Hey! Thanks again for all of your reviews. I really appreciate them. Here is the next chapter. Slightly longer than usual AND featuring Brittana. I hope you enjoy! :)
Chapter 5
The first thing Quinn was aware of as she stirred into consciousness was the hard, musty surface beneath her cheek and the dull ache which pulsated steadily through her head "Ugh…" she blinked her eyes open only to see an unfamiliar dark surface beneath her "Rachel?" she sat up and looked around quickly for any signs of the brunette, ignoring the steadily growing pain in her head "Rach?"
The blonde wearily pushed herself up off the ground and glanced around at what seemed to be a dimly lit shack of some kind "What the hell…RACHEL!"
"Your friend isn't here." a male voice stated from behind her causing her to jump in surprise. She whirled around and squinted into the shadows.
"Who are you?" Quinn demanded, settling into a fighting stance "And where is Rachel?"
"It doesn't matter who I am." the figure stepped forward to reveal himself as one of the hooded figures causing Quinn to take an involuntarily step back.
"Where is Rachel?"
"Dead." the figure answered monotonously.
Quinn's breath caught in her throat at the response and her heart clenched painfully "Wh-What?"
"Or at least she will be by now." the figure continued obliviously "As you probably know her injuries from the accident were serious. There's no hope for h…"
"SHUT UP!" Quinn growled furiously as she took a step forward "I don't believe you."
"That's your choice." the figure spoke "But I speak the truth…If your friend has not succumbed to her injuries she would have been killed by now."
Quinn released a low growl and lunged towards him. Instead of hitting him however she soared straight through him and hit the floor with a loud thud "Ow. Fuck!" she jumped up slightly winded and threw a punch at him.
"This is pointless." the figure noted after a moment as the ex-cheerio continued with her virtually useless punches.
Quinn finally stopped fighting, breathing heavily and allowed herself a moment to think.
"Thinking about what Santana would do in this situation?" the male voice asked, sounding vaguely amused.
Quinn recoiled at the question, her eyes widening in shock "How do you know Santana?"
"I know a lot of things." The man said smugly.
Quinn wisely chose to ignore the statement, more concerned about Rachel's whereabouts than what else he knew "Tell me where Rachel is!"
"I'm not the enemy." the man informed her calmly "You don't need to fight me. I'm stuck just like you are."
"Stuck?" Quinn echoed in confusion "What do you mean?"
"This place is dark." the figure brushed past her and wandered towards the window to look out at the pitch black night "It's cursed."
"Cursed?" Quinn echoed sceptically.
"A long time ago…" the man responded quietly "Murders were carried out here." he turned to look at the blonde "By a corrupt policeman. He would drive cars off the road before carrying out the horrific murders of whoever survived."
Quinn couldn't bring herself to completely believe what she was hearing but she decided to play along, if only to get away faster "If it was a long time ago why is it still happening?" She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm "I mean he can't still be alive."
"He isn't. He crashed his car and died where all of his victims did so now this place is cursed to repeat the same day over and over again."
"Like a loop." Quinn muttered thoughtfully.
"A loop which can't be broken." the figure stated his voice suddenly cold "By you or your deceased friend."
"Shut up!" Quinn scowled, clenching her hands into fists "She's not dead."
"My people will be in the process of fixing that right now."
Despite the fact that she couldn't see his face under the hood Quinn could sense that he was smirking. She felt her blood run cold at his statement and bolted towards the door.
"It's no use!" the figure called after her though he made no move to stop her or even follow "You're both going to die!"
Quinn ignored him and sprinted through the dark forest, her blood thudding so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear her feet breaking through the snow on the ground. After a couple of minutes of running her foot collided with a tangle of twigs and vines under the snow and she flew head first onto the freezing ground.
"Ow…Damn it." she groaned breathlessly as she twisted onto her side, the steady ache in her head causing her vision to blur. She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain and laid completely still on the ground, her breaths coming in heavy gasps. A noise caught her attention after a moment and she tentatively pushed herself up so she was in a sitting position "Rachel?" she tilted her head to the side and concentrated hard only to realise the sound she could hear was some kind of chanting coming from her left.
"Rachel." Quinn determinedly pushed herself up off the ground and ran towards the noise. She slid to a halt when she reached a clearing, her breath catching in her throat as her gaze landed on Rachel's prone form on the ground. A circle of hooded figures surrounded her.
Quinn hesitated for a moment before she made her mind up and took a wary step forward "God, I hope this works…" with that said she broke into a run and ran straight through the circle of hooded figures. She slid to her knees in the snow next to Rachel's still body.
"Rach!" Quinn stated urgently as she gently shook the brunette's shoulder "Rachel, wake up!" she glanced up at the group of figures only to see they had begun to close in on them "Rachel, come on!" Rachel didn't stir and the older girl felt herself growing more panicked by the second "Rachel!" she glanced up apprehensively to see that the figures had stopped mere inches from them. They began to walk away just as Rachel stirred slightly causing Quinn to sigh in relief.
"So you're still here." a voice sounded quietly.
Quinn looked up and froze when her gaze landed on the 'sheriff' from earlier. She studied him for a moment only just noticing the gun tucked into his belt. His hand was resting ominously on top of it. She watched in terror as he slowly pulled it from his belt and began to twirl it casually around his finger.
"Quinn." Rachel mumbled incoherently, breaking the blonde from her terrified stupor.
"Rachel!" Quinn stood up quickly, pulling an unsteady Rachel with her and consciously shielding her with her own body "We have to go."
"Where are you going?" the cop called after them, though he made no move to follow "You can't escape from me!" his expression darkened as he watched them stumbling through the snow into the woods "Nobody ever does."
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"What happened?" Rachel questioned as Quinn more or less dragged her through the dark woods "Was that the John Wayne guy?"
"It doesn't matter right now." Quinn answered distractedly "Just move your ass Rachel!"
"Do I need to remind you that I'm suffering from broken ribs?" Rachel panted as they burst through the other side of the woods.
"Shit!" Quinn kicked at the ground in frustration when she spotted her car. Again "This is great." she quickly pulled Rachel towards the car, keeping a look out for the hooded figures.
"Now are you going to tell me what happened?" Rachel asked when they were safely in the car "And why we're back here?"
"You don't remember?" Quinn questioned in concern.
"I remember you being knocked out again." Rachel's gaze flicked to Quinn's head "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine" Quinn answered unconvincingly "But Rach…I know how to get out of here!"
"How?"
"There's a curse on this place." the blonde explained quickly "It causes the murders that happened here to kind of loop over and over so all we have to do is break the time loop and we can leave!"
"Murders? Time loop?" Rachel questioned blankly "Quinn, I think maybe you should let me have a look at your head so I can assess the damage…"
"No!" Quinn shook her head quickly and winced in pain at the movement "I'm fine. I'm telling you the truth here."
Rachel looked sceptical but she decided to humour the other girl anyway "So…murders?"
"Yeah…A corrupt cop driving people off the road"
"And how do you propose we break this time loop?" Rachel tiredly leaned her head on her hand and glanced sidelong at her companion.
Quinn's expression dropped "Oh…Well I don't know. I thought you might have some idea."
Rachel sighed and closed her eyes "I don't know. I don't specialise in all things supernatural."
"What's wrong with you?" Quinn frowned at Rachel's pessimistic response "You're being really weird."
"Nothing." Rachel muttered "It's nothing."
"Fine, whatever." Quinn crossed her arms in front of her and turned to face forward again.
Rachel opened her eyes and sighed when she noticed Quinn's sad expression "I'm sorry Quinn. The pain seems to be making me rather irritable and to be honest you're not making much sense."
"Oh." Quinn's expression softened and she looked toward the other girl in concern "Did they hit you again or…"
Rachel shook her head, cutting her off "Just from before. My ribs." she leaned back in her seat and laughed bitterly "This seems to be a rather inadequate way to die…"
"You're not going to die!" Quinn exclaimed quickly, the mere thought making her heart clench painfully in her chest "Don't say that."
"Broken ribs." Rachel muttered darkly "I've had broken ribs before…I expected my actual death AFTER I became famous would be rather dramatic like Elvis or Ma…"
"SHUT UP!" Quinn yelled and slammed her hand onto the steering wheel, startling the brunette so much that she jumped in her seat "JUST SHUT UP RACHEL!"
"I-I'm only saying…" Rachel mumbled, slightly shocked.
"Well don't…You are not going to die." to her surprise Quinn felt tears prick at the back of her eyes but she refused to show them "We're going to get out of here and I'm not going to let you die, got it?"
"Got it" Rachel whispered. She inhaled slowly but quickly discovered that was a bad idea as she broke into a painful coughing fit.
"Hey." Quinn reached over and placed her hand on Rachel's back, rubbing it soothingly "Are you okay?"
"I'm coughing up blood Quinn" Rachel said as she held a hand up "I think it's safe to say I'm not okay."
"Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." Rachel sighed and wiped her hand on her jeans "We just…We have to get out of here."
"Out of the car?" Quinn frowned "That didn't work very well before."
"We're just waiting to be attacked here." Rachel said reasonably "At least if we get out of the car we can find a different way to walk and hopefully get to the road."
"Okay." Quinn relented with a nod "Will you be okay to walk that far with your…" she gestured to the brunette's side.
"Yes." Rachel answered reassuringly "Come on."
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"We've been walking for miles." Rachel noted breathlessly as they clomped heavily through the snow. Walking was getting progressively harder for her but she was trying as hard as she could not to show the effect it was having on her "And they haven't shown up yet. That must be a good sign."
"We've been walking for 15 minutes." Quinn corrected quietly, her gaze shifting nervously around them for any signs of the figures.
"Oh." Rachel coughed "Well it feels like we've been walking for miles" she stopped suddenly when she tasted blood in her mouth and quickly spat it out onto the ground "That's disgusting."
"Hey." Quinn stepped closer to Rachel and placed her hands on her cheeks which were tinged pink "You don't look so great Rach." she bit her lip thoughtfully when she felt heat under her hands "I think you're burning up."
"Not good" Rachel rasped, her throat sore from her previous coughing. Her eyes slid shut and she unconsciously leaned into Quinn's cool hands, a sigh of relief escaping her.
"You need a hospital." Quinn murmured before she reluctantly lowered her hands from the brunette's face "Now."
"We don't have a hospital now." Rachel shrugged as she slipped her hand into Quinn's and began to walk forward again "and we need to move."
"At least the sun is rising." Quinn suggested feebly when she noticed Rachel's disheartened expression "And it doesn't look like we've been here before so…"
"So we might not be going around in circles." Rachel finished optimistically "That's good."
"Exactly."
Rachel shivered against the cold "I swear as soon as we get out of here we're finding a hot shower and heading straight to my extremely warm bed."
"Did you just suggest you want me in your bed?" Quinn shot the brunette a mischievous grin "and your shower? Because you know I'm open to the id…"
"Shut up!" Rachel laughed and nudged Quinn lightly, though she winced slightly as she did so.
"What?" Quinn defended innocently "You're the one who started making the suggestive comments."
"Whatever." Rachel smiled warmly before a short silence fell upon them "Thank you."
"For what?" Quinn asked, glancing at her companion in bemusement.
"For making me feel better." Rachel answered sincerely "For being here with me."
Quinn shrugged modestly "its noth…" she trailed off suddenly and veered to a halt "Rach? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"A car." Rachel murmured breathily "On the road."
They quickly picked up their pace until they paused mere feet from the empty vehicle. Quinn glanced at a panting Rachel before pulling her hand away and trying the door. She was slightly surprised to find it was unlocked "That's weird."
"Yeah." Rachel agreed as she looked around for any signs of activity "Who do you think left it here?"
"I don't know…It looks like it's been here for a while." Quinn observed, motioning towards the snow covered roof "Come on…Get in. We're getting out of here."
Rachel took another nervous look around before she hobbled painfully to the other side of the car and got in "How are you going to start it?"
"Easy." Quinn closed her door and pulled the visor down to reveal a key "See?"
"How did you know that was there?" Rachel asked with a puzzled smile. She shifted slightly and clipped her seatbelt in place despite the protesting pain from her side.
"Predictable people." Quinn shrugged before she started the ignition. It chugged for a moment before the engine started and they began to move "Let's get out of here."
"Seatbelt." Rachel ordered. When the blonde glanced at her sceptically she unclipped her own and reached past Quinn to grab the belt, ignoring the pain in her ribs.
"That's distracting." Quinn murmured jokingly referring to their close vicinity.
Rachel laughed lightly as she clipped the belt in place and shifted back into her own seat, buckling her own "Well it certainly would have been distracting if I had done what I felt like doing."
Quinn glanced at the diva in surprise, a small smile tugging at her lips "Yeah?"
Rachel coughed awkwardly as a blush crept up her cheeks "Um…Haven't we been here before?"
Quinn looked back to the road to see they were approaching a small bridge "I think this is where we…" she trailed off suddenly as realisation dawned on her "Oh shit!"
"What?" Rachel looked in the direction of the road to see a police car approaching them "Is that…"
"The car that ran us off the road." Quinn swallowed fearfully and tightened her clammy grip on the steering wheel as the speeding car got closer.
"Keep going." Rachel said suddenly, her voice firm "Don't stop."
"What?" Quinn exclaimed sharply "Are you insane? We'll crash right into it!"
"That's the point." Rachel responded simply "Speed up."
"But…"
"Just do it Quinn." Rachel placed her hand atop Quinn's on the steering wheel and squeezed it lightly "Trust me."
With a quick glance at the brunette Quinn nodded and trustingly pressed down on the accelerator "I hope you know what you're doing Rach…"
"Me too." Rachel whispered without moving her hand "Hold on!" the next sound was crunching metal as the two cars collided and veered violently to the left of the road, hitting a small embankment. One of the cars rolled twice down the hill, the other following it.
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"San?"
"Mmhmn?" Santana muttered too busy tracing light kisses up and down Brittany's neck to pay much attention.
"Why aren't Quinn and Rachel here yet?" Brittany asked thoughtfully.
"Who cares?" Santana mumbled, leaning up to claim Brittany's lips with her own. The blonde instinctively returned the kiss for a mere moment before pulling back. Santana resumed tracing open mouthed kisses down the taller girl's jaw to her neck and slowly slipped a hand under her shirt, tracing taut abs.
Brittany was momentarily distracted by the sensation of Santana's hand and lips. She bit back a moan and arched into the light touch "They should have been here by now."
Santana pulled back with a groan to look down at the girl underneath her "Why are you talking about Q and Berry?"
"Quinn said that she would tell me when she got here." Brittany answered, glancing at the door to the hotel room "And since she hasn't that must mean she's not here."
"Or she didn't want to disturb us at…" Santana glanced at the clock next to the bed "four am." She leaned forward, fully intending to kiss the blonde senseless.
Brittany reluctantly dodged the Latina's lips "But Mr. Schue said they were supposed to be here by midnight."
"Briiiiitt." Santana rolled off the blonde with a disheartened groan.
Brittany leaned up on her elbow to look down at her girlfriend "What if something happened to them?"
Santana rolled her eyes "Nothing has happened to them." She rolled onto her side, slightly irritated "Go to sleep B. We have to be up in a few hours anyway."
"San…" Brittany shuffled closer and placed her hand on Santana's side "I have a bad feeling. My spidey senses are tingling."
"B, you don't have…" Santana sighed and turned back to face the blonde "I'm sure Quinn and Rachel are perfectly fine. Maybe they stopped halfway to have sex or something. Lord knows there's enough sexual tension between them to power a small city."
Brittany still didn't look convince "Maybe you could ask Mr Schue…"
"No."
"Please?" Brittany pouted, genuinely concerned by Quinn and Rachel's absences "I won't be able to sleep unless I know they're here."
Santana cursed under her breath, powerless against the pleading look Brittany was giving her "Fine." She was silently dreading having to wake Mr Schue up in the middle of the night but when Brittany beamed happily at her she couldn't help but think it was worthwhile.
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"OW!" Quinn cried out as she stirred slightly from her momentary blackout "Fuck." she glanced across the car only to see Rachel was still unconscious "Rach?" she began to lean forward but found herself restrained by her seatbelt. She quickly unclipped it and reached out to the brunette "Rachel?"
"Ugh…" Rachel muttered as she stirred and glanced at Quinn "I'm…I'm okay" she peered through the windshield, her eyes widening suddenly "Quinn get out of the car!" she unclipped her seatbelt and scrambled to get out of the car.
"Wha…" Quinn looked through the windshield only to see flames directly in front of them and tried to open the door to the jeep only to find it was stuck.
"Quinn!" Rachel yelled as she veered around the car to Quinn's side and began to tug frantically on the door handle, her eyes wide with fear "It won't open!"
Quinn glanced fearfully at the flames before throwing her whole body weight against the door, finally opening it with a loud squeak. As soon as the door opened she found herself practically dragged away from the vehicle moments before it burst into flames.
"Are you okay?" Rachel frantically looked Quinn over for injuries before throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace "You scared me!"
Still rather stunned by the close call Quinn merely lifted her arms to return the hug and nodded against Rachel's shoulder. She was slightly surprised when the brunette pulled away and kissed her with sheer desperation. Quinn pulled Rachel closer and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, returning the kiss with equal passion.
"Help!"
Quinn pulled away from the kiss with a gasp, having been so focused on Rachel that she had forgotten where they were "What was that?" she glanced around, only for her eyes to fall on the other car "Rach…"
"Is that the cop?" Rachel questioned as she took a step forward "The 'dead' one?"
"Yeah." Quinn whispered as she watched flames creep up on the form in the car "He's already dead…" she grabbed Rachel's hand tightly and dragged her back up the embankment "Come on." a split second later the sounds of screams were heard as the girls rushed away.
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"Do you think that's it?" Rachel panted as they walked down the road towards the highway "The 'time loop' is broken?"
"I don't know." Quinn responded softly "I hope so…" she glanced at Rachel and smiled softly "We're going to be fine."
"Huh…" Rachel faltered slightly and dropped Quinn's hand "Yeah, I…" she stopped talking as a coughing fit took over and she sank to her knees, the blood coming thicker and faster than before.
"Rachel!" Quinn knelt down next to the diva as the coughing died down "We have to…" she trailed off as she took in the sight of the now red covered snow in front of them "Oh my God, We have to get to a hospital."
"I'm okay" Rachel croaked as grabbed Quinn's shoulders and began to push herself to her feet with the blonde's help "I'm just…" she stopped and swayed unsteadily "Whoa…"
"You're really pale." Quinn observed in worry "You've lost too much blood. Rachel?" she grabbed Rachel's arms to keep her standing.
"Blood? I have?" Rachel slurred, her eyelids drooping shut "I mean I'm fine…I'm…Just tired…a-and…"
"Rachel!" Quinn exclaimed as Rachel's knees buckled and she lurched forward. Quinn caught her quickly and lowered her gently to the ground "Rachel!" she tapped Rachel's cheek but to no avail "Hey, come on you can't do this…Not now." she felt for a pulse, her stomach dropping fearfully when she only found a faint beat "Rachel, wake up!"
There was again no response and Quinn leaned forward until her forehead rested on Rachel's allowing her building tears to fall steadily ''You can't leave me now Rach. I love…" she sat back quickly, her eyes widening in surprise at the words falling from her mouth "You" realisation began to set in causing the sharp ache in her chest to grow "I love her." she swiped the tears from her cheeks and scooped Rachel easily up from the ground before she stumbled to her feet.
"You're going to be okay." Quinn whispered determinedly as she began to trudge along in the snow and Rachel's head fell to rest on her shoulder "You're not going to die."
TBC