Wow, I am thoroughly impressed and grateful for all the feedback. It's amazing to write something and have people actually enjoy it! I'm pretty much done with the writing of this story, and all that's left is editing. So don't worry about this story dying.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Part IV – Rats.

His internal clock must have switched off. Kurt flinched, the ache of his body slowly returning as he parted his heavy eyelids. The walls of the phone booth stood tall around his slumped form, shielding him from the increasing wind.

Something moved against his leg. For a brief, irrational moment, Kurt thought it was Finn. Finn, or his father, or maybe Carole. Trying to wake him up so he could curled into his father's arms and be carted off to someplace warm and safe.

Weakly, Kurt looked down. Nestled beside him, sniffing at his gray skinny jeans, was not Finn. It wasn't his father or Carole. It was a huge, greasy rat.

Had he been more conscious, he would have had the energy to scream and jump up and kick it away. But, hindered by the fog in his head, Kurt only managed to gasp, his cry of shock strangled by fatigue. He shoved himself upward some, swinging his right hand at it with little thing, and barked in the resulting pain. The rodent squeaked and raced off, vanishing into the darkness beneath the rusting car body a few yards away.

Kurt clutched his arm and gasped for air, dizzy by the sudden circulation of oxygen to his brain. For a dreadful moment, he just huddled there, panting, before closing his eyes tightly. How long had he been out? Where were Carole and Finn?

Looking around, Kurt saw the phone hanging beside him. A small female voice was muttering something to him, and when he leaned closer to it, the words became clear.

If you would like to make a call, please deposit fifty cents, and dial your desired-

He leaned away, squinting around the parking lot. Had he actually called? Was it all some terrible fever dream? There was still change lying around him, dull and moldy. He looked back up at the phone.

There was still no 'one' button, but the other silver numbers were smudged with blood, that had since dried to a brownish color. Kurt swallowed and struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on the side wall of the phone booth.

Maybe he had only been out for a few minutes. Carole had told him to stay put, didn't she? But he could limp to the road. They'd see him better that way. As he moved, he found new aches all up his body, the pain more pointed and specific. Panting, he stopped and leaned against one of the pillars that held up the roof over the pumps. It was rusted beyond belief, and scratched at his fingers as he pushed himself off again after catching his breath.

There was a small grassy strip between the driveway to the gas station and the highway. The second he reached it, his knees buckled beneath him, and he collapsed onto the soft cold earth, rolling to his left and huddling on his side.

He could feel sweat sting at his head wound. He was shaking horribly, panting. The wind swept over his small body, tugging at his shirt and hair, trying to drag him in the direction of the wreck. But he didn't get up. He lay there, panting, and listened.

A siren was wailing somewhere in the distance. It was so faint that, at first, he thought maybe it was only in his mind. Something he wanted to hear, but wasn't actually there.

Then it started to grow louder. Kurt opened his eyes and squinted through the dead grass, staring down the highway in the direction of town. Tiny red lights swirled, hardly a speck in his vision, but grew consistently bigger, closer. The screaming siren increased in pitch, and as he lay there on the side of the highway, he recognized that it was, in fact, heading toward the wreck.

He could have laughed. His dull eyes looked upward toward the stars, speckled throughout the impressively cold black above him. Fuck you, Universe. But thank you.

It was almost upon him now. Kurt felt heavy, so limp that the blackness started to seep back in. They would get to his dad, and then him? Or... Him and then his dad? There was only one, but he could hear other sirens coming from another direction. So how did they plan on doing this?

Then, the siren was upon him. It blew past, sending whips of air blowing over him, before the sound suddenly began to fade. Kurt blinked, instantly terrified again.

"Wait!" he rasped, his voice hardly forming in its weakened state. "W-...wait!"

The ambulance had passed him. It hadn't even slowed, it just continued to the wreck.

Slowly, the universe started to crumble around him. They don't know where I am, he thought. I'm lost. Hadn't he told Carole he was at the gas station? Oh, god, he was going to die before they found him. This couldn't be happening. His father would wake up in the hospital to the news that, while his son had managed to call for help, they hadn't found him until morning, frozen to death.

Tears stung his eyes. No, no, no, he thought desperately, struggling to get up. Light swirled around him, and something honked. He gasped, sobbing. Please no. Dad, help me.

"Kurt!"

The strength he was using to push himself up with his left arm suddenly vanished. He collapsed back onto the ground, gasping for air. His chest was on fire.

"Jesus Christ, Kurt!"

Something touched his back. Rats! Kurt jerked, gasping, trying to swat them off. He couldn't see, not through the fatigue or tears or blood that had started to drip into his eyes. He released a strangled cry and tried to get away from whatever was touching him.

"Kurt, it's me, it's Finn!"

"Finn," he repeated, gasping the name as he inhaled. His left hand rubbed at his eyes brutally, struggling to clear them, but something grabbed his wrist.

"Oh, sweetie, no! Stop," came a female voice. Carole. Kurt panted her name as well, feeling something wet and warm dab the blood from his eyes. When it left, he parted his eyelids weakly. Two blurred, unfamiliar figures leaned over him, just dull colors against a black canvas.

"Dad," he panted, feeling the black fog swirl in. Finn said something, but another siren blotted it out and made it illegible. Lights swirled around him, and then, as if everything was suddenly alright, the blackness swallowed him. And the world fell to silence.

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