AN: Warning—there's a good amount of violence in this chapter. Also, a big thank you to everyone who's given this story a chance and decided to read it. This is very different from what I'm used to writing and I'm glad you all enjoy it. My guess is that there will be a few more chapters (2-3), then an epilogue.
The first thing Finn Hudson noticed when he opened his eyes was that he was in a hospital. The next thing he noticed was that he was handcuffed to the bed. And the last thing he noticed was the death glare Sheriff Noah Puckerman was giving him from the chair next to his bed.
"Noah?" Finn asked, his head throbbing. He couldn't remember anything that happened. He remembered going over to Noah's apartment with food, but after that, everything went blank.
Noah's face tightened as he looked at Finn. Finn, who had been his best friend as long as he could remember. Finn, who stayed his friend even after he banged Quinn Fabray. Finn, who tried to kill Rachel twice.
"Why?" Noah asked, his voice quiet. "Why'd you do it, Finn?"
"Do it? What are you talking about, Puck?"
"God damn it, Finn!" Noah said, slamming his fist down on the bedside table. "I am in no mood to put up with your bullshit. Rachel's gone. She left because of what you did to her. I need to know why."
"Did to her? Puck, I can't remember a damn thing. I don't know what I did to Rachel. You have to tell me."
Noah sighed. "Okay, then tell me about Brittany. Why'd you kill her?"
Finn's eye opened wide. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You think I was the one who killed Brittany?"
"And Santana and Quinn and tried to kill Rachel an hour ago!" Noah shouted.
"Puck, I didn't do it! I swear! I would never hurt them, especially not Rachel. I know how much you love her. I could never do something like that to you. You're my best friend."
"Quit the bullshit! You were caught red handed."
"What?"
"Sam found you choking Rachel. He knocked you out and saved her life. And because of you, she left. She's on her way back to Philadelphia as we speak. Sam's driving her home."
Finn fell silent, thinking everything over in his head. His eyes widened a moment later, the realization hitting him. "Puck, this is bad. This is very, very bad," he whispered.
"No shit it's bad. I just lost my best friend and the woman I love in one day. I need to know why, Finn."
"I'm not the killer," he said, looking Noah in the eyes. "But I know who is. And we need to stop him, or he's going to kill Rachel."
xxxxx
Rachel fell asleep in the car, her body still tired from the day. Almost dying tended to take a lot out of a person.
Sam looked over at her as she slept, grinning to himself. This was working out more perfectly than he'd planned. Finn had been arrested, and he had all the time in the world to kill Rachel. He could make it as painful as possible, then leave. There was no way he was going back to Lima. When Rachel turned up dead, Noah would want to know why. He was thinking Fiji was a great place to start over.
And he was going to make her death painful. He was already plotting different things he could do to her. The nice thing was that he didn't even have to worry about people knowing it was him. He was going to disappear after this. Hell, he might as well leave a confession. He wanted people to know it was him, not that idiot Finn Hudson.
Sam was itching to finish Rachel off. He'd tried to kill the girl twice already, failing both times. The first time he hadn't expected her to fight back the way she did. He'd expected her to just be still and let him kill her.
But she should have died earlier today. She should have died before Finn got there. But she just passed out, and then Finn had to show up. Sam was just wishing he killed Finn instead of just knocking him out. Noah wouldn't have blamed him. In fact, he'd be stunned if he hadn't finished the job himself.
Rachel let out a soft sigh as she turned her head to the side, exposing more of her neck. Rachel had wrapped a scarf around her neck, attempting to hide the deep bruise he'd left on her. When she turned her head, the scarf fell and Sam got a full view of his handiwork.
He had to admit, it was impressive. You could see the markings of his fingers, small slivers of her pale skin interrupting the pattern his hands had made.
He wanted to do it now. He wanted to pull the car over and kill her. Fuck her, then kill her. Though, if he did that, someone was likely to see and he'd go to jail for the rest of his life. That was, of course, assuming Noah didn't kill him with his bare hands first.
No, he'd be patient and wait. Make up an excuse to get into her apartment, make her feel comfortable. And then, once she had let her guard down, that's when he would attack.
Yes, it was perfect. And it would work so well, too. Rachel was too trusting. She was like every other stupid girl—she trusted people, believed them even when they were lying to her.
Like when she'd believed he was Finn, even though he sounded nothing like him. She was a stupid girl, and, because of that, she was going to die.
Sam looked over at her again, the bruise on her neck turning him on. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his foot pressing down on the gas. He took a deep breath, looking away from her. No, he had to wait. In a few hours, he'd be in Philadelphia. Then he could do whatever he wanted with her. He just needed to get her back before he started.
Sam reached over, covering her neck. He needed no distractions while he was driving.
xxxxx
Noah was looking at Finn skeptically as he finished speaking. "So you're telling me Sam Evans, my deputy, is actually the killer?"
"What don't you understand about that? He killed Brittany, Santana, and Quinn. And as soon as he has a chance, he's going to finish Rachel off. You've given him that chance. He has her. He can take her wherever he wants and kill her."
"How I know you're not just making this up so I don't kill you right now?"
"Because you're my best friend, and deep down, you know something has always been wrong with Sam."
Noah fell silent, not giving Finn a response. He was right. There had always been something off when it came to Sam. Noah had always figured it was because he was the new guy, he wasn't from Lima. But that wasn't it. He'd never fit in. He still didn't.
"Okay, so say I believe you. Why's Sam going to kill Rachel? He got away with killing the other three. Why's he going to risk that?"
"Because Rachel's the one he's after. He's already tried to kill her twice. He wants her dead. He has the chance to kill her, now. And he's going to. You've given him that opportunity."
The color from Noah's face drained. What if Finn was right? Was he willing to take the chance and stay here interrogating Finn while Rachel was in a car with Sam?
No, he wasn't.
Noah got up, walking out of the room without another word. David, his deputy, tried following him, but Noah waved him off, telling him to keep an eye on Finn.
He jumped into his car, speeding away. He needed to get to Philadelphia as fast as he could. Sam had an hour head start. Who knew what he could do in that time.
xxxxx
Rachel woke up about twenty minutes before Sam pulled up in front of her apartment. She stayed quiet during that time, not having the energy to talk.
When he turned the car off, Rachel climbed out of the car, lifting her purse up.
"Thanks again, Sam. I really appreciate this."
"It's the least I could do. You've been through enough today. Here, let me carry your bags up for you."
Rachel gave him a smile. "Well, aren't you a gentleman?" she laughed, punching in the code for the door. She climbed onto the elevator with Sam, the two of them taking it up to her floor.
Rachel pulled her eyes out, unlocking the door, allowing Sam to walk in first. He set her bags down, turning to face her. "Well, I suppose I should be going. I guess I'll find somewhere to stay for the night…"
"No, don't be ridiculous. Stay here. You can take my bed and I'll stay in Car—I'll sleep in the extra room," she whispered, deciding she'd sleep on the couch instead of set foot in that room.
"No, I can't put you out like that."
"Sam, I'm offering just like you offered to drive me. Now sit. I'll get you something to eat while I give my boss a call," she said, heading into the kitchen as she pulled out her cellphone, dialing James' number.
He picked up on the first ring, answering with his gruff voice. "Rachel?"
"Hi, James," she said quietly, guilt seeping into her voice. "I thought you'd like to know I'm back."
"You are? Why now?"
"They caught the guy…after he tried to kill me again."
"Rachel! I told you—"
"I know what you told me. That's why I left. I couldn't stay there any longer. A friend drove me back. He's the one who stopped the guy from killing me. I owe him my life. I'm just lucky he showed up then." Rachel gasped, covering her mouth. Her intuition had finally started working. And right here, standing in her kitchen, she knew she'd made a terrible mistake allowing Sam into her apartment.
"Rachel? Are you there?" James asked just as Sam walked into the kitchen, a lazy grin on his face.
"I thought I'd help you," he said, looking at her, his gaze intense.
"I'm fine, James," she said, her voice panicky.
"Rachel, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"No, no, don't be ridiculous. I'll get you that article first thing tomorrow. I'm not going to stop my job just because of a hospital visit." Sam was watching her curiously as she turned her back to him, heading out of the kitchen and down the hall towards her room, very aware that Sam was following her.
"Rachel, are you okay? Are you in danger?"
"Of course. Including the interview with Finn to show how he fooled everyone is a great idea." Please, James. Please send help, Rachel thought. Please understand what I'm telling you.
"Rachel, get out of there. If you can, hide. I'll get help. Just don't do anything dumb."
"I will. Bye," she said, hanging up the phone. She turned just as Sam forced her to the floor, him on top of her.
xxxxx
Noah was breaking every road rule on his drive to Philadelphia. All he knew was that he had to get to Rachel as fast as possible. She was going to die without him.
He passed into Pennsylvania, glancing at the clock. He knew they were at her apartment by now. He just didn't know if Rachel was still alive.
He picked up his phone, dialing Rachel's number. It rang and rang and rang, but she never picked up.
"Fuck!" he cursed, throwing his phone behind him. If she wasn't answering the phone, something had to be bad.
Well, she could be ignoring him, but he didn't think so. Sam had made it so she couldn't answer the phone. He just knew it was true. He felt it in the pit of his stomach.
Noah took a sharp turn, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel.
He still didn't know what he was going to do when he got there. Right now, every scenario had him barging in and murdering Sam with his bare hands. Even if Sam had a gun, that wasn't going to stop Noah from tearing the man limb from limb. No one hurt his Rachel and got away with it.
A few images of Rachel's broken, bleeding body flew into his mind. He almost crashed the car at that.
No, he was not going to think of her like that. She was still going to be alive when he got there. He had to believe that. She was going to be okay. He was going to get there in time and save her.
He was going to bring her back to him again. He had to.
xxxxx
Rachel screamed as she fell to the floor, Sam on top of her. He hit her across the face, which shut her up. Rachel stared up at him with fear in her eyes, expecting him to hit her again.
He didn't. Instead, he ripped the scarf away from her neck, his hands running over the circular bruise that was there. "Yes, very nice," he said, getting turned on once more.
Rachel closed her eyes before quickly pulling her arm back and punching him in the nose. She was sure she did more damage to her hand than she did to him, but Sam let out a howl of pain and rolled off her, clutching his nose.
Rachel jumped to her feet, running down the hall. Her cheek stung, her hand hurt, and she was moments from passing out. But she kept it together, shutting her bedroom door behind her and locking it. She pushed her dresser in front of it, hoping it would hold him off.
She pulled the window open, looking out. She was too high up to jump, and there was nothing for her to grab onto to climb out. She was stuck.
She heard banging at her door. To her horror, she saw the edges of the door splintering as Sam threw his body against it.
Panicking, Rachel grabbed the nearest weapon she could find—her razor—and hid in the closet. She wasn't going down without a fight. She closed her eyes, continuing to hear him banging against the door. She guessed she had a few minutes before he broke in and found her.
She also knew once she cut him with the razor, he'd kill her. Of course, he was going to kill her anyways, but he might be so enraged that he'd make it quick instead of making her suffer.
She heard a loud bang as the dresser fell to the floor and knew Sam was in the room. Rachel closed her eyes, praying for strength. She thought of Santana, how her apartment had looked after she'd disappeared. Santana hadn't given in and let Sam kill her. She'd fought back.
Rachel was not going to disappoint her.
The closet door flew open and Sam was standing there, his nose bleeding, fury in his eyes.
He grabbed Rachel by her hair, pulling her to her feet. Rachel hid the razor, letting out a yelp of pain as she was yanked up.
It happened in an instant. Rachel took the razor and sliced his arm. Sam yelled out and let go of her. She sliced him again, cutting his cheek this time. When she tried to cut him a third time, Sam grabbed her wrist, squeezing it. She gasped in pain, the razor clattering to the floor.
The next thing he did was hit her over the head, knocking her out. Rachel collapsed in his arms. Instead of catching her, he let her fall to the floor. He wrapped his bleeding arm and face with tissues, kicking Rachel in the ribs.
He wanted to kill her now, make her pay for fighting back like that. But that wasn't fun—he wanted her to be awake, to feel every ounce of pain before she died.
Instead, he took some rope, tying it tightly around her wrists, and then tying her ankles together. He placed a gag in her mouth, leaving her on the floor. He knew Rachel was going to keep screaming, so he turned the TV on, finding the bloodiest horror movie he could and turned the volume up loud.
That way, if people heard screams, he could claim it was just the movie.
He heard a groan as Rachel came to. She let out a muffled scream and he grinned, walking over towards her.
"Scream all you want, Rachel. No one's going to hear you now." She looked up at him, a look of terror etched onto her face.
That look she gave him…that did it. He felt himself going hard in his jeans and leered at her.
He pulled Rachel to her feet, extracting a knife from his pocket. Rachel looked at it with fear, trying to squirm away from him.
Instead of cutting her, he placed the blade under the fabric of her shirt, cutting it off.
He repeated the same process with the rest of her clothing until she was left in the ropes.
"God Rachel, you're so sexy like that," he groaned, running his hands over her body. She flinched away from him, trying to hit him.
Sam ducked out of the way, letting out a laugh. "Ooh, feisty. Santana was feisty, too. But I learned how to control her," he growled, punching Rachel in the eye. She fell to the ground with a thud, though she remained conscious.
She remained conscious as she heard Sam pulling the zipper to his jeans down. She remained conscious as she felt him inside her and was still conscious when he finally pulled out of her, finishing on her face.
She felt the tears rolling down her face, feeling utterly degraded at this point. She didn't know why this was happening to her or what she had done to deserve this.
She heard the door open and for a moment, she thought she was saved. Someone was here to save her.
Then she saw it was Aiden. Aiden, her ex-boyfriend. And suddenly, everything made sense.
xxxxx
As Noah turned onto Market Street, his phone started ringing. Cursing, he reached back and found it, flipping it open to a number he didn't recognize.
"What?" he snapped, making a sharp left turn.
"Noah? This is James, Rachel's boss. I think something's wrong. I called her, and she was acting very peculiar on the phone. I think she may be in danger."
"Did you call the cops?" he asked, screeching to a stop as the light turned red.
"They said there's nothing they can do. They can't go based off the fact that she was talking weird on the phone. You need to help her."
"I'm almost at her apartment. I realized it too late that I let a killer drive her here. I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her. And if she dies, I want you to kill me, James. This is all my fault. I can't believe I was so blind."
"Just save her, Noah. She's like a daughter to me. I can't lose her, too."
"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure she's okay. I won't be able to survive if something happens to her."
"Just hurry," James whispered as Noah screeched to a stop outside her apartment building.
He jumped out of the car, hanging the phone up and throwing it into the car. He ran towards the building, throwing a garbage can through the glass door, jumping through the door and heading up the stairs, not knowing what to expect when he walked through the door of her apartment.
xxxxx
Aiden, it turned out, was Sam's cousin. And he'd convinced Sam Rachel had broken his heart. Of course, it was more like Rachel had gone nuts and Aiden couldn't deal, but she supposed that was one way someone could get their heart broken.
Regardless, Aiden was torn up about things after Rachel was committed. So torn up that he and Sam hatched a plan to teach the evil Rachel a lesson.
They made a plan to kill her.
After Rachel had been degraded a few more times, Sam and Aiden let her wrap herself in a blanket. At least for the time being.
"I don't understand," Rachel said, her voice hoarse. She'd screamed in pain so much, she was surprised she had any voice left at all. "If you wanted to kill me all along, why did you kill the other three?"
"Ah, that's the beauty of it. Brittany and Santana were Quinn's idea entirely. Of course, I had to kill her when she threatened to turn me in for trying to kill you. It's no loss, really. She was a total bitch."
"She was still a person. And now everyone thinks Finn killed them when it was really Quinn and you. I knew it was her!"
Aiden sat on the ground beside Rachel, running a finger along her cheek. She flinched away, disgusted. Aiden grabbed her chin forcefully, turning her face towards him and kissed her hard. Rachel tried pulling back to no avail. Eventually, she bit his tongue, which earned her another slap.
She fell to the ground, spitting out some blood. "Sorry," she murmured, not wanting to get hit again. It wasn't about the pain—it was about surviving.
"Aw, I think she's starting to like us, Sammy," Aiden sneered, hitting her once more, just for good measure.
Rachel fell over again, staying on the floor this time. She was exhausted. The human body could only take so much before it shut down. Rachel's body was getting to that point. She'd been choked, hit, raped, and beat all in one day.
"Why don't you just get on with it and kill me?" she gasped, looking up at them. "That's what you came here to do, after all."
"You want us to kill you?" Sam laughed. "What, you're not going to try and fight back anymore?"
Rachel looked up at them, her eyes dead. "I can't. I'm too tired. I just want it to be over."
"See, that's what I fucking hate about you, Rachel," Aiden said, getting up and delivering a kick into her stomach. "You give up too easily. Like with Caroline. Instead of dealing with it, you took the coward's way out. Or tried to, at least."
"I mean, we're really doing you a favor. You wanted to die then and didn't. We're just helping you finish the job," Sam explained, pulling the knife out again. He grabbed her hair, pulling her up again.
Rachel let out a scream, crying. "Please, just kill me. I can't take this anymore," she sobbed, wanting it to be over. She couldn't take the pain, the humiliation. She just hoped Noah wouldn't have to see her like this. He didn't deserve to see her body broken the way it was.
Sam reached over, sliding the knife across her arm, the exact same place she'd cut him with the razor.
Rachel continued crying but didn't scream in pain. If they were going to kill her like this, she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction any longer of knowing she was in pain.
Aiden pulled out a knife from his pocket, pressing it into the skin on her leg, cutting her deep.
Rachel just stared at him, a determined look in her eyes. If they were going to kill her, they were going to look at her while doing it.
When she looked into Sam's eyes as he cut her chest, she saw nothing. No pity, no remorse. He was enjoying this, enjoying causing her pain. It only made him want to continue.
Aiden placed a cut along her hip, causing Rachel to let out a gasp. She couldn't help it. It just hurt so much.
She was bleeding, both from the cuts and from the bindings around her wrists and ankles. She felt the pain vanishing and knew that was it. She was dying. She smiled at the two men, closing her eyes.
She could see Caroline now, her brown curls bouncing as she danced in the rain. Rachel wanted to run towards her, pull her into her arms, tell her how much she loved her.
Caroline turned and waved. "Mama!" she shouted, though her voice sounded distorted, like she was underwater.
There was a loud bang, and Caroline disappeared. Rachel was once more aware of the pain. It was too much to bear. She let out a loud scream as drops of blood fell onto her face.
At first, she thought they'd cut her head. It took her a minute to realize that was Aiden's blood, not hers. Aiden slumped to the floor, dead.
Rachel looked up and saw Noah standing in the doorway, his gun held in front of him. He was staring at Sam, a look of pure hatred on his face.
"One move," he growled. "One move and I pull this trigger and end your miserable life."
Sam looked at him and could tell that Noah wasn't bluffing. He dropped the knife, hands raised above his head.
Noah holstered his gun before calling the police, who promised they'd be there shortly. Noah dropped to his knees for the second time that day, pulling Rachel into his arms.
He didn't care that she was covered in blood or was staining his favorite shirt. He just cared that she was alive.
"You saved me," she whispered, reaching a shaking hand up to touch his cheek. "You came after me."
"Hey, I couldn't let you get away so easily again," he joked, though tears were falling down his face. He wrapped his arms around her waist, his left hand rubbing her back. "I love you so much, Rachel. Don't do that to me again," he whispered.
"Do what?" she asked, pulling her head back slightly to look at him, her eyelids drooping. She didn't have much energy left.
"Leave me and almost die." He kissed her once before lifting her into his arms. The police barged in at that moment, finding Noah holding the bleeding Rachel, and Sam with his arms still in the air, the knife at his feet.
The one nodded his head at Noah, who carried Rachel out of the apartment as they arrested Sam.
The ambulance was waiting for them. Noah lowered Rachel onto the stretcher, watching as the EMT cut the ropes off her. Rachel looked up at Noah with desperate eyes as the EMT placed an IV into her arm.
"Don't leave me," she whispered as he hung some fluids, trying to replace what she had lost.
"I'll never leave you," Noah promised. "I'll never let you out of my sight again. You're safe now, Rachel. I'll never let anything happen to you again."
As Rachel closed her eyes, the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance, she knew Noah was telling the truth.