Okay, so, yeah, I started a zombie!fic... I hope it's not terrible, and that you enjoy it!
Warnings; Character death/kinda gruesome in places/bad language and... Kurtofsky! (of course!)
Honestly, if someone told me a week ago that I'd be sharing a bed with my worst bully; I'd have called them crazy. And probably slapped them.
But alas, that is exactly how it ended up. I'd love to bitch and complain about that, but I'm actually very thankful he's near. I'm glad that it was him.
Woah, now that's something I never expected to hear myself say!
Anyway, I fear I've gone a little off track. Let me start at the beginning. Hi! My name is Kurt. Kurt Hummel. It's a pleasure to meet you. Well, actually, I doubt we'll ever meet now. I fear I'll never meet a new person who isn't decomposing and covered in blood, but I still hold a little hope that maybe someone will drop by and read this little diary of mine. Actually it's all very likely that I've long since passed away and no one will ever pick this up. But I like to think that I'm an optimist for the most part and I'm still walking around singing my favourite songs and perhaps I've misplaced my diary that you've since found. But that seems all too unlikely at this point.
Oh dear, look at me being all pessimistic. And I seem to have gone off topic yet again. I'll try to keep from doing that in the future.
Right, the start, okay, let me tell you what happened.
The scariest part, I suppose, is that it was a completely normal day. I'd been wearing an absolutely fabulous outfit consisting of some beautifully tight black jeans, a waistcoat over a white dress shirt with a matching bowtie and top hat. Ah, my top hat... How I miss it. That and those Doc Martin boots I'd picked up the day before. It was quite a mild outfit compared to my usual tastes, but for some reason that day I hadn't had the heart to prepare anything more elaborate. In retrospect, that may have been some kind of premonition of things to come, but I digress. I'd checked myself in the mirror one last time before grabbing my book bag and walking down to the living room where my dad was sat watching the news. I'd thought that a little odd at first, he was usually at work by now. I sent him a questioning look and he responded by pointing towards the television screen with his head.
"Lucky I booked the day off today, looks like there's some kind of disease spreading."
I nodded my head, remembering him saying something about that a while back. I watched the news for a fleeting moment, listening to a rather fashionably dressed reporter talking about the illness that was apparently spreading fast, causing pandemonium in the streets. I really wished I'd paid more attention to what it was she was saying rather than staring at her necklace that I'm sure I'd seen in Forever 21. It was Brittany's birthday coming up and I'd been looking for something she'd like.
"Straight home from school tonight," came my dad's voice, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Looks like all this is happening a couple towns over, but viruses spread pretty fast and I don't need you getting sick on me. Not when you're helping in the shop at the weekend."
I rolled my eyes, "Not that I'd want to miss a day covered in motor grease." I grinned at my dad, not being able to hold up the bitchy facade. I actually secretly loved spending time with my dad, especially since Finn and Carol came into our lives. Not that that was a bad thing. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better step family, it's just that now I had to share him with other people. Our time at the shop working on cars was time I secretly treasured and wouldn't change for the world. I did hate the grease though.
Dad waved me off, concealing his own smile as I walked out of the house, picking up my car keys on the way.
The ride over to school was strange. Nothing was particularly out of the ordinary, just... quieter than normal. Quite eerie. I supposed people were paranoid about getting sick or something, so I paid no attention and sang along with my Lady Gaga CD like normal. Maybe I should have been listening to the radio, but at the time I just wasn't worried.
It was when I was driving down the main road near the mall that I noticed something weird. All along the road people wearing those ghastly yellow reflective coats, ushering groups along to keep out of the way of several ambulances placed here and there. I saw people craning their necks to get a better look at what was going on and rolled my eyes. I hated rubberneckers. Whatever was going on was none of their business, and it wasn't mine. I just followed the traffic in the other direction and paid no attention to any of it. If it was me, I wouldn't have wanted people gawking at me, so I wouldn't do it in return.
I pulled into the school's parking lot ten minutes later and parked my car with expert ease, if I do say so myself. Slamming my car door shut the first thing I noticed was the lack of other cars in the lot. I checked my pocket watch (which I'd specifically chosen because of how well it went with my outfit) to see if I was accidently too early, but no. I was right on time.
The thought shot out of my mind when I saw the second thing that caught my attention. Red letterman jackets. I really didn't feel like taking a dumpster dive today, so I ducked down next to my car. Sad I had to do something like that, really, but I suppose it's the price I pay for keeping a clean outfit in a closed minded place like Lima, Ohio. I watched carefully as they walked past, laughing about something idiotic I would assume, and hoped they wouldn't look slightly to the side and see me. If they saw me hiding there would be no way to avoid a dive, so I pretended to tie my boots, mentally complaining about the lack of cars I could have used as cover.
My heart stopped when one of them turned to another and locked eyes with me. David Karofsky. We... didn't have the greatest relationship. In fact, he'd made it his life mission to torment me the last one and a half years. That was until he kissed me. Then stole my wedding topper. Then threatened me. The bullying was so bad I even had to transfer schools. That part wasn't so bad though, if you didn't consider the financial strain it put on my family. I managed to bag me a boyfriend over it after all. Well, a few months after that I transferred back and he actually apologised for all he'd done. I don't think he was being so sincere that time, and it even turned out he was only doing it because of Satan, oh, er, I mean Santana was making him do it so they'd be Prom King and Queen. It kind of worked, but only for David. Prom Queen was, you guessed it, me. It was meant as a cruel joke, but screw them, I had a good time.
It was the week of prom when I got my proper apology. The boy even cried about it! It was actually pretty endearing. It kind of caught me off guard and I didn't know what to do, so I just said I know and just let him talk. He never mentioned the kiss and I didn't bring it up, but I'm assuming he meant it for that too. We were sort of on good terms after that, until the whole Prom King/Queen fiasco, where I told him to come out and he couldn't do it. Hm. I suppose that was a silly thing for me to ask of him, but it was a spur of the moment thing and I was pretty upset with the whole Prom Queen debacle. Could you blame me? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical.
Since that day we hadn't really talked much and I was hoping to make it until school ended so I wouldn't have to. That was until that moment right then when we were just sort of staring at each other from across the lot, my heart in my throat and him looking like he was either going to throw up or cry. Question was, could I trust him not to rat me out, sending me spiralling head first into a dumpster?
Apparently I could. He gave me a curt nod and a sort of lopsided half smile, before ushering his friends towards the school and away from me.
Huh.
So maybe I'd misjudged the boy? Okay, it wasn't like we'd be strolling down the street hand in hand parading a gay pride flag any time soon, but it was a start. I strolled into the school, happy as Larry, right into my first class of the day; French. I grumbled a little, sitting next to Azimio Adams, another one of my former bullies and took out my work book. He gave me a side way glance, but didn't do anything else. Actually, like Karofsky, he'd kind of chilled a little this year. I'd heard one of the substitute teachers had given him a little lecture and made him see the light at least a little. I'd like to think he felt bad about the whole Prom incident and gained some respect for me, but one could only hope.
Okay, you're going to want to sit down for this bit; because this is where it gets weird. So I was sitting there just fine and dandy when the teacher walks in; just another substitute, I assumed, as I'd never seen her before. It was all fine at first, she looked a little under the weather, but she kept teaching regardless, so it couldn't have been that bad. We were given some sentences to translate and told to get on with it while she sat at the desk at the front of the class. It was only half an hour, but she wasn't getting any better. By that point she had her head on the desk, breathing heavily and sweating buckets. Not to be rude, but she was also stinking the place up something rotten; not nice when you're sat in the front row, I can tell you!
The students around class started mumbling and even Azimio and I were giving each other confused looks. Eventually, another of the students; Kyle, I believe his name was, approached our teacher, asking if she was okay. All too suddenly she took in a deep breath and then nothing. Kyle freaked out a little, checking her pulse before shouting to us that she had none. She'd also had a strange bite mark on her arm that had turned all the wrong colours.
By this time the class was in uproar. One of the girls ran to find the school nurse while someone else vomited in the back. I just sort of sat there stunned, Azimio gripping my shoulder, perhaps a little subconsciously, because I doubt he'd ever do that with a clear mind.
I suppose this is the most important part, because what happened next was what completely changed my future. She sat up.
Along with the whole class, I just stared at her for a moment. It was her eyes. They had an unnatural white tint to them where pupils should have been. I fleetingly remembered going fishing with my dad when I was very young. I'd asked him why the fish's eyes were white and glazed over like they were. He'd put his hand on my shoulder and explained that that was what happened to them when they died and couldn't see anymore. We'd buried the fish that night instead of eating it.
Kyle was the first to approach her.
I'd like to take a moment now to give my condolences to him and his family, because what happened next, I wouldn't wish on anyone. He moved to her side and tried to get her attention, asking if she was okay. She turned her head to him, snarling behind red tinted teeth before jumping on him. At first no one knew what was happening, but then we saw the blood. She was biting his arm, just ripping off the skin. I let out a scream and jumped from my seat. I was standing so close, but all I could do was stare at the scene before me. Kyle's screams filled my ears as I watched him thrashing against our teacher just trying to stop her ripping at his arm. Like a flash of lightning, Azimio was behind them, a chair in his hands. He brought it down on her in a powerful slam, rendering her lifeless again splayed on the floor.
Kyle was in a terrible state. It looked like his arms had been shredded by a lawn mower. He'd stopped screaming now and was just sort of lying there on the ground whimpering and holding his arms out. All around me, my classmates were just sat there, the sound of heavy panting filling the room. There was the acrid smell of vomit heavy in the air.
I stared for a moment longer before reaching for my bag to pull out the cardigan I'd stashed in there in case of a slushy disaster. I knelt beside Kyle and without much thought ripped the Marc Jacob in half, wrapping them around his wounded arms, tightly. We at least needed to stop the bleeding and I was in too much of a daze to even mourn the loss of the beautiful cardigan. Azimio knelt down by the remains of our teacher when Kyle rolled onto his side and began to vomit, his breaths coming out in short gasps. Apparently I'd lost the ability to talk, because all I did was rub small circles with my hand on his back. There was nothing else I could have done, and I hope that I was able to give him just a little bit of comfort.
A girl who had crept into a corner at the back of the class stuttered a question to us, asking what was going on. No one could answer her, none the wiser of the situation beyond what had just taken place. We began to debate the situation when we were silenced by the schools speakers buzzing to life. The voice of Sue Sylvester rang through, albeit very quietly as if she didn't want to draw attention. We were silent as we listened to her uncharacteristically trembling voice.
"Students and teachers, please pay attention. It seems..." She paused for a short while as if considering the absurdity of what she was about to utter. "It seems we have a zombie outbreak on our hands." I absentmindedly clicked my tongue, thinking of it as an idiotic claim despite what we'd just witnessed. How wrong I was!
"Everyone make your way back to your house and lock all windows and doors. If you don't live near then please stay with a friend. Do not try to get to loved ones, just get somewhere safe." The speaker buzzed again before coming back to life. "Oh yeah, and do not approach anyone who has been bitten, they are infected. I repeat they are infected... Good luck."
Everyone in the room froze. We were deadly silent, no one even daring to breathe.
When had Kyle stopped breathing? I asked myself as I slowly removed my hand from his back. Which was when he rolled over and looked at me with his dead fish eyes. I swear I'd never moved faster before in my life. Within an instant I was over the desk, my hands raised in defence as Kyle crawled, crawled towards me on the floor, clawing at my thankfully sturdy boots. Without a word, Azimio had raised the chair again and driven the metal leg into the side of zombie Kyle's head with a sickening cracking noise. I'd never loved him more than I had then.
He let out a shaky breath and sat on the chair that was still impaled in poor Kyle's head. It would have been funny if I wasn't so frightened. He dropped his head in his hands and rubbed at his face, mumbling to himself.
"That was... this is... Seriously? Zombies? It's Tuesday. What kinda fuckin' zombie apocalypse happens on a friggin' Tuesday?" I stumbled from the desk I'd climbed on and walked over to him on shaky legs.
"Thank you," I uttered, my voice at least two octaves higher than it should have been. Because, honestly? He could quite as easily just let me get eaten and ran to safety while zombie!Kyle was snacking on my brain. Azimio looked up at me through his fingers for a second before shaking his head.
"Nah, D woulda' killed me if I didn't help you." I cracked a tiny smile despite myself. Taking a deep breath, I turned to the rest of our class. Someone had to take control of the situation; it might as well have been me.
"Has everyone got somewhere they can go?" I thanked the stars that half of our class had been absent today when all of them nodded yes. I didn't think I'd be much use if I had to protect someone right then. But with the situation as it was, what was I going to do? I couldn't just leave someone when they needed help. That just wasn't the kind of man I was.
I nodded my head in approval and continued, "Okay, everyone needs to do exactly what Sue said and find their way home. Stay with a friend if it's closer, but be safe. It can't be all that bad by now or there would be more of them, right?" A couple scared heads nodded in the back before students began shuffling out one by one. I patted their backs as they went. When they'd all gone, I let out a deep sigh and pulled out my phone sending a mass text to everyone in my contacts list.
'Thank God there's still a signal.' Azimio hadn't moved and was just watching me. I sent him a quizzical look and picked up my bag.
"You're pretty calm about all of this." I stood still for a moment before shaking my head.
"I'm terrified." I raised a hand, showing him how much I was shaking at that point. "My dad always said... In a dangerous situation, you need to keep a calm head. Make sure you're safe before you freak out."
"Makes sense," was his quiet response. I stared at him a while, before tearing paper from my work book and scribbling down an address on it and a somewhat crude map.
"I just sent a text to everyone I know. I told them to meet at this address. It's kind of my home away from home." I handed him the paper and watched him look over it. "It's an old log cabin owned by my dad. It's in the middle of nowhere so should be safe for the most part. It's big and has a solar powered generator. Grab your family and some supplies and meet me there. If everyone's okay, they'll be heading there." He nodded his head as I went towards the door. "You coming along?"
He shook his head, "You go on ahead, I just... need a minute. I've killed two people today and it's not even lunch yet." I nodded my head solemnly before going on ahead.
"I'll see you later." With one last wave I stepped from the class out into the deserted hallway.
Have you ever been to school after hours when nobodies around? You know that creeped out feeling you get, like something's not natural? Yeah, I was totally feeling that. I listened to the clicking of my boots echo through the hallway as I made my way through the school towards the front doors. I idly wondered where all the students and teachers were while keeping my ears open for anything that didn't sound right. Pushing open the heavy doors, I expected utter chaos and destruction. What I saw, however, was ideal weather, a little bit more rubbish blowing around than usual and an empty parking lot. Not what I was expecting at all. Okay, I hear you thinking that maybe it wasn't as bad as all that. Maybe that was a controlled incident that I'd seen. Well, I was thinking exactly the same thing.
I let my guard down a little more as I started walking towards my car, pulling my keys from my pocket. That's when a pair of strong arms, arms I could never fight off, wrapped around me, pulling me backwards. I thrashed and struggled, and would have let out a scream had there not been a huge hand covering my mouth. I struggled against the warm body before being hushed by them. I looked up to see none other than Dave Karofsky holding onto me. Seriously, does my life revolve around him or something?
I tapped his hand, telling him I'd be quiet and he released his grip on me, pulling me around a corner.
"What's going on?" He remained silent and just pointed to a couple people, or should I say zombies, shuffling around close to my car. I would have walked right into them. I let out a little pained breath and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes.
"You okay?"
"Not really, no, but I'll survive."
"I... uh... Got your text." I opened my eyes and looked at him quizzically. Oh, right, we'd exchanged numbers when he'd had his little crying session with me. He shuffled on his feet a little nervously.
"Does that, uh, extend to me too? I mean, it looked like you just sent out a mass text and I didn't think you'd actually want me to-" I raised my hand to silence him. We were going through a possible zombie apocalypse and he was worried about that?
"Of course that includes you. Your family too." He smiled weakly and I couldn't help cracking one myself. But then I remembered what was happening. "Oh, crap. Talking of family, I've got to get home. Dad might need me, and we could always do with the supplies." David nodded, looking back at my car where the two zombies seemed to had multiplied and were staring into my car. It's funny to think of zombies as being inquisitive, but it looked like they were.
"Wanna use my car? I mean, I live just down the way from you and it'd probably be good to stick together, y'know?" I nodded and smiled gratefully. He took my hand and I cursed my hormones for making the slightest bit of heat shoot up my arm. Seems like even a zombie apocalypse can't stop a teenager from feeling some sort of romantic angst; how sad is that?
We crept as quietly as we could to David's car, ducking behind other cars where we could. He fished the keys from his pocket and opened the car as quietly as he could. I crawled into the seat and scotched across the stick shift before plonking down in the passenger side as he pulled himself in. He pushed his keys into the lock and twisted it bringing the vehicle to life. The people, or rather, zombies, that had crowded around my car shipped their heads around, snarling at us with disgustingly red stained teeth. As quickly as he could, David pulled out of the lot and sped down the road.
'You got a fast car Anyplace is better You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living'
I rolled my eyes at the lyrics sounding from David's radio. Seriously, could anything be more awkward? And I'd liked that song. He might have felt the same way because no sooner had I rolled my eyes he'd switched the damn thing off.
"Uh... Tracy Chapman. I like her. She's good." I nodded my head.
"Yeah, I like her too. It's quite fitting for our situation, isn't it? I guess that's, like, 'our song' now, hu?" I laughed a little uncomfortably as my joke fell flat. If you're wondering which is worse, awkward laughter or awkward silence, well... They both pretty much suck.
I stared idly out of the window suddenly realising where we were. Just this morning this street had been crowded with rubberneckers gawking at ambulances. The ambulances were still there, but everyone else had vanished. A few reanimated corpses were wondering around listlessly. Blood was splattered across the road and on the buildings.
Where were the police? The doctors? Hell, I'd even go for a few firemen right about now! David glanced over my shoulder to the street and placed a reassuring hand on my arm.
"Don't look at it, okay?" I absentmindedly brought my hand to his and gave it a little squeeze, not drawing my eyes away from the scene in the street. He squeezed my hand back. "It's probably not as bad as it looks, anyway. Like Coach Sylvester said, people probably just went home or something. See? There's no one around."
I nodded my head and removed my hand from his and turned his stereo back on, trying to take my mind off of things. I hummed along to the tune and began to sing where I knew the lyrics. Yep, that was 'our' song alright.
"We're here." I drew out of my thoughts as David said the words, looking up to see my house. I fished for the keys in my pocket and pressed a button to open the garage.
"Let's park in there, it leads straight into the house and it's just plain safer." David gave a small nod and pulled into the garage, shutting off the engine. I pressed the remote and the door closed behind us.
The next part was kind of like a blur to me. Maybe it was the fact that it was such an emotional time for me, or maybe it just happened too quickly to register, I have no idea. It might not be too accurate, but I will write what I remember.
The first thing I noticed was the sound. Someone shuffling their feet across carpet. My first instinct was that Finn was home. He'd gone to the dentist today with Carol. Thank God he hadn't gone to school, or who knows what would have happened! I was about to open the door, when David stopped me, resting his hand on my shoulder. He'd picked up one of the shovels we'd left in the garage after Dad had dug up the garden for Carol's new rosebushes.
He pulled me behind him and cracked open the door very slowly. We shuffled through, quiet as mice, checking each doorway we came too. I couldn't take the quiet anymore and called out to my dad. David let out a little shocked squeak when someone who most definitely was not my father jumped out from the kitchen and stared us down. He stared at us with his damn fish eyes and growled at us. Growled! Then without warning he darted for us, blood literally squirting from his mouth.
David acted fast, shoving me behind him and whacking the damn thing right in the head. It fell to a crumpled heap on the ground, its neck most likely broken. I recognised him as our next door neighbour, Peter. He was in his early forties and wasn't particularly bad looking back in the day. Actually, I believe he was the first adult I'd had a crush on when I was a child. I felt remorse for him. He was still quite good looking even at his age, but looking at his zombiefied form was vomit-inducing. I gave a quick glance around the kitchen before checking the living room. The television was still on. Dad was either on his way to the cabin or hiding out somewhere in the house.
I called out to him, making my way through my house, David cautiously trailing along beside me. That's when I heard him.
"Kurt?" I rushed towards the sound, finding dad in his room. He staggered towards me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I returned the hug, helping to set him down on his bed. I remember his skin being hot. Burning even. I instantly knew it. I knew that soon he'd be changing, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I began to sob into his shoulder, shaking uncontrollably. David stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Dad. Dad, I saw..." I hiccupped into his shoulder. "I saw Peter. He was... He was one of them. He's... not anymore." Dad nodded his head in understanding, sluggishly pulling away from me.
"Kurt, I got that text. You sent it... to everyone, right?" I nodded. "Good, that's good. I haven't seen Carol yet... and she... hasn't answered her phone. But, 'sokay. Fin's with her. You need to go there. Look after her." I knelt down on the floor, sobbing into his lap. He absently trailed his hand through my hair and I vaguely remembered him doing the same thing when I was young. He did it when I cried. When my mother died.
"You'll take care of him, right?" I didn't look up, but I knew he was talking to David then. I didn't see, but I assume David replied in some way because glancing up I saw my dad nod an affirmative.
He let out a long sigh. "I saw it on the news. It's a pretty bad virus. Travelled a lot quicker than they thought it would. Couldn't contain it like they thought. Peter came over and... he'd been bit. It was pretty bad. He started to get sick, kind of like... I am now. Then he turned. Before I knew it, I was prying his teeth out of my leg and limping upstairs. I guess I... should have 'stopped' him. But it's someone we knew, y'know? Couldn't do it." I nodded into his lap and he returned to stroking my hair again. "Kurt... I don't want to be like that." It took me a moment to register what was being said, but as soon as I realised what he was implying I shot my head up, wide eyed.
"No... You can't mean..." Dad just smiled at me, sweat beginning to dampen his face. I knew he wouldn't last long. He reached past me to his bed side table and pulled open the bottom draw. I knew what it was before he handed it to me.
When I was younger, dad would take me hunting. He used his shotgun for the most part, but he never liked to see the animal through unnecessary pain. The handgun was to make sure the job was done. I took it with shaking hands. He gave me a smile and tussled my hair weakly, telling me how much he loved me and to keep strong. We led back on his bed, my head resting on his chest and our hands entwined.
"Make sure you're safe before you cry, okay?" I nodded my head weakly and closed my eyes tightly, humming softly to him, his fingers tracing gentle circles on my palm.
I don't know how long we led there, father and son. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but I never stopped singing to him softly under my breath. Eventually, his breathing stopped altogether. I blinked, lingering for only a moment before willing myself to stand up. I kissed his forehead gently and took a step back. Then I pulled the trigger.
Burt Hummel was a good father, no, the best father, and I loved him deeply.
I covered dad with his duvet and picked up his favourite cap from the nightstand, pulling it onto my head. At some point during our previous talk, David had disappeared to collect food supplies into a duffle bag that we'd kept in the closet. When I entered the room he shot up from his seat on the sofa. We just stood there for a while, staring at each other. Neither of us said anything, but when I wrapped my arms around him, he complied and hugged back. I squeezed back my tears and sniffed loudly. I pulled away and looked off to the side awkwardly.
"Sorry. But, uh... Thanks. I needed that." I smiled a little sheepishly at him.
"S'alright," he replied, with a small reassuring smile. "So what now?"
"Your parents. Want to check on them? I'm sure they'd want to come along."
"Yeah, that's not necessary. I called my mom on your house phone... Uh... I hope that's okay?" I smiled a little despite myself, nodding an affirmative. We were in the middle of a frigging zombie apocalypse and he was worried about using my phone without permission? David Karofsky certainly could be cute once in a while.
"Right, thanks. Well, I told my mom and she said to go on without them. They'll meet us there." I nodded my acknowledgement and sat down to pull my boots off. Doc Martins were beautiful, but not the best shoes to wear when you'd be running. Especially when they were new. Trainers would be needed for this little outing.
"I'll just grab a few things and we can go. You mind writing a note for Fin and Carol? Just in case they don't see my text and come back here." David nodded and we headed in separate directions, him to write the note, me to change. I changed into a pretty simple outfit, jogging bottoms, hoodie, things I could move easily in. I grabbed my book bag and filled it with anything I'd need including my phone charger. We met back up in the living room ten minutes later, ready to go.
"You need to pick anything up? Photo's or anything from your house?" David shook his head.
"I've... Got everything I need." I nodded my head, catching a glimpse of a photo on the coffee table. It was a photo from dad and Carol's wedding, all of us together. I smiled down at it and took it out of the frame, folding it up and slipping it into my pocket.
"Okay, let's go."
We slipped into the garage, loading the car with supplies and anything else we saw that could be useful. I turned to the heavy metal cabinet that lay in the corner, clicking open the lock with the code.
"Woah," supplied David, helpfully. It was my dad's hunting equipment. Four shot guns, four hand guns and plenty of ammo.
"My dad liked to hunt," I shrugged. I pulled out a handgun and loaded it, handing it to a slightly stunned looking David. "You know how to use this?"
He stared at me blankly for a moment before nodding his head saying, "Y-Yeah. I've shot before."
"Yeah?" I asked, a little suspicious. "Where?" He was silent for a moment before scratching the back of his head and looking away a little guiltily.
"GTA..." The video game. He had experience shooting guns... In a video game. Just brilliant. I rolled my eyes and went through the basics with him, giving him the 'Guns for Dummies' tutorial.
"We've got a lot of ammo here, but it's not going to last forever so choose your shot's well. There's more at the cabin, but we've still got to get there." He nodded his understanding and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't a complete idiot and could take direction.
We climbed into his car and I clicked the garage button. Which was when the zombies started to flood in. Just great. Could our day have gotten any better?
I assume they'd heard the gun shot from before. Or possibly us talking, but it was annoying none the less. I silently thanked whoever might have been looking over us that David had chosen an SUV as his car of choice. Two of them lent into the passenger window where I was sat. I stared into their dead eyes with nothing but cold malice. David started up the engine and hesitated, looking over at me, presumably to check if I was still okay. I caught his gaze, narrowing my eyes.
"Run the fuckers down." He grinned at my wording slightly and hit reverse, ploughing through the bodies that had dared to clamber behind us. We took off down the street and I took in the destruction around us.
I have no idea how long we'd been in my house, but it must have been quite a while with how the neighbourhood looked now. It was like a war zone, bodies strewn across the roads, some moving, but I couldn't even tell if they were alive or not. A couple house fires had started, but with no firemen around they had no chance of being quenched without a heavy downpour of rain.
We each visibly jumped when my phone's ringtone sounded out. I clambered to pick it up, hitting the answer button and bringing it to my ear before I'd even checked who it was.
"Kurt?" Blaine. I let out a chocked sob and smiled broadly, turning to Dave and pointing at the phone.
"It's Blaine! He's alive! He sounds okay!" Dave stretched his mouth into a half smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but I ignored it at the time and cried into the phone. "Blaine, are you okay? Where are you?" I heard him exhale on the other end with relief.
"I'm fine Kurt, I'm at Dalton, where are you? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine! I'm in a car with Da- Karofsky, he's fine too. We're going to a safe house. Want us to pick you up? It's in the other direction to Dalton, but that's fine, we'll come get you."
"Don't bother, Kurt, don't bother." My heart froze in that moment. I can still recall the chill that ran up my spine when Blaine uttered those words.
"What? Why? You said you were fine!"
Blaine let out a little chuckle that comforted me somewhat, but I was still listening on the edge of the seat, holding my breath. "Yeah, I'm fine; I'm with the Warblers in the school, but its hell out there, Kurt. This... Virus, whatever it is. It hit Westerville before Lima. The roads were completely blocked; no way we could have gotten out. The Warblers and some of our parents came back to the school. It's sturdy and big, tough doors and everything. We're going to hide out here until this whole thing blows over." I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded absentmindedly.
"That's a good idea. We're going to do the same, Karofsky and I." I reached over and squeezed David's hand. He gave me a smile before turning forward to concentrate on the road again.
Blaine was silent for a moment before continuing. "Are you sure you're... safe with him?" My mind blanked for a moment before I let out a curt laugh.
"Safer than anyone else, I'm sure."
"...Okay. Kurt... Be safe. I love you."
Ah. Those three words. I'd been waiting for him to say them for so long. I'm sure under certain circumstances I'd have been more than thrilled to hear him say that. But circumstances change and so do feelings.
I mumbled out the same words and we promised to text each other every day with an update of our situations. We hung up soon after and I let out a sigh.
"You okay?" I glanced over to David who apparently couldn't look straight at me. I nodded.
It was two hours later when the sun was beginning to set on us. We agreed it wouldn't be safe to travel in the dark when we couldn't see anything, but then another problem arose. Where could we stop?
We were just bordering the outskirts of Lima and hadn't seen many zombies around. Of course one could never be too sure. We pulled up to a detached house far from neighbours not half an hour later. We gave each other a look of understanding before pulling up right outside of the house. David even had the nerve to try and tell me not to go in and wait for him in the car! Can you believe that? Needless to say I didn't listen to a word he said, until he eventually just gave up and let me come along.
We snuck up to the front door and rung the bell. If there were any zombies in there, they'd be lured towards the sound. We waited for five minutes before pulling open the door and taking cautious steps inside. The hallway was huge; beautiful, really. I remember absently thinking about how I'd love to buy a house like this one day, the thought of not surviving not even touching my mind. We made a quick sweep of the house, checking all of the rooms thoroughly. When we confirmed there was no one else in the house, we checked for anything we could use. The lack of photo albums and clothes caught my attention. Whoever lived here had probably heard about the virus and gotten the hell out of there before they were affected. Smart.
It was beginning to get dark so we decided to call it a night. I emptied the linen closet of blankets while David raided the pantry for our dinner. Seriously. A pantry. I'm totally buying a house like that when I'm rich and famous.
We lugged our findings into what appeared to be a recreational room. It was right at the front of the house on the first floor and right next to the garage. We agreed that was the perfect location to stay while we locked all the doors and barricaded the windows. I boarded the windows of our adopted bedroom while David parked the car in the garage and locked the door. I'd just finished blocking the main door when he walked in from the garage which was quite handily connected to the room we decided to occupy for the night. I lit the candles we'd salvaged, bathing the room with a faint light, being sure to cover the windows with several sheets so no light could escape and reveal our location.
I gave a thumbs up when David shook a packet of Doritos at me before he tossed them in my direction. Everything the owners had left seemed to be junk food, but for once I wasn't really complaining about it. We were lucky to find such an awesome place, even if it was in such circumstances and we could only stay in one room to be sure of our safety.
We ate in relative silence until we decided it was time we hit the hay. I sent Blaine a text telling him our situation and waited a little on edge for a reply while David laid out the blankets making our makeshift beds. I almost dropped the phone when it buzzed, clicking the screen to see Blaine's message.
Glad to know you're okay. We're fine too. The school's empty and we have enough supplies to last a while. Haven't seen anything weird in a long time. Love you. X
I let out a shaky breath. He was okay. I plugged my phone and charger into the wall, charging it as much as possible before the electricity decided to cut out. I stood and walked to where David was trying to get comfortable in-between the white towels I'd brought along as an afterthought. He'd left all the blankets for me. I smiled a little and took off dad's hat, setting it on the pool table that lay in the centre of the room and pushed the blankets David had left me to the corner of the room he'd decided to occupy. When he gave me a quizzical stare, I just smiled in return.
"You wanna be the big spoon or the little spoon?" I laughed at his gaping mouth. "Seriously, hamhock? You getting shy on me after all we've been through? It'll be warmer if we share and it's just more logical. I'm not taking up all the blankets, how selfish do you think I am?" David stared at me for a little while before blushing deeply. Remember what I was saying before about him being endearing? Well, that was another time when he was just plain cute.
"Big spoon." I smiled at his answer and wrapped the biggest blanket around us. We used the remaining blankets as pillows and towels as a makeshift mattress. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but when David wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him I figured I could deal. Wrapped in his strong arms I just felt... safe. He shifted against me and held me a little tighter. I could feel his breath on my neck and it strangely relaxed me.
"...Kurt?"
"Mmm?"
"Can I... Can I ask you a favour?" I twisted in his grip, turning to face him, our noses almost touching.
"What is it?" He blushed slightly in the soft light of the candle and cleared his throat, avoiding looking directly into my eyes, a difficult task when we were so close together.
"I... Could you... sing to me?" My eyes widened at his words, making him grow nervous. "I mean, uh. I'd sometimes hear you when you were in glee club. Um, sometimes I'd get pissed about... my dad or my friends and stuff like that so I'd stay behind after school and pump some iron and I'd be walking by the choir room and just... hear you. Used to chill me out so I'd just listen. Sometimes. And I... I just revealed too much and made a fool out of myself, haven't I?" I giggled softly and nodded. See? Cute.
"You did, but its fine." And with that I wrapped my arms around David's chest and began to sing. It was soft and quiet, just under my breath, and I'm sure it wasn't up to the standard of what I'd usually sing, but David just closed his eyes and smiled. And so I continued singing.
"You got a fast car I remember we were driving, driving in your car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone..."
I sang 'our' song until I began to drift off to sleep. And as my eyelids grew heavy and my voice drifted off I recall him mumbling something into my hair. I don't quite recall what it was he said, but I do remember the distinct feeling of chapped lips pressed tenderly to my forehead.