Sensitive and serious content in this chapter. Major tragedy, so please be aware.
I do not own Glee. Chapter title from the song of the same name, "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People
Finn:
Minutes prior…
I was in the locker room getting changed with Sam and Puck after showering. We were all taking our time so we didn't have to get to the stupid assembly any earlier than we had to.
"Man, I don't want to go to this fucking thing. We are leaving here in three days; we don't need to hear this shit." Puck said annoyed as he puled his shirt over his head
"I know! I mean, what the hell are they going to tell me about my body that I don't already know? We are juniors and seniors. If we don't know by now, we are in big trouble." Sam said as we walked out into the gym again where the talk would take place. We could stall no longer, so we went over to the seats the other gleeks were saving for us. We were on the lowest bleacher, closest to the door so we could get out of there as soon as it was over.
I looked around me and noticed that Rachel was here yet. "Does anyone know where Rachel is?" I asked curiously. I hadn't seen her all morning and I missed her. I know Puck would joke and say I was so whipped and pathetic, but I love her and I hate going an entire morning without seeing her.
Tina shook her head, saying she had no clue, but Brittany piped up. "Santana texted me and said that she, Quinn, and Rachel went to the bathroom after biology, but they will be here soon."
"Oh, okay. Thanks Brit." I saved the spot next to me for Rachel, and turned my attention towards Principle Figgens who was stepping up to the podium.
"Hello, students. Thank you for joining us today-"
"Like we had a choice." Artie whispered under his breath and we chuckled, earning us a menacing glare from Sue.
I tuned out what Figgens was saying, letting my eyes wander around the gym at all of the banners. My eyes fell on the football state championship banner, and I smiled as I remember the game. I missed football a lot and I kind of wish I would have tried to play in college. I'm sure there was some place in New York that would have had me, but I guess that ship has sailed. I'll have my girl and that's all that really matters.
My eyes continued to explore the gym, and I noticed that one of the emergency exits was propped open slightly with something—it looked like a shoe and article of clothing. It caught my attention because during gym class it hadn't been cracked like it was now, and it was always closed for security reasons. Come to think of it, the last time I had seen it opened was when we had that Britney Spears sex riot junior year and everyone stampeded out.
I was just thinking back to how hot Rachel looked in her schoolgirl outfit, when I was interrupted my a loud clang and a couple of surprised screams. From this point on, everything happened so fast. Once minute I was thinking about Rachel, and the next minute, a figure was crashing through the door loudly. Everyone looked in his direction, and that's when I noticed what he was holding. As soon as I saw the large, automatic machine gun in his hand, he lifted it and I heard the loud pops that came out of it. He was on the opposite side of the room, but he was walking fast and aimed the gun into the bleachers, going back and forth to ensure he would get every inch of the crowd.
"Run! Get out of here!" I heard Mr. Schue yell out just before seeing him fall to the ground and blood splatter from his chest to the ground. All of the students that were able did as we were told, and started to sprint towards the door away from the shooter. We were the nearest the door, so we all ran towards the door that led out to the hallway, however, as we were running, Sam—who was pushing Artie—went down. Without skipping a beat, Puck scooped Sam off of the ground and threw him over his shoulder while I ran to wheel Artie out after him. I peaked behind me briefly, and saw that Mike was following with Tina in his arms, but couldn't see any of my other friends following. I wanted to go back and help them, but I could leave Artie and the gunman was walking swiftly after the crowd of students running towards the door.
There were some many kids running with us, but the panic caused great chaos and everyone was just getting out of there without thinking. Most of them ran right past the classrooms, but I knew our best chance would be to get inside and lock the door rather than run around in the halls. The gunman was sure to walk the halls and kill anyone who was still lingering…
"Get to a classroom, Puck!" I yelled, knowing he wouldn't be able to run very far with Sam's weight holding him down. He ran into an English classroom, and once Mike was safely inside with Tina, we closed and locked the door and then turned out the lights.
"Hey, help me push some tables up against the door!" I shouted at this guy who had come in with us during the panic. I recognized him from one of my classes and I think he was on the swim team as well. We worked quickly and soon, the door was blocked off and we sat on the floor against the far wall.
Now that our adrenalin had worn off, I think we finally realized the seriousness of our situation. We were trapped in a school with a gunman who clearly wants to kill and injure as many as possible. I felt like a nightmare or something you read about, but never imagine it could ever happen to you.
Once this initial shock wore off, I immediately crawled over to Artie to check him over while Puck looked at Sam and Mike at Tina. As soon as I got a good look at Artie I knew it was bad. The bullet had gone through the chair, hit him in the back and came out of his stomach. He was bleeding so much, and I knew the pool of blood that was continuously getting larger meant he didn't have much time left before he lost too much blood. His eyes were opening and closing, as if he were coming in and out of consciousness, so I tried to talk to him because I didn't want his last memories to be of the horrific shooting.
"Artie, can you hear me?" I got up closer to his face, and saw his blue eyes focus on me.
"Yeah." He breathed out weakly. I didn't really know what else to say so I asked him how he was feeling (I know, stupid question.)
"How are you, man? Are you in a lot of pain?" I held onto his hand, expecting him to squeeze and tell me of course he was in pain, but he surprised me.
He smiled. "No, Finn, I'm paralyzed. I can't feel anything, but looking at your face, I know I'm not doing very well."
I felt bad that my face was giving away how scared I was by his injury, but I couldn't help it and I didn't want to lie. "It's pretty mad, buddy…I- I don't know what to do." I said sadly.
This time he did squeeze my hand, but it was to reassure me, which I found crazy. "Thanks Finn. You know, for getting me out of there. I wouldn't want the last thing I saw to be that sweaty, smelly gym." He was still smiling as he spoke these words, and I wanted to cry at how tragic and disgusting this whole situation was, but I wanted him to have nice memories of the end.
"No problem, man. I'm just sorry you have to look at my face. I'm sure you'd much prefer a hot girl or something." I smirked at him and he attempted to chuckle at my bad joke, but it came out more as a strangled cough. Blood began to leak out of his mouth and I wiped it away before it traveled too far down his neck and on to his white oxford button down.
"Yeah, you're right, a girl would have been nice, but you're not too bad, Finn. You have nice eyes. Plus, you'll just have to do…" At his last words, his eyes lids went down slowly and I saw his chest stop rising and falling.
"Artie! Come on. Just hang in there, man." I said this in a whisper, so as to not draw attention to the room, but I couldn't help it. My friend just died in my arms. I sat there for a millisecond before realizing Sam and Tina had been hit too. As much as I wanted to stay and hold Artie, I knew there was nothing I could do now. I needed to try and help the others whi had a chance of survival.
I crawled over to Puck, and saw that Sam was awake, but bleeding and grimacing in pain. He had blood soaking through his white t-shirt from his chest, and although it was less blood than Artie, I could tell he was in bad shape as well.
Puck removed his shirt and pressed it to the wound to try and stop the bleeding, but he was just bleeding through that too.
"Sam, dude, just stay with us. The police and ambulances will be here soon. You just have to wait for them to take you to the hospital and everything will be fine." I think he was saying this reassure himself just as much as he was saying it for Sam.
"Yeah, okay. No problem." Sam said softly and he began to answer Puck's questions about who were the hottest girls in glee club. He was just trying to keep him conscious and breathing by any means necessary, and the outrageous questions were helping.
I decided to go and check on Mike and Tina, but when I got to where they were situated, Mike had his face buried into Tina's neck, and his whole body was shaking. I touched his arm gently, and he instantly picked his tear-strained face up to meet mine. He simply shook his head and looked back down at Tina. I was shocked to see the bullet hole in her head and her eyes still opened. Only a thin line of blood trialed down her forehead, and it was the most terrible thing I had seen thus far, and I had seen a lot of terrible things in the last five minutes. I reached over and gently shut her eyes for her, and Mike silently thanked me for doing something he couldn't do. Doing that really solidified the fact that she was gone.
"She died instantly." He said quietly to me, and I nodded my head agreeing with him, knowing it would make him feel a tiny bit better to know that she didn't suffer.
As I looked at the way he was staring at Tina, I was reminded of my own girlfriend, and instantly began to panic. Oh God…Rachel has to be alright. I can't lose her; I've barely even had her. She was in the restroom, maybe in the halls, when the attack began, so she was most likely in a lot of danger. I turned away from Mike and Tina, and went to the door to begin moving the items away from the door.
"What the fuck are you doing Finn! Are you fucking crazy?!" Puck yelled in a whisper.
"I have to go get Rachel. I can't stay in here while she's out there…with him." I felt my eyes get glassy but willed the tears to stay away. I couldn't go after her if I wasn't thinking straight. It wouldn't be helpful for her or myself.
Puck looked down at Sam, and then over at Mike and the other guy in here with us. "Hey" he said as he looked at the guy we didn't know, "can you stay and help Mike with Sam?" The guy, Roger he said his name was, nodded and replaced Puck's pressure on the wound with his own.
Mike shifted so he was closer to Sam and laid Tina down beside him, knowing that just like Artie, she was lost to the world, but that Sam was alive and needed help to stay that way.
Puck got up and started to help me move the desks out of the way. "Puck, I can't ask you to do this. Just stay here. Please" I pleaded with him to stay. I didn't want to get him killed because of my stupidity.
"You're not asking. I'm doing this because I love Berry. She's the only person who's believed in me, and thought I was good enough to achieve something more in life. She's like my sister, dude; I cannot leave her out there, and I am not let you go alone. Let's go." I nodded and told the others to block the door when we left and not to open it for anyone unless they are the police.
We peek out of the doorway and saw that the hallway was empty—well empty of living, breathing people. There were five bodies lying on the tile floor of the hallway, and as much as I didn't want to, I had to look at each of the faces to make sure it wasn't anyone I knew. We kept walking down the hall, quietly and carefully, hoping beyond hope, that we would not run into the shooter.
Rachel:
Santana and I were sitting in the last stall and were huddled together. I was quietly sobbing into her shoulder and she was shaking uncontrollably in fear. We could hear screams and shots in the hallway, and each time we heard footsteps pass by the entrance, we closed our eyes tightly and waited for the shooter to come in and kill us. Santana was continuously chanting, "We're gonna die, we're gonna die" over and over and it was not helping our already terrified minds to think that negatively.
I tried to clear my head and block out her talking in order to think of a way out of here and into safety. The bathroom door didn't have a lock on it, so we were extremely vulnerable just sitting here. When the noises in the hall seemed to disappear and everything was silent, and I knew we had to take advantage and get out of the bathroom—at least to a classroom that was lockable.
"Santana, we need to get out of here. It's not safe in here, and this might be our only chance to escape. I know this sucks but I don't want to be a sitting duck and just let him get us. We have to at least try and get out." As I said this, Santana's eyes got big, but she nodded knowing it was our only hope of getting out alive. Soon, the shooter would start looking in any unlocked rooms, and we would be killed.
We both got up quietly and slowly made our way to the door. I stuck my ear against the door to listen for any sounds, but heard nothing. I opened the door as gently as I could and stepped out into the hall with Santana on my heels. The hallway was completely empty, and it looked and sounded like a ghost town, that's how eerily quiet and deserted it was.
We began to walk down the hall towards the main entrance of the school and try the doors of the classrooms we past, but they were all locked and know was going to let us in when the shooter was still lose. Suddenly, I began to hear sirens in the distance, but could tell they were still minutes away. We turned the corner and I sighed in relief when I saw the sunlight streaming through the door about 35 feet away, signaling our escape. However, once my eyes wandered around the scene of the hallway in front of me, I doubled over and almost puked at the sight. There were so many bodies, smeared with blood and riddled with bullet holes, motionless and dead on the tile floor. As much as I wanted to weep and cry for all of my lost classmates, I also knew that we were still in grave danger and needed to get out.
We crept through the maze of dead bodies, desperately trying to block out the fact that they were dead classmates on the floor as we walked. We were about halfway down the hall when I heard a gasp behind me. My heart stopped and I very slowly turned around to see Santana looking down at a girl's body with her mouth wide open.
"Santana?" I asked gently and softly, so as to not alert the gunman. She didn't look up at me, but instead bent down, never taking her eyes off of the girl. I walked back over and crouched next to her to see what made her stop when we were so close to getting out of here. That's when I realized that the girl was blonde and her white dress was covered in blood. "Quinn." I whispered, and it wasn't a question; I knew it was her. I had only seen her a couple of minutes prior in the very same dress.
We gently turned her over and saw that she had been hit in the shoulder and leg, but still had a weak pulse. I sat down and placed her head in my lap while Santana stood to take off her belt and wrap it around her thigh to try and stop the bleeding. The movement woke Quinn up, and I saw her green eyes looking up at me in recognition and fear.
"Rachel," She breathed heavily, "you guys need to get out of here. Please, save yourselves. Please." She said weakly, and attempted to push me away with no avail.
"No Quinn, we are going to get you out of here. Just stay awake, and try to be as quiet as you can while we move you." I nodded at Santana and she lifted Quinn's legs while I lifted her torso. Quinn let out a pained cry, and I was sure it carried throughout the entire silent school. Santana and I looked at each other in panic, and began to walk faster towards the door.
Then, I heard my name being yelled through the halls and immediately knew it was Finn's voice coming from behind us. I turned my head and saw Puck and Finn jogging to us at the end of the hall about 20ft away. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and perked up a little at the sight of my fiancé. He was okay—as was Noah—and they were coming to help us get Quinn out of here. Finn, however, was not smiling. His face was screwed up in horror as he looked straight past me and both him and Noah slowed to a complete stop with their arms raised above their heads. I felt the pit of my stomach drop as I turned to see what they was staring at.
A young man, not much older than me, was standing directly in front of Santana, Quinn, and I with a smirk on his face. He had dark, shaggy hair covered in a red Mckinley High baseball cap, and a bulletproof vest protecting his torso. He raised his huge gun and, without second thought, fired a quick shot at Quinn, hitting her square in the head.
"Quinn!" I yelled, but I knew that I wouldn't get a response; she was gone. I looked back up at the gunman, and he was laughing. Laughing! I couldn't believe this evil man before me. I felt Puck and Finn's eyes on Santana and me, probably trying to figure out how to get us out of this mess.
I was full on crying at this point, as was Santana, which only added to the shooter's giddiness. It appeared that he was getting high off of all this killing and destruction of lives.
"Why are you doing this?" I managed to get out through my sobs. I was crumbling on the ground, but looked directly at the man's cold, beady eyes.
"Because I wanted to." He said simply and then I heard three consecutive shots ring out, and screams from every which way before everything faded to black…
Finn:
It was the worst moment of my entire life. The gunman held the gun at Rachel and uttered the words, "because I wanted to", and I knew what was coming next; he was going to kill her. Before I could react though, Puck moved towards the man, only making matters worse. The shooter quickly shot Rachel, then Puck, and then a third shot rang out, and I had no clue where it landed. I initially looked down at myself, checking for a wound, but saw nothing, next, I looked over at Santana who was looking just as stunned, but not hurt. However, it all made sense when I saw the shooter lying on his stomach on the floor, and a swat and medical team came rushing in.
My senses having fully recovered, I realized that my fiancé and best friend had been shot. I sprinted the short distance to where they were, but couldn't get too close because the EMTs were trying to transport them to stretchers to take them to the hospitals.
Within second, they were wheeling both Rachel and Puck towards the vehicles, and the rest of the doctors were running through the hallways to check for pulses on the remaining students lying on the tile. I jumped in to the one with Rachel, and rode to Lima General in a panic. She was profusely bleeding from her lower abdomen, and the doctors seemed to be having trouble locating a pulse.
"Hold on Rachel, we're almost there." I whispered into her ear, even though she was unconscious and couldn't hear me.
As soon as we got to the hospital, more doctors and nurses rushed to the vehicles and assisted with the injured students that were being brought in in drones. I was ushered into a room and told that an update for my friends would be given as soon as possible. I sat down and placed my head in my hands and just cried for all of my friends who were hurt or dead. I felt a vibration in my jean pocket, and when I picked it up, I saw my mother's faces light up the screen.
"Mom." I breathed out shakily, and I could hear her sobbing over the line.
"Finn! Oh God baby, are you okay?"
"I..I'm okay, but mom…" I couldn't even finish because it was just too horrible to say what I saw out loud.
"It's going to be alright, sweetie. Where are you?"
I told her I was at the hospital waiting for Rachel and Puck, and she said she would call their parents and come over as soon as she could. I had lost Santana in the mess in the hallway, and had just received a text from her saying she was on her way. She couldn't find any of our other friends once she was ushered out of the school by the police, and we were hoping they would be here too.
It was absolute chaos in the waiting room—families weeping for loved ones and hoping for good news, but most of the news that was coming out was not. The police had set up head quarters in the waiting area, where they had a long list of the names of the deceased and also of those in the care of the hospital. It was absolutely painful and heartbreaking to watch families go up and ask about their loved one, and walk away with tears streaming down their face and devastation written all over their face.
"Attention everyone!" An older man in a police uniform shouted over the hysterics in the waiting room. "I am Captain Price of the Lima Police Department. I just want to extend my condolences to you all at this time. This was such a tragic and senseless act of violence, and we are doing everything we can to bring justice to this situation." I saw him shake his head in sadness and knew he was at a loss of words as to how to even properly describe this terrible shooting. "We are going to be moving the list with the names of students and their status out into the lobby, so if please everyone who is not currently waiting for someone in surgery could leave this waiting room, and go out there, that would be very helpful. Thank you all for your corporation during this trying time." He bowed his head, and the massive amounts of people left the waiting room, leaving only me and some hospital and police personel.
Just then, I saw Santana, my mom, Burt, and Kurt walking towards me with seriously devistated expressions on their faces. My mother immediately engulfed me into a hug and let out some tears, while the others waited their turns.
"Finn…" Santana said as she pulled back from the hug, and I knew what ever she had to say was bad. She was shaking hard and pulling Kurt closer to her in comfort, and he was also sobbing uncontrollably. "They're…they're all dead." At her last words, her and Kurt crumbled down to the ground.
I just looked at them, and then up to my parents in confusion. That couldn't be true. "What? I don't understand…I-I saw Mike and Sam." I couldn't talk anymore; my mouth was dry and my head was spinning.
My mother led me to a chair and sat me down while Burt got Kurt and Santana up and in a chair as well. "Finn," my mother said sadly "Mike is okay, but everyone who was shot needed immediate medical attention…they all bled out before the police and paramedics arrived. Puck and Rachel are the only two who were shot who even made it to the hospital…"
"Fuck. No, no, no, no…" I buried my head into my mother's neck and let myself finally feel the emotions of the day.
I was interrupted from my crying by a clearing of a throat. I looked up and saw a man in a white coat looking at us solemnly. "Excuse me, I was told you were waiting for Mr. Noah Puckerman and Miss. Rachel Berry?"
"Uh, yeah. Yes we are. How are they? Are they okay?" I asked as I wiped the tears from my face.
"I'm Dr. Swartz.' He extended his hand to all of us to shake. "Miss Berry is currently in surgery to remove the bullet from her abdomen, and although she suffered severe bleeding, we are hopeful that she will make it through this. The fact that she was rushed here so soon after her injury is what saved her life. Had she waited any longer, she would have suffered the same fate as her classmates. Uh, unfortunately, Mr. Puckerman's injuries were far more severe. He was shot in the chest and it went straight through his heart. We did everything we could to repair it, but the damage was irreversible. I am so sorry."
He did not need to say the actual words—we understood—Puck was gone, just like so many of our other friends. I just sat there, unmoving and unresponsive. I was all cried out at the moment and was currently going through shock. All of my friends, save for Kurt, Santana, and hopefully Rachel, was dead. Artie, Sam, Quinn, Brittany, Blaine, Tina, Mercedes, Sugar, Mr. Schue, coach Beiste, and countless other kids and teachers I went to school with everyday for the past four years. How does one move on from something like this?
I know that this is a very heavy subject, but please remember that this is just a story. So although I killed off a lot of characters, and broke up two major couples, it was done for conflict, drama, entertainment. I love all the Glee characters, but as this is a Finchel story, I am choosing to focus on them (and Hummelberry and Pezberry). Hopefully you enjoyed it, even though it's sad. Thanks for reading!
