Izabella G. D: I was sad about having to leave anyone behind, but it had to be someone.
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Day 4
Rachel tried to get some sleep, but it was impossible with their impending departure on her mind; she knew going was the right thing to do, but that didn't make her any less anxious about it. She knew that so many things could go wrong, yet she was still going to go. She had been worrying all night, though, if they were all going to make it to Brittany's; she tried not to think about it, but that was easier said than done. Kurt was lying next to her and it was obvious that he hadn't gotten much sleep, either; she heard him tossing and turning ever since his head hit the pillow.
Since she couldn't sleep, she had spent most of the night watching Quinn and Puck, who had their heads bent over a piece of paper, talking in hushed voices. She assumed they were coming up with a plan, which was good because she really didn't want to leave something as important as this up to chance.
Everyone was moving around now, but no one was really saying a word. The three who were staying were sitting off to the side, watching the rest of the group, and Rachel could see the sadness on their faces. By their expressions, she could tell they thought everyone else was walking off to their doom.
Every time she looked at Quinn, the blonde seemed deep in thought; Rachel wondered what was going through her mind right now, but she didn't want to intrude by asking. She wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but she knew she couldn't do that. They we about to embark on a dangerous journey and Rachel knew they would be lucky to all make it there alive.
"Is everyone almost ready?" Quinn asked.
Everyone nodded and looked around at each other. No one really had much stuff to take with them; several people had whatever they came with, others had their sleeping bags that they had been using, and others had nothing at all.
"Before we go," Puck walked to the area under the stairs, "I figured we might need these."
He pulled out several guns and Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise; they looked like guns that would be used for hunting, but that didn't seem like an activity Puck would partake in.
"Does anyone know how to shoot one of these?" Puck asked, looking around.
"Me," Sam said, nodding.
"Okay, dude," Puck said, handing one of them over. "Shoot the aliens, not the people."
"I think I can manage that," Sam said, giving him a lopsided smile.
"Anyone else?" Puck asked.
"I can," Santana said, much to everyone's surprise.
Puck looked at her suspiciously. "Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "If you remember, I have older brothers, and they like to hunt. I've went with them several times, so I know how to shoot a gun. Now, hand it over."
Puck didn't look like he wanted to do it, but he handed over the gun. Everyone seemed to be eying Santana as she looked over the gun, oblivious to their stares.
"You know, I didn't think anything would be scarier than Santana when we lost Nationals, but Santana with a gun just topped that," Artie said.
"Do you have any other weapons?" Blaine asked.
"A couple hunting knives," Puck said, shrugging, and then handing one over to Blaine.
"Give me one," Quinn demanded.
Puck handed it over without hesitation. "Be careful with it."
Quinn rolled her eyes and then narrowed them. "Do you think I'm going to fall on it or something?"
"No, I—" Puck looked away, avoiding the blonde's glare. "Never mind."
"If that's everything, we should get the hell out of here," Santana said, stepping up.
Rachel looked across the room in sadness; without a word, she walked over, giving the remaining three a hug. She gave the longest hugs to Mercedes and Artie, who had been in the Glee club right from the beginning. She wanted to say a lot of thing to them, but for once, words were failing her. She never knew if she would see these people again and the thought was bringing tears to her eyes, but she didn't want to cry. She wanted to be strong, so she quickly wiped at her damn eyes, and turned around, walking away. One by one the rest of the group walked over, hugging the people they were about to leave. She noticed that she wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes; in fact, by the end, most of the group seemed like they were trying not to cry.
As soon as everyone had said their goodbyes, Puck looked at his watch, and said, "It's a little after three."
Quinn nodded. "We should go if we want to make it by sunrise."
They started heading toward the stairs and Rachel was right behind Blaine, with Kurt behind her. They all gathered near the back door and waited for Quinn or Puck, who seemed to be leading the expedition, to give them instructions.
"Okay, guys," Puck said, looking at everyone. "We're going out the back, so we'll be less noticeable than walking down the street, and hopefully the houses will block the aliens from seeing us. We're going through the backyards for as far as we can; once we get there, we'll regroup and tell you the next leg, okay?"
Rachel noticed that Puck actually looked excited, but he was probably just happy playing all those video games finally had a use. She knew from her time with Finn that the two loved their shooting games where they had to run around, trying to stay away from the people that wanted to kill them. Puck probably thought of this as a real life version of that, which is probably why he had that look on his face right now.
Quinn cleared her throat. "Puck and I agreed—if anyone gets left behind or if people get split up, we're not going back. If you're the one that loses the group, it will be your decision to come back or to try to get to Brittany's house on your own. Understand?"
"But Quinn—"
"I'm sorry, Brittany, but that's how it has to be," Quinn interrupted. "We have to keep moving, and we can't risk the whole group dying for one person."
"Everyone follow me," Puck said, putting his hand on the doorknob.
Rachel had never been more scared in her life than she was at the moment; she was jumping at every little sound, terrified that they were going to come upon an alien or see one of the spaceships in the sky. She wasn't the only one, though; everyone else seemed to be on edge, whipping their heads back and forth with every little sound.
Going through the backyards was easier said than done; a lot of them had fences that they either had to climb over or find a weak spot that they could make a hole to climb through. Still, though, it was better than marching down the street where they could be spotting by anything. One of the houses on the street had even been half destroyed, so they had to climb over the rumble to get through it and into the next backyard. As she passed by, Rachel couldn't help but wonder when it happened and if anyone might be alive and trapped inside.
She had never felt so guilty in her life as she walked on without stopping.
Every little bit they would come to the road and in pairs they would quickly run across the next row of houses. For Rachel, that was the most stressful part. As they ran across, they would be completely out in the open for anything to see them. As she watched the pairs go, she would hold her breath until they were safely on the other side and she could breathe a sigh of relief. Then the next group would go, though, and she would do it all over again. Kurt would usually grip her hand tightly, and she noticed him squeezing extra hard every time Blaine was the one going across with Sam. She didn't comment and would run her thumb along the back of his hand, trying to tell him that everything would be okay.
It was when they crossed their first street that Rachel began noticing Quinn; the blonde was watching her, constantly looking back to check on her. At first Rachel thought she was doing it to check on everyone, but the blonde would only look at her, and then look ahead again. She couldn't figure out why Quinn was doing it, though, or why she had been protecting her since everything began. She wasn't used to this kind of behavior from the blonde, and didn't really know what to make of it.
They were currently standing in front of a tall, white picket fence; half of them were through the large fence, and it was Rachel's turn to go through next when she first heard the noise. It made her stop in her tracks and look around.
"What's the holdup?" Santana asked.
"Did you hear that?" Rachel whispered.
"Hear what, Berry?" Santana asked, rolling her eyes.
"That clicking sound?" Tina asked, and Rachel nodded. "I hear it too."
Santana scoffed. "I don't hear anything. Now, get your ass through that fence; we don't have all night."
"I think I hear it too," Mike said, looking over his shoulder.
"What's going on?" Quinn asked, sticking her head back through the missing slats in the fence.
"These two think they hear something," Santana said, motioning between Tina and Rachel.
"Let's just hurry up and get out of here," Quinn said, putting her hand through, and grabbing Rachel's.
Rachel was about to go through the fence when she heard it again; she knew she wasn't the only one that heard it, though, because Quinn's grip on her hand tightened and the blonde froze. When she looked back, even Santana was looking around with wide-eyes and muttering to herself in Spanish.
"Come on," Quinn said, quickly pulling her through.
Tina came through next, and a few seconds later, there was a bloodcurdling shriek from Santana. Mike stumbled through, being pushed from behind by Santana; the former Cheerio was the last person through, and once she was on the other side, she didn't stop running.
"San?" Brittany said as the other girl quickly went by and grabbed the blonde's hand.
"Run," Santana yelled, heading towards the gate on the other side of the yard.
No one else questioned it, and everyone took off running after the two. Quinn still had Rachel's hand and was tugging on her arm, telling her to speed up; Rachel was suddenly thankful she had added running to her workout routine when she went to New York. As they ran, the clicking from behind them seemed to get louder, and Rachel chanced a glance back. The moment she looked, though, she wished she hadn't because she could now see them clearly; they were being pursued by several aliens, who seemed to be gaining ground on them.
They didn't look like the one they had seen going down the street a few days ago. These were much smaller, about the size of a large dog, and looked very bug like. They had four spindly legs that they were running on and pincher like things on their faces. They didn't have a carapace like a bug would, though; their skin was more like that of a mammal and was a grayish blue color.
"They're catching up," Rachel yelled so her friends would be able to hear her over all the other noise.
Several others looked back, their eyes widening; as soon as he saw them, Puck was trying to get the gun off his as he continued to run. Most people had picked up the pace, but several people were still lagging behind, a bit more out of shape than the rest of the group.
"We're not going to outrun them," Puck yelled with his gun now in his hand.
They were trying to quickly jump over the chain link fence, but Blaine and Marley both stumbled and the rest of the group was trying to help them out. Rachel knew Quinn had said there was no going back to help people, but that was easier said than done when it was your friend. As Jake and Mike were helping Marley, Puck fired a shot from his rifle, but they were all running again before they had a chance to see if any of the aliens went down.
The next two backyards were fenceless, which made the running a lot easier, but when they got to the next one, the only option was to climb over it.
"Dammit!" Puck shouted, slamming his hand against the fence.
He turned around, firing another shot; it connected with one of the aliens, but it didn't seem to slow it down very much, and there were still two others running at full speed. Beside her, Santana pulled out her rifle and fired a shot, but it missed. She took a step back, but she was up against the fence with no place to go. Mike hand climbed up and was straddling the fence, trying to pull Marley up, but everyone else was standing around below; the fence was too high for most of them to climb themselves and there would never be enough time for them all to make it.
In the moment before the aliens finally got to them, it seemed like everything slowed down. After that, though, everything happened so fast that Rachel had no idea what was going on. Before she knew it, she was pushed to the side, and watching everything from where she had been knocked to the ground. There were shots being fired, screams coming from her friends, shrieks and clicks coming from the aliens, and lots of swearing coming from Santana.
It seemed like an eternity as she watched the two sides fight, but it was most likely only a minute or two before Kurt was pulling her up from the ground. He was shouting something at her, but she couldn't seem to stop watching what was going on in front of her long enough to focus on what he was saying. It was until Jake fell down in front of them, clutching his side, that Rachel finally snapped out of it and rushed forward.
Puck's brother was bleeding profusely; Rachel had no idea what caused it, but he had a huge gash from the upper, right part of his chest, down to his lower left side. She was trying to put pressure on the wound to help with the bleeding, but it was just too much, and her hands couldn't cover it all. She did her best, though, and called for Kurt to help her.
One of the aliens was lying on the group, appearing to be dead, and another one fell to the ground as Santana fired her gun. There was a third one left, but Rachel was too busy trying to help Jake to care about where it was. It wasn't until Quinn called her name that she looked up and saw the thing heading straight for her. On instinct, she draped her body over Jake, trying to protect the bleeding boy; she closed her eyes, waiting to be hit, but it never came. When she looked up, the alien was lying limply over Quinn, who was pulling a knife out of the creature.
"We need to get inside," Sam said, walking over to Quinn, and kicking the alien's corpse off of her. "All that noise might attract more of them."
Mike ran over and jiggled the handle to the backdoor, but Puck said, "Not this house; we need to go over a couple more. It would be too obvious that we'd be in this one."
Puck walked over and pushed Rachel and Kurt to the side as he reached down to grab Jake's arm; Blaine rushed over, putting Jake's other arm around his shoulder, so he could help move him. Instead of trying to make it over the fence, Puck led them to the front yard; he looked around, and he must have been satisfied because he started walking across the yard. He took them a few houses over, to one with a 'for sale' sign in the yard, before he finally stopped and nodded to the door. Tina was the closest to it, so she tried the doorknob, but it was locked; she kicked the welcome mat to the side, though, and reached down, picking up the key to the house. As soon as the door was unlocked and open, everyone silently filed in.
Quinn hoped they could make it to Brittany's house before sunrise, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. They were still a few miles away, and now many of them were injured from the fight. Jake was worst off, but Santana had a large cut down her arm, Marley appeared to have a broken wrist, and she had noticed that Puck and Sam were both limping slightly.
She didn't like being in this house; there was no basement, so she felt more vulnerable to another attack, and since the house was in for sale and the tenants had obviously already moved out, there was no food in the place. The one thing the place had going for it was huge; for the first time in days, Quinn was getting a quiet moment to herself as she lay on the floor, in one of the many bedrooms. She was there for several minutes, watching the room get lighter and lighter, when there was a light knock at the door.
"Come in," she said, figuring it was Brittany, since she knew Santana would have just barged in.
She was surprised, though, when Rachel opened the door and walked into the room. The brunette looked paler than she had ever seen her before and she was covered in blood; Quinn had a moment of panic before she realized it must be Jake's blood that was covering her sweater, not Rachel's.
"I wanted to make sure you're okay," Rachel quietly said.
"I'm fine," Quinn lied.
The truth was she couldn't move or even breathe without being in excruciating pain; she knew from her experience as a Cheerio that she probably had a broken rib, but there wasn't much she could do for it. She was just trying not to move too much or breathe too deeply to avoid some of the pain.
Rachel watched her for a few moments, and just when Quinn thought she going to turn and walk away, the brunette took a few steps closer. Quinn really just wanted her to go; she didn't want Rachel to know she was hurt, but it was hard hiding the pain from her face, especially since the other girl was looking at her so intently.
"Where are you hurt?" Rachel quietly asked as she kneeled in front of Quinn.
"Who says I'm hurt?" Quinn defiantly asked, trying to mask her pain as she sat up, hoping that Rachel would take it as proof that she was fine.
Rachel tilted her head and smiled softly at her. Quinn hated that smile. She hated that Rachel could see right through her lies—most of them, anyway—and she hated that Rachel was the only person to come up to check on her.
"You took care of me," Rachel stated. "Now let me take care of you."
Quinn hated the idea of anyone taking care of her, but she was in too much pain to really argue at the moment. Plus, she knew Rachel would never give up anyway, so she was just going to save both of them the trouble. Lying back down, she let out a painful breath of air and shook her head.
"I'll be okay," she said, hoping to appease Rachel somewhat. "I just—hurt my ribs a little."
"Can I see?" Rachel asked.
Quinn looked down at herself, cursing the fact that she always wore dresses; if she had been wearing a shirt, this would be a lot less awkward. She nodded anyway, and allowed Rachel to gently help her up. Rachel slid down the zipper and carefully pulled down the top of her dress, just enough to see the already discolored area. She self-consciously wrapped her left arm around her midriff, and flinched as Rachel fingers softly brushed over the spot.
"How much does it hurt?" Rachel asked.
"A little," Quinn said, trying to downplay the truth, but then Rachel prodded the spot. "Shit!"
Rachel's eyebrows rose. "I think that is the first time I have heard that kind of language come from you, so I am going to assume you are in considerably more pain than what you are willing to admit."
Quinn huffed, but then immediately regretted it, wincing at the stabbing pains.
"Wait right here," Rachel said as she turned around.
Quinn pulled the top of her dress back up, but she couldn't reach around to zip it, so she kept left hand over it to stop it from falling back down. Give the situation they were in, she found it a bit absurd that she was still concerned about anyone seeing her stretch marks, but even now, she couldn't stop her insecurities from coming out.
When Rachel walked back into the room she was smiling. "I have some good news and some bad news."
"What's the good news?" Quinn asked, not ready to hear anything else bad.
Rachel held out a bottle of water. "I managed to get this from the kitchen before they were all gone; I'm going to assume the realtor brought these to the house in case they were showing the house and one of the potential buyers became thirsty."
"Thanks," Quinn said, taking the water, and smiling.
"And I also have these," Rachel said, holding two pills in her open hand. "Now, normally I would never give medication that is prescribed to me to anyone else, but given the circumstances, I think I can make an exception. They should help with the pain; my doctor prescribed them to me a few weeks ago when I did a bit too much rehearsing and ended up injuring my ankle. I have no need for them now, but luckily I was still carrying them in my purse."
"Will you zip me?" Quinn asked, turning her back toward Rachel.
She twisted off the cap to the plastic bottle and threw the pills into her mouth. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until the water hit her tongue, and then she downed half the bottle at once.
"So, what's the bad news?" Quinn asked, lowering the bottle.
"Can I sleep in here with you?" Rachel asked. "Most of the other rooms are already spoken for; there's one down the hall, but I think Santana and Brittany are having sex in the room next to it and I would rather not hear that while I am trying to rest. I would normally go where Kurt goes, but I noticed him and Blaine talking, so I would like to give them some privacy."
"That's the bad news?" Quinn asked, amused.
"Well, I figured you would prefer to be in here alone, so yes, that is the bad news," Rachel replied.
"It's fine, Rachel," Quinn said before pausing and frowning. "Wait—Santana and Brittany are having sex in one of the rooms?"
"That is correct," Rachel said, nodding.
"So much for Sam and Brittany," Quinn said, sitting down as gently as she could.
"What exactly happened with them?" Rachel wondered.
"Santana broke up with Brittany for some really stupid reason, but then she regretted it almost immediately," Quinn explained. "You know how she is, though; she tried pretending like she was okay when she wasn't, and then Brittany and Sam started dating a few weeks ago, which is when it really hit her. I guess she finally stopped trying to kill Sam with her glare and told Brittany the truth."
"Poor Sam," Rachel said, frowning.
Quinn nodded in agreement. "He should have known not to get between Santana and Brittany, though."
She watched as Rachel walked to the window and looked out; it was completely daylight outside now and the room was bright. It was a stark contrast from the way they were living in Puck's basement less than twelve hours ago.
"We should probably leave as soon as the sun sets," Quinn commented.
"Do you think you will be okay to walk the rest of the way?" Rachel asked, looking down at her.
"I'll have to be," Quinn said, sighing.
Rachel nodded and then gave her a small smile before walking to the door; she opened it and bent down, picking something up in the hall. When she turned around, she had a sleeping bag in her hands.
"I asked Mike for it, so you would have something soft to sleep on," Rachel said, walking back over, and kneeling down to spread the object out. "I didn't think sleeping on the hardwood floor would be the most comfortable thing for you to do."
Quinn appreciated the gesture, although, if it had been anyone else, she would have scoffed and felt offended that they thought she needed their help in any way. She knew Rachel was always sincere in her concern, though, and she didn't feel like the brunette was going to judge her—but that didn't mean she wanted Rachel to think she needed her help. Still, she was glad to not have to sleep on the hard floor, and appreciated that Rachel was trying to make her more comfortable.
"Thank you," Quinn said with complete sincerity as she scooted onto the sleeping bag.
Rachel smiled at her. "You're very welcome, Quinn."
Quinn tried maneuvering herself, so she could lie down without too much pain, but it was difficult when everything seemed to hurt. She eventually made it onto her back, though, and watched at Rachel went to the window and twisted the blinds shut. When the brunette came back, she laid down a few feet from Quinn. She felt bad that Rachel was sleeping on the hard, cold floor; she wanted to ask if she wanted to share, but she didn't know how the brunette would feel about sleeping that close to her.
"May I ask you something?" Rachel suddenly asked.
Quinn looked at Rachel and nodded.
"Why have you been watching out for me so much?" Rachel asked. "And don't say you haven't been, because I saw you today, and it wasn't just today, but you've been doing it all week. You gave me the last bit of food, you took care of me right after—" Rachel trailed off and shook her head. "Today I saw you looking back and I assume you were making sure I was okay since I was the only person you were looking at. You got hurt because of me, didn't you? It was coming for me, but when I looked up again, it was on you."
Quinn sighed and then paused for a moment before quietly saying, "I don't know."
"I think you do know," Rachel said, propping her head up on her hand. "Do you just feel sorry for me or is it something else?"
Quinn looked away and stared up at the ceiling. "Can we not talk about this right now? There are a lot more important things to worry about."
She didn't mean it to sound so harsh, but she really didn't want to have this discussion right now. She was tired and in pain, and all she wanted to do was sleep—or do anything other than talk about this.
"Fine," Rachel said, sighing, and lying back down.
She hated that Rachel had noticed, but of course she had—Rachel always seemed to notice everything. Quinn was just thankful that the brunette didn't appear to have figured out yet that she was in love with her.
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