As always,
Gleeville: hahaha, you're not getting any spoilers and that's final! :) I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much, then. Thank you so much! :)
THEMoDePo: Awww, no, you're the best! Of course I had to include Sebastian and I thought that Trent would be a nice addition too, there are not enough fics with him! Hehehe, you'll have to read this chapter to see if it was Cooper or someone else. Thank you so much!
StyxxandBethany: Yes, this time is a person. Not all threats come from the zombies! Yes, Sebastian and Trent needed to lean onto each other to survive, so of course they became good friends! I wanted to give Trent a chance, everybody always forgets about him. And yes, Sebastian is very observant (though Blam are kind of obvious anyway, so...). I can't promise he won't get touched by a zombie, though, you know anything could happen! Hehehe, we'll see about the name of the misterious person. Thank you so much!
Angellovercriss: Well, I think it's a bit too soon to say everything is alright! Hahahaha, you're right, Sebastian's gaydar is working just fine! XD Trent is the guy who confessed they were doing asteroids in the "Sadie Hawkins" episode, remember? Well, you'll have to read this to know if it's Cooper or not! Thank you so much, sweetie!
Me-Me157: Please, don't thank me for writing! Thank you for reading! Yes, I thought it was nice to include Sebastiand, I've always liked the character and his interactions with Blaine (or blam, in the cas of my fics). So I'm so glad you think the same! I don't know why everyone thinks I'm going to kill Sebastian, though, it's so funny everybody thinking about who the victims are going to be XD Thank you so much, dear!
Darrinia: Hehehe, you should trust me, if I said I wouldn't kill Blam it's because it's true. Apart from them, though... anything can happen XD Thank you sooo much!
A/N: Hahaha, isn't is funny how everyone wants for the voice to be Cooper? I wonder why!
CHAPTER 5
Both Sam and Sebastian raised their hands in the air in an act of surrender, knowing there wasn't much they could do against someone pointing a rifle at them to their backs. They looked at each other gravely, and mentally agreed to obey on anything that person said. They hadn't survived all those walkers to die at the hands of a human, after all.
"Now you turn around really slowly" the voice, strong and determined, ordered them.
Sam turned around slowly, like he had been asked to do, and he only needed a second looking at the owner of the voice to recognize her.
"Kitty!" Sam exclaimed, not knowing who seemed the most surprised, him or the tiny McKinley cheerleader still pointing a rifle at him with astounded eyes.
"Sam?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe her eyes –understandable, as the last time she had seen him he had been in a coma, lying on a hospital bed.
"Get this thing out of my face" Sam ordered her as he unceremoniously pushed the weapon away from him and Sebastian.
"Sorry, Sam" she immediately apologized as she lowered the weapon. "How was I to know it was you?"
"Maybe you could have tried asking me" he protested, obviously indignant, as he didn't think it was too polite pointing guns at people's heads.
"Sam?" another voice resounded behind him, and he hadn't turned around the whole way before he was being enveloped in the bear hug of an old friend.
"Puck!" Sam answered in surprise, though he reciprocated the embrace once he got over it.
"I can't believe it!" Puck happily said. "What are you doing here?"
"We were looking for some gas, but apparently there is none" Sam explained, pointing at Sebastian with his head as a sign that they had come together. "That is, until Kitty decided to point us with her gun and give us the fright of our lives"
"You were trying to steal our car, and I didn't know it was you!" she defended herself, as she apparently hadn't lost one whit of her famous strong character.
"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Sam asked, as he was still in shock about finding them in a place like that. Puck wasn't even supposed to be in Lima, right?
"We… were looking for some food" Kitty explained, trying to sound softer so as to make herself forgiven. "We're running out"
"We? As in…" Sam tried to ask, but Kitty was still not over Sam's sudden apparition and didn't let him finish: she needed some answers first.
"Excuse me, Sam, weren't you…?"
"In a coma, yes" Sam answered before she finished, perfectly understanding her surprise –after all, Blaine had told him that the guys had been at the hospital before leaving them there on their own for good.
"How are you here?" she insisted.
"You mean alive?" Sam answered, his voice full of sarcasm and bitterness all of a sudden. "Thanks to Blaine, of course. You remember him right? That sweet and kindhearted boy you abandoned at the hospital?"
"Is he alright?" Puck asked, immediately worried at the short boy's absence and the anger so evident in Sam's stance.
"No, he's not" Sam answered, looking accusingly at Kitty for a second before turning his attention to his old friend. After all, Puck was not to blame for what the current member of the Glee club had done, as he was not even there at the time. "But thankfully he is still alive, thanks to Sebastian here and his friend Trent. So tell me, can you offer us some shelter? Some food? A place where we can rest safely and where I can take care of his injuries?"
"Yes, yes, of course" Puck immediately reassured him as he rested a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder –he knew he and Blaine had become good friends during the last year and he didn't like seeing him so worried.
"All the members of the Glee club are at McKinley, actually" Kitty explained. "Well, everyone except…"
"Except us, yeah, I get it" Sam answered, sounding unusually rude.
"Where is Blaine?" Puck asked, trying to defuse a possible fight. "You can come with us in the car"
"He is waiting for us in that car over there, with Trent" Sam explained as he pointed in the direction they had come from. "Trent and Sebastian are coming with us too. After all, they found us and saved our lives. Right, Seb?"
"Yes, of course" Sebastian readily agreed, as he also knew how important it was to be around people –and wasn't in any rush about losing sight of Blaine and Sam yet, either.
"No problem, the car is big enough. So let's get Blaine in here, you said he was injured?" Puck asked.
"Yeah, so if maybe you could drive the car there so he doesn't have to walk all the way down here…" Sam asked, feeling guilty about being so demanding, but he knew he had to do it for his friend.
"What happened to him?" Kitty asked, obviously worried, but Sam was not forgiving her yet.
"No offense, Kitty, but talking can wait" he answered as he and Sebastian turned to return to the car to get the other two. "I need to get Blaine somewhere safe"
In their impatience about the chance opening before them at feeling safe for a while surrounded by people, they practically ran the last yards separating them from their own car where they were hoping to find Blaine and Trent patiently waiting for them, as Puck and Kitty followed behind in their own car. However, the image they found when they knocked on the window and Trent unlocked the doors was not what they were expecting, as Blaine seemed to be struggling –more strongly than you'd expect from someone in his state– against Trent's arms that were holding him in place as he tried to escape.
"Hey, what's going on?" Sam immediately asked, astounded that Trent had even needed to move to the backseat to be able to hold Blaine down and keep him in the car –though he shouldn't have been that surprised, he knew how stubborn Blaine could be once something got into his head. That's why he had begged Trent to not let him go out of the car, after all.
"Thank God you're here" Trent answered, the expression in his face full of relief as he finally let go of the smaller boy. "I don't know if I could have kept him here for much longer"
"You were not coming back" Blaine defended himself in his still confused state with an embarrassed pout that only made Sam chuckle with fondness at his worrier of a friend.
"I told you we'd be back" Sam answered kindly, putting an arm around Blaine's shoulder for a comforting half embrace.
"Did you get any gas?" Trent asked.
"Much better than that" Sebastian answered enigmatically. "We got us a new car and some company"
"Who?" Blaine asked in confusion, wondering if he was still hallucinating –because it was not possible that they would find alive people and, on top of that, they would willingly go with them, right?
"Let's not waste any time with explanations" Sam said as he started putting Blaine's arm around his shoulders, intending to transfer him to the other car as quickly as possible instead of just chatting with the door of the car open and exposing him to the cold weather more than what was strictly necessary. "Lean on me, I don't want you putting any weight on that foot until I've checked it out, okay?"
"Okay" Blaine agreed more easily than expected, and Sam figured he was so relieved that they had come back to the car unscathed that he didn't have the heart to contradict him.
As soon as he was out of the car, still shivering like crazy, Sebastian took his other arm and threw it around his shoulders too so he could help his friend, and Trent took the blankets that had slipped from him with all the movement and followed them to wrap them back around the short guy as soon as they accommodated him in the other car.
"Blaine!" Puck exclaimed as he got out of his own car and saw the state of his former classmate.
"Puck?" Alright, Blaine thought, he was now sure he was hallucinating if he was seeing McKinley's alumni who didn't even live in Lima anymore.
"And Kitty" the small girl said with a smile as he approached the trio too. "Are you alright, Blaine?"
"He's hypothermic so we should leave the talking for later and get him into the car as soon as possible" Sam answered as cold as before as he practically carried Blaine's whole weight through the grip he kept on his waist.
"Yeah, sure" Kitty awkwardly answered as she stepped aside and held the door open for them.
Once everyone was comfortably accommodated in the car –with Sam having Blaine lying on his chest for extra warmth again–, the questions didn't took long to start. That time, though, Kitty preferred for Puck to do the talking as she didn't want to be in the receiving end of Sam's wrath again, even if she perfectly knew where that came from.
"How are you here, Puckerman?" Sam asked as he distractedly played with the curls on the top of Blaine's head, lying on his own chest. "Aren't you supposed to be in Los Angeles?"
"Well, I was coming for a visit, remember? With Mike and Santana, who are here too, we thought it would be nice to see all of you again"
"I guess you picked the worst of times"
"You bet we did" Puck answered with a grave nod. "We hardly made it into the school after everything started, and then we heard about your accident and how there was nothing we could do for you"
"Oh, they told you that?" Sam asked, his voice full of a sarcasm that made Kitty lower her head in shame.
"Yeah. I'm glad they were wrong" Puck continued, not noticing or deciding to ignore Sam's anger. "So we have kind of created this little community with other McKinley students and Kitty and I were today in charge of looking for some food and other supplies. We're running out of them"
"That's good" Sam answered, more honestly this time. "Blaine said we needed to be around people. I guess it's the wisest thing to do"
"And what about you, Blaine? Are you alright?" Puck asked with honest care.
"He's asleep" Sam answered for him, looking fondly down at him as his hand never stopped caressing the curls on his head, as that simple gesture seemed to calm the shorter boy –and his own nerves–. "He's had a hard time and he's very weak"
"He won't stop shivering"
"And he better doesn't"
"What do you mean?" Puck asked in confusion.
"Well, he… stopped shivering for a while. He was… really close" Sam tried for his voice not to shake as he remembered those dreadful hours in which he had seen Blaine slowly fading away without being able to do anything about it.
"No wonder why you sounded so angry" Kitty intervened, trying to sound sympathetic to earn herself some forgiveness.
"I don't think that's the only reason he sounded angry and you know it" Sebastian couldn't stop himself from adding. After all, Sam was not the only one who was angry at their so-called friends for abandoning them to their fate.
"Who asked you to butt in, Smythe?" Kitty replied as arrogantly as she could muster –though she knew Sebastian was not going to be impressed about it.
"I don't need permission to speak" Sebastian retorted in his usual cocky tone.
"Calm down, Sebastian" Trent intervened, trying to avoid a fight because he knew about Sebastian's strong personality, but his friend still had a lot to say.
"No, Trent, she needs to hear that" Sebastian answered before turning to the girl again. "Sam is angry because you and your friends left them to die in that hospital and you know it"
"It was not like that, and I don't have to give you any explanations" she angrily retorted, but by the way she lowered her face everyone could tell she was feeling guilty about it.
"You're quite a character, aren't you?" Sebastian continued, because a bit of regret wasn't going to stop him from telling some home truths. "Trent and I stopped our car because we heard some shots and we thought someone must be in trouble, and that's how we found those two. You almost had us killed from behind instead"
"I didn't know it was you" Kitty tried to defend herself once again.
"That doesn't change the fact you pointed a gun on someone's head" Sebastian insisted, as he hadn't liked the feeling of being threatened. "Someone alive, not a biter"
"We've had to defend ourselves before against people, you know?" Kitty retorted, and by the bitterness with which she answered, it was obvious they hadn't had it that easy either. "We've lost a few of our side, and not just to biters, as you call them"
"That doesn't give you the right…" Sebastian continued, but this time he was stopped.
"Ok, that's enough" Puck put a reasonable ending to their discussion. He knew they all needed to lean into each other to survive, and stupid fights like that weren't going to help them. "We've all had it pretty rough up to this point and you don't know about the other's stories. Let's not start judging and jumping on each other's throat before we have the whole picture"
"That sounds wise" Trent answered gratefully.
"Too wise for you, in fact" Sam joked, wanting to create a lighter atmosphere as he was feeling bad that his anger had started the whole discussion.
"Well, thanks" Puck sarcastically answered, though he couldn't keep a smirk from breaking in the corner of his mouth.
Sam looked worriedly behind the car and was terrified to discover the lights of the car were attracting quite a few walkers that were starting to walk behind them. He guessed there hadn't been much movement on the streets since everybody escaped from the town or died, and the tiniest thing was enough to get their attention.
"Maybe you should try driving without the lights" Sam suggested, hoping his voice wouldn't betray how scared he was. "We are attracting quite an interesting mob"
Everybody except for the driver turned to look at what Sam was signaling behind them, and they exchanged worried looks as they realized he was right.
"We can't drive in the dark, we'll have an accident" Puck reluctantly refused, as he knew they were a lot of abandoned objects and even corpses in the middle of the road that he wouldn't be able to avoid in the dark.
"We'll be safe as long as we stay inside the car" Trent added, trying to sound confident, but Sam only squeezed Blaine's frame more strongly to him as if that would provide extra protection for him, remembering all too well how they had not remained safe in the car the last time.
An uncomfortable silence filled the automobile as they neared the school, while Puck tried to stay calm and drive as if nothing happened. They all might have fought walkers before, but that didn't stop them from fearing them; quite the opposite.
"Alright, we're just about to arrive" Puck announced after a few more awkward and tense minutes. "I'm going to accelerate so we leave them behind as much as possible, but someone is going to have to get out of the car and open the fence for us to go in"
"I'll do it" Sebastian offered. After all, he was grateful they were finally getting shelter and company, and he didn't want to be a burden.
"We'll both do it" Trent offered too, offering a smile to his friend.
"Ok, so everybody get ready" Puck said after taking a deep sigh. "Let's go"
Puck did as he had suggested and he pushed the gas pedal as hard as he could. The increase in their speed was noticeable, and it worked to leave behind those walkers following them. The problem, though, was that more and more walkers kept appearing as they passed by, and those were not going to be that easy to avoid.
"Hold on tight!" Puck warned them just before he braked sharply right in front of the door. "Now, go"
Sebastian and Trent didn't need to be told twice and they jumped from the car to open the fence so the rest of them could enter. Puck didn't lose any time and quickly accelerated again as soon as the fence was open. Sebastian and Trent ran behind the car, intent of getting inside the place and closing the fence again before the walkers could reach them. Trent closed one side of the door and just as Sebastian was closing the other one, a biter that had lost its legs dragged itself from a nearby bush and grabbed his ankle, making the former warbler fall to the floor.
"Sebastian!" he heard Trent yell behind him, but he was too busy trying to disentangle himself from the monster to answer.
When shaking his leg desperately wasn't enough for the walker to let go of his ankle, Sebastian used his other leg to hit him in the head, but apparently the fear was not letting him be accurate enough and the walker was holding on in spite of the blows it was receiving.
Fortunately Trent was quick enough and let his machete fall on the walker's arm with so much strength that he chopped his arm off before he could hurt Sebastian. Then he grabbed one of Sebastian's arms and half dragged Sebastian backwards until they were both behind the fence and they closed it just as another three walkers were about to reach them.
Still panting from fear and effort, Sebastian got an arm out through a whole in the fence and stabbed one of the walkers on the head with a frustrated scream just before Trent grabbed him and made him walk backwards a few steps away from the fence in which more and more walkers were starting to gather.
"It's alright, Seb" Trent comfortingly whispered to his friend, trying to calm him down. "It's alright, they can't get us anymore"
"Thank you" Sebastian answered after a few more seconds, when he was able to get himself together enough to speak.
"Don't even mention it" Trent said as he threw an arm around his friend and pushed him towards where the car had stopped.
"Are you guys alright?" Sam worriedly asked as soon as he got out of the car.
"Yeah, yeah" Sebastian answered for the both of them, not needing to go into details about how close to not being alright they had been.
"Those fences aren't going to hold that much if more walkers decide to join the party" Sam gravely said as Puck came out of the car and they both watched the now dozens of walkers gathering and pushing at the metallic fences surrounding the school.
"They have been holding on until now alright" Puck answered, trying to put his friend's mind at ease.
"Yeah, but were there so many of them trying to bring them down before we attracted them here?" Sam pointedly replied, and this time Puck couldn't refute his argument so he remained in silence. "They might be stupid, but they're also relentless, nothing will stop them. We need to do something about it"
"We'll think about it" Puck promised as he patted Sam's back. "And now let's focus on getting Blaine inside as soon as possible"
Predictably, that was enough to get Sam into action and forget for the time being about the fence. He opened the door of the car again only to find Blaine sleeping inside, though he didn't seem to be as peaceful without Sam's warm chest underneath him and the shivering of his body, that only seemed to get worse and worse as time passed.
"Hey, B" Sam whispered to his friend, even if he knew he couldn't hear him. "I'm going to move you now, ok? We'll be safe here"
Not feeling the need to wake him up –as he thought it would be better if he slept while he checked his leg once they got inside–, he took Blaine's arm and once again put it around his own shoulders while he grabbed him around his waist to practically carry him out of the car.
"Can you help me, Puck?" Sam asked once Blaine was out of the car, and Puck immediately complied, holding Blaine from the other side and starting walking towards the front door of the place, with Kitty, Sebastian and Trent close behind them, while Blaine was putting one foot in front of the other by sheer willpower, as he was exhausted and more asleep than awake.
Kitty knocked on the door, waiting for some response, and was surprised to hear none, so she tried to open it and her astonishment only grew when she didn't find any resistance.
They would have been scared that something had happened to all the people in the place if they couldn't hear all the noise coming from different places, which told the new ones there that there was indeed quite a few people in there.
Sam couldn't believe how careless they were, though. They were in the middle of the apocalypse and no one was even keeping guard next to the unlocked door. Plus there was a lot of noise and light in the place, something which Sam was sure was attracting even more of those walkers piling up just outside the fence. And they were supposed to feel safe there? If only Blaine could see it, he would crazy.
"Turn off the lights and keep the noise down!" Sam hissed at everyone in his sight, as everybody stopped at mid sentence as if they had seen a ghost. "There are dozens of walkers coming this way and there is nobody watching this door!"
"Blaine!" Tina exclaimed, recovering first from the shock and running to them as she saw her dear friend slumped between the other two.
"Get out of the way, he's injured and we need to take care of him" Sam answered, rudely pushing her out of the way as he and Puck took Blaine towards where the nurse used to be. "You all did more than enough"
After the shock of finding their friends at their door –including Sam, who had been in a coma last time they had seen him– and Sam's outburst, everyone remained rooted to the floor, not really knowing what to do –except for Marley and Ryder, that obeyed what Sam had said and started going through every classroom with lit candles to blow them off; and Mike Chang, who followed them.
"Let's put him on the examining table" Sam suggested and he and Puck lifted him from the floor and carefully accommodated him there –with Sam even taking off Sebastian's coat to use it a pillow for Blaine's head.
"What happened to him?" Mike tentatively asked, not really knowing where Sam's obvious anger was pointed at, but he was relieved it wasn't at him as he quickly turned to him to explain.
"We had an accident with a car and he got trapped under it for hours. I don't know about his leg yet, the one that got stuck under the car, but he's hypothermic" he explained as he took the blankets from Blaine's shoulders and rearranged them carefully so they would cover his whole body.
"Maybe we could start a fire to get him warm" Puck suggested.
"No" Mike immediately refused with a shake of his head. "My father is a doctor, remember? I know a bit of this stuff, and I remember him saying you can't expose a hypothermic person to a source of heat like that or their cold blood will start circulating too quickly and damage their organs. He needs to be warmed up gradually, as painful and uncomfortable as that might sound"
"Alright" Sam answered, immediately trusting his friend as he tucked Blaine's blankets more securely around his body, as it seemed they were all he was going to get for a while, and discreetly took Blaine's hand in his and held onto it strongly under the blanket.
"We should get him out of those damp clothes, though" Mike continued.
"He must have a change of clothes in his locker. We always keep one in our lockers just in case. You know… slushies" Sam explained with a nostalgic smile, as if something that banal had just been one of his biggest worries years ago, instead of just weeks.
"I'll get it, I think I remember which one was his locker" Puck immediately offered, knowing Sam would prefer to stay with Blaine –if the grip he was keeping on his hand while trying to hide it was any indicator of that.
"I'll go, you don't know the combination to it" Sam said, as Blaine and he had exchanged their locker combinations' with each other a long time ago, in case of emergency. Like that one.
"Please, do you really think I need a combination to open a high school locker? Now I'm offended" Puck joked as he understandingly patted Sam's shoulder. "You stay with him, I'll be right back"
"Shit, this is an angry-looking wound on his leg" Mike suddenly exclaimed as Puck left, and Sam turned around to see Mike had already lifted the blankets from Blaine's limb and was taking a look at it.
"Is it serious?" Sam asked, all kind of terrifying thoughts going on in his head, the worst of them being Blaine losing his leg. It wouldn't be that surprising, after the trauma it had experienced.
"I don't think so. At least nothing seems to be broken and it's not bleeding" Mike explained, and his voice sounded so calm and not afraid that it relaxed Sam immediately. "But it's a nasty cut, and we need to make sure it doesn't become infected"
"I'll clean it right away" Sam answered as he started moving around the room, gathering everything he thought he could need.
"Sam…"
"Yeah?"
"What did those guys do? Why did you sound so angry at them?"
"You mean, aside from leaving Blaine out there alone to take care of me? Did they tell you as they did with Puck that there was nothing left to do for me?"
"I… didn't know that. But Sam…" Mike tried to get him to talk, but Sam wasn't ready for that conversation yet. He needed to take care of Blaine before he could start worrying about other things.
"I know what you're going to say, and I'm sorry I sounded rude, but… I can't face them right now" Sam replied, looking gravely at Mike, trying to make him understand. "Not after what they did to Blaine"
"I get it, Sam, you have the right to be angry and you need to take care of him first, but… remember we're all in a very difficult situation. No one really knows what they're supposed to do"
"Blaine knew"
"Ok, then not everyone is like Blaine. Just keep that in mind"
"Here's a nice fresh clean outfit for you and your boyfriend… I mean, your friend" Puck said with a sardonic smile that confused Sam as he handed him some of Blaine's clothes as well as his own. "My mistake, I don't know what I was thinking about"
"Do you want some help, Sam?" Mike asked, deciding to ignore Puck's inappropriate hints, as he sensed that Sam was a bit overwhelmed with everything that had happened that night and probably needed some peace to put his thoughts in order while working on getting his friend better.
"No, Mike, thank you" Sam unsurprisingly answered, grateful at his friend's observant skills. "I can take it from here"
"Ok. So clean and bind the wound. I'm afraid you're going to have to use alcohol, and there are not a lot of meds here. And try to keep him warm with the blankets. He's going to feel cold for hours, so don't worry if he won't stop shivering for a while" Mike explained, trying to get his friend's mind at ease, because he really looked like he could use it. "Then come on, Puck, let's find something useful to do"
"Yeah, I'll go explain everything to everyone. They must be killing your friends with question, and I've got the feeling that Sebastian guy is not the most patient person around either" Puck explained as he let himself be pushed to the door by Mike.
"Ok" Sam answered with a chuckle, knowing Puck was probably right.
"Call me if you need anything" Mike reminded him.
"I will. Thank you, guys"
Sam remained rooted to the floor for a second after the boys left, trying to gather his strength to start working. He felt exhausted, totally spent. Though he knew his fatigue was not physical by any means. Too many emotions in one night. Or in two days, if he counted everything they had lived since he woke up from his coma. And the thought of just how close he had come to losing Blaine, either at the hands of the walkers or the cold that had taken control of him so viciously… But no, he stopped himself. He couldn't let himself fall into that. Blaine still needed him, and Sam was not going to relegate that task on anyone. Not after everything Blaine had done for him. And… because he wanted to be the one to do it.
Renewed at the thought that Blaine was still depending on him, he sat on a stool next to the examining table and only exposed Blaine's leg, as Mike had done, so the rest of his body would stay covered by the blankets that seemed to be making their work so well. Without any kind of consideration he ripped Blaine's pants leg open so he could take care of it –they were already pretty torn and bloody anyway– and braced himself before daring to look at the wound, afraid of what he might find. He was relieved that it wasn't as horrible as he had imagined, though. Mike was right: it was an ugly wound, and he probably had a sprain too, but it would heal. And the fact there were no broken bones to take care of was a really good thing.
He knew it was wise to take advantage of the fact that Blaine seemed to be dead to the world to start working on disinfecting the wound, something which surely was going to be very painful if he had to use alcohol, so he didn't lose any more time. His heart breaking at the pain his friend was going to experience, though knowing he had no other options in their situation, he took a bottle of alcohol and hesitated for just a second before pouring a generous amount over the wound.
The reaction was almost immediate, and Blaine let out a pitiful scream at the unexpected burning pain that brought a tear to Sam's eyes before Blaine started thrashing on the table, apparently trying to escape an imaginary foe that was trying to hurt him.
"It's okay, Blaine" Sam immediately tried to reassure him, hoping his voice would pass over all the pain and register on his friend's mind.
"They're hurting me!" Blaine yelled, still trapped in his own nightmare thanks to the searing pain in his leg. "Get them off me!"
"B, stop it, stop" Sam pleaded as he cupped his face and joined their foreheads together so Blaine could feel him and understand he was not in danger. "It's me, buddy"
Sam's calming voice and touch seemed to finally make Blaine more aware of his surroundings, and when he opened his eyes he was confused and surprised to see he was not being devoured by walkers and that only Sam was there.
"It hurts" Blaine lamented in a pitiful voice that felt like a dagger to Sam's heart, though at least he was relieved that Blaine seemed to recognize him.
"It was me, I was disinfecting your wound. I'm so sorry" Sam apologized, breaking Blaine's heart at all the regret and the pain he could hear in his voice.
"It's okay" Blaine immediately reassured him as he took advantage of Sam's proximity to tenderly caress his cheek with his knuckles in a comforting gesture before he pulled away. "I just got scared for a second"
"We've got nothing to be scared about now" Sam added, turning to his stool again as he took a cloth and started cleaning of the dirt around the wound until Blaine winced. "Am I hurting you?"
"It's okay" Blaine repeated, willing himself to remain completely still and not give any other indicator that he was hurting so Sam wouldn't have to feel guilty again.
"Do you remember what happened?" Sam asked while he worked as carefully as he could. After all, Blaine had been very confused and even unconscious for a while, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he wasn't aware of much of what had happened that night.
"Most of it" Blaine assured him, relieved that the blinding pain seemed to be lessening into a dull ache he could stand.
"So you remember Trent and Sebastian got us out of there"
"I think so"
"And then Puck and Kitty found us. If it hadn't been for all of them…" Sam continued, stopping himself again before getting lost in what could have happened.
"Where are we?" Blaine asked as he looked around them, more and more aware of his surroundings with the passing minutes. "This looks like…"
"McKinley, yeah. Can you believe it? Even in the middle of the apocalypse we still aren't playing hooky" Sam joked, his heart bursting with joy when he elicited a chuckle from his friend. "Serves me right, for becoming best friends with a nerd like you"
"Hey!" Blaine playfully protested, now he being the one to make Sam laugh. "How is my leg?"
"It has a nasty cut and it's quite bruised, so I guess it's going to feel pretty painful now it's not numb anymore, but nothing is broken"
"Good" Blaine answered with a relieved smile that warmed Sam's heart.
"I can't believe you didn't break your leg" Sam said as he finished cleaning the area with a relieved sigh.
"I guess I'm a lucky guy" Blaine said, and there was so much emotion in his voice and in his eyes that Sam had to gulp a couple of times when he realized he was talking about him.
"I'm going to wrap it up so the wound doesn't become infected, ok?" Sam explained with a warm smile that was immediately reciprocated.
"Ok"
The pain was getting easier to bear with each passing minute, and after Sam gently bandaged his leg he almost couldn't feel it anymore. Then Sam helped him change his clothes with all the care in the world –Blaine was still shaking so badly he barely could hold anything in his hands– and Blaine tried not to blush too badly at the idea of Sam undressing him, even if he knew he was just doing as a part of taking care of him.
"I'm sorry I ruined your pants" Sam said once Blaine was securely tucked under the blankets again and he was finishing changing his own clothes. "I had to cut them off"
"Don't be ridiculous, Sam" Blaine answered with a chuckle at his adorably dorky friend that made Sam's heart beat at double speed without him understanding why.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes, but I'm still so cold"
"I know, dude" Sam answered sympathetically as he resumed his place on the stool at Blaine's side and rested a comforting hand on his thigh. "And you're going to feel like that for a few more hours, I guess. At least Mike said so"
"Mike? As in Mike Chang? Mike is here too?" Blaine asked, astounded.
"And so is Puck and Santana all the Glee Club, can you believe it?" Sam answered, glad that at least they were surrounded by people now, as Blaine had wanted.
"I'm glad they're alright" Blaine sincerely said, as it was so good to know they hadn't lost everyone they loved.
"Yeah" Sam answered, more sarcastically, though Blaine didn't seem to notice.
"Thank you, Sam" Blaine said, suddenly serious, as he got his hand out of the blanket imprisonment to grab Sam's and hold it into his.
"No, Blaine, I didn't…" Sam tried to diminish the appraisal, but of course he should have known Blaine was much more stubborn than that.
"You didn't give up on me and you saved my life" he insisted, looking intently at him until Sam felt as if he was seeing him through his very soul.
"You saved mine first" Sam stupidly answer, not really knowing what to say at Blaine's intensity.
"Guess we're even now" Blaine answered with a chuckle.
"You can't compare what you did with what I did" Sam insisted.
"Don't be stupid, Sam. I'm alive because of you, how is that different?"
"Let's just keep looking after each other like this, ok?" Sam suggested, squeezing Blaine's hand more strongly into his as his other hand moved involuntarily to Blaine's curls. But it was not his fault, he had not seen Blaine's curls ungelled before and they were so funny an adorable that he couldn't stop touching them. "We make a pretty good team"
"We surely do" Blaine answered, subconsciously turning his head towards Sam's touch.
"Maybe we should get some rest now" Sam suggested as he noticed Blaine doing a great effort to stay awake. "We are safe for now and we both know we've earned it"
"Do you want…?" Blaine started to ask, but stopped himself before he could finish.
"Do I want what?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement as he noticed the light blush on Blaine's cheeks.
"…to lie down here with me" Blaine finished, his face redder than a tomato until Sam couldn't help but laugh.
"So when did we start getting embarrassed around each other?" he asked while fondly shaking his head at his adorable friend –and yeah, okay, maybe he was finding him adorable to often lately, but who cared–. "I'd love to, I'd really do, but I'm afraid there is not enough space for the two of us on the examining table"
"Maybe we could lie down on the floor…" Blaine suggested, encouraged by how Sam had said he'd love to lie down with him without the slightest hint of embarrassment or hesitation.
"No, no way, I'm not risking you lying on the floor again and letting the cold sip through your bones again" Sam immediately denied. No matter how much he really needed to cuddle with Blaine that night –although he was not going to say that and he'd continue pretending he was just doing it for him–, he was not going to put his already fragile health at risk. "Plus I don't think you'd be that comfortable with that injured leg"
"Oh" Blaine exclaimed without being able to stop a pout from appearing in his lips, though he tried to hide it so as not to make Sam feel guilty or show him how much he really wanted to sleep next to him. "Ok, you're right"
Sam's heart broke at Blaine's obvious disappointment. How he could deny him anything when he was injured and sick like that? He was the worst best friend ever! Plus Blaine was right, and sleeping together seemed like the best idea –for medical reasons only, of course, as that way they could share their body heat–. There had to be something he could do.
"I've got an idea!" he suddenly announced, his face breaking into a proud grin. "I'll be right back, don't fall asleep yet"
Blaine wondered what could be going through Sam's head to make him leave the room in such a hurry, but he couldn't help a smile as he thought about how big his heart was and how important it was for Sam to make him happy. And not just because he was injured, or because the blond was grateful to him for staying with him at the hospital: it had always been like that. Blaine had never had a friend like him before, someone who cared so much about his feelings and desires and that would do anything in his power to make them come true. And if Sam could be like that just for his friend, what he wouldn't do for… No, stop. He couldn't let himself be dragged into that kind of thinking again. Especially not in a time like that. It just couldn't be, and Blaine knew that well enough.
Before he could fall into despair for the things he would never get, Sam came back with the biggest grin on his face as he happily dragged an enormous mat into the room.
"There you are" Sam proudly said, still panting from the effort. "I went to the gym and I grabbed the thickest mat I could find. I'm sure we can be pretty comfortable on it, right?"
"Sam, you are amazing" Blaine answered, unable to keep his utter adoration for his friend out of his voice.
"Oh, it's just you looking at me with kind eyes" Sam answered with a blush at the appraisal. "And now come on, let's get you comfortable on this thing"
Just as he had been doing all night, Sam helped Blaine, putting the curly-haired's arm around his shoulders and making sure to hold most of his weight as they took the few steps separating them from the mat, so he wouldn't put any weight on his injured leg. Then he helped him lie down and totally wrapped him on the blankets before climbing underneath them himself as he lied down at Blaine's side and brought his friend to him to nestle on his chest. He knew it was not the most usual position to sleep with a friend, but Blaine had been sleeping on Sam's chest for hours now in the cars, so it didn't feel awkward at all. And if it was what it took for Blaine to feel comfortable and warm…
"Are you comfortable?" Sam asked, even if the happy sigh that escaped Blaine's mouth once they were accommodated was answer enough. "Is that what you had in mind?"
"It's perfect" Blaine answered, trying not to pour when Sam started lazily running his fingers through the back of his head and neck in a comforting and relaxing gesture.
"Well, you deserve it, after everything you went through today"
"You mean we went through"
"Well, yeah" Sam admitted. "But I'm comfortable too like this, don't worry"
Silence fell upon them as they relished in the feeling on being in the arms of someone they knew cared about them deeply, after the fear and the grief they had experienced just a few hours before. If someone came to check on them, they wouldn't probably understand them, the need to feel connected, the pleasure of feeling that close to someone in a world that had been destroyed. But they didn't care: that was just for them, and nobody got a say in it.
"Sam, what are we doing back in Lima?" Blaine asked after a few minutes of peace, and by the way Sam's hand stilled on his hair he knew he was not going to like the answer.
"Well, as you know Trent and Sebastian found us in their way here, so…" Sam answered, trying to avoid the question for just a few hours. Blaine so deserved to be in peace for a while…
"I know, but… are we still going to Westerville? When my leg is okay?" Blaine insisted, and Sam's heart broke at the almost imperceptible fear in his voice.
"Blaine, I… I don't know how to tell you this, but…" Sam started, taking his time to try and find the right words to say.
"Sam, just say it" Blaine interrupted him. "I'm not an idiot, I know Trent and Sebastian left Westerville for a reason"
Sam looked down at Blaine's determined expression and he was reminded of how Blaine was not made of glass, how he was not a fragile figure that was going to break at the lightest touch by any means. Blaine was strong and courageous and a survivor, and whatever Sam told him, he would take it and learnt to live with it as much as it hurt. There was no point in hiding the truth any longer, Sam knew. The only thing he could do was be there for him. Like Sebastian had told him to do.
"Well, apparently the whole village was… burnt down. There is nothing left there"
"Ok" was the only thing Blaine was able to say as he lowered his gaze down so Sam wouldn't see the tears. "Thank you for telling me, Sam"
"But that doesn't mean they're dead, Blaine" Sam hurried to explain, guessing about the tears even if he hadn't seen them, putting both his arms around the shorter boy so he could hold him strongly to his chest. "The guys said a lot of people escaped before the fire. Your parents might have been amongst those who escaped"
"Then where are they?" Blaine's voice sounded so soft and desperate for some answers that it reminded Sam of a little kid who had gotten lost. And he couldn't stand it, though he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
"I… I don't know" Sam was forced to admit because, even if they really didn't know what had happened, he knew the chances that Blaine's parents were alive were pretty slim. "But I'm here, okay? You're not alone"
It didn't take Blaine long to start crying in desperation, hiding his face in the crook of Sam's neck while heartbreaking sobs shook his whole body. It broke Sam's heart to see his friend like that, but he didn't try to stop him: he knew Blaine needed to let it all out, as he had been holding it inside for too long. And if holding him with all his forces and whispering comforting words on his ear could help in any way, that's what Sam would do until the end of time, even if he had to dry his own tears at his best friend's suffering.
A/N: No cliffhanger this time, take a deep breath... until the next one ;)