The blood of slain zombies is splattered on each of our faces, if we don't find a working vehicle soon, we are done for. The night is closing in on us and we're surrounded by a group of headless zombies, most of them killed by Santana, who treats it like a hobby. Zombies have been appearing out of no where, with their ravenous teeth and hands. If we don't get shelter before the darkness hits, we won't be able to see them when they try to attack. We're not even sure where we are, all we know is that we're on the empty outskirts of Ann Arbor, still heading North.
Beth is whimpering into Puck's shoulder. "Don't cry Beth, everything is okay now, the bad guys are gone, we're just going a new place to sleep tonight," he coaxes.
I sigh. The small blonde has been crying out for her mother since we left, constantly asking where we're going and what's happened and when she;ll see "Mommy" again, I forgot how annoying kids can be. Sure I like them but when I'm in a mood like this, my tolerance and patience begins to wear thin. I know Shelby meant for me to have some part in keeping her safe but I don't think I can calm a scared, crying child right now, I'm still trying to calm myself. I really hope Puck gets her to stop crying, and soon. I have a headache.
"Quinn," Kurt exclaims, "Look there's a red truck over there."
I look over in the direction he's pointing and sure enough, an old rusting Chevy has been left all by itself, the front bumper has fallen off and one of the side mirror has been smashed.
"But there's nine of us," I point out.
"Kurt, Blaine and I will ride in the trunk, with guns in case we need them, the five of you can fit and somebody can take Beth on their knee," Puck offers.
"Fine, I'll drive," I say.
"You want me to wire it?" Puck offers. I tell him I can do it myself but I feel relieved, Puck has been kind to me these past few days so I don't think he's angry with me anymore and that's probably all due to Beth.
We manage to unlock the truck and as I wire the car to a start, the boys climb into the truck.
"I'll take Beth," Brittany offers, "Beth will you sit on my knee please?"
"Okay," the girl whispers, at least she never argues, Shelby raised her well. Once everybody is in the truck and the three boys are in the trunk, I press down on the clutch and change gear so I can drive away from this dead street. I glance through the mirror above me, I can see the tired faces of the passengers in the vehicle, I even try to hold back a yawn. It was tiring, walking this far from the hardware store in a blazing heat. I just want to get out of Ann Arbor and then we can take shelter in the safest looking building available for the night before continuing tomorrow.
We find ourselves a small garage located at the end of a row of houses some safe miles outside the city, the evening sky is getting increasingly darker, the garage is securely locked by a metal screen in front of the door, and all windows are barred too, except one. It's small and not half as secure as the hardware store but it should do for the night, nothing will be able to get inside. We climb in through the narrow window at the back of the small building, to find it has been cleared out of whatever it was used for and the only things remaining are bags of empty glass bottles and a broken table. We'll have to make do with sleeping on the cold concrete floor but it's better than being out in the darkness.
Puck rummages in his supply bag, producing a can of food which we took from the school, he passes it around to each person at a time but I give my share to Beth, I'm not hungry anyways. After everybody has eaten, the room becomes quieter and tiredness takes over.
I can see Santana out of the corner of my eye, she seems to be a bit more restless than the others, she really has begun to frighten me, the way she can kill zombies so calmly and quickly. She doesn't care that these were once people. I can picture her numerous killings vividly in my mind, images of her swiftly slicing a head in half with a ferocity in her eyes, it makes me shudder. I know she's angry with me, she hasn't spoken to me once since we left the hardware store.
We exchange glances but she holds an impatient stare, as if she's expecting me to say something.
"Are you going to talk to me?" I ask.
"Nope," She replies. I let out a breath of disappointment, I know she has a right to be angry with me, if only I hadn't fired that gun those zombies wouldn't have been attracted and Rachel would still be here.
I hear her sigh loudly as she turns back to face me. "What?"
"Santana I'm sorry about what happened to Rachel, I know I'm responsible," I whisper. "And I know you don't understand why I needed to leave that place but I swear Santana I did it because I wasn't prepared to let everyone be trapped and killed by a huge horde. I just wanted to keep moving, all of us together."
"Fucking zombies," she mutters.
"Santana," I whisper. "Why do you this? Kill zombies the way you do, I mean."
She raises an eyebrow at me as if her reasons are obvious. "Quinn, we have to! They're monsters out there, they've taken so much away from us, families, friends, loved ones! It's a competition for survival, it's either us or them so I say slaughter them. I don't want anybody else to get hurt, I'm not going to lose anymore people."
"But Santana they were once people too, maybe there's a way to help them?"
"Quinn why are you so caught up with the idea of a cure?" She hisses."You're too optimistic, the last scientist we met was a fucking creep who almost raped and killed Rachel, I don't trust any of them to create a cure for this, I'm not going to lie to you but I don't think it's possible, anyone who has turned for is finished, there's no way to save them now. Let's just get to Canada and see what happens there, but while we're getting there, I'm going to kill any zombie that gets in my way!"
She turns away again but this time I know she's finished conversing with me. I sigh, if only she knew.
I rest my head against the rough brick wall, Beth is already asleep across the side of the room and Puck is right beside her side, ready to fall asleep any moment. Kurt and Blaine are lying together, holding each other. They're the only couple left although it surprises me that Santana and Brittany are sitting any closer to each other. Santana has been watching every step that Brittany takes, even though she hasn't been talking to me I can still see it in her face how protective she is of her ex-girlfriend.
I reflect on the hours passed, maybe I should have fought harder to bring the others with me. I think of their faces, and wonder if we'll ever see them alive again. I had a horrible feeling about that hoard, once we saw them in the distance when we were leaving the building I knew we were safer leaving, but despite the odds, I hope they'll be okay.
I know I wasn't particularly close with any of them, especially my dad but I don't them to die either. As we were climbing down the outside wall of the store earlier on, there were already zombies waiting for us on the ground below, but we could all see the dark storm in the distance, a hundred if not more zombies moving slowly but all together in the direction of the store. I only wished that those back inside the building could have seen it too, maybe they would have changed their minds.
The sky outside has lost all light so we sit in complete darkness, I can just a bout make out the outlines of the others who all seem to be trying to sleep. O feel restless but the more I think back on this tiring day, the more I need to close my eyes. I wish that I could hope that the days ahead of us are going to get better.
Something wakes me in the early hours of the morning as the dawn light shines through the small windows. I sit up trying to figure out what has woken me up so suddenly. I raise my right hand to my chest to feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest. Something is not right.
Then I hear it, a low groaning noise, it seems to be coming from right outside the walls of the building, as if it's speaking to the walls. I know immediately that there's is a zombie outside, from the sound of it, it seems like there is only one although you can never be too sure. I grab Rachel's knife, knowing that I should deal with it before the others wake up. If I don't kill it, it will probably attract more and we won't be able to escape.
"Quinn?" Santana mumbles groggily, she is only half conscious, "What are you doing?"
"Ssh," I whisper, I don't want to disturb the others from their sleep yet, "There's a zombie outside, I'm just going to deal with it. Stay here."
"Ugh,seriously?" She groans, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She watches me as I walk over to the opposite side of the garage and climb the wall to the narrow window through which we entered. I peer out the window, the ground below is clear, the zombie must be around the other side of the infrastructure.
Carefully and slowly, I make my way outside, holding tightly onto Rachel's knife as I make my way down. A meter above the ground, I suddenly lose my footing and fall from the small height, landing on my right ankle. The sharp pain makes me gasp out loudly.
"Shit," I curse myself as I hear the groaning beginning to come closer, I clench on to my knife while trying to find a way to stand up, I think I've twisted if not sprained my ankle. I clench my teeth as I push myself from the floor with my hands and stand up, only to feel even more pain in my ankle. I grab the wall beside me for support and finally I can look up at the monster that's approaching me.
The knife falls from my hand. I can't believe what I'm seeing before me, with a filthy, ripped red track suit and large black eyes she is almost recognisable. Her long brown hair falls around her face, messy and dirty with pieces of branches entangled in it. I can't kill her but she continues to close in on me, still groaning.
"Rachel," I whisper, I'm frozen in place, I can't move even if I wanted to, even my heart has frozen. She opens her mouth, revealing her black-stained teeth and I watch her angle her head as if to aim for my neck.
"Rachel no, don't, please!" I cry, but I can't move. She reaches an unclean hand out towards me and clasps on to my wrist, her head moving closer to my neck. I begin to tremble as my eyes filled with tears, she doesn't even recognize me.
"Quinn what the fuck?" A voice shouts from behind me. I whip my head around to see Santana, her finger pulling on the trigger of her hand gun. I suddenly make eye contact with the zombie who holds on to my tightly, she opens her mouth again although she looks as though she is about to speak and despite the colorness I can tell by the huge look in her eyes that she knows who I am.
"Santana! No!" I shout.
The creature before me lets out a yelp of pain as the fast bullet enters her upper back and as she stumbles to a fall, she cries out one stammered word, "Quinn."