A/N: So...I don't know I actually seriously had a dream about this and woke up and started writing. It was like The Walking Dead meets Finchel. So why not, this is just some freewriting...This is probably not going to be a long story. I just thought i'd post it and see what people think. It's kind of a cool concept I guess. Glee is not mine, The Walking Dead is also not mine.


December 25th, 2012. Middle of the Night.

A loud bang startled Rachel Berry awake. She could feel the coldness radiating through the thin blanket, and though they were inside what could be considered a cave, she knew the wind was fierce beyond it. The tent that could be considered her new temporary "home" was tiny, and she could feel the body heat of the tall man lying next to her. Her soon-to-be husband, or at least was soon-to-be. They're still engaged, but any idea of a wedding after what happened to the world was pretty much out of the question for the time being.

Bang. Again. Rachel craned her head only to find Finn Hudson still inhaling long, exhaling deep and shallow. She nudged him slightly. "Finn" She whispered before nudging him once more, trying to pry him awake. Getting Finn to wake up back at home was usually impossible unless she used drastic measures. She never met anyone to sleep as deeply as he did.

"Hmm" he mumbled a little bit too loudly for Rachel's liking.

"Finn, shhh." She said. Bang. "Do you seriously not hear that?"

"I do now" Finn said, his eyes opening slightly. "What the hell is that?"

"It sounds like a gun if you ask me." Rachel replied in a matter of fact tone, though that tone was nothing more than a mere whisper. She didn't want to be heard, even if they were hidden in some cave like thing.

"A gun? Well who's the moron shooting that? That only attracts more of them." Finn said, sounding annoyed as he sat up. "I should go take a look."

"Are you crazy?" Rachel exclaimed. "Don't go out there! Not in the middle of the night!"

"Rach, I'm not going to let someone or something keep doing that! There will be hundreds in no time, and quite honestly this is the best sleep during the night that I've gotten in the past few days because at least I know this is a safe area. They can't get in here."

"Yeah, because we're in the middle of nowhere…" Rachel replied with a huff.

"Exactly" He said as he leaned down to kiss the top of her forehead. He reached over to his bag, pulling out a knife and gun, before throwing them securely in his belt and pocket. "I won't be long okay? Don't go anywhere. Don't try to find me."

"Finn…" Rachel whined back.

"Rach…I'll be okay." He reassured the tiny girl, leaning down to kiss her softly on the lips. "I love you"

"Love you too" Rachel replied quietly as she watched him slowly exit the tent, unzipping the door quietly. Finn flashed a small grin in her direction before closing the tent once more. Just like that, he was gone into the night, leaving Rachel to do nothing but worry like a crazy woman until he returned.

In the dark, the tiny brunette rummaged around underneath her pillow for the tiny booklet she had, a small flashlight also nearby. She grabbed both and quietly opened the booklet, revealing some blank pieces of paper and a calendar Rachel had been using to keep track of the days. It was Christmas Day, but she knew nothing was going to come of that. She sighed as she lie back down, looking at the top of the small tent, nothing but a deep quiet surrounding her, which terrified her slightly. Her heart ached as she thought back to her home in Lima, Ohio. How she would've woken up early today and made Finn a nice breakfast in bed, and surprised him with the most important gift she could think to get him this year, tickets to his favorite ski resort in Michigan; Boyne Mountain. But those were probably long gone in flames by now. Everything would be, her house itself was probably burned to the ground by now. She could feel the tears fall down the side of her face as she tried to force herself to stop replaying that night in her head.


December 21, 2012. 3AM

Rachel was awoken by the sound of Finn's urgent voice as he shook her lightly by the shoulders, but more violently than he ever has done.

"What's going on?" She asked in a clueless manor, the drowsiness of her tired voice wearing off slowly as she opened her eyes to full alertness.

"We have to get out of here." Finn said as he began to grab things from around the room. "I need you to pack up as much as you can, but not so much that we can't carry it. And don't try and turn on the lights, we have no electricity."

"Finn…what is going on?" Rachel repeated; the sound of sirens, helicopters, gunshots and screams suddenly screeching themselves into her hearing from beyond the house they lived in.

"Rach, please." Finn said, pleading with her. "Just get up, get ready and let's go. We have to be quick if we want to live."

"What?" Rachel shrieked as she jumped out of bed, heading towards the window.

"Don't!" Finn yelled. "Don't look out there."

"I'm confused…"

Finn walked briskly up to her and grabbed her hand. "Please just trust me." He said quietly, before kissing her lightly on the forehead. "I don't want to lose you, so for now can you just do as I say?"

Rachel nodded without saying another word as she quickly changed her clothes, throwing things into a suitcase blindly as she did, worried about everything she was hearing from beyond her walls.

"Are you ready?" Finn said as he scrambled into the room what felt like only moments after. "We have to go."

"Finn...can you please just explain to me briefly what is going on? You're making me freak out."

"Well then what I'm about to tell you is probably just going to make it worse." He said as he approached her, grabbing a few more things in the process. "It broke out. Something. I'm not really quite sure what but before the electricity went out that's what the news was saying. It's everywhere and it's turning people into….into some kind of zombie thing. I'm pretty sure they're just solving the issue by setting houses on fire but….we have to go. We have to go now. They're claiming there's some sort of safe area, but it's not in this state. We have to leave Ohio." Finn explained, watching as the terror in Rachel's wide eyes built up. "It's in the mountains and we need to get the hell out of here Rach…." Rachel turned towards the window as she heard an ear shattering scream. "Now." Finn finished, grabbing her hand.

Rachel, her brain not completely registering, obeyed what Finn said and frantically followed him down the stairs of their home, where she indeed could see the flames of fires through her closed blinds. She couldn't wrap her mind around this. Not even an hour ago she was sound asleep. Finn may not have been, but she would've never known. Flashback even more, and not even twelve hours ago were they laughing as they ate dinner at the local restaurant, Breadstix to celebrate a belated birthday dinner since on the eighteenth they both happened to be working and too tired to go out that actual day. This was unreal. This had to be a dream. Not funny, dream mind. You can wake up at any second.

But this unfortunately was no dream. This was reality. And it was terrifying.

"Thank God we have a garage." Finn said quietly, as he rummaged through a few more things throughout the house. Rachel stood, looking aimlessly around her living room, the Christmas tree no longer lit up by the window as it usually was at night. Maybe…if she could just sneak a peek out the window from by the tree, Finn wouldn't…

"Rachel" Finn hissed, startling her to look into his direction. "What're you doing? Come on babe."

And just like that, Rachel broke down into tears, her hands covering her face. "M-my home…and m-my things…F-F-Finn…" she choked out before feeling the familiar set of large hands on her back, taking her in close as he held her tightly.

"It's okay" Finn said reassuringly. "We're going to be okay. We just have to….start over." He said quietly, caressing her tiny back with his hands as he tried to soothe her. Deep down, he was freaking out just as much as she was.

"I don't want to start over…" she said through her sniffles.

"We don't really have a choice." Finn replied, removing his hands from her back to cup her tiny face. "Look at me"

Rachel did as she was told.

"We're going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine. This might be a rough next few days, but we will be okay. Look at everything we've gone through….together. Okay?"

Rachel nodded, silently.

"I won't let a damn thing happen to you, and you know that. I'll keep you safe. I've been doing it all these years, and I won't stop doing that now." Finn said sternly.

Rachel looked around, her tears escaping her once more. "Who cares about these material things, Rach? It's nothing that can't be replaced in the future and you know that." Finn said quietly, as if he were reading her mind. "All I ask is that when we leave this house, you try to stay quiet. I would try and shield you from seeing what's going on out there, but that's impossible to do."

Rachel grinned slightly, appreciatively, once again feeling thankful for having someone like Finn, even after all these years.

"Promise me you'll stay calm." Finn's eyes pressed into hers with urgency and she knew just by that look that he was not messing around.

Rachel nodded. "I will try."

Finn pulled her in for one more hug before kissing her deeply on the lips. "I love you" he said, looking into her eyes.

"I love you too" Rachel whispered.

Finn grabbed her tiny hand in his, entwining their fingers together as they headed for the garage door. "I was putting things in the truck as you were gathering things together…well and for quite some time before I decided to wake you. I wanted you to sleep peacefully for as long as you could." He explained as they stopped just before the door. "It's going to be crammed in the truck, but it's the best I can do."

"What all do you have?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Our things, clothes, food, gasoline from the shed, equipment….you know, guns and stuff."

Rachel's breath caught in her throat, and not in the good way. Finn, seeing the worried look in her eyes, leaned down and kissed her deeply once more. "Relax, okay? I need you to be calm."

Rachel nodded as he repeated himself, as they quietly walked out to the garage and into his large truck.

"Good thing I bought this thing." Finn said with a smile as he turned on the loud diesel engine, filling the garage with its soft rumbles.

Rachel thought back a month ago, when he came home with this giant gas guzzler of a Ford truck. He was in love with it, and though if you asked her a month ago what she thought she would say it's a waste of money especially with gas prices the way they are. However, if you asked her now, in this very moment, she would be thankful.

She closed her eyes as Finn opened the garage door, slamming the truck into reverse as he piled out of the driveway, screeching his tires as he began to fly down the road. Rachel opened her eyes and let out a stifled cry as she stared in horror at the subdivision they had lived in. There were fires everywhere, people screaming frantically and cars piling on out just as Finn had done. But that wasn't the most terrifying part; what terrified her most was exactly what Finn had explained. Zombies. Of people who were probably her friends, her neighbors, walking slowly but with a purpose into people's homes and yards, attempting to attack the closest non-zombie human they could find. Her mind instantly wandered to her fathers, Finn's mom and step dad. What happened to them? Were they okay? She knew she wasn't going to get an answer, at least not right now. Rachel was going to be sick. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the seat, breathing deeply. She felt Finn's hand reach for hers and give it a reassuring squeeze, but nothing could calm her at the minute. She watched as they pulled out onto the main road, and drove quickly away from the subdivision where she once resided. And just like that, her life and everything she knew was nothing but a memory of the past. That was enough to break her heart for as long as she lived.


Rachel wiped her eyes as once again that dreadful memory replayed in her mind like a film that would never leave the theater. She closed her eyes tightly as she began to pray. "God…if there really is one. Please, bring him back to me safe. Please. Amen." It was a quick prayer, but after everything she's seen how could Rachel be sure if a higher being even existed. This was the end of the world as far as she was concerned. And why would that "being" leave Finn and she stuck here, living out this nightmare day in and day out. They didn't deserve it, and neither did anyone else who was in America at that moment like she was, living their days in fear.

She turned underneath the thin blanket, her hand moving to Finn's pillow. She closed her eyes, and tried to fall asleep, knowing if she did that maybe he would be back sooner. The thought of losing Finn was unbearable, and it was something she refused to think about every time he went out like this without her. Her mind was definitely stressing her out, and there was no soothing it. Nothing would help until Finn was back, and even then, was that only a tiny stress reliever. The weight of the world was on her shoulders, literally. All she could do was hope that safe place Finn talked about existed, and that all this travel and terror wasn't for nothing.


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