Chapter Two
The hot sun beat down on the men's backs outside of McKinley High School. Finn Hudson stood up straight, leaning on the shovel a bit. He had been digging for hours, it seemed, and starting to feel the effects of long hours out in the hot sun. He was sweating like a mad man, and was red in the face from the workout.
"Hey." Finn looked up and saw Puck, who motioned to the shovel. "Want me to finish that up for you?"
Almost automatically, Finn shook his head. "No, I got it." He then continued to dig, getting out a large amount of dirt, careful not to get it on the body bag.
"Dude you're like... Really red in the face. You need a break."
"Yeah, well I'm not taking one. I have to get this done."
"Finn." Puck spoke, his voice stern. "Go sit down. I'll do it."
"It's my fault this happened. I'm doing it."
"Finn—!"
"She was my mother!" Finn yelled, facing his friend. They stood there, staring at each other for a few minutes. The taller man quickly blinked away tears that threatened to come streaming down his face. "She was my mother..." he repeated, quieter this time. "I'll do it. It's fine. I'll be in there in a bit."
Knowing he couldn't say anything to change his mind, Puck simply nodded. "Alright." He said. "I'll have Ms. Pillsbury save you some food."
"Thanks." Finn gave a small, soft half smile and then resumed his digging. Puck then made his way back inside the school, his hands in his pockets. A few people looked up as he walked in that were scattered around the hall, talking amongst themselves, and Marley was the first to speak up.
"He's not coming in?"
"No. Not right now anyway. He's hell-bent on digging that grave." Puck cleared his throat. "Go tell Emma to save him some food."
Marley nodded, making her way to the cafeteria. Quinn, who was seated next to the doors, spoke up.
"We need to make those fences stronger around the town. If any more of those things get in... It'll be devastating."
"I know." Puck sat next to her. "We were lucky that it was only a few."
"Carol and Burt weren't. Kitty wasn't. Neither was Jake." Quinn looked at him. "We lost four people, Puck. And that's four too many."
"We were lucky it wasn't more." He sighed. "Burt was a big help on that fence, I don't know what we're going to do now."
"He came up with it."
"Yeah, exactly."
Quinn bit her lip. "Do you want me to help?"
"We need all the help we can get, but I don't want you out there. There's too many of them. They're about to break this whole fence down. You'd be in too much danger. You're safer in here."
"Puck..." Puck looked at the blonde seated next to him. She had determination on her face. In a normal situation, Puck would find that determination extremely sexy. But with the world they're in now, he was scared it was going to get her killed. "Please. You said so yourself that you needed a lot of help."
"I know—"
"So I'm going to help with that fence whether you like it or not."
Knowing he couldn't argue with her, he just nodded his head. "Fine."
\/\/\/\/\/
Outside, on the north end of Lima, Sam, Santana and Will were working on the fence. It was a tedious job, but someone had to do it. And after losing Burt the night before, they needed it in prime condition at that moment. They couldn't risk another break in.
"You know..." Santana spoke up while adding yet another piece of wood to make the fence thicker. "If you would have told me in about a year of graduation that I would be stuck inside the school surrounded flesh eating monsters, I would've said you were an idiot."
This got a soft laugh from Will and Sam, who were doing similar jobs. Will, though, was on a ladder and Sam was about five or six feet away from them.
"Well, I'll tell you. It isn't exactly how I imagined my future, that's for sure." Will remarked. Santana smiled softly. She had gotten to Lima about six months back, and was almost overly excited to find everyone—at least, almost everyone—still alive. After the first attack, though, she had stayed behind to help put a fence around the perimeter of the town. She meant to send a signal to Kurt and Rachel, but was too busy with the fence to do anything about it. Before she knew it, about six months had passed and the fence was about three-quarters of the way finished.
When she had arrived, practically everyone was still alive, save for one of the newbies and Tina. She knew it was that Ryder kid, and could tell he meant a lot of the girl with the long brown hair, Marley.
Either way, the Glee club and number of people inside Lima, Ohio was already dwindling. That's why Burt decided to put the fence up, and it helped a lot. They just needed to keep up with it.
Looking up, the young Latina woman noticed two guard posts on this side. Mike Chang in one and Jesse St. James in the other. When she had arrived, she was less than pleased that Jesse hadn't been ripped apart at this point in time, but kept her opinions to herself. It was hard for her to do that, but she didn't exactly want to risk getting kicked out. At the time, it was about a month into the apocalypse and she didn't know if anyone's views had changed or not. Now, she voiced it and didn't care. Back then she just wasn't sure.
"How we looking up there, Mike?" Sam asked. He then began hammering a nail into a board to keep it into place.
"All clear on this side." Mike's voice came from above.
"Clear over here." Jesse piped up.
"At least we have that going for us." Will muttered, continuing the repairs.