A/N: Sorry for the wait. I had the flu, but I'm sort of getting better. Anyway, there will be two more chapters after this.
"Guys!" Zack calls out from outside the barrier.
Rachel and Quinn hear him and go over to see what's wrong.
"What is it?" Quinn asks as she bends down to go under the rope.
"I buried those deer bones over here, look." He gestures to a hole in the ground.
"There must be creatures nearby." He says.
"But why didn't they come to the camp? Surely they would have smelled us if they were this close." Quinn wonders.
"I don't know, just keep your gun on you from now on."
"So, you don't think it was just an animal?" Rachel asks.
"Can't be too sure, best to stay alert just in case." Zack tells them.
They go back behind the perimeter and get out their respective weapons. Quinn has her shotgun, Rachel her rifle and Zack gets his and stands guard looking through his scope periodically.
"Dad, there could be creatures nearby." Rachel tells her father as she kneels by the opening of his tent.
He exits his tent with his shotgun in hand and Mr. Johnson comes out right behind him. Rachel does a double take, but there is no time for her to dwell on that when they could be in danger. They each take post at different corners of the barrier, listening and watching for any signs of creatures.
After a while, nothing happens and they decide to take a break and fix something to eat. Quinn chops up some of the venison and puts it in a pot with some powdered soup. When it comes to a boil, she ladles some out and serves Rachel a bowl first. She eyes her before continuing to serve everyone else.
"Look, I'm sorry okay, you don't have to watch over me Quinn. I know that I scared everybody yesterday, especially you and my dad. But I told you I couldn't eat the meat, but now I guess I have no choice."
"Right, you don't." Quinn gruffs.
Rachel stares down at the contents of her bowl. "I'll try to get some of this down, but I can't make any promises."
"You promised you would never leave me out here, just like I promised you. Now eat your soup!" Quinn is in no mood to argue with her anymore. She will force it down her throat if she has to.
The guilt washes over Rachel as she watches Quinn angrily eating a bowl of her own soup. It sends a jolt of determination to her brain, she gains the willpower to scoop up some meat and shovel it into her mouth. As she chews, she has to admit, it isn't as bad as yesterday's. Maybe it's because Quinn made it today. In the end, her bowl is empty and she sits by the fire with Quinn.
Quinn drapes an arm over her shoulders. "I'm proud of you, I know it took a lot for you to get it all down."
"It was actually quite edible. I think if you cook it every time, I could maybe eat the meat every day."
"Well, just take it a little at a time. You might not be too happy in a few hours, but at least you have some food in your stomach."
Rachel knows that she will probably have a terrible stomachache overnight. "Don't remind me." She says.
"Here, Mr. Johnson found some juniper berries, and we mixed them with pine needles, it'll help you digest." She pours and hands Rachel a thermos of the tea.
Ann finally emerges from her tent to carry a bowl of soup back to her tent without a word to anyone.
"Okay, so what is up with your friend Rachel? She's been acting really overprotective with Charles. She wouldn't let Zack help him come out of the tent yesterday and now this. He needs to get up and move around otherwise he'll get worse."
"I have no idea what's going on, she said that he was doing okay yesterday. Maybe we should go check on them." Rachel turns to look at her friend's tent.
"Later, tomorrow there will be more light, so that we can see his wound better." Zack says with a mouthful of meat.
"Okay." She says.
Rachel hands Quinn her thermos and they take turns sipping at the tea as they watch the sun go down.
x
"Alright, so…who's gonna go in there first?" Zack asks as he sits with Rachel and Quinn down by the creek.
"I'll go, she's my friend. She'll probably listen to me." Rachel says. She gets up and walks over to Ann's tent.
Quinn and Zack follow close behind her, Quinn with first aid and Zack with his gun. They have no idea what Ann is hiding, but Zack brought up the fact that Charles could have turned into a creature without being bit.
"Ann," Rachel calls.
"Rachel?"
"Yes, it's me. Can I come in? I want to talk to you."
"Um, I'll be out in a second."
Quinn frowns and looks at Zack, she hand signals for them to go in on the count of three.
They unzip the tent and Rachel goes in first. "Ann, it's okay,"
"What the hell?"
"They're just going to check on Charles. It'll be fine."
"No! Stop it! Don't touch him!"
Quinn and Zack both look down at Charles, he looks to be asleep. The rise and fall of his chest tells them that he is still alive. Quinn lifts up his blanket to get a look at his leg. It is swollen twice its size and bright red, she removes the old gauze and the wound is oozing with pus. She winces as she washes it clean with diluted alcohol before re-bandaging it.
"Oh man, looks like it's gotten worse." Zack says.
"The fact that he didn't respond to the pain of changing his bandage means he's not just sleeping." Quinn collects the trash and cleans up the area before covering him back up.
Ann sobs as Rachel holds her back, she tries to tell her it will be okay, but she isn't sure it will be.
"You could have told us, Ann." Quinn says as she shakes her head at her.
"Why? So you could just shoot him to put him out of his misery?"
Quinn scoffs and leaves the tent.
"Ann, Quinn would never do something like that. He wasn't bitten, and he's alive, but he won't be for long if he doesn't get help soon." Rachel goes out of the tent to search for Quinn. She finds her sitting back down by the creek.
Quinn rips apart another leaf before tossing it into the water. "I am not a killer."
"I know that Quinn. Ann is obviously under stress, all she knows is what she's seen so far."
"But she thought that I would shoot him just because he's in a coma. I would never do something like that."
"And I told her that."
Quinn looks up at Rachel then. "You did?"
"Yeah," Rachel gives her a half smile. She needs Quinn to know that she will always have her back.
"Thanks, too bad she'll never believe it. What, does she think that I enjoy this? I would love for things to go back to normal, to not have to shoot things to survive. But we're stuck out here and her boyfriend is not going to survive if we don't get out of here." Quinn bursts out in tears and they shock Rachel with how suddenly they came about.
She holds Quinn, guiding her to lay her head in her lap as she rubs at her back.
"Shh, baby don't cry." Rachel tries to calm her down while holding back tears of her own. Seeing Quinn fall apart so easily is a clear sign that things are not looking too good for them out here.
x
Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap!
Rachel turns and looks up, birds are flying out of the trees from all over. She squints up at them, wondering why they are all suddenly leaving.
"Oh shit! Everybody! Code Red!" Zack screams before firing shot after shot.
Quinn hops up and un-holsters her pistol. She curses herself for leaving behind her shotgun.
Rachel follows her as they run back up to camp, only to find several creatures nearing the perimeter. She can hear the loud gunshots and sees her dad and Mr. Johnson standing on one side picking off creatures one by one.
"Rachel!" Quinn yells before tossing Rachel her rifle.
She catches it and cocks it, raising it up and firing at the nearest creature coming their way.
Blast after blast, everyone except for Ann and Charles are outside shooting at the creatures, but there looks to be too many approaching too quickly. They are coming from all sides and every time one goes down, there's another in its place.
"Help!" Ann screams as creatures rip through the top of her tent. A splatter of blood washes down the inside wall of the tent. They must have gotten to Charles.
Rachel shoots a few of them, but she cannot tell if they got to Ann or not. She moves to go check, but Quinn stops her with her arm.
"No," Quinn says simply. There is no time to save anyone after they've obviously been bitten. It's best to just leave them and focus on not having the same happen to themselves.
"Guys! We have to run! There's way too many dude." Zack is out of breath as he rushes over towards Rachel and Quinn.
Leroy and Mr. Johnson are being pursued by a multitude of creatures in the opposite direction. Rachel calls out for her father when she can barely see him. He calls for her, but she can hear his voice fading. Quinn grabs her by the hand and yanks her away as they take off running.
"Rachel, we have to go! Y-your dad has a weapon, so does Mr. John. Come on!"
Zack starts screaming at the creatures to force them his way in order to allow them an escape. During their quickened pace, Quinn loses grip on Rachel's hand. She looks back to make sure Rachel is still following and once she sees that she is, she continues on.
Quinn tries to think on her feet about where to go. She just has to get them somewhere safe until the creatures pass through. The number one spot she can think of is the crash site. She turns around to tell Rachel where she thinks they should go, but she isn't there anymore.
"Shit. Rachel!" She calls out lowly as she quickly retraces her steps.
Her heart stops when she sees Rachel on the ground wrestling with a creature on top of her. She runs as fast as she can as she unsheathes her machete. With one swipe, she lops off the head of the creature after kicking it to the side. They have to be careful using firearms now that they could easily attract dozens of creatures with the smallest sound. She knows that's probably why Rachel didn't scream for help even though she wishes she had.
"Quinn, thank God you came back. I knew you didn't see me, but I couldn't scream. There are so many. Where the hell did they come from?"
"I don't know, but we need to get to the crash site and hide there for a while."
Rachel nods as they take off again, as she runs she can feel something pinching her forearm. She rolls up her sleeve to try to get a look and she almost faints, she's been bitten. She can't say anything to Quinn, she doesn't want to worry her about it just yet. The bite isn't fatal, so she'll probably just get sick before the change happens. At least she hopes so.
x
"Hey, try to keep up with me, we need to stick together." Quinn says as she looks back to check on Rachel.
"I'm trying, it seems like we've been running in a circle."
"That's because we have, the crash site is in the opposite direction than we've been running."
Rachel takes in a labored breath, now she tells her. She can feel beads of sweat raining down her face as her vision continues to blur, she guesses all of this activity is accelerating the effects of the bite.
"I see it." Quinn smiles back at Rachel before stopping to wait for her to catch up.
"Thank God." Rachel huffs. She leans over as she pants to get her breathing under control.
They finally make it to the crashed jeep and Quinn begins to clear out some of the broken glass in the back row so that they can lie down and hide back there.
"We'll stay here for the night, we just have to stay quiet and keep a look out for any creatures. I'll just have to get to them before they see us and then others won't know we're here."
"Okay," Rachel holds her arm against herself as she lies down. She wants to cry but she doesn't want Quinn to touch her right now.
"Hey," Quinn whispers as she kneels down in front of Rachel. "I think we could try to find our way up to the highway tomorrow. It may be steep, but we'll have to climb-"
"Quinn,"
"Wh-" Quinn puts a hand to Rachel's sweaty forehead. "God Rachel, you're burning up. You're sweating a lot too, are you still sick from the meat?"
Rachel swallows, she's getting worse so she decides to tell Quinn now, that way she can take measures whenever she goes. "Quinn, I…I've been bit."
All of the air leaves her lungs in one breath, Quinn can feel her herself break out in a cold sweat. "What? Where?" She reaches out to search at Rachel's body, hoping that she's just mistaken.
"My arm." She pulls back her sleeve to show Quinn her wound.
She gasps when she lays eyes on it, already screaming red and swollen. "No, no, y-you can't. You said Rachel," Quinn drapes herself over Rachel, cradling her and rocking back and forth as she cries.
"I know. I'm sorry baby, it's my own fault. I shouldn't have turned back when I heard my dad yelling, but he's my daddy. You two are all I have left."
Rachel closes her eyes as the hot tears burn tracks down her cheeks. She angles her head away from Quinn so that she doesn't get any on her just in case her tears are infected.
"Fuck." Quinn lifts up and takes in a deep breath. "No, you know what? We're going to get you out of here and to a hospital. We don't know what happens if someone gets bitten without dying, maybe you can be saved."
Rachel smiles despite the searing pain, Quinn is still optimistic, which means she should stay that way too.
"I love you," She says weakly and the look on Quinn's face is so heartbreaking that she never wants to see it again. She squeezes her eyes shut as Quinn starts to cry all over again.
"I love you too baby. I love you more than anything, more than this world. If you go, I'm going right behind you. I'll let you bite me."
Rachel's eyes snap open. "No you will not Quinn, what did you tell me right after the crash? You said that you wanted me to go on without you. You can't just turn around and say something like that to me now. You have to kill me if I turn."
"No!"
"Shh, keep your voice down. Please, I don't want to stay one of those things. You have to Quinn. Promise me?"
Quinn turns and sits on the floor against the back seat where Rachel lies. She cannot do this, she's had to shoot her own mother after she turned and that still haunts her to this day. Even when Finn was bitten, she couldn't even do the job, he ended up shooting himself. She refuses to do that to Rachel.
"I-I can't."
"Please?"
"No, I can't do it Rachel. You can't make me."
Rachel lays a hand on Quinn's shoulder. "Quinn, look at me."
The way Quinn stares at her lets her know that she looks as bad as she feels. This feels like she has the flu, but ten times as strong.
"I look terrible don't I?"
"What? No, you're just sick."
"I'm more than just sick, you know that. Now why don't you just listen to me while I'm still coherent. I want you to do whatever you have to do after I turn, I mean, it'd be dangerous to shoot a gun…"
Quinn's eyes go wide. "Oh no, you have got to be kidding. I could never…Rachel, why don't you try to fight it?"
"It's happening so fast and I'm just thinking logically. If a person is bitten on an extremity, they probably get really sick and then die quickly from illness before turning. I may have a few terrible days of this, or I may not make it through the night."
"God," Quinn breathes out, she has to find a way out of here for them. She'll carry Rachel up that hillside if she has to tomorrow.
Rachel's entire body is burning up, she removes her shirt and balls it up under her head. She's sweating profusely and she can feel herself fading away. She closes her eyes, taking short breaths to try to ease some of the pain. Hopefully she's only going to sleep.
Quinn turns around when she hears Rachel snoring. She gently slips Rachel's hair from her ponytail and runs a shaky hand through it. She tries to keep her breathing under control as she makes soft strokes, she doesn't want to wake Rachel. She uses the flashlight to illuminate Rachel's face, she looks so sick. How is this happening? Why, after all this time?
She holds onto Rachel's wrist to keep track of her pulse. It's been beating so rapidly, Quinn fears she may have a heart attack. She stretches out on the floor beneath the backseat where Rachel lies. Sleep overcomes her shortly after.
Quinn opens her eyes to complete darkness, she feels as if she's floating. She blinks repeatedly to try to see something, but it's no use, there is no light here, wherever she is.
Out of nowhere, she feels hands on her body, they're warm and soft. She knows those hands very well, the way they caress her back, tracing over her fading scars and rubbing. It's Rachel. She turns around and she feels her there, she can actually feel her. She leans forward to kiss her, but she gets a slap to the face instead.
Her eyes pop open at the impact of the hit. She rubs at her cheek as she looks around, she was dreaming again. There is only light from the moon and she looks up at Rachel. She's convulsing, Rachel's hand is probably what she felt. She tries to hold Rachel still to keep her from hurting herself.
"Rachel, Rachel wake up. Please, stay with me. I don't want to do this, come on baby. I know you can fight it off for a while longer."
As if Quinn's words were magic, she stopped moving completely. This worries Quinn, so she holds the flashlight up to Rachel's face.
Suddenly, Rachel's eyes snap open and the color of them causes Quinn to jump back out of shock.
"Oh no."