Disclaimer: I own nothing… I wish I did ;)
Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took me to upload this. I've just finished uni for the semester and travelled home. I also went to a concert so that took time away from writing too. I hope you like this chapter as much as you loved the rest. I feel so thrilled with the feedback that I'm getting from you all.
I awoke the next morning feeling well rested with only a small headache and a few stiff muscles from the day before. With my eyes still closed I began to stretch but I couldn't move one of my arms. I opened my eyes to find Rachel snuggled in next to me, arm sprawled over my waist and her legs intertwined with mine, her head resting against my shoulder with a strand of hair falling across her face. Man she was beautiful, it feels like I have never really looked at her before, I've seen her but never really seen her. Her wondrous hair flowing down her face and her shoulders, her smooth cheeks that were slightly pink, and her succulent lips that were parted slightly as she slept. Hang on a minute, maybe I was feeling something for Rachel Berry, maybe it wasn't me making sure she was okay or her looking after me; then again that could be part of it couldn't it? I reached over with my free arm and slowly moved the strand of hair from her face and just looked at her. When she began to stir I don't know why but I shut my eyes. I felt her move a little and then she was still. I pretended I was just waking up and opened my eyes slowly.
"Morning," I say sluggishly.
Still leaning against my shoulder she just looked at me, at her arm draped across my waist and then down to our legs. She was still for another second and then began to try and move away.
"Quinn, I am so sorry. I must have fallen asleep and then got cold and snuggled in, I didn't mean for us to end up wrapped up like this, I am so embarrassed," She began to ramble.
Ignoring what she said I scooped her up in my arms and gave her the biggest hug, "I'm so glad we found you Rach, I was worried that something terrible had happened to you."
She stopped wriggling and looked at me, our faces very close and I just smiled softy at her.
"I'm glad you found me too Quinn," she replied, her hands finding my waist and pulling me closer, "I didn't know how much longer I would have lasted after they all abandoned me."
She lowered her gaze from mine but her eyes stayed dry. This surprised me because she just told me she was abandoned. How could someone do that? No matter what hardships our group went through we would never leave anyone behind, well unless they were a zombie or becoming one, we still wouldn't leave them behind, we put them out of their suffering.
"What?" I asked, "What do you mean?"
She didn't look at me, instead she climbed out of my arms and sat on the edge of the bed looking at her hands.
"Rachel." I said firmly, "What do you mean they abandoned you?"
"It doesn't matter Quinn," she replied getting off the bed and heading for the door, "You have more pressing matters to worry about."
I dove out of bed and stood between her and the door and made her look me in the eye by gently tilting up her chin.
"It does matter Rachel," I say quietly, "because you matter."
Neither of us said another word, we just stood there, staring at each other, my hand still under her chin. I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, her eyes never swaying from mine, a slight smile reaching her lips. Her lips distracted me more often than not lately and I couldn't understand why.
No. I was straight; I couldn't be feeling like this about another girl. I needed to snap out of it before it got out of hand. I like boys, I've only ever dated boys, and I wouldn't even know where to start with a girl and I wasn't ever going to find out.
A sudden rap at the door brought me out of the war in my head. It was Puck; he had come to check on us, to see how we were feeling.
"Morning ladies," He said smiling, "how are you feeling after yesterday?"
I had forgotten all about my head, there was no throb which was a good sign. I lifted up my hand and touched it, it was still quite tender but there was no more bleeding, I just hope we can get back before any infection starts.
"My head feels fine," I say back, and then look to Rachel's knees, "are you okay?"
"I'm perfectly fine," she said smiling, "nothing more than a scratch."
I had seen she was still limping a bit but I didn't press the matter.
The night had been quite, not one undead in sight. However staying in one place too long wasn't the best idea so we had to get moving pretty quick but there were two problems with that.
One. It had begun to rain over night and it was now a fully blown storm. Rain, rain and more rain.
Two. My motorbike also died a horrible death overnight and there was no way we were riding that and also Puck was running dangerously low on fuel, so we needed to find an alternative.
I decided that it was best if I didn't get so up close and personal with Rachel anymore, it wasn't good for my state of mind, no more snuggling, no more gazing into each other's eyes and NO more thinking that she was attractive. I was NOT into girls.
While Rachel and I were sleeping Puck managed to get all the supplies out of the bikes and into the house and sorted out what was essential to take and what wasn't, because by the way things were headed we would be walking some of our trip back. I didn't like this idea much because of the rain, but we had no other choice.
We searched around the house for something would protect us from the rain.
"Found anything?" I called to my friends.
"Nope, nothing here," Puck replied.
"No nothing here either," Rachel called back.
"Looks like we will be going out in the rain with what we have got," I sighed.
"The rain doesn't stop the undead, so it can't stop us either," Puck stated.
He was right and I knew it, I just didn't want to go out there and become soaked to the bone, not to mention cold.
"So I suppose we better get ready to go," I sigh.
The other two nodded and began to pick up the things we decided to take, most of it was food, and we didn't know how long we were going to be out there for. I lift up the bag and throw it over my shoulder, it was heavy but nothing I couldn't handle.
I look up and catch Rachel staring at me; she smiles and then turns away.
"You know you will tell me what happened Rachel," I say to her making her look back at me, "when they abandoned you."
"I told you Quinn," she replied calmly, "It wasn't a big deal, I'm ok really."
Before I could give my rebuttal Puck walked back into the room. I didn't want him to know what Rachel had told me, it wasn't my place to say. I just looked back to Rachel and shrugged, then turned to Puck.
"The rain has eased up a little bit, but it's still pretty heavy," he told us.
"Well, there's no time like the present," I say to them as I head for the door.
Rachel quickly appeared behind me, and then Puck. I opened the front door and stepped out into the rain.
It was cold at first, but as we walked I began to get used to it. The rain was heavy and we had to strain our eyes to see down the road and try to look out for anything or anyone.
We can't walk all the way back," I say to Puck, "It would take us too long, and what if the horde caught up with us?"
"Yeah, I know," he replied, "There isn't much we can do now though. I doubt any of these cars could start even if we did have the key."
We kept walking at a steady pace down the middle of the street; I bet this was a nice street, beautiful houses, clean lawns, happy neighbours, but now it was dark, and wet, cars over turned on the front laws, through fences. There were quite a few cars along the streets, some with the decaying corpses still laying inside. That was one of the few things that made me uneasy. Where they really dead or were they going to run at us at any second. I released my pistol from its holster and kept it at the ready, you could never be too safe around these things.
"Puck. What is the first thing you are going to do when we get back." I ask him.
"Hmmm," he thought, "I'm torn."
"Between what?" I reply smiling.
"Between… having a shower or… eating something that Kurt has cooked," he laughed.
I laughed, "You and your food."
"Kurt is there?" Rachel suddenly spoke.
"Yeah he is, well he was when we left." I say to her.
Her face lit up so bright it could almost light up the whole street. Kurt and Rachel were very close and knowing he is still alive gave her hope, just like knowing Rachel was alive made me giddy with happiness.
"What about you Quinn?" Puck asked me, "What are you looking forward to most when we get back there?"
"My own bed definitely," I say back, "however a good bowl of soup is sounding amazing."
Puck laughed.
It felt good to be having a normal conversation for once, we hardly ever get the chance, there is always something that needs to be done and we go straight into mission mode and all we talk about is the undead and guns and this and that, never something normal like food.
Puck and I have gotten so close since this started. We were the scouts and spent nearly all our time talking about routes to take and where and where not to go. Everyone knew how the undead acted and what they were like, but Puck and I went up against them on a weekly basis, we may have had that pact to leave if the other was in trouble, but we never followed it. We always went back for each other, sometimes it caused more shit than it was worth, but I couldn't leave him behind.
I didn't know how long we had been walking for and everything was starting to look the same. Tree, car, broken fence, car, tree, bicycle, broken tree, car, dead body, car. It was beginning to get cold and I was soaked to the bone, the wind had picked up and turned the drops into tiny bullets that stung when it hit you in the face. I tried shielding my eyes but I couldn't see where I was going and kept having to remove my hand.
"This is ridiculous," I shout over the rain and wind, "we aren't going to get anywhere fast in this. At best we are going to get sick."
"I know," Puck yelled back, "Do you want to try one of these houses?"
"Best idea ive heard all day," I smiled at him.
"Come one let's try this one," Puck told us pointing to a light green house.
I grabbed Rachel by the wrist and led her towards the house, however she didn't seem to like that idea and held my hand instead, I didn't pull away. Puck kicked in the door and waited for us to get inside before he closed it. I released Rachel's hand the moment we entered the house, her face showed confusion. We were just friends no more; we don't need to stay holding hands.
We did a quick sweep of the house; it was abandoned just like the rest, but with one small difference. The house was still filled with clothes and furniture, which the other houses surly lacked.
"Puck!" I yelled, "There are dry clothes here!"
"Really?" he replied, "I wonder why they didn't take them or they haven't been looted."
"I don't know," I shrug, "but who cares, we have dry clothes."
We all sifted through the draws until we all found something that would fit us, and looking in other cupboards found us some towels that we could use to dry off. In one of the bedrooms, I found black skinny leg jeans, a white singlet and leather jacket from the wardrobe and placed the clothes on the bed.
I had never been more excited to get into clothes as I was now. Warm, dry clothes, sure they had a strange smell that that was most likely from sitting in the draw untouched for however long.
I pulled off my shirt and then my bra and hung it on the end of the bed; I removed my pants and then underwear and did the same. I used the towel to dry myself of as best it could and the dropped the towel in a heap on the floor.
As the towel fell the door opened and Rachel walked in.
"Hey Quinn were you… Oh my goodness," She started before seeing me standing there in my glory, "I didn't know that you… I'm really sorry…. I just thought that."
She stood there stumbling on her words looking me up and down, blushing more and more every time. After she had finished trying to get her words out she just stood there looking at me, not moving and certainly not making eye contact.
"Like something you see?" I smiled lifting my arms out.
I saw Rachel's eyes widen and then her cheeks turn to scarlet before running from the room.
I couldn't help but giggle at how badly she stumbled on her words and red the small girl went after seeing my body. I suddenly had a thought. Why wasn't I embarrassed about her seeing me naked? I should have been so embarrassed that I was falling all over myself trying to cover myself. But instead I just stood there and made a flirty comment. Do you like something you see? Jeez Quinn really? Out of all the possible things you could have said, you said that. I slap my hand to my forehead and got dressed. I used the towel to dry my short blond hair and then hung the towel over the end of the bed with the rest of my wet clothes.
I walked back out into the living room and saw that Puck and Rachel were both changed and had collected what looked like all the blankets from the house and had them in a pile on the floor. When Rachel saw me she looked away immediately and blush a beautiful shade of red. Great it's going to be awkward now.
"What's with all the blankets?" I asked them.
"It's cold," Puck told me stating the obvious, "It will just help us warm up again."
Both Puck and I knew we wouldn't be staying here long; we needed to keep moving, if we stopped every few hours we would never get to where we wanted to go. I went and plonked myself down on the couch next to Rachel. She put her hands together in her lap and still didn't look at me.
"Rachel…" I began.
"Quinn I am so sorry," she said cutting me off, "I didn't mean to walk in on you, I didn't know you were getting changed yet. However Quinn, you do have a fantastic body, well I already knew you would because you were on the Cheerios, but you really do."
I took her hand and held it in mine making her stop rambling.
"Rachel, it didn't bother me really," I smiled at her finally getting eye contact, "and thanks for the compliment."
I winked at her and she blushed again, she was so cute when she was embarrassed.
"Quinn!" I heard Puck yell.
I looked at Rachel and we both dived of the couch and ran to where Puck was calling from. We found ourselves in what looked like to be the garage. Puck appeared next to us holding a flashlight.
"What happened?" I asked worried.
"Nothing, but look what I found," He said as he turn the flashlight on.
It was a red two door Jeep Wrangler. These things could go anywhere, and take a small beating while they were at it. I looked over at Puck and he was smiling as much as I was.
"Can you start it?" I ask.
"I sure can," he smiled at me holding out the keys.
I nearly fell over. We never find a car that we can just pick up the keys and put it in the ignition, Puck always has to hotwire it.
I smiled at him and walked over to the car unlocked it and jumped in. He put the key in the ignition and looked at me as he turned it.
I stood there with my fingers crossed praying that it would start. The Jeep roared to life and I ran and threw my arms around a cheering Puck. I looked at the fuel gauge and saw that it was three quarters full. This was definitely our lucky day.
"Let's grab the stuff and go," Puck said, "I just want to get back."
"Yeah me too," I replied pulling Rachel into the hug, "besides, we need to tell everyone who we found."
It few days we had been away felt like months, they had been full of surprises both good and bad and we were constantly on the go, on high alert. It will be good to get back and not have to worry about things like that.
While Rachel and I were gathering up our things, Puck was opening the garage door and because there was no power to open it automatically he was having a hard time opening it. Rachel and I came out with the last load of things we were taking out to the car we saw that Puck had finally had opened it.
When we were ready to go Puck jumped into the driver's seat, I opened the back door behind the passenger seat and she jumped in, then I hopped in next to Puck.
"Are we all ready?" he asked doing up his seat belt.
"Sure are," I replied doing mine up as well following suit.
"Yes I'm ready," Rachel calls from the back seat.
Puck put it in gear and we drove off into the rain once more, this time staying dry and it was so much more relaxing then walking.
Having this car was a god send, when we encountered a road block we could just go off-road around it, push small objects out of the way with the bar. Having it made all this a lot easier.
There were a few undead here and there as we drove along but we were able to just drive straight past not having to worry. While the rain was heavy Puck accidently hit one and it sent blood splattering up the windscreen and along the windows, lucky the windows were up otherwise it could have ended badly still having a wound on my head. And we were lucky Puck was going slow enough in the rain to avoid crashing, that it didn't damage the car badly.
We have learnt over time that not only being bitten and scratched can turn you, but accidentally ingesting any of their bodily fluids, having a wound and being splattered with their blood can and will cause infection. It was something we had seen too many times before, and we learnt from others mistakes. When all the emergency broadcasts had stopped and the radios went silent, we had to rely on our instincts, what others had told us and what we had experienced first-hand.
Our group back at base were smart; we knew what and what not to do when it came to the undead and when coming in contact with the infection. Wearing face protection was a big yes when dealing with them and proper covered clothing. We had someone on watch 24/7, everyone had a turn and we worked in shifts giving people time to rest. I was glad that we could all work so well together and as a team, that was something we didn't forget from glee club.
It took less than an hour until we turned into our street and pulled into our driveway of our huge house, it was white with a black trim, very fancy. When everyone saw that it was us they ran down to the court and opened the massive metal gates and let us in. I turn back to look at Rachel, a smile on both our faces. We were home.
