A/N: Hello y'all! Hope you enjoy and thanks for readin'! :3

Disclaimer: Still ain't mines...


After everyone is finally done with their dinner, and are all gathered and settled around the large living-room Noah, Brittany, and myself make our way to the front of the room near the fireplace to address the apprehensive group. They all look at us questioningly and a few of them are about to start speaking at once so I hold my hand up authoritatively to keep them silent. Surprisingly it works and they keep their mouths shut, but that doesn't stop the agitation from overtaking their faces or the anxious movements as they fidget impatiently in their seats.

"I know you all must have questions and we're happy to answer them if, and only if, you ask them one at a time and act like the young adults and adults that you all are," I inform them firmly. There's no time for the usual choir-room games or drama right now. Everyone has a different look covering their face as they all slowly nod their consent, and Tina hesitantly raises her hand.

"Tina!" Brittany chirps out bubbly while pointing at the confused goth.

"Um…I'm still kind of curious about where you three got so many guns from, and also why exactly you're letting two 13 year olds handle them," she tells us quietly, most likely scared that I'm going to blow up on her like I did Shue. I sigh deeply at this and Noah decides to step in and answer this one.

"Rachel has a few gun cabinets downstairs in the basement that are full. These guns specifically are our personal guns that we've trained with since we were younger, and as for the reason that we're letting Jake and Kelly have their guns…," Noah pauses briefly to sigh and run his hand through his mo-hawk before continuing. "It's the end of the world as we know it. Things are changing fast and we've gotta change with it just as fast. They've been training with us since they were younger, and just like my Jewbabe said earlier they're more responsible with them than most adults are."

"Wait, trained? What were you guys training for," Sam questions as soon as Noah's finished speaking, rubbing the back of his neck while looking between the three of us, plus Jake and Kelly, in bewilderment.

"This," Brittany answers simply with a nonchalant shrug. "Or something similar," she tacks on at everyone's shocked and confused gaping. Seeing as we're moving along at a snail's pace in this specific conversation and wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible I finally step in to explain it further.

"My father Hiram used to work for the CDC," Finn stares at me in even further confusion at hearing this so I refrain from rolling my eyes in exasperation and say, "It stands for the Center for Disease Control, Finn. When we were younger, probably around 6 or 7, the CDC started messing around with a disease and working to create a 'superhuman' of sorts. It deeply unsettled my father who immediately became weary of their work, and because of this he started looking into all the possible outcomes and training us. He never told us specifically what the training was for, always just calling it survival training when we were growing up because my father's felt as if we were too young to know the truth. Thanks to my daddy being a Marine and my dad's knowledge of what was going on inside the CDC itself they taught us everything they knew, which was quite a bit. They taught us to shoot at the age of 9 as well as multiple forms of discipline training and martial arts, and we've developed extensive survival plans over the years that should be more than solid. When we turned 13 my fathers' felt like that was finally a good age to tell us the real reasons for our training, and of course we didn't believe them. Who would? We, of course, continued our training anyway because we thought it was cool and fun to pretend even if we thought my dads' were slowly losing it. Once Jakob and Kelly turned 7 they started training them as well, when they weren't focused on us three; hence why we're comfortable letting them handle guns. They've been working with them for around 6 years now," I finish as I take a few deep breaths and allow my rant to sink in. I may have forgotten to properly breathe in my haste to explain.

"Seriously, B? You've been 'training' with Puckerman and Berry since you were 7 and you never bothered to tell me? Why?" Santana demands with hurt flashing in her dark eyes. I feel Britt tense at my side and when I glance over at her she has an almost broken look on her face.

"Please don't be mad at me, Santi! I promise I wanted to tell you, but Hiram and Leroy told me not to. I'm sorry," Britt pleads with her girlfriend, trailing off sadly with a small sniffle. I reach over and take her hand comfortingly for a moment before dropping it hastily at the burning looks that I receive from both Santana and Quinn.

"It's ok, Britt-Britt. I'm not mad. Just confused," Santana tells her softly from her seat after glaring dangerously at me. I can't help my small chuckle as I feel Britt relax beside me before focusing my attention on Artie.

"So, is that why your house is so armored up?" He questions me in interest as he pushes his glasses up his nose and looks around at the metal covered windows.

"Oh, dude. Trust me, this isn't nothing," Noah tells Artie excitedly as he slightly bounces on the balls of his feet and I smirk at both Noah's excitement and Artie's confusion.

"Yeah, Artie! Wait until you see her lake house. It's so amazing," Brittany tells him happily while picking up on Noah's excitement and beginning to bounce in place.

"Lake house?" Sue pipes up and I almost forgot that the normally fiery Cheerleading Coach was in the room.

"Yes ma'am. That's where we're gearing up to head out too in about a week or so," I say proudly. We've all put so much work into making that place the safe haven it is today, and I still can't believe that it wasn't all for naught.

"Do you really think that it's such a good idea to travel with so many people when we've already got a safe environment right here, Rachel?" Will snaps out with narrowed eyes in my direction and this time I do roll my eyes at him, but as I go to answer him Finn decides to open his mouth.

"I agree with Mr. Shue. Like he said, it's already safe here so I don't understand why we need to leave. Since we're the leaders of the group that means we're staying," he says so confidently that I can't help but lunge for him with a deep growl of frustration with the only thing now running through my mind being wiping the stupid cocky smirk off of his face and maybe making him cry just a bit. Alas I don't get the pleasure, seeing as both Britt and Noah grab onto each of my arms and hold me in place as I struggle. The other's are all looking between us in shock at my behavior, having never seen me violent before.

"So, since the almighty Finn and Shue have spoken then that's it? That's what we're doing?" I bite out sarcastically with another giant eye-roll as I relax my body and feign calm to get Britt and Noah to let me go.

"Exactly!" Finn crows with a grin at the exact same time as William bites out, "It's not always about you and what you want, Rachel! You need to think about the good of the group here," with a glare as he tries to reach for Ms. Pilsbury's hand. She flinches away slightly before reluctantly letting him grab hers with a frown.

My fake calmness is gone in seconds and I'm back to struggling forcefully in their arms, worse than before when I hear, "Are you freaking serious William the Oaf and Oaf Jr.?" and "Why are you two such morons?" from Sue and Quinn almost within seconds of each other. It's enough to make me pause for a moment to glance between the two of them in mild amusement until seeing Will and Finn nodding their heads out of the corner of my eye in answer to Sue's question reminds me of why I was wazzed off to begin with. During all of this the rest of the Glee club and family members simply sink back into their seats and try to blend in; Artie even rolls behind the couch slightly with wide eyes.

"How in the world can you even consider that Rachel's not thinking of the good of the group when she suggests things? After all that she's done for us? Huh?" Quinn directs her ire at Will, knowing that Finn won't truly understand at the moment in his confusion and fear, and knowing that the tall former quarterback was only following his mentor's lead. The teacher glares back at her slightly and Emma makes him let go of her hand uncomfortably. He's too irritated by the current conversation to really notice and I slow my struggles to focus on the happenings around me.

"Well Quinn, like Finn and I just said it's too dangerous and not to mention stupid to move everyone from a place that's already safe. She's trying to move everyone just because she 'wants to', and that's not ok. It's not time to be 'Glee Club' Rachel. It's time to grow up," he tells her like it's obvious while chancing a few glances over at me as he speaks and I'm glaring so hard I wouldn't be surprised if he could feel it burning against him.

"Yeah," Finn throws in unhelpfully and I'm torn between struggling against the hold on me again or staring at the scene playing out in front of me in fascination. Quinn's actually…standing up for me! It's…It's…

"Shut up Finn," Quinn growls out darkly with a glare towards him and he flinches back with a fast nod, muttering under his breath with wide eyes. She then turns that same glare on Will. "And, yeah. I'll agree that it's safe here," she begins and at this both Will and Finn smirk. I growl again at this but Quinn isn't done so I keep still and otherwise silent. "But what happens when we run out of food? Water?" She demands with an expectant eyebrow raised.

"Then we'll go out and get some, of course," he answers confidently, seeking out Emma's hand again. This time she doesn't give in to him and even goes as far as to start digging in her purse aimlessly so as to give her an excuse.

"Who's we, Will? Because not a single one of us knows how to use a gun or other weapon enough to properly protect ourselves," she counters back smoothly with her eyebrow traveling impossibly higher onto her head. Judy's just sitting silently beside her daughter, sipping at her green tea slowly with wide eyes that haven't stopped flickering around the room taking in all of the activity.

"Rachel will just have to teach us," Finn jumps in with a lopsided grin to save his now floundering teacher. Quinn slams her glare back into place before pinning it on Finn again, who's eyes again widen almost comically as he sinks back into his seat and folds his arms across his chest sullenly.

"Exactly," Will answers in Finn's defense and I see Quinn physically starting to shake in her anger, and her fists are now clenched so tightly that her knuckles are stark white. She's gorgeous when she's furious. Absolutely se- Focus, Rachel!

"Where? Where is she going to teach us? Also why would she want to teach us when you two are acting like such imbeciles?!" Quinn almost screams, but she just manages to control her voice, trying to be mindful of the sleeping children upstairs.

"Because we say so!" Will shouts back, not having the same worries as Quinn and I've had it.

"That's enough!" I holler out harshly while again glaring daggers at both Will and Finn. I'm exhausted and I'm not going to keep doing this, which Brittany and Noah can tell because they immediately release me. Everyone else snaps their heads towards me quickly with varying degrees of shock on their faces at my tone and freeze on the spot. "William and Finn you both can do whatever you want, but don't expect me to take orders from you of all people when I'm the one who's trained, I'm the one who knows what I'm doing for the most part in this new world that's beginning; all of the weapons, food, and water in this house are mine, and the house that you're currently sitting all safe, warm, and cozy inside of whilst the rest of the world falls apart around us is mine! Now, I'm no dictator contrary to popular belief. Anyone who wants to follow your lead absolutely can, and I'll be a good person and even let you stay here and keep most of the food and some water. I'll even leave you some weapons for you to learn how to defend yourselves with," I tell them venomously with barely concealed rage and a scowl as I look between the two smirking and nodding idiots.

"That sounds reasonable. Now, who wants Finn and I to lead?" Will questions with the smarmy smirk that I want to slap still plastered on his face. Literally no one, not even Emma, raises their hand as they all look around at each other awkwardly with either furrowed or raised brows. Santana, Noah, and Quinn actually laugh sardonically when they realize that the unspoken decision is already unanimous, but that doesn't stop Brittany from saying,

"All in favor of Rachel?"

Everyone's hands, besides Will and Finn obviously, immediately shoot into the air without hesitation and all of the aggression slowly leaves my body to be replaced by a smugness that I know is showing on my face. Especially when Will looks over at Emma like she's just kicked his Journey collection.

"Emma?!" Will whines out and I don't bother trying to hide my smug smirk as the redhead minutely shifts away from him with an apologetic look that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Will. You know I care deeply for you, but I also really want to try and stay alive," she tells him quietly with her soft tone, looking almost pleadingly at him to understand where she's coming from. He just scoffs before throwing himself into the back of the couch cushions and crosses his arms with a pout, steadfastly refusing to look at anyone anymore. Sue looks over at him in obvious amusement before cutting her eyes to Emma with concern, and I make a mental note to keep an eye on that before turning and addressing the group again.

"Perfect," I drawl out sarcastically. "Now that that's settled, when we leave in a few days to a week Will and Finn will be staying behind and we-"

"Wait!" Finn interrupts me in a panic, his eyes wide and fearful.

"What now, Finnept?" Santana snarls before anyone else has the chance too. Quinn and Noah look as if they're about to pounce on the taller boy in their agitation.

"I, uh…I-I changed my mind," he tells us all sheepishly and I scoff in disbelief while the others look at him in various states of shock and annoyance. "I wanna go with you guys, and I promise I'll behave," he pleads while looking at me with his giant brown eyes. I grit my teeth and am about to deny the boy when I see Kurt also giving me a pleading look, and I have to remind myself that Finn's still loved by the group even if he is an oaf.

"Will?" I demand before making my final decision. What I want and what the group wants are most likely two different things, so I might as well continue to be a good person. He stares blankly between myself and Emma for a few seconds that feels like minutes in my exhausted and over-annoyed state, but I keep my calm as he nods his head jerkily in agreement without meeting my eyes. I just raise my eyebrow expectantly and he clears his throat a few times before finally speaking.

"Yeah I'll, uh…I'll go. And I'll do my best not to question your authority," he tells me with barely hidden annoyance in his tone, that I can tell the others can pick up on as well if their uncomfortable shuffling and Quinn and Noah baring their teeth at him are any indication.

I just ignore it as I give him a firm nod before addressing the group again. "The thing you all need to understand is, you can walk away at any time that you please. No one is forcing you to stay with the group but I am recommending it; if you want to survive that is," I tell them seriously as I make eye contact with everyone gathered in the large room. Everyone nods in agreement at what I've just told them and Kurt hesitantly raises his hand. "Also you don't have to raise your hands to ask questions or speak."

"Oh, ok. Well…I was just wondering if that was everything? I'm pretty tired and would really like to go and lie down," he asks with a small frown as he looks over at his step-brother and then sighs deeply.

"Actually, no. It's not. We originally called this meeting for an entirely different reason before getting derailed," I say with a pointed glare at both Finn and Will. Finn gives me a sheepish smile before sinking back into his seat while Will scoffs under his breath and crosses his arms again, all the while refusing to meet my eyes. Everyone else sits on the edge of their seats in anticipation. "Noah, Britt, and myself are going on a supply run tomorrow, and we need you all to make a list of the things you absolutely need or want fro-"

"No! Absolutely fucking not!" and "Hell to the no you're not!" is yelled almost simultaneously as both Quinn and Santana shoot to their feet in their anxiety, glaring daggers at us three with fear plain as day in their eyes. They both shake off their respective parents trying to soothe them as they continue to rant and rave about our insanity and about how they're not going to allow it while the others look between us all in worry.

"Hey!" Noah shouts loudly to try and quiet Quinn and Santana, before jumping slightly and moving discreetly to shield himself behind Britt and I as they glare at him so fiercely I'm surprised he doesn't spontaneously combust.

"It's not up for discussion," Britt tells them firmly with a serious look on her face that I know the others find unsettling. No one but a select few people have ever seen this side of the taller blonde.

"Baby-"

"But, B-"

"No! Not up for discussion," Brittany snaps, interrupting the two former head cheerleaders with a glare. At seeing the hurt and tears beginning to build up in her girlfriend's eyes Brittany gives an almost inaudible whimper that only Noah and I can hear and actually lets Santana speak this time when she tries again.

"But why, Britt? Berry?" The look on both hers and Quinn's faces are literally heartbreaking so I take a deep breath to steady myself before answering.

"Because, Santana. Noah and Brittany are my second in commands, and there's literally no one that I would trust my life with more. I would offer to go alone-," I'm interrupted at this by multiple growls throughout the room coming from Brittany, Noah, and Quinn to which I smile slightly at before continuing, "but as you can see the consensus on that is unsavory. We're the only ones who are capable at the moment of safely going on supply runs until we get you all properly trained, and even then I'm still weary. It will only help us to have extra food, water, and supplies, and as I was trying to say before I was interrupted again you all would benefit greatly from having some of the things you hold dear from your life before this mess. Now, Britt's going to give you a few notepads to pass around. Write anything from your house that you desperately want or need, no matter how simple. If it's meaningful to you, put it down and we'll do our best to grab it for you. As well as anything that you'd like us to try and pick up while we're out scavenging for supplies. It has to be reasonable though, and please keep the lists as short as possible. Also please keep them grouped up by household, because it's going to make finding everything easier," I instruct them as I nod to Britt to start passing around the few notepads that she's been holding onto.

"One last thing," B chirps after she's handed off her notepads to the group and the ones with them are furiously scribbling things down. "Judy, Gerardo, and Coach Sue are going to be in charge of the group tomorrow while we're gone," she tells everyone who all look a little apprehensive but nod anyways. Well, except Will; who just finishes scribbling whatever it was that he was writing before shoving the notepad to Emma and storming off upstairs. She watches him go with a semi-annoyed look, but my attention quickly shifts to the three adults who've just learned of their charges. Judy and Gerardo look completely shocked while Sue just nods her acceptance of the responsibility.

"A-are you three sure?" Judy questions uncertainly with her blonde brows furrowed. Gerardo just looks back and forth between us with the same look of shock not leaving his features while Sue's now paying more attention to the redhead who just handed her the notepad.

"One hundred percent," I tell her confidently with a reassuring smile. She relaxes, but only slightly and her brows are still furrowed deeply as if she's thinking hard about something. "If you guys have any questions about anything then all you've gotta do is ask Jakob or Kelly while we're gone. They're the next best thing to us, and know almost as much as we do," I finish while beaming proudly over to the teenagers who are huddled together on their own little couch, basically completely lost in their own world as they whisper furiously to each other. I chuckle as I see that before looking back to the group. Judy, Gerardo, and Sue all nod their agreements as they follow me and look at the seriously conversing teens.

"What time are you planning on leaving?" Quinn demands from her retaken seat next to her mother as she writes her items down on a pad. She's wearing a highly displeased look on her face and my breath catches in my throat when she glances up to lock our eyes and I see the pleading and fear swirling in her gorgeous gold and green.

"Tomorrow morning around seven," I tell her gently, smiling as soothingly as I possibly can while resisting the urge to walk over and smooth out the frown lines from her worried brow. I've never liked seeing Quinn upset, and now my heart's screaming at me to make the unpleasant emotions I see swirling in her eyes go away. She just gives me a jerky nod before focusing her attention back on the notepad.

"I really wish it wasn't just you three," she tells me softly without looking up from her writing.

"I'll go," Mike offers up confidently from beside Tina, who whips her head to stare at her boyfriend so fast with a 'The hell you will' look that I'm surprised that she doesn't give herself whiplash. The normally quiet boy had looked to be deep in thought for the majority of the arguing and drama that had taken place, and I'm pleasantly surprised that he's offering up his services.

"Do you know how to properly use a firearm?" I question him curiously as Tina glares at me with a heat I've never seen before. She could almost give Quinn or Santana a run for their money in the glare department as she grips Mike's arm possessively in what looks to be a deathgrip.

"Yeah, I do. My uncle is…was?...a police officer, and we would go to the shooting range twice a month to spend time together," he tells me with a slightly pained grin and his eyes get a little misty. He quickly shakes his head and focuses on us three still standing at the front of the room, only giving Tina's hand a tight squeeze in acknowledgement of her quickly growing agitation. "I also know some Martial Arts."

At hearing this Noah, Britt, and I grin widely before I say, "Then it's up to you, Michael. Another set of eyes and ears will always come in handy, but it's ultimately your decision. We'll never pressure anyone into something so serious, but if you really want to come with us then meet us in the kitchen at six."

"Sounds good. I'll see you guys at six," Mike tells us with his mind seemingly already made up as he uses his and Tina's still joined hands to pull his girlfriend up with him while he stands. She only looks at him blankly as he begins pulling her towards the office that's now their room for the next week.

Once everyone's finally through writing down their requests Brittany and Noah collect the pads and hand them to me before I give them a nod and a small smile, silently telling them that it's time to turn in for the night. I slowly make my way up the stairs and into my room with the notepads in hand, and then throw them carelessly onto my desk as I trudge my way into my ensuite and start my shower. Thank God for my dads' crazy and the fact that we still have hot water. I step under the scalding spray and groan in relief as I feel my tense muscles relaxing for the first time all day. I don't dally long though because it's already almost eleven and I've got to be up early, so I finish up quickly before making my way over to Sarah's room and making sure that she's still sound asleep in her bed. Once I'm satisfied that the youngster isn't going to wake up anytime soon, I make my way silently back into my room and collapse face first onto my bed with a loud groan. Where Cohan decided to hit me in the back earlier is protesting quite vehemently as I push myself over and up to my pillows, but thankfully as soon as I settle into my bed the pain eases a bit. I don't have time to dwell on my aches and pains though, because as soon as I'm settled I pass out.

I'm pulled from my sleep around one thirty in the morning by the sound of my door opening and I roll over to face my door, expecting to see Sarah toddling her way inside. Instead, much to my immense surprise and pleasure, I see Quinn quietly shutting my door before hesitantly making her way over to my bed. She looks as if she's debating something quite hard as she stands there almost awkwardly at my bedside and I melt just a bit when I realize what she wants. After a few seconds I lift my covers to give her a silent invitation to join me, and I melt again at the shy smile she gives me and her lower lip bite as she crawls quickly into the bed to lay beside me. I immediately wrap my arm securely around her waist and pull her as close to me as I can manage as she buries her face into the crook of my neck. The last two things I remember before sleep claims me again is her tangling our legs together, and me thinking that we fit perfectly together like two pieces of a puzzle that's always been forced together with the wrong pieces; until now.


Again a big thanks! :)