I refused to look away from the horizon. Not as long as I thought I could still hear the grumble of the engines in the distance, not as long as I could still see the dust kicked up from the fleeting tires settle back onto the pavement below. Not as long as she was still gone.

Nothing seemed to make sense. The army was there to protect us, but instead they slammed a hole through our front door and left us here to die.

What did they want with Brittany anyway?

And Quinn's dad.

He just left her here too.

I looked to my side to see dirty work boots then brown cargo pants, my eyes made it up towards the figure's ratty black t-shirt until I saw a mouth moving up and down.

My eyes took in the short blond hair, before they shot back down to those lips. They continued to move up and down but no sound hit my ears. I felt two weights on my shoulder.

The touch jolted me back to reality. The cloud over my eyes and ears lifted and I finally looked back into Quinn's concerned green eyes.

It was like someone had lifted up the lid of Pandora's box and the scene around me erupted in sounds I could only describe as pure and utter chaos.

"For fuck's sake, Quinn!" I heard Puck shout.

I turned over my shoulder to see Puck and Sam leaned against the door that lead back into the mall. They were angled against it and pushing back the bodies that must have already made it through the mall and up the stairwell. Finn was leaning with both arms pressed against the door and pushing back with every slam that came as another moving corpse pushed its way to the top of the stairs.

Fuck how much time had already passed?

I felt a squeeze on my shoulder and turned my attention back to Quinn.

"One step at a time." She whispered so that only I could hear. "We need to get off this roof first. And then we find her."

I swallowed against the lump in my throat.

Had it been that obvious?

There was a slam and the sound of wood cracking. I turned my attention back towards the door and saw a decaying hand pushing its way through a splintering hole, the hand reached blindly until it grabbed at one of Finn's arms. He jumped backwards and the door started to give way.

"Quinn!" Pucked called again. "Finn get your ass back on this door!"

Finn jumped up against the door but it barely pushed back against the growing horde. They moaned in anticipation seeming to sense that they were another step closer to a meal.

Fuck.

I scrambled to the front of the mall. The dumpster and truck would be a great escape route back down. But it was useless. The horde was crawling, stumbling and marching towards the front of the mall. We would have been overcome the second we stepped foot on the ground.

"Fuck." Quinn said from over my shoulder. "Maybe the back? Where the loading docks are?"

I shook my head. "The fall is too high. We'd break our legs at the very least."

Quinn slammed her hands on the ledge. "Fuck!"

There was another smashing sound and we both looked over to see a second hand pushing its way through the door. It grabbed wildly at the air.

"Any help would be wonderful ladies." Puck said just before he slammed his shoulder further against the door. It didn't budge.

Mercedes, Rachel and Kurt came running to door smashing the dead and skinless arms with weapons they must have found lying on the rooftop. Rachel and Mercedes were wielding 2x4's while Kurt swung the golf club Puck had left up here for his daily "driving range target practice".

"We need to think of something." Quinn said. I looked over to see her eyes frantically searching the rooftop. "And we need to think of it fast."

I found myself searching to rooftop as well. Like a ladder would magically appear out of thin air. There was nothing up here, just some sheets of wood Puck had hoisted up here in his insistance that building a cabana would be "a step towards a normal life."

Then my eyes landed on the rope we had been using to pull the supplies up through the skylights. It was a rather clever method developed by our late genius Artie. He suggested using teams to hoist up heavier woods and metals instead of trying to drag it up the narrow staircase. There was still a heavy climbing rope attached to the sheet of wood we had hoisted up a couple of days ago.

I slapped Quinn on the arm and pointed to the rope. We untied it and brought it to the back side of the roof.

"Here." She said as she looped her end of the rope around a thick pipe near the ledge. I looked over the edge saw the back lot completely empty, all the other stupid dead fuckers were rounding the mall to get into the front entrance.

"Go." I said to her.

She grabbed the roped in her hands and climbed to the top of the ledge. She pulled against the rope a couple of times to test its strength before she dropped down to the wall.

"Let's fucking go guys!" I called over my shoulder.

I didn't have to look over my shoulder before Kurt and Rachel were at my side.

"Down the rope." I instructed to them. Pointing over the ledge to Quinn who was already at the bottom and giving us a thumbs up.

Rachel gripped the roped and started her slow and painful decent.

"For fuck's sake Rachel, you have to move faster than that!" I hissed down to her. Her pace seemed to increase ever so slightly until Quinn practically pulled her off the rope and let her fall the last couple of feet.

Kurt was already around the ledge and making his way down before I turned to call for Finn.

Finn, then Mercedes all made it down before I turned back to Sam and Puck who were struggling against the door. It was starting to bow around the edges and it was obvious they were fighting a losing battle. I ran over and used whatever strength I had left to push up against the door.

"Go." I said to Sam when our eyes met.

His brow furrowed for a second and then something in his eyes lightened. "You and Puck should go." He said. "I'm stronger. I can hold it for you guys."

"No way." Puck called over the groans of the undead. "I'm def stronger then you."

Sam scoffed.

"Oh for fuck's sake guys." I said. I turned and pushed my back up against the door, using my legs for leverage. "This really isn't the time for a dick measuring contest."

"Then just go!" Sam yelled.

The door gave away just an inch before we managed to pushed back against it.

"Now!" Sam grunted against the strain.

I locked eyes with Sam. He forced a smile.

I pulled Puck off the door and we sprinted towards the rope. I pushed Puck towards it first. He climbed over, looked over at Sam and the door one last time before made his descent down to Quinn and the others.

I glanced over my shoulder. The door was completely off the hinge now. The undead bodies were starting to push Sam back inch my inch. I could hear his feet digging against the gravel trying to push back but it wasn't working. I second later Sam and the door tumbled forwards. The wood of the door pinning Sam to the roof as the wave of bodies collapsed onto him.

There was all too familar crunch of teeth meeting bone and a blood-curtling scream.

I heard someone scream my name from the ground below. I gave them a quick glance before I turned back towards the scene at the door.

One body in the growing pile looked up at me. It's eyes were black and empty. There was nothing inside of there but I knew it could see me. I knew because it rose to its feet and started scrambling over the others as it limped closer. I climbed onto the ledge and tested the rope one more time before I scambled down the wall.

The fibers dug into my palms but I didn't care. I barely felt it.. I just needed to get away from that smell, to get away from the screaming and to get away from those eyes.

Once my feet hit the ground I started running.

And I didn't stop.

Not until I felt Puck pull at my arm and bring me to a stop did I realize how much distance I hat put between ourselves and the place we had called our home.

Mercedes fell to the ground and put her head between her legs, Puck sat down beside me. I could feel his eyes locked onto me but I ignored him as I looked back at the mall in the distance.

"Sam." Rachel finally managed between breaths.

All eyes fell on me and I shook my head. "If it wasn't for him..." I gestured between Puck and myself.

"I liked him." Quinn said. She straightened herself up and stood proudly.

"You barely knew him." Mercedes said. There was a touch of something in her voice that I couldn't quite place.

"And he barely knew us." Puck said. "But he helped us anyway." I nodded.

The group grew quiet but the air was heavy with the things left unsaid. Sam had died saving people he barely knew for reasons I couldn't explain. Maybe he was just one of those types of people. Those selfless ones. The ones I thought this world wasn't made for.

I turned my back before the group could see the tears threatening in my eyes.

We walked silently, whether I wanted my legs to or not, they had led me down the path left by the convoy that had taken Brittany. We had no where else to go and I had to find her. It went against my basic survial plan. It was the thing I had told myself not to do. Don't get attached. Don't act like a hero. But now here I was. Walking down a road with my misfit band of warriors thinking I'd some how manage to save the girl from the motherfucking army. But it didn't matter to me. I was going to try anyway even if I knew I was going to fail because I had found something more important then surviving.

I had found something worth surviving for.