Their feet stomp through the uneven dirt. Pushing through any pain they might be feeling. They pant and heave their lungs to their breaking point.
Rachel lays unconscious and bleeding in Noah Puckerman's arms as he runs as fast as he can down the open field.
Brody has a rifle strapped to his back, his own gun in his hand, jabbing it into Earl's side. Earl is the man who unknowingly shot Rachel, he had been aiming for the deer. Not noticing the brunette right behind it. The bullet pierced through the deer and found home in Rachel's side.
Earl is heavier set, so he cannot keep up with Noah's frantic pace, even with Rachel in his arms.
"C'MON!" Brody yells impatiently at the man. Tugging on the collar of his shirt, but Earl is heaving and coughing, not being able to go any faster. He stumbles over in the dirt. Puck looks back at the man, anger coursing through his veins.
"Go ahead!" Earl heaves, waving Puck forward. "The farm is just another mile out. Tell Hershel that Earl sent you." The man stumbles over again, trying to catch his breath.
Puck looks over at Brody in question. Brody nods Puck forward, jabbing the barrel of his gun further into Earl's side.
"Go! I'll stay. Go!" Puck doesn't hesitate a moment longer. He runs down the empty field, holding on tight to the tiny brunette in his arms. Hoping that he can make it to this farm that promises help.
"Do you think Rachel is okay?" Brittany asks sitting in the bed of a trunk. They are all, both emotionally and physically drained, most of them are sitting, taking a break. Santana sits next to her in the truck, trying to escape the sun.
"I dunno Britt." Santana sighs, leaning her head on her girlfriends shoulder.
"What do you think that gunshot was about?" Kurt asks, also sitting in the trunk, sipping at a bottle of water. He is worried about Blaine.
"Maybe they shot down a Walker?" Jake ponders thoughtfully. He had been gathering supplies, but now he needs to find an escape from the sun.
"Rachel would never be that careless." Marley scoffs. She's still irritated with her boyfriend.
"Brody might." Kitty shrugs, she isn't sure why, but that man rubs her the wrong way.
"How's Finn doing?" Brittany asks, noticing Maggie step out of the RV. Maggie, squints in the sunlight, searching for any sign of Puck.
"The heat isn't helping with the burns. If you guys go into the RV all I ask is that you make sure no flies go in. I just spent the last 15 minutes killing them off." Maggie tells them, hopping up to sit next to Kurt on the bed of the truck.
"Why?" Kurt asks, but then catches sight of a dead Walker not 15 yards away from them. Flies buzz all around it, landing on the rotting flesh. He turns green at the thought of flies gathering on Finn's damaged skin.
"That's gross." Sam grimaces, his mind following the same path as Kurts'.
"Marley, you should take a break." Santana calls out to the younger girl. She is still rummaging through one of the cars, sweat drips from her face. It really is too hot to even be functioning.
"I'm fine." Marley dismisses. She hates the thought of just sitting around and doing nothing.
"No you're not. You'll dehydrate yourself. We need to conserve our energy. They might need us." Santana tells her, really stepping up to her role as leader.
Marley sighs and nods, she is starting to feel a bit woozy. A break might not be the worst idea. Kitty looks elated that Marley is finally going to take a break. Now she can too.
"I hope they're ok." Brittany mumbles sadly. It may be hot, but not even this scalding heat will stop her from leaning into Santana.
"I thought you said you could track!" Quinn huffs impatiently. She trudges through the forrest. Joey hot on her heels. Blaine elbows her telling her to shut up and let the man do his job.
"I usually track animals." Daryl grunts, not appreciating her tone. He isn't quite sure if this is a Walkers trail or Brody and Rachel. He's betting on the former.
"Well then people should be easier." Quinn says in a snarky tone. Daryl's eyes follow the blonde as she frantically paces beside him. Being away from Rachel a little over an hour is making her antsy. All she can think about is that stupid argument they had. Of course Rachel wanted to protect her! Quinn wanted the same. She should have never doubted her.
"He knows what he's doing Quinn." Blaine tells the girl patiently. "You do know what you're doing, right?" Blaine double checks. Daryl nods, though he isn't really paying attention to the conversation. He is busy staring at the dirt.
At this point Joey has figured out Quinn is just pacing so instead the dog sits and watches the girl move back and forth.
"This is a trail from one of the Walkers that followed them in. Theirs shouldn't be too far from here." Daryl informs him, getting to his feet.
"Let's head this way." Daryl points just over Blaine's shoulder. They all follow his lead.
Puck is beginning to fear he won't make it. His throat feels raw from the panting. He thinks this is what asthma must feel like. Sweat drips down his determined feature. He is sweating so much, in fact, he's scared Rachel just might slip out of his arms.
Just as he feels he has nothing left in him he sees this farm. It is the sight of the cliché barn, windmill and all, that adrenaline kicks in.
"Help!" Puck manages to choke out in a raspy voice. There isn't much volume behind it though.
'"I need help!" This time it's a bit louder.
"Help!" He's running down a hill now. It does wonders for his momentum, but it really fucks with his balance. He just might tumble over his own feet.
"Please help!" Puck calls out even louder this time. It seems to have been effective. A slightly startled girl steps out of the house. She must sense the distress coming from Puck.
"Daddy!" The girl calls into the house. Puck is almost there.
"Please help me!" Puck calls out desperately, the girl kicks into gear at the sound of desperation.
"Earl sent me!" Puck heaves through his ragged breathing. The sound of the name helps the cause. She doesn't look as frightened, but she does look a bit weary. A teenage boy steps out of the house with an elder man.
The man steps out deliberately, he carries a confidence that can only mean one thing.
"Earl told me to look for Hershel." Puck tells him, finally able to stop outside the house.
"That'd be me, let's get her inside." Hershel shoos Puck into the house. "What's your name son? What happened?"
"I'm Puck. Noah Puckerman. Your man shot her. He claims it was an accident." Puck explains. Watching as the teenage boy and two women clear a table and put a white cloth over. "Rachel stay with me." Puck mutters to his partner. He knows she can't hear him, but he needs to ask this of her.
"Set her down." Hershel instructs, Puck does as he's told. One of the women disappears, while the other brings over lamps to the area.
"Earl wouldn't purposefully hurt anyone." One of the women defends. Puck ignores her, looking at an unconscious Rachel instead. Blood still seems to be pouring out of the girl, onto the white cloth she is laying on. As if the blood that covers his naked arm and torso isn't enough
"Collin bring some hot water." Hershel instructs the teenage boy.
One of the women returns with what looks like a tray of medical supplies and gauze. Hershel is handed scissors so he can cut away Rachel's blood soaked shirt. Puck stares at her in horror, watching blood seep out of a gaping whole in Rachel's side. Puck looks over at the people in the room. Not wanting Rachel to be exposed to all these strangers. The Collin kid seems to get the hint and exits.
"She's losing too much blood. Do you know her blood type?" Hershel asks calmly, using a moist towel to wipe away at her blood stained torso.
"I- I don't know. But I'm O negative." Puck offers out his arm, willing them man to stick a needle into him then and there. Hershel looks up from Rachel, allowing one of the girls to take over prepping Rachel for whatever he is going to do to help her.
"I'll do it. Take my blood." Puck shakes his arm desperately at the man. Hershel takes in the sight of this distraught man and nods over at one of his daughters.
"Let's get you cleaned up." The younger of the two blonde women takes Puck's arm gently.
"No I need to be here. If she- If she dies Quinn will. Quinn! I have to go get her! I have to tell her!" Puck looks around the house that he is, taking it in for the first time. It is nice and homey, just like you would expect to find in a farm house, except for the blood drippings he has brought in.
"I need to get Quinn!" He looks at the faces of the people he has gone to for help. Strangers. Normally he wouldn't trust a stranger with the life of his family, but he has no other choice. The strangers look back at him, weary, sympathetic, and unsure.
"I'll go. I'll find Quinn. Where is she?" One of the women volunteers. Puck has a crazed look in his eye, but he's still functional enough to answer this.
"My people. They're stuck on the Interstate just east of here, but I think they may have gone looking for us in the woods." Puck explains, the woman who had tugged on his arm is cleaning him up, wiping Rachel's blood from his skin.
"Caroline, no." Hershel stops for a second, his hands only holding pressure to Rachel's wound.
"Dad I have to." This Caroline girl tells Hershel. Puck watches as the girl looks straight into her fathers eyes then makes a swift exit towards the front of the house.
"No no no no." Quinn falls to her knees at the sight of all the blood. At first she had thought it came from the dead deer, but Daryl had explained this was not the case.
They had come across a couple of dead walkers, signs of Brody and Rachel had been left behind. Nothing pointed to them being harmed though. That is until they followed a path they left behind to this clearing.
"The bullet went clear through and hit someone." Daryl pints out, kneeling next to the deer. There is a ringing in Quinn's ear, she can barely hear the men. She can barely feel Joey nuzzling her side with his nose, checking to see she is alright. Tears blur her vision.
"It doesn't mean it was Rachel." Blaine tries to calm Quinn's hysteria. She snaps her head in the direction of Blaine, glaring at him.
"I'm not stupid Blaine. If it wasn't Rachel who was hurt then where is she? And Puck? He wouldn't care if Brody was shot, but Rachel? Where are they?" She really doesn't mean to yell at Blaine, he is only trying to offer her some comfort.
Quinn gets to her feet, hyperventilating. She wanders over to the edge of the clearing, hoping to regain her composure. This is exactly what Rachel had warned her about- getting too emotional.
If she hadn't been emotional then maybe she would have seen the Walker making it's way towards her. The blood of the deer having drawn it to their location. She catches sight of it a bit too late. Joey, Daryl, and Blaine are across the clearing, too far to do anything about it.
Quinn stumbles backwards trying to get a hold of either her gun or her knife that are tucked away in her waist line. But the sight of the Walker with it's one arm missing had caught her by surprise. She scoots through the leaves and the twigs and the dirt.
Daryl lifts his crossbow, taking the Walker in his sight. That's when he notices a horse heading straight for the Zombie.
"What the...?" Daryl mutters. He notices it isn't just some horse, but there is a woman riding on this horse. A bat in her hand, reading to swing the head right off the Walkers shoulders.
The bat meets the skull, ending the attempt of the Biter. Quinn stares up at her savior in shock.
"Who- who are you?" Quinn asks, unsteadily. She pulls herself to her feet. Daryl and Blaine coming up behind her. Joey begins barking uncontrollably at the new comer.
"You Quinn?" The woman asks, slightly out of breath. Daryl steps forward, ready to protect Quinn.
"Noah sent me. Rachel is hurt." The woman explains. Quinn perks up at the name, tears once again prickling in her eyes.
"What happened to her? Is she alright?" Quinn asks quickly, stepping closer to the woman on the horse.
"You should come with me." The woman tells her, clearly hiding something. Blaine has calmed down Joey, but at the sound of the woman's invitation he perks up.
"Quinn-" Blaine starts, but she has already made her decision. She takes the hand the woman is offering, swinging herself atop the horse.
"Continue down the interstate, away from the city. Take the first exit then the first right. Follow that road all the way down to a farm. We'll be there."
Neither men have a chance to say anything before Quinn and the strange woman are already on their way.
"That's enough for now boy. Go get yourself some orange juice. Don't want you passing out." Hershel explains to him, Puck nods and exits the room with one last look at an unconscious Rachel. They got her bleeding under control.
There is a commotion going on out front that gets his attention. Both Puck and Collin find their way to see Earl and Brody, both of them slightly out of breath.
"How is she? You gotta believe me when I tell you that I didn't see her." Earl tells them desperately. Puck is short of blood so he doesn't feel like arguing with the man. Brody makes his way straight to Puck.
"How is she?" Brody asks, full of worry. Normally that would mind him, but he really needs to take a seat.
"She's hanging in there." Emily, the other woman who stayed to help with Rachel, comes over and hands Puck a glass of cold orange juice. He smiles slightly in thanks.
There's a sudden scream that rips through the air. Rachel is conscious. Puck jumps to his feet a bit unsteadily, rushing over to the room she is in. Brody follows closely.
"Quinn! Quinn!"
Hershel and Emily are holding her down, trying to get her to stop squirming. Blood starts to seep through her bandaging.
"Rach calm down." Puck hopes to get her to stop squirming. Rachel calms down a bit upon hearing a familiar voice. He makes his way over to her side.
"Puck it hurts." She grits out, almost pitifully. She looks so much like a child.
"I know. Hang in there." Puck whispers reverently. "Why does it hurt her so much?" He asks Hershel.
"There is no exit wound. The bullet is still in there. My guess it has broken into pieces. It looks like it missed her organs so there is no internal bleeding. For now. If we keep those fragments in there that could change." Hershel explains.
"Get them out! Get them out of me!" Rachel screeches in pain. "Please." She begs.
"The pain will be too much." Hershel warns, but Rachel doesn't take no for an answer. This will not be the death of her.
"Get it out!" Rachel grits out. Hershel wipes at his hands and nods.
"You'll have to hold her down, boy." Hershel says gruffly. He nods over at Emily to help. Brody also joins in.
"This won't be pretty." Hershel warns them. He isn't speaking to Rachel, he fears the reaction of the people she's with.
Before Puck can really prepare himself Hershel reaches into Rachel's side with a pair of forceps. Puck has never heard someone in so much pain before. He holds tightly down onto her shoulders, though she fights all of their grips. She may be tiny, but she can sure put up a fight.
Tears stream down her face ash she screams out in pain. Her head lifts of the bed, the only part of her body that she is actually able to move. Then suddenly, she goes limp.
"Oh god, Rachel." Puck chokes out, squeezing at her, almost tempting to shake her. If it wasn't for the fact that Hershel was still digging around in Rachel, he would.
"She passed out from the pain." Hershel explains, pulling the forceps from Rachel's side to reveal a fragment of a bullet.
"There is at least three more fragments in her." He tells them with a sigh. Emily takes over Hershel's job. She starts to bandage Rachel up.
"I won't be able to take them out without sending her into shock." Hershel explains.
"Can't you like, put her under?" Brody asks, desperately. Puck looks over at Brody in question, why on earth is he so concerned?
"I could, but she wouldn't be able to breathe. I'd need a ventilator, i'd need better anesthetics. I don't have any of that equipment." Hershel explains, wiping the blood from his hands.
"We're going to need more blood." Emily whispers to Puck, pulling him gently over to a seat next to Rachel's bed.
"Isn't there a hospital near by? We can go get the equipment." Puck volunteers.
"It's completely overrun." Earl steps in, over hearing the conversation. "And a good 30 miles from here."
"What about the high school?" Emily speaks up, finished up inserting the line into his forearm.
"High school?" Puck perks up.
"They had a clinic there, and before everything went dark they set up a medical center." Brody is already gathering his stuff to leave.
"Where is it?" Puck asks also standing. Emily pushes him to sit again.
"It's just 9 miles out." Earl tells them.
"I have to go." Puck tries to stand, but Emily forces him to sit.
"You can't go anywhere. You wont make it five steps out there." Emily tells him sternly. Puck looks like he is going to argue, but then Brody walks over to him.
"Hey, Puck I got this." Brody tells him kindly. It's almost unnerving.
"I can't just sit here." Puck tells him, glancing over at Rachel's unconscious form.
"You can and you will. That girl right there needs you. What happens if she needs more blood and you're gone? What happens, I hate to say this, but what happens if she passes while you're off trying to save her?" Puck stares up at the man. He appears to be genuine. It almost concerns him, this man shouldn't be this invested. Though it make sense in a way. There aren't many people left so he supposes that if makes sense that Brody wants to keep as many people as he can alive. But it feels like there is something more to it.
"You'll never forgive yourself if you lose her and you're not here. Quinn won't either." Puck glances up at the man with a nod.
"I'll go with you." Earl volunteers, strapping his rifle on his shoulder. Brody is already shaking his head.
"Do you even know what a ventilator looks like?" Earl asks Brody. He shakes his head at the question.
"Earl, no." Emily walks over to the man.
"I have to, hun. I did this. I have to make it right." Earl glances over at Rachel guiltily. Puck can tell this man is honest and good. He will do whatever he can to make this right. It makes him feel better. Only slightly though.
"Let's not waste any more time." Brody says gruffly, glancing at Rachel one last time before exiting. Earl follows. It doesn't take long for Puck to hear an engine start and drive away from the Farm.
"Hang in there Rach." Puck whispers to the unconscious girl, watching his blood drip into the blood bag.
Not five minutes later does Puck hear the galloping of the horse reach the front of the house.
"Rachel!
Finals will be the death of me, I swear.
I had to take a creative break to write this.
Anyway, hope you guys liked this one. Don;t stress too much for Rachel. Nothing can stop that girl. Brittanna and Faberry scenes next chapter.
P.S. For those who asked TWD=The Walking Dead
Let me know what you think. -A