Back again with another chapter, I hope you all enjoyed the last one and thank you to everyone that had followed, favourited and reviewed this story so far. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer- All of the characters belong to Glee, except any OC's that occur throughout the story.


Their footsteps were as silent as they crept through alleyways to make it as far out as the city as possible. It was much safer to try and restart a car that wasn't surrounded by other cars and corpses, both dead and alive. This part of the city was new to Rachel, when she was going on her supply hunt she had always went in the opposite direction while Alex always went this way. Which was why Rachel was the one behind, her machete clutched in her hand and with half of the supplies that they had gathered in her backpack. Unfortunately it wasn't a lot.

Rachel hoped that they hadn't left it too late to leave. Both her and Alex knew that they were still people somewhere in New York, neither of them knew if they were dangerous or not or whether they had good weapons or a good supply of food. Rachel had first thought it would be a good idea to go and check to see if they did have anything useful, or that maybe they could help them. That was until she heard the gunshots and the screaming. Neither Alex or herself left their basement for the next three days, neither of them wanting to risk it. Thinking about it, Rachel was really glad that they have actually decided to leave this place now while they were both alive and healthy rather than it be too late.

The sooner they were far away the better.

She heard a low strangled moan behind her, and she turned around and see one of them behind her. It's clothes were ripped and torn in places showing it's pale rotting flesh. It's jaw snapped in her direction, and it shuffled further towards her at a slow place. Rachel looked down and saw that it's left ankle was bent at a painful angle. Well it would painful if they could feel pain. Rachel hoped they didn't, otherwise killing them would be even harder to do.

"Alex there's one behind"

"There's one ahead as well" She heard Alex say, and she quickly looked over her shoulder to see a much shorter zombie moving a lot faster than the one before. Neither of them said another word, already having done something like this multiple times before.

Rachel stepped forward raising her machete slightly and waited for the zombie to get a little closer to her. While it moved Rachel took her time to look at the zombie. It use to be a man who was probably in his thirties. Rachel could tell that the zombie use to be a rich man, if the silver watch on his wrist was anything to go by. His once tailored suit, was now stained in blood and dirt. One sleeve was ripped while the other was missing. It's tie seemed as if it was too tightly wrapped around its neck.

Rachel didn't hesitate to lunge forward, shoving her blade between its white eyes. Rachel cringed as the black blood spurted out spraying her a little in the face. The zombie went limp and fell to the ground where Rachel didn't hesitate to pull the machete out.

Using her sleeve to wipe the blood off her face, Rachel turned around to face her companion and gave a sigh of relief to see that she wasn't in any danger. She watched as Alex brought a large rock down onto the zombies skull, again and again. As much as the sight made Rachel feel sick, she knew that stopping Alex was a bad idea. That it was just best to let her get it out of her system.

Eventually, Alex dropped the rock on the ground beside her and stood up catching her breath as she did so. Rachel refused to look at the zombie, not wanting to see it's skull bashed into the ground. Instead, she gripped her machete a little bit tighter and waited for Alex to get her breath back. She looked back at Rachel and smiled a little before heading towards the zombie that Rachel had just killed.

"This is fancy" Alex commented as she took the watch off its wrist, giving it quick wipe on her shirt.

"Alex it's not yours"

"What he's not going to have any need for it now is he?" Alex said waving her hand down the corpse to emphasise her point.

"Why do you need a watch?" Rachel asked.

"To look fancy" Alex said grinning. She clasped the watch to her wrist and showed it to Rachel. "How do I look?"

"Like a million bucks" Rachel laughed and the two carried on walking in silence. They didn't want to stay around for two long in case more decided to come as well. A couple they could handle, but a whole group of them was not something that Rachel wanted to experience.

Alex hadn't brought back up Rachel's need to go back to Lima, so Rachel didn't mention it. Rachel didn't want to have the conversation about what they were to do if no one was there. Discussing other options meant that that Rachel would have to think about if they weren't alive. Rachel had already lost so much already, she doesn't think she'll be able to cope if her friends are also gone.

Alex had stopped near a car and Rachel began to watch the streets. It was moments like this where Rachel was glad that she wasn't on her own. She couldn't imagine not having someone to count on to watch her back. She would have to be always on alert and Rachel's certain that she wouldn't have survived these fifty-two days. Rachel wouldn't have even survived the first day. Her survival depends on others.

She heard Alex mumbling as her eyes scanned the empty streets, glancing up to the roofs every now and again just in case someone was there. Her body was tense and Rachel waited for the moment where one of things would just appear in her view.

"Got it" Alex said before opening the driving side door, with a dramatic wave of her hand as she bowed slightly. Rachel laughed slightly before taking off her bag and shoving into the back seat.

"Get in the car Alex" Rachel said, a smile on her lips as she got into the driver's side of the car.

"I will once you're comfortable," She said taking of her own bag and putting it besides Rachel's. "Can you turn the engine on for me" Rachel did as she asked and breathed a sigh of relief when the engine roared to life. Grinning Alex, slid over the hood of the car and sat in the passenger seat. "All systems are go!"

"You're such a dork"

"I take offense by that" Alex mumbled under her breath. As Rachel started to manoeuvre the car carefully out of the crowded street. They were lucky that Rachel could drive otherwise they would have to walk and who knows how long it would take them to make it to Lima. Alex had briefly mentioned it her that morning while they were packing up that she couldn't drive. Rachel was certain that she was embarrassed by it, Rachel wasn't really sure why though. Not being able to drive doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

The drive out of the city was thankfully peaceful. The road they were taking was clear enough so they wouldn't have to keep stopping to move some of the cars around. Rachel drove past zombies and corpses without even bothering to give them a second glance, this was the world that she lived in now. It was about time she started to get use to it.

As glad as Rachel was about finally being able to leave New York, she was terrified about what was going on outside the city. At least there, it was predictable. They knew where to go and where not to go. What shops were crawling with the dead and what ones only had a couple roaming around. It was the city where Rachel had thought she was going to die, and the city where she had met Alex. Rachel knew that she could no longer dream about the big city, not after all she had encountered there. Before there was something about the city that made everything seem magical to Rachel, as it was where Broadway had thrived. It was the city where Rachel had dreamed of escaping to, where she could forget all about Lima and start a new life. She never would've imagined that New York would be the place where she would be escaping from, especially back to her home town. Yet she never thought she would be in the middle of a zombie apocalypse but here she was.

It was an eight hour drive back to Ohio, so hopeful they should be arriving just as it gets to nightfall. They'll decide what to do next when they get there. Rachel glanced over at Alex who had her eyes closed and her head was resting on her seat. She smiled at the relaxed look on her friends face and felt her own body relax. It was very easy to for Rachel to forget about everything that wasn't inside the car. Rachel could forget about all the zombie and the fact they were driving into the unknown. If Rachel wanted to, she could just imagine that Alex and herself were just two normal girls just driving together. There were no weapons in the back of the car and their clothes weren't stained with blood. But then they drive past a group of zombies crowded round a dead body and Rachel is brought back to reality.

She blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes and pressed down slightly on the gas pedal. God did Rachel hate reality, she had always preferred living in dreams.

It wasn't until they were almost three hours into their drive did Alex started to make some noise, patting her hands against her knees in a sort pattern. Two on one knee, three on the other. Rachel should have found it annoying instead it was quite relaxing, even if wasn't a very good rhythm.

"You know Rach," Alex said as she shifted in her seat to face her. "I do a killer rendition of Celine Dion"

Rachel laughed as she began to relax more into her seat "Yeah I bet you really kill it"

"Alright I'm not the best singer out there. We weren't all made for Broadway like you Rach" Alex said a teasing smile on her face. Rachel swallowed heavily at the mention of Broadway, it still hurt whenever it was mentioned. It was everything that Rachel had ever wanted since she first felt what is was like to be on stage since the age of three. Everything she did was to help her get onto Broadway, now it was all a waste and boy did it still hurt.

"Yeah, you were made to survive the end of the world though" Rachel said, as she swerved round some cars that were stuck in the road. She was very thankful that they had yet to come to a block in the middle of the road that had no way around it.

"And my services are yours Rachel. You and me were a team"

"We've done well so far"

"So far? Rach we managed to survive a nightmare! We're fucking pros!" Alex said grinning which caused Rachel to grin back.

It was another few moments of silence before Rachel spoke up. "Do you think that we'll find someone?" Rachel never specifically mentioned who, but it was heavily implied who she meant.

"I think that luck is on our side Rach, so yeah I definitely think we'll find your friends" Alex said and Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Alex didn't have any doubts about what they were going to do.

Maybe luck was on their side, and the two of them will find the rest of the members of the Glee Club, and Rachel and the people she cared about would survive everything. But then Rachel is reminding about the incidents that happened in New York. Who she had lost there and what she had to do. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel.

"Alright I'm breaking into a can, I'm starving" Alex said before climbing halfway into the backseat, using Rachel's shoulder as leverage.

"Careful! I don't particularly feel like crashing this car" Rachel said, but was ignored by Alex as she wigled her way back into her seat.

"So I think we should try some peaches in a can. I would have had the soup, but we could save that for when we have fire" Alex said as she used her knife to open it. "Want some?" She said handing the can over to Rachel before she had some herself first.

Rachel nodded and grabbed the can before eating her fair share, still keeping her eyes on the road.

"Taste good?"

"Sour, very sour" Rachel said as she handed the can back over. It wasn't the best that Rachel had ever tasted, but food was food and Rachel could no longer afford to be picky.

"I hate sour stuff" Alex mumbled before eating the rest of the can, cringing at the taste. "How long till we get there?"

"If we continue at the pace we're going at maybe in the next four hours"

"Do we have enough gas?"

"I think we do" Alex nodded, not saying any more, just carrying on with her tapping.


Rachel had parked up on the road leading just after driving into Ohio, she would have continued driving all the way into Lima if the whole road wasn't blocked by cars. All of them were abandoned, some had their doors hanging open, some had their windows smashed in. Almost all of them had dried blood on them. Rachel wanted to be sick. She could hear the groans and growls of the dead that were hiding in the trees that surrounded them. She could feel Alex's presence beside her, it managed to keep her stable.

"We need to keep moving" Alex said her eyes scanning the trees for any signs of the dead. "We can always turn back?"

"Let's keep going" Rachel said, her voice quiet and hoarse. Rachel knew that Alex wanted to say something but instead decided to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. That was all Rachel needed.

Rachel started walking forward, hearing Alex's footsteps behind her. Thankfully, Rachel knew where they were and how far away Lima was. Hopefully they could get there before nightfall. The closer they got to Lima, the more her body filled with dread and nerves. All of the negative scenarios kept playing through her mind. Rachel was sure that she would be able to cope if they were no longer they were. It means there is that chance that they are still alive. She would just have to continue moving on, hoping that one day she would find them.

But if Rachel was to see their corpse or as one of them things, Rachel wouldn't know what she would do. If they were one of those Rachel didn't know whether she would be able to end their suffering. Rachel didn't think she'll be able to.

They continued walking in silence, with Rachel leading the way as the sun was setting. It was getting dark and Rachel knew that they should stop soon for the night. But she was so close.

"We need to stop for the night" Alex said but Rachel ignored her. "Rachel we're not going to find them in the dark" Alex's voice was firm and she knew there was no use arguing with her. Especially when Alex is right.

Rachel sighed and stopped in her tracks, allowing Alex to step in beside her. "Come on, let's go find somewhere to sleep" Rachel nodded, and this time followed Alex who led her off the road towards the outskirts of the forest where a car was. "Wait here Rach"

Rachel did as she was told and watched as Alex moved over to the car, and Rachel hoped there wasn't any zombies in there. Alex started to pull something out of the vehicle and it took Rachel a moment too late to realize what it was that she was pulling. Before Rachel managed to move away she caught a glimpse of a little girls, pale bloody face with a single bullet wound between her eyes. Rachel felt the bile rise up in her throat.

"It's done Rach" Alex said and when Rachel turned round to face her, the girls jaw was set and her eyes were hard. Rachel didn't want to imagine what it must have been like for her, what any of the apocalypse had done to her.

"Thank you" Rachel whispered as she stepped closer to her friend.

"It's fine Rach" Alex said and the hardness in her eyes was gone.

She climbed into the car, ignoring how wrong it felt to be sitting in the car where someone had died. It caused her to feel cold inside, and Rachel wished there was an alternative place that she could sleep. Alex climbed in after her, her eyes never leaving the road, her whole body tense. She had found a crowbar in the backseat of one the cars that they had passed earlier, and Alex's grip on it caused her knuckles to whiten.

"Are you going to sleep at all?" Alex had asked her, after they had both sat for half an hour, neither of them moving.

"Are you?" Rachel retorted and Alex half smiled. "I don't know if I can" She said after another moment of silence, Alex nodded and Rachel knew she understood what Rachel was trying to say.

"I'm here for you no matter what" Alex said her voice soft and it wasn't long before Rachel drifted off to sleep, with the knowledge that Alex would be there when she woke up.

Rachel don't know how much time had passed till she was awoken by the sound of voices. Angry voices, and one of them was Alex's. They were quite far from her, so she couldn't hear exactly what they were saying. She quietly searched around, her fingers gripping over the familiar handle over her machete. Her bag was still on her back, so she carefully climbed out of the car with the hopes of trying to help Alex.

"Just go the way you came and I won't have to hurt you!" Rachel heard the voice of Alex before she could see her. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw several figures still covered in the shadows. Rachel could recognise Alex's figure, her back was to Rachel and her crowbar raised. She was facing four other people, all with guns aimed at her.

"Tell us where the rest of your people are" One of the people with the guns said, and Rachel recognised that voice. She stepped closer trying to hear more.

"How about you put those guns away and it'll be a lot more peaceful conversation" Alex said, her voice sounding as if she was growling her words out.

"We don't want to do this" Another voice said, and Rachel spoke before she could even stop herself.

"Noah?" The sound of her voice was followed by a the sound of a gun. Then Rachel felt the sudden pain.

"Rachel!" She heard Alex yell and then an arm wrap around her waist, keeping her up. "Fucking shit" She heard Alex mumble beside her. The other guys were all yelling at each other, but all she could feel was the pain that was coming from her side and Alex beside her. "I'm going to fucking kill them"

"Rachel?" Another voice said beside her "Berry? Fuck calm down, we can take her with us"

"How am I suppose to know you won't just kill her?" Alex said, her grip tightening on Rachel, her hand covering the bleeding wound.

"Noah?" She mumbled out, the boys face finally coming into focus. Rachel had never been more relieved to see his face before, she was even relieved to see that awful mohawk. He was alive. Does that mean that the rest of them are alive as well?

"Oh shit, she needs help now! Come on pass her here" Noah said reaching out to grab hold of Rachel.

"I've got her, just go" Alex said, slinging Rachel's arm over her shoulder and half dragged, half carried her behind Noah, who had started to talk on a walkie-talkie. Rachel could tell that the other people with guns, were around her and Alex somewhere. Maybe they were more of her friends, all she had to do was look.

"C'mon Rach, keep those eyes open for me" She heard Alex mumble next to her, and Rachel only grunted in response. She was tired. So, so tired.


"Open the gates now!" Quinn heard someone yell, but she didn't care to know who it was. All she could think of was Rachel. Rachel bloody Berry, and that she was alive. She was alive and coming back. Quinn was going to kill whoever shot her. She didn't even register that Santana was beside her, her hand clasped around Quinn wrist. Nor did she register the remaining members of the Glee Club and the other people in the group had all came out of their rooms.

All Quinn could do was watch as the gates were pulled open and six people rushed through. Puck was there, and so was Mr Schue and the two other guys that Quinn didn't care to remember, but she couldn't see Rachel. Quinn took a step forward to try and get a better look only to be pulled back by Santana. She didn't even have time to protest when she saw an unfamiliar girl clinging on to Rachel, blood covering the both of them.

She heard Santana mumble "Holy shit" and she heard the cries from Kurt and Mercedes and Brittany, and mutters of 'Rachel' and 'Fuck' coming from Sam, Mike and Blaine. Quinn heard all of it but she didn't care. She tore her hand out of Santana's grasp and rushed forward, managing to support Rachel's other side before her and the other girl fell to the floor.

The girls eyes snapped up to glare at Quinn and opened her mouth to say something before she was crowded around by Burt and Carol.

"Carol, grab Mike and try and fix her up" Burt ordered. "Finn, Sam. Come and help" At Burt's orders Finn and Sam ran forward to where they were all standing and made a grab for the injured girl.

"Don't you touch her" The girl snarled, and Quinn would actually be intimidated by her if she didn't sound so exhausted.

"Let her go, you can trust us" Burt said, going to put his hand on the girls shoulder who flinched away from him. It was only then did Quinn realise the machete that she was holding in hand.

"How am I suppose to know you're the right people she was looking for?" Quinn watched as her eyes quickly glanced down to Rachel's pale face, and the look of pain that flashed before her eyes.

"Her name is Rachel Berry. She has two dads, Leroy and Hiram. She was in a Glee Club called New Directions. Her star performance to date was when she sung Don't Rain on my Parade at sectionals. At the beginning of the summer she was in New York with her Dads, and her biggest dream is Broadway" Quinn said, not really thinking about the words that came out of her mouth before she said them. Her eyes went wide slightly, but she regained her composure, ignoring the confused faces on Finn and Sam's face.

The girl stared at Quinn for what felt like forever, but had only lasted a few moments till she gave a half smile towards her. "You must be Quinn"

Quinn didn't have time to respond as the girl carefully manoeuvred Rachel so it was easier for Sam and Finn to carry her gently. She turned around and stared directly at Carol and said "You better save her" Carol could only nod before following them.

Quinn didn't dare look down at her hands knowing that they would be covered in Rachel's blood, and she refused to have that image scarred into her mind. Instead she decided to stare at the girl, and now when she no longer was clinging onto Rachel she just looked lost and desperate.

"So you guys must be her Glee Club" She finally said her voice soft, all the malice that was in it before was gone.

"That's us and you must be?"

"Alex, I was in New York with her" Alex's answer was short and Quinn knew that she wasn't to ask about it, instead Quinn only nodded. What happened at the beginning of all of this madness shouldn't be asked about. Only brought up voluntarily.

Will and Puck walked over to where her, Alex and Burt were still standing. Puck's eyes was glazed over and she knew that he was still in shock, Mr Schue's face was hard and set in stone, his eyes were still distant. Just like they had been since Miss Pillsbury had died.

"Who was it?" Quinn find herself asking.

"Jack" Mr Schue answered, and Quinn felt her hands squeeze themselves into fists at her side. Those stupid footballers, she knew they should never been allowed into this group in the first place.

"We will discuss his punishment, once we have news on Rachel" Burt said to Mr Schue completely ignoring the three other people standing there.

Alex's grip tightened on the machete, which didn't go unnoticed by the 'leaders'. "We'll need to take that from you" Burt said holding his hand out.

"No"

Burt looked taken aback for a second, before frowning "Look, our rules here are that children aren't allowed weapons. Especially ones we don't know"

"It's not mine to give away"

"This is our camp and if you don't listen to us then you can leave!" Will snapped, stepping forward and jabbing a finger in Alex's chest. A crazed look in his eye. Alex stared right back into his eyes, her face cold and filled with rage.

Quinn honestly thought there was going to be a fist fight right there and then between the two of them, and Quinn knew who she was putting her money on winning. Alex was the same height as Mr Schue, but the t-shirt that she was wearing really showed off the muscles in her arms, which Quinn was certain that her old teacher didn't have.

"It looks like there's going to be a fucking smack down" She heard Santana mutter beside her. "I hope the crazy chick wins" Quinn struggled to hide her smirk, from her face when she heard what Santana had said. Now was definitely not the time to laugh or show any signs of amusement.

Alex didn't say anything, instead she extended her arm towards Quinn, the handle nearest to her. She stared at it for a moment before reaching out and gripping it hesitantly. It felt much heavier than her knife, and she was amazed that if this was Rachel's blade how the tiny girl managed to even swing it. She allowed her arm to drop to her side.

"I'm not giving it to you, nor will I keep it myself. Until Rachel is conscious Quinn will keep a hold on it" Her voice left no room for debate, and Quinn couldn't help but feel impressed by this girl and she knew that Santana felt the same. Burt's mouth opened and closed a few times, obviously surprised that someone didn't obey his orders. While Mr Schue's eye twitched slightly, his hand closed into a fist before he spun on his heel and stormed off.

Burt shook his head while rubbing his temples "Fine, but we can't leave you alone. Santana watch her" He commanded before he followed after Mr Schue. The four of them stood there in silence, all of the feeling the awkward tension as a result of none of them knowing what to say.

"C'mon I'll show you around" Santana said, before grabbing Alex's wrist and pulling her away not listening to the girls protests.

Puck shoved his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat, Quinn glanced at the boy who she had a complicated history with and came to the sudden realisation that Puck was no longer a teenage boy anymore. He had matured a lot over the past couple of weeks, Quinn could see it in his eyes. He had stepped in when his sister needed him, and when the rest of the group needed him as well. Unlike how he was in the past, Puck was now someone that could be relied on and unfortunately he had become the person that held most of the groups burdens.

"I'm sorry Quinn, I didn't even know she was there. Rachel appeared and it just spooked him," Puck explained, and she knew that he blamed himself. "I-"

Quinn stopped him before he could carry on, resting her hand on his arm. "It's fine, it's not your fault. She's going to be fine. She's home now" Quinn didn't realise how much she had believed her own words till they had left her mouth. Rachel really was home now that she had found them.

Puck nodded, still looking a little unsure of herself. "Is Soph okay?" He asked.

"Yeah she should be in Britt's room still, you should go see her" Quinn said, trying to give him a small smile. There was no point in being the Quinn that she use to be before. Puck only nodded again, before quickly wrapping his arms around Quinn's frame before walking towards the rooms.

Quinn watched him go until he had left her sight and she was finally alone. Except Quinn didn't feel alone, Rachel was alive and back with them, with her. She allowed herself to smile, a real smile that reached her eyes and made her cheeks hurt. And before she knew it her feet was taking her in the direction of the room where she knew Rachel was. Quinn allowed herself to just for a moment to consider the thought that not having Rachel Berry near her, caused her pain. She stopped that thought before it could evolve into anything further.

She sat down outside the room, sliding down to the floor. For what feels like a long time, Quinn felt content and actually at peace. She refused to think of the reasons why she felt like this, a part of her knew the reason was down to a little diva that had been brought back into her life.

It was an hour later when finally added Rachel Berry*onto the alive list.


There we go, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, currently it is still the build up so I'm sorry if it does seem a little slow. Please review what you think and I'll see you all in the next one :)