Hey guys! This is an idea I've wanted to try out for a while but, as it's a sensitive topic, I thought I should really think about it first. This is just the prologue so I know it's short but please give it a chance and let me know what you think! I don't own Glee or the characters.

Warnings: Character deaths, school shooting.

Prologue

The shot rang out, as loud as thunder, magnified by the emptiness of the corridors. Those in close proximity began screaming, pushing each other aside and scrambling for the exits, unaware of where exactly the noise had come from but completely aware that they had to get out. Those in classrooms or other areas of the school, who had merely heard the faint sound of a shot, hid wherever they could, hoping that it wasn't what they thought it was, that they were perfectly safe.

Santana was in the former group, frantically pushing through the students that were shoving past her. But she wasn't making her way towards the exits. She was going the opposite way, making her way through the tide. It was, she realised, as difficult as forcing her way through water that was determined to drag her someplace else.

Another shot rang out. The screams were deafening. Santana hadn't seen the shooter. She didn't notice the blood on the wall, she didn't notice that students were stepping over bodies before running as fast as they could, she didn't notice the sound of the fire alarm that was blasting through the corridors. When someone grabbed her arm, pulling her back, she wrestled herself free and continued to run.

"Santana, what the fuck are you doing?" Puck yelled, sprinting after her as best he could.

He curled his hand around her arm again, pulling her back long enough to grab her other arm and began to push her back through the crowd, back towards the exit. She started to scream, fighting against his hold and kicking out.

"Let me go, Puck!" She cried.

"Don't be so stupid, we need to get out of here!" Puck cried back. "What are you doing!?"

"I have to get Brittany!" Santana shouted. "I have to get her!" And with one final kick she pulled free, running faster than she'd ever run before, Puck cursing but straight on her heels.

"Brittany!" She called, desperately looking around at the faces passing by her but seeing no-one of importance. She called her name again, reaching the end of the corridor and turning left, knowing that Brittany had had English. Another shot rang out, followed by another but Santana wouldn't let herself hear them, terrified of what those shots might mean, of whose lives had been taken.

Puck caught up to her, lifting her from her feet and hurling her over his shoulder, beginning the sprint down the corridor as she pummelled his back, screaming and crying, her feet flailing so much that he could barely see where he was going. He could see the main doors ahead and forced his way through them, the sunlight dropping on them like a stone.

He put Santana down, grabbing her wrists as she tried to hit him.

"Santana, you don't know where she is," Puck said loudly, trying to make her hear him over her crying and shouts of 'fuck you!'. "She might have already got out,"

Nothing seemed to get through to her. She continued to fight against him, doing everything she could to get back into the school but he was damned if he was letting her risk her life. Behind them students continued to spill out of the school, some of them injured, some of them helping others, some of them holding wounds where blood was dripping from between their fingers.

Santana collapsed to her knees, her wrists still in Puck's grasp. Her eyes seemed to be frantically scanning the school grounds but she knew she wouldn't find Brittany unless she went looking. She had to keep looking. There were far too many students outside for her to be able to search them all. And by then it might be too late.

Puck had loosened his hold on Santana's wrists as she fell so it was simple enough for her to scramble back to her feet, kick him hard and start running. She could hear Puck shouting as she sped towards the front doors, saw Finn Hudson reach his arm out for her but miss. The front doors were open so she ran straight through. She tripped over a body in the first corridor, not stopping long enough to see who it was. She could hear Puck shouting her name and didn't have to look to know he was still following her, so she propelled herself forward, turning left again. This corridor was filled with even more bodies. Some students were leaning against the wall, gaping wounds in their arms and legs. Others were lying motionless on the floor. Panic gripped her chest as she realised Brittany could be one of them...

Fighting against the thoughts in her head she continued to run, finally bursting into Brittany's classroom on the right. No-one was in there. She hurtled back out, yelling Brittany's name so loud that it reverberated through the corridor. For one heart-stopping moment she stood, her eyes wide with terror.

"Santana!"

This was the voice she'd been waiting for. She shouted Brittany's name again and began to run towards the direction Brittany had shouted from. She would find her, even if it killed her.