3/?
There is an emergency exit inside the theater.
Quinn avoids the drag marks of Rachel's blood across the stage, stays low to the ground and makes her way to it.
The heavy door creaks loudly as she pushes it open, but at least an alarm is not blasting off. She takes a moment to make sure she's alone and then she's in the corridor that leads to…she doesn't know where it leads. She hopes for the garden, but she doubts she's that lucky. The chances are, the exit will lead to a hallway inside the school.
She moves quickly, her heart trying to beat itself out of her chest each time she comes to a corner. Her shoes squeak on the white floor, she considers taking them off but decides against it. Who knows what's up ahead. A simple broken glass could stop her on her way, and she can't risk that.
She keeps checking behind her, afraid she's going to get caught unaware, but there isn't anyone there. She doesn't stop long enough to be proven otherwise.
She slows down after what seems like minutes of running on her toes. There is a door in front of her. This is it, she thinks.
Her breath is quick as she rushes on, taking big, quick steps and then she hears it. A thundering shot. So loud, it vibrates in her chest. She yelps in reflex. For a moment she thinks she's been shot, but it's not her. There is a door between her and the gun.
She is frozen in fear, just a few feet from it.
Her heart is in her throat, beating so fast she's dizzy from it. She waits for the door to open, she's sure he must have heard her. 1-2-3 seconds. Another shot is fired, followed by screams from the other side.
This time she doesn't wait, hopes that the cries of his target will cover the sounds of her footsteps, as she runs back the way she came from.
She doesn't stop until she's back inside the theater. As soon as the door closes behind her, she falls to her knees, throws up. Gives herself just a moment to catch her breath, pull herself together. Cold sweat drips down her face.
She looks up at the sound of a muted bang. Followed by others from an equal distance. This time, she is comforted by them. She's disgusted with herself for feeling that way, but they mean he's not coming after her, and she doesn't want to die.
She doesn't want to die.
She remembers screaming otherwise, not long, just a few months ago. In a fit of childish, self-pitying drama, screaming at her mother about death being preferable to the hell she was going through. She realizes now, wiping her mouth with her arm, she didn't even know the meaning of the word. She's getting a better understanding of it today. That's for sure.
She rises.
There is a bag on the front row. She assumes it's Rachel's. She rummages through it, looking for anything that might be useful. Finds a bottle of water, a package of Twix, and a cell phone. The rest is useless as expected; sheet music, pens, and Hepburn style sunglasses. Quinn shakes her head, figures she'd have those. The girl dresses like she belongs to another era.
The cell phone has no reception, not even when she holds it up high in the air. She pockets it all the same, takes a sip of water, gurgles and spits into the trash. A bite on one of the Twix bars gets rid of the acrid taste in her mouth. The other one she'll give to Rachel.
It's not long before she's walking back into the changing room, announcing her presence with a whispered "It's me."
Only there is no answer. Rachel doesn't jump in fear, or say anything. In fact she doesn't move at all.
"Rachel." Quinn is down on the floor and taking hold of Rachel's shoulders in a heartbeat, "Rachel, wake up."
Nothing.
"Rachel!" Her voice comes out loud, uncontrolled despite her efforts to keep it low. "Wake up!"
Slaps to her face don't get a response either.
She feels half crazy, like this is the thing that's going to break her. "Open your eyes, Berry." She pleads, "Please."
Nothing.
"If you die on me, I'm so gonna kick your ass."
The bottle of water is the last resort. She empties half of it right onto Rachel's face.
And miraculously, Rachel's eyes snap open. She coughs wetly, and winces. "What-"
She's dazed, and confused but at least she's awake.
Quinn whimpers in relief, her breath rushing in and out of her like she has run for a good 10 minutes and her hands- the same ones covered in Rachel's dried blood- are shaking.
She doesn't know how much longer she can keep this up. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
"You came back." Rachel says, the surprise evident in her voice.
Quinn looks at her. Rachel is so pale. She needs to figure out a way for them to get out of here before time runs out.
"Here, drink." She orders bringing what's left of the water to Rachel's lips.
Rachel swallows slowly, her hair sticking to her forehead, gives her a weak nod when she's had enough.
"Listen, you need to stay awake, okay?" Quinn says, drying Rachel's face with the sleeve of her shirt. "You need to stay with me."
Rachel doesn't say anything in response, but there is a look in her eyes.
Quinn doesn't know what it means but at least Rachel's eyes are open. "You're going to be fine." She says, because that's her new mantra now. "You need to hold on." And suddenly she has an idea. "You have that song you need to sing, right? You have to beat Kurt."
"I thought… there were more… important things… than glee."
That's the longest sentence she's heard Rachel say for a while now. Quinn will take it.
"I lied."
That earns her a doubtful look which makes Quinn chuckle weakly. "What, I did. I'm a liar, it's my thing. Ask anyone."
Rachel's lips curve up for a moment. It warms something in her.
"You'll be fine." Quinn says again.
"Liar." Rachel gasps, closing her eyes.
It breaks something in her.
Her mind wonders. She can't help it. One minute she's looking at the wall above Quinn's head, and the next she's imagining her funeral. Only it doesn't feel like she's imagining anything, it feels like she is actually there. Not in the coffin or anything- though there is a closed coffin there- but somewhere in the room watching everything.
Her fathers are there, her grandparents and her uncle David, whom she hasn't seen since her Bat mitzvah. He lives in New York, and is a very busy man, but he does make time for big events in her life. Her funeral must count, she thinks.
Everyone, including the glee club, is crying great big sobs.
Britney is on Santana's lap. "Who's going to boss us around now?" She asks, but no one answers her.
The Rabbi is talking about how precious a human life is and all about God's big plan until he isn't anymore and there is Mr. Schuster instead, dressed all in black with white suspenders and a hat. He says something about Rachel being a star and her being too good for this world and how she's rising into the night sky where she belongs, to watch over her family and friends. And then Kurt is up there singing Defying Gravity in her honor, so well, so incredibly well that, when he is done he gets a standing ovation. At a funeral. Which is not acceptable. At all. She says as much, but no one seems to hear her, except for Quinn who is suddenly in front of her.
"No clapping," Rachel orders stomping her foot. Quinn just stares at her without saying anything. She stares and stares for what seems like forever.
"Rachel!"
She snaps out of it. "Huh?"
"Did you say something?"
She blinks furiously, trying to clear her mind. "What?"
"Are you okay?"
No, definitely not. "I…"
"Does it hurt?"
"Not really." She says because that's the truth. She doesn't feel much of anything anymore.
Quinn gives her a long look before she very casually- as though this is something the two of them talk about on a regular basis- says, "Puck wants us to go see Beth together."
Rachel is taken aback to say the least. Quinn is usually so stingy when it comes to anything personal.
"You don't?"
"No. Yes… I don't know. It's complicated."
"Yes."
Quinn's eyes narrow as if searching for sarcasm, but there is none to be found. Rachel can't even begin to imagine what Quinn must be feeling. And yes she has her own ideas about giving up a baby or in her case being given up but she can certainly agree on the fact that it must be very complicated indeed.
Quinn must see that she is sincere because in the next moment her eyes soften and she gives a slight nod.
Rachel knows why Quinn is doing this. She wants to keep Rachel interested in the land of the living, so to speak. It's for morale, a motivation of sorts. She has to admit it's working. She feels her mind focus for the first time in a while.
"I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet," Quinn continues, not looking at her at all.
"Scared?" Rachel asks, because hell, she has never been good at holding back her thoughts, and what has she got to lose at this point.
Quinn shoots her a pointed look, but instead of biting her head off, she sighs and gives a weak nod.
"Of?" Rachel asks.
There is a long silence before she gets her answer. "What if I was wrong."
Even if it is just out of pity for the dying, Rachel feels special for being the one that Quinn's turning to with this.
"Maybe, you'll know…after today." She says, because today's events should change something for those that survive it, their perspective at the very least. And because she wants to give something back she adds, "After we… get out."
"You think?" Quinn asks, her voice soft with a smile in there somewhere because apparently Rachel is absolutely transparent to her now.
She doesn't know when Quinn started being able to read her so well. "Sure." She says, and hopes that life doesn't make a liar out of her. Because this sharing thing with Quinn; it's nice and she wouldn't mind doing it again some day.
Later, Quinn is wiping the sweat off Rachel's forehead, when Rachel looks at her curiously and mumbles, "Why didn't you… want me?"
She tries to make sense of the question. She can't tell what she means exactly, want her when? She thinks, but before she can voice it Rachel is saying something else.
"I know why you're here."
Quinn is really curious now. "Why is that?"
"To say goodbye."
"Don't talk like that."
"I don't understand…you're my mom… I feel awful."
"Rachel?" She says, curiosity leaving its place to fear because Rachel isn't talking to her at all.
"Sing…with me?"
"Berry, it's Quinn."
"Can't read my… can't read my…"
"Stop. You need to conserve your energy."
But Rachel isn't listening anymore. She's somewhere else completely.
"…she's got to…"
She's singing and it's barely a whisper but the effort still takes enough out of her that by the time the last verse falls from her lips she's coughing desperately.
"love no body."
And then there is blood. Rachel makes a wet choking sound before her eyes roll back.
And just like that, time runs out.
