The next few hours are filled with a lot of thumps and bangs from around the house as the boys pack anything useful into the dining room. It starts raining around midday, but no one really notices. Kurt stays in the basement, usually with Sarah, as he looks up everything from suturing with fishing line to how to hitch and unhitch tractor trailers. He looks at a few of the zombie tip videos, but only the ones that don't show examples. He'll leave those to Sam, thanks.
He also looks up some quick tricks on cutting hair. If he screws it up too bad, it won't really matter, because the world ended, but still, he doesn't want to make her sad. He saves some in depth guides to various things, hoping that he'll be able to learn more when he has time. He also writes down the steps to checking over a tractor trailer and what to look for when they go 'shopping' later.
Eventually he realizes just how late in the day it must be and decides to see what everyone else is up to. Standing up and stretching, he notices that Sarah hadn't come back after going to 'ask a question' a bit ago. Heading up the stairs he stares wide eyed at the changes in the room already.
The sectional area had been left alone but that was about it. The bags were gone, probably relegated to their rooms. The kitchen, visible over the breakfast bar, has been stripped of most of it's food, cabinets left open. When he walks over, he opens the fridge to find it mostly full of the meat he'd stolen and some dairy products. The freezer has two liter bottles of water that are in the process of freezing, along with some stacked cake pans that are full of shallow water, already frozen.
When Kurt walks into the dining room, he finds the missing food from the cabinets, packed into almost full giant plastic tubs. Nearby is seemingly every blanket, jacket, and pair of boots in the house shoved into a giant tote.
Sebastian comes in behind him and sets down what looks like two camping tents and some sleeping bags. Kurt turns to him.
"Um, I don't suppose you have any of those vacuum sealed storage bags do you? To save room on some of the blankets and clothes?"
Sebastian shrugs. "If we did, dad didn't use em. I suppose one of the companies he hired to organize the house might have bought some. You can check the attic if you want."
Excited, Kurt asks, "Where's the stairs or whatever?"
After being directed up to the video game room where there's a giant pull down ladder in the center of the room, Kurt makes his way up into the attic. He's mentally patting himself on the back as he pulls out more plastic tubs and eventually finds some of the space saver bags. Granted he only finds four, but it's better than none.
He's emptying wrapping paper and bows from a plastic tub when Dave pops his head up.
"Hey! There you are."
Turning, Kurt grins. "Yep! I'm clearing out these bins so we can use them. I don't think Sebastian is going to care if his wrapping paper gets messed up."
Snorting, Dave comes up to help. "No, somehow I don't think he's worried about it."
Kurt looks up at Dave as the bigger boy starts piling stuff by the ladder to take down. "So... how are you handling this whole thing?"
Shrugging, Dave says, "Well, my dad was at work and wouldn't answer the phone. So like most of the country... maybe the world, he's dead. Luckily I didn't have any other family to worry about. I'm just glad Seb and Trav are okay."
Kurt smirks. "Oh, I bet." At the light glare he's given, Kurt giggles. "Really, David? Even after all this, you can't just tell him? I really don't think he's going to mind. Hell, from his behavior today, he'd be open to it."
Dave grunts, putting down the box of buckets and extension cords. "Awesome. Just what everybody wants. To be with the guy they love because he's the only option."
Turning to him, Kurt frowns. "You're looking at this the wrong way. What if he likes you back? He didn't believe all this crap yesterday but he still went around with you and spent all that money, even thinking it was stupid. He's followed you the whole way. Maybe it's not as hopeless as you think it is."
Dave huffs, now stacking the empty bins. "He keeps making jokes about threesomes and shit, Kurt. Even though the world ended and everyone died off, he's still trying to find ways to sleep around. He doesn't want the same things I want."
Getting up, Kurt dusts his hands on his jeans. "Maybe, maybe not. It's Sebastian. He makes stupid jokes, offends someone, smirks, and then pretends it never happened. It's what he does. Doesn't mean he can't fall in love, Dave."
Kurt ignores the muttering and says, "Okay. You step down, since you're taller, and I'll pass you stuff. You can just pile it down there and then we'll pack it down."
As they each walk into the dining room with their first load, Sam and Finn glance up at them. When Sam sees them, he whoops. "Hell yeah! Where'd you find the tubs? Seb said there weren't anymore."
Grinning, Kurt pulls out the space bags. "He probably doesn't spend much time in his attic. I was looking for these. Where's the vacuum?"
Finn points them toward the utility room off the garages. When Dave volunteers to go get it, Kurt takes the opportunity to turn to Finn.
"By the way, as much as I appreciate your help with mini-Seb, Dave definitely doesn't have dibs on me, so don't spread that around. He moved on from that crush a long time ago. In fact the whole gorilla suit thing was more denial than anything. His new crush was a bit of an asshole, so he was trying to flame up an old one. Given who the new one was, I don't blame him." Giggling a little, Kurt doesn't see Finn open his mouth or Sam step unsubtly on his foot. By the time he looks up, Sam says,
"Okay. Sorry Kurt, we'll stay out of it. Good luck with the munchkin."
That night, Kurt changes into a pair of pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt. Sam had told them they could dress however they wanted as long as the power stayed on and they had other shit ready to go asap. As Kurt flips the blankets back on the bed, he glances up at Puck walking through the door, Sarah following him.
She beams at him. "You're gonna cut my hair tomorrow right? I hate washing it."
Laughing, he replies, "Sure, sweetie. As soon as we get the all clear from Sam to do whatever." Looking back at Puck, dressed in just a pair of basketball shorts, Kurt blushes slightly. "Um... we have last watch again. I've set my phone alarm to go off, just in case. We're relieving Finn and Sam this time."
Puck just nods before picking up Sarah and throwing her in the middle of the bed. "Go to bed, squirt." Smirking, Puck pulls the blankets back and says, "You too, Sarah."
After taking the time to beat Puck with his pillow a few times, Kurt lays down, switching off the lamp. There's enough light from various electronics that they can see basic outlines but Kurt has no problem falling asleep. He's woken up after only an hour or two by Sarah shifting uncomfortably behind him.
When he hears her hiss out, "Noah! Trade places with me! It's too hot under here." Kurt starts to panic. The bed shifts as Sarah climbs over Puck, pushing him back toward the middle. Kurt all but stops breathing, as he waits for them to stop moving. When they finally settle, Kurt let's out a slow, quiet breath. He can feel Puck's body heat radiating toward him even though they aren't actually touching.
Puck's breaths even back out almost immediately, clearly unbothered. Sarah takes a few more minutes. Kurt stares wide eyed at the wall for almost 20 minutes before finally calming down enough to close his eyes again. If he slides backward a little to steal some of that warmth, well, he's a reptile remember? It's normal for him.
The next time Kurt wakes up, he groans internally. The alarm isn't set to go off for another seven minutes. Since that's not enough time to be worth trying to go back to sleep, Kurt moves to sit up as quietly as he can. Except he can't... because there's an arm wrapped around his waist.
A big, tanned arm, attached to a half naked Noah Puckerman.
Puck's arm is not only draped over his hips, but he's scooted close enough that his hand is spread out on Kurt's lower abdomen, only half covered by his shirt. Shit! How the hell did this happen? This isn't my fault!
He quickly realizes that if he doesn't find a way to move Puck's hand or get himself away from the situation, a fairly serious problem is going to come up. Trying not to giggle at that thought, and not thinking clearly yet, Kurt pushes his body away from the hand holding him, hoping to give himself a few more inches between Puck's hand and his crotch.
What Kurt doesn't realize until too late, is that if he's pushing away from Puck's hand... he's pushing toward his body. And it's morning.
As Kurt feels Puck's erection press against his ass he sucks in a breath. Oh dear fucking god. Not better. Jesus fucking Christ... Noah's... fuuuck.
Clinching his eyes against the mental images he inadvertently gave himself, Kurt starts trying to figure out what to do. He can't scoot forward, because that's definitely a problem now. He can't move back... Well, actually... no! Kurt shakes his head slightly, trying to forget that idea. Great. 30 seconds of having Noah's dick touching me and all my morals go out the window. Jesus fucking Christ.
Mentally arm flailing, Kurt tries not to move. He tries to convince himself that if he goes into his happy place for a few minutes, his hard on will go away and the alarm will go off, waking up Puck, and he can escape the awkwardness. It almost works, until his mind pops up with What place is happier than in bed pressed against Noah's cock?
When Kurt hears a quiet groan, he panics. I didn't actually groan out loud, did I?!
Realizing that the groan wasn't his doesn't really help with his panic. Neither does the aborted thrust against his ass from Puck. Oh god oh god oh god. This can't be happening. I am not being molested by a sleeping Noah Puckerman.
Just as that thought finishes, Puck's hand starts sliding over his stomach. Kurt knows he should wake him up or stop him... He just can't seem to force his mouth to move. As Puck's finger grazes against the waistband of his pajama pants, the alarm goes off on his cellphone.
Puck jolts out of sleep behind him. When his hand pulls away, Kurt pretends to stretch, like he's waking up. He quickly darts forward to grab the phone. Turning it off, Kurt gets out of bed and grabs his clothes. Not stopping, he turns to look over his shoulder, heading out the door.
"Have to pee, I'll be out in the living room afterward."
When he steps out of the bathroom, Puck is waiting to get in, already dressed. Flopping down on the sectional, Kurt yawns and waves at Sam and Finn. "Noah's up too, you guys can go to bed."
By the time Puck comes out, Kurt has pulled out the notepad from the night before. As he finishes making the dots, Kurt turns to look at the TV, filled with various camera angles from outside. There's not much to see aside from the rain finally stopping. As the taller boy sits next to him, he holds out half a bottle of water to Kurt, having stopped in the kitchen to grab one.
Kurt passes him the paper as he drinks. "Your turn to go first." When all Puck does is shrug and make a line on the paper, Kurt sighs in relief.
Well, at least no one knows I'm an unscrupulous pervert but me. Oh, the things you learn about yourself during the apocalypse.
Within an hour, Kurt relaxes completely. Puck isn't acting awkward, so he must not have woken up all the way until Kurt had left the room. As long as Puck doesn't know it happened, Kurt can just move on, promising himself not to let himself get in that position again. Situation! Not get in that situation again. Jesus Christ.
When the sun comes up, Puck and Kurt spend half an hour watching the monitors, talking quietly to each other. When Kurt tells Puck he plans to spend a few hours fixing some of his old clothes to fit Sarah better, Puck smiles at him.
"Thanks for helping out with her so much, dude. She really likes you, so having you be there to fuss over her has made this whole thing much easier on us."
Kurt chews his lip before asking. "So, um... do you know what happened with your mom?"
Sighing heavily, Puck watches one slow zombie amble by a monitor, not even glancing at the house as it passes. "Nope. Well, we all know, right? If they didn't answer their phones... and I left a note at home saying that we went to your house, in case we weren't back when she got off work. She never showed up there."
Kurt nods. He'd figured as much. None of the group had said anything about going after their parents. He's guessing they'd all tried to call them while he and Sam were at Walmart, but no one had gotten through. Turning to Puck sadly he says,
"Well shit. I think I'm the oldest living person I know."
Puck laughs. "That shouldn't be funny, but it really is."
Kurt shrugs. He'd never minded being one of the oldest kids in his class. His dad had kept him back because he was so small for his age, he was afraid he'd get picked on. Sure, in high school he'd gotten bored with his easy classes, but he'd been able to drive almost a full school year before everyone else.
At 7am they stretch a bit and then split up to go wake everyone up. Never knowing when the power would fail, they needed to get as much done as they could.
After Kurt and Dave make breakfast, consisting of everything from eggs and bacon to biscuits and gravy -with Sam pushing milk at everyone like a telemarketer- Kurt finally relents to Sarah's bouncing and goes to grab the hair cutting kit he'd gotten at Walmart.
Figuring it'd be easiest to cut in the bathroom most people forget about, Kurt takes her to the basement and sits her on a kitchen stool he'd brought down. Covering her with a garbage bag and pinning it behind her, Kurt breaths out slowly.
"Okay, if this doesn't look like you wanted, I'm very sorry. This is my first time cutting hair."
Half an hour later, Kurt runs his fingers through the drastically reduced hair. After searching carefully for dips or pieces he'd missed, he turns her to face the mirror. Her squeal is loud enough to make Kurt blink in pain.
"So, you like it then?"
She's already babbling incessantly when Puck runs down the stairs, gun in hand. "What?! What happened?"
Kurt, realizing his mistake, quickly assures, "No! She's fine! She just really likes her hair. Sorry, she's ten."
Puck huffs, leaning up the stairs and yelling, "She's fine! Just a 'little girl' thing." Turning back to face them, he steps closer to touch her hair. "Not bad! It looks good short, Squirt."
Sarah bounces again. "I like it! Can I get some clips next time we go to a big store?"
Kurt smiles at her, pulling a few out of his pocket. "Actually, I got some before. They're not super cute or anything but you can at least use them to pin it back out of your eyes. Speaking of, did you ever decide if you want bangs or not?"
Sarah shifts before turning to Puck. "Should I have bangs? I don't think I've ever had any."
Shrugging, Puck turns to Kurt. "Whatever you think, dude. You know way more about what looks good than I do. Just make sure it's easy to handle and won't get in her way."
Nodding, Kurt walks back in front of her. Tilting his head slightly he decides, "For now, let's just leave it like this. If you decide later that it gets in your eyes too easy, we can cut it again."
Taking the part of the hair he'd have cut and combing it out, Kurt twists it back over her head and pins it at the top. Squealing again, much quieter, Sarah bounces up to turn her head from side to side in the mirror. Kurt smiles at her before looking back at Puck.
The taller boy was already smiling at him. Before Kurt can ask if he had something on his face, Sarah hugs him hard before moving on to Puck. "Noah! Can I go ask Seb to borrow a tablet? I want to look up what all hairstyles I can do now!"
Puck laughs. "Sure, Squirt. Let's go."
After they go back up the stairs, Kurt takes a minute to clear up the bathroom and carefully clean the scissors. Packing everything back in, he sighs quietly, going to put the kit back up.
The rest of the day passes pretty quickly. Kurt sets up his sewing machine on the dining room table and starts working on his old clothes, trying to make them into clothes Sarah can wear now that she won't outgrow too quickly.
He's been at it long enough to have a minor neck cramp by the time Sam comes in and sits in one of the extra chairs.
Glancing at the blonde, Kurt mumbles around pins, "What's up?"
"Well, I made a small change to the route we're taking after we pick up Stevie and Stacey. I just wanted to check with you before I printed it out." Kurt raises an eyebrow but doesn't stop working on the shirt he's fixing. "There aren't any good truck stops near our house. And the house itself isn't really big enough to fit 12 people inside it."
Kurt snorts. "Not many are. This place is amazing. Don't tell Sebastian I said that."
Sam grins. "Secret's safe with me. Anyway, I was just making sure you're really okay with driving a semi before I firm up the plans for finding one."
Kurt stops working and sits back, watching him carefully. Eventually he admits, "The idea sounds kind of fun, actually. I mean, I like working on them. Weird as it sounds, I really liked driving it too. I don't get to feel big and manly often, so it was great. I'm a little worried that I'm not actually going to be able to do it though. I don't want to pack one up, get out on the road, and then find out I can't handle it."
Thinking it over, Sam says, "Okay, so there's this place just outside of town, right off I-75, and it's got two or three truck stops and stuff where tractor trailers will be all over. There's also campers and RVs. We could stop there for a day or two. We could pick a couple campers and stay in them, and you could take your pick of trucks. After you pick the one you like, you can drive it around a bit down there, make sure you can handle it. If you think you can, we load up and go. If not, we make a new plan."
Chewing his lip for a few seconds, Kurt nods. "That sounds great. The campers not so much... how will we be able to keep watch on everyone if we aren't all together?"
Sam shrugs. "I figured we'd take two and pull them together. Some campers have two outer facing doors; we put two of the doors facing each other and the last door facing out. There'd only be one way in or out. If shit goes downhill, everyone piles in, shuts the door and drives off. We could come back later for our shit. Somehow I don't think zombies need our supplies."
Kurt nods. "Okay. Sounds good to me. What will the scout car be?"
Snorting, Sam answers, "The nav, definitely. Not only can it hold seven people comfortably, but the keyless entry alone is worth it. Makes it a great place to hole up for a few minutes until help can come. Anyone that we give the code to can get in."
Kurt bangs his head on the table. "Shit. I'm so sorry, I should have already told everyone. It's 17882, spread the word?"
Sam grins. "No problem. We haven't really needed it yet, so no biggie. I'll announce it at dinner, I need to talk to everyone anyway. We got a lot done today, most of the house has been packed in here, things that we'll need anyway. Even with that big roof shell that Seb had, we'll probably have trouble fitting everything. Thank god for Dave's truck. As is, Sarah will have to sit in Puck's lap or something."
Stopping again, Kurt turns to him, "Actually, she could probably wedge into Dave's cab. It's two bench seats, where as mine have those stupid consoles. He should be able to fit her between him and Sebastian, if Puck will go for it."
Smirking Sam says, "Oh, I think I can convince him." Not explaining, Sam gets up and pushes the chair in. "Well, I'm going to go print off our maps and directions then. I hope you're almost finished here, dinner will be in about an hour. Finn and Puck are making burgers."
Later, as everyone sits around the living room either on the sectional or on the floor, Sam shoves his last bite of burger into his mouth and stands up.
"Okay, before we all split up to finish what we were doing, I should fill you guys in." Sitting on the arm of the sectional, he continues, "I talked to Kurt, and we're going to try the semi thing. He also said to tell everyone that the code to the doors on the nav is 17882. Try to memorize it, it could save your life. Of course climbing into a truck, even that one, isn't a long term plan, but it beats climbing under it like the dumbasses on the Walking Dead."
After a few chuckles and a minute of people mumbling the numbers under their breath, Sam says, "So, since we're taking a tractor trailer... we need a tractor trailer. I don't want to get one until we hit Kentucky just in case we need to pull some driving tricks to get around Cincinnati, especially over the river."
Remembering the route he'd planned for most of the day, he says, "We'll stop for the night about 20 miles outside of Cinci. I want to try to get through there early, hopefully not long after dawn. We'll stop again, for at least a night, after picking up my brother and sister. Kurt can pick out our truck and he can drive it around, make sure it's in good shape, then we'll continue past Lexington and stop just after crossing the Kentucky River."
Waiting for a few seconds and seeing no questions, Sam points out, "We'll be sleeping in the truck, all of us. We'll throw some mattresses in the back and that way if shit goes down during the night, Kurt can just drive away. Between shift changes we can open the doors for a few minutes to let air circulate. Even with seven or eight of us in there, we wouldn't be able to use up the air in a couple hours."
Sam finishes with, "After that we head south a few miles til we get to Richmond. That day will probably be the worst of our lives." At their questioning faces, he winces. "I want to go to a shopping center."
