Author's Notes: as always, thanks for reviewing! it's exciting seeing a new review, but they're not required so thanKs for that.

THIS chapter should be split in two but I couldn't find a good place to stop at :( Anyways everything is slowly being set, and the pace should be picking up... or maybe not. I don't know. This story could be boring, who knowsss *yawnnnn* this chapter is really long.. and there might be mistakes. but oops

... ugh I should stop editing the story with the document thing for this website. it keeps logging me off and i just keep losing all my edits. WHY ARENT YOU KEEPING ME LOGGED IN FOR THREE DAYYYYS? *cries*

/-/

The thing about Coach Sylvester is that above all else, Quinn really does respect her. Sometimes, on a good day, the cheerleader would even admit that she maybe even looked up to her (maybe).

Nevertheless, time and time again there are things that always remind Quinn that Coach is just a little bit too crazy. Case in point: what sane person would own fifty pairs of the same exact tracksuit in the same exact color?

Quinn doesn't know.

She closes that cabinet quickly and then moves on to the next. The cheer captain has only actually been into this room twice in her life. Once, when she was a freshman and Coach had her on gun cleaning duties as punishment for stepping out of line(never again), and the second time being right at this moment. Other than the shelves lined with an extensive amount of firearms, Quinn's not sure what else Coach has stocked up in the room and she's hoping to find something hidden that will benefit their survival.

The next door she opens reveals even more clothes but to Quinn's relief it's not more tracksuits; they're actually MultiCam style military uniforms. Shirt, jacket, pants, boots, hats and even socks. It's the complete set and they're all neatly lined up and still in their plastic wrappings. The blonde glances down at herself, at her red Cheerios uniform that's covering not enough and then glances back into the cabinet. She hates military clothes because it reminds her too much of her childhood living on base, but she figures it'll be a lot better than any of the outfits she has packed. She looks over to where their bags are set besides the doorway and assumes that Santana and Brittany have no other clothes considering one bag is entirely filled with only cat food. She can't even pretend to know what they were even thinking. For now though, it seems like these are a great alternative.

"S, B," she calls over to the other cheerleaders who are still staring at the massive gun collection. They both turn to look at her and she takes out two uniforms and holds them up for them to see.

Brittany squeals happily because she thinks military uniforms are hot.

"Seriously?" Santana asks and then she's walking to Quinn's side and peering into the open door. She gives a low whistle of appreciation. "There's enough in there to dress up the entire school..."

"Yeah, it's either these, or those tracksuits of hers that you love so much," the blonde points over to the other door and Santana shudders and quickly grabs the uniform with her free hand.

"Britt, close the door so I can set Charity down," Santana calls over to the taller blonde who easily moves over and shuts the door.

Charity is lowered and Santana rubs her arms in relief. Lord Tubbington joins the smaller cat and then Brittany is twirling over to Quinn.

"Are there any other colors? I would totally look awesome in yellow," she asks curiously and Quinn shakes her head. Brittany pouts but takes the other set. "Bummer."

"It doesn't matter what color they are in B, we'll still look smokin'" Santana says as she unzips her cheer skirt. The taller blonde brightens immediately and starts changing as well.

Quinn turns back and takes another set for herself, promptly removing the plastic coverings. She notices that the material is the flame resistant type. Awesome. If they ever need to run through fire they'll be ready.

Their skirts are dropped and the new trousers are slipped over their spanks and the sand colored shirt replaces their red and white cheer shirt. The white issued Cheerio tennis shoes are shucked off and matching sand colored socked feet are placed into their new boots. Quinn decides to wear her jacket zipped up halfway while Brittany keeps hers open. Santana however, merely ties the jacket to her waist and dons one of the hats and within minutes they're all dressed in their new uniforms and looking like soldiers. If Coach was here she'd be proud. Maybe. Or just upset that they were stealing her clothes.

Quinn hangs up her old cheerleading outfit and places it back into the closet, almost like she's trading it off to placate her coach. The other two follow her example and hang theirs up as well.

"We're totes rocking this look," the brunette states as she checks herself and the other two blondes over.

"The jacket is fine, but the pants are a bit long since none of us are the same height as Coach," Quinn comments as examines their new clothes. "I saw some elastic we can use to blouse the pants and jacket if we need to or we can just roll them up. Maybe we'll need to find better fitting shoes but for now these will do."

When there's no reply Quinn glances up to the other two and notices that they're lost in their own world. Santana's grinning as she shows off her new look to Brittany and Quinn is torn between smiling or rolling her eyes.

She does neither and turns her attention back to her surroundings and her gaze is drawn in on the three Cheerio bags that seem out of place and to the two cats that are exploring the new environment. Realization dawns on Quinn's face as she connects the two and she frowns and is suddenly across the room and unzipping Santana's bag in a flash.

She groans loudly when she sees what's inside and looks over to Santana who is now smirking at her while she glares back.

"Thanks, Team Leader!" Santana cackles loudly.

"Bite me, Lopez," is all Quinn can say.

Inside Santana's bag: two small cat pillows, a plastic mouse, a grooming brush and nothing else. She had been carrying feathers while Quinn had been stuck with 15 pounds of cat food.

"Wait, why would she bite you, Q? San, are you a zombie?"

\-\

Kurt frowns at his phone for the fifth time in the last minute and the action is enough to annoy Puck into finally responding.

"There a reason you keep looking at that thing like it has all the answers in the world, Hummel?" the mohawked boy demands.

Kurt shakes his head and shows his companion his phone, pointing to the top. "I can't get any reception and I haven't received any new messages from Mercedes ever since that last one addressed to the whole team. What about your phone?"

The football player quickly digs into his pockets and takes out the device. He checks the bars and notices that there's none.

"Try messaging me," he says instead.

A text is expertly typed out and they both wait to see if it sends.

'Message Sending Failed.'

'Retry? Y/N'

"Damn," Puck curses.

Their last means of contact with the outside world is officially gone.

"Maybe it's only temporary?" Kurt throws out hopefully. Both of them know that's not the case but they're too afraid to confirm it by saying it aloud.

"Yeah, maybe. We should go tell Finn and Rachel the good news."

/-/

An hour later, the newly dressed Cheerios are walking back through the halls and are making their way towards the exit. Quinn had spent a good part of that hour trying to convince Brittany into placing her cats back inside Santana's duffel bag.

"But what if they suffocate?"

"You don't have to zip it all the way up, B. They were fine earlier when you had them in there, weren't they?"

"But what if they get carsick?"

"…We're walking, Britt."

"But Lord Tubbington's afraid of the dark and Charity's afraid of heights and what if they start hyperventilating and I can't save them because I can't see them?"

At this point, Quinn had pulled Santana aside.

"How did you get her to put her cats in the bag earlier?"

"Oh, you have NO idea," Santana shook her head as she recalled the painful memory.

"Okay, well whatever you did, do it again because otherwise those cats are going to be trouble for us later."

"Hey, you're the leader. This team's named after you, ain't it? So gets your leaderness on and stop pushing your job on me."

"Santana."

Pause.

"I bribed her with candy, but she ate it all so I can't help you."

Quinn had sighed and then glanced over to the other blonde and then back to the brunette. After a few moments a grin appeared as an idea hit her and she moved over to Brittany and whispered something in her ear. They both looked over to Santana and then the taller blonde had a smile on her face and she was nodding and helping coax her cats into the bag.

"What did you just do, Fabray?" Santana had growled and Quinn smirked, looking proud.

"I just told her you'd help brush Lord Tubbington and Charity when they're released later."

"I will so get you for this," Santana had hissed and then they were finally starting to make their way outside.

In addition to their new clothes, Quinn has managed to find an extra backpack in one of the drawers. She has grabbed two M4 carbine semi-automatic rifles, two Colt-45s handguns and extra ammunition for both and has stuffed them all inside. The pack is heavy but it's manageable and Santana is now carrying both the cat food and Quinn's bag anyways so the weight is not a real problem.

Along with the guns in the bag, Quinn has a SR-25 EMC sniper rifle slung around her shoulder. The gun has a better telescoping attachment than the M4 and she plans to use it for long distance surveillance.

Santana is also outfitted with the M4, but Brittany has decided to grab an AK-74, preferring the brown patches of the gun to the plain black metal of the other ones. Santana had seemed scared of Brittany handling a weapon but Quinn had caught her eye and shook her head and she had no choice but to let it go.

They're decked out in their new uniforms and their rifles are locked and loaded (safety up, of course). Quinn pushes the Main entrance door open and they're walking back into the soon to be waning daylight with the door closing and locking itself behind them. The sun will eventually set and then the city will be plunged in darkness. If everything pans out correctly, Quinn's hoping they'll all be indoors by then.

The blonde scans the area to see if there's sign of Team Finn and instead there's three lumbering undead figures to the side heading towards the back and two more approaching the building in front of them.

The noise of the metal doors had caught all but the furthest zombie's attention and they all turn as one and start moving towards the girls.

"Okay, well, guess it's time for your first lesson in Rifle 101, S," Quinn says quickly as she places her bag down and motions for Santana to do the same.

"Uh, so I just shoot them?" Santana asks nervously as she sets her bags on the floor. She points the gun to the nearest zombie and pulls the trigger. When nothing happens she looks down fearfully at her defunct rifle and then back to her cheer captain.

Quinn blinks and then turns to Brittany.

"B?"

"Yep," the taller blonde says and carefully hands her bag over to Quinn.

"Remember, just like practice," the cheer captain reminds her as she takes a step back with the bag of cats safely in her arms. She notes how calm Brittany seems; the earlier fear shown with their first zombie encounter is gone and is replaced with a rare side of the blonde that only a select few have ever had the chance of seeing.

"Just like practice," Brittany mumbles and she expertly takes her stance. Santana is watching with wide eyes as the taller blonde unlocks the safety and fires.

BANG!

The gunshots echo around the area as the tall blonde efficiently empties out her magazine into zombie after zombie. It's kind of unnerving, seeing the way the bullets sink in and then explode out through the back; their bodies are too decomposed and there's no muscle to keep the cartridge from staying inside.

Finally, the last zombie takes its last step and Brittany lowers her rifle.

"Uhm, I'm gonna double check to see if they're really dead dead and not just pretending to be dead," she says before making her way over to the closest one.

"You can close your mouth now, S."

"Ay Dios Mios..."

\-\

Team Finn has finally met up once again and they're all slowly making their way through Wal-Mart as they try to find things that they can use. Kurt and Puck have already informed the other two of the phone problem but there's not much they can do about it so they decide to ignore it for now.

"Hey! I wanted to buy this shirt last week, but I didn't have enough money..."

"Dude, there's so many PlayStation 3 Games and X-Box Games left. Man, too bad they cut the power."

"Noah! We do not need that in order to survive! Finn! Put that down!"

"Think anyone would care if I take this?"

There's still a surprising amount of items left in the store.

/-/

Five for sure dead dead zombies later and all three cheerleaders are now sitting on the front steps of their high school. Their guns are propped up near their bags and Quinn has been checking the time on her phone to determine when they'll need to maybe start looking for Finn and the others. They still have less than an hour before the allotted meeting time.

She has already noticed there's no reception and that the message centers are out of commission. Frankly, she's not surprised.

Quinn and Santana are sitting side by side at the top and they're watching as Brittany tries to comfort her cats on the lower steps.

"Don't let them out yet, Britt. It's for their safety," Quinn warns as she sees the other blonde start to open the bag's zipper a bit wider.

"…Okay," Brittany says sadly and leaves only enough space for one of the cats to poke their head out. She peers inside when she hears a soft meow.

"…San?"

"Yeah, Britts?"

"You didn't really like this bag, did you…?"

Santana groans as she can already imagine what the cats have done to her bag. Brittany looks at her guiltily and the brunette shakes her head before giving the taller blonde a strained smile.

"It's cool, B."

Brittany smiles and turns her attention back to her cats.

"So…" Santana starts off awkwardly.

"So…" Quinn mimics and the blonde thinks that Santana looks like she's pouting and scowling at the same time.

Santana suddenly leans in towards her team leader and lowers her voice. "Since whens the hell did B become like, Rambo? I mean, seriously, I can understand you knowing bout guns 'cause of your inner serial killer persona you gots going on, but Britt?"

"...what inner serial killer persona are you talking about?" Quinn asks instead and Santana shoots her a glare.

Quinn is nonplussed but shrugs. "She sometimes tags along with Coach and I when we go to the shooting range. She was really bad at first when we started off with the targets that looked like animals, but when we switched to the regular civilian ones and explained they weren't real…" Quinn shakes her head. "She's a natural."

"And where was I?" Santana demands harshly. Brittany curiously looks up at the sound of her voice and Santana gives her another smile, waiting for the taller blonde to turn away before facing her cheer captain again.

Quinn quirks an eyebrow. "How should I know? What am I, your keeper? You were with John, or Tim or Tom or Puck or whoever else. And I did invite you but you totally bailed on us last minute. Every. Single. Time."

Santana frowns as she does recall doing that but she doesn't ever remember Quinn telling her they were going to shooting ranges, only that they were going to 'hang out'. She's about to reply but Quinn's voice cuts her off.

"Brittany!" the blonde scolds the other girl and the taller cheerleader quickly sits up and pulls back her hand.

"But—"

"No, they're not going to want to go back in and what if they run away the next time we see a zombie?"

"…But…"

"Britt."

"…okay…"

Santana is quiet as she tries to wrap her head around the fact that Brittany, her Brittany, is an awesome gun-wielding genius and she realizes that she hates it. She really, really, hates it. Out of the three of them, Britt's supposed to be the happy-go-lucky, innocent but nice one, and Quinn's the charming yet manipulative leader. And Santana? Santana's supposed to be the muscle; the brawn that keeps everyone in line with her vicious words and sarcastic humor and sometimes violent tendencies.

But here she is, the clear rookie out of the trio and she absolutely hates it.

"Q," Santana turns to her leader who's still watching Brittany closely. The blonde hums in response but doesn't take her eyes off the other girl. The brunette takes a moment to swallow her pride. "Teach me."

The serious tone grabs Quinn's attention and she turns to Santana with a raised eyebrow once more.

"H-how to shoot, I mean," she clarifies in a tense voice as she tries to keep herself from demanding the other cheerleader to teach her. "I have to protect her," Santana says quietly as she looks down to Brittany and Quinn's eyes soften faintly in understanding.

"Sure, we have some time to kill anyways," the cheer captain agrees. She knows that Santana won't ask Brittany to teach her because of her weird pride issue. She smirks suddenly and there's arrogance on the blonde's face. "I'll teach you, but, what's the magic word?"

The brunette rolls her eyes but she can't stop from dropping her gaze back to the taller cheerleader sitting a few steps down. She sneers and answers easily.

"Brittany."

"...Oh my God. You are so cheesy, I can't even—"

/-/

As Finn and the others start their way back to McKinley, Finn thinks that his team has done exceptionally well. They have a suitcase full of random canned food and bottles of water that Rachel's wheeling behind her and he's holding around ten baseball bats in his arms along with his duffel bag. Puck has his own bag with his clothes and has also placed the flashlights, batteries, walkie talkies and boxes of ammunition they had found at the Wal-Mart inside. Unfortunately, there weren't any guns to accompany the bullets, but Kurt is carrying the few pistols Puck has 'borrowed' along with his clothes in a backpack that he had managed to find tucked away in his closet. His originally packed bag is currently on the bus with Mercedes and the others but luckily he still has plenty of outfits that hadn't made the cut earlier.

It's too bad they had to leave all those cool games behind but they really would have been useless since there's no electricity anyways (or so Rachel had claimed).

Despite that, Finn's feeling like maybe things will work out fine because earlier he had also managed to find his dad's old handgun tucked away in one of the drawers in his living room. He's going to check later to see if any of the ammo they found will fit the gun, but even just having the weapon with him gives him reassurance. It's almost as if his dad is still watching over him even after all this time.

It's true that their phones are now useless and Finn has no idea where they'll be staying, but he thinks that maybe they can just lock themselves up in someone's house and reinforce the doors and windows for the night and then they should be okay for the time being. They haven't even seen that many zombies so far; maybe the whole zombie apocalypse thing is one big exaggerated lie.

He's wondering how Quinn's Team is doing and there's a slight worry that maybe those three had somehow ran into trouble along the way but he remembers their initial reaction at his earlier statement so he quickly banishes the thought. Right now though, he's just feeling slightly smug, like he scored the final touchdown and just won them the big game. He can't wait to see Quinn's face when she realizes that he's the better leader.

He leads his team around the final corner and their high school is in their sights. He squints though when he notices three figures dressed in military garb and then he freezes when he sees them turn and realizes that one of them has their rifle pointed in his direction.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" he cries out loudly and the baseball bats fall from his arm as he tries to shield himself.

\-\

For the past half hour, Quinn has been teaching Santana the correct stance to take while holding her weapon and forcing her to practice until it's automatic as soon as she holds the gun up. The ammo has been safely removed to save bullets, to keep the cheerleader from shooting herself in the foot and due to Quinn's paranoia that the noise will attract more unwanted attention. And so far, so good on all accounts.

Santana is reminded too much of cheer practice the way Quinn keeps drilling her, but she takes it in stride. The cheer captain is completely serious and Santana has to take this just as seriously because it's really a do or die kind of situation they're in. She's just lucky that she actually has the chance to learn properly instead of being completely thrown in, head first.

Brittany's encouraging words are also pushing her on and she can't help but feel empowered with the feel of the cold metal in her hands.

She notices that Quinn has her attention on something behind her, so Santana turns around, still with her gun held out as she faces Finn and the others that have just arrived.

To the Cheerios' amusement, Finn suddenly shouts out in fear and then his hands are up and all those baseball bats he's carrying clank to the floor and everyone behind him stops in surprise.

Santana can't help it. She starts laughing and drops her stance and is short of falling down from the laughter. Quinn chuckles but tries to disguise it with a cough. Brittany's just glad to see the others.

"Santana?" Rachel shouts suddenly and she continues laughing even harder.

/-/

After Finn's embarrassment has faded and Santana has finally calmed down, everyone is currently gathered around the cheerleaders and their new equipment. The two football players are gushing over the rifles (Quinn has made sure to remove all the ammo and the only loaded gun is Brittany's, just in case) and Kurt is evaluating their new uniforms.

"Although, I must say," he says as he looks Santana and Brittany up and down, "the Cheerios are similar to the military in a way, so this is a sort of butch style upgrade. It's not as flattering as your cheerleading outfits but it does suit you ladies, very nicely. It's a shame they're a tad bit too long though."

Rachel's standing uncomfortably to the side because she wants to retrieve her own duffel bag from the dumpster area but Finn is ignoring her and she doesn't want to make the journey alone. It also doesn't help that there are three zombies lying in a pool of their own blood on the path leading to the back.

Quinn's also a bit away and is deciding when to interrupt the happy party because they really need to get going when she looks over and notices Rachel's trepidation. She decides to approach the singer as she watches the girl wring her hands nervously.

"Something wrong, Berry?" Quinn asks and the smaller brunette is startled at the blonde's sudden appearance beside her.

"Quinn! You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that!" Rachel berates the cheerleader who automatically rolls her eyes.

"So not what I asked," Quinn says and then she nudges the shorter girl who has turned her attention back to watching Finn. "I'm only asking because I'm bored and you look like you're about to have a conniption."

Rachel immediately turns back to the blonde and then her eyes wander over to where the dead undead zombies are.

"I need to collect my belongings that were left beside the dumpster…" she explains.

"Uh huh," Quinn nods, waiting for the brunette to continue.

"But I don't want to go by myself, and Finn won't stop looking at the shiny new toys that your team has somehow procured," she concludes and waits for the blonde's judgment. Surprisingly, Quinn merely sighs and moves over and grabs one of the rifles Puck is holding, ignoring his angry shout and reloads one of the magazines into the gun.

She starts heading to the back but stops when she realizes that Rachel isn't following. Turning around she quirks an eyebrow. "If you seriously think I'm carrying your bag for you, you have another thing coming to you, Berry."

"Ah! Uhmm…Finn! Finn!" Rachel calls over to her boyfriend who briefly looks at her over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I-I need to retrieve my belongings from the back…" she says, hoping he'll catch on.

"Okay, I'll wait right here," Finn distractedly replies and then his eyes are back looking through the sniper scope. Puck shakes his head at his oblivious friend. He would have offered to help Rachel if she had asked but since Quinn has volunteered he's content staying where he's at.

Santana gives her cheer captain a questioning look but Quinn shrugs and merely points to the back. Santana nods and then continues her conversation with Brittany and Kurt.

The blonde looks at Rachel expectantly and then the shorter brunette glares at the back of her boyfriend's head and joins Quinn and they both make their way to the dumpsters.

The walk is silent and every bit as awkward as they would expect it to be. The two aren't on friendly terms despite being in Glee together and Rachel's especially nervous with Quinn clutching a loaded gun in her hands.

Feelings are put on hold however, when they pass the prone zombies and Rachel quickly moves more to her left, coincidentally pushing her up against Quinn's side when she tries to avoid the whole perimeter around the zombies. The small brunette's gaze is glued onto the figures and she doesn't notice that she's grabbing the blonde's arm until the sight of the undead leaves her eyes.

"Oh!" she gasps when she realizes what she's done and moves to give the cheerleader back her space. Quinn can't help but laugh at Rachel's reaction and the brunette clears her throat as a distraction. "I apologize, Quinn, I didn't mean to overstep my boundaries and step into your personal bubble."

Quinn dismisses it easily and then they're quiet again and soon they're in front of the familiar dumpsters once more. Rachel is relieved to see her bag is still there (as if someone would have taken it) and she hastily grabs it. The blonde is already turning back when the smaller girl suddenly calls out to her.

"Quinn!"

Quinn about faces and curiously looks at the singer who takes a deep breath and decides to just get it over with.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

The question seems to have come seemingly from nowhere but Quinn knows Rachel has wanted to ask her this for a long time. She's just not sure why the brunette chose now to ask but she decides to humor her. There's still enough daylight out and this won't take that long.

"Besides the fact that you stole my boyfriend?" Quinn asks and Rachel has the decency to look sheepish before pressing on.

"Even before that, you never seemed to like me that much," she states.

Quinn nods, because it was true. Granted, she doesn't know if she really cared that Rachel stole Finn. She had dated him to help her reputation but even after being single she was still promoted to cheer captain and then she was HBIC even without Finn's help. She actually shouldn't really care that other girl is dating her ex.

Quinn's silent as she mulls over her answer. She doesn't actually hate Rachel per se; the poor girl is just unfortunate enough to have been caught up in the blonde's plans to becoming popular. Due to her father's career, Quinn has already been to ten different schools and every single time she managed to finally find a friend, she was being transferred soon after. But in Lima, Ohio it was different because she was going to stay there for years and she had decided she was going to enjoy it to the fullest. When that small brunette with the beaming smile had introduced herself to Quinn that day, she had wanted to be her friend so badly because the blonde understood how awful it was not having friends. But she couldn't, because she was already gaining those looks that would have made her a social outcast and she wasn't going to move away any time soon to not care. So instead she had shoved Rachel aside and the other kids had laughed and Santana had approached her later that day.

But she can't say this to Rachel. Can't tell her that she's so petty that the pressures of society have easily influenced her into becoming someone else, someone she's not. So Quinn gives a long suffering sigh instead and offers a compromise to the shorter girl.

"Tell you what, Berry. How bout we declare a truce?" she asks and shifts the gun so that she's carrying the sling on her left shoulder and holds out her right hand.

"A truce?" the brunette echoes, slightly confused that Quinn has dodged the question.

"Yeah," Quinn agrees. "A truce, until this is all over," she gestures around them. "Otherwise it's gonna be a painful experience if we keep butting heads all the time."

Rachel completely agrees but she's hesitant because she doesn't entirely trust the blonde. She does notice that Quinn had sounded so sure that they were going to get out of here alive. There was no 'if' in that statement, only a matter of 'when'.

"I-do you really think we'll make it?" she blurts out instead.

Quinn tilts her slightly head and looks at Rachel. "Sure, why not?" she responds with a shrug. "If there's a will, there's a way, right?" She pauses. "So, are you going to shake my hand or not, Berry?"

The shorter girl looks down at the hand extended to her and grabs it before shaking it. Quinn's hand is surprisingly rough and there are calluses that Rachel notices and she can't help but wonder what they're from.

"Truce," she declares and they let go.

"Alright, now that that's settled, let's go join the rest so we can finally get to some shelter before it gets dark."

The two start heading back to the front where the others are.

"Quinn?"

"Uh huh."

"You won't be inclined to sacrifice me to the zombies, will you?"

"…You really need to learn what this whole truce thing means, Berry."

Before Rachel can defend herself, a loud shot can be heard in the distance and the two girls look at each other in surprise before they start running to the others. Rachel almost trips when her bag slips from her shoulder and Quinn glances behind her when she hears the singer cry out. In another second she's stepping back and grabbing Rachel's duffel easily and the shorter girl looks surprised but the blonde is already moving ahead and she can do nothing else but follow.

They easily dodge the zombie landmarks and Quinn has a clear view of the group. Instead of seeing a sudden onslaught of zombies, she sees Santana being held back by Puck while Santana's screaming at Finn who looks guilty. Kurt looks scared and Brittany is cradling her cats and looks shocked.

"What happened?" the cheer captain demands when she's close enough. Everyone starts trying to explain all at once and she shakes her head because she can't make sense of their words.

"Shut up!" she shouts out and everyone stops when they hear her tone. "Kurt?"

"Uh.. well, Finn was doing something and I'm not sure what happened but—"

"I'll tells you what happened! Finnept here almost shot Britts!" Santana interrupts suddenly and she moves again to jump the football player but Puck holds her in place.

"Chill out, Lopez!"

"Finn!" Rachel gasps out and the taller boy's eyes widen as he hears the accusation in her voice.

"No! It was an accident! I-I just wanted to see the gun, and then somehow it went off! And I didn't shoot her! It missed!" he cries out and Quinn groans because she feels partly responsible for leaving them unattended.

"B?" the cheer captain turns to the other blonde who looks at her with wide eyes. "You okay?" she asks gently and looks the girl over.

"Y-yeah. I'm not hurt or anything!" Brittany clarifies as she glances over to Quinn and then to Santana. "It-it was my fault. Finn wanted to see my rifle and I must've forgotten to put back on the safety. I'm sorry."

"See? Nothing happened!" Finn waves his hands and Quinn realizes he's still holding the gun and she quickly spins to face him.

"Okay, first off: STOP MOVING." she demands and he drops his hands. "Now hand me the gun, keeping your fingers off the trigger." He places the gun flat on his palms and holds it out before Quinn takes it and switches on the safety. She then hands it back to Brittany. "Okay, I don't care if we're suddenly attacked by zombies; every single one of you that's never handled a real gun before, you are banned from even touching one until I teach you all the safety protocols. And no, Puck, paintball does not count. That means only Britt and I are allowed. S, I would include you but I'm afraid you'll shoot Finn."

Santana scoffs but she knows it might happen so she doesn't disagree.

"Wait—but—that's not fair! Me and my team found our own guns that we can use! That's just stupid taking away perfectly good weapons! What if—what if we're ambushed?" Finn disagrees and Quinn glares at him.

"Zombies, we can easily outrun, Finn. Even if it was an accident, if you had actually shot Brittany, and say, accidentally killed her, what would you have done then? What if it had been Rachel, or Kurt, or Puck?"

He pales and Brittany whimpers.

Quinn takes his silence as agreement and places all the unloaded guns into her pack. She allows Santana to hold hers but keeps the ammunition in her pocket.

"Paws off me, Puckerman," Santana snarls and he glances over to Quinn who nods before he lets go. Santana immediately goes to the taller blonde and hugs Brittany in comfort.

"You brought those baseball bats over there, so use them for the time being," the cheer captain orders and gestures to the pile on the floor.

"Bu—"

A high pitched scream, courtesy of Kurt interrupts them and they all turn.

"On second thought, I'm not sure if you'll be able to wash the zombie guts off since there's no clean water, so I'll take this as our cue to leave," Quinn declares after she makes a quick mental count of the now approaching zombie mob. There are at least fifteen sauntering towards them and they all seem to be moving with purpose.

"Okay, but where are we headed? You mentioned some type of shelter earlier, Quinn? I assume you have a specific area in mind?" Rachel questions nervously as the blonde hands her back her bag.

"Grab all your stuff together, now," Quinn orders instead. "Get to the back parking lot and go to the ISO container there. There's a barricade around that area so I doubt any of the zombies are in there."

When she realizes that no one has started moving she almost growls.

"Uh, what's an ISA container?" Finn asks as he starts to gather the bats into his arms.

"…You know that big metal cream colored rectangle thing that's in the parking lot?"

"Oh! Is that what those are called?"

"….yes, now, MOVE!"

Everyone scrambles with their bags and starts heading over to the parking lot. Quinn hangs back instead and clicks off the safety to the rifle.

"Just like practice," she mutters to herself and takes aim before firing.

The sudden sound of gunshots surprises everyone and they realize that Quinn isn't following.

"Q!" Brittany calls out to the cheer captain. "San, I'm going to help her hold them off," the taller blonde states as she starts taking off her bag to hand over to the other cheerleader.

"This is bogus! We should be shooting those things, not running away!" Puck says angrily while Finn nods in agreement.

"No offense Puck, but Q's right. Like, you guys are all amateurs and you'll just end up getting in our way and then we'll need to protect you and that'll totally be uncool. Me and Q can handle them fine, head on over to the rectangle thingy and we'll meet up with you guys after," and then the blonde is running back to join her captain with her rifle in her grip.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Kurt asks as he glances around.

"Q said to gets to that metal thing, so let's gets to that metal thing!" Santana barks out and they all grudgingly move.

\-\

Shot after shot and the zombies are collapsing bodily onto the floor. They're easily enough to kill; just like in the movies, a bullet straight through their head is enough to stop them in their tracks. The thing that bothers Quinn though, is how their movements can suddenly become unpredictable and one will be lurching forward or swaying to the side and her perfect shot will go wide. It's actually pretty annoying and she has to control her temper because her accuracy always drops whenever she's irritated; she has lost too many bets with Coach that way.

She's already regretting not having Brittany join her on the front lines as she misses again when the zombie stumbles as if it had tripped on its own feet. She narrows her eyes and re-aligns the cross hairs but before she can fire, there's another gunshot and it hits her intended target right through the left eye. Quinn glances behind her and Brittany gives her a wink before she's moving onto the next one.

"Thanks, B," Quinn says softly and she's back to concentrating on shooting.

Between the both of them, they easily make short work of the group and soon all of the zombies are laid to rest once more. Quinn reloads her gun with a fresh magazine and exhales slowly.

"Let's get out of here before even more come," she states and Brittany finishes reloading her own gun and nods.

" 'Kay."

/-/

The rest are gathered around the cream colored container and Santana is obviously worried because she keeps glancing back towards the school. She and Puck are this close to busting out their guns and running back when the two blondes finally appear in their line of vision and there's a collective sigh of relief.

"Glad to see you ladies in one piece," Kurt comments and Quinn shrugs because fifteen zombies are nothing; she's more worried when all the hidden ones that are coming from wherever start showing up.

Despite Lima being a city to absolutely nowhere, the population was still around 30,000 and Quinn doesn't even want to think about how many of those people escaped and how many were infected.

"So we're here and now what?" Finn asks impatiently because he hates having to wait around. He also feels awful for almost killing Brittany and there's that issue with Quinn just walking in and somehow stealing his thunder; he would've been an awesome leader, he just knows it.

Quinn doesn't answer and instead gestures to Puck and Finn. "Since you guys are obviously so much stronger than us girls, make yourself useful and give me a boost," she says as she points to the top of the container. It's around ten feet tall. She slings her gun around her shoulder and readies herself.

The two footballer players glance at each other, shrug, and kneel down so Quinn can step on their shoulders and they easily give her a lift. She then effortlessly hoists herself onto the top and she's glad for Coach's crazy regimen for keeping her so fit.

"Okay, not everyone will be able to do that," Kurt says and Rachel agrees because she's a good few inches shorter than everyone else.

"Calm down, there's a ladder here you can use. Let me just—ah, found it," Quinn calls down right before she lowers the metal, granting everyone access.

"Uhmmmm…Berry, maybe you should go last," Quinn says as she peers over from above.

"What? Just because you don't like her, Quinn, doesn't mean you can just punish her for it!" Finn complains and Quinn's wondering if the football player had even noticed that Quinn was the one who helped escort Rachel to get her bag. She doubts it.

"Whatevers, Finnessa, no one wants to see you perv on your girlfriend, though I don't know why anyone would. It doesn't matter what floats your boat though, so's why don't you drag your enormously oversized body up before everyone else? Ladies first, as they say," Santana sneers and Rachel realizes that Quinn was merely looking out for her and her dangerously short skirt. She gives the blonde a small smile but the cheer captain misses it as she turns around and uses the extra height to take in their surroundings.

The parking area is enclosed by scrapped metal and various piles of cars acting as a barrier. At one point Quinn remembers them taking apart the stadium bleachers to add to the collection; the football field is inaccessible due to this. Despite the city slowly turning to hell, McKinley had still continued to operate like always, even with half of the teachers leaving and the student population dwindling as the days passed. Figgins had insisted on providing his students with a sense of 'normalcy' and had somehow convinced the army into fortifying the school so that it would be safe for attendance.

Because of the barricade though, there's only one entrance that they can access the parking lot from and that path starts at the front of the school. It works out nicely though; there's a clear view from the top of the container and it's far enough that they can snipe the zombies that appear around the corner before any can reach them.

She glances over and realizes that everyone has finally joined her and is watching her expectantly.

"Alright, if you haven't figured it out yet, this," she gestures to the container they're standing on, "is our new home."

Dubious looks are passed around and Quinn steps on over to the inconspicuous hatch located in the middle of the container. There's a large circle handle connected to it and she waves Finn and Puck over.

"Strong guys, and all that," she says and points to the handwheel.

"I got this," Finn states and he grabs the handle and twists. When it doesn't budge he takes a deep breath and his face scrunches up from the exertion and he even starts turning red but nothing happens.

He breathes heavily and steps back. "Whoa, who's the guy who closed this?"

Quinn gives him a smile. "Coach."

He tries two more times before he gives up and Puck steps in.

"Man, you are such a wuss."

He gives up after the first try.

"Okay, stop messing around and both of you work on getting that open. It's starting to get dark and you can throw your testosterone around after we gets in," Santana snaps at them.

Both of them struggle and then Quinn joins them and finally it unlocks and the hatch is popped open.

"Geez, is Coach on steroids or something?" Puck complains as he wipes the sweat from his brows.

"Maybe," Quinn says distractedly as she kneels and looks down. There's a ladder that they can climb but the faint daylight doesn't reach the bottom so it's hard to tell where the floor is.

"Anybody got a flashlight?" she asks hopefully. Puck hands her one from his bag and she thanks him before turning it on and pointing it down. She follows the path of the metal ladder and it looks like it stops at about twenty five feet in. Even with the poor lighting Quinn can tell that Coach has obviously done a lot of customization inside. For one thing, the container that they're standing on is only ten feet tall but the inside is much, much deeper.

"Well, I was saying that this will be our new home," Quinn explains as she looks around to the others, "but I've never actually stepped in here—Coach has only mentioned it to me on a few occasions. I'll admit I didn't even know if it was real or not, so, good news: It is. Bad news though: I'm not sure if there's another entrance somewhere or if it's isolated, meaning there could already be some zombies crawling around in there that wandered in somehow," she pauses as she lets everything sink in.

"If that's a joke, Quinn, it isn't very funny," Rachel frowns as she looks down into the darkness.

"So, you're telling us that we might be killed if we step in there?" Finn asks angrily.

"Something like that," Quinn shrugs off the boy's anger. "There's a diesel power generator connected to the inside, and from Coach's stories she claims she's been stocking food and water and everything in there for years. There's also running water, though I'm not sure if we should be using that, and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. It's our best bet for surviving."

"Yeah, unless there are zombies," Santana points out to her captain.

Quinn peers down the opening and then glances up at the now waning daylight. "There's still thirty minutes, maybe less, of light left. The power generator should have automatically kicked in due to the main electricity being shut off. We just need to find the light switch and checking for zombies will be easy."

"So... what's the catch?" Kurt can only ask skeptically, because it sounds almost too good to be true.

Quinn pauses as she tries to remember what Coach had told her. "Uhmm, I think the generator is hooked up to a gas line, so we don't need to worry about refueling unless something happens to that. Maintenance though, we'd need to change the oil every... few days for it to work best. Technically we don't even need to use it...We can try to find candles and some other alternative source for light. Uh, if we want running water though, we'd need to keep the generator on…Coach was complaining that Figgins wouldn't allow her to have the generator installed so close to the school because of the safety hazards, so she had to have it moved towards the back…" her voice trails off and she looks over to the area right beside the barricaded football field.

She then turns to Puck. "I'm gonna assume you know something about engines so you can handle that if we need it."

"Hells ya. Who do you think does all the repairs at home?" Puck states while looking proud. Finn looks offended that Quinn hadn't asked him, but it's not like he knew anything about power generators anyways so he can't say anything.

"Okay," Quinn agrees as she moves to lean back on her haunches. "Well, with the engine maybe it doesn't matter to have it for running water...since the water supply is already contaminated? It's why they said we had to evacuate…" she questions as she turns to look around.

"They have said many things, Quinn," Rachel deadpans. "I'm not quite sure what I believe in anymore..."

"Yeah, me neither," the blonde agrees easily, because it's true. "Besides that, this is like, the ideal shelter for us."

She coughs. "So, any volunteers for finding that light switch?"

Silence.

"I'll even retract my previous statement and let you take a gun with you."