"Will you hurry up?" I sighed at Rachel. The sun had begun rising which made it easier to see and walk. Despite that, Berry was still lagging behind. Part of me wondered if it was more to do with the company she had, rather than her slowness. I shrugged to myself. It's not like I cared or anything.

"I would rather not fall flat on my face thank you, and in case you didn't notice, I'm not exactly wearing forest footwear," she replied. I looked down at her tattered Hush Puppies and then down at my Docs. I smirked which earned a frown from the brunette. I came to a stop and sighed as I waited for her to catch up. "You don't have to walk with me you know. You don't want to seem uncool to the zombies," she said. I rolled my eyes at her, resenting the fact she kept bringing our past up.

"If we don't stay close, it makes us more susceptible," I said solemnly. "I don't want to be the one to put a bullet in your head if you get bit." I saw her gulp and pick up her pace. "We're nearly out of the forest now. About another half mile and there's a road that takes us to Troy. We'll stock up on supplies and then we're heading to Denver. My friends and I were on our way to Troy to get supplies- before we got separated. So they should still be going that way."

"Where are we going after Denver?" Rachel asked, stopping herself from bombarding me with too many questions at once. She shut her mouth and patiently waited for my reply as we walked side by side.

"Washington D.C. We're heading for the military base. The National Guard are offering protection, shelter and food and water."

"What then?" she asked tentatively. I resisted the urge to sigh at another question and the ones that would inevitably follow.

"Then, we wait it out there until this whole thing is over and we can all go back to our normal lives," I huffed out, hoping she'd shut up.

"Do you think we can?" she asked meekly, but I ignored her. Not because her questions were boring me but because I honestly didn't know the answer to it. I'd seen people eating people. Families tore each other apart without hesitation, and it wasn't just the dead monsters. Some of the living monsters had become just as murderous and blood thirsty. But it was worse for them, they still had their humanity and they wasted it. They were worse than the Walkers in my opinion.

We walked in silence after that. I had no doubt that the question was playing on Rachel's mind as well as mine. She looked deep in thought and distant but a brief expression flickered behind her chocolate eyes from time to time and I wondered what she was remembering that was so... painful. I looked away before she commented on me staring at her.

We reached the road within twenty minutes. We could have made it sooner but Rachel refused to walk any faster than a sloth, paranoid that if she fell, a Walker would appear out of nowhere and eat her. My heart soared when I saw the amount of abandoned cars just sitting on the road. It'd been too long since I had the luxury of the Campervan. I didn't know how to hotwire cars, that was Santana's job, so I just prayed that there'd be a decent car with the keys still in the ignition. We needed something big and solid that would keep Walkers at bay and give us peace of mind when we went to sleep.

Rachel cleared her throat, drawing my attention back to focus. I groaned internally, I knew she was going to ask another question. "May I ask why you're going in the opposite direction to Washington D.C and all the way to Denver?," she quizzed, raising and eyebrow.

"My friend has family in Denver. She thinks they might still be alive," I replied. It was true, Brittany's cousin- Nate -lived there. I'd met the guy once at Britt's seventeenth birthday. He was obsessed with the end of the world. He built an underground fort that could easily keep ten people alive for a year. He'd shown me pictures and the place was stacked out with food. It even had a shower, toilet and a TV- though I had to wonder if the electricity would still be running. Maybe he had back up supplies. At the time, I thought it was a stupid thing to spend money on and waste time on but now, I thought it was a genius idea- providing he wasn't already dead.

"It's probable that he's dead," Rachel said, as though she'd read my mind. "Even if he's on the outskirts of the city, it's going to be flooded with those things. How're we going to make it through that alive?" I could hear the creeping panic in her voice.

"We'll just have to be extra sneaky," I said flatly. "Which means you need new footwear and clothing. So we'll go 'shopping' in Troy once we get a car, it's not far from here. Now help me look for one that isn't too beat up. Then we need to get more gas for the road," I paused when I noticed she was looking at me blankly. "Okay?" I urged. She nodded without saying a word.

Most of the cars were either too small, too wrecked or there were no keys. We carried on walking along the road, regarding every vehicle we passed and checking most of them for useful supplies. I managed to find a small knife, which I gave to Rachel so she actually had something to defend herself with. I also found a couple of water canisters, a far too baggy, black hoody (also for Rachel) and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Some time later, we stopped in front of a muddy, white Wrangler. It was perfect. Big, heavy and it had a hard top. I just prayed the keys were still there.

"Here," I said, retrieving a long, flexible plastic tube from my backpack and handed it to Rachel. "Find something to put fuel in and stock up." I started walking towards the car.

"How do I-"

"You suck."

"That's not very-"

"Tie a loop at the end near the fuel cap, hold the tube high then start sucking until you see fuel. Then put the end in a container until the tank's drained," I explained. The tube was clear so hopefully she wouldn't choke on the fluid. "Oh and make sure it's diesel," I called as I opened the fuel cap to smell.

"How will I be able to tell?" she said helplessly.

"By the smell. Trust me, you'll know. It's smells different than gas."

She rolled her eyes but set off in search of fuel. I circled back to the front of the car. It was vacant which was lucky. There had been numerous cars with rotting bodies in the front. Poor bastards. I reached through the open window and popped the trunk. I found dozens of chips, canned food and soda nestled in a compartment in the floor of the trunk. I walked back around to the front and noticed a silver cross hanging from the rear view mirror. God really was smiling on me today after finding this lot. I smiled to myself smugly when I noticed the keys dangling from the ignition socket. Immediately I sat down and turned them. It took a couple of attempts but soon the car was humming, ready to drive with half a tank of diesel. Satisfied, I killed the engine and went to help Rachel who was choking on fuel.

We'd set off slow, having to weave in an out of cars but gradually, they became less and the road looked clear the rest of the short way to Troy, I could already see it in the distance. We'd found our ride on the edge of Piqua it wouldn't take more than half an hour maximum if everything went smoothly.

"See, isn't this better?" I asked Berry, who was sulking and still trying to get over the nasty taste of fuel.

"You're not the one that's still tasting that Nissan," she retorted, folding her arms. I chuckled and she glared at me. "Just be thankful I didn't swallow it or you'd never hear the end of it."

"Mm, I think I would, seeing how you'd be poisoned and probably dead."

"I'd come back and haunt you, then you'd have ghosts to deal with as well as zombies," she said matter-of-factly.

I looked at the other girl and laughed at her seriousness. For a minute she looked mad, then confused but then I saw her plump lips twitch upwards and she smiled. "I can't imagine anything worse than you as a ghost. You're annoying enough as it is," I quipped, grinning. She didn't scold me like I thought she would. She rolled her eyes but she was still smiling. I never noticed how pretty she actually was. Back in school, I never really thought much of people that weren't 'cool'. I divided everyone into two categories: cool and not cool. Rachel wasn't cool. But now, did any of it even matter?

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"Since you're making a long detour to Denver and you are dragging me along with you, would you be able to drop me off in Oklahoma? The last time I spoke to my dads, they were visiting my aunt Kath there." She looked at me with intent behind her eyes. "They could still be alive and I want to take the chance to find them."

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. "I'm passing through Oklahoma on the way back from Denver but I'm not staying with you. I'll have my friends back then and we'll be on our way to D.C. If you decide to go look for your folks, you need to understand that if you cant find them, I won't be there waiting for you. You'll be on your own Rachel."

"You won't wait?" she asked with faint disappointment masking her tone.

I shook my head. "I'm going to Denver with my friends, I can't be waiting around for you- so you need to make up your mind," I said sternly.

"Nice to see you've changed, Quinn Fabray," she said sarcastically as she slumped back in her seat. She folded her arms and shifted her gaze out of the window, ridding me out of her line of sight. And just like that, the light atmosphere fogged with tension. I sighed. Did she really think I'd wait for her? I'd dumped more grape slushie on her than I'd care to count, so it seemed absurd she'd thought I'd help her look for her parents. I no longer wanted to torment her but it didn't mean I'd wait around whilst she went prancing around trying to find people that were probably dead.

We followed the road into Troy, taking a left on another road that would take us to the centre. I looked in front of me at all the desolate, moss ridden buildings that had once been filled with people. Now they just looked like hollow, metal mountains. The streets however, didn't look bare. They were filled with corpses. Half eaten, mangled pounds of meat that used to be the population. I shuddered and looked over at Berry. She looked green. I couldn't blame her, the first time I'd seen a mutilated body, I'd thrown up and had continued to until Santana told me to grow some balls. After seeing your fair share of them, you unfortunately got used to it.

"You okay?" I asked her, slowing down.

"Do you care?"

I rolled my eyes and didn't say anything else until I stopped about five blocks away from the centre. "We're walking from here," I told her as I unbuckled my seatbelt and killed the engine.

"What? Why?" She was clearly unimpressed.

"Because the noise of the engine is going to attract too much attention. We're going to get in, pick up what we need then be on our jolly way. No whining, no moaning, no bitching."

"I'm quite certain that they're all the same thing."

"Exactly, now grab that backpack and move."

As we started walking, I'd noticed something strange. There were fresh Walker bodies on the ground as well as human, which meant that someone had already been here. Whether is was Santana and Britt, I didn't know for sure. We had to be extra careful. To say it had once had a population of over twenty thousand, we hadn't seen one Walker yet. Maybe they'd moved on and out of the city in search of more food. Just as I was counting our lucky stars, I saw something dark dart out into the street up ahead, but when I looked properly, there was nothing there.

"Did you see something?" Rachel asked as she moved behind and to the side of me.

"No, I don't think so. Let's just keep going, this place is like a ghost town and it's giving me the creeps."

We found a bike and camping store that had been partly boarded up and the door broken down. I looked up and down the street once more before heading in. There were four isle of equipment, clothing and crap with a ton of bikes displayed at the very back of the shop. The air smelt cleanish and Walker free so I motioned for Rachel to follow me in.

"Grab some shin and arm pads," I instructed, "oh and some of those gloves with the hard plastic on the back. Its protection," I said when she gave me a funny look. "Shitty protection, but at least it's something. And find yourself some better clothing," I said, gesturing to her ripped tites, shredded cardigan and worn shoes." She nodded and walked down the next isle, disappearing from me.

Whilst Rachel was busy, I picked up a couple of helmets and then headed over to the back room of the store. I pushed on the door gently and listened. I didn't hear any growling or groaning which meant hopefully there was nothing in there that could kill me. I slid through the door and my stomach turned when I was faced with two bloody, rotting corpses on the floor. I covered my nose and mouth with my arm and resisted the urge to empty my stomach contents. I would have left straight away but I noticed something disturbing. These people hadn't been touch by Rotters, they'd killed themselves.

I spotted a black baseball bat propped up against a desk. It was a good weapon. Long, easy to swing and hit with and it didn't make a loud noise. I shuffled fulling into the room, bypassing the bodies and refusing to look at them as I reached over for the bat at arms length. I gripped it and got the hell out of there, marching back into the front section to find the dwarf.

When I found her, she was busy stuffing things into her new backpack. She'd even changed into sweats and walking boots. "Better?" she asked, looking down at her new attire as she attached her arm and shin pads.

"Have you got everything?"

"I think so, Quinn what's wrong?"

"I-" I stopped, staring at something through the window. That something turned into a few somethings and I realised there were Rotters outside. I yanked Rachel down to the floor with me, warning her to be quiet. I poked my head up to have a look but there was nothing there.

"Quinn?" Rachel said again.

"There were, Walkers, out there," I mumbled, still confused.

Rachel slowly stood up and looked in the direction I was looking. "There's nothing there," she said sounding equally as confused.

"But I saw-" ow. My arm stung. A sharp, sudden fiery pain that was spreading up my arm. Shocked, I looked down and saw that the arm of my jacket was being seeped with blood. My head felt light for a moment and then I realised what I'd seen. "Rachel, get down!" I yelled, flinging us both to the floor as a flurry of gun fire poured at and into the shop. We covered our ears, not daring to move. It hadn't been walkers, it had been people. People with guns that were trying to kill us.

"Do they know we're here?" Rachel whispered once the gun fire stopped. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"They're shooting at us, what do you think?" I snarled. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

I was panicking. I didn't know what to do. I could hear footsteps which meant that they were coming in. I felt myself visibly pale as one idea came to my mind. I debated it for as long as I could but really, it was the only option that might save us.

"Rachel, head towards that back room, the door's still open." She followed my line of sight and nodded hesitantly. I crawled after her, looking over my shoulder and pausing every time something made a noise. Rachel quietly slipped through the door. Shit, I should have gone first. I just prayed she wouldn't scream. I eased through the door and saw Rachel not screaming or puking or making any loud noise that might blow our cover. She was staring at them with an unreadable expression. Before I could give it any more thought, a bullet sounded in the main shop. Rachel grabbed my hand and pointed to an open window. It was small and very high up, but we'd both fit through.

I heard a man laugh and then a lighter voice said, "Reckon they're dead?"

"I don't know. Probably not, not after that. And if they are, they'll probably have a few bullets in 'em. They'll be dead in a few days anyway." This man had a gruff voice, the kind that automatically sounded cruel. "Serge says no intruders. Cant make exceptions just 'cause they're girls man."

I let out a breath when I heard them walking away and out of the shop. I looked over at Rachel who had a crease on her brow as she looked at my right arm. "Did you get shot?" she asked tepidly before lightly inspecting the wound.

I gave a small smile. "No, I think it just skimmed. Don't worry I'll be fine." She nodded and looked back at the rotting bodies on the floor. She didn't even cover her nose at the stench.

"Don't you think it's sad?" she asked quietly. I looked at her, searching her eyes. "They gave up, they thought that this was the only way out. They didn't even try. This whole situation has destroyed so much and it's left so little. And by the looks of it, most of what's left is trying to kill us. In a way I guess I'm jealous of them. They don't have to endure this world any more, they're free." She started crying and for some reason I felt sad for her. I walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was awkward but I didn't think a hug would be appropriate. I felt her envy though. I'd love to not worry about being killed or bit in to every two minutes but the fact we were still alive meant that there was hope.

I tore up one of my shirts from my bag and tied it around my arm, pulling my coat on over it. "Okay, we need to get back to the car, fast. We're going to go out the back way to this shop and stick to the backstreets. Keep in the shadows and if you see anyone or hear anything that wants to kill you, run and hide. Got it?"

"Think so," she replied, shuffling her bag on.

"Then let's go."

We walked along the empty backstreets, listening and watching cautiously. There hadn't been anything to worry about so far, I just hoped it stayed like that. Ever since the shop incident, Rachel had been unusually quiet. I wanted to find out if she was okay. I could tell that some deep thoughts were racing through her mind back in the shop with the bodies. I wanted to question here but it was too risky so I decided it could wait until we reached the car. My breathing caught when I saw a Walker up ahead. It was only one, we'd be fine... I hoped.

"We're going to run past it, quietly," I whispered over my shoulder.

Rachel looked over at the creature and nodded. Her silence and non-argumentative attitude was beginning to unease me. I shook my head, I wasn't going to worry about it. I exhaled and inhaled before launching into a fast jog, trying to stay out of it's line of sight. Rachel jogged after me, keeping her eyes on the Walker. Its left arm had been torn to shreds and it was missing half of it's head. I scrunched my face and looked away as we safely moved past it. I smiled happily as I saw our car parked up in front of us. I was sure I'd parked it further away. I stopped and held a hand out to stop Rachel as I spotted smoke leaking out one of the windows. I couldn't see a flame though. I frowned. "Wait here," I told Rachel as I cautiously walked towards the car. I could hear music too, I recognised the tune, 'Jamming'. Then I smelt it. I rolled my eyes, not sure whether to be relieved or angry, the bitch was hotboxing in my car. I marched the rest of the way, pulling on the handle. I opened the driver's door and green-tinged smoke came at me. I glared in at the blazed Latina.

"Hey Q, what took you so long?" she looked down then around dopely. "Sweet ride huh? Oh and Quinn, why the hell do you have Rachel Berry waiting like bait over there?"

I sighed. The ride to Denver was going to be so fun.

I'm glad a lot of you liked it and were interested :) Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and comments are appreciated :} (sorry if my geography's off, I don't live in America) Thank you for reading!