A/N: There aren't any creatures in this chapter, but they'll be back soon ;) Enjoy!
Quinn wakes up to the rumbling of Rachel's stomach next to her. It has been a week since they ran out of food. Five days since they all shared that fowl that Zack caught. Rachel refused to eat any of it, she said she would feel even worse if she ate any meat after so many years without it.
Zack had proven to be helpful as a hunter, he said that his father took him all of the time. He and Quinn have been going out searching for food in the cold for days to no avail.
This time, Rachel comes along, it is winter and the days have been darker than usual, so they could use her keen sense of hearing for any movements of animals or creatures out in the dense forest.
"Quinn, it has been hours, my feet are killing me. How have you two been doing this?"
"Shh! Quiet Rachel, keep your ears open. We'll head back in a few." Zack tells her.
Rachel frowns, who does he think he is? She hasn't had any food for seven days, and they expect her to be up for hours tromping along in forest with them. She stops at the base of a large tree, there are mushrooms growing there. She reaches down to pick one up, maybe she could eat those.
"Rachel no! Do not even touch those! We don't know what's poisonous out here." Quinn tells her.
"Oh, right. I guess my brain isn't working too well."
Quinn whistles for Zack to come over to them. "Hey, it looks like we're not having any luck out here today. Why don't we start to head back before sundown?"
"Okay, but I was thinking, since we've walked out this far, why not go back to the crash site? Maybe there's some food still left that we missed."
"Great idea, Zack. Let's go."
They know what they are doing is dangerous, so they make a pact not to tell anyone about this unless they find something out here. Rachel keeps a look out as Quinn and Zack rummage through the overgrowth and garbage to see if they can find anything salvageable.
Quinn feels around the trunk after the ground appears to be fruitless, but then she sees something. A protein bar! She checks to make sure Zack isn't looking and she pockets it.
"Find anything?" Zack asks approaching her.
"Nah, it's completely empty aside for the pinecones and needles." Quinn doesn't feel bad about lying, it's only one bar, there is no way they could all share it.
"Man, well I found a poncho and one of my hats, it's dry-rotted now, so,"
"Well, I guess we should get back to camp then. It's getting late."
x
They make it to camp just as the sky turns black. Quinn goes straight into the tent to lie down, as does Zack. Rachel sees a pot of pine needle tea steeping aside the fire, so she goes over to get some before she goes to bed. They've been drinking it to try to curb their hunger for a few days, it has proven to be very helpful with that.
She turns around when she hears someone chuckling, and it is coming from her Dad's tent. She goes into his tent to find him with Mr. Johnson, they are only playing cards, but Rachel isn't blind. She has noticed him making moon-eyes at her father for a little while now and she doesn't like it.
"Hey, Dad. We made it back." Rachel goes over to her Dad and sits on his lap, snuggling into his chest.
"Hey, baby girl, no luck?"
"No, and even if we had, I wouldn't be eating any of it."
"Rachel,"
"I should probably go. I need to get ready to keep watch while everyone gets some rest. Goodnight Leroy, Rachel." Mr. Johnson gets up and leaves the tent.
"Goodnight John." Leroy looks down at his daughter in his arms, "not that I'm complaining, but what are all these snuggles for?"
"Since when can't I hug my Daddy?"
"Since you've only been snuggling with Quinn this whole time."
"Well, I want to snuggle with you right now."
"Okay, I am not opposed to any hugs from my baby girl."
They sit there for a few minutes before Rachel yawns, she says goodnight to her dad before going to her tent for the night.
"Where were you?" Quinn whispers.
"My Dad's." Rachel lies down inside the sleeping bag next to Quinn before asking, "Hey, do you know what Mr. Johnson's first name is?"
"Yeah, it's John."
"John Johnson?" Rachel frowns.
"Uh huh, that's why I sometimes call him Mr. John. Why did you ask that?"
"Curiosity, I guess. He's just been spending a lot of time with my Dad, and I don't know how I feel about it."
Quinn props herself up on her elbow, "Rachel, you can't hold it against either one of them for wanting a little companionship out here. It's only normal, I mean, look at us. We've lost so much, all of us, so I don't see any harm in them being friends."
"You're right, but I still don't like it."
Rachel has accepted that her Daddy Hiram is gone and she gets that her Daddy Leroy should be able to move on, but it's just too soon.
"It'll be okay, there are worse things to worry about, like not having anything to eat. Oh, that reminds me, here, take half of this."
Rachel looks down at the half of a protein bar in Quinn's hand.
"Quinn, where did you-"
"Shh, I found it earlier at the crash site. Eat up,"
Rachel takes the half from Quinn's palm before leaning forward and giving her a tender kiss. "Thank you, you're amazing baby."
"Hey, I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do."
"Aren't you going to eat your half?" Rachel asks around a mouthful of the bar.
Quinn wraps it up and pockets it, "Later."
x
A couple of days later, Rachel wakes up to an empty tent. She sits up and she feels disoriented, it's been two days since that half protein bar that Quinn gave her.
"Quinn," she calls quietly.
"Right here," Quinn says from outside the tent. She appears with a cup of hot pine needle tea and she hands it over to Rachel.
"Thanks," Rachel gives her a once over as she sips the tea, "You're wearing army pants."
"Yeah, I borrowed them from Zack. We're going hunting in a little while, and all of mine were dirty."
Rachel smirks at her girlfriend, "You look…sexy, like a hot military woman or something."
"Really?" Quinn crawls towards her
"Uh-huh, and I like the way your arms look in that top."
"Mmm, well I like the way you look all the time."
They connect lips, slowly and with purpose. Rachel lies back, and Quinn straddles her hips. They kiss for a few minutes before Rachel pushes Quinn's face back.
"Hey, let's get out of here. I want you, just…not here."
"There's a little nook by a stream that we walked by the other day, I remember where it is."
"Okay, hand me my boots."
They only see Zack over by the fire, which means everyone else are still asleep. They tread softly as they sneak away, making their way into the forest despite the morning chill.
Rachel rests against a tree as Quinn kisses down her neck. She exhales and her breath is a cloud, yet the searing lips against her skin keep her warm. She runs her fingers through Quinn's darkening locks, "I can't wait to see what you look like as a full brunette, I have a better picture now, but, uh." She loses her train of thought as Quinn sucks at a particularly sensitive spot beneath her ear.
They paw at each other, through many layers, but the effects are still strong given that it has been a while since their last sexual encounter. Their kissing turns more fervent and Rachel reaches down to cup Quinn over her pants.
"Shit," Quinn hisses, before going back in and sucking on those sweet lips again. She begins rocking herself into Rachel's hand, savoring the delicious friction caused by all of the clothing. Any other time, this wouldn't be enough, but she's up for having Rachel in any way possible right about now.
Rachel drags her lips up the side of Quinn's neck, reaching up ghosting over the shell of her ear, "I need you," she says.
It's the quietest whisper, but it causes Quinn to quake. She slides her hands down Rachel's sides and pulls back a little to unzip her pants.
Rachel mewls. "We're not getting naked are we? It's freezing."
"No, just better access." Quinn replies huskily before undoing her own pants. They are a little big, so they fall down further than she expected, exposing her goods to the chilly air.
"Mmhmm, I thought we weren't getting naked." Rachel says as she grabs two palms full of Quinn's ass.
Oh!
Quinn moans, Rachel's hands are cold, making the sensation more invigorating. She shoves her hand down into Rachel's panties, slipping through warm wetness until her fingertips find her clit.
Rachel's head falls back into the tree as she shivers and tries to catch her breath. Quinn's cool hand works smoothly between her legs and she has to swallow a loud moan every time she makes contact with her most sensitive area.
"God Quinn," She whines.
"Touch me." Quinn begs. She needs release now more than ever. Watching Rachel come apart with just her hand is amazing and she wants to be there along with her.
Rachel rubs circles over Quinn's clit with her fingertips, and Quinn has to bite into her shoulder to muffle her cries. She continues sliding her fingers along and slipping two of them inside causing Quinn's hips to jerk as she releases a loud groan. She pumps in and out, as Quinn tries to provide her with the same pleasure.
"Um, I can't…reach." Quinn grumbles out in frustration.
"It's okay, I'm almost there." Rachel breathes out.
They continue their current motions, both of them trying to keep quiet all the way up until they reach their climax. Then, their only hope is to try to muffle the sound as best as possible.
Crunch!
"What was that?" Rachel asks out of breath.
"What was what?" Quinn can barely hold herself upright, let alone hear anything around them.
"No, Quinn, I definitely heard something just now."
"We haven't seen any creatures in days. It was probably just Zack, perving on us."
"Oh God, I sure hope not."
They fix their clothing and wash up in the stream before hurrying back to camp. When they get there, everyone is still asleep and Zack is still sitting under his poncho shelter just like before they left.
Rachel kicks off her boots before lying back down in the sleeping bag.
"Hey," Quinn whispers from where she is kneeling beside Rachel.
"What? You're not getting in?"
"No, Zack and I are still going out there today." Quinn pulls out that half of protein bar and hands it over to Rachel.
"Quinn, this means you haven't eaten in about a week."
"I had some of those plants that Mr. John found out were safe yesterday."
"You know that's not enough, it's not enough for any of us."
"Don't you think I know that? Just…eat it, I'm going hunting and I already know that you're not going to eat any of what we come back with anyway."
Rachel stops protesting, she knows that Quinn is right. She wouldn't eat any of that bird that they had caught before, so she unwraps the protein bar and begins nibbling at it. She watches as Quinn gets up, leaving the tent after giving her leg a squeeze.
x
"Are we still going out today Zack?"
Zack's head snaps up and then he snatches away as he lays eyes on her. "Y-yeah."
Quinn frowns, she wonders what his problem is. She really hopes she wasn't right about him watching them. "Well, you ready to go?"
"Yeah, sure."
They take off, rifles locked and loaded, out to the middle of the forest. They tread as lightly as possible, using hand signals to communicate with each other.
After about an hour, they find themselves kneeling behind a tree together. Quinn has sensed the tension from Zack ever since she asked him about going out again, he still hasn't let up.
"What is your problem, man?" Quinn whispers.
"What? I don't have a problem." He lifts his gun to look through the scope.
Quinn breathes in through her nose, he won't even look at her.
"Was it worth it? Risking your lives like that."
Great, she was right. "You were watching us." She says flatly.
"No, not exactly. I had no idea where you were going off to, so I followed to check. I saw a little and then I ran back to camp."
Quinn scoffs and then punches him in the arm.
"Hey! I was mortified okay. You and Rachel are like little sisters to me now, I'd never do something like that on purpose."
"Well, make sure it never-"
Shh!
"Look," He whispers.
It is a small deer, across the clearing, chewing on a bush. Zack raises his weapon as does Quinn. She watches through her scope as Zack cocks his rifle and fires a round. The deer hops up, wobbling before falling over.
They both get up and rush over to it, still trying to crawl away. Quinn looks down into the animal's shiny eye, she pulls out her pistol and fires once into the head. It finally stops moving and Zack tells her that they need to bleed it out here.
They get back to camp with their catch, dropping it next to the fire. Quinn goes into her tent to wake Rachel.
"Hey, baby, we caught something."
"What?" Rachel sits upright. She hopes she doesn't have to look at it.
"I'm sorry, but we need food. Do you think you'll try some this time?"
"Absolutely not. I'll starve before I put meat into my body again."
"But baby you are starving." Quinn doesn't want to argue with her over her morals, but it is becoming ridiculous at this point.
"Regardless, I haven't eaten meat in years. I could get sick and die from just eating it, so…"
"Alright, just, come on and help me gather some wood for the fire."
Zack stays behind and skins the deer with the help of Mr. Johnson. Leroy stays armed as he walks with Rachel and Quinn to gather wood.
Rachel wipes the sweat from her brow, that protein bar did nothing but agitate her hunger. She feels weak in her legs as she walks, but decides not to say anything. It would be better just to gather the wood as quickly as she can in order to get back to camp to sleep.
"Hey, you're sweating a lot, it's too cold for that Rachel." Quinn checks her over worriedly.
"It's not like I can help it," Rachel huffs.
"Alright girls, I think we have enough, let's get back. Rachel, I want you to change immediately when you get back. Quinn's right, you can get hypothermia out here."
x
Rachel changes in the tent with Quinn's help, the men have gotten the deer cut up and put some stew on the fire already. Zack found a pouch of curing salt in one of the footlockers and reserved a lot of the meat for jerky.
"Hey guys," Ann says, she rarely leaves Charles' side in order to monitor his progress. Having a compound fracture in this environment has definitely taken a huge blow to his health.
The last time they checked, his leg was still very red and swollen and not healing properly. They have plenty of first-aid supplies, but that can only do so much. He still needs help going to the bathroom, and Ann has been reluctant to let anyone else help with him. So, there has been sort of a rift between Ann and Charles and the rest of them.
Rachel looks up at her friend, she looks so tired, she gives her a smile as she approaches. "Hi, Ann. How's Charles?"
"He's…he needs to see a doctor. I know that's impossible, but he's still holding on. What smells so good?"
"They caught a deer, made stew with it." Rachel cannot believe she likes the way it smells.
"Oh great! Charles really needs food and I'm so hungry."
"There's plenty," Quinn pipes in, she hands Ann two bowls.
"Do you need me to go get Charles up?" Zack asks Ann.
"Oh no," she grabs a bowl of stew. "I'll take it to him." She hops up and goes into her tent.
Zack shrugs at Quinn, she shakes her head at him. She has no idea why Ann is acting that way.
Quinn gets her own bowl of stew, she starts by drinking the broth first, before eating any meat. Rachel was right about getting sick from eating meat after a long time. She tries offering Rachel some broth, but she still refuses.
"Hey! Rachel, I want you to at least drink some of the broth. Think of it as vegetable stock or something, you have to try honey." Leroy tells her.
Rachel reluctantly takes Quinn's bowl and tries to take a sip, the smell is unappealing and she pushes through it. Soon after swallowing some down, it comes right back up and she vomits the entire contents of her stomach.
Leroy runs a hand through his hair in frustration, he rubs at Rachel's back and tells her to go lie down in the tent.
"I don't know what to do anymore Mr. Berry."
He sighs, "Me neither, I'll put on some more pine needle tea."
Quinn goes into the tent to check on her, she smooths some of her hair out of her face, giving her forehead a kiss.
"I'm going to go back to the crash site to search for more bars tomorrow." Quinn doesn't get a response, so she gets inside the sleeping bag to join her. Sleepiness comes over her as soon as she snuggles up behind Rachel.
x
Total darkness surrounds her, she can't see anything. She calls out for Rachel and she hears her call her name, but she's somewhere in the distance. She takes off running, calling for Rachel and trying to find her in the darkness. A bright light shines and Rachel's there in front of it. She smiles as she runs towards the light. Rachel screams, as she's pulled from behind. The light swallows her up, and Quinn drops to her knees sobbing.
She sits up straight huffing and puffing, she looks down and realizes it was only a dream. Her heart is still beating out of her chest. She shakes Rachel to wake her up, and she doesn't respond. Something's wrong.
"Shit! Rachel! Wake up!" She turns her over and listens to her chest, she isn't breathing.
Quinn yells for help and Leroy rushes into the tent. She can barely see through her tears as he gives Rachel mouth to mouth. She feels sick and crawls out of the tent on her hands and knees. She throws up right in front of Zack's feet, he reaches out a hand to help her up. She knows he is asking her what's going on, but she keeps repeating that 'She's gone!' over and over at him.
He shakes her to try to help her get a hold of herself. "Quinn! Quinn! Come on, go back in there!"
She sucks in a deep breath and goes back in, Leroy is shakily performing chest compressions. She knows CPR, so she tells him to move out of the way. She takes over the compressions, stopping every five pumps to give Rachel a breath.
Suddenly, Rachel's eyes pop open and she gasps for air. She starts coughing and clear fluid comes from her mouth so Quinn turns her on her side.
Quinn breaks down on top of her, "God, I thought you were gone, I thought you were gone." She cries.
They have Rachel wrapped up in a blanket next to the fire as she sips at some pine needle tea.
She looks down at Quinn, who's sitting at her feet watching her like she's going to explode any moment.
"Quinn, I-I'm fine. You can stop looking at me like that."
"No, you're not." Quinn tears up again, just thinking about what almost happened. How are they going to get out of here?