Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: A big thanks to everyone, all the positive feedback has made me want to write faster and give you the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter, there is another flashback and more Faberry fluff.

It took us all morning to prepare. We needed to work out which way we were going, and if we couldn't, what another way was. Rachel tried her best to explain the routes to us, but it was just too complicated so it was decided that Rachel would double with me and guide me out, Puck would follow behind.

While we were in the kitchen Puck removed one of the boards to let some light in. We found a backpack that was left in one of the rooms and decided to fill it with the food Rachel had collected, she did go to the hard work of finding it after all.

Rachel looked a lot better after having a decent amount of sleep. I couldn't help but sneaking peeks at her while we were filling up the bags. She was beautiful, even with her hair a mess and being covered in dirt. I think I stared at her a little too long because she caught me and I looked away feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.

Get with it Fabray I thought to myself, you shouldn't be blushing, you were just checking to see if she was okay, yeah that's it, checking to see if she was okay.

"Quinn," she said smiling, "Why do you keep staring at me?"

Shit she caught me.

"Because ah, I… um," Spit it out, "I'm just checking to make sure you're okay, that's all."

"I'm fine really," She said filling up the bag with chips, "I've been looking after myself for over a year. But thanks for your concern."

I smiled and nodded and continued to fill up my bag, still peeking at her every now and then, and seeing a smile reach her lips when she knows I'm looking, but she doesn't say anything again.

To stop myself looking at her I decided to leave her to pack the food while I cleaned my guns. I went upstairs while Puck and Rachel stayed in the kitchen. It didn't take terribly long to clean them all, but long enough to get lost in my thoughts.

What must it have been like for Rachel? Here on her own, at least we all have each other. She should have been there with us, or I should have been here for her.

-Flashback-

It wasn't long before Mercedes started showing what had to be symptoms. She began to develop a headache, a fever and chills. We put her in the spare room, and tried to reduce the fever. Nothing worked. Mike tried ringing the doctor with no luck, and the same again with the hospital.

I was scared I didn't know what was going on. The world seemed to be turning to shit right before our eyes. I felt sick, we had already lost Artie and Sugar, and I couldn't lose anyone else. I just wanted to sit down and cry, to hide somewhere and not come out. Something inside me said I couldn't do that, it told me I needed to be strong.

A few hours later Mercedes pulse slowed and her breathing became shallow. The wound on her arm where Sugar had bitten her was rotting, her eyes glazed over. Someone was always with her, looking after her, while the rest of us sat in silence in the living room waiting - we all knew what for, but none wanted to voice the fact our friend was going to die.

Joe, Santana and Puck decided to venture out to find medicine for Mercedes despite my better judgement. They said they would be fine and they would be back soon, and I watched them walk out the door.

I heard cries of pain from the spare bedroom. Poor Mercedes, I wish I could something more for her, but what else was there to do? I look over at Kurt and Blaine; they were wrapped up in each other's arms speaking quietly. Blaine kept rubbing his hands, looking like he was still trying to get his friend's blood off, Kurt constantly grabbing for them trying to calm him down.

Mike and Tina were in the kitchen whispering loudly; sounded like it was an argument of some kind, I didn't interrupt.

I pulled out my phone and dialled Mum's number.

"Hello," I hear come though the phone and sigh in relief.

"Mum, you have to come home now, something bad is happening and I'm scared." I say between sobs.

"There is nothing to worry about Quinny," She said calmly, "Calm down."

"But there is," I cry to her, "people are dying, eating each other."

I am now crying, the tears streaming out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

"Stop being silly, the government will fix everything," she told me.

"I need you Mum, please come home," I beg falling to my knees.

"I will be home tonight for dinner Quinn,"

"But Mum, please… I can't do this without you," I cry, "I love you so much, just know that."

"I do know that honey," She replies, "and I love you too, more than anything in this world. I will see you tonight, bye Quinny."

The phone clicks when she hangs up and I drop to the floor crying as hard as I could, not caring who heard me.

Eventually, Brittney finds her way to me and takes me back to the living room encasing me in her arms as we sit on the couch.

It had been a few hours and Joe, Puck and Santana still were not back, and we were starting to get worried. Sam came out with tears flowing down his cheeks, he spoke quietly in between small sobs; Mercedes had finally succumb to the pain and fallen unconscious, become unresponsive, her breathing nearly non-existent.

I climbed out of Brittney's arms and went and wrapped mine around Sam.

"I'm sorry," I whisper to him in between sobs.

"Me too," he cried, "I wish there was something I could do to help."

I didn't want to tell him I had a feeling that there was no way we could help; there was no cure for what Mercedes had contracted. The only way out was death.

"So do I Sam," I say releasing him, "all we can do is hope that the others get back soon."

He nods at me "I hope they do."

I slowly walk into Mercedes room; she lay motionless apart from her erratic breathing patterns and I sit on the chair next to the bed.

"I'm sorry Mercedes," I say, "I should have tried harder to stop you, and then none of this would have happened. "

I paused and took her hand, it was cold and quite firm. I began to cry again, so much was happening at once and I couldn't handle it. I did need my Mum more than anything. I was still young I didn't know what to make of all this, what to do. I had lost 3 of my friends and I just wanted her to hold me and tell me it was going to be ok.

I heard the front door open and rapid speaking, I lay Mercedes hand down softly closing the door behind me as I left. When I enter the living room I see Puck and Santana standing there, sweating, out of breath, without Joe. Wait… where's Joe?

"There are so many of those things out there," Puck panted.

"What they hell happened?" Mike asked entering the room.

"We tried getting to the pharmacy, there was no chance," Santana told us, "there is mass panic, those things, whatever they are, are killing people and then… eating them."

"We ended up having to hide," Puck continued, "we stayed there for a while, but then one saw us so I picked up a nearby shovel and smacked it in the head dropping it. I don't think it got up but we weren't sticking around to find out."

"Joe fell and twisted his ankle or something, he tried to get back up but he couldn't move fast and kept falling down," Santana said looking at her hands, "he fell again and then one of those things came out of nowhere and bit him again and again, and then another showed up and started on him as well."

Santana began to cry, it's not often you see her cry. She tries to be strong and makes herself out to be, but deep down she is hurting just as much as the rest of us.

"There was no way we could have helped him, there was too many of them," Puck sobbed, "we had to leave him and run, otherwise would be the same right now."

The whole group was crying at their story, another one lost. How many more were going to go? I look at my friends and see my fear was mimicked in their expressions, in how they were gripping each other. A huge bang suddenly erupts from the spare bedroom, we all look at each other and run towards it.

"What the hell was that?" Santana asked.

"Mercedes?" Sam called walking towards the door, "Mercedes are you ok?"

"SAM EVANS," I yell, "you fucking stay back or so help me I will rip you apart myself."

He turns and looks at me and I give him a look that made him step back.

"She's right," Blaine steps in, "remember what happened when Mercedes didn't listen."

"But what if she needs help?" Sam asked, tears returning to his eyes.

I turned and stalked away from the group and found my way to my father's old office, and in the top draw in the secret compartment was a gun. I knew this because I was looking for something one day and came across it. I reached into the draw and pulled it out along with bullets and loaded them putting the other rounds in my pocket. I turn the safety off and then go back to the rest of the group.

As I return the group have moved closer to the door, the only ones who were still standing back were Blaine, Puck and Santana. The rest were arguing over whether they should open the door or not, the more they argued the louder the growls and banging got from within.

I watched Sam open the door, and as if in slow motion Mercedes dived out towards everyone, they all screamed and fell backwards onto the floor. I raised the gun and pointed it at Mercedes' head and fired it, watching the bullet slam into her forehead splattering the walls and the people in front of her. I watched as she slowly fell to the ground in front of me, my eyes wide in hear, the gun still held out in front of me.

-End Flashback-

"Quinn," Rachel spoke snapping me out of my head, "Quinn put the gun down."

I look at her my eyes wide, brimming with tears, gun pointed towards her. I heard what she said I just didn't understand. She took slow steps towards me and carefully took the gun out of my hand and placed it on the table not breaking our eye contact, and then wrapped her arms around me pulling me in as close as she could. I felt myself calm instantly and begin to relax but I didn't let her go, I never wanted to let her go again. I turned my face into her neck trying to block out the world and she hugged me tighter.

"What happened?" she asked not letting me go.

"They didn't believe me," I cried into her neck, "they should have listened and it would have been ok."

"I don't understand Quinn," She replied stroking my hair.

She waited patiently until I was calm enough to explain and then I began to tell her all about Mercedes, Joe and my mother. I told her everything down to how I was feeling and I swore that I would bury all those feelings and never let them surface again, it was just too hard. But here I was telling Rachel about it, I almost feel normal around her, like things aren't so hard anymore. I sit up out of her arms and looked at her, she was crying, those beautiful brown orbs filled with tears that leaked down onto her cheek. I lifted my hand and brushed one of them away with my thumb cupping her face a second longer than was necessary.

"That was the last I heard from my Mum," I tell her removing my hand from her cheek, "We waited until the next morning to leave but she still didn't come home."

She didn't say anything, instead she wrapped me in her arms again. We stayed like that for a few seconds before she spoke, "I don't mean to tell you this now, but Puck needs to talk to you about leaving."

I pulled away from her and wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded. She gave me that amazing Rachel Berry hundred watt smile then took my hand and led me back down to the kitchen.

It was decided we would leave mid-afternoon, head for Morristown, back to the house. It wouldn't take us long providing we didn't run into the main undead horde of New York. If we did well... we'd have to turn around, find a place to hide for the night and then start again first thing it was clear. But our first challenged was getting to our bikes without being seen or heard.

It was Rachel who came up with the idea to bring the bikes inside to start, and because it was a double door at the front we could open both as we leave and just drive out. Man I loved the way that girl thought, and her smile was radiant. Focus Quinn, we need to get out of here alive.

Puck made a quick dash up stairs and peeked out the window to find the street mostly clear of the undead, only a few towards the crossroads of the main road.

I swallowed hard as I stood at the double doors that had been cleared of the furniture waiting to go back out and face the end of the world to get our bikes, we needed to be quick and we needed to be quiet.

"Good luck," Rachel said standing on her toes to kiss my cheek.

This was not a good time for Rachel Berry to be distracting me.

"Thanks," I nod giving her hand a small squeeze.

I look over to Puck, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he replied.

Rachel opened the doors and Puck and I ran out into the light. I heard Rachel close the doors behind us and we ran to our bikes staying low. I picked up my helmet off the ground as I reached my bike and put it over my handle bars. I looked over at Puck and he was looking up and down the street, he looked over at me and pointed to his ear. I smiled. There was no noise today, no growling and no shuffling. I quickly lifted the kick stand and followed Puck back into NYADA pushing my bike, Rachel closing the doors behind us. I sighed in relief, even though there was nothing out there my senses were on high alert.

Puck and I both opened up our seats and put the supplies in, I pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a bandana and sat them on the counter next to me.

"Puck you are going to have to take the backpack because I will have Rachel," I told him handing him the backpack.

"No problem," he replied taking it from me and throwing it over his shoulders.

"Rach," I said turning to face her.

"Yes Quinn?" She replied with a smile.

"I want you to wear this," I told her handing her my helmet.

"No I can't," she objected, "What about you?"

"Please take the helmet I will be fine," I insisted.

She gave me a concerned look , I just rolled my eyes and stepped forward and placed the helmet firmly on her head and did it up.

"How do I look?" she asks me holding her arms out.

"You look great," I laugh turning her around towards the bike.

"What are you going to do Quinn," Puck asked, "You can't go out there without any protection."

"I've got it covered," I smile holding up the sunglasses and bandana.

I wrapped the bandanna firmly over my nose and mouth making sure it wouldn't fall off, before grabbing my sunglasses and putting them over my eyes.

I jumped onto my bike and kick started it, reaching for Rachel's hand to help her climb on. I flick round turn around and flick down the visor on her helmet and turn to Puck, nod and face the door. Pucks quickly opens the door and kicks starts his own bike, I feel Rachel wrap her arms around my waist as tightly as she could, hugging herself to me sending sparks through my entire body. I pull out NYADA and back into the maze of New York pulling the sunglasses over my eyes.

The afternoon sun shone down on us as we rode through the city. So far no undead and no problems, we were heading out of the city on the side that was closest to home base. Of course that wasn't going to happen. Rachel had led us down a street that was blocked with no way of getting around it. In her defence she wouldn't have known, but straight away she came up with a new route.

"Turn around and then turn left at the next street," she told me, still grasping me tight.

I followed her instructions but that also lead up to a dead end. This happened another two times and Rachel began to get frustrated. She led us back into the city to get away from this part, seems like someone was trying to keep people out… or the undead in.

Getting out of New York was taking longer than we thought coming up against road blocks and the undead. However Rachel never failing to find another way out. She had begun to relax and was now only holding onto my waist, but that small touch was sending me crazy.

What's wrong with you Fabray? You should not be getting reactions like this towards Rachel, I thought to myself.

Yes she was beautiful, I had always known that, and she cared a lot. Maybe that was it, the feeling that someone finally cared and was showing it, was making me feel good. That had to be it… right?

Rachel told me to turn at the next right and I did, I'd got too complacent as we rode around and wasn't expecting that there would be a monstrous wall of undead waiting for us when we turned the corner. I tried to brake and turn around but because of the extra weight it threw us both from the bike and onto the road. Puck had followed us into the street but was able to turn around and was stopped and had his gun ready. I jumped to my feet, feeling dizzy and picked up my glasses and put the back on. Rachel had landed closer to the army of infected and they were closing in. I ran over to her and helped her up.

"Come on Rach," I said pulling her towards the bike.

"Quinn are you ok?" She asked.

Why was she asking about me I was fine, she was the one that went flying and couldn't walk properly. She was limping and her jeans were ripped and both knees were bleeding.

"I'm fine," I tell her standing the bike back up, "are your legs ok? I'm so sorry."

I jumped on the bike and tried to start it… nothing. I tried it again… still nothing. Fuck this not now, I need to save Rachel. I could see the undead getting closer by the second, dying to sink their teeth into us. I began to get scared. I wiped my forehead to find that it was covered in blood, great, that must have been what Rachel was talking about.

"Quinn they are getting closer," Rachel says very calming.

With one final kick I got the bike to start. I pulled the bandana away and rolled it up and tied it around the wound on my head, I didn't know how bad it was but I needed to stop the bleeding. Rachel jumped back on the bike and held onto me as we followed Puck out of the street just as the infected reached us.

I felt so bad, I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings, not to how great it felt to have Rachel's hands on my waist. Now we were both hurt and most likely my bike was fucked, the right review mirror was hanging off and the handle bars felt touchy, no doubt there was a massive scratch down the side. I just hoped it would get us out.

Rachel gave me a direct route north out of the main part of the city, our base camp was to the west, but that was ok at least we were out of the city. By the time we were out of the city the sun had set and I had a splitting head ache. Puck went on ahead looking for a house that was safe to sleep in, I had slowed down because of the pain in my head, I couldn't imagine what Rachel much be feeling. Puck turned up not long after and told us about a place he found.

When we arrived we parked our bikes around the back of the house and climbed through the window Puck has just smashed open, all the doors were locked. Puck turned his flashlight on and scanned the area, there was no one down stairs and the house was nearly empty, but I didn't expect anything different. However up stairs looked like it hadn't been touched, of course all the draws were empty along with the cupboards but there beds where still there in both rooms. Looking at the bed caused me feel even more exhausted than I already was.

"Quinn. You sleep tonight I will stay on watch," Puck told me and pointed to the bed.

I just nodded and walked towards the bed. Rachel followed me in and closed the door behind her, she walked over and helped me get out of my jacket and she hung it neatly on the end on my bed.

"Sit there, and don't move," she told me and ran from the room.

"Ok," I replied.

I sat in the dark room waiting for her return and I just wanted to close my eyes, but soon enough she came bounding back through the door holding a bottle of water and a cloth. She carefully pulled off the bandana and tossed it aside, I watched her pour the water onto the cloth where she began to dab it on my head. It hurt like a bitch and I just wanted to push her hand away, but I didn't, I let her finish fussing over me then I climbed into bed.

"I'm sorry we crashed," I whispered looking up at her.

"It's ok Quinn," she replied rubbing my hair and my cheek, "now go to sleep and I'll be here when you wake up."

I smiled and nodded in agreement, I didn't want her to leave, and before I knew it I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.