Authors Note: Hey hey guys here is the new chapter. I hope you all like it. It was really big so my Beta decided to cut it into 2. Originally it finished with Faberry fluff but you will have to wait until the next chapter for that. Sorry guys. Please keep reviewing, helps me write. Love you all.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
Where was I? What happened? I opened my eyes just enough to peer around. It dark, dank, and the ground below felt filthy. How in the hell did I get here? And Mike... Oh god where was Mike!?
"Mike?" I called out softly, not daring to be too loud in case I alerted the people who brought me here. There was no doubt in my mind that they wanted me dead, or at the very least, injured. "Mike?" I called again, a little louder than before.
"Quinn?" A voice from somewhere behind sounded, making me jump, "Oh thank god you're awake. How are you feeling?"
I hadn't really thought about my own injuries until he mentioned them. I could feel the sting on my cheek, a sticky trail of blood from when it once bled. My wrists hurt too, I gathered I had been crudely bound at one stage. That was all on top of the nagging pain at my head, a lump forming from a blunt force blow; I'd been hit with something.
I struggled to remember what had happened. I knew there were three of them. They had jumped us from the bushes by the road. I was hit, with a gun, or a knife, I wasn't sure on the details. "I'm okay, Mike," I reassured him, "Little blood, bump on the head, not much else. How are you holding up?"
There was shuffling and then I felt him feel around for my hands before clasping them tightly, a breath of relief left him, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Where do you think we are?"
"Hell if I'd know. Bastards hit us pretty hard, Mike," I bit my lip, finding the taste of blood there, but that was hardly a worry at the moment, "I remember there were a fair few of them though. They looked like feral kids, hardly as old us. Younger even. You've been awake for longer, find anything in this damn room?"
"I haven't been awake for long, not long enough to look around much. I found you and then started to panic. You felt dead Quinn, you were so cold."
I laughed. Couldn't help it at the moment. It was so inappropriate and yet it felt right. I heard him chuckle next to me too. Neither of us had a clue where we were, or what to do. We were terrified. The dead, the walking dead that is, they were easy to deal with. Of course they were scary at first. But we became accustomed to them. Learned how they moved, how they hunted. And we learned how to kill them, mostly. Other people though? Unpredictable. And then being alone, leaving the others alone, that was our worst fear. And here we were, stuck in this fucking room, alone, without even an idea on how to get out.
I wasn't afraid to admit I was scared either. Would I ever see Rachel again? See her smile, feel her touch, hear her voice. Would she come looking for us? What if she got caught too. I couldn't bear to see her get hurt. We needed to get out of here, now. And this time, I wasn't afraid to kill to make sure we succeeded. "We need to get out, we have to get back to the others," I said, my eyes slowly growing accustom to the dark of the room.
"And how do you suppose we do that? Magically conjure a grenade and throw it at the wall? Hope for the best?" he replied sarcastically.
"Is there a door? Maybe we can pull that thing Puck does, knock it down?" I only half joked. I took his hand in mine, crawling across the floor until I felt a wall, "Here. You go that way, I'll go this way. We'll meet up on the other side? It's just like a haunted house."
We walked opposite directions, whispering to each other as we went. It was slow work, but we made it. The room must have been massive. Where we eventually converged there was a door, or at least something solid and wooden. It lacked a handle, but there had definitely been one there a long time ago. And it felt far too solid to knock down. It reminded me of one of those torture rooms you see in horror movies. Like Freddy Krueger or something.
Together we moved back to the centre of the room, "Find anything?" I asked when we backed up against the first wall again.
"Except something that felt very similar to a huge hairy spider? No. Felt a bit like walking around a basement though, don't you think? At least the undead can't get us in here?"
I wanted to laugh at that joke, but the reality of our situation was weighing heavily on me. We were stuck in some stinking basement that had a water pipe leak at one point or another. "We'll figure something out, even if it means ramming ourselves into that door over and ov-" however before I could finish, the handless door was flung open, blinding light streaming in.
Four, or what I thought was four, figures stood at the door before they all closed in on us together. I tried to struggle but the hands that had me were far stronger than I gave them credit for, and before I could even get a look at my assailants, a blindfold covered my vision yet again. I felt Mike struggle against me, he was putting up a hell of a fight against them but the extra hands overwhelmed him too and in an instant we were being dragged.
The floor beneath us changed from concrete to carpet and then carpet to wooden stairs. Shit. I couldn't barely walk properly, "Let me go you!" I yelled, digging my heels into the floor, causing one in front of me to trip, his knees making a loud connection with the step.
"Like hell Fabray! Shut your damn mouth!" sounded the familiar voice I remember hearing just before being knocked out.
I knew that voice, somewhere deep in my memories, "Who do you think you are!?" I screamed, struggling again as we climbed the steps, the one holding me shoving me with enough force to slam painfully into the stairs below. I felt my cheek connect with the wood and then the warm trickle of blood began to flow free. Of course they aimed for a weak spot. I wanted to cry out in pain, but held resolute as we continued the climb. We found ourselves on carpet once again, before being pushed to our knees. Mike dropped helplessly beside me. I'd kill whatever bastard thought this was acceptable.
"Why are you here? Where did you come from?" A different but also naggingly familiar voice asked, sweet and yet deceiving, "How many of you are there, Quinn?"
I didn't reply. Mike stayed as silent as I did. Like hell we were giving them information. They'd have to kill us first.
"Don't be a fool, Fabray," the first voice continued, "We saw your little group of people yesterday, just before Miss Cohen-Chang became an afternoon snack," Mike struggled in his binds, I heard his laboured and angry breathing, "What was the Latina bitches name? The one with the dumb blonde girlfriend. Ahh yes, Santana. What about Blaine Anderson? You even managed to drag little Miss 'I'm a star' Berry into your little gang. Do you want them to be hurt, Quinn? Tell us what we want."
I paused. Running his voice over in my head. The venom behind his words. The way he had spoken about Blaine, and Santana. No. It can't be. I took a leap of faith with my gut, "Well, well, well," I started in the most cocky demeanour I could muster, "Is that Sebastian Smythe? Your weasley little voice is a dead giveaway," I snarled before turning my head towards where the second voice came, although I was not able to see them, I somehow knew I was facing them, "And Jesse St. James, correct? Do you really think I'm stupid enough to have forgotten your dumb voice; months of your whiny talking in glee club was enough to make me wish I'd never heard it."
I felt a hand connected with my split cheek again, causing me to lurch forward. Spot on. Mike called out to me, attempting to shuffle closer. And then I heard a grunt as someone shoved whoever hit me. Hands tended to my face, "Seb what are you doing!?" a sweet voice so similar to Rachel's, "Are you crazy," those same hands pulled the blindfold from my eyes.
Who the hell was this? I'd never seen her before in my life. She was pretty. Young though. I had at least two or three years on her. "Are you okay?" she asked, glaring daggers at Sebastian who was standing to the side, looking shocked and shamed at himself. To say I was confused by the sudden change in demeanour was an understatement, "I'm sorry they man handled you, they like putting on the tough guy act."
I watched her remove Mike's blindfold too, but she didn't once reach for our hands. She was probably scared of us lashing out. Smart girl. I had no doubt that if I jumped, so would Mike. The girl stood back up, giving one last pointed glare at Sebastian before returning to a side room. There were more people there. All the same age as her. One was a girl who I'm more than sure looked like a carbon copy of younger me, cheerleader me. And then there was the boy, a strong guy. Probably their main fighter.
I saw Jesse reappear at my side, he knelt down to my height, "Where are they Fabray?"
"Why the hell should we tell you?" Mike snapped, drawing attention back to him, "Why the hell should we tell any of you anything. You could have killed us!"
"You're right!" Sebastian snapped again, taking a step forward before seeing the glares sent his way, "You're right we could have, you're lucky Marley told us not to. Said you'd be more use to us alive."
"And who the hell is Marley!?" I asked, looking around the room for answers.
The girl from before stepped forward, the blonde mini clone of me reaching out for but being shrugged off, "I'm Marley. We really don't mean you any harm. We just need help. Jesse said you two were easy picking, that if we caught you guys we'd get what we needed."
"And what's that?" I watched her closely, inwardly smiling as she flinched at the glare. Still had it.
"Take a look around, there's not many of us here. Hardly enough to continue surviving. There were more. Lots more. Different groups, back from Lima, and other places. That's where we all met up again. All we're asking is to come back with you, we saw your group before that girl...before she got spooked by us and was taken."
"You're the one who scared her into running!?" Mike snapped angrily, struggling in his binds, his eyes were full of unshed tears.
The blonde one stepped forward, blocking off any futile attempt of attack at Marley, "It wasn't her fault! Your friend was an idiot. We were under some cars when she hid close by, she saw us, got spooked and ran. There was no way we were risking our lives to tell her to stay down. All Marley has ever done is keep your group safe, we were going to approach you but she told us to turn around. Give you time to grieve."
I gave Mike a sombre look, he had calmed down significantly too. Whoever these people were, despite the fact they had dragged us to god knows where. Were only a bunch of kids. Except Sebastian, he was still grinding on my nerves. The crazed look in his eyes had me on edge. He wasn't trustworthy when he threw that salt in Blaine's eyes, and he wasn't trustworthy now.
I turned back to Marley, and the blonde who was being protective of her. The boy in the back being nothing more than a guard, the gun around his shoulder told me that. Before I could say anything however, Mike stepped in, "Look we can't make any deals with you, our group isn't like that. We run on majority votes. And you being with these two," he motioned toward Sebastian and Jesse, "Isn't going to increase your chances. That's the best we can offer you."
Mike was my hero right now, ever the diplomat. It wasn't the first time he'd done something like this. Years ago we were faced with a small gang of guys who were just as terrified as us. Only they had their weapons drawn first. He talked them down and we had made an unsteady alliance for the few days we were in that town.
"How do we know you'll stick to your end?" the boy with the gun asked, stepping forward finally. He was bigger than I first gathered. At least as big as Puck. Hell he even looked a little like Puck.
"You're going to need to trust us. Now untie our binds our leave us here to die. Because we aren't going to tell you where they are."
Jesse sighed from somewhere behind us before I felt a cold blade slip between the rope and in seconds my hands were free. I rubbed my wrists before standing on shaky feet, looking more closely at the small group of unknowns, "I'm going to need names, can't go back and tell them, two traitors, a nice girl named Marley and two unknown people want to join us."
The boy exhaled loudly before holding his hand out, "Jake, and the blonde is Kitty," he pointed back at her, she was now leaning in closer to Marley who was smiling, "Don't expect her to introduce herself, she thinks everyone except Marley is below her. And even then..." he suggested with a brow shake and a grin. Yep. Just like Puck.
I smiled a tight smile before turning back to Mike, hobbling over to him as he discussed details. I heard the tail end of the conversation. We had 48 hours by sunrise to return with an answer. The meeting point was a tower and outcrop we had passed on our way here. I knew the one, it was a pretty noticeable landmark, covered in years of graffiti. They shook hands, before Jesse turned to me and shook mine too.
He looked tired. They all did. They were survivors just like us, and in the end, that was all that really mattered. 48 Hours. God these next few days would be tense. And Rachel, her helpless face as we had left the protection of the house. I watched Kitty and Marley interact, almost instantly missing Rachel's smile. I'll be home soon.
