Disclaimer: I do not own this show.
It is one thing to be in a world where utter chaos emits from each section of your mind, but it is a completely other situation where utter chaos comes in the form of normalcy but is only shown when it is too late. Guns may fire to try to stop the inevitable, to postpone it, to try to do what needs to be done before it's too late. People may sacrifice their life in trying to save others from this inevitable action, when in the end, it's just stupid. When the world is falling apart, how can one feel alive when everyone else is dead? Why get closes to someone when the chances that they'll fall as well are too high?
A survivor must keep moving, keep a gun in hand, and get ready to shoot that bastard who wants to bite off your flesh to feed his own dissolving stomach.
_._._
BANG!
"Haha! Did you see that one? Headshot!"
Santana's seat on top of the broken down, rusted truck became empty when she jumped down from the spot, gun in hand. The heat from the day was starting to get to her so she took a breath to wipe of the perspiration and hopefully ignore the cries of-
"Lopez, that was freaking awesome! Headshot, 10 miles away, with only a pistol! That's gotta be some sort of record!"
Noah Puckerman just wouldn't shut up, would he? After being out in the deserted wasteland that used to be society for about a year killing these creatures that shouldn't have a brain in the first place, one tends to learn how to be a better marksman.
"If they still had Guinness World Records, then I'd be sure to report it, but since they don't, let's just go find some more victims." Santana Lopez wasn't in the mood for fun. This wasn't fun anymore. At first, it was a hell of a ride being able to kill those people you hate and not have a burden on your conscious because you ended their torture. But after the first few days, the reality of what she was doing caught up to her. These used to be people, but the key word here is 'used'. Now they are considered as the species that ruined Santana's life.
"I want to kill every last one of these damn zombies," she said with a gruff to no one in particular.
"How could you not find this exciting, Santana?" Puckerman asked without hearing her own comment. "We're practically Gods out here. We own this place."
"There is no God, Puck! If there was a damn God we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"
Santana loses her head every once in a while, but this was the first time noted by Puckerman that she has ever outright screamed. Puck just shook his head and walked back to the Hummer that held their supplies for the day. As he was walking, Santana spotted another demon in her vision and quickly took the head off of that one as well.
"I think she's just lonely."
Puck lifted his head to look at where the voice came from. A girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes sitting right on top of the Hummer stared back. Her face was serious but her eyes held concern.
"How can she be lonely if we're here?" Puck asked without a clue.
Quinn continued to sit on top of the car while staring at the angry girl aiming to shoot off yet another zombie's body part.
"Noah, have you ever had to spend a large amount of time with a person or two?" Quinn asked, her eyes looking back at Puck with a certain glint in them.
"You mean besides this?"
Quinn nodded.
"I guess so, yeah. Back before Day 0, I was forced to help out this new kid at school. He was from this place from uh," Puck scratched his Mohawked head in thought. "Europe I think. Yeah, he was real annoying and I had to practically carry him on my back for about two weeks. He didn't shut up about his home country or the stuff in America that excited him."
Just thinking about the boy made Puck gain a headache. Quinn continued to stare at the supposed badass. His Mohawk and biker's jacket (even in the freaking heat) made him seem like someone who wouldn't blink before ripping a zombie's head off. But underneath that exterior was a simpleminded boy who still wouldn't have graduated High School at this time and age, and probably wouldn't have because of his grades.
"Okay…" Quinn took another glimpse at Santana. "Well, use that but in Santana's shoes. She's pretty much been stuck with you ever since Day 0, and you do almost the same thing as that exchange student."
"What? No I don't. My home country is America."
Quinn shook her head in annoyance. Puck was some kid. Almost 18 years old and still acting 10.
"Puckerman…"
Puck picked his head up when the thought finally connected in his mind. "What about you? You've been stuck with her since Day 0. Is she tired of you, too?"
Quinn perked up at his sudden intelligence and looked him straight in the eye. Santana would never admit it, but Quinn did know why Santana was in this stage of hostility. Santana didn't even have to say it. She's been stuck with the small pack for a while and some of the kids that both girls had to endure could get a little aggravating at times, and Santana would never be tired of Quinn because she was Santana's only gal pal. But she needed more than a best friend.
"I just think that Santana needs something special..."
_._._
When the sun finally touched the horizon, Santana called it quits. She knew that she shot a lot of heads today, but it just didn't seem like it was anywhere near enough. No matter how many days she practices her skills, there will still be millions more out there for her to defeat. It will never stop until the day the last one flops onto the ground and stops breathing. But who knows, that may never happen in her lifetime.
Santana approached the Hummer that Quinn and Puck were stationed at. They had still been talking about something when they heard the sound of Santana's boots scuff the floor. Quickly, both turned towards her and shut their mouths.
"What?" Santana questioned with a bored expression. "Were you two talking about me or something?"
The brunette didn't even wait for an answer before she went to the trunk of the Hummer to pick out an AK-47 and sling it across her arm. There were numerous weapons in the dirty vehicle as well as clips. If they were ambushed by the zombies, they'd be good to go.
"Well?"
Puck and Quinn still hadn't answered Santana's question. Quinn was staring at the girl skeptically and Puck was just staring. He had to say that the wardrobe Santana was wearing would leave a mark on anyone. It was something someone would see out of a Resident Evil movie except Santana had a purpose for her clothing. She said that the cargo pants and boots were because of the terrain and the cold at night while the tank top was because of the heat. But whatever, she looked good and if Santana wasn't so shy of being touched, he would've been all over her.
Puck then looked over at Quinn who was the complete opposite of Santana. Ever since the Puckasaurus found the pack, the blonde had been all over him. Or at least he thought so.
"Finn radio'd in earlier. He said he may have a lead on some supplies," Quinn answered Santana's question.
The brunette didn't even turn towards Quinn when she spoke back, "What kind of supplies are we talking about?" It didn't even seem like the brunette realized that the couple had been talking about her. Or maybe she did realize but she refused to acknowledge. Quinn knew that it would be exactly what Santana would do. A few months ago, it just seemed like Santana was checking out of the world and it's been growing worse. The blonde had been fearing that Santana would just stop caring in general, about everything.
"Finn said food and water."
Santana was just about to hop into the passenger's seat when the magical words entered her ears.
"Water?"
Finally, Santana seemed to realize that she had fellow teammates and turned her head to look at them. Quinn smiled at her humanity and nodded. She nudged Puck to sit in the backseat of the Hummer and the blonde herself took the driver's chair.
"Yup. Real, clean running water. And only a day's time away from here."
Santana could only feel yearning when the thought passed through her mind. Actual water, a lot of it, enough to take hopefully a shower in. Water wasn't scarce for their small caravan. They had the supplies to purify any water that they came across. The problem was that it was always a small amount that they would be able to purify, so the thought of enough water to get the grime off of Santana's skin and hair…it sounded like heaven.
"Damn…if Finn really pulled this one off, I may actually consider holding my hostility towards him for a week," Santana sighed and closed her eyes while imaging the effect that water would have on her arms and legs and hair. She only had the memory of it because it had been at least a month that they had actually showered. They have used ponds and beaches but those are never satisfying. The ocean leaves salt on your skin and ponds have mud. In a world where first world normalcy is quickly eroding, one tends to miss something so common.
"A week? That would probably be the longest vacation you've ever given him," Quinn chuckled to herself. The blonde started up the Hummer and pulled out of the area back towards camp. One look in the rearview mirror told the girl that Puck had fallen asleep quickly. Santana seemed to also notice the beast snoring in the backseat.
It was at these very rare moments that Santana unconsciously relaxed, but in the way Santana only can. The girl would never fully relax, and it was proven when, while Quinn was driving, Santana would aim her AK-47 and shoot the brains out of the undead that were yards away from the car that was speeding at 70 mph.
Santana took another aim at a particularly fat zombie and easily took off his head, which then rolled over to the side where another zombie accidentally tripped over it.
The action caused the brunette to laugh mockingly. "You know these zambs are American because they're so freaking fat. It makes them easier targets."
Although the comment was on the mean side, Quinn forced herself to smile.
"Rule number one, right?"
Santana scoffed and nodded, "Definitely. Cardio is necessary, even for zambies."
Before Day 0, there had been so many zombie movies. Quinn and Santana had to agree that Zombieland was one of the best, even if it did make fun of the scariness of zombies. Santana would think to herself now that being a zombie killer was easy, but she has witnessed events that had scarred her even worse than it should've. But the brunette did not want to think about that. All she wanted to be focused on was the next zombie that came right into her vision.
Quinn couldn't help but stare at the girl beside her, killing off zombies like it was duck hunt. The blonde knew that Santana was lonely and lacked the love that was taken away from her. How couldn't anyone love the girl? Even from a distance, without hearing the thoughts that her brain makes up, people would fall to their knees to give Santana what she would want. She had long, flowing dark hair that whipped perfectly in the wind. Her sun kissed skin seemed flawless even with a month of no showering. Her deep, dark eyes held so much mystery as they looked around, trying to find another victim.
"Quinn?" Santana's raspy voice called out to the blonde, those deep eyes connecting to hazel.
"Yeah?"
"Pothole."
And seconds later, the car fell forward into said pothole. The action caused Quinn to lurch forward and hit her chest on the steering wheel. Santana had grabbed necessary handhelds before the car stopped. As for Puck…
"Holy fuck!"
He was terribly woken up when his head hit the seat in front of him, hard. The impact caused him to become dizzy and filled with rage.
"Nice driving, Fabray. Next time, hit zombies, not holes in the ground." Puck reached his hand up to feel his injury and noticed that his forehead was coated with a sticky substance. A closer look showed that it was blood.
"Oh great. I'm bleeding. I hope you're happy," Puck growled while kicking out the door to exit the useless vehicle.
Quinn had trouble getting herself out because she was still confused about all that happened. How could she not have been paying attention for that long? Quinn put her blame to Santana and looked towards her to find that she expertly maneuvered her way out of the her seat and went over to Puck.
"You may be bleeding but my boobs got full impact from the steering wheel. You have no idea what it's like to hit your boobs, hard." Quinn tried to recover from her mistake and rubbed her throbbing body parts, but no one was buying her pity act. Santana just shook her head and rolled her eyes while Puck was still aggravated.
"Stay still, Puck. I need to bandage it," Santana commanded to the boy. The brunette opened a small box that was clipped to her belt and took out some gauze.
Puck attempted to ignore Santana babying him and continued to try to tease Quinn. "Babe, that doesn't need a med kit because I can make those boobs feel better so easily. It isn't the only thing that can be hit by something hard." The player winked.
"Can we not talk about inappropriate shit while I'm trying to keep whatever is left in your stupid head from spilling out of this wound?" Santana had been wrapping the gauze around Puck's head like a professional, and right at the word 'wound', the girl made sure to pull the bandage extra tight before tying it.
Puck winced but still tried to maintain his cockiness, emphasis on the cock.
"Maybe later before night's out, you and me can make each other feel better from this."
Santana only groaned.
Quinn gave the boy a wary look and turned around, pretending to survey the damage.
"I don't know, Puck…"
"Oh, come on. I know you want some Puck love."
Quinn stood still and didn't say a word. Santana was watching the whole thing while thinking that it was all bull. It was completely stupid to be having any conversation like this in the middle of who knows where.
Puck couldn't stand it anymore and got to his feet quickly, which caused Santana to almost fall backwards and for her to yell out "Hey!" with no recognition. "You've been such a turn off for a while now, Quinn. Before, you used to be all over me like every night!"
The boy trudged up to Quinn and put a rough hand on her shoulder. Quinn tensed and tried to break free, but Puck wouldn't have it. He twisted the girl to face her and made her stare straight at him. His grip was strong and his hand dug deep into her skin. Quinn thought that he was going to harm her even more before-
BANG!
The two didn't twist their heads to look at where the shot came from, but to where it hit because they were both splattered by the target. Not three feet from the couple was a woman who's skin was practically melting off of her face. Her eyes were a misty grey, bloodshot and stared into nothingness. Bits of her flesh were bitten or scratched off, perhaps by her, and her mouth was ready to bite down onto Quinn's naked shoulder. That is, before it had a gaping hole in the back of her throat.
The body fell to the ground.
"May I remind you."
Santana's voice broke the surprise from the two and they saw that she had her AK-47 aimed and her eyes squinting, ready to shoot again if she must.
"…that we are in a fucking zombie apocalypse. Our car is in a trench and your horny actions are getting us unnecessary attention. Now, unless you want me to shoot you, get your ass into gear and help me drive this thing up the hole!"
It seemed like Santana didn't even care anymore because she hitched her gun back into place and made her way to the driver's seat to try to reverse the Hummer onto normal terrain.
Quinn looked at Puck and bit her lip.
"Later, Noah," she said quietly to him, though she did not want to. Puck knew exactly what that meant and did a complete 180 on his emotions. With a smile, he walked over to the front of the Hummer and got into a pushing position.
"Come on, Fabray! This thing isn't going to reverse itself!" Santana yelled.
_._._
"It's about time you guys got here. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if I was stranded on this planet all by myself."
"You probably would've gotten eaten or something. No big deal."
Finn Hudson narrowed his gaze at Santana's comment as he watched the three exhausted looking kids exit the very dirty Hummer. The sky had already produced plenty of stars, and if Finn had to guess, he would've thought that it was about 12 a.m.
"I thought that you were dead out there. Nobody was answering to my radio calls." The awkwardly tall and gangly boy had gone over to pull out some supplies that the squad was supposed to have gotten for the day. That was the whole point in the trip. It should've taken about five hours tops for the whole thing, but he knew that Santana wanted some target practice. Still, that in itself should've only wasted maybe three more hours. They had been gone 14 hours.
"I turned it off," Santana shrugged and sat down on a crate in their makeshift camp. "Your voice was annoying me."
Finn groaned and set down the boxes before picking up some more branches to feed the fire. He looked around at the three other members of the group and noticed that Puck had bandages on his head. When he and Puck made eye contact, Puck just narrowed his eyes, which made Finn leave that thought alone. "I thought you had the walkie talkie, Quinn."
"I uh, gave it to Santana…" The blonde frowned at her poor judgment and sat down next to the trouble making brunette. The girl didn't even give acknowledgement to that action as she was kicking off her boot to see what it was that had been pinching her foot all day.
Finn sighed and plopped to the ground, no longer wanting to deal with the storm that was Santana. He sat at the opposite side of the fire to the girl and started to play with the burnt wood. Puck didn't even hear the whole thing and, with a loopy grin on his face that everyone didn't doubt the meaning behind, crisscrossed next to Quinn while taking her hand.
Santana wasn't sure why she had even stuck it out this long with these people. Sure, there really wasn't that many to choose from left and the majority of them would've probably been disposable assets with no real assistance. But to tell the truth, these people seemed to be bringing her down. Just being in the company of those that can easily turn was starting to bug the girl. Maybe it was best if she just went her own way…
"So," Santana barked when things were became too quiet. "I heard that you found a trustworthy water source? Care to share with the class about how you found this information?"
Santana's voice seemed to snap everyone back into attention. It wasn't until then that she had realized that they were all thinking about something. Probably their own secret problems.
Finn gulped at his sudden spotlight and ceased his toying with the embers. With shaky hands, he reached over to his backpack and brought out a small laptop. The team was smart enough to configure a solar battery into the machine so that plugging it in wasn't a problem. Of course, it wasn't Puck or Finn that came up with the idea, or the technology itself. Quinn was the mastermind behind it.
What was also a blessing (and a mystery), was how there still seemed to be a wireless internet connection in certain places. That had to mean that people were still about, but this didn't prompt Santana to want to go find them.
"Well, since you people were gone for way more than you should've been," Finn started as his fingers glided over the keyboard with exact precision. Santana only glared at his choice of words. "I had done some fooling around on here to try to maybe find something actually of use to us."
"He means porn," Puck commented without hesitation. That caused a giggle from Quinn and an amused smirk from the brunette.
"No, I do not mean porn." Finn shook his head. "I actually looked at our general area and saw that we were not far from a small town."
"A small town in Kansas? What are the odds?" Puck interrupted again with his sarcasm.
"If you want to take a nice shower for once, then let me finish, Noah! God knows that you especially need one. I seriously can smell your pits all the way over here, bro."
"That is true, Puckerman. Your reeking is ruining my nostrils." Santana plugged her nose and scrunched up her face, which in turn made Puck look at her and Finn angrily.
"Just continue, man. Sooner we get this done, the sooner I can finally do what I want."
And by do, they all knew it was Quinn.
"Whatever. So I found out that the part of Kansas that I'm talking about was hit by the infection early so that town was one of the first to be evacuated, which also declares it one of the most dangerous to be at."
Puck scratched his head as he pondered, "Why would we want to go to some place that's more dangerous than others?"
"Because it means that no one would dare to touch the place, thus having food and water." Santana rolled her eyes. "When you recently shaved your head, did you also shave off parts of your brain, too?"
The mohawked boy scowled but it didn't do any good on the brunette. Nothing affected her anymore.
"Come on, Santana. Let Finn tell us where we're going and what we're doing since I know that you don't have any plan. You never do," Quinn frowned again at Santana's attitude while she was trying to soothe the girl. Quinn didn't like this part of the brunette anymore. She used to be so free and yes, confident, but not so much as she would see everyone else as inferior. She used to be someone that Quinn could look up to and admire…
Santana huffed and crossed her arms before staring with boredom at the giant who was sitting there as if he had no clue what he was doing.
Finn coughed awkwardly and looked down at the computer so that he didn't have to stare into Santana's cold eyes.
"I found that this place has a supermarket, like, one of those stores that has food, clothing, bedding and all of that. I wasn't sure why they dropped one in such a small town, but maybe that was the community's only place to get those supplies. It's a day's trip from here so if we get started moving at dawn, we should be there about noon tomorrow; if we take turns driving, that is."
Santana calculated in her head that dawn was only in a few hours and there would be barely any time to sleep in between. Just the thought made her groan with annoyance. But the place supposedly had water, and she figured that was a good enough reason to be deprived of sleep.
"How are our gas tanks?" Quinn asked with complete seriousness. Santana tilted her head and looked at the girl wondering if the blonde even figured out that no one would be getting much rest. Quinn loved to sleep just as much as Santana and she wasn't sure why Quinn preferred their gas amount over the luxury of dreams.
'Uhm, I'm not sure how much you wasted today…" Finn peered over at the Hummer and finally captured just how dirty and seemingly damaged it was. He turned to Quinn with a questionable look on his face and Quinn returned the accusation with an expression saying, 'don't ask'. "But we still have five full gallons in the truck just in case we do need to refill."
"Maybe we should leave tonight."
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Quinn. It was such a weird suggestion to make, and everyone knew it, even the blonde herself. Quinn was normally the one that told the group that they should wait until morning; that the road was dangerous at night.
"W-what?" Santana stuttered because she was completely caught off guard. Quinn tried to maintain a calm face, but Santana noticed that her eyes met everywhere except at Puck.
"I mean, why wait? I'm still awake and can drive a few hours while Santana sleeps. And Puck was definitely hyper just a few moments ago. So, why not?"
The blonde still refused to look in Puck's direction even when mentioning his name. Her body slightly showed tenseness. It was watching Quinn squirm as Puck unconsciously placed a hand on the blonde's thigh that made Santana make a decision that she knew would also be out of the norm.
"Ok, Q. You give me the last energy drink and I'll start packing up so we can leave here in about an hour. But you definitely have the first driving shift, and if you drive into another pothole, I'm not helping you get it out."
With that, Santana turned her back and went over to the small cooler that they kept around to pick up and open the remaining can of Monster. Finn looked at Quinn questioningly and the girl knew it was about Santana's comment about the pothole. The blonde shrugged and awkwardly smiled before inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. Quinn was glad that Santana had agreed with her, and if Santana agreed, that meant that everyone else had to as well.
Puck was just starting to soak up the conversation, and right when Quinn stood up to help Santana move their packs into the Hummer, he made his comment.
"Why the hell are we doing this? Quinn, we were supposed to be together tonight. You promised!"
Santana looked over her shoulder to find that Quinn had tensed again, and right before the blonde said anything, Santana commented, "If you were logically thinking, bonehead, then you would realize that Finn had been camping here all day. The zombies haven't entirely lost their sense of smell. In fact, they may have an advancement to it after all this time. Surely they would recognize live flesh and a fire. We need to move away before their slow, decomposing asses reach us."
"And I didn't promise you anything, Noah. I said maybe," Quinn added.
"Oh, come on! Do you know how long it has been since the last time I got off? This is entirely bullcrap! You promised me!" The boy threw his hands up in anger which startled the other three. Santana just about had it when she threw down the box of cans and trudged up to the boy with anger issues.
The brunette pointed one strict finger at Puck and spoke, "Just because she is a girl does not mean that you are inclined to do anything with her. She is the one protecting your ass, Puckerman. If we decided, we would drop you off at the nearest mall to be ripped to shreds by those zombies! Do you want them to get a piece of you? Because right now, I really want them to."
"You know what, Lopez? Fuck this, and fuck you. Maybe you would be a little more intuitive about my situation if you were a normal person. But no. You have 'issues'," Puck used air quotes while staring right into Santana's eyes. Neither of them budged for a second. "Maybe you do need someone to fuck you, but hey, I don't even think there is anyone out there that would do it, because you are just an angry, hateful bitch that no one wants to be around! The only reason that you're here is because you have good aim and save us a couple of bullets."
Puck practically spit his words into the Latina's face. At first, Santana didn't even move at the boy's words, but as it started to sink in, her expression grew from pissed off to morose. Her hands were clenched together as if to punch the idiot in the face, but she just took one second to stare right into the equally cold eyes of Puck before spinning around and picking up the box she had thrown aside.
The mohawked boy growled and kicked the nearest object before giving up on his plot and going to the opposite side of the camp to continue packing.
That left Quinn and Finn standing right in the middle of the mess having no idea what to do as the flickering of the fire left eerie shadows on their faces.
"I'll take Santana," Quinn said just as Finn spoke, "I'll deal with Puck."
If it wasn't for the situation, they both would have laughed at their timing, but sadly, the two walked in separate directions to deal with the hotheads.
"Hey, San…thanks for saving me from Puck," Quinn said quietly as she bent down to pick up the last box that Santana was going to get. The brunette paused at Quinn's actions and just shrugged.
"It's no big deal. That guy needs to realize that you're not an object."
Quinn forced a chuckle but knew that Santana saw through it. The blonde heaved the box into the back of the Hummer and sat on the edge. Santana stood a few feet in front of her. The Latina was waiting for the girl to speak.
"You're more than just a sharp-shooter, S. I'd go nuts if you weren't in this group." Quinn sighed and looked at her feet.
"This is more than just Puck being a horndog, isn't it?"
Quinn was quiet for a few moments while carefully picking out her words.
"We all have our secrets. I know that you do, and you know that I do as well. I'm starting to get tired of keeping up this charade."
Although Santana didn't know what charade she was keeping up exactly, though she knew it had to do with Puck, she knew that she was also getting tired of being a certain person. You had to keep a good vibe when you're stuck with the same people because if one thing is unbalanced, you may end up on the side of the road as zombie feed.
"…but we can't make it without them," Quinn finished. The blonde picked up her head to try to tell what Santana was feeling, but like normal, Santana held her mask in place.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Q, but we did just fine before they came along." Santana folded her arms in front of her and looked away from the hazel eyes that seemed like they were staring right into her core. The attention felt so uncomfortable and she didn't need this, but she knew that Quinn wouldn't give up until Santana was moderately all right.
"Yeah, we did plenty fine while you were banging heads with a rusty shovel and I tried to get onto upper ground. They had the firearms, San. You know we wouldn't be here right now if they never came along."
The Latina knew that Quinn had a point, but she'd hate to admit it.
"When was the last time we found other survivors?"
The question caused Santana to freeze. It was such an out-there idea to think of. The pack only thought about the pack; no one else mattered.
"Uh…three months?" It was entirely a guess to Santana who didn't even look for zombies. If they were even in a group of them, she probably shot off their heads just the same as any other undead.
"I remember exactly when," Quinn sighed. "It was last May and we were stopped at a gas station to pick up fuel. You said you would handle it, so Finn and I went searching around for other supplies. It was then that we found them, in an alleyway not far off from the gas station. There were two people who barely were over the age of 15."
Quinn looked to see if Santana was actually listening to her tale and she was surprised to find that the girl was staring straight at her, unusually interested in the story. Santana nudged her chin to tell Quinn to keep going.
Quinn couldn't continue while being pegged by the dark eyes so she looked away as the words flew from her mouth, "They looked starved…and were barely clothed. Like, the material just hung on their limbs and were so dirty and ripped that it could barely pass as suitable clothing. They hadn't noticed us, and I wanted to call you over because it had been a while since we found anyone else. I figured that all they needed was some food and they'd be good to go. But when I called for you and said that we found survivors, you just said to leave them because they'd be dead by now if they weren't able to handle themselves."
Santana noticed the sudden change in Quinn's facial features. At first she was showing signs of her just conjuring up a memory, but then she became sad. The brunette knew this story wouldn't have a happy ending, and although the idea of caring that this story would be woeful was lost on Santana, she couldn't speak out to stop Quinn from continuing.
"I was so excited to finally have found other people, people that we could've shared stories with and have them tag along and help balance our ever raging emotions. But it was while I was trying to convince you to let us approach them when it happened."
Quinn took a few moments and Santana would've called it out as suspense, but the way the blonde curled her body into a ball made Santana instead want to hug her, which she never would, even if the blonde was bawling. The hugging days had long passed.
"It wasn't like there weren't any zombies anywhere. They were located in other places that had only been a few miles from us, but we had to have taken a bit of time just standing there, because the two kids, two teenage girls, made one innocent noise…"
"What noise?" Santana asked after a few seconds of Quinn letting the moment hang. It was a stupid question to other people, but Santana knew that sound was a great friend to the living dead. They could have their eyes gouged out and their nose ripped off from where it should hang, but for some reason, their hearing was better than it should've been.
"One of the girls dropped an empty soup can. It was like a gunshot to those flesh eaters. They just appeared out of nowhere, a clan of them, and jumped the two girls. I guessed that you could have heard their screams, but when you reported back to me to ask where we were, it was obvious that you didn't."
"And you didn't tell me what happened?" Santana questioned, suddenly feeling a need to sit down and think through this story. The Latina knew that her facial expressions were changing from carelessness to…caring? It was wrong to even think that way. In this world of having to survive one day at a time, emotions couldn't even get in the way, yet they were.
"I assumed that you wouldn't care." The words felt bitter on the blonde's tongue but she knew they were true. Santana never took any time to think of others. She was only focused on her survival.
It was as if Quinn read Santana's thoughts.
A moment of silence was brought on them as they both thought about how their conversation took a turn.
Santana broke the silence by asking, "Why did you tell me this?"
"The two girls…they reminded me of us. One was a blonde pale girl, and the other Hispanic. Whether that was coincidence or not, it left me with nightmares for a long time."
"You said this was last May?"
Quinn nodded.
Santana thought to herself for a moment, a finger on her chin and her eyes looking anywhere but at Quinn. She finally connected the information that she needed and responded, "That was like, four months ago. You've been having nightmares about that all this time?"
It was rare that Santana ever actually showed any care. Quinn was secretly glad that she had that emotion, and it was directed towards her, but this was a topic that was still very sensitive.
"Yeah," the blonde admitted. "San…we were those girls once, except we got lucky."
"We could have made it," the brunette scoffed.
"You really think so? We're barely making it now as it is…"
Santana was aware that the blonde meant emotionally. People do tend to go insane in a world such as this one. And what Quinn mentioned before about secrets… secrets and lies drove people apart. Were they bound to go insane?
"I wonder how the hell Finn deals with it… I suppose, thinking about it now, you've been a wreck for a while, you know?" Santana tilted her head as she thought about it. They didn't seem all that different from four months ago, but now that she was contemplating, it was around the time that Quinn stopped being all into sex with Puck. Just thinking about that whole problem reminded Santana about their recent argument. He did hit a nerve. There may be a massive cut in the population of actual human beings, but did that mean that there really was no one who was fit for her? Who would actually love her? Who she would learn to trust…?
She really was meant to be forever alone, was she?
"It's the reason why Finn keeps persisting that he stay to watch the camp. You probably didn't notice because you're just eager to get out there and kill."
Quinn broke Santana from her thoughts and the two looked at each other.
"I have my reasons…" was all the Latina said.
"We have our secrets," Quinn repeated.
"Hey, ladies! We finally finished packing all of your crap. Let's get a fucking move on, shall we?"
Puck was as bitter as ever but it no longer fazed Santana as he interrupted the two girls' moment. She had to come to terms that there was probably no one out there that she could feel comfortable around. Not even with Quinn was she loose and relaxed. At times, Quinn seemed like she was just sitting a little too close. But Quinn was all the Latina had for someone to lean on, even in the rare times Santana allowed herself to do so.
Quinn jumped from the trunk of the Hummer and Santana went over to slam it shut. The noise didn't startle Santana, but Finn looked at her like she was crazy.
"What? We're getting out of here, anyways." Santana rolled her eyes as if it was obvious.
Finn shook his head and dejectedly got into the passenger side of the truck. The truck was actually just a small furniture moving truck, but it held everything that needed to be transported. Puck had been waiting impatiently and as soon as Finn shut the door, the engine to the truck roared.
Santana wasn't worried that Puck would drive without them but she didn't exactly take her sweet time jumping into the Hummer. Quinn was already seated and immediately revved up the car to followed Puck out into the open terrain.
The sun was just starting to make its entrance when Santana closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
A/N
I'm going to make this as short as possible.
1. Happy new story. I'm totally changing things up, being more mature, new ideas and new concepts. Updates won't take forever but they won't be all that quick.
2. I'm going to be writing each chapter with a lot of words, more than this. This is shorter so people can ease into it.
3. I have no Beta. I may probably need one, but I've never had one before. I'm good at finding mistakes in other's writings, just not mine.
4. Expect few A/N's. I want this to have an actual story type feel to it.
5. I've never done third person before so this chapter will include a bit of mixing around with the omnipotent knowledge. It will end up just being from Santana's POV, third person, and may change off to Brittany or another person will not be as jumpy as this chapter.
6. Anymore questions, PM or Review and I'll get back to you, I promise.
7. Rated M because of cursing, attempt at sexy times, and brutalness with zombie descriptions and the such.