusts sped up and it was all too much, it all just felt so good. I groaned lowly, pulling away from Finn's lips as my nails raked down his back. He bit his lip, his eyes squeezing shut as he tried not to lose himself too quickly. The sight caused my cock to twitch out of interest. I moved one hand down from his back as his eyes opened, reaching between us to stroke myself but Finn pushed my hand away, wrapping his hand around my cock instead. He stroked and teased, his wrist twisting in the way that he now knew drove me crazy. Pleasure spiked inside of me and I came, spilling over Finn's hand as my inner walls clenched around him. Finn's body followed after me, his hips stuttering forward as his come filled me. Finn slumped down on top of me, panting slightly. I loosened my arms around his shoulders, sighing happily. I didn't really feel any different then I had before. In fact, it hadn't been like the books had suggested at all. It had been even better.
"You okay?" Finn asked as he finally lifted himself up, pulling out of me. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" I shifted about, I was slightly uncomfortable but part of that was partly down to the come that seemed to be making it's way down.
"I'm fine," I promised, leaning across to peck him on the lips before I stumbled to my feet. I winced slightly at the ache in my backside but it was no way near as bad as walking around with damaged ribs. I could handle it. What I couldn't handle was how gross I would feel if I didn't shower soon. I pulled my shirt and boxers back on as Finn stretched out on the bed behind me.
"Where are you going?" he questioned. I turned back to him with a cheeky grin,
"Shower. Coming?"
I don't think I'd ever seen him move so fast.
Something crashed onto the floor.
I awoke with a start, sitting up to see what the hell was happening. Finn was stood there, fully dressed a pack on the floor in front of him and paper in his hands. That bag must have been what he'd dropped.
"What are you doing?" I asked, rubbing at my eyes as I studied him. He'd been in bed beside me when I fell asleep but he must have returned to his room to get clean clothes. Not to mention to pack the bag. A sense of dread started to pool in the pit of my stomach.
"I was leaving you a letter. I've got to go," he answered. Finn picked the bag back up and slung it over his shoulders, turning to go with the letter still in his hands.
"I'd rather you just told me what was going on, Finn." I slid the covers off of me and stepped out of bed, my shoulders slumped. We'd had such a good day, such a good week even. I didn't want to fight now. Not now, not when time had ran out and we were going to have to deal with Sue again soon enough.
"Will spoke to me this afternoon. We're leaving for the city tomorrow. Me, him, and Rachel," Finn said. I felt my heat drop to my stomach.
"You can't go, Finn! She'll never let you come back! It's dangerous!" I cried. Finn turned back around to face him, a frown on his face.
"What am I supposed to do? Just sit here!?" Finn exploded, I put my finger to my lips to tell him to quieten down and he just threw his arms up. "This is my chance to do something, Kurt. To help save us. I have to take it!" I shook my head, stepping forwards to reach out to him. Finn moved further back and I crossed my arms over my chest.
"You don't have to do something so stupid to help save us. You were doing just fine here," I insisted. Finn snorted and reached up to run a hand through his hair.
"That's easy for you to say. You come here and everything starts to change. You're comfortable with who you are, you speak your mind, and you're actually making things change," Finn muttered. He looked away, his whole body slumping against the wall as he stared down at his pack. "You're more of a man then I could ever hope to be, Kurt. But I need to do something and prove that I'm someone my mother can be proud of."
I didn't know know what to say to that. He'd never mentioned his Mother before but I gathered that she was important to him. I still didn't want to let him risk going to the city though. It could be dangerous and I couldn't lose him.
"You still don't have to go to the city for that. You can do something here with me just..." Finn cut me off with a snort.
"Now I get what this is about. You just don't want me to go for your sake." I looked away, I couldn't argue.
"We're just supposed to be enjoying ourselves. Isn't that what you said? I can't just sit here anymore, not when I know I can do something. I won't let you stop me," Finn insisted. He turned back towards the door.
"If you leave now, I'll never talk to you again," I called out to him, a last attempt to just keep him here with me, safe. He didn't even turn around.
The absence of the others the next day was more noticeable than before. The last time they'd gone to the city, we'd known they would return. This time we didn't have that same hope. We tried to keep up the work up that first day they were gone but it felt pointless. It was decided we'd just do what was necessary between us. That first day passed slower then any other before it and the second day, I could barely find the desire to get out of bed. What would I be doing? Eating and cleaning? Maybe I'd finally tell Quinn what I thought of her and her friends, maybe I'd call them out on being the traitors I knew they were again. But I knew that would get us nowhere.
I rolled over onto my side, pulling the covers up over my head as I tried to ignore the sunlight streaming through the gap in my curtains. There was a knock at the door.
"Kurt? There's someone at the front door for you," Emma called in. The door opened and I poked my head out of the covers. I stared at her for a second as she frowned at me. Self-consciously, I ran my fingers through my hair and tried to sit up.
"Who is it?" I asked. This had to just be some sort of attempt to get me out of bed already. Breakfast had been a couple of hours ago and I'd not stepped outside of my room. It wasn't like that anyone outside of the group knew where I was, I hadn't even managed to send a letter to my Father yet.
"A messenger. They won't say where or who from," Emma answered. I frowned, that was weird. I had to see who it was. I sighed and waved the older woman away.
"I'll be about in a moment." Emma nodded and hurried out of the room but I didn't hear her go far. I quickly dressed, not putting too much thought into my outfit for once. I paused to check that I didn't look a mess, before I joined Emma in the corridor. We made our way downstairs and I stopped in front of the young man standing in front of the open front doors.
"Are you Kurt Hummel?" the messenger asked. The young man was dirty, his hair pulled tightly into dreadlocks, his feet actually bare. I eyed him up and down, not sure what to make of him.
"That depends on who's asking?" I replied. The messenger laughed and reached into the brown bag at his side.
"I have a letter for you from the city," he explained. He pulled out a large, white envelope, my name clearly written on it. I felt my heart jump with a start. Could it be from...? No, there's no way that they could be settled enough for him to write yet. Still, I felt a pointless hope rising in me as I tore open the paper.
"They told me to say that it was from the Warblers," the messenger added, making me pause. Why had they written to me? I slipped the paper out. I unfolded it as Emma sidled up beside me to read it.
Kurt.
We hope this finds you in time. Rumors have been spreading around the city about Sue and how she plans to deal with the rebellion. Apparently the hotel you managed to light up has helped some of the poorer people, but the rich have been creating an uproar. The hotel is still lit up but we don't know how long for. We're planning on staying there as long as possible, it seems as if we may have been wrong. Sue however still appears to be unwilling to change her view. People have been saying that she's planning on making an example of the perpetrators. No one knows what exactly she has planned but it's going down on the thirtieth of the month. If you can find some way to avoid this then make sure you avoid the city or get out as soon as possible.
We wish you luck.
Jeff and Nick.
Emma read the letter over my shoulder, gasping as she registered what was going on.
"No!" I clutched at the paper tightly. This couldn't be happening. My head snapped up to see that the messenger was still stood there. I did a quick calculation in my head, it was the twenty-seventh today so I needed three days to get to the city. The group had left two days ago so I'd never be able to catch up with them on their way but I could possibly join them in the city and convince them to return to the compound.
"How long should it take to get from here to the city?" I demanded. The messenger looked slightly taken aback but his grin quickly returned.
"About two days on horseback if you ride hard." That was definitely doable, I could get there in time to warn them. I'd have to leave now though.
"Emma, do we have any horses free?" I turned to ask her. Emma nodded and disappeared somewhere down the hall for some reason. I turned back to the messenger to ask one last thing,
"Are you going back to the city?" The messenger shook his head, "No. I have another message to pass on to one of the villages but I can draw you a map if you want." I nodded my thanks and the messenger pulled some paper and a pencil out of his bag. He held the paper up against the wall and started to sketch. One of the doors behind us opened and we were joined by Sam.
"Emma says you need a horse? Can you ride?" Sam checked. I nodded, I knew the basics of riding. My dad had been the blacksmith in the village where I was from so he'd managed to bargain for me to have a couple of lessons with the stable master. That had been years back though and we no longer even kept horses in the village.
"I can but I might be a bit rusty," I admitted. Sam looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded and left the house. I paused, wanting to follow but I needed the map. I tapped my foot impatiently and after a few minutes, the messenger had turned back to me and held the paper out.
"This should help." I thanked him and the messenger finally left, hopping straight back on the horse that waited for him at the bottom of the path. I watched him leave before I made my way out of the house, shutting the door behind me before I headed to the stables at the left.
Outside of the wooden building, Sam had a large black and white horse ready and waiting. The coloring the reminded me slightly of a cow's. Sam was petting it's neck, talking to it quietly. The horse had already been tacked up, all I needed to do was climb on and ride.
"Wait! Kurt!" Emma's voice called from behind me. I turned my head, Emma was running towards us, a bag in her hands.
"I thought you might need some things." She shoved the bag in my hands and I lifted the flap. Inside were clothes and some food. I thanked her and Sam quickly before I climbed up on the horse.
"Her name is Daisy. She'll be able to take you all the way and she's well behaved so you should be able to handle her," Sam informed me. I nodded, stroking Daisy's neck as I took her rein into my hands. I put the bag over my shoulders, shifting it so it wouldn't be in my way as I rode.
Then I was off, Daisy's hooves hitting the ground hard as we ran out of the compound's gates. My heart seemed to pound with every step that Daisy took, the wind blowing through my short hair. We rode the entire day, only slowing to a stop when darkness fell for the sake of Daisy. She'd slowed down, tiring as the sun set and it wouldn't have been fair to carry on, even if I wanted to get there as quickly possible.
I found a rough blanket in one of the saddle bags and gave Daisy an apple from my bag before I sat down for quick a meal of bread and cheese. I slept until sunrise then we set off again after breakfast. Our pace was fast and the closer to the city we got, the more strange wooden poles there appeared to be.
I paused in a small town around midday. People were cautious around me but I was able to buy some food and rest Daisy for a little while. I asked about the wooden poles there but no one knew what they were. I remembered them from my journey to the compound as well though. They were weird but I didn't have time to really figure out what they were. We set off again after lunch and caught sight of the city around sunset.
The moon was up when we trod into the city and towards the signposted stables on the outskirts. A blond man stepped out of the main stable as I came to a stop. He looked tired but he was still somewhat handsome.
"Stable's closed," he said. I frowned and dismounted, stepping into the light of the lantern he held.
"Be fair, there's no where else I can leave her." The man took in my appearance as I drew Daisy closer. His eyes seemed to take everything in and it made me feel slightly uncomfortable.
"I expect a room in these stables is more then you can afford, beautiful. My bed on the other hand..." the guy said, smirking slightly as my face heated up. I didn't have time for dealing with creeps like this. I had to find a room and then Finn and the others. I slipped my hand into my bag and pushed the last of my money into his hands.
"I'll just take the stable, thanks." The blond counted the notes quickly before he nodded and took Daisy's reins.
"Your loss," he replied. I snorted, I highly doubted that. I followed him through the doorway of the stable, watching as he freed Daisy from her tack.
"Could you possibly give me directions to somewhere to stay?" I asked as I watched him. He had fast hands and Daisy seemed to have taken to him already.
"I have a friend stopping by in a few minutes to drop something off. He might be able to help," the blond answered. That would work, I left him to his work and went to stand outside of the stable. I had a good view of the city where I stood. There were tall buildings everywhere, it was nothing like I'd ever seen before. I'd heard all about New York City, had read about it so many times over the years. In the past, this would have been where I'd belonged. I drew in a deep breath, even the air here seemed different to what I was used to.
As I let my eyes fall shut for a second to day dream, I heard footsteps.
"Well, well, well, I thought the others told you to stay away." My eyes snapped open and I spotted Sebastian, his hands in his pockets and that familiar smirk on his face. He'd only been free a week but he already looked better.
"They did but I need to get my friends out of here." Sebastian made a small noise in response. The stable door opened and the blond man stepped out beside me, holding a hand up in greeting to Sebastian.
"You got it?" he asked. Sebastian nodded as he slipped his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a glass bottle that looked sort of like the one Artie had given me before and tossed it to the blond. The stable worker studied the bottle for a moment before he pocketed it.
"I'll leave you in Sebastian's capable hands then. But if you need anything..." the blond trailed off, lifting an eyebrow suggestively. I snorted and the blond left us with a wave.
"Are you going to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing with you or are you just assuming something?" Sebastian's voice drew my attention back to him as I pushed my own hands into my pockets.
"Jeff and Nick said you were all staying in the hotel. I was hoping you'd be able to take me there," I explained. Sebastian looked thoughtful for a moment before he shrugged and started back down the path.
"I would have thought you wanted to get to your friends straight away," he mused. I followed after him knowing that he was right. A large part of me did want to get Finn and the others away from Sue and out of the city tonight but I needed to let Daisy rest. Plus I didn't have a clue how I was going to break into wherever Sue was keeping them. There were bound to be guns everywhere.
"It's too late to find them. I'll probably have better luck during the day," I replied. Sebastian turned to smirk at me,
"What about if I told you that we knew where they were?"
I stopped for a second. If the Warblers knew then maybe they could help. I'd be able to get the others out of here a hell of a lot easier if I had help. Even if that help was just showing me where they were. I mean, that would at least give me a little more time to actually break them out.
"Show me." Sebastian stopped a little way in front of me, half-turning towards me to give me a mock bow.
"Your wish is my command, Princess." I had to bite back the urge to smile. He wasn't all the bad really, a little offensive and rude but at least someone that I felt that I could trust. And there weren't many of those these days.
Sebastian started off down a new path, leading me in and out of both boarded up buildings and into streets where candles and lanterns were obvious through the windows. Even the streets became cleaner though there were less people outside. Maybe that was too our advantage. I thought back on what had happened between the stable master and and Sebastian earlier before they left in an attempt to think of something to say. He'd given him a glass bottle of what I was pretty sure was lubrication but I couldn't be certain. "Are you and the stable master in a relationship?" I tried. Ahead of me, Sebastian took his turn to snort but didn't bother turning back to me.
"If we were, it would wind up being a constant fight. We're just friends." So he was just doing for him what Artie had done for me. I supposed I should have guessed, considering the fact the blond had hit on me.
"Have you ever-" I started but found myself unable to finish the question. I knew I had to be blushing so I was glad when Sebastian kept his eyes ahead, even if his shoulders looked like to be silently shaking with laughter.
"No. Definitely no. We both like to be in charge and like to be the person to leave at the end of the night. We'd both wind up having no fun," he answered anyway. I frowned, that didn't sound right to me. Sex wasn't something that was that amazing, sure, but if you were going to have it then surely you should be having it with someone you love? Sebastian did turn around then and rolled his eyes when he saw my face.
"A prude are we? Listen up Old Lady, there's nothing wrong with what we both do. We have sex with other people who want sex, we both enjoy it and so do they. We don't promise feelings or relationships so no one ends up hurt. So get off your high horse and stop looking so judgmental," he lectured. His words hit me with unexpected force. Hadn't what I'd been doing with Finn been something similar? Only, I'd been hoping for those feelings one day. I said it was just sex but I thought that one day, I'd want more from him. Did that mean I was leading him on? Was I worse then Sebastian and the stable master? I frowned, no, I couldn't be. Up until Finn had left, it had just been to enjoy what I could have with him. We barely knew each other so it wasn't like I was in love with him, at least not yet. It had just been a crush and a lust that I had been cashing in on. Finn had felt the same way. In a way we'd just been friends with benefits. And I'd almost ruined that by trying to push and control him. Just like Quinn had been doing before me. God, how had I been so stupid?
Sebastian stopped ahead of me and I almost ran into him. We were standing outside of gates that looked out of place in the middle of the city. The inside was all green and I could see a large building lit up ahead, but it was too far away to see what sort of lanterns they were using to make it so bright. I looked around us, there was a rusting sign on one of the walls welcoming us to Central Park. Oh, I'd read about the park before. In the past it had been a place where the public could go to have fun. There was a zoo, places for picnics, places to get married and all sorts of other amusements. Even the dark I could see what a mess the place was now. The new building was an eyesore in the middle of a dump. It was a shame. Beside me Sebastian had started to edge around the gates. I followed him silently, wondering what exactly he was doing. The gate turned into a wall but we kept moving until we reached a copse of trees, the branches hanging lowly over the wall. Greenery had started growing up the wall as well and Sebastian reached for it. When he pulled the leaves apart I could see that part of the stonework had started to crumble away where the plants were growing. They'd left a hole big enough for someone my size to fit through.
"When Sue brought us here, she made sure we spent a night with her so she could be assured that we weren't going to be a problem for her," Sebastian started to explain. I moved closer to the wall, feeling around the gap in the wall as I nodded for him to carry on.
"She questioned us all separately before deciding we weren't any harm. But she underestimated us. By treating us like criminals, she made it clear she has something to hide. So we made sure to find a way back in." It sounded as if Sebastian was saying that they were on my side if I needed them. I turned back to him as I stepped away from my way into Sue's compound.
"Madame Vice President is not what she claims," I agreed. Sebastian gave me a tight smile and gestured for me to follow once again.
"Think you'll be able to remember your way back in the morning?" he asked. "Provided you don't take the longest route back to the hotel? Sure."
Sebastian laughed and once again we were on our way.
The hotel was twenty minutes away on foot and we'd had to go down so many streets that I wasn't too sure that I would remember my way back. But I had to. I drew the route down in my mind but as the hotel rose up in front of us, my mind went blank again.
The building was taller then I'd expected. Completely run down but it looked like long ago it must have been an expensive place to visit. Most of the windows up the front of the building were lit up and people milled on the front steps, smoking and talking. Inside the main lobby I could see even more people hanging around. The majority of them looked poor and were eating meals out of whatever containers they had to hand. And yet no one was complaining or trying to kick them out. It was strange but nice. Sebastian pushed the door open ahead of me and I entered the hotel. It was warm and the lights were brighter then I was used to back in the compound. The sound of voices surrounded us and the woman behind the front desk hurried towards us. She was short and blonde but the moment she spoke let me know that she was a lot bigger then she looked.
"Welcome to the hotel y'all!" she greeted. I smiled awkwardly at her, she was swaying slightly and as she grew closer I could smell alcohol all over her. Maybe that was why there were no problems with people hanging about.
"What can I do for you tonight. Need a room for an hour?" she asked, winking at us. I pulled away and Sebastian rolled his eyes, moving away from us.
"I'll leave you to it, Kurt." he said. I called my thanks after him before I turned back to the blonde woman.
"I just need somewhere to sleep for the night," I told her. The woman looked thoughtful before she stumbled back towards the front desk.
At the desk, she pulled out a large ledger with names and numbers written all over it. They didn't even seem to fit in the lines and boxes.
"Looks like we have a room free on the next floor. Third door to the left. It doesn't lock so make sure you don't have any valuables," she slurred. That didn't sound promising but I had to take what I could get. It wasn't like I had much money left anyway. I was about to ask how much the room would be when the blonde seemed to become distracted again. I sighed and left a few notes on the desk before I made my way upstairs and found the unlocked door.
Tomorrow I would break into Sue's compound and find my friends wherever they were. I only had that day but I wanted to get them out as soon as possible in case Sue decided she decided to bring the punishment forward. The room I stepped into was clean, there was a bed in the corner and little else but it was all I needed. I climbed onto the bed, pulled the blanket out of my bag from where I'd moved it and hugged my bag to my chest.
I had a big day tomorrow.
The gap was a tighter fit then I'd guessed. I shimmied my hips through as I forced my way through the hole. I pushed through, breathing in deeply, the stones around me crumbled and I finally got through. The inside of the compound was incredibly green. I was stood near an old building and I could see water somewhere in the distance. If I closed my eyes, I could probably pretend that I was some where other then the city. I looked around, pressing myself up against the old building as I searched for guards. They were all closer to the main building but in the early morning light, I could see that they were yawning. Now seemed like it would be the best time to sneak inside. Drawing a deep breath, I darted across the grounds to hide behind something else. With quick steps I moved closer and closer towards the main building. I heard footsteps to the left of me and I started behind a tree. I felt my heartbeat pick up as I pressed up close to the bark. I caught sight of a guard passing by, some sort of plastic device placed to his ear.
"It's all normal around here. You must have been seeing things," the man grumbled down it. The man gripped the plastic tighter and rolled his eyes up to the sky. "Yeah, yeah, I know Ryd, better to be safe then sorry. I'll be back in a moment." He pressed something on the plastic and put it back in his pocket. Had he been talking to someone on that? My mind flashed back to the argument between Quinn and Finn and I'd heard. He'd seen her talking to herself and she'd been angry as she'd thought he'd heard something important. Could she have been using something like that? She worked for Sue as well, it would make sense. But what exactly were they. The man passed by me again and I finally let out a sigh of relief.
Once I thought it was safe, I stepped out. A branch snapped beneath my foot. Suddenly ahead of me I heard the guard turn around. I darted back towards the tree but the guard was already on my tail. I started to run, my feet pounding against the ground. The man shouted out behind and I sped up, trying to disappear between the buildings and overgrown vegetation. The man's footsteps seemed to grow closer and closer the further away I got. I cursed under my breath before I ran towards one of the buildings. I rammed my shoulder into the rotting wooden door. It didn't give way. I looked around, desperation taking over as I pushed again. The door gave way beneath my shoulder and I stumbled forwards. A hand jumped out and grabbed me by the arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" the man demanded. I struggled against him but his grip was strong. I paused for a second to see what I was up against and I was shocked to see how young the man actually was. He couldn't be more then sixteen, he must have just finished school. How had he wound up with such an important job and surely I was stronger then him? I pulled away but the boy just tightened his grip on my arm. His free hand went back into his pocket as he shoved me against the crumbling brick of the old building. The plastic device was pulled back out and two buttons pressed before he held it up to his ear.
"Ryder? You were right. I'm bringing the trespasser in," the guard said. His fingers dug into my arm as he tugged me forwards, the plastic returned to his pocket at the same time. I let him pull me forwards, it would only hurt more if I fought. If I was going to be captured then I at least needed to keep my dignity and hope that I could bargain my way out. I pressed my lips into a tight line as we started down the open path I'd been avoiding. The guards closer to the house straightened up as we passed, toying with their guns as their eyes followed me. I couldn't stop the shudder that coursed through me. It would all be okay. There's no way Sue would let them shoot me. Not yet anyway. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and tried to focus on something else as I was shoved through the front doors.
"What was that?" I asked. The guard grunted in response, his hand on me tightening as I dared speak to him. "That thing you were speaking into? What was it?" I tried again. The boy muttered something under his breath, turning his dark glare back on me until I shut up.
"It's a phone. Not that you could afford one," he spat. I stayed silent as we started up the stairs in the main hall, towards what I assumed was Sue's office. The building looked like as much as a home to Sue as the compound was to us. I looked around carefully but it took me a few more minutes to realize that the rooms didn't have any gas lanterns or candles. There were electric lights in the ceilings. The lights were off due to the daylight but the building was too new to have electrical resources left over from the past. Sue was using electricity. That would explain why I'd never heard of phones before, they must have been something electrical that Will didn't have access too. I cursed out loud and the guard squeezed my hand tight enough to make me wince.
Moments later he pulled me to a stop outside of a set of wooden double doors.
"Show some respect when you greet the Vice President," he hissed. Before I could retort with how maybe he should be showing me some respect, he had pushed me through the doors. I stumbled forwards, almost falling to my knees in front of the waiting Sue.
"Well, well Porcelain. When I heard we had a trespasser, you were the last person I expected," she greeted with a sneer. I tried to pull myself together quickly, straightening up as I tried to meet Sue's eyes with my own. I could feel terror bubbling up in the pit of my stomach but I couldn't let it show. She'd eat me alive.
"Hmm maybe you're not as much of a baby as I expected," she murmured. She started to circle around me as I kept still. It felt like her eyes were seeing everything, like she'd know everything that I had said and done and that she would be willing to use those very secrets against me.
"What exactly are you doing on my land, Kiddo?" Sue questioned as she moved over to a large wooden desk, taking the seat behind it. Her eyes never left me though and I got the feeling that she would know if I was lying.
"I came to find my friends," I answered. She hummed in response, finally looking up at the ceiling as if the answer to my question lie there.
"Sorry, not seen them." That was bullshit and she knew that I knew it. She sighed, clearly tired of me already.
"Your friends and you have broken the law and have been flaunting it in front of the general public. You all need to be punished and your friends handed themselves in. I can't just let them get away with it," she explained. I couldn't help but laugh at that, the sound bitterer then I remembered it ever being.
"And yet here you are using electricity. You're even giving out phones to those who work for you. You're breaking your own damn laws, Sue," I retorted. Right in front of me, Sue's whole demeanor changed.
"That's not for you to decide. I was going to let you go with a warning since you've clearly got some cunning but obviously you need to learn a lesson too," Sue snapped. She hit something under her desk and the guard from before joined us in the room.
"Take him to the chamber," Sue commanded. The guard grabbed me by the shoulders and started to drag me back. My arms were still free, I tried to spin around and elbow him but the boy caught both of my arms in one large hand. He shifted his hold, my arms being pulled behind me back as he led me by the shoulder without giving me any room to escape.
The room I was roughly shoved into was dark and smelt damp. As the door was slammed shut after me, I saw the only light came in from a small window above me. I frowned, holding my hands out in front of me as I felt for the door. My hand found cold metal. I felt further along until my hand brushed against a damp wall. I pulled my hand away quickly and wrinkled my nose. That was when I smelt something rotten. I almost gagged, bringing my arm up to cover my mouth and nose. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the dark and I was able to make sense of the room I was in. The chamber was small and the light came from an open slit in the roof. But whatever was rotting was definitely in the room with me. I pulled my arm away from my mouth, hoping for just a breath of fresh air but the closer I got to the slit, the worse it was. My eyes skirted the floor, looking for whatever was stinking the room out. I was surrounded by small dark shapes that brushed my lower legs but they looked like plants. I bent down to get a better look, my spare fingers feeling around the plant. It felt kind of slimy. I dropped my arm to see if the plants smelt of rot but they just smelt of damp and earth. The shape of the plant became clearer as the sunlight streaming through the gap grew brighter.
Mushrooms.
My heart started pounding in my chest as I quickly covered my mouth again. Oh god, why did Sue have a room full of mushrooms? Why would she use them as punishment? I tried to tell myself that they could be safe, the fear of the fungi itself could drive someone insane. She said she wanted to punish me, not kill me. I tried to calm down, my free hand reaching behind me to find a wall. My feet found something before my hand and I stumbled back. My head whipped around and I caught sight of a human face. My heart stopped for a moment. I stepped away, squinting in the dim light. I must have imagined it. I was panicking. But the more steps back I took, the more the object took the shape of a human body, his eyes rolled back in his head. A cavity in his chest had been opened, probably by the knife that I caught a glimpse of in one hand. From the cavity grew several mushrooms that bent over his body. A larger mushroom grew from his open mouth.
I gasped, my hand jumping up to press the arm over my mouth and nose tighter. Oh god, someone had died in here and mushrooms were growing out of him. Mushrooms. It was just like the government had warned. I could feel tears forming in my eyes as my legs gave way beneath me. I couldn't be here. I was going to die. These mushrooms were diseased, Sue had kept them to kill people. And I was their next victim. My breath came ragged and I forced myself to hold it, trying not to hyperventilate. There was no way I'd be able to keep this up for long. Sue had known that. I should have kept my big mouth shut. I squeezed my eyes closed, my lungs starting to burn as the minutes passed. I had to breathe or I was going to die even sooner. These mushrooms couldn't kill me straight away. I'd just breathe in the spores, they'd start to grow inside of me, they'd block up my airways and I'd slowly die of suffocation. Unless I decided to give them a quicker route out of me that would kill me quicker. I bit back a sob, warm liquid pooling around my thighs. All of my dignity was gone but I couldn't find it in me to care.
I don't know how much time passed when I heard the lock turn in the metal door. I didn't move. I'd shifted away from the urine and had moved closer to the door. I lay curled between the mushrooms, my hands still tightly pressed over my mouth as I tried to breathe shallowly. It was probably just someone with food and water. They couldn't let me die too quickly if they really wanted me punished. I could hear whispering outside of the door. The corridor outside went silent again and then the door opened.
"Kurt?!" I looked up at my name to see Finn and Rachel stood in the doorway. Suddenly I was being pulled out, the elastic of a surgical mask being pulled over my head to protect me.
"We'll have to get him checked out later," Rachel murmured as Finn bundled me into his arms, his eyes wide. I tried to stand on my own two feet, steadying myself using his shoulders.
"I kept my mouth covered mostly," I managed to tell them. That seemed to satisfy Rachel for only a moment. Seconds later she sniffed and asked, "What's that smell?" I felt shame pool in my stomach but I tried not to show it as I started to walk away. I'd stopped panicking a while ago but I had no clue how long I'd been in there, it was still light out but it didn't look like it would be for much longer.
"We need to get out of here," I said. If I could get us back to the hotel, then I could change back into my pants from the day before and we could all head back towards the compound. "Where's Will?" Finn and Rachel looked at each other and I knew whatever had happened wasn't good.
"He's- he's already gone ahead. We didn't know if it was one of ours or someone else locked in there but we had to get them out. Will didn't want to waste time if it was someone we didn't know," Finn admitted. That was horrible...if they'd have listened...I'd still be dying in there. Fury filled me, how could Will do that?! We were supposed to be helping people and he was willing to leave someone to die a slow and painful death as it didn't suit his objectives. At least Finn and Rachel had cared.
My anger calmed me and I just started to walk. I had to get out of there.
My journey out of the building was a lot easier then the journey in. As clumsy as Finn was, he understood how to get out quietly and Rachel was always one step ahead of the guards with her strategy. They sent me ahead when it came to dipping in and out of the dark places, my speed was an advantage this time. The guards were on high alert but we weren't caught. I tried to asked Rachel how they'd gotten away from wherever Sue was taking them but she refused to say. When I tried to ask Finn, he looked away.
Once we'd reached the gap in the wall, I knew we had a problem. There was no way Finn was going to fit through it. The three of us stood there, studying the hole for as long as possible but we had no time.
"I'll go over," Finn decided. I looked up at the wall, it was old and was even crumbling in places without plant life.
"There's no way you'll make it over. You're just going to have to try and fit," I insisted. Finn shot me a look to be quiet.
"I'll just get stuck in the wall. I'll be able to get over though. Just trust me on this, please?" he pleaded. I stared at him for a few seconds. He'd came here to prove himself, to do something good. If I tried to argue with him, to push then I'd just make things worse. I nodded. Next to me, Rachel pushed her way through the gap. She was through within seconds and I moved to follow. Finn had grabbed hold of the top of the wall and was looking for footholds. It was now or never. I pushed my way back through the wall, shimmying my hips when I almost stuck again. On the other side we waited for Finn who came tumbling over the wall quicker then expected. We pushed off of the wall and started running.
I led them down the unfamiliar streets, trying to remember my way back to the hotel using landmarks. The apartment block with lime green doors with a deli across the street, the homeless camp outside of the theater on another street. With every pound of my feet on the sidewalk, the closer we were to safety. I made the last turning and the hotel finally came into sight. We slowed down to a jog, my breath coming hard. I wasn't used to running so hard, if the situation hadn't been so desperate, I doubt I could have done it.
We entered the hotel quickly, the blonde woman from the night before now asleep on the front desk. Rachel frowned and moved to speak to her but I grabbed her arm.
"We don't have time," I told her. Rachel looked prepared to argue but she followed after me to the room I'd taken the night before. I'd hidden my bag under the bed, I could only hope that it was still there and that the room was free. Up to the first floor we went, when I pushed open the bedroom door, I was relieved to see it was still empty. I got onto my knees and pulled my bag out as Finn flopped straight down on the bed. When I sat down next to me, a wave of exhaustion came over me. I didn't want to walk another step.
"Maybe we have time for ten minutes rest," I acquiesced. Rachel shook her head at me but the soft way she looked at me suggested that she understood.
"I'll go talk to the woman at the desk then. We don't want these rooms to go to waste," she said.
Once she was gone, I turned back to Finn. His eyes were shut and his breathing heavy. Whatever he'd done over the last three days, he was obviously exhausted. I couldn't help but smile as I reached out to run my fingers gently through his hair. He looked so innocent when he was asleep, it was almost as if we hadn't been running for our lives. I sighed and reached into my bag to pull out a clean pair of pants. I quickly changed out of the soiled pair and shoved them deep into my bag before I threw the surgical mask in there with it.
"Why did you come after us?" I slowly looked back over my shoulder to see Finn watching me. He looked genuinely curious but his eyes looked gentler then I'd seen them before.
"I had to get you all out of here," I answered. Finn looked as if he was trying hard not to appear grateful as he frowned at me.
"We knew what we were doing, Kurt," he insisted as I scoffed. I didn't doubt that, but that didn't mean that I didn't think what they'd done was stupid. Hell, it had been stupid of me to chase after them.
"You could have died," I whispered, resting my head on my knees as I looked at him. Finn looked away, shrugging slightly as he drummed his fingers on his stomach.
"It would have been for our cause." I wanted to scoff again but I didn't. I believed in our cause as much as him but dying for it...nothing seemed honorable or good about that. Somehow his words reminded me of a poem I'd read in one of my Mom's old poetry books once she'd passed.
"The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori," I recited. Finn sat up, his expression puzzled as he tried to make sense of my words. "What?" he asked oh-so eloquently. I couldn't help but smile sadly.
"It's a line from a poem. The words are Latin. It basically means that to say it's honorable and right to die for your country is a lie," I explained. Understanding dawned in Finn's face as he worked out what I was saying.
"You don't think we should die for our cause. Like the people in that poem shouldn't have died for their country?" he suggested. I nodded, glad that I hadn't had to explain in anymore detail as we both fell back into silence.
The minutes started to tick by slowly as we both sat there, trying to get back our energy as we waited for Rachel. I wanted to talk some more but if I was honest, I wasn't quite sure what to say to Finn after our fight. I knew I'd say the wrong thing now and I was sorry but I didn't want to bring it up. Not here. Sue or her guards could barge into the hotel at any second. It wasn't the place to have such a private conversation. Finn's hand enveloped min in his own and squeezed gently. Meeting his gaze with my own, I squeezed back and smiled at him.
"I'm sorry that we fought," I murmured as Finn smiled back at him. His face dropped for a second before the smile returned to his lips.
"It's okay. You were just looking out for me," he replied. A laugh bubbled up in my throat as I let go of his hand.
"I guess we're even then," I commented, Finn shook his head, the hand that I had just released, reaching up to stroke the side of my face gently.
"Not quite yet. You've only started one fight." I rolled my eyes and nudged him with my elbow when I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Rachel stood in the doorway as we turned to look, her face white.
"What's happened?" I asked, sitting up straighter as I felt my entire body tensing in preparation for action. Rachel bit her lip, her eyes darting throughout the room. Was someone listening? I put a finger to my lips and Rachel nodded before she pointed towards the window. Finn and I stood up at the same time, stepping over towards the window to look out. A huge crowd was starting to form outside. God knows how we hadn't heard them.
"It gets worse," Rachel whispered as she stepped in between us to open the window. Suddenly we could hear the chatter, could see people at other windows opening them to hear what was going on outside. The people were all muttering about Sue and how she was asking people to keep an eye out for fugitives she thought had hidden in the hotel. I cursed quietly as Rachel let the window fall shut. We weren't getting out of here now. I never should have brought them back.
"Do you know where Will is?" Finn questioned as he and Rachel stepped away from me. She took her head.
"I was going to ask the lady at the desk. Will said they were friends before but she just warned me about the crowd and tried to get me to leave," she answered with a frown. Great, someone had tried to help us but now it was probably too late to get out whatever way she'd been about to suggest. "Then I guess I guess we'll just have to handle Sue ourselves. You and Kurt do the talking, I'll make sure you're both safe," Finn decided, sounding every inch the leader that he liked to think he was. There was only one problem with his idea.
"Sue hates me. Last time I tried speaking to her, I ended up in that chamber. There's no way we're getting out of this." I was loathe to admit but we were in a situation that I doubted was going to end well. We'd messed up big time and now we didn't even have our leader to guide our way. He'd left us here to get back to the others. He'd probably just promote someone else; Quinn, Santana, and Brittany would report on them; and the events would just be repeated until the rebels were disbanded. It was depressing but...it was difficult to see any other possible outcome right then.
A knock on the door sounded and made the rest of us jump. Finn pushed in front of us, keeping us back with an arm like a guard.
"Who is it?" he called out. The door creaked open and a familiar white-blond head poked in.
"Jeff!" I cried, the blond boy grinned and stepped inside the room, followed by the other Warblers.
"We thought you could do with our assistance." Rachel and I looked at each other, unsure as to how they could help.
"Unless you know a way out of here without us getting seen, then you're probably too late," Finn drawled, glaring slightly at the other males. Sebastian stepped forwards, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed Finn up and down irritably.
"We have a better plan then that, I wouldn't worry your pea brain about it," he sniped. Great, the Warblers were free but everyone still hated each other. I rubbed at my eyes tiredly and stepped up besides Finn.
"Hear them out, Finn. The Warblers are the reason I knew you guys were even in danger," I said with a sigh. I looked up at Finn, his jaw still set in a tight line but he nodded. I turned back to the Warblers and gestured for them to carry on.
"It's hell out there. Sue's going to be here soon and she's relying on the public's fear to condemn you. If someone speaks up about how much good this place is doing and what good people you are, then you might stand a chance," Jeff explained.
I frowned, it wasn't the best plan but it was something I supposed. And if that failed, then at least we'd tried one last time.
"What do you guys think?" I asked, turning back to my friends. Finn crossed his arms over his chest,
"Weren't you just the one telling me that risking our lives was stupid?" Finn pointed out, Rachel glared slightly at him as I frowned.
"It is but if we're going to die anyway, we might as well try. At least then we have the tiniest chance of survival," I argued. I watched the arguments cross Finn's face before he looked away.
"Fine. Whatever you say," Finn grunted. Rachel shot me a look of exasperation as she planted her hands on her hips.
"Seriously Finn, now is not the time for you to be getting jealous. We need to make a sensible decision and this is the best we've got," she snapped. I raised an eyebrow, Finn, jealous? What did he have to be jealous about? Okay, so I was taking charge again and going to others to help before him but we needed to do something. We couldn't just sit by and wait. Finn's mouth fell open as he gaped at her like a fish, his face turning red.
"I'm not- I'm not jealous!" he insisted. Some of the Warblers started to laugh and we fell into an awkward silence. This was not going the way it should.
"We'll go with their plan. Rachel's right," Finn finally admitted begrudgingly a few seconds later. It appeared to be the moment the Warblers were waiting for as they all rushed out of the room. I took a deep breath, looked at my friends and followed after them. It was time to face Sue. Rachel took her hand in mine as she caught up with me, her smile slightly pained. I squeezed her hand, reaching out blindly behind me to offer my other hand to Finn. He took it. All we had was each other and the Warblers but we could do this. I knew we could. We made our way outside, one long line followed by a group of three. The evening breeze was warm on my face as we stopped in front of the crowd. One by one people began to notice us, the voices dropped to whispers as people pointed towards us. So when Sue and her guards made her way down the street, everyone heard them. The crowd fell silent, shifting around as they tried to catch a glimpse of the Vice-President. As she came into sight, I dropped Rachel and Finn's hands, my palms beginning to get sweaty. I wiped my hands on my pants as someone handed Sue a large piece of plastic like I'd never seen before. Different to even the phones I'd seen earlier but I could only assume that it ran on electricity. She pressed a button and started to speak through.
"And there you have it. Proof of the lawlessness that electricity causes and the sorts of people that dare try and control it!" The crowd had already began to murmur their agreement, now so distracted that they hadn't noticed the Warblers dispersing among them.
"Then why are you using technology yourself?" I called back. Sue laughed, stopping just beyond the crowd. The expression on her face as she looked at us was mocking at best as she shook her head.
"Such a device is powered by batteries, Kiddo. The government have a small supply of these to help keep the peace," she explained. The crowd ate her words up gladly, needing to believe that what she was saying was true.
"If you need electricity to keep the peace then surely it can't be all bad?" I pointed out. Next to me Rachel nodded enthusiastically,
"Exactly! This hotel has provided more refuge for people then any other place in the city! Come the winter, it'll be warm and even those with weak eyes won't struggle to find their way around in the dark," she explained. Some of the people among the crowd started to talk again, I wonder if anyone who had stayed in the hotel in the last week was backing us up. Well, other then the Warblers.
"Electricity was banned a long time ago for a reason and the President would rather keep it that way for the people's safety," Sue argued. The crowd fell silent again.
"Then why don't we ever see the President?" A voice spoke out from the crowd. It sounded like one of the Warblers who's name I didn't know. "It's always you, Madame Vice-President. You who speaks to us, who punishes us, who visits us. It's as almost if the President didn't exist!" Rumbles of shock started to spread among the crowd, even I had to step back for a moment. He had a point. We'd all heard of President Figgins, many had voted for him but as soon as he was sworn in, he disappeared. Sue dealt with everything. I'd heard my Dad say once that she didn't deserve the power. If it had been down to voting for her, she'd have never won.
"The President doesn't want to put himself at risk amongst his people," Sue quipped. The rumblings got louder, the people's discontent becoming obvious.
"Does his house have electricity like yours?" I called out. It looked like Sue grit her teeth at that, her composure slowly being chipped away. I stepped forwards, observing her guards carefully. Near the front stood the guard who had caught me at the compound. I pointed at him,
"One of your guards said sometime to me that suggested that with money, you can get some electrical devices. Is that how it is, Sue? Pay you some money and you're happy to look to one side when you know electricity can help everyone? That's not how someone in power should behave," I carried on, spitting my words out with disgust as I glared. For a second, Sue's body shook with suppressed anger before she turned towards her guards and waved them towards us.
"Enough of this. Kill them and anyone who tries to stop you," she commanded.
The guards dissipated into the crowd, weapons being drawn as people began to scream. The crowd undulated like a wave, I could hardly see what was happening as they surged towards the doors and us. I lost sight of both Finn and Rachel as I was pulled into the crowd. Around me, people stumbled, jostling and clawing at each other as they tried to get away. I pushed through the crowd. I had to make my way through, now. A woman fell in front of me, tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to scamper away. Her head darted around, her eyes widening as she caught my eye.
"Help me," she pleaded, her hand reaching out for me. No one else around seemed to even care. A man stumbled over her legs and I caught the glimpse of a knife. I couldn't stay here. I couldn't help. The woman grabbed for my leg, I tore it out of her grasp but she just kept coming. I kicked out and pushed through further into the surge.
I caught a glimpse of Finn through the crowd, his height making him stand out. I tried to call out to him but as I opened my mouth, I felt an elbow to the gut. I reeled back, an unfamiliar boy in a guard's uniform growling at me. I jumped back, knocking someone over as I did. The person shouted and I felt someone pawing at the back of my legs. I couldn't get away quick enough and I was pulled down. The person held tight as I struggled. Breath became harder and harder to come by as fear choked me. I hit back, my hand colliding with something warm and wet. I froze, my heart in my throat as I pulled my hand back. It was red with blood. A surge of panic ran through me and gave me enough strength to fight my way out of the arms. I pulled myself up, not looking back as I pushed back through the crowd. I felt a hand on my shoulder, swore I heard Rachel's voice but I didn't dare stop again. I had to get through. I had to find Finn. Whatever he was going to do, we were going to do it together. The crowd was growing thinner and yet harder to get through. Bodies had fallen all over the place but a small group of people hadn't given up. I could see Sebastian and Nick both fighting guards off successfully. I had finally neared the front of the crowd, I caught sight of Finn again as he clambered out and lumbered towards Sue.
"Finn! Wait!" I cried out as I tried to push through even faster. Finn paused, our eyes meeting before I ran into something. Or someone.
I felt the metal against my gut before I looked down and realized what was going on. I gulped and drew my gaze back down slowly. The guard who had captured me at Sue's stood in front of me.
"You're not getting away this time," the guard practically hissed. I looked down at the knife between us. All it would take was one smooth motion and it would be buried in my stomach. There was no way anyone would be able to get to me in time. I'd bleed out. My second near death experience in one day. And I wasn't letting this one get to me. With a shaking hand, I grabbed a hold of the guard's wrist and twisted it. He didn't drop the knife but stumbled back, baring his teeth at me. I tried to side-step him but he followed, the knife slashing at my arm. The metal cut into my arm, the air making it sting as I slipped away. Every step I took, the guard seemed to know what move I was going to make yet. He stabbed and slashed, missing me by inches every single time, but he was getting angry. I had to use that to my advantage. He thrust the knife forwards again, his aim slightly off. I leaned towards the knife, reaching out to jog his arm upwards. The guard tried to side-step me and I grabbed a hold of his wrist again, twisting harder then before. The guard cried out, the knife falling to his feet. I quickly kicked out, surprising him and knocking him off balance, back into the crowd. I dived forwards, scooping up the knife before it was trampled under people's feet.
My eyes jolted back to the front of the crowd. Sue had been backed up towards another building. She looked as if she was shouting something, but Finn was clearly ignoring her as her advanced on her. I surged through the rest of the crowd, not allowing anyone to stop me as I forced my way out. I felt hands and hair, clothing and metal and then I was out into the fresh air. I took a moment to draw a breath and then I was running. My feet pounded on the sidewalk, desperation and anger sinking into my very bones as Finn and Sue grew closer and closer. He had her up against the wall, she was thrashing against him. Her hand slipped into her pocket as Finn's hands tightened on her shoulders. I didn't have to see the glint of metal to know what she had to be pulling out.
"Watch out!" I called out, Finn froze briefly but then he had her. His knee jerked forward and one hand moved down to squeeze her arm at the elbow. I reached them at that moment, immediately reaching into Sue's pocket. I drew the knife out and stepped back as she spat at me.
"This isn't over."
For Sue though, it was over.
The Warblers and Rachel managed to take control of the crowd. The people who had fought back dispersed, returning to the hotel or wherever else they had came from. Finn and I stepped into the crowd, Sue in front of us. We kicked at her ankles, forcing her to step on dropped weapons and skirt around the fallen bodies. She had to see what she had caused. It didn't seem to even faze her. Rachel waited for us by the hotel doors, she pushed them open silently as we marched over to the front desk. The blonde woman was alert now, her face serious as she walked around the front to join us.
"We have somewhere you can keep her. Follow me," she stated, her high voice steadier then expected after her clearly drunken nap a few hours prior. Rachel turned to me and I turned to Finn questioningly. Finn nodded at the woman,
"Lead the way." She started across the reception towards a door at the back that I hadn't noticed before. The corridor she led us down was dusty, the lights that had only recently been turned on flickering already. I stepped closer to Finn, my eyes stuck on Sue. It seemed like the sort of place she might have sprung a trap. The small blonde stopped at the end of the corridor, a key being pulled out of the front of her shirt before she opened the door in front of her. The blonde stepped back and Finn moved in front of her, pushing Sue inside of the room. The door was pulled shut before Sue could make her move and the blonde woman was locking the door behind her.
"How can we be certain she's not going to get out of there?" I asked as I watched the woman double check that she'd locked the door.
"Bars on the window and I'm the only one with the key, sweetie," she answered, tucking the key back in her bra as she turned back to me. I raised an eyebrow, that didn't exactly give me much faith. For some reason I doubted that it would be hard for anyone to get the key.
"You'll be able to keep her here until Will can return?" Rachel added, voicing my uncertainty. The blonde woman nodded and winked,
"No problem darlings, just make sure Will brings something sweet for me in return," she drawled. I blanched slightly but didn't say anything, whatever Will's relationship was with this woman, it wasn't any of my business. Without anyone of us agreeing, the woman seemed to have decided that it was the end of the conversation as she waved us all off.
"You all go get some sleep now, it'll all be fine down here."
For some reason that seemed to satisfy Rachel who started back down the corridor towards the lobby. Finn moved to follow her before he seemed to notice something. I followed the direction of his gaze and looked down at the tear in my sleeve. Red had seeped into some of the fabric as it stuck to the long, thin cut on my arm. Great, that was going to be fun to clean up.
"Are you-" Finn started, I shook my head at him and he stopped.
"I'm fine. It's just a little cut, I've got a first aid kit in my bag," I assured. Finn frowned and reached out for my arm as the blonde bustled past us back to the lobby. His fingers probed gently at the cut as he pulled the torn material away. It stung, the material stuck in the fast drying blood. I winced and Finn paused, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry. Can we get the first aid kit then talk?" I nodded as it couldn't hurt, I wanted to talk to him anyway.
We walked side by side back up to our room. I'd expected to see Rachel in the room but she was no where to be found. I didn't bother questioning where she was. She was probably just sticking her nose where it wasn't wanted. She could handle herself. Finn sat on the bed as I got my bag back out. I pulled a small wooden box out and handed it to him I unbuttoned the cuff of my sleeve and rolled it up to reveal the cut. Finn opened the box and pulled out a clean rag and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol. I sat next to him and held out my arm for him. I looked away as he poured the alcohol on the rag and started to dab at my arm. I gritted my teeth as it started to sting.
"I thought you thought it was stupid for us to take a risk," Finn commented. I wanted to roll my eyes but there would have been no point if he couldn't see it.
"I don't think that was a battle we could have avoided," I pointed out. I heard Finn sigh and I felt him move away from my arm. I looked back over at him, he looked sad. Closing my eyes, pleading with myself to not say the wrong thing this time. When I opened my eyes again, Finn's eyes met mine.
"It was the only plan we had, I wasn't trying to control everything or undermine you," I insisted softly. Finn didn't respond as he packed the alcohol away and pulled out a small role of bandage and some gauze. I breathed out a sigh, I thought things had gotten better between us.
"I'm sorry that we fought but..." I trailed off, not sure how to explain how I felt. If I got this wrong then it would ruin everything. "I wasn't trying to control you or keep you there for my sake. It's true that I wanted you with me but that was because at least I'd have known you were safe. I...I wouldn't know what to do without you now, Finn," I murmured, my voice breaking slightly at the end. Finn paused in the middle of tying the bandage off on my arm.
"I knew what I was doing, Kurt. I just wanted you to accept that and trust me," he replied. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling,
"Right, that's why you tried to sneak out whilst I was asleep." Finn tugged the bandage a little too tight and I scowled, batting his hand away to deal with it myself.
"I do trust you, Finn. It was Sue I didn't trust and I was right there," I sighed.
Finn fell quiet and started to pack away the little first aid box. I stayed beside him, not wanting to push him too far. Once the box had been returned to my bag, Finn turned back to me.
"Can we just forget about this? Go back to just enjoying each others company?" he asked. I pursed my lips together tightly, I'd been kind of hoping for an apology but...I looked down at my arm. I guess this was his way of showing he was sorry. I nodded and smiled softly as Finn reached out to cup my face gently.
"Good and for the record? I'm sorry too," he whispered. Before I could even say anything, his lips were pressed against mine and I was lost in them.
The next day we collected our horses and started back towards the compound. I was in a good mood and even the stable master commented on it when I collected Daisy. Well, actually, he made a comment about how I'd clearly enjoyed myself the night before. I'd flushed and responded that it was none of his business. Finn had wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me away from the irksome blond before I could say anything. But the look the smirk the stable master had shot me had just made things ten times worse. When the man had gone inside to fetch Daisy, Finn had nuzzled my neck and promised me that if I didn't say anything he'd make sure that I definitely enjoyed myself later. I'd blushed, causing Finn to laugh as I'd pushed him away gently. Rachel had been with us, watching us. I'd looked at her apologetically but she'd just smiled back. Later on when I'd ridden beside her, she'd told me she was happy for me and had wished us luck. That night Finn and I had gathered our blankets together and had slept on one side of the fire as Rachel lay on the other. He'd kissed me into oblivion just like he'd promised.
The second day had been quicker, we'd been eager to return to the compound and get this entire journey over with. We rode our horses hard and managed to make it to the compound by nightfall.
We were met with confusion and excitement. As soon as word spread of Sue's demise, Will headed straight back towards the city to deal with her. The weeks passed slowly as Will dealt with the fallback of removing a government official. He even took over the running of the country as he had people search for Figgins. He repealed the law banning electricity and the rest of us were sent out around the country to start the healing process. By the time Figgins was found and reinstated as President, we'd managed to get the electricity restarted in some of the smaller towns between the compound and the city. When Figgins saw the good of what he was doing, he was happy for us to carry on. Finally we were out there doing something and getting there.
I couldn't think of much that would make life better.
Three Months Later
"Don't tell me you're afraid of meeting my Father?"
Finn pulled a face at me as we stopped outside of my old house. It was weird being in my old village again but work had brought us back. And well, I thought it was about time my Dad met Finn, whatever he was to me. We still hadn't agreed on a title but after everything that happened in the city we'd decided to give each other another chance to be together. In whatever way made us happy.
"I can't help it, Dude. You're really important to me but what if he doesn't like me?" Finn whined, frowning as he pulled his hand away to wipe it down the side of his pants. It was kind of adorable actually.
"You stopped Sue, you save me from the mushroom chamber and you're one of the leaders of a former rebel group, how on earth are you scared of meeting a blacksmith?" Finn turned his head to stick his tongue out at me,
"Yeah but none of those things were going to keep me away from the man I love."
Did he just? I felt my heart beat pick up as my face heated up.
"Did you just say that you love me?" I asked, my lips curling into a small smile. Finn suddenly turned shy, his gaze veering away as he blushed.
"Maybe..." he muttered. I laughed quietly, my cheeks cooling down as I looped my arm around his.
"I think I maybe love you too."