Quinn stood frozen, unable to comprehend the sheer size of the ship. It drifted over them slowly, and she felt small, insignificant, like an ant under a magnifying glass.

Dimly, Quinn was aware of people screaming, but all she could do was stand there, staring up at it, her glasses sliding down her nose, and desperately suck in as much air as she could.

"Quinn," Rachel's voice, and the hand that suddenly gripped her's, brought her out of the trance brought on by the ship. She held tightly onto the lifeline of Rachel's hand, so tightly that when she was shoved to the side by a woman running, she felt the bits of skin from that hand under her nails.

She finally looked away from the ship to stare at her hand, and the bits of Rachel she had with her.

Sebastian asked Rachel something, who replied negatively, but the words were muffled and out of focus for Quinn.

There was so much shouting, and screaming. Rachel was now speaking to her, but the crowd, Quinn's own breathing, and her heartbeat combined with that feeling of being underwater, and Quinn had no idea what Rachel was saying.

She felt so small. The world was so small, and there wasn't enough air. Desperate, Quinn started breathing in and out quickly, trying to get as much air as she could before she suffocated.

Someone picked her up and slung her over their shoulder.

It took her several seconds to react -a flip was switched in her brain, and she started saying, "Put me down, put me down, put me down" over and over, gasping for air between words as she viewed the world upside down.

The sight of the ship loomed over her.

She started flailing at whoever was carrying her; her glasses fell off, and the world turned blurry. It turned even more wrong, wrong this was a world where babies died and mothers killed for nothing and aliens who would have thought it'd be aliens had giant ships and there was no way humanity was going to win against them the world was wrong and she couldn't breathe and maybe she didn't want to breath maybe everyone would have been better off if her mother had killed her because this was a world where mothers killed and Beth would have been better off and she couldn't breathe and it was all so so wrong -she slid boneless to the floor, to her knees, staring at the ground and gasping for air, tingles shouting through her body.

"Breath Quinn, just breath," Rachel said gently, sitting down next to her, and placing a delicate hand on Quinn's back, "Slow, deep breaths."

It took several long minutes of kneeling there, gasping for air in gasps that became longer and longer, before she could look up, putting on her glasses as Rachel handed them to her.

Blaine -who Quinn could tell was grateful for the distraction, was banding up Sebastian. There were scratches all over Sebastian's neck and lower back, some deep enough to bleed and Quinn realized he must have been the one carrying her.

Taking deep, slow breaths, Quinn looked around their tent. Sam and Tina were talking in low tones; Brittany had her arms wrapped around Santana, who had her Grandmother's shawl covering her face so no one could see her as she leaned against Brittany's chest.

Sarah, clutching Bacon and a book, sat next to Terri, who was reading quietly to her. When she realized Quinn was looking at them, Terri gave Quinn a tired looking nod.

"Lin took Mrs. Zhou to the medical tent, Sludge is outside the warehouse we are in keeping an eye on things, Violeta, to his displeasure, joined him," Rachel said softly, breathing the words into Quinn's ear.

"June?" Quinn asked slowly.

"She's checking on the animals."

Quinn nodded, letting out a breath of air slowly.

She sat there, just breathing in and out, trying not to think about the sheer size of the ship, or anything but breathing.

They stayed in the tent for nearly three hours, Sludge and Violeta eventually joining them, then leaving again when Sludge went to patrol the fences, and Violeta went to help in the medical tent, the others meandering carefully in and out of their tent as well.

Quinn stayed put.

It was good that Sarah wasn't as freaked out as Quinn had been, Quinn thought as June entered, then left the tent to go help in the clean up.

Quinn went to her bed, and sat on it. She stared at the door as the others milled around their tent, the tension and agitation were so thick Quinn still couldn't breathe.

It was like the sight of that giant ship had flipped a fight or flight switch in everyone's brains. Quinn had even heard rumors that someone had died; Sam said he'd heard that the man had fallen and people had trampled him while Santana had heard he'd seen the ship, then shot himself.

Quinn didn't know what to think. To be honest, she wasn't letting herself think about it at all, it was one of those things that was too scary, too over whelming to think about.

Instead, she watched Sarah play with her necklace (eventually, Rachel and Santana had brought back the pile of presents that had been abandoned).

"What are you doing?" Quinn stood up from the bed she'd been sitting on, and stood next to Sarah.

After a moment's hesitation, Sarah said, "I'm figuring out what I want to take when we have to leave."

Quinn shook her head, "We're not going to have to leave, unless we're going to Iceland but that won't be for a while."

Sarah bit at her a lip; a gesture Quinn was sure she picked up from Quinn herself, while Rachel insisted it was Rachel she picked it up from, and stared down at the pile of things sitting on the bed. She didn't answer Quinn right away, instead she started scratching behind Bacon's ears; the poodle had gotten comfortable on a pile of Sarah's clothes.

"I hope you're right," Sarah finally said slowly, "but it makes me feel...I dunno, better if I have things ready to go just in case."

Quinn nodded, "If that makes you feel better," she pulled the younger girl into a hug, "I swear to you, we'll have a place, a super safe place, where you won't have to worry about ever leaving or zombies. Where you can go to school with other kids and...and where things will be normal again."

Sarah tensed up, "Quinn...things are never going to ever be normal again. Mom and Puck are dead. And, Kyle, and Stevie, and Tiffany and B- a lot of people are dead."

She pulled out of Quinn's arms, and wrapped her arms around Quinn. Quinn knew she'd been about to say Beth's name, and Quinn blinked back tears as their hug ended.

Leaving the younger girl to finish sorting, she went and sat on her bed. She rummaged through her things until she found the photo of her holding a newborn Beth.

She hadn't been able to look at it until now. It sent new, sharp pains of hurt and loss through her.

And guilt. Despite Rachel's words so many weeks ago, she still wondered, especially at night when she was trying to get back to sleep after a nightmare, how thing would have gone if she'd accepted Shelby's words and left the Cochran home alone.

"Santana!" Rachel was saying sharply as she, Santana, and Sebastian entered their tent.

Quinn slid the photo under her pillow, and stood up.

"Group meeting, I'm guessing everyone's getting yelled," Santana drawled as she noticed Sarah's sorting efforts. With a frown, the Latina girl stalked to her.

Rachel and Sebastian were talking in low tones, and Quinn felt a tinge of jealousy as Rachel smiled at Sebastian before turning towards Quinn.

Vince Reynolds ran a hand through his graying hair. He reminded Quinn of her grandfather and a little shiver of sadness went through her. She stood next to Rachel, her -it was hard not to call them her's, group scattered close by. Sarah, clutching Bacon, stood in front of Rachel, gazing solemnly at Reynolds.

He stood on the roof of an army vehicle that was occasionally used to gather supplies, and surveyed the gathered crowd. "We've got over a dozen people injured, and one dead -Marcus Anders. Rest in peace. He had a heart attack because the sight of that ship was too much for him. Let's have a moment of silence." He resumed speaking after a minute, "We're sending a group to follow it, our best guess so far is that it was heading for Chicago. Which makes sense, given what we know. I'm disappointed in the reaction you all had -we're on double patrol, and we're going to go over the evacuation and emergency procedures at random times during the next two weeks, so stay alert for the alarms. Dismissed."

Kitty caught Quinn's eye, and nodded at her. Quinn took a deep breath, then whispered to Rachel "I'm going to go workout with Kitty,".

"I have fence duty. Will you be able to meet for dinner later?" Then stared expectantly at Quinn.

"Yeah, of course," Quinn managed a smile.

"Don't let her push you too hard, it's been a trying day for all of us." Rachel stood on her tiptoes, and gently kissed Quinn goodbye.

Sue had standards for the Cheerios -rigorous standards. Standards that were even higher for Quinn Fabray, Captain, because Quinn needed to be the best of the best, to show the other girls every second she had the uniform on that she was worthy of being their captain, their leader, and what they aspired to.

Quinn had no idea how much she had let Sue down over the years, but if she had to guess she'd go with "a lot".

She went down, her forehead nearly touching the ground, before struggling to push herself back up again. Her arms were sore and wobbly, but she wasn't going to stop until she had done fifty pushups, even if it took her all night because she had to take a ton of breaks.

The rain fell lightly on her, and the mud squished in between her fingers.

"Come on Quinn," Kitty said dryly, from a dozen feet ahead of Quinn. She stood, stretching, while Quinn plodded towards her after finishing her pushups.

Quinn was seriously out of shape.

And, despite the fact that she had definitely lost weight since September, she felt gross. She was pretty sure it was muscle she'd lost.

So she'd started exercising with Kitty in addition to the training they'd been doing.

Rachel had told her what Kitty had said when they'd first arrived. And Quinn had heard some of the other things the girl had said to other people.

She reminded Quinn of herself, before Quinn went all skankified, except more blunt.

Kitty was blunt enough, in fact, that she'd, the third or so day that Quinn was being a useless lump, except standing up instead of bed, had straight up called Quinn pathetic.

"You're pathetic" Kitty said flatly, her eyes narrowing at Quinn. Quinn had climbed some shelving and was perched in a corner of the warehouse, up high and not expecting any company. Which is what she'd wanted. She'd been trying to work on the sketch she was going to give Santana and Brittany, but it was too hard to work on Tiffany's part of the sketch.

"Excuse me?" She stared at the girl, not even really able to work up any anger at the intrusion or words. Goodness knows she'd called herself much worse.

"Stop…stop acting like this. Dear Lord, I can't believe I wanted to be you. Quinn Fabray, head cheerleader, lead the Cheerios to three national championships and an international placing. Do you know how long I had been talking my parents to moving to your dinky town so I could join the Cheerios?"

"Everyone handles it differently, I -" Quinn knew that everyone was probably thinking, or talking, about how pathetic she was handling this. She knew it. Kitty was just confirming it.

"I've lost everyone Quinn. Everyone. All I've got is a boy I've been with for a few months. I barely know Artie, but I've basically married him at this point because he's all I got. When I lost my parents, I asked myself, "What would Quinn Fabray do?" Hell, I find one of those diy kits and made myself a bracelet that said 'W.W.Q.F.D?It got me up in the morning, kept me from committing the worst sin," Quinn's last pair of glasses sat weirdly on her face, and they were constantly dirty and there was a noticeable scratch on one lens, but even then, Quinn could see the tears rolling down Kitty's cheeks as the girl continued, "I was impressed with Rachel, and figured you must have been an amazing kick ass person if she was going to threaten my life for you. I have been so so disappointed with everything I've seen about you."

The other girl seemed to deflate. Quinn swallowed hard, and set down her sketchpad and pencil, and stared at her. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry I'm not living up to your expectations," she finally said dryly, "but I'm not a super hero. I was just a cheerleader, and then I wasn't even that. I'm not Jesus, and you shouldn't have made that bracelet."

"Just a cheerleader? Quinn Fabray, just a cheerleader?" Kitty stared up at Quinn incredulously, then started rattling off Quinn's stats. Finishing with, "And that was all before you were 16. Sure, you had a bit of a blip when you were in your sophomore year, but..."

"I got pregnant in my Sophomore year Kitty," she said, her voice wavering. She willed herself not to think about Beth, "And I wasn't planning on rejoining the Cheerios senior year. That part of my life was done."

She wasn't sure if she'd shown Kitty yet that she was no one worth putting on a pedestal -of course, it'd taken a lot for Quinn to shake her worship of Frannie, and she still wasn't sure that if she'd seen her sister again, her medicated sister, she still wouldn't fall back under her sister's spell.

It helped that Quinn had absolutely failed to protect and keep safe her niece and nephew, as horrible as it sounded. Their blood, like so many others, were on her hands. She'd never be able to face Frannie with that blood on her hands...at least, not a reasonable, healthy, medicated Frannie.

The monster Frannie that had killed Mack...well, sometimes Quinn wasn't sure if she wasn't a monster too. Maybe they'd been a family of monsters.

Her thoughts were going to weird places tonight; Kitty was jogging a few feet ahead of her with a determined look on her face, clearly not in the mood for conversation.

Quinn needed to think of something that wasn't her sister, her family, her failures, or the ship.

Rachel.

She smiled, thinking about Rachel. Kitty turned out, the setting sun making her glow, and smirked at her, like Kitty knew what -who, Quinn was thinking about.

Face flushing, Quinn forced herself to move faster; the sooner they finished their run, the sooner Quinn could get back to Rachel.

Her friendship with Mack had started from the other girl pitying Rachel. Likewise, her friendship with Sebastian had started in a similar way, except it had been Rachel doing the pitying for once.

Of course, it had helped that she found him incredibly attractive. Much in the same way she had found Jesse St. James...of course, Sebastian was much more pleasing to the eye then Jesse.

And there was much more substance to Sebastian then there had been to Jesse.

And it hadn't taken long for Rachel to shove her way past his outer layers and find his hidden depths; depths that Quinn and Santana both seemed skeptical of.

"What do you think they're going to find?" Sebastian shoved the spear tip into the eye socket of a male zombie.

Rachel knew it was male because it was completely naked.

He pulled the spear out with what, at one time, would have been a nauseating noise. The zombie didn't fall, and with a quiet grunt he shoved the spear through the zombie's neck.

"Another one of those weird neck ones," he muttered.

"We have been seeing more and more of them. Odd," Rachel jammed her spear into the eye socket of a swollen zombie in a black gimp suit, frowning, then giving a satisfied nod when it fell, "My assumption, given what we know of the spheres, the ship will be a collection point for resources gathered by them. Of course, it is difficult to know for sure."

"Right," Sebastian jammed his spear into the eye of a zombie that reminded her of Sarah. They both stared at it's limp form, and Sebastian sighed.

"It would be nice if this was as if in the movies; rarely do you see child zombies in them," Rachel said quietly.

"A lot of things would be nice," Sebastian looked down at her, staring into her eyes, a frown marring his face.

"You'll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that," Rachel pointed out.

He snorted, "It'll give me character. Look...does Quinn get like that a lot?"

"Like what?" She knew what he meant, of course.

"Blaine said something that made me think she gets those panic attacks a lot. Does she?"

"I would not say she gets them often enough to call them 'a lot', no."

"Like, has she ever gotten one when you were fighting a herd? I mean..." He trailed off.

"Quinn has, in my experience, always been a very capable fighter. I'm sure Santana has told you about their experience on the first day." Rachel jabbed the spear neatly into the eye socket of an otherwise unremarkable zombie wearing an infant sling. Whatever was in the sling had stained it with fluids, and it was very lumpy and...wiggly. She had to stop staring at it, sure she would throw up if she continued.

"She mentioned that yeah. Does that..." he nodded at the wiggly sling, "remind you of your first day?" Sebastian asked quietly, as he jammed his spear into the sling, mercifully stopping the grotesque wiggling.

She swallowed, remembering the blood stained infant carriers worn by the yoga mommies, the crying the lead them there, and her father telling her not to look.

The feeling of disappointment, knowing that she was once more an only child.

Then, knowing she was an orphan.

She had felt so alone.

Mack had certainly been a great, if moderately unwanted (how she cringed at herself for pushing the other girl away at first, in favor of Finn), comfort to her.

She liked to think that Mack and Sebastian would have been friend too.

She sighed, "Yes."

He slung an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close, her head barely coming up to his shoulder, "We should be heading back pretty soon, I think I see our replacements."

Indeed, there were two forms walking towards them, still some distance away.

"Are you on clean up duty in the morning with me?"

"Yup," he popped the p sound, making her roll her eyes at him, as he grinned at her, "traded for it. Not that it was hard to trade, no one wants to do it."

She frowned at him reproachfully, even though a wave of gladness went through her. "It is a messy, but necessary task. You did not have to join me."

"I know Rach, but I wanted to," he shrugged, and gave her a delightful grin.

"Sebastian, please call me Rachel," she said pointedly, and put the tip of her spear through the eye socket of a zombie that had on an atrocious Christmas sweater on.

"Whoa, that is one ugly sweater...even before it was covered in zombie goo and that bloating," Sebastian echoed her thoughts, and she beamed at him.

She wished that they had met sooner; it would have been nice to have someone she connected with. She had no doubts he would have grounded her more diva like behavior in glee club, and likely, seeing her friends with him would have made it easier for others to warm up to her.

And unlike with her friendship, such as it was, with Kurt, there would have been no rivalry or at least very little -Sebastian had no intention of a performance career, he'd joined the Warblers because he assumed it would annoy his father (it had) and that it would make it easier for him to find boys who swung his way (it did). He'd made some friends, or at least starts to friendships with most of the boys on the Warblers and had been well on his way to taking over leadership of the Warblers (his father's condition for staying in the group).

Of course, he'd then watched all those boys, and a considerable portion of Dalton, die.

She very much doubted there was many among them that hadn't seen a friend, neighbor, or loved one die at this point.

"So, I've decided," Sebastian twirled his spear elegantly, before thrusting it suddenly into the neck of a zombie that was so distorted Rachel could not tell if it had been male or female before death, "That Terri is my favorite person after you."

The zombie fell, and struggled to stand up, only accomplishing twitching that sent the bulbous swollen flesh jiggling. Rachel quickly jabbed it into the eye socket to its brain, before the sight made her through up.

"I would have made the assumption that Blaine would be second, or first actually," Rachel paused for a second to smile at him, then resumed spearing a clutch of zombies. There was another clutch a few feet away that Sebastian was taking care of.

"Blaine's..." Sebastian shrugged, "Blaine doesn't count. I'm not sure...I mean, I like him, but it seems like people are already expecting us to trade rings and jump over a broom. I don't know if I...anyway, he's definitely third in general, and the male I like most... " he trailed off.

Rachel decided to table that conversation for later.

"Why Teri?"

"I think she's funny, and she's pretty determined. She kinda reminds me of you, actually, but you're way scarier than her. And-"

"Hey, we're here." A deep voice said, and both Rachel and Sebastian turned to see their replacements. A tall man, and a woman shorter then Rachel.

"Geeze," the woman sighed in a nasally voice, "there's a lot of them out here."

"Bet there's more because they sent the sphere off with the teams," the man replied as Sebastian handed him his spear.

Rachel gave hers to the woman, and leaving the pair to their task, Sebastian and Rachel headed back towards the others.

"It has been a week, and there has been zero contact with the team that was sent out...either team, although I doubt any one expects to hear anything about the team sent to the airport since it was only yesterday," Rachel was musing, a worried look on her face.

Quinn nudged Rachel's arm, and kept doodling on it, silent.

She had a bad feeling in her stomach about the team that was sent out a week ago, but as neither of them warranted being kept updated about those things, she was ignoring the feeling. She hoped that the team sent to fetch a group that was whole up at an airport a few hundred miles away -a group that maintained they had several pilots with them, were successful, as that meant they would be going to Iceland much sooner than anyone had expected.

Things had settled back into normal -or what passed for normal these days. True to Vincent's word, they had, as a group, all...Quinn wasn't sure exactly, but counting the teams that had left, somewhere over a hundred people, gone over the emergency and evacuation procedures so many times Quinn was sure she could do it in her sleep.

Undeterred by Quinn's silence, Rachel kept talking; "I quite like the drawing of Lord Tubbington you have done -even if it appears upside down to me. Have you meet the people Kitty's group found the other day?"

Biting her lip as she concentrated on the rose Rachel had requested, Quinn let out a soft, "No. Santana mentioned she talked to a few of them."

Rachel nodded, "Yes. She says the red haired woman who came with them was really quiet, but the other's were nice enough, abet rather shell shocked," she let out a small laugh, careful not to move her arm, "It is rather unreal that out of all of us, Santana is the one who is the friendliest?"

Quinn looked up, and gazed into Rachel's eyes, smiling softly, "And you're the one who's the most..."

"Practical? Untrusting? I would hardly think that's surprising, Quinn."

"True, you did send a girl to a crack house."

"Former crack house. And will you please tell Brittany and Santana -although I'm sure it's been mostly Santana, to stop telling people that? I" Quinn interrupted her with a kiss, capping the marker and dropping it on the bed -their bed, as she did so.

Quinn finally pulled away when Rachel's feather light fingers brushed over the scar on her face.

"You aren't the only one with scars Quinn," to emphasize her point, Rachel pulled her sweater off, reveling that she only had a white baggy tank top on under it, and gestured to the large scar on her shoulder.

"That's different Rachel," Quinn looked down.

She avoided thinking about her face. She was ugly now -and no matter how much Rachel or Santana or Brittany or anyone told her, she knew that for sure.

"I think, perhaps we should stop thinking for a while..." Rachel trailed off, hesitant. She didn't want to push Quinn.

Maybe sometimes Quinn needed a push.

Taking a deep breath, Quinn kissed her again.

Exhausted, Quinn nuzzled Rachel's neck, smiling into it.

That was…that was much, much better then her previous sexual experiences. It wasn't that it was her first time with another woman, it was also, simply, Rachel herself.

"Sing to me," she whispered huskily into Rachel's ear.

"I am very sure I would not be able to stand," Rachel sighed contently, sending a bush through Quinn.

"So sing to me laying down Rachel. I miss hearing your voice."

"It would not sound right, and I do not know any songs appropriate to the situation."

Quinn giggled, and wondered if it was possible to be drunk on a person. Maybe she was..she was love drunk. That was a saying, a thing, right?

"Sing Don't Rain on My Parade. Please," she breathed into Rachel's ear, and ran a gentle finger along the hickey's she'd made on Rachel's neck. She kissed Rachel on the biggest hickey she'd made, and whispered, "I can make it worth your while."

Rachel giggled, and it was amazing, "I am fairly certain you could not make it any more worth my while. I am whiled out."

Feeling a sudden surge of jealously, Quinn asked quietly, "Was I better then…Finn?"

Rachel laughed, loudly, trailing off into a giggle before finally saying, "Finn? Finn never gave me an orgasm….was I better then…Noah?"

"Way better. And you didn't have to get me drunk on wine coolers do to it. You're better than anyone I've been with. Just one other guy, I don't even remember his name."

"Did he get you drunk on wine coolers as well? I wish I had known Puck was the type to do that, that as terrible and I am so-"

"It's fine Rachel. I wasn't drunk…I'd only drunk one, even if I had ate something all that day…well, I wasn't drunk. It was…is, just easier to blame Puck," she sat up, so she could look more easier into Rachel's eyes…even if the girl herself was blurry, since Quinn's glasses were neatly folded up on the end table, "I…I just wanted to feel normal, I wanted to control something in my life. And what's more normal then a teenage girl having sex with a teenage boy? I choose to have sex with him. It was the worst and best choice of my life."

"I…" Rachel said quietly, "I wonder, sometimes, what would have happened if Finn had gotten me pregnant. I only regret having sex with him in that I did not get pregnant…but seeing what Terri…you," Rachel whispered, "have gone through, I know it's for the best I did not. Now I simply regret being such a foolish teenage girl, and having sex with the first boy who paid me any attention. I wish you had been my first."

"I wish you had been my first too…" Quinn sighed. She wasn't going to mention Beth; or anything else relating to her conception.

"Well, technically, I am the first woman you slept with. Not the first you have kissed, however. Mack, and a few others…including some Cheerios?" Rachel smirked at her.

"Who told you that? Santana…no, it was Mack, wasn't it?"

Rachel laughed, "Yes."

"Would...would you have sex with Sebastian if he wanted too and you and I weren't together?" Quinn asked without thinking.

"He is gay, and I am taken so it is a moot point Quinn," Rachel said patiently.

Quinn felt possessive at her words, and that made her want to dig deeper, "But if you weren't taken?" The thought of anyone else kissing Rachel made her want to scratch out their eyes.

She'd never felt like this with anyone before -her previous relationships were all about image, and she did what she had to do to keep those relationships, but she hadn't felt the feeling towards them she felt towards Rachel.

"Sebastian is gay Quinn," Rachel repeated patiently.

"He's the one that insists sexuality is fluid, Rachel."

"I am quite sure he says that to get under other's skin. He's flirty, but I sincerely doubt he would have sex with a woman."

"You did," to impress her point, Quinn laid a quick kiss on Rachel's neck.

"Yes, but I had accepted that I was bisexual already -I did not dare come out while in high school, given I already had enough issues with the student body," Rachel snuggled closer to Quinn.

Quinn decided to make a conscious choice to not think about this -she trusted Rachel, even if she didn't quite trust Sebastian.

"I'm glad we have been taking things slow..." Quinn whispered.

"Me too...it feels -at least to me, like we have been together for a very long time, but our relationship is rather new."

"Yeah, I feel like that too Rachel. I can't believe how much time we wasted not being together..."

They laid there in content silence, until Rachel sighed, and said, "Frankly, I am surprised that we have not been interrupted...we should clean up, because I am quite sure it is only a matter of time until someone returns to our tent."

"We should probably start cleaning up..."

"As soon as I can move," Rachel giggled.

And that, in turn, made Quinn giggle.

For the moment, Quinn felt free and happy.

Santana and Sebastian were the first to return to their tent, as Quinn was remaking their bed while Rachel was bundling their dirty laundry up to be washed soon, probably tomorrow. They had taken a quick shower, (there were solar showers set up, it wasn't amazing but it was better than nothing) and changed, and were going to get food after they were done.

Santana stopped mid sentence, and stared at them, a smirk on her lips. Quinn's face flamed, and she darted a glance at Rachel to see she was bushing too.

Santana "Well, wel-"

"Don't." Sebastian said quietly, "Leave them alone Santana."

Santana glared at him, "Ferret, I have been waiting for this, I-"

"Are you that bored?" Sebastian interrupted her smoothly, then smirked at Santana, "Or is Brittany holding out so you need to get your jollies elsewhere?"

"We've been getting our jollies just fine Ferret face," Santana snipped.

Quinn let out a soft sigh at the looks, the silent communication that Sebastian and Rachel shared.

They were friends.

She shouldn't be the only person in Rachel's life that mattered to Rachel, the only person Rachel talked too or laughed with. That wasn't healthy, and it was unrealistic.

Sure, Sebastian was handsome, and their relationship was almost as new as Quinn and Rachel's relationship. And of course, Rachel liked men to and Sebastian certainly kept talking about how sexuality was fluid..She wasn't going to be a jealous weirdo who didn't let Rachel have anyone besides her. Sometimes Sebastian was kinda annoying, but he and Rachel seemed to get each other, and sometimes Quinn thought he was funny, and -although she'd never admit it, Quinn was a little amused that they were even friends. He and Rachel got each other, and that's all that mattered.

Like she and Santana got each other, even though their friendship had its ups and downs.

Friends. She knew how important her friendship with Sebastian was to Rachel, even if they hadn't spoken about that directly; the closest they'd come was their conversation about sex earlier -because Quinn was ashamed of herself for being jealous.

Sebastian was always trying to talk to her -it sent irritation down Quinn's back every time.

Although not as much as him flirting with her did, she though, annoyed as he shot a too handsome smile at her.

"Quinn and I were just going to get dinner," Rachel said as Quinn sat down to tie her boots.

"Sarah's with Terri right now but I promised to show her some Cheerio drills, shouldn't take too long, we'll meet you here later," Santana said, smirking at Quinn knowingly. As soon as Santana cornered her, she'd want all the details. Quinn was already dreading it; she wanted time to process their first sexual experience, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it to anyone -and Santana didn't take a no lightly.

Showing Sarah some Cheerio drills had taken way longer then Santana thought it would; the sun was setting as, grinning happily, the trio (because of course that poodle was with them) headed back to their tent.

They were just entering when the warning noises went off -then cut off abruptly.

Sarah's eyes widened, "Santana," she whimpered as she darted to her bed, and began gathering her things.

"They've broken in -there's so many of them...how the hell did they get in the fences? Evacuate! Get a car, and get away!" A voice shouted through the intercom -the intercom that had previously not been used because it was loud, too loud. The words seemed to vibrate through Santana's bones.

Her knee ached.

She scrambled for her gun, telling herself that Brittany and Quinn and Sam and Tina and the others knew where to meet.

"They'll be at the cars when we get there," she muttered to herself as she shoved bullets into her coat pocket with shaky fingers, then slung her bat over her shoulder.

She let out an angry growl, and wrapped Queenie up in her shawl -she wondered, for a moment, when she'd started calling it her shawl and not her Abuela's shawl. She shoved the shawl and stuffed unicorn in the front of her jacket, and scrambled for the drawing Quinn had done for her and Brittany's wedding present, shoved it, frame and all, in the front too, then zipped her coat up.

Bulky, but workable.

"I'm ready," Sarah said, "Do you need more time? Or should we wait for the others?"

Santana looked at the pile of her quilting -then at her bear skin, and finally at Brittany's half finished blanket she'd been knitting for Tina and Sam's baby -she hooked the basket that Brittany used for her current projects in an arm, and then turned to Sarah.

Sarah's backpack was on, and she had Bacon slung in a travel dog purse thing on her front. She looked awkward with both things and her bow and arrows, plus a hunting knife she clutched in her free hand.

"Let's go to the cars," Santana said, gritting her teeth. She'd stay calm for Sarah. She picked up the gun, it's weight heavy in her hand, and lead Sarah out the tent.

They carefully stepped through the warehouse, and outside.

There was screaming. Screaming and the scent of death was so thick Santana could almost taste it.

Santana didn't know where Brittany was, she didn't know where Quinn was, where Rachel or Shawn or anyone else was. She held tightly onto Sarah's hand, panic and anger cursing through her, leading the girl to the cars, wishing the parking lot was closer.

There was so much screaming and shooting.

She hadn't fired her gun yet.

It was clutched in her left hand. If she needed to, she'd drop it and grab her bat. She had bullets shoved in a pocket.

They were almost to the cars.

Sarah wasn't crying; the kid seemed resigned and it made Santana even more pissed off.

Of course, Sarah had been expecting this to happen.

Santana was going to miss that bear fur, and the quilt she'd almost finished.

Santana wanted to cry; she wanted to stand here, sob and sob and scream and then go look for Brittany and everyone she knew.

She had to make sure Sarah got to a car, and they got to the evacuation point.

She had to hope the others would get there too.

There were so many zombies, everywhere. Santana didn't know how'd they'd gotten in -if there was a breech in the fences or something, there shouldn't be so many.

So much screaming.

So much gun fire.

Santana grit her teeth, and pulled Sarah along. They were almost there. They'd get to the cars, pick up anyone they could on the way out, get to the evacuation meet point, and everyone would be fine.

Santana felt rain start hitting her, and it made her irrationally annoyed; now, on top of everything else, they were going to have to deal with it raining too?

Sarah stopped

Santana turned around to snarl something at the young girl, taking precious seconds to stop.

A blossom of blood bloomed on Sarah's chest.

"Noo! No!" Santana spat out.

It wasn't rain -it was a mist of Sarah's blood that had hit her.

Sarah fell limply forward.

Santana let go of her hand, falling to her knees.

Santana survived a bullet wound, so could Sarah. She'd be okay. They'd be okay. Santana tried to find her pulse.

There was so much blood pooling around Sarah. So much.

Bacon was silent and still.

Either the bullet had gotten him too, or Sarah's fall forward, landing on him, had.

Santana sat there, tears streaming down her face. She tried, over and over again to find Sarah's pulse, telling herself that she was just crap at finding pulses, that Sarah had one and Santana could find it.

They had been so close to the cars; some idiot who shouldn't have had a gun had killed Sarah.

She'd kill them, she'd find who it was, kill them, then she'd get into a car, meet with the others.

She let out a sob; she couldn't stop crying.

She hurt so much.

There was still so much screaming.

Santana knew, in the back of her mind, she should leave Sarah...Sarah's body. Soon.

She couldn't though; she couldn't do anything but sit there and sob over the last child in her life. A child who hadn't even been killed by a zombie, but by accident.

By now, she was sobbing, and gasping for air.

A hand touched her shoulder, still sticky with blood. She jerked away, with a little scream.

"Santana...what..." Sebastian trailed off, noticing Sarah's body. "Oh." He swallowed heavily, and bent down, "Santana, we'll bury her, we will come back and bury her. But we have to leave now. Okay?"

When Santana didn't reply, he gently grabbed her wrist. Santana let out another little scream in between sobs, and tried to pull away from him.

"Sebastian? Have you seen Ra- Santana? Is that...Sarah?" Quinn's voice went through a range of emotions, and all Santana could do was let out another scream that dissolved into a sob.

"They've broken in -there's so many of them...how the hell did they get in the fences? Evacuate! Get a car, and get away!" A frantic voice came through the intercom, interrupting what Kitty had been about to say.

"I need to find Artie," Kitty nodded towards the cars "We'll meet you at the evacuation point. Don't stop at your tent -just kill as many as those things as you can, and meet us there okay? Rachel and everyone else should be doing the same thing -they'll be fine."

Quinn nodded, she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, set down her laundry basket, and drew her machete.

Get to the cars.

She and Rachel had split up after they'd eaten dinner, and Quinn had gone with Kitty to get a load of laundry done each -a somewhat complicated process that required two people. They had been lugging their wet clothes back to the warehouses when the voice had come over the intercom.

Quinn never went anywhere without her machete.

Mostly because Kitty never went any where without several weapons, and it made Quinn feel inadaquate, like Kitty was judging her and anyone who didn't carry a weapon at all times.

Rachel carried her rifle on her back as much as possible; it wasn't practical if she was cleaning the fences, but she had it with her most of the time.

Quinn couldn't remember if she had it with her now; Quinn couldn't remember what Rachel said she'd be doing after dinner -Quinn had been focusing on Rachel's lips so hard, her fingers itching to draw them, to touch them.

She swallowed down her fear, and nodded at Kitty.

"Be safe, be smart, and breath," Kitty said, then darted away.

Quinn watched her leave, taking deep breaths.

It was easier to breath, somehow, once she got moving towards the cars, killing zombies along the way.

Slice, dice, stab, jab.

She's in a pattern, getting closer and closer to the cars, helping who she could and hopefully the others, when she saw Sebastian bent over someone.

"Sebastian? Have you seen Ra- Santana? Is that...Sarah?" All the air was gone, and Quinn just stared at Sarah's body.

"We have to go," Sebastian said, panic coming through him. He tossed Santana over his back, making her start screaming and flailing wildly at his back, and then he grabbed Quinn's hand and pulled her a few feet towards the cars.

Quinn closed her eyes, and tried to get the sight of the tiny body out of her mind.

She couldn't remember how to breath -all she could think about was Rachel's reaction to finding out about Sarah's death.

Rachel was on the edge of something great and terrible, and Quinn wasn't sure if this was what was going to push Rachel over the edge to somewhere she wouldn't be able to come back from.

"Quinn! Damn it," Sebastian roared over Santana's screaming sobs. There was no trace of smoothness, of flirtyness in his voice -just raw fear.

She opened her eyes, taking a deep gasp of air to see Sebastian fending off two zombies, and more were quickly closing in on them.

She raised her machete, and slammed it through the back of the neck of the zombie closest to her. Then, as Sebastian smacked at the other with his hockey stick, she sliced it's ankles, making it fall, and giving him a better angle to end it.

Santana clocked him with her gun handle, and he dropped her. She fell to her knees, hard, dropping her gun.

Quinn picked it up, and shoved it in Brittany's knitting basket after gently tugging it from Santana's arm.

"Grab her Sebastian, we need to run," Quinn said flatly.

He let out a pained moan, but did as she asked.

They ran.

The first car was a small tan Toyota that looked older then Quinn and Santana put together.

She was ahead of Sebastian, so she got to the car first. After a quick glance to make sure they were okay, and still a few feet behind her, she opened the passenger side door, slid the seat forward, then darted around the car to the driver's side.

It was a policy -for emergencies, to keep the vehicles unlocked and keys in them on the dash.

She dropped her gore covered machete on her lap, and groped for the keys, barely visible in the setting sun.

She was shoving them into the ignition when Sebastian tossed Santana into the back seat, then jumped in after her, pulling the door closed.

Santana was sobbing quietly, her arms wrapped around herself.

Quinn took a deep breath, and started the car.

They all would be there. well, she thought, swallowing down a sob that was threatening to form, almost all of them would be there.

Brittany stared at Rachel with wide eyes, the bus they were crowded in felt as though it was moving far too slowly for them both.

Rachel was scribbling on a note pad, making a list of items they would need to replace -she had her rifle, father's jacket, spare ammo, oiling kit, and toiletries that were always kept in the messenger bag, the one Berry family photo she also always kept in the bag, and various weapons on her person. It had been luck that the bag, rifle, and jacket were on Rachel's person when the evacuation order had come through, as there had not been time to return to their tent -the people whom were at eating area, either eating or helping with cleanup as Rachel had been, had been herded into a bus straight away. A few foolish people had instead went off on their own.

She would like, at some point, to be able to return to the base and gather those things that could not be replaced, but as much it would hurt to lose her father's quilt, if it was too dangerous to return then that was that.

"Do you think they're on their way too?" Brittany whispered, locking eyes with Tina who was sitting in the seat across the aisle from them with Sam.

"Yes. I am quite sure they will all be at the evacuation point Brittany," Rachel replied primly, furrowing her brow as she added 'drawing supplies' for Quinn to her list.

"What if they aren't Rachel," Terri said quietly from next to June.

Rachel looked up at Terri without lifting her head, knowing it almost made it seem as if she was glaring at the older woman, "They will be. I am certain."

Rachel wasn't going to allow herself to think otherwise -which was why she was making a list, to occupy her mind since there was nothing else to do but worry.

They would all be there.

They had to be.

A/N: One more chapter left; it worked out better as two chapters. Final chapter should be up in a weekish.

I will freely admit I skimmed or skipped most of the new gleeks stuff in the last few seasons of Glee, but I checked out Kitty's highlights, and I absolutely adore how much she admires Quinn.

Quinn and Rachel had sex- I originally had the actual sex scene written out, but ultimately I decided not to include it because I think the chapter, and their interactions, flowed better without the sex itself.

RIP Sarah (and Bacon, the poodle). (If her death upsets you enough you don't want to finish the story, I ask you to please read the last chapter before you decide that.)

Let me know what you think, and what you hope to see in the sequel! (And who!)