Their plan had been to gas up when they hit town, but as soon as they hit the city limits, they realize it's not an option. Seemingly every zombie in town is swarming around, heading vaguely toward where they'd been.

Sam grunts. "Damn. I guess the town is small enough that they heard the gunshots all over."

Kurt glances at the gas tank and shrugs. "We have enough to get back out to the road. Once we hit a straight stretch we can pull over and use cans until we get to the next gas station."

Sam sighs before signaling Dave about the change of plans.

"No complaints here, fuck this place." Kurt frowns at how upset Dave sounds. Shit. I really screwed up. I wonder how long it will take everyone to really relax? Or maybe it's a good thing? We can't afford to be as relaxed as I was, new relationships or not.

As if sensing his thoughts, Puck squeezes his hand, not turning from checking the map. A few miles out of town, down yet another flat, corn filled road, Finn, Sam, Dave and Sebastian all get out and empty a gas can into each of their tanks.

Once they're back on the road and headed down 50, Kurt starts to really worry about the next few hours. Pretty soon he'd be getting close to Cincinnati, they didn't plan to go through it, of course, but they had to find a bridge and if it wasn't passable they had the choice of either going miles and miles out of the way and hoping for the best, or actually going into to town to access the main bridges. Neither option excited Kurt. He just wanted to get over the damn river and get to Sam's house.

They pull over in Owensville at a BP. As Finn and Dave take the caps off the gas tank, Kurt, Puck, Sam and Sebastian stand guard, looking around for zombies. They'd grabbed machetes too, this time. Knowing that both trucks and two gas cans needed to be filled, they couldn't afford to draw even more attention, especially since the houses were so close together and condensed.

As Kurt looks around, he can see four zombies already stumbling toward them and he grips the machete in his hand. They'd all donned heavy jackets, light leather gloves and scarves wrapped tight around their throats, despite the heat. As Kurt hacks his way through his first zombie at close range he grimaces. He needs more practice, the zombie had gotten close enough to scratch his nails down his arm, thankfully not piercing the clothing. Checking on the others, he sees they'd all done fine, having done this at Sebastian's house.

Finn gets done first and motions for Dave to also fill the gas cans when he's done, moving to get a few bags of ice for the small cooler. It takes a few bags since they'd mostly melted but he manages to stock it back up in time to help Dave lift the filled cans back into the truck. As he's loading the last one back up and Dave is closing the tank again, Finn glances behind him at the Dunkin' Donuts. "I'd kill for a doughnut... think anything in there is still good?"

Kurt wrinkles his nose but it's Sam that answers, shrugging. "Um... maybe? If no one else cares, we can go check? We just have to move quick, so no time to melee it. Then we can hit the gas station, see if they have some cereal or snacks for those of more discerning tastes."

Kurt and Dave get back in the trucks, stowing the machetes again before pulling up close to the store so Santana can get out to go in with them. Kurt hears five or six shots ring out before they see Finn and Santana through the window, grabbing their biggest boxes and loading them up with whatever didn't look too stale or molded.

Kurt beams at them as they come out with huge containers of coffee and load them into Dave's truck. Okay, I didn't think of that. Mmmm. Totally worth it to go in there. Let's hope we get somewhere with a working coffee maker.

They quickly move on to the gas station, four more shots firing. Seeing three zombies getting fairly close, Kurt steps out of the truck and shoots them before yelling out as loud as he can. "Okay guys, grab what's in front of you and get the fuck out here. We gotta go."

Each carrying two loaded plastic bags, they all jump back in and Kurt finds out that his nav can mow down zombies without a problem as he drives over two of them, not stopping to find out what the loud squelching sound was. He really didn't want to know.

Once they're clear of town and back on the fairly deserted 132, Finn starts passing out food. Kurt waits until after Puck finishes before he eats anything, warning him that he might have to take the wheel or something. The road is, shockingly, flat and fairly open, but at least there's no corn, just sparse houses.

Once Kurt is done with his handfuls of dry Frosted Flakes, he eats a package of cookies and a Little Debbie snack cake. Glaring at the offending wrappers he huffs.

"I'm going to get so freaking fat in the zombie apocalypse."

Turning to stare at him incredulously Puck scoffs, "What? Are you insane? At least three of us could probably wrap our fingers around your hips and they'd touch. Dave definitely could. You won't get fat, princess. You might gain some hips, but trust me, no one's going to complain about your ass getting rounder."

Blushing hotly, Kurt reaches over to smack him, ignoring Finn and Sam's laughs. "Noah! Oh my god! Don't talk about my ass with my brother in the car!"

Finn snorts. "Where have you been the last few months? Like I haven't heard him wax poetic about your ass before?"

Kurt darts wide eyed looks at Puck. "Are you fucking serious? You've talked about my ass to them?!"

Puck just grins. "Of course I have. It's one of my favorite parts of you."

Sam leans forward to stage whisper, "Don't worry, dude. He spent way longer talking about your eyes. He just likes to pretend he's a pervert, he's actually a total sap."

Kurt giggles, trying to focus on the road. "Oh no, trust me, he's a pervert. But it's good to know he's not just... ogling my assets."

Puck glares at them both. "I'm sitting right here. And Sam, shut up! You said you wouldn't tell him."

"I said I wouldn't tell him you liked him, telling him what you said and did now that he already knows? Totally fair game." Sam grins at Puck's glare.

Kurt has barely merged from 132 to 32, when he sucks in a deep breath. "Oh god, the bridges. I didn't even think about all the bridges we have to cross. Until now it's been all small ones that I barely noticed... shit. What do I do if it's blocked, Sam?"

Puck reaches over to rub the back of Kurt's neck slightly as he drives considerably slower across a small river. Sam pats him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, dude. I've planned it out to where we're taking the least traveled route over the Ohio River and the only other one to worry about is the Kentucky River. We'll worry about that then, okay?"

Kurt nods, still feeling antsy. The bridge is thankfully a small one and it only takes a few minutes to be clear of it, the road no more clogged than it had been for the last few miles. Once they're clear and Kurt is breathing again, Finn asks,

"Just for curiosity's sake, what would we do if it was blocked? I mean, it's a bridge. We can't just go around."

Sam shrugs. "Depends on the bridge. If it was close to another one that crossed the same river, I'd want to go back and detour, hope for better the next time. If it was the only option, I guess we'd have to try clearing the path. That would really suck though, because it would take hours having to move each car. Not to mention we'd have to kill more and more zombies as they were attracted by the noise."

The trip down 32 is uneventful but it makes him anxious. Kurt finds himself thinking he can't wait to get the semi because then he won't be in the lead anymore. The road is still easy to traverse, not clogged or anything, but it's boxed in more. There's a concrete divider and a guardrail, both making him feel claustrophobic.

When they finally come to signs for the exit for I-275, Kurt says, "Uh... as much as I'd love to find a nice shoe store, please don't make me drive through town."

Sam chuckles, leaning forward between the seats. "No, that's a good point. This is going to be one of those times that we don't obey traffic laws. Get southbound as soon as you can and we'll take that ramp onto I-275."

As they pull up to the merging lane, Finn notes, "It looks like they were about to start road work here."

Kurt shrugs, biting his lip before saying, "Well at least they weren't in the middle of it. Can you imagine the mess?"

It takes less than a mile for Kurt to find a path between the lanes so he can switch back to the right side of the road. Puck had laughed at him that it didn't matter but Kurt just didn't feel right driving 'backwards'.

It doesn't take long for Kurt to start muttering under his breath. Puck cocks an eyebrow at him. "What's wrong, babe?"

Kurt glares at the road in front of them. "There's too many freaking bridges. You guys freaked me out talking about having to stop and this damn road has a bridge every few feet."

Sam snorts. "There's not that many. And it's not rivers, it's just roads."

Kurt grits his teeth. "A bridge is a bridge."

Sam sits forward again. "Speaking of bridges, when we get there, don't panic. The other side is probably going to be pretty full. We know that it was coming north, it hit Ohio hours after it hit Kentucky, so if people were running from it, they'd have been headed north. The good news is that should leave our side fairly clear."

Puck grabs Kurt's hand, squeezing it. "Just don't look at the other side. It might have things you don't want to see."

Kurt nods, wondering briefly if he means bodies or zombies before deciding he'd rather not think about it.

As they enter the turn before the bridge, Kurt takes a deep breath. The choice to stay so far out of Columbus pays off, the bridge only slightly more cluttered than the roads near by. There was one wreck almost at the end of the road that blocked the path. Kurt had pulled back and let Dave pull ahead to push the smallest car out of the way since he had a grill guard on his truck.

Once they're safely on the other side, Kurt huffs out "Thank god." and continues on I-275.

When it comes time to look for the exit, Kurt has never been happier to leave a road in his life. It had actually 'gone fairly smoothly' considering the situation, according to Sam. Kurt had just glared out the front window, not responding. Fuck I-275 and it's fucking bridges.

His opinion had not been improved as they'd gone under a bridge at the junction for I-471 where a zombie had seemingly dropped out of the sky 15 feet in front of them. It had apparently been attracted by the noise of their approaching trucks and had fallen off the upper bridge, trying to find the noise. But, Kurt had shrieked like a girl and punched the gas, running it over in his panic. Even Puck had been smacked for laughing at him for it.

No amount of threatening to pull the car over had stopped Sam and Finn from laughing. It was only as they finally came up on the exit to 17, once again crossing a bridge, that they finally agree with Kurt. Fuck I-275.

As they cross the bridge and look down at the exit ramp they're supposed to take, they see over 150 zombies shuffling down the road, looking around like they'd heard something.

Sam speaks out first, "Shit! Gogogo! Don't go down there!"

Kurt snaps, "No shit, really?!" while speeding up.

Puck grabs the radio and says, "Obviously we aren't going down there, just follow as best you can until Sam comes up with a back up plan."

Shortly after they clear the bridge the guardrail ends and Sam points, "There! We'll go back and take 16 down, it leads to Independence too."

As Kurt hauls ass back down the same bridge as before, he doesn't turn to look but he hears Finn groan. He explains that the zombies had definitely heard them and were trying to figure out how to get up on the road.

Dammit. So we've probably just drawn a huge herd up here. Good luck to whoever comes this way next. Saddened by the thought that they'd probably gotten someone killed by not taking the exit the first time, Kurt pulls off at 16 and heads south.

Sam sighs as they pass relatively close to a BP. "I wish we could stop for gas. This isn't the road I researched, so I don't know where the next gas station will be."

Kurt huffs. "Nope, no way. We're too close to that damn road. It'll be our luck those damn things will catch up. We'll risk it. We have full cans if we don't find one."

The longer it takes though, the more Kurt is convinced that he'd cursed them or something. Eventually they happen across a old fashioned gas station attached to a garage. Kurt stares wistfully at the lifts through the windows. Looking at the small garage sinks him into a bit of a funk as he's flooded, again, with the knowledge that he'll never see his dad again. That he's dead, somewhere in DC, possibly trapped and zombied in a bathroom. He kind of hopes he's still trapped. If his dad has to be a zombie, he at least hopes he isn't out killing people.

Breaking him from his maudlin thoughts, Puck walks around to his side of the nav and taps on the window. Opening the door, Kurt is suddenly wrapped in a tight hug. After a minute, Puck pulls away, kissing him on his temple. Slinging his gun back around to the front, Puck walks off without a word to Kurt. As he rounds the nav again though, he calls out, "Yo, Finn! Kurt needs to see you for a second."

Frowning slightly Kurt thinks to himself, I'm not that delicate, Noah. I don't need a backup hug. It's only as Finn walks up from the back of the truck that Kurt sees that he's also fighting tears, glancing at the garage.

Smiling sadly, Kurt holds his arms out and hugs Finn, realizing that it wasn't him that had needed the extra comfort.

When they'd stopped at the garage, Sam had looked up the best way to get home from there using the GPS, so when they get to 2045, Kurt turns without questioning it. Aside from having to take out a mailbox to avoid a wreck in the middle of the road, it's smooth sailing.

Finally turning back onto 17, Kurt giggles. When Finn asks him why, Kurt can't really explain why the US Bank they pass makes him laugh. It just looks like such a stereotypical small town bank that it makes him laugh. Not to mention all the money inside is now completely useless. Neither reason will make him sound anymore sane, so Kurt just shakes his head. It's probably the heat.

Less than a mile and two side streets later, Kurt is directed to stop outside a small yellow house with a waist high chain link fence around it. Sam gets out and takes their walkie talkie to the porch, putting it down. Kurt can tell that he's yelling something, but he doesn't even wait for a response. He walks back toward the trucks and closes the fence, standing on the outside of it.

Within a couple of minutes, Stevie comes out, looking basically the same as the last time Kurt had seen him, except of course, he wasn't carrying a hunting rifle and glancing worriedly at Sam. After the little boy grabs the radio and steps back inside, pushing Stacey back in, Sam sighs heavily and goes to get the other radio from Sebastian. Closing the door as quietly as he can, Sam nods toward the glove compartment.

"If we need to talk to Dave's group, use that. The girls are getting out the machetes, Finn you should too. If any zombies come, we need to get out, quietly, and kill them. We can't stay here but there's shit my dad has that we'll need to take. Hopefully one of the neighbors has a trailer we can hitch for extra room, we aren't going that far."

He's barely finished speaking when the walkie talkie chirps. "Sam?"

"Stevie! Are you guys okay? You looked okay, but I've been freaking out, buddy."

"We're alright. We still have plenty of water and stuff. You're sure it'll only take a half hour to be sure?"

Sam smiles. Well at least someone gets it. "It takes less than an hour, no matter what, to turn. After half an hour, you can't fight the symptoms anymore. It makes you scratch and have trouble breathing, stuff like that. You'd be able to tell if we were infected after about 20 minutes, if you knew what to look for. After half an hour, there's no hiding it."

After a few seconds, Stevie admits, "I guess I have to take your word for it, Mom took the laptop to work."

Sam smiles sadly. The cute little brother he'd left two weekends ago was gone. He sounded more grown up than half the men he'd brought with him. "Hey, Stevie, you have any idea if anyone around here has a trailer we could get? We're pretty loaded up already and with you guys coming too, we'll need even more space."

While Stevie thinks about it, Finn points out, "Actually, me and you could hold them on our laps. The seat belt would probably stretch around us if we didn't move too much. And you said it's not far."

Sam opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by Stevie saying, "Stacey said there's one down on Courtney Court, at least I think that's the street she means. She said it had a name like one of her friends and was on our bus route. The first house."

"Okay, well, once the half hour is up, you'll have to come with us, so we don't have to wait again, and we'll go find one. We aren't staying long. Anything you guys want to take, pack up now. And you're kids, feel free to take some toys, guys. Just nothing that requires batteries."

Kurt smiles at him before reaching out and taking Puck's hand. The next half an hour passes in what Kurt is quickly considering normal fashion. Lots of quiet, occasional jokes, random comments, and sporadic zombie killings.

Eventually Sam shrugs. "Okay, it's been half an hour, let's go." As they step out, Sebastian opens his door.

"Everybody going in?"

Sam nods. "Yeah, we need to prove we aren't infected and stretch our legs."

Walking up to the door, Sam knocks quietly. It opens a crack, Stevie watching out the door for a few seconds, noticing that everyone is only stretching a little or standing mostly still, most smiling at him. Eventually he stands back and opens the door.

As soon as everyone's inside, he shuts and locks it again before turning to throw himself on Sam, who had already been attacked by his sister.

The little boy's tough act finally breaks as he clutches to Sam's back, trying not to cry and clinging to him. "It's okay, guys. I got ya. You're not gonna be left alone again. We're gonna pack up the house and then head out before it gets too late. We're gonna head for Uncle James's house."

Deciding to give Sam a few minutes alone, Kurt turns to everyone else. "We should uh... pack up what we can to save time. Just... don't do their parents' room. Leave that for Sam if he wants to do it."

As they spread out, Kurt and Puck go to the kitchen to pull out cans and boxes. It's only when he hears the refrigerator hum that he realizes. "They have power!"

Puck turns to him questioningly but hears the hum and turns to face it. Opening the fridge shows that everything is still cold and nothing smells. "Well shit, I don't think it ever went down. Do they have a generator or something?"

"We have one, but Stevie doesn't know how to operate it." Turning to the smaller boy, Sam asks, "Did the power go out at all?"

Shaking his head, still wiping his cheeks, Stevie answers, "Nope. You told us it probably would days ago, so we kept waiting, but it never did. We ran the little air conditioner in our room on quiet mode, so we didn't burn up."

Sam grunts. "Well, now I feel stupid. The only place we've stopped since we hit Kentucky was that garage. We didn't even check to see if the pumps worked."

Laughing Kurt says, "Oh, I really hope the power holds out a few more days at least. I need a shower."

Puck frowns. "Why does it work here but not in Ohio?"

Sam shrugs, "Maybe somebody that worked for the power company decided that if he had to hole up somewhere, it might as well be there? I'm sure the security there would keep out zombies better than the average house. If he didn't have weapons, he may have just decided not to fight his way out. Here's hoping he doesn't die in a supply run."

Stevie turns to him, "Well, they were working on evacuation plans when I turned the tv off. They were trying to clear out the major cities before they got wrecked. At least the ones in the north. Louisville, Frankfort, Lexington, etc. Somehow it hit Florence before it hit them."

Grimacing, Kurt mumbles, "I bet they had a flight come in from New York. Is there an airport there?"

"Yeah, that's probably it. Damn." Sam scratches his head. "Okay, well at least we know. Now we need to get ready to go. Where is everyone?"

Puck points to the food they're pulling out. "We went ahead and started packing up what we thought you'd want. Everywhere but your parents' room, if you want to do that one."

Nodding sadly, Sam turns to Stevie. "Hunt down Stacey, she's probably found Sarah by now, you guys can finish up in your room." After he runs off, Sam smiles sadly at Kurt and Puck and then walks down a short hallway to his parents' room.

Kurt sighs and Puck kisses him on the temple again before going back to the cabinets. Kurt opens the fridge to see if they have anything worth taking. While pulling meat from the freezer, Kurt sighs.

I'm glad this is the last house we'll have to go through with someone in tears. I guess that's why they don't show these parts in the zombie movies. Who wants to see kids crying over their parents?