Last Train

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters. All names are fictional and appear only by coincidence. I apologize in advance for offensive terms.)

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Al Qaeda has tried to bomb the New York subway system before and failed. Now the terrorist group wanted nothing but revenge for the death of their leader. The subway system was the perfect target, and the J train to Buswick was part of their plan.

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It was evening rush hour, and Rachel and Kurt were waiting on the platform for the subway train to take them back out to their apartment in Bushwick.

This had probably been one of the worst days in New York for both of them. Isabelle Wright at had been offered a new position, and there was no place for her new intern at her new job. Isabelle's replacement didn't want to keep Kurt on as her intern either. Her fashion sense and Kurt's clashed horribly. Today had been his last day, so he had his small box of office possession sitting on his lap.

Rachel had been to her fourth disappointing audition in a week. Today she auditioned for The Glass Menagerie, but knew in her gut not to expect a call back. The only nibble that she had gotten was a call back to play one of the Von Trapp children in an off-off Broadway, low budget remake of the Sound of Music. The directors and producers all seemed to have the same critique. She was too short to play a strong leading lady; maybe she should consider children's roles.

"What am I going to do?" she asked Kurt broken hearted. "I can't magically grow another four inches. I've worked so hard on my voice, my acting, and my dancing to have my height stop me now."

"Rachel, you'll have to blow them away with your voice and your range. A degree from NYADA is going to be impressive on your résumé too."

"Kurt, I'm so sorry. Here I am fretting over a lousy audition when you've lost your dream job today. Have you thought about auditioning for NYADA again?" Rachel asked sympathetically.

"That's my plan B. I'm going to try and get another audition with Madame Tibideaux for the spring semester. Didn't you say that she auditioned for Julliard four times before she got in?"

The subway train squealed to a halt in front of the platform and the doors opened. The subway car was half-filled with tired people trying to get home from a long day of work. The people that rode the J train out to Bushwick were mostly working class people mixed in with some down-on-their-luck people, and more than a fair share of scum bags.

This evening, all the seats were taken by the rush hour passengers. Rachel and Kurt grabbed a hand rail as the train lurched forward sending Rachel face first into the chest of a very dirty, smelly man. When he grinned at Rachel he had green teeth and breath that made her want to gag.

"If you want a hook up, all you have to do is ask. You don't have to throw yourself at me," Green Teeth smirked while attempting to grab Rachel's ass.

"Get you hands off of me," Rachel yelled at the foul smelling man.

"Or what? Is this little forest fairy that got on the train with you your boyfriend? He doesn't look like he knows how to show a girl like you a good time. In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say that he's a fag." Green Teeth grinned at Kurt.

"I resent your referring to my friend in such a derogatory manner! And get your hand off of me! I have a can of mace!"

"Don't get your panties in a wad. I was just asking if you'd like to have a good time."

"Leave the two of them alone," an older man wearing a yellow hard hat said as he got up and offered Rachel his seat. "You can have my seat; I'm getting off at the next stop anyway."

When the man in the yellow hard hat stood up he was about a foot taller than Green Teeth who backed away.

"Why thank you," Rachel said graciously as she took his seat by a young woman who looked to be the same age as Rachel. The girl had greasy, stingy hair and was trying to calm a screaming baby in a dirty pink sleeper. Rachel couldn't help but notice that the baby needed a diaper change from the smell. The young mother was trying to juggle the screaming baby, a diaper bag, a sack of groceries, and a big bag of diapers.

Rachel didn't know which was worse, Green Teeth's body odor and bad breath or the screaming baby's dirty diaper. She decided to take her chances with the screaming baby. It was better than having her ass grabbed by Green Teeth again.

"Hello," the young girl said politely to Rachel. "I have seen you on this train before. I've noticed your gym bag with the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts logo on the side and your ballet slippers. My name is Katie and this is my daughter Anna Grace. Are you going to be a dancer?"

"Well no, I mean I want to be an actress on Broadway someday," Rachel answered surprised that a total stranger already knew about her comings and goings.

"I came to New York four years ago to become an actress, but it never worked out. Two years ago I met this boy, and when he found out I was pregnant he dumped me. My parents disowned me and told me to never come home again. So it's just me an Anna Grace now. I named her after both of my grandmothers."

"So how are you making it? Couldn't you live with your grandparents?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Nah, my grandparents are all dead. Anna Grace and I live at a shelter for women with children right now. I work washing dishes and tables at a soup kitchen that provides free child care while I work," Katie explained while continuing to try and calm the unhappy child, but her groceries spilled.

"Let me help you," Rachel said without thinking as she took the baby. "I think she's unhappy because she has a soiled diaper."

"I know she does, but the subway is no place to change it, and the next stop is ours."

Rachel began to sing softly to the child and for a moment she stopped crying.

Kurt was standing beside Rachel keeping a close eye on Green Teeth who was harassing someone else.

Anna Grace was playing with a lock of Rachel's shiny brown hair when the train was suddenly rocked by a series of loud explosions followed by the train car being hurled off of the tracks and into the car in front of them. The car behind them crashed into the car they were in. Smoke and dust filled the air as the sides of the train car caved in on the passengers. Rachel held tightly to the baby, but felt her slip out of her hands. People were screaming and trampling each other in an attempt to get out of the train car. Kurt was holding tightly to Rachel and was shielding her with his body.

When the train car finally came to a stop it was on its side and everything was dark for a moment before four emergency lights came on. Rachel was knocked out for awhile, but when she came to she felt a heavy weight on top of her. Focusing her eyes, she realized the weight was Green Teeth. His dead eyes were staring straight into hers. Screaming she pushed his mangled body off of hers and started a frantic search for Kurt. Crawling over one dead body after another, she found Kurt near the rear of the car. He was thrown behind a seat, and the splintered bone of his left arm was protruding through the muscle and skin.

"Kurt, are you alive?" Rachel screamed as she searched for something to stop the bleeding and to wrap around the exposed bone.

Shaking Kurt he finally moaned something she couldn't understand.

"Kurt, it's me Rachel! The train has derailed or something. Don't move. You might have internal injuries and your arm is badly broken."

Rolling his head from side to side, Kurt slowly opened his eyes. "What happened?" he asked groggily.

"The train has derailed, don't move. Your arm's badly hurt, but help has to be on its way. Just be still and don't move your arm."

"I don't think I can. I can't feel my arm." Kurt slurred.

"How badly is he hurt?" a familiar voice asked. It was the man who had the yellow hard hat, except the hard hat was gone.

"My name's Frank and I think that it's best that you remain calm and don't move. Your arm looks bad."

Frank had some cuts, but for the most part was okay. He too had been knocked unconscious and when he came to he was under several bodies. "Are you alright?" Frank asked Rachel.

"I don't know. When I woke up that man with the green teeth was on top of me. He was dead. I crawled back here to find my friend Kurt."

Looking around in the dim emergency lighting no one else appeared to be alive. Rachel examined herself and found a cut and a large lump on the back of her head but nothing seemed to be broken. Searching for survivors Rachel found Katie. She was dead, but Anna Grace was no where to be found.

"The baby that I was holding when the train wrecked. Do you see her anywhere?" Rachel was searching frantically attempting to pull dead bodies off of one another trying to find the child.

"She probably didn't make it. Being so small, she was probably tossed around in here like a ping pong ball," Frank muttered while trying to help Rachel look for the child.

"Look, there she is! She's near the doors," Rachel pointed.

"Okay I see her, stay with your friend and I'll go." Frank made his way to the jammed doors stepping over bodies and the mangled metal. Only a small foot and leg were visible. Pulling a dead body off of the baby, Frank was sure that the child was dead too. He reached for a pulse and found a faint one.

"She's alive, but barely," Frank yelled back to Rachel. He cleared her airway and began CPR. As a high steel worker he had CPR training, but he had never tried it on someone so small. Alternating between breaths and chest compressions with his thumbs, the child finally inhaled deeply and then screamed loudly. Wrapping the child in his jacket, Frank scooped her up and brought her back to where Rachel was holding pressure on Kurt's arm.

"I think she's alright," Frank said as he handed the baby to Rachel and took over holding pressure on Kurt's arm.

"Her mother's dead, but she had a diaper bag and groceries with her. I'm going to see if I can find something."

Clutching the baby, the bright neon pink diaper bag was easy to spot among the rubble. Inside she found a bottle and clean diapers. Rachel changed the dirty diaper while Anna Grace eagerly took the bottle.

Making her way back to Frank and Kurt, Rachel spotted the bag of diapers. "I think we can dress Kurt's arm with a clean diaper."

Kurt started to object, but she reminded him that the diapers were probably the only things in the mangled train car that were clean. Cleaning Kurt's arm with baby wipes, Rachel bandaged Kurt's arm with a diaper that had pictures of Bert and Ernie on it. Frank tore Anna Grace's baby blanket into strips and fashioned a splint to Kurt's arm using a piece of metal.

"What do we do now?" Rachel asked looking at Kurt, Frank, and Anna Grace.

"I'd say try our cell phones, but you know that we can't get a signal down here."

I thought that the Metro had plans for installing cell phone access down here?" Rachel questioned.

"Yeah, they have plans, but nothing's happened. The Metro is planning on installing cell phone access down here, but only at the stations and only in Manhattan for now. Our only chance of getting a signal is if we're somewhere near an air shaft. When morning comes I'll take one of the emergency lights and see if I can locate one if I can get out of this train car," Frank offered numbly.

We haven't found anyone else alive, so I guess it's just the four of us. I think the smoke or the collision must have got them. This baby's mother had a bag of groceries with her so I'm going to look for it. I hope that she had some water in it," Frank groaned getting up.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Rachel asked Frank again.

"I've been hurt worse working in steel. We have four emergency lights. I'm going to cut three of them off to save the batteries if that's okay with you? I don't mean to scare you, but there's no telling how long we're going to be down here."

"Surely they're looking for us! Someone has to know that the train has derailed in the tunnel!" Rachel tried not to cry.

"I'm sure they are, but there are a lot of wrecked cars to go through." Frank mumbled as he headed off in search of the bag of groceries.

Anna Grace was asleep in Rachel's arms wrapped in Frank's coat, but Kurt seemed to be slipping in and out. Frank soon returned with bag of groceries and a flash light.

"Lucky for us I found a flash light. Not so lucky for the building inspector that it was attached to. I don't think he will be needing this anymore," Frank said as he handed the flash light to Rachel.

Finding a jug of baby water in the groceries, Frank gave Kurt a sip. Fearing that Kurt was slipping into shock, he packed coats around him for warmth. Frank never told Kurt that he had gotten the coats off of the dead.

Rachel and Frank settled down with Kurt and Anna Grace for the long night of waiting and listening. "Frank, what now?"

"Wait, listen, and pray. If we hear sounds of someone coming for us, I'll try to get their attention by banging on the sides of the train car."

Minutes turned into hours as the four waited. When Kurt awoke the feeling had returned to his arm and he was in pain.

"Be still, you might make your arm start bleeding again." Rachel scolded her best friend.

"I have some powders that I take for headaches, you're welcome to them," Frank offered.

"Won't that thin his blood?" Rachel snapped.

"Forget the blood Rachel. I'm hurting too bad."

Frank fished the wrapped headache powder from his pocket and poured the packet onto Kurt's tongue. "I'm sorry that this isn't going to be strong enough to kill the pain, but maybe it'll take the edge off."

"Thanks Frank, anything will do." Kurt winced as Frank gave him a sip of water.

Rachel found a jar of peanut butter and some crackers in Katie's groceries. She scooped some of the peanut butter onto a cracker with her finger and fed it to Kurt. "Something on your stomach will help too."

-/-

In Lima Finn was rushing around trying to close the tire shop for the day. The last customer had left along with the shop crew and now it was just Finn. He was whistling You're The One That I Want to himself as he swept up the waiting area.

Finn had gotten behind with his shop duties because he had spent the last three weeks helping New Directions get ready for their musical Grease.

It had been a daunting task at first. Personalities clashed and egos pouted and fumed. Jake had though that the musical was the gayest thing in the world. That was until Marley auditioned for the female lead, and then the football jock named Ryder auditioned for the male lead opposite her. Being jealous of the attention Ryder was giving Marley; Jake decided to audition for the male lead too. This made Kitty jealous so she auditioned for the female lead as well.

This sounded so much like Finn's sophomore year in New Directions except he was blackmailed into joining. That was the year that Finn took a liking to Rachel even though he was dating Quinn. Quinn saw the attraction between the two and joined the glee club to keep an eye on him. Finn remembered those early days and wondered how Mr. Schue had done it, especially teaching him what passed for dancing.

This new group wasn't dancing that well either. Brittany was their best dancer, but was so heart broken over Santana that she seemed to sleep walk through the steps.

Artie and Tina sensed the dilemma and called in the calvary. It was a great day when Mike and Mercedes had shown up to show the new kids how it's done.

The musical had gone well after that, but the best part was seeing Rachel again. Finn couldn't believe that Rachel and Kurt had come back after everything that had happened. Things were still so awkward between Finn, Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine, but Finn saw a glimmer of hope in their return. Seeing Rachel felt like old times, and he knew that she felt it too.

Finn swept up the last of the floor and went to turn off the TV that played all day in the waiting room. He stopped when the screen went to an urgent message. At least five lines of the subway system in New York City had been bombed. Al Qaeda was already claiming responsibility.

Finn froze as he looked at the screen showing billowing smoke coming from one of the many entrances to the subway. Then he looked at his watch. Either Rachel or Kurt could be returning to their apartment right now. He took his phone from his pocket and was about to call Rachel when it rang in his hand. Answering the phone it was Burt calling from DC.

"Finn are you watching the news right now?"

"Uh huh," was all that Finn could say as the saw the fire trucks and police rushing to the subway entrances.

"Listen Finn, I can't get either Kurt or Rachel to answer their phones. All air transportation and rail service in and out of New York has been shut down. Your mother and I are packing our car now and heading for New York City."

"I'm on my way too. I was just closing the shop. You'll get there before I do so meet me at their apartment. The super should let you in. And Burt, I'm going to bring Blaine with me."

"That's a good idea son. I don't know what happened between those two, but I know Kurt would want to see him. I'll call you if I hear from either one of them."

Finn called Blaine on his way home to grab a few clothes. Blaine had seen the news and was already packing his black BMW to drive to New York City to look for Kurt and Rachel. When Finn pulled into Blaine's yard the black car was loaded and ready to go. Finn threw his duffle bag in the back seat and Blaine took off down the highway like a man possessed.

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This are only two chapters to this story so please stick around to see what happens. Reviews are wanted and appreciated! The other chapter should be up soon so please look for it. Sincerely, Whistler Nights