Chapter 10

Blaine didn't want to grab Kurt with his bad wrist for fear of hurting it even worse, so he wrapped his good arm around Kurt's waist and caught him before his head hit the floor. Kurt's eyes popped open and he stared up at Blaine in disbelief.

"Got ya!" Blaine panted out with a smile, his arms still wrapped around Kurt's waist, holding him in a position very similar to a "dip" while dancing.

He brought Kurt back upright and brushed his hands down the front of Kurt's shirt to make sure he was okay before glancing behind them at their group standing on the landing.

"The water!" Blaine shouted, panicked as he remembered all too well what it felt like to be under water, fighting for air.

"It's… receding," answered Nick, as he bent over and rested his hands on his knees, as he tried to catch his breath.

Everyone in the group was winded and tired from running up that many flights of steps. No one, except Blaine, had experienced anything like that before and they were all a bit shaken. Chuck and Chris were looking over the edge of the railing at the water. Nick and Jeff were sitting on the landing, arms around each other, sucking in long breaths and Matt was standing, trying hard to catch his breath. Blaine and Kurt sat on the steps above the landing, both winded, with their arms intertwined, almost as if they were afraid of losing each other again if they separated.

"Ah.., Since we're up this far…" Blaine panted, "…We could try to go up to the roof…" he huffed… "…And see the condition of the bridges from there," Blaine finally got out, still gasping for air, but not breaking contact from Kurt. "I mean, after we rest for a second," Blaine laughed.

None of them tried to talk yet, but he got a few nods. Kurt was unwilling to let Blaine out of his sight but he was even less excited about the prospect of climbing a few more flights of stairs. He twirled the string of his hoodie around his finger while he seriously contemplated joining Blaine for the walk to the roof. Kurt looked over to see the rapid rise and fall of Blaine's chest as he tried to control his breathing. Blaine noticed him looking over at him and gently rested his head on Kurt's shoulder.

Finally, after they could all breathe a little better, Chuck turned around and addressed the group, "I can go up by myself if none of you want to walk up any more steps."

They all sort of looked at him with a guilty look on their faces until Blaine said, "I'll go with you. The rest of you can wait here for now and catch your breath."

Kurt was really hesitant to let Blaine out of his sight but he knew that Blaine didn't trust Chuck to go by himself and Kurt's legs hurt too much to join them. After much internal debate, Kurt decided it would be best if he stayed on the landing with Nick and Jeff and let Blaine go with Chuck to the roof. He squeezed Blaine's hand in an unspoken exchange of understanding. He loved how they could speak to each other without words.

After hearing no protests from the rest of the guys, Blaine and Chuck made their way up the few more flights of stairs to the roof. Every stair was painful to climb as Blaine felt the burning in his thighs and calves. Thankfully, it looked like there were only 3 more flights of stairs to the top. As they were climbing Blaine thought that he could start a new business after this that would help train you for the apocalypse. Disaster fitness. As in shape as he was from school, nothing could have prepared him for the physical demands he had faced in the last 24 hours.

Blaine didn't know Chuck very well, but the man seemed to know what he was doing and he was definitely a natural leader. For now, Blaine decided they could work together to get to Chuck's parents' shelter, as long as Blaine felt they were all safe in the process of getting there. He didn't know Chuck, Matt and Chris that well outside of school, and even though they seemed to be nice guys in class and had been helpful so far, if things went south, the only people Blaine knew he could really trust were Kurt, Nick and Jeff.

The door to a roof never looked so good before, as it signified the end of the stair climbing, and Chuck threw it open as the two boys stepped through it. The sun had already heated the white gravel on the roof to a boiling temperature and the heat hit Blaine like a ton of bricks. Blaine pulled out his pink Wayfarer sunglasses from his backpack and put them on to help block some of the glare coming off the white roof surface.

As they approached the edge, Chuck motioned for Blaine to join him, "Dude, look."

Blaine peered over the edge and down to the bridge before them. It seemed to be intact but there were cars bumper to bumper on it and a lot of the drivers were out of their cars. No one was moving anywhere quickly. The pedestrian walkway to the side didn't seem to be as jam packed as the one on the Manhattan Bridge had been yesterday so that would probably be their best chance to get out of the city.

"So, I know you guys had some sort of van you found that you were hoping we could drive out, but it looks like getting out on foot is our best choice," Blaine said, as he surveyed Chuck's body language for any possible pushback.

Chuck contemplated things for a moment and then spoke, "I think you're right. No one is moving on that bridge in a car. We can try to find a vehicle once we get out of the city. It's pretty populated in that area of New Jersey and I'm fairly certain cars get stolen there all the time."

Blaine chuckled. It was amazing what you found funny during a crisis. The area on the other side of the bridge was terribly crime ridden and cars did get stolen there all the time. As much as he didn't like the idea of taking something that wasn't his, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"How do the streets look? Are they passable?" Blaine asked Chuck, who was still looking over the edge.

"Yeah, not too much debris from that wave. We should try to get out of here soon though before another piece of that asteroid hits. I did not enjoy trying to outrun that water!" Chuck stated.

"I agree, that sucked. My lungs and thighs are still on fire. Let's go back down and get the group moving."

Back on the landing, Kurt wanted to know how Jeff's leg was holding up after running up all those stairs, but he didn't want to interrupt. Jeff and Nick were full on making out on the floor of the stairwell. Jeff actually had Nick pinned to the floor, grinding his hips into him, hands in his hair, making out with him. Matt and Chris had turned away and Kurt was ten shades of red from the noises they were making.

Matt finally turned towards Kurt and said, "They do this often?"

Kurt smiled, "No. Not usually. They are usually too busy trying to bust in on Blaine and I making out. This little display must be due to the impending apocalypse."

Matt just shook his head and Chris giggled. Nick and Jeff weren't even phased by their presence. Nick had Jeff's shirt all balled up in his hands as Jeff was sucking on Nick's neck. Kurt looked up the stairs to see if Blaine was coming back down yet. He was going to need a bathroom or a private corner soon if those two kept at it. Kurt, Matt and Chris were trapped on the upper landing. The two lovebirds were taking up the whole lower landing. The only place to go was up and none of them wanted to climb any more steps just to get away from the kissing couple. So, they just stood there on the landing above them with nothing else to focus on but their friends' writhing bodies.

"Soooo, hopefully we'll hear that they found a way off this island," Kurt said, trying to change the subject. "I'm about done with skyscrapers and bridges and tunnels right about now. How about you guys?"

Nick moaned so loudly that Kurt was certain Nick had just climaxed right there on the floor of the stairwell in front of them. Kurt just closed his eyes and put his hand over his face in disbelief.

Matt spoke next, "I'm certainly ready to get out of this stairwell!"

Chris had turned back to the railing and was obviously adjusting himself. Kurt heard Chris clear his throat as he continued to face the railing and look upward, towards the roof. How long did it take to look at a bridge? Leaning back on the stair behind him, Kurt rested on his elbows and focused on trying to regulate his breathing so every breath didn't feel like his lungs were being ripped out through his nose. He was fairly certain his lungs had shriveled up in his chest under protest. He could hear Matt pacing back and forth, most likely in an effort to ignore the two knuckleheads below him.

There were footsteps on the steps above them and Kurt thought that Blaine and Chuck must be done and on their way back down. Kurt looked up to see if he could spot Blaine as he heard whispered from the landing below, "Jeff, baby, you need to stop. We don't have any other clothes with us." Man! Blaine and Chuck needed to walk down those steps faster!

Matt must have had it with the noises because he walked towards Kurt and climbed up a few steps before he sat down.

"We need to get out of here before I vomit," Matt said, with an air of disgust in his voice.

"Honestly, those two are rarely like that. But I hear Blaine and Chuck. Hopefully they have good news." Kurt looked back and finally saw Blaine on the flight of stairs above him, so he stood up, and waited to greet Blaine. The string from Kurt's hoodie was completely wrapped around his index finger and he started to unwind it as Blaine and Chuck descended the stairs to the landing with Kurt and Matt.

Chuck, in front of Blaine, spoke first, "Well, the good news is that the bridge is still structurally sound. The bad news is that we're going to have to get out on foot. There are too many cars not moving anywhere anytime soon. The pedestrian walkway is looking good, but I think we need to hurry…." Chuck stopped his report midsentence as the landing the guys were on came into view, "What the holy hell are you two doing?!"

Nick and Jeff finally looked up to see Chuck and the other 4 guys looking down at them.

"Um, I'm… we're… we were just waiting for you to get back," Nick eeked out. Then they both stood up and tried to adjust themselves and their clothes, slightly embarrassed.

"At least you have the good sense to seem embarrassed!" Chuck scolded. "We need to get out of here, like now, before any other asteroids hit. I am NOT climbing up any more stairs today!"

Chuck stomped down the stairs past Kurt, then down to the landing past Matt and Chris and after a brief side glance at Nick and Jeff, he huffed down to the next landing. His footfalls were loud on the concrete steps, as he tromped down, his legs no longer controlling his descent but letting gravity guide him.

Matt huffed, "And he wasn't even here for the most uncomfortable parts." Then Matt and Chris followed Chuck down the steps.

Blaine looked at Kurt, "Do I even want to know?"

"I'll fill you in later."

Finally after 10 minutes, they were all out of the building and done with stairs. The group of them were finally breathing more regularly. Climbing stairs was a part of living in New York as there were stairs everywhere. Heck, there were 4 flights of stairs to get out of the subway station near Blaine's apartment. However, you didn't usually find yourself running up 15 flights of them to avoid death by drowning.

Chuck took the lead, much to Blaine's chagrin, and led the group towards the bridge. "If anyone sees anything falling from the sky, yell!"

"I can assure you that you will hear me scream if I see another asteroid," Kurt joked.

As they were walking Blaine's wrist was throbbing more and more. He had it wrapped with an ACE bandage and it had felt fine, but it must have gotten really jostled on the way up the stairwell because now he could barely stand to have it hanging by his side as he walked. Looking sideways at Kurt, he wondered if he dare ask Kurt if he could use his scarf as a sling. Keeping it against his body while they walked might help stabilize it a bit more, but he knew how Kurt felt about his clothing.

"Um… Kurt? Do you think I could use your scarf as a sling to stabilize my wrist? It's okay if you don't want me to. I understand if it's expensive…" Blaine asked meekly.

"Of course! I mean it's designer but I got it at the thrift store for $4. Even if it were a $400 scarf, I'd let you use it, Blaine," Kurt said as he unwound the gray cashmere scarf from his neck and handed it to Blaine. "Need me to help?"

"Thanks," Blaine said and instructed Kurt on how to tie the scarf around his neck and then adjust the bottom part of the fabric to create a sling for Blaine's arm and wrist to rest. Kurt's hands smoothed the fabric over Blaine's neck to make sure it wasn't bunched or uncomfortable and Blaine felt tingles everywhere Kurt's fingers had touched. Everything was 100 times better when Kurt was with him, no matter what the situation.

As they walked, Blaine thought that he would absolutely give his life to keep Kurt safe. He had deliberated about that before, and thought that he'd absolutely do anything to protect the ones he loved, but now that they were in a potentially life threatening situation, Blaine really considered it. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would give his own life if it meant keeping Kurt safe and alive. He just hoped that it didn't come to that and they were able to get out of the city without any more issues.

As they rounded the block, the bridge came into view and there was a collective sigh let out when they saw that the pedestrian walkway hadn't gotten any more crowded and that the bridge appeared to still be intact. Blaine had never felt claustrophobic in his life, but being trapped on an island with holy terror raining down from the sky gave him that trapped feeling. Not that they would be safe from the asteroid pieces once they crossed into NJ, but the escape routes were more plentiful.

Unsure of whether it was the trip up the stairs or the subsequent make out session on the landing, Blaine noticed that Jeff's leg was not doing so well. He was obviously limping, with Nick trying to help him along as best he could.

"You okay, man?" Blaine asked.

"No, there's something wrong with my leg. I think I messed it up again because it really hurts," Jeff explained as he took Blaine's arm and kept hobbling towards the bridge.

"Do you want to stop and I'll take a look at it for you? It might need to be re-wrapped."

Jeff shook his head, "No, let's just get out of the city first and then we can look at it. We're so close, I can make it over the bridge."

Jeff felt the pain shooting up his leg with every step he took. It hadn't been bothering him that much until after they came out of the building. Hopefully, it was just nerve damage and it would start to feel better in a few days once it had a chance to heal. Jeff really hoped they found a car shortly after they crossed the bridge so he wouldn't have to walk that much further. For the moment though, he had Nick and Blaine to help him so he didn't have to put that much weight on the leg.

The group started over the bridge, and things were starting to look more positive. Chuck led the way, followed my Matt and Chris, then Nick, Jeff, Blaine and Kurt. Their shoes were clanging on the metal grates of the pedestrian walkway, making a steady thrumming noise. The sun was shining, heating the metal and making it a few degrees warmer on the crisp spring morning. The cars to their right were not moving and much like they had been the prior day on the Manhattan Bridge, most people were out of their vehicles, investigating the hold up.

Separated from the main bridge area by a large metal fence, the pedestrian walkway was in between the car lane and the train tracks. Essentially, it was a giant metal cage that they were walking through. Luckily, the subway wasn't running because when the train came over the bridge, it was very loud and shook the whole thing. Not to mention, the breeze totally wreaked havoc with your hair. Blaine knew that Kurt hated when that happened and the few times they had walked over the bridge together he had to get himself to a restroom to freshen up directly afterwards. Looking over at Kurt now, he still looked flawless, not a hair out of place, in spite of the insanity they had been through. Blaine was convinced Kurt must have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for always looking impeccable.

Blaine noticed a few people walking back over the bridge headed into New York. He thought that was odd as the majority of the people were headed out of the city, but maybe they were looking for loved ones. For the most part though, the flow of people was light and moving towards New Jersey. Maybe more people in New York City owned cars than he thought. If he owned a car, he might be hesitant to leave it behind as well. After all, the public transportation system outside of New York was sporadic at best. You couldn't take a subway like you could in the city itself, and he doubted that any bus or train was running after the asteroids hit.

Chuck suddenly stopped and it caught Blaine's attention, startling him and making him jostle Jeff a bit.

"Sorry man," Blaine said to Jeff and then turned to Chuck, "What's up? Why are we stopping?"

Matt was still in front of Blaine and he whistled long in disbelief at the sight before them. The deck of the bridge where the train tracks and pedestrian walkway was had been damaged. There was now about a 15 foot gap in the walkway. That's why people had been coming the other way towards them. They weren't able to get over the gap.

"Why didn't anyone tell us the walkway was out? We've passed about 40 people already and no one felt the need to mention this?" Jeff asked as he looked at Blaine and Nick, who were still supporting his weight.

"Typical New Yorkers!" Chuck scoffed. "I guess we turn around and head over using the car lanes. Not the safest idea but they don't appear to be moving."

The group grumbled in agreement and turned around to head back towards the car lanes.

"We should tell the people headed this way, so they don't end up doing the same thing we just did," Kurt suggested and he followed closely behind Blaine, Nick and Jeff.

"I think that's a great….." Matt was cut off by the sudden sizzling sound they were becoming all too familiar with by now.

"SHIT!" yelled Chuck. "Hit the deck!"

Blaine and Nick slowly lowered Jeff to the ground as Nick huddled over Jeff, trying to protect him from any falling shrapnel. Blaine and Kurt were huddled up against the inside metal railing of the walkway and Matt, Chris and Chuck were nearby, also on the ground. The sizzling was getting louder and Blaine tried to look around to see if he could tell where the asteroid pieces were going to hit. They were pretty much sitting ducks on the bridge but it wasn't a good idea to move either, until they knew where they were going to hit. He had a bad feeling they were about to get wet again.

As he looked skyward, Blaine could see that they pieces of asteroid were much smaller than the one that hit earlier but were moving faster. None of the pieces appeared to be coming directly at them, so he thought it would be better to stay where they were. First he heard the noise, the sound of metal crunching and bending and then the putrid smell followed. Blaine didn't even want to guess what the smell was from and it made his stomach lurch as he looked over to see that part of the bridge behind them had taken a hit.

More pieces came in fast and hit the water below them, sending hot water splashing over the top of the bridge. They weren't big enough to cause a huge wave and for that, Blaine was thankful. Although, getting hit in the face with scalding water was also less than fun. Another giant boom and Blaine's heart sank. That had been really close.

Chris whimpered, "God, let this be over soon."

Matt grabbed Chris' hand and put his hand over it, trying to reassure Chris. They didn't know each other very well outside of class, but with the group they were in, he, Chris and Chuck were the only ones not pairing up and sneaking off to make out. Chris was gay but Matt and Chuck weren't, so there definitely wouldn't be any making out between the 3 of them anytime soon. They needed to stick together and have each other's backs if they wanted to get out of this intact.

The air was filled with smoke and the sound of people screaming and crying. They were all soaking wet from the water that sprayed over them when the asteroids hit the river below them. Matt kept a hold of Chris' hand as he braved a look around to see if it was safe to move. Chris just looked like he was in shock. His face was pale and his eyes were wide. Matt was scared too but he was better about hiding it, although Chris had to know how he felt because his hands were shaking. They needed to get across this bridge as soon as possible.

It was Chuck's voice Matt heard first, "I think it's safe for now. They seem to have stopped."

Slowly, the group got up off the ground and surveyed each other for any injuries. All of the shrapnel had hit further down the bridge from them, so no one got hit directly, but they were all drenched. Kurt was fussing with his hair, and Matt thought that was the most distressed he'd seen Kurt since the disaster began. Normally, Kurt's hair was neatly styled and gelled so that it had a slight swoop upwards in the front. Now that it was drenched, it no longer held its style and the long brown locks drooped down onto his forehead and into his eyes. Kurt was frantically trying to dry it off with the sleeve of his hoodie while running his other hand through it, maybe in hopes that any product that was left in his hair could salvage his coif.

Matt couldn't help but chuckle a little as he saw Kurt struggle. Next to him was Blaine, whose hair was now very curly, like individual spiral curls, which hung in an unruly manner all over his forehead. No wonder he gelled it back all the time. Blaine whipped his head around in the manner a dog would to shake off the excess water from his hair, then puffed air out of his mouth upwards to clear the remaining curls from his eyes. Once Kurt was satisfied with his own hairdo, he reached over and helped Blaine brush aside one last rogue curl that was threatening to hang directly over Blaine's left eye.

Chuck was losing patience, "If you two are done grooming each other, I'd like to get the hell off this bridge."

Blaine looked at him sheepishly, "Sorry. Lead the way."

Blaine helped Nick support Jeff again as the group turned back and headed towards the New York side of the bridge to take the car lanes over to New Jersey. Chuck was stomping and huffing ahead of them, with Matt and Chris following closely behind.

In a soft voice, Nick said to Blaine, "What's he all huffy about?"

Blaine shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure. Maybe he feels like we're slowing him down. Maybe he's just frustrated that we had to turn back or that we're all soaked. Being in wet clothes is no fun."

Blaine glanced backwards to make sure that Kurt was still behind them and saw that he was indeed there and was still fussing with his wet hair. As long as Kurt still cared about what his hair looked like, that meant he was doing okay. Once he stopped caring about his appearance was when Blaine would start to worry about him.

"Oh, are you kidding me?" Chuck cried, as he stopped short on the bridge.

Blaine didn't know what he was so upset about and transferred Jeff to Kurt while he went ahead to investigate. As Blaine approached Chuck he could hear Chris inhale sharply and Matt groan. Ahead of them, on the bridge, on the path back to the New York side, was a giant heap of twisted metal. It appeared one of the asteroids had crashed through the pedestrian walkway, heating and bending the metal so that it now blocked off any means of passage. The super-heated rock must have exited through the bottom of the bridge on the train tracks next to them because there was a giant hole where the tracks used to be.

"Wow," was all Blaine could say as he looked over the damaged bridge.

Nick, Kurt and Jeff had caught up to the rest of the group as Blaine turned around and said, "We're not getting off the bridge this way unless one of you packed the Jaws of Life."

"Holy… geeze!" Whispered Kurt, as he held onto an equally astonished Jeff.

"Dammit! DAMMIT!" Chuck bellowed, as he nervously paced back and forth on the bridge right in front of the twisted girders. "What the hell do we do now?! We are trapped. We are going to die right here on the damn bridge."

"Woah, hold on. Let's just take a moment and think. We aren't going to die. We just need to calm down and think of a solution." Blaine said as he walked towards Chuck. He put a hand on Chuck's shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"I should have just left last night. I'm sorry Blaine. I know we waited for you, but now I'm really regretting that decision," Chuck growled as he shrugged Blaine's hand off his shoulder.

"OK, I know we are all upset," Kurt stated, "but let's not get mean and turn on each other. We still need to work together to get out of here. It's not helping anyone to waste our energy on getting mad and regretting our decisions."

Matt and Chris looked a bit shocked at Chuck's outburst while Nick and Jeff were cowering behind Blaine. Blaine was just staring at Kurt in admiration for taking charge and trying to calm things down a bit.

"This is what I get for being nice! For inviting all of you to come stay with me. Now none of us are safe! We're all going to rot here on this bridge if we don't get annihilated by an asteroid first. What was I thinking? Calm down? We're way beyond that, Kurt. I was calm in the crowd of people in Times Square, I was calm when we had to outrun a wall of water to avoid drowning. I was even calm when those two idiots were making out like there's no tomorrow. I am no longer calm. I'm pissed and we're all going to die."

Matt and Chris moved closer to Blaine's group as Chuck continued on with his tirade. Matt thought Chuck resembled a caged tiger, as he paced back and forth with barely contained rage. This was not a good situation and someone needed to diffuse Chuck before he blew up like a building hit by an asteroid. Since Matt didn't think Kurt and Blaine's attempts would be useful, Chuck was clearly annoyed at them, he decided he'd try to cool down the situation.

Matt spoke calmly and evenly, "Chuck, I understand man, I do. We missed a window last night. That sucks. I'm annoyed at myself for not pushing through the night. However, we need to focus now. We're here. On this bridge. And we need to find a way to New Jersey. Let's take a deep breath and refocus our efforts. We aren't go to die. We're New Yorkers, dammit. We're resilient. We WILL make it through this."

Chuck spun around on Matt with a wild look in his eyes, "And just how do you propose we get ourselves out of this situation, Matt? Do you have anything to cut that metal with or a rope to swing us across that gap Indian Jones style? No, you don't. So just how do you think we're going to accomplish this? Magic?"

Matt cringed a little. Chuck's tone had now turned super sarcastic and the situation was deteriorating quickly. A quick glance at Blaine and he saw the man shrug his shoulders, not wanting to further aggravate Chuck with his input. Matt heaved in a deep breath and composed himself. It was hard to rationalize with someone that upset.

"Well, I don't have magic, but I do have my wits about me. Let's go back to the gap closer to the New Jersey side and see if we can't figure out a way over it. I'm good with physics, Blaine was a Boy Scout. Between the two of us, we should be able to come up with a solution. You had to cross creeks with just a few logs and some rope all the time, right Blaine?"

Blaine just nodded, wide eyed at the other man's suggestions. Matt knew there weren't an abundance of logs lying around on the bridge, but at least throwing out some ideas seemed to bring the tension in the group down a notch.

"Fine," Chuck huffed, "Let's go back and see what you two geniuses come up with as a solution. This should at least be entertaining."

A/N- I know, it's been a while. Sorry. December is my busiest time of the year. Luckily, January is my least busy… So hopefully I'll have a few quick updates this month. Thanks to Kelly for proofing it and fixing my Niff scene. (If anyone knows Niff, it's her) Thank you guys for continuing to read this. I hope you are enjoying it. Feel free to leave me feedback. Feedback is a gift! On the bright side, I didn't end this chapter with someone's life hanging in the balance, so there's that.