CHAPTER 33

The next month flew by for Finn. He was having the time of his life, playing football and singing in Glee club alongside his three closest friends. The stars had truly aligned in his life - everything was going surprisingly well. Him and George walked into Glee club one day, and everyone was already there. Mr. Schue was already standing at the front of the room, and George and Finn took their seats.

"Hey everybody. New assignment this week! We are going to be doing duets. I have put you all in duet pairings, as I want you guys to be working with someone you've never sung with before. So, without further ado, when I call your names, sit next to your partner. Understand?"

Everyone nodded, and Mr. Schue started to read names off a sheet of paper.

"So… first of all. George and Quinn."

Quinn smiled to herself and sat next to George. They had gotten pretty close of the past few weeks, and were probably going to get together in the near future.

"Next… Rachel and Mike."

That made sense. The worst singer paired with one of the best. Although Rachel would normally be mad about being paired with a bad singer, she was relatively happy. Because despite how utterly pathetic Mike might be as a singer, he made up for in personality. He was a really nice guy, and him and Tina had been dating for now over a year. Mr. Schue kept on reading names, and Finn waited for his own.

"Harry and Kurt."

"Mercedes and Liam."

"Brittany and Sam."

"Puck and Tina."

Finn's face dropped. Artie was out sick for the week, leaving just one person Finn could be with. Mr. Schue had clearly made it this way, and Finn was NOT happy. Looking across at her, Finn could tell that she knew it too. Sure enough, Mr. Schue announced the final duet pairing.

"Finn and Santana."

Finn put his face in his hands, and the whole Glee club started mumbling excitedly. Santana didn't look too excited about this arrangement either.

"Mr. Schue! You've gotta be kidding!" She spat. Finn agreed.

"Yeah, and besides, we've already sang together some time last year." Finn added. Mr. Schue shook his head.

"Sorry guys. Decisions are final. You will all perform later this week. Good luck!"

Santana stormed out of the room, with tears in her eyes. George put a hand on Finn's shoulder. He had a huge grin on his face as he was very happy about working with Quinn.

"Tough break, man." He said, the smile still painted wide on his face.

"You seem happy." Finn pointed out. "You gonna ask her out?"

George shrugged.

"I don't know, man. Is that OK?"

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you asking me? I'm not your mom." He remarked. George rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Finn. I'm also aware of what she did to you, and if it makes you uncomfortable or angry for us to be dating, I'm not gonna do it. After all, bros before…"

"STOP!" Finn exclaimed, holding a hand up, laughing. "Yeah, dude, all I care about is that you're happy. So if dating her makes you happy, then go right ahead. But just be careful. I wouldn't want what happened to me to happen to you too."

George smiled at his friend.

"Thanks, Finn. I…"

Suddenly, George was cut off when a 'BANG!' echoed from the corridor. Finn's blood ran cold. He knew exactly what the sound was. Everyone jumped up to their feet. They were confused: they didn't know what was going on. Suddenly, a second BANG! Spurred Mr. Schue into motion.

"EVERYBODY, SPREAD OUT AND HIDE! SPREAD OUT AND HIDE! FIND A PLACE TO HIDE!" He shouted. Finn helped Mr. Schue barricade the door with the piano, and cover the windows with blinds. Everyone hid in various hiding places around the room. Finn cut the lights, so the whole room was in darkness. Mr. Schue stood up.

"Everyone!" He whispered. "Start texting, tweeting, let everyone know what's going on. But don't tell them we're here! Shooters have smartphones too. We're all just going to stay here, okay? We've got nowhere to be, we don't know what's out there. I love you guys."

Most people were hiding with their respective boyfriend/girlfriend: George was comforting Quinn, who was sobbing silently; Mike was with Tina; Mercedes was with Sam; Brittany was with Sa… Wait! Where was Santana? Then, Finn remembered. She had stormed out of the room moments before the gunshots. She could be dead by now. Finn turned to Mr. Schue.

"Mr. Schue! Santana!" He whispered, fiercely. Mr. Schue looked around and his eyes widened.

"Oh my god!"

"Well, what do we do? She could be dead by now. I want to go find her. She doesn't have her phone on her" Finn decided, starting to get up, but Mr. Schue roughly pulled him back down.

"FINN! NO! Sit down! You won't be helping anyone by leaving right now. You'll just be exposing our location to the shooter, and putting all of our lives at risk. You want to help? Go sit with Brittany. She looks like she needs a friend right now."

Finn sighed, and crawled over to Brittany, who was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Hey, Britt. You OK?" He asked, putting an arm around her comfortingly. She sniffed and shook her head.

"San… she's…" Brittany couldn't get out a whole sentence without collapsing back into sobs. Finn didn't know what to do.

"Don't worry. She's gonna be fine. Nobody's gonna touch her. And even if they do, she's gonna go all Lima Heights on their asses. She's gonna be fine." He whispered. Brittany didn't believe him, and frankly, neither did he. How was he supposed to say that when she could be bleeding out right this second? Finn quickly scampered back to where Mr. Schue was sitting.

"I'm going." Finn said, simply. Mr. Schue shook his head.

"Finn… I…"

"I'm going, and I'm gonna give you two choices. Choice one is that you let me go, and you take care of the rest of the Glee club. Choice two is I knock you out and go anyways, leaving you unconscious and no help to anyone."

Mr. Schue could tell from Finn's eyes that he was being serious. He sighed.

"Finn, I know I can't stop you. But just know, you're putting everyone's life in danger. Look at them. Look at them." He said, pointing around the room to the petrified New Directions students. Finn saw their faces, and how scared they were, and he very nearly sat back down. He then thought about Santana, and how wherever she was, she was probably ten times more scared as she was alone. He took a deep breath.

"I'm the reason Santana left the room. If she dies, the blood will be on my hands. So I'm going. Even if I have to go through you."

Mr. Schue slowly nodded and stepped back. Finn turned to Kurt.

"Kurt, give me your scarf." He asked, pointing to the scarf around Kurt's neck. Kurt shook his head.

"Um… no. This is a Marc Jacobs scarf. It's expensive!" He exclaimed. Finn rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"Look, I'll replace it if I damage it. Just give me the damn scarf!" He demanded, and Kurt reluctantly took off his scarf, and gave it to Finn. Finn took it, and made his way out the door. Every step he took could be his last, but he didn't care. All that he cared about was finding Santana.

When Santana heard the gunshots, she was sitting on the bleachers outside, sobbing her eyes out. She couldn't believe her luck. Of course she would have to work with Finn! Karma really was a bitch. Suddenly, two gunshots rang out from next to the school gates, and Santana's stomach lurched. She stealthily climbed to the top of the bleachers so that she was looking over the school entrance, and she spied one man with a machine gun, dressed fully in black, complete with a ski mask. Her heart was stampeding like a herd of buffalos. Why didn't she just stay with the rest of the Glee club? They were probably all in the choir room together. She needed to get to them! Santana sprinted away from the field and the bleachers and she tiptoed into the school building from the fire exit.

She walked past a lot of classrooms, trying to open the doors to each one. Of course, all of the doors were already locked, and they just assumed that she was hostile so they wouldn't open the door for her. She started to panic even more as she tried every door on the first floor with no success. She then tiptoed up to the second floor - the floor that the choir room was on - and tried to open every door on that floor - with no success. Santana was on the verge of a breakdown at this point! She may well die in the next hour, and she had so many regrets. She would never get to see Brittany again. Or Finn. She would never be at peace if her lasts words ever said to Finn were in a fight. They actually hadn't spoken since the debacle in Hawaii, despite how terrible Santana felt. She quickened her search. She was three turns away from making it to the choir room door when suddenly, she heard a gun cock from behind her and a voice, clear as day, spoke.

"I suggest you shut up and freeze. That is, unless you want your insides scattered all over the tiles…"

Finn took off his shoes just before he left the choir room, effectively helping him stay silent as he tiptoed through the empty school. It was eerily quiet - all the doors were locked and bolted, and not a single person spoke. Finn realised something. If the doors were locked, there was a very slim chance Santana made it into a classroom! She might still be in the hallways! He kept moving, gripping Kurt's scarf tightly. He approached a bend in the corridor and he cautiously peaked around the corner, weary of the armed shooter that was roaming the halls. When he looked around, his heart stopped, cold. There was a girl on her knees, her back to the shooters, in an execution pose. And it wasn't just any girl. It was Santana!

Finn's heart started pounding like a bongo drum. He could only watch as the man lifted a gun to the back of Santana's head. She was crying and sobbing, too afraid to even scream. Finn knew he had to do something, but what? He probably had a mere second before the man pulled the trigger. Not long enough to reach the man and tackle him. And if he tried to shout to distract the man, there was no telling that the shooter wouldn't just shoot Santana and then turn to Finn. Finn suddenly noticed the man's gun. It wasn't a typical pistol like many of these men used. It was a Desert Eagle - a semi-automatic gun with a huge recoil. If Finn managed to make the man miss the first shot, it would buy Finn enough time to take him down. Finn came to a decision. It wasn't ideal, but he had to do it. And this way, he might actually escape hell and see his mom again in heaven.

"Damn it, Santana." Finn muttered as he hurled himself at, not the shooter, but at Santana, tackling her over. At that moment, he heard a BANG and vaguely felt something pierce his side, but the adrenaline helped him carry on. As soon as the first shot had been fired, Finn lunged at the man, wrapping Kurt's scarf around the shooter's gun hand, isolating it, and then shattering the bones of his arm against Finn's knee. The gun fell limply from the shooter's hand, and Finn immediately punted it far down the corridor. Finally it was an even fight! Finn grabbed the man by his shirt collar and threw him face first into a locker with such force that Finn and Santana heard the faint crunch of a broken nose. But Finn wasn't done yet. He needed to make sure that the man couldn't somehow escape, so he stomped on the man's knee - dislocating it - and then tied the man's hands behind his back with the scarf. Finn finally stepped back and the adrenaline rush that had been fueling him to that point, faded away, leaving him with a searing pain in his stomach. Finn took off his jacket and saw the side of his white shirt transformed a horrifying crimson color. He had been hit, and it didn't look good.

Santana felt like she was in a nightmare, and she was going to wake up any minute now. But as soon as she saw Finn coughing up blood and bleeding out, she forced herself out of her immobile state.

"FINN!" She screamed and ran over to him. "No, no, no, no, you're not dying on me!"

She shoved Finn's jacket roughly on the wound and Finn groaned in pain, coughing up even more blood. Her having a gun pointed at her was nothing compared to the fear she felt watching her best friend bleeding out all over the tiles floor, having taken a bullet that was meant for her.

"Finn, please, stay with me. I'm so sorry for everything. Please, get up. GOD DAMN IT, GET UP, FINN!" She yelled through her sobs. Thankfully, the SWAT team chose that moment to storm the building. They were extremely surprised to see the criminal tied up with 2 limbs broken, but the paramedics immediately swung into action. Finn was in unspeakable pain. It was like being stabbed a thousand times by a blunt spoon. There were no words that even came close to describing the pain he was in. The closest word he could think of was 'red'. Despite how hard he tried to fight it, he could feel himself being sucked into a vortex. Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer. He faded to black. Next stop: the afterlife…

Please Review. Next chapter should be out today or tomorrow. I love you guys. Your reviews make my day! I know it's sad, but it's true. During Corona times, there really isn't that much to do.