Thank you to everyone for following this story, and to those of you who reviewed. I meant to thank you before the last two chapters, but I've been in such a hurry to get these updates posted that I forgot. You are all much appreciated.
One further note for this chapter. Kurt's dream, in case it's not clear, takes place over several decades and several American Presidencies. I am NOT saying that Sarah Palin is a toddler killer, so please don't sue.
Part Four
Kurt had briefly considered waiting in the dumpster for Blaine, but ultimately had decided against it. It left him exposed and vulnerable, but Kurt had gone to McKinley High School. Exposed and vulnerable were something he was used to.
He thought he'd had it all planned. Kurt had decided that if somebody came along from Dalton, he was going to play dumb about the attacks and claim that Blaine had whisked him away on a romantic weekend away. If it was someone he didn't know, he was going to tell them that he was waiting for 'a friend' to get out of the liquor store across the alley. And if it was a cop, he had a brilliant bit of dialogue worked out to determine whether or not they had taken part in the kidnappings.
The only thing that he hadn't counted on was the freak possibility that Dave Karofsky had come to Dalton to find him.
Not that Karofsky had expected to find Kurt in the alley. He came running up in a panic that didn't bode well for either of them. Kurt stepped aside to avoid a collision, and Karofsky finally realized that he wasn't alone in the alley. "Hummel! Get the fuck down!"
There was someone else running into the alley. Karofsky pushed Kurt to the ground and pulled out a gun.
The shot was loud, though not as loud as Kurt was expecting it to be.
Certainly not as loud as the sound of the man hitting the ground seemed to be.
Karofsky hurried over to the man and kicked him onto his back. After a brief search Karofsky noted, "He doesn't look like he has another gun."
Kurt noted that the man Karofsky had shot was a cop. "Fuck. Oh, fuck."
"We've gotta get the hell out of here before they find him."
Kurt rushed to the cop's side. He was still alive, but bleeding heavily. "If we leave him here, he'll die."
Karofsky stopped short, as though he'd just realized what he'd done. Of course, it was possible he had. With everything that was going on, it almost felt like they were in some kind of video game. The blood, though, that made everything real. "But he- I didn't- Oh, fuck."
"You shot a cop," Kurt exclaimed. In the back of his head, he knew he shouldn't be antagonizing someone who'd just shot a cop, but he had no experience keeping his mouth shut against Karofsky.
"That's not a cop!" Karofsky insisted. "There are people out there hunting gays, and he must have mistaken me for you!"
"So you came all the way to Westerville to warn me? Or to correct him?"
Karofsky winced. "I didn't-"
"You said that already," Kurt noted, acidly.
But then there was someone else running into the alley. Karofsky whirled around, training the gun he was carrying on the newcomer.
It was Blaine.
Kurt moved swiftly to place himself between Blaine and Karofsky. "That's my boyfriend, you closeted simian!" Kurt nudged the gun away from Blaine as gently as he could manage; Karofsky looked rattled enough to pull the trigger without meaning to. "Give! Me! That!"
Surprisingly, Karofsky handed over the gun without arguing. "We've got to get out of here."
Kurt was astonished. "You just shot a cop! I'm not going anywhere with you!"
"He was a crooked cop," Karofsky insisted. "The only reason I have a gun to shoot him with is because he tried to kill me."
"That doesn't make him a bad cop, it just means he must have met you!" Kurt snapped.
"Kurt, you need to keep your voice down," Blaine worried. "I know you can't imagine him possibly being right, but the sheriff's office is looking for the three of us, not the kidnappers." He handed Kurt three pictures that he'd acquired.
Sure enough, it was the three of them. Kurt was considering the possibility that Karofsky might actually be telling the truth when he looked down at the gun he'd taken. "Cops wouldn't need a silencer, either. Not unless they were doing something they weren't supposed to."
Blaine was looking at Kurt; as soon as Kurt looked back, Blaine made a significant glance at Karofsky that was clearly a question. Kurt nodded; as much as he didn't like Karofsky, Kurt wasn't about to leave the guy here to die. "We have to get back to the safe house," Kurt announced. "Karofsky, you'd better come with us."
"I can't just leave my truck here-" Karofsky insisted.
"Look around you Karofsky!" Kurt exclaimed, trying to yell as quietly as he could. "This is fucking gay-Armageddon. If all you lose is your truck-"
"You drove here?" Blaine interrupted. At a nod, Blaine continued, "If they find it, they'll know you're still in the area. Kurt can you find your way back alone? We'll need to stash Karofsky's vehicle at the camp, and you've never been on the road there."
Kurt swallowed hard. It hurt that Blaine kept agreeing with Karofsky all of a sudden. He hated that he couldn't be rational about this, too. And he was all too aware of how dangerous it would be for Blaine to be on the road right now. But none of that could be changed. "Yeah. I can do that. Just be careful."
After Blaine and Karofsky were gone, Kurt regretted being too uncomfortable in front of his former bully to kiss his boyfriend.
It hadn't occurred to Kurt that cutting cross-country he'd arrive at the camp far earlier than Blaine and Karofsky. Leaving him with nothing to do but worry and nurse a growing headache. He tried to lie down on the sofa and rest, but he fell asleep. That only made things worse.
Kurt remained at the campground, days stretching into month and then into years. He didn't see any point to moving after it became obvious that Blaine and Karofsky were never returning.
"…There's an overturned truck on route 25, and emergency crews are on the scene. Traffic is tied up in both directions. And now the weather…."
No one came back to the campground. With civil unrest spreading across the country, it seemed people had more important things to do than commune with nature. Eventually, it seemed that everyone forgot there even was a campground there.
"…President Palin signed a decree today declaring martial law…."
Kurt was happy that Blaine hadn't lived to see his faith in human decency shattered. People complained less and less about intolerance against gays as the round-ups became more and more commonplace.
"…I'm proud to say that good, god-fearing Americans can finally walk down the streets of I-ran City in safety. We share the same god, more or less, and now that we all have our priorities in order, we'll finally have us some peace…."
Eventually, high school students weren't enough anymore. Preschool teachers were required by law to inform the authorities if the children were having any 'gender problems'. And while no one liked the fact that these children were subsequently 'recalled' by the government, the tax credits supplied in those situations did help their grieving families.
Kurt Hummel finally turned off the radio. Quite literally the last gay on Earth.
"Hey. Baby, we're back. Are you okay?"
Kurt opened his eyes and threw his arms around his worried boyfriend. "Are you okay? Did you run into any trouble?"
"No. Everything went fine." Blaine gently ran his fingers across Kurt's eyes, wiping away the tears. "I was asking if YOU were okay. I'm sorry if I worried you. I forgot how much longer it would take for us to get here."
"It's okay," Kurt insisted. And it was, now that Blaine was here. "Unfortunately, instead of worrying I fell asleep and had some rather pessimistic dreams."
"Must have been pretty bad if you of all people were upset by it, " Blaine teased gently.
"Let's not talk about it," Kurt suggested. "With any luck, we won't have to worry about it."
Blaine didn't seem to be in any hurry to let Kurt go, though. But before his cosseting could go any further, Karofsky interrupted. "Hummel. Your fridge is broken."
Kurt looked up. Karofsky was meekly putting away the groceries that Blaine had gotten. Kurt was irritated by the interruption, but given how cowed the former bully was Kurt didn't want to risk getting into yet another fight. "We have to conserve our resources, Karofsky. Besides, it's thirty degrees outside. We don't need refrigeration."
Blaine looked up at what Karofsky had in his hands. Kurt couldn't make it out, but Blaine had bought it, after all. "That'll be okay in the pantry for a couple of weeks," Blaine assured them.
Karofsky just nodded gruffly and went back to what he was doing. Kurt raised a surprised eyebrow. "It's a Christmas miracle. Or a New Years one," Kurt whispered quietly to Blaine. "He must be really scared."
"He is." Blaine blushed a little. "I may have helped a little."
"Really? Do tell."
Blaine seemed, for the moment, to be too embarrassed to continue. "Let's just say we had a good talk on the way here."
Now, that was far from enough to sate Kurt's curiosity. But before he could pursue further, Karofsky finished unpacking and headed over to the sofa. "I haven't slept in a day and a half. I don't suppose there's anywhere to crash."
Kurt froze. It also hadn't occurred to him that he'd be sharing SLEEPING quarters with Karofsky. As dangerous and frightening as McKinley had been, Kurt at least had the option to go back to his house, to his room, and lock out all thoughts of Karofsky for the night. Now that was impossible.
Kurt stood up, wrapping his chilliest reserve around him like a feather boa. "There are three bedrooms in the back. I've been sleeping in the first one, and Blaine in the second. By process of elimination, I suppose that leaves you with the last one. Given how no one is supposed to be up here at this time of the year, it would be wise not to do too much walking around at night."
Karofsky nodded, in that compliant way that was starting to freak Kurt out a little bit. "Thanks," he said. And he disappeared into the third bedroom.
Kurt sat down in a huff, noticing for the first time that Blaine was looking at him uneasily. "What?" Kurt asked, tensely. "I agreed that he could stay here, I don't want to share a wall with him."
"I understand." Blaine was sounding oddly formal, and Kurt couldn't figure out why until, "I just noticed that I unexpectedly acquired my own room again."
Kurt blushed as he sat down next to Blaine, anger swallowed by distress. "I'm sorry. I had to do that. I know the enemy of my enemy is my ally. But I don't want him mistaking mercy for trust. Or worse, interest."
"So you decided to put me PHYSICALLY between you and Karofsky," Blaine noted, sounding a little less hurt. "Does that mean that I don't necessarily need to stay in the room assigned to me?" he asked with a smile.
Kurt was too upset to enjoy it. "Honestly, I hope you don't," he admitted. "I not sure now if I'm going to be able to sleep while he's here."
Now Blaine looked distressed. "He's not going to hurt you," Blaine declared, his certainty surprising Kurt. "And he's not going to be sniffing around, either."
"I wish I could be that sure."
"You can be. Look," Blaine sighed. "I didn't want to tell you this, because I'm not proud of it. But I told Karofsky in no uncertain terms that if he laid a hand on you, romantic or otherwise, that I'd kill him."
"That's sweet." Kurt smiled, tired but touched.
"No, it isn't," Blaine insisted, darkly. "I also reminded him that under the current circumstances, I could dump his body and his truck in the lake. And on the off chance that someone found him, they'd assume the kidnappers were responsible."
Kurt's eyes widened, seeing an unexpected side of his boyfriend. "I know I should be worried by this, and maybe if we weren't in the middle of a war it might bother me. As it is, thank you."
"I'm not an ax-wielding psychopath," Blaine assured him, though Kurt thought he needed more to remind himself than Kurt. "But I wanted Karofsky to understand that I won't let him get to you anymore."
Kurt nodded, his slide into Blaine's lap more absolution than any words could be. And Kurt seriously didn't mind. "You're a Vanderbilt. You may be a nice guy, but you certainly know how to NOT be one."
"Exactly." Blaine smiled, letting the last of his guilt be balmed.
They'd all grabbed dinner for themselves when Karofsky woke up, and huddled around the radio again.
Despite Kurt's gloomy dream, the news was cautiously optimistic. With no idea who was behind the kidnappings, and who could reasonably be trusted, the President had formed a special task force, made up for now of military and police personnel who were either gay, or had missing family members. That would give them an immediate force on the ground which could be added to as background checks were completed.
It was a little awkward how Blaine and Kurt were being portrayed in the media. The news about the vans and the school records had been reported as being brought in, at great peril, by these two brave heroes. Nice to hear, but Kurt had a sinking sensation that when they finally made a movie about this, his portrayer was likely going to be a better groomed Paul Bunyan.
"At least you'll be bad ass," Karofsky complained. "They'll probably make me four and have you raising me after this is all over."
Kurt rolled his eyes, but Blaine laughed. When Kurt glared at him, Blaine just pointed out, "If that's the worst thing that ends up happening to us, we can count ourselves lucky."
Kurt privately admitted that Blaine was probably right, but he just turned back to the radio with a snippy, "Well, you're changing him."
"You know what I don't understand," Blaine wondered aloud. "Kurt, you never said anything about Karofsky kissing you-" Karofsky made an irritated sound, but quickly shut up when Blaine glanced sternly over at him. "So why are they after him?"
Kurt thought about that. Their kidnappers had made it certain that it was the school records that had gotten Kurt on their radar. But given that they were also after Karofsky, that was clearly far from their only resource. "Unless they're going under the theory that the most homophobic people are gay, in which case they might have a hell of a lot of confused straight boys on their hands."
"That would be truly ironic," Blaine decided. "Maybe we should try to figure something else out, though. Karofsky, are you sure there's no one else that knows?"
"Who else would have kept it a secret," Karofsky pointed out.
"Maybe they didn't," Kurt suggested. "Did anyone say anything? Something that everyone would probably ignore because they thought the idea of you being gay was ridiculous?"
"No, I-" Karofsky broke off. And it took all of Kurt's self control not to make a snide comment about Karofsky actually thinking.
Because if Kurt did, it was likely this brainstorming session would end right there. "Who was it?" Kurt asked.
"Nobody. Just that stupid jewfro," Karofsky dismissed.
Kurt sat up completely up on hearing, though. "Jacob ben Israel? Why would he say anything to you?"
"He didn't, really. It was that stupid blog of his. He came up to me and asked me about that 'bully's are secretly gay' thing. I shoved him into a locker and told him he was secretly a loser."
"That's not really a secret," Kurt pointed out.
Blaine was just as interested in this as Kurt was. "Did it end up on his blog?" Blaine asked.
"I don't know," Karofsky grimaced. "I don't read his fucking blog."
Blaine turned to Kurt, who just shrugged. "I didn't really keep up with it after I left."
"I really wish we could log onto the internet right now," Blaine sighed.
"My cell phone has internet access," Karofsky told him, pulling it out of his pocket. "How's the service out here?"
"Supposedly good," Kurt replied. "We can't call out though, or they'll be able to track us back here."
"That's just if we call someone, isn't it?" Karofsky asked.
"I'm afraid not," Blaine replied. "They've probably got someone keeping an eye on your number and IP address."
"So all we need is someone else's phone, and we've got all the internet we can handle?" Karofsky asked.
Kurt was about to snap at him, but stopped on realizing that Karofsky had actually had an honest-to-gaga idea. "Yeah, but that means going back into town again."
"Maybe we should wait a couple of days," Blaine suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea," Kurt agreed. So now all he had to do was figure out how he was going to survive living with Karofsky until then.
(to be continued)