Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of it's characters. This is a work of fiction and any similarities and references are completely coincidental or used solely to mimic realism.
A/N:Warning: Character death (not Quinn or Rachel), some gore and violence.
The name is from one of my favorite Lucio Fulci films.
Whoever said that running was fun is an asshole. I am way too out of shape for this.
Quinn thinks as she zigzags down a side street. They're on her heels, a good handful, and she is not ready to become their lunch.
She had just parked her car outside of the old town boutique that she regularly frequents. She wanted to pick out a new blazer and have it tailored in time to take with her to New Haven.
There was no one around outside. It's Friday, and there is usually a small crowd in the old town square. She entered the shop to find that it was empty as well. She thought nothing of it, and began to peruse the racks to see if there were any new additions to the collection.
Crash!
A loud sound came from the back of the store and Quinn rushed back there to see if the owner needed any help. She had been coming to this store for a while, and she had made friends with the old woman that owns the place.
"Hello?" She gets more noise as an answer.
She walked into the back room to a gruesome scene. There was blood all over the floor and she almost slipped in it. Suddenly, a figure came towards her, she recognized the old woman from her usual outfit.
"Hey, do you need any- Aah!" Quinn screamed when she took in the condition of the woman. Her flesh was ripped to shreds and her clothes were covered in what looked to be her own blood. The old woman continued coming towards her, grunting incoherently.
She turned and scrambled out of the store. Her hands were shaking so hard, she could not get the keys into her car door. She ended up dropping them and bent down to pick them up.
Moooaaaan.
Her eyes went wide after she turned to see a pack of clearly injured people coming towards her. She took off running as fast as she could. Which leads her to where she is now.
She makes a silent prayer as she enters the backdoor to some building. She locks the door behind her and turns around, taking in her surroundings.
It's extremely quiet inside, as she shakily takes careful steps deeper into this iffy space.
x
They were sitting down for a family dinner, she with her fiancée Finn, along with her fathers, Hiram, and Leroy. When all apparent hell broke loose.
Sirens, screaming and loud gunshots polluted the air in their formerly quiet suburban neighborhood.
They all stare out the front windows, not daring to step one foot outside. Finn suddenly turns away from his place in the front window.
"Oh god, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think I've watched enough movies and played enough games to know what's going on here." He says.
"What's that?" Hiram asks.
"Zombie apocalypse." Finn answers with worried expression.
There is a collective gasp from the Berry clan.
About thirty minutes under Finn's leadership, they had boarded up every window and barricaded any danger zones in the Berry home. There was a collection of various household items that could be used as weapons lined up on the coffee table.
Rachel finds herself rubbing soothing circles on Finn's back as he tries calling home and having no one pick up. He tries to go out and check on his mom, but Rachel pleads with him to stay inside until someone comes to help. She assures him that his mom is probably locked safely away along with Burt somewhere and Kurt as well.
She doesn't even believe herself, but he sighs and steps away from the door, picking up the phone to dial yet again.
x
Thank god, this is a hardware store!
Quinn quickly peruses the shelves as quietly as she can for essentials. Flashlight, small toolkit, weapons... weapons... Aha! Hammers!
She grabs a black leather tool belt and puts it on, filling every pocket with supplies along with the hammers. She finds a pair of leather gloves and changes into some work boots that she finds in her size. She grabs a flannel shirt and ties it around her waist. She grabs some clothing and stuffs those into a backpack with some foodstuffs and a few survival kits. She hoists it onto her back and prepares to vacate the place, checking the front window to see if the coast is clear.
Scrape...scrape...
Shit!
She feels her heart rate increase as she readies herself for whatever is in here with her. The flickering light in the back hallway illuminates the awful figure staggering its way towards Quinn.
He is huge, must be the store clerk. Half his face is gone, his right leg is chewed down to the bone, a bloody stump. She scrambles around, using the headlamp she's sporting to search for a weapon with better reach than a hammer.
There are machetes!
She grabs two, putting one in a sheath on her belt, and bracing herself with the other. Watching Sam and Finn play all those video games about killing zombies is proving to be quite useful. She knows what these things are, and how to kill them.
Scrape...scrape...scrape...
She's hard pressed against a wall shelf as he staggers right past her. She raises the machete over her head, coming down hard, aiming for its neck. It takes a few hacks, but she manages to decapitate the thing. She breathes a sigh of relief and tries to collect herself as she heads out the back door.
Creeeeaak!
x
It's been a week and the sounds of the past few days have died down drastically. Rachel wonders if that's because everyone has barricaded themselves in their homes or if they are all just...dead. She shifts under the weight of Finn's heavy arm and he pulls her closer. He makes a whining sound and she turns to look at him, the moonlight shows the shine of tears coming from his closed eyes.
Tonight is the first time he hasn't awakened her with his sobbing. She places a gentle hand on his cheek, wiping some of the tears away with her thumb. He moves forward, connecting their lips in a comforting kiss. They continue to do so as they usually do, except Finn raises up and shifts until he is hovering over her.
"Rachel, I know we wanted to wait until we were married, but it looks like that isn't going to happen any time soon." He mumbles as he finally opens his eyes to look at her.
"You mean you want to..." Rachel swallows hard, she wants to wait until their wedding night. It has to be special, they can still have their wedding no matter what.
He nods.
"I want us to make love. The world is falling apart and I have no idea what's going to happen next. I love you so much, and I don't want to lose this…us." He breaks down even more.
Rachel understands how scared he is. She's scared too. She grabs him by the face and pulls him in for another soothing kiss.
"Baby, I know you're scared, I-I am too. But I don't want to have sex just because we think the world is going to end. I want it to be special, and I know we are going to make it out of here. We are going to have our dream wedding, go to New York, and I am going to be a star on Broadway. R-remember our first song in glee, Don't stop believin'? I don't know about you, but I'll never stop believing in my dreams."
He looks down at her, the most distraught she had ever seen him.
"Okay, I-I hope you don't think I meant to pressure you, I just wanted to be with you. Before, I was dreaming that they had gotten in, and..." He starts crying again.
"And...one of them bit you and I tried to fight them off, but then they bit me too. I-I swear I could feel it biting right into my neck." He brings his hand up, rubbing at his neck. He turns onto his side next to Rachel and stares at her hard.
"Promise me something, Rachel."
"Anything," She replies easily.
"Seriously," He says sternly.
"Finn, what is it?" She sits up, matching his hard expression.
"Promise me, if I ever get bit by one of those things, that you'll kill me? I mean, right away, don't let me change. I don't want to become one of those things."
Rachel feels a piercing pain in her chest at the thought of losing Finn. He had been a constant in her life for almost four years. She doesn't know what she would do without him. He's her longest lasting boyfriend and the only one to propose. Most importantly, he is best friend, she can count on him to protect her. She cannot fathom being in this situation without him. It brings her to tears.
"Rachel, promise me!" He whisper yells.
"O-okay, I promise. I promise." She turns her back to him as they were before, pulling his arm back across her abdomen. She cries herself to sleep, with a new fear that maybe none of her dreams are going to come true after all.
x
Quinn is thankful for having running water at her house, it's one of those things you take for granted until something like this happens. She basks in the warmth, the soapsuds cascading over her smooth porcelain skin. Her hands, gliding over every inch, every scar. She finishes up and makes her way into her bedroom, dressing to prepare to be on her way.
Another thing you take for granted...family. She touches her fingertips to a family portrait hanging in the hall. Her mother's eyes, she flashes back to the other day, when she last saw those eyes.
Judy lunging at her, right after she'd outrun a few creatures only to find her safe haven ravaged, those things were long gone by her arrival. Off to find more lives to feed from. She has had plenty of practice compartmentalizing things enough to put the memory of having to kill her own mother away, for now at least.
She drops her hand and goes downstairs. This time she has her backpack packed with more of her own essentials, including her mother's .38 pistol. It may not be smart to use against the creatures, but she is a young woman in a state of emergency, she has to be prepared for more than just zombies.
When she gets outside, she mounts the bicycle that she 'borrowed' from her neighbor's house last night. She takes a black bandana out of her pocket and ties it around her head, Tupac style, before taking off.
The bike moves almost silently, Quinn took the time to oil the wheels, as she travels through the streets of Lima. She passes by her old church, favorite restaurants, and a few friend's houses. She slows down as she sees a few staggering creatures near a familiar home.
There has to be someone alive in there for them to be trying to get in.
x
"I can't hold it, there's too many!" Finn has his back against the previously barricaded front door. Rachel stands back, shivering, 'this is it,' she thinks. Her dads both went out late last night to look for food, they haven't returned.
The shuffling, the gurgled sounds, she raises her bat, ready to swing.
Crack!
She rushes over to the window, beating at the hand until it retreats.
"Rachel! We have to run, get the bags and go into the kitchen! Well go through the back door, okay. Go, go, go!" Finn orders her, out of breath.
Rachel nods, and rushes to grab the bags, stuffing anything else they may need into them. She heads towards the kitchen and looks back at Finn to make sure that he's behind her.
"Finn! No!" She yells as she watches him raise off of the door. But instead of making a run for it, he turns to fight some of them.
She sees him swinging the bat, fighting off the ones that have made their way inside.
"Rachel! Go! Hide inside the cabinet!"
She stands there for a few minutes watching him fight them off, she feels hopeful for a second until one slips by him. It comes straight for her. She backs into the kitchen, knocking over a few pots and pans. She cannot believe she had forgotten her bat when she went to grab the bags. She screams as the vile creature chases after her around the island.
x
Quinn makes her way to the side of the house, since the front is full of creatures. She pries open a window and climbs through as quietly as she can. She checks around every corner as she makes her way down the hallway. She hears a lot of banging and things being broken. She follows the noise until she sees a thing coming from the living room through a swinging door. When she hears a scream, she hopes she isn't too late.
"Rachel! Get back!" Quinn shouts as she bursts in and goes after the creature with her machete, knocking its head off with one swipe. It falls to the ground and then there are arms around her waist.
"Oh my god! Quinn, you saved me! How did you... I can't believe... Oh no, Finn!"
Rachel cannot believe she had forgotten about Finn. She bursts through the kitchen door to see him still up, fighting off the creatures. She feels a hand on her shoulder, to stop her before she waltzes out there with no weapon.
Quinn grabs her second machete and hands it to Rachel. Then she follows her into the living room.
"Aim for the head! Or the neck! And swing as hard as you can Rachel!" Quinn tells her.
They begin chopping their way through the bunch, bodies falling left and right.
Rachel cannot believe this is working. They are actually killing these things. She looks over at Finn as he finishes off the last one.
He's breathing hard as he stares at Quinn, who's staring right back at him. They are all out of breath and Rachel looks back and forth between the two. She wonders what this whole staring contest is all about.
All of a sudden, Finn drops to his knees and he puts his hand on his neck.
"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no. Finn!" Rachel screams out as she rushes over to him.
She cradles his head as he slides his legs out from under him. Hot tears pour from her eyes as she takes in the blurred redness all over his left side. He's been bitten. This can't be happening.
"Rach...Rachel." He manages to get out.
She already knows what he is about to say. She remembers the promise he made her make.
"Finn, I cant. M-maybe we can get you some help?" She sobs.
"No!" He rasps. "K-kill me! You promised!"
He takes her hand with the machete and puts it up to his neck.
"Do it! Do it now! I'm dying." He rasps out before coughing.
Rachel shakes her head from side to side frantically.
"No, I can't! I can't do it!" She screams.
"Yes, you, can!" He says hoarsely before coughing up some blood. He puts his hand over hers and applies pressure as Rachel squeezes her eyes shut.