Author's Notes: As alwaysss, the reviews, thank you for them. I wonder if I'm making Finn too dumb. But it's not like I really like him, so it doesn't really matter, I think. He's kinda like comic relief. Because nothing's funnier than Finn/zombies! I had so much trouble writing this chapter because I forgot how to write about halfway. No, seriously, I was like what is words and then I went to sleep instead of writing. Exciting.

Finn's.. Finn is.. I don't think he's going to be any less annoying until the very end. Sorry. There's Faberry in this chapter though! Turn back now, you hater you. And more background to whats happening. Even I don't know what's going on so you can't ask me. Oh, uhm, I kinda have a tumblr but I don't have anything posted on there (there's like, three posts I reblogged or something. maybe one day i'll give up the link :( but if you'd like to contact me you can private msg me on here, ff. net . I might take a while to respond because i'm sooo lazy (NOO SERIOUSLY I AM!) and I apologize if my reply is like weeks later. I also apologize that this A/N is super long. And that eventually I will abandon this story.

But that's for another day. (don't say I didn't warn you)

/-/

It's times like this that make Quinn wonder how they would have done in those show choir competitions if no zombies had started showing up and the world wasn't ending. Because, as a club they all kind of sucked at group work; all they ever seem to do when they're together is argue. If it's not about solos, it's about song selections. If it's not about Finn being leader, then it's about who's going to flip the switch. How they ever expect to get anything done is beyond her.

Quinn's currently sitting on the edge of the container with her legs hanging off the side and she's peering through the scope of her rifle as she keeps an eye out for any zombies that appear in her sights. Daylight is drastically fading and soon it'll be too dark for her to see. She wishes she had remembered to grab a scope with night vision and makes a mental note to do so tomorrow. For now though, there's still enough light that she can still make out any lumbering figures, but she hopes that they'll decide who will go soon so that they can finally safely hide inside.

She's only half listening to the conversation behind her, but already she can tell that Santana is getting irritated and she keeps throwing out Finn's name as a suggestion. Even with her attention tuned in on the zombie that has suddenly walked into her line of fire, Quinn knows that the general consensus is that Finn should be the one volunteering. With the cheer captain currently being occupied, he's the obvious choice due to him being leader of Team Finn.

Quinn, however, merely concentrates on positioning the cross hairs on the zombie's forehead. She briefly entertains the thought of pretending that the undead is someone's face but thinks that's too morbid and merely banishes the thought and fires.

Bang!

The cheer captain lowers her gun again as soon as she notices that that was the last one for now. She glances over to Brittany to see if the other girl can take over the sniping duties so that Quinn can just go and they can get this all over with. The taller blonde, however, is too busy dealing with her cats that are slowly becoming more agitated the longer they're in the bag. The constant gunshots from Quinn's rifle aren't helping at all and Santana's mood is plummeting in direct correlation to Brittany's own apprehension. Pretty soon something's going to happen and it'll most likely involve Santana, Finn, and one of them falling down the ladder.

And everyone knows who's going to take the fall.

Thankfully though, Puck finally steps in and decides that he'll go. All he needs to do is climb down, flip a switch, and check for zombies anyways. Nothing too difficult for the Puckasaurus, or so he claims.

That's Finn's cue, however, to throw in his two cents and he's saying something about not letting his best friend sacrifice himself and Quinn can't help but roll her eyes. Typical Finn: waiting until the last possible moment to do something.

At this point though, she doesn't really care who's going and merely grabs the other gun she had set aside earlier in lieu of her sniper rifle.

"Puck, or Finn, or whoever's going, here," Quinn says as she holds out the gun. "Just make sure you switch the safety off only when you're halfway down the ladder. I'd rather not have to worry about you somehow shooting us because your hands are trembling too much."

Finn steps forward and takes the gun and then he scowls at her when he finally understands what the blonde was insinuating.

"I'm not scared!" he shouts but Quinn is already back to peering through the scope and ignoring him. She can hear Santana snickering and she's sure either Rachel or Kurt is seconds away from defending the football player, so she continues her instructions.

"Kurt or whoever can shine a flashlight so that Finn can see as he climbs down," she says distractedly before she's re-aiming and firing the gun. "Don't forget to grab a flashlight too, Finn, and try not to make too much noise; they can actually hear a lot better than we think."

She doesn't bother telling them that they've been making too much noise already; the hatch to the shelter has been open the entire time they've been arguing and if there were any zombies down there they would have already been alerted. She just hopes that they're not smart enough to be lying in wait for someone to climb down and then jumping them.

At least she's not sending Finn in without a weapon.

Quinn turns back to concentrating on her gun as the others decide who will provide the light (Rachel) and then the brunette and Finn are sharing a kiss, acting almost as if he's being sent to the firing squad and Quinn can hear Santana making gagging noises in the background.

And then finally, finally Finn's making his way down the ladder as Puck and Rachel and Kurt watch him from above. Santana could care less and she's standing with Brittany as they both try to calm the cats down. It's a struggle but they both manage and then everything's quiet as they wait for Finn to reach the bottom.

Looking through the scope, the area seems clear and Quinn lowers her arms and rests the gun on her lap. She glances over to the others and despite the low lighting she can see how tense their body language is. There's no sudden screaming though from below and she takes it as a good sign. Hopefully Finn will be able to find the switch in no time.

Rachel and Kurt and Puck are watching with bated breath as Finn continues to descend. The light from Rachel's flashlight lessens as he steps further in and when his foot finally reaches solid ground his figure is barely illuminated. They can see the beam as he turns on his own light and points it around the area. Rachel wants to give him encouraging words or reassure him somehow, but Quinn's earlier instructions on keeping the noise level low stops her.

Just as Quinn's about to bring the scope back to her eye level, there's a sudden shout that breaks the silence.

"Quinn? What am I looking for again?"

The blonde groans because if there are any zombies down there they definitely know that Finn is there now.

"QUINN?" he shouts even louder, thinking that she can't hear him.

"Quinn—what should I tell him?" Rachel whispers frantically, because she wants to tell Finn to quiet down but is afraid that her voice will make it even worse.

The cheer captain sighs and shakes her head in annoyance. "Just answer him, Berry. If there are any zombies, well, at least your voice will be the last thing he hears before they tear him apart."

The singer pauses, because she's sure that Quinn has paid her a compliment, but she files that to the back of her mind and calls out to her boyfriend.

"Finn, you're looking for a light switch!"

"Uhm, what does that look like?"

"…Oh, for heaven's sake—"

"Okay, forget this, I should've just gone down there in the first place," Puck states as he grabs Brittany's gun that has been resting against their bags and shoulders the sling. He shoves Kurt aside and has one foot on the ladder when Quinn speaks up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Puck," she warns him and the mohawked boy looks at her curiously. "Knowing Finn, he'll probably shoot you because he's so nervous."

Puck scoffs and he's giving Quinn a look of disbelief.

"Finn's my bro, he wouldn't—" he cuts himself off as he's suddenly reminded of those Counter Strike marathons between the two of them. Reminded of the constant deaths because friendly fire was enabled and Finn was almost always shooting him in the back without fail.

He slowly steps back off the ladder.

"I can't find it!"

"I wonder if that's what the zombies will say when they go looking for his brain," Santana comments and Quinn snorts as she tries to hide her laugh.

Rachel, of course tries to defend Finn in his absence. "Santana, it is neither the time nor the place—"

"Alright, I'm going to help him," Puck decides once more and steps back onto the ladder. "Finn! I'm coming down to help you. Don't shoot me, alright?"

"Why would I shoot you?"

"I don't know man, but just, don't shoot me!" he reminds him and Rachel shines the light down so that he can see as he makes his way to join Finn below.

"All this stress is going to be simply horrible for my skin," Kurt comments idly as he and Rachel watch as Puck expertly climbs down.

"I think that's the least of our problems, Kurt," Rachel whispers and he shrugs.

Quinn rubs at her forehead with her right hand because she can already feel a headache developing. If today is any indication of the days to come…she's not sure how she's going to survive this zombie apocalypse, that's for sure.

"Can we go in yet?" Brittany asks as she pets Lord Tubbington and Charity from the small opening in the duffel.

"As soon as Lamesaurus and Finnept check for zombies, Britts," Santana tells her comfortingly.

"But there are no zombies in there. If there were, Finn would be dead already," the taller blonde says easily. It's true; he's being carelessly loud.

"….Quinn?" Rachel turns and shines the flashlight on the blonde who winces at the sudden brightness.

"We found it!" Finn's voice interrupts and light from the room below can be seen from above.

Quinn shrugs and clicks back on the safety to her rifle before slinging it on her shoulder. "More or less. Come on, there's no point in staying out here. It's too dark to see anything and those dinky flashlights barely help. Get your stuff," she orders. "And get this light out of my face, Berry."

Rachel quickly points the flashlight at their bags.

"Oh! My apologies, Quinn, I didn't mean—"

"Whatever. Let's just go."

\-\

After bringing the ladder on the side of the container back up (just in case the zombies somehow know how to climb) Quinn is the last of the group still outside and she closes the hatch behind her before she starts her descent. She decides to take a shortcut and holds onto the ladder with one hand while unrolling her jacket sleeve before doing the same to the other side. She then grips the sides with her hands covered by the cloth, hooks her boots on side of the ladder and slides the rest of the way down.

"Show off," Santana says as soon as Quinn's boots hit the floor but she looks impressed and the blonde gives her a smirk.

Sometimes living on base had its perks.

Everyone is standing around nervously and taking in their surroundings and they're not sure what they should be doing or if it's safe to relax and Quinn lowers her bag on the floor and gestures to Brittany.

"B, follow me," she states and the taller blonde nods and passes her bag over to Santana. Brittany then takes her gun from Puck while Quinn looks at Finn and then to the gun in his hand.

"Turn back on the safety, Finn," she reminds him and then the two blondes are stepping into the only hallway inside their new shelter.

"…Is anybody else turned on by how hot they look in uniform?" Puck asks as he watches Quinn and Brittany walk in and out of the various rooms.

"Hells ya," Santana agrees easily.

"If only they were of the opposite gender."

Finn, who had tried his best not to look up Rachel's skirt as she climbed down lets out a squeak.

"…Oh god…mailmanmailman!"

"Finn!"

/-/

Quinn thinks the layout to their new refuge is rather simple. There's only one entrance leading inside and that's accessible solely by ladder. The ladder drops down to what Quinn has decided to call the Main Room and that's where everyone else is at right now. It's the biggest room in the shelter and there's a long wooden picnic table located in the far right corner, and a refrigerator (!) with an electric stove next to it in the far left. There are also bookshelves along the walls filled with books and magazines and a small portable TV on one of the shorter shelves.

Further in the back there's a hallway and that's where Quinn and Brittany are currently inspecting. There are two rooms on the left side and three on the right. The first room on the left is a storage room stocked to the brim with various canned foods, copious amounts of bottled water and extra supplies like light bulbs and power generator filters and other things. The room besides that is piled high with a ridiculous amount of protein powder in buckets that has Quinn shaking her head and adding to her mental list of 'things that prove that Coach is crazy'. On the opposite side, the first room on the right has large cots neatly lined up and Quinn assumes that this is where they will be sleeping. The next room actually has two toilet stalls (with working running water and a vent that leads to somewhere) along with three sinks and the last room has an actual door with a lock and consists of showers reminiscent of the school locker room. Quinn is glad to know that every single room has its own individual light source.

As both blondes make their way through each room checking for danger, Quinn can't help but think that Coach has painstakingly prepared the perfect hideout for a world disaster, i.e. the current situation they are in now. She has rising suspicions but decides to keep them buried for now as her and Brittany finally make their way back to join the others.

"Okay, good news: there's no zombies. So we can all relax for now and I guess settle down and get something to eat," she informs everyone as soon as her and Brittany step back into the room.

"Yay! I can finally let Lord Tubbington and Charity out," the taller blonde says happily as she skips over to Santana. "Remember, you promised to help me clean them up, San."

Santana smiles and nods and immediately glares daggers at Quinn who smirks as she takes a seat at the table.

"Let's check out the rest of this place," Puck states and then he's making his way further into the shelter with Finn, Rachel, and Kurt following behind him.

\-\

Everyone is now gathered and seated at the only table in their little safe haven. They're all having 'dinner' which consists of a variety of canned food grabbed from the storage room as well as some that Team Finn had managed to find. Luckily, Brittany was able to locate the utensils hidden in the fridge so they didn't need to resort to eating out of the cans with their fingers.

All the girls are eating canned vegetables and fruits because they seemed to be the most normal tasting things out of the other foods. Kurt has decided on some chicken soup and the two football players were immediately drawn to their favorite childhood snack.

"I don't care what you guys say, Spaghetti-O's are disgusting. They're an insult to real spaghetti," Santana vehemently states as she watches Finn and Puck devour can after can of said food with gusto.

Quinn has chosen a can that has a mixed variety of vegetables but she's regretting it because there's so much more green beans than anything else and she's been too busy picking them out instead of eating. She thinks the picture on the can has lied; it had made it seem like there were equal amounts of all vegetables and not just green beans with an occasional corn and carrot mixed in. She knows to pick something else to eat next time.

Rachel's nibbling on some fruit cocktail and has been watching the blonde pile green bean after green bean onto the discarded lid. It's not that she's deliberately watching Quinn; it's just that they're sitting across from each other and the shorter brunette would rather watch the blonde than watch her boyfriend stuff his face messily with fake spaghetti sauce. She's also intrigued because she never knew that Quinn was such a picky eater, but then again she doesn't know much about anyone else except for Finn and once upon a time, Puck.

Brittany is busy trying to feed her cats and is ignoring her opened can of peaches. The cats seem nervous about their new surroundings though and instead are content on exploring the area.

"Just leave them, Britts," Santana says as she eats another spoonful of corn. "They'll eat when they're ready. Here, have some corn," and she scoops some out and holds the spoon out to the other cheerleader.

Brittany frowns but nods because she knows her cats must be so confused with their situation and she can't help but worry. At least she's comforted by the fact that Lord Tubbington can only say no to food for so long.

" 'Kay," and she allows Santana to feed her.

Kurt watches their exchange and can only shake his head as he wonders when those two will finally admit their real feelings. He's unsatisfied with his selection and reminds himself to possibly look for cookware and maybe some bowls tomorrow if they go outside.

"What kind of woman would have a stove but no pots or pans whatsoever to cook with?" Kurt asks grumpily as he pushes his dinner away. He wishes it was at least hot so he could pretend they were merely camping or doing something remotely normal.

"The same woman who would build an underground bunker under the school, that's who," Puck says as he finishes his Spaghetti-O's with a belch. Everyone, minus Finn who's on his own 3rd can, looks at the mohawked boy in disgust but he ignores them and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Speaking of Crazy Coach Sylvester, what's up with you and her, Fabray?" he asks curiously as he turns to face Quinn.

Quinn, who has at last finished picking out the green beans pauses in mid bite as she realizes that she suddenly has everyone's attention. She rolls her eyes and drops her spoon into the can and glares.

"Okay, we are not having this conversation again!" she angrily states.

Kurt, who can never turn down gossip even in the middle of an apocalypse, is instantly enthralled.

"Wait, what's this about you and Coach Sylvester?" he asks excitedly.

Santana smirks and leans forward. "Despite what all you chumps think, Quinn claims that they're unrelated."

"What! But—" and Puck's gesturing to everything around them. "She has to be Quinn's mom, why else would she even tell her about all this stuff? I know Coach would never voluntarily give anyone this kind of info unless they were her spawn!"

"Okay, can you people stop saying that?" Quinn interrupts but they all ignore her.

"Yeah! And Coach totally had it out for me when I was dating Quinn," Finn recalls and Quinn wants to slap him upside the head because he gave people plenty of reasons for hating him, regardless if they were dating or not.

"What about when they spend lunch together 'discussing cheerleading strategies'?" Kurt comments and everyone is nodding except for the blonde. "Obviously that's the code for family bonding time!"

"I always did think that Quinn's facial bone structure is nothing like Coach Sylvester's however, but I suppose she could have inherited it from her father instead?" Rachel questions as she looks to the blonde who has her face buried in her hands.

Whether it was from exasperation or mortification, no one's quite sure.

"They sometimes have lunch too, on the weekends," Brittany informs them because she has joined Quinn and Coach on those few occasions.

"Seriously, Q, after all this, you can tell us the truth and we promise we won't think less of you," Santana says as she looks at her cheer captain with a smirk.

Quinn wants to walk away from this conversation but there's really nowhere to go and she only knows they're joking around (at her expense) because they're all trying to keep the mood light considering their current situation. She doesn't like it, but she'll let them have their laughs…for now.

"Whatever," she mutters while lifting her face from her hands. She then reaches for her spoon to finish off her dinner.

"Speaking of Coach, where is she anyways?" Finn asks suddenly as the thought occurs to him. "Considering where we're at, and everything, I would think she would be like, all gung ho and stuff about shooting zombies."

And just like that, everyone can feel the mood in the room drop significantly. Finn has obviously asked the wrong question and Rachel nudges him painfully on the side.

"Finn!" she whispers harshly and he looks confused because he doesn't understand what has happened. They were joking around about Coach and Quinn being related and then he asked—oh.

"Uh, I mean, uhmm—"

Quinn ignores Finn's awkward apologies and continues to eat her food as she tries to recall the last time she had seen Coach.

It had been two weeks prior. Coach had summoned her to her office, gave her a few of her usual weird anecdotes, handed her the Master Key and she hasn't seen her since.

The cheer captain polishes off the last carrot and places her utensil back into the can before she shrugs.

"No idea where Coach is," Quinn says before she stands up and excuses herself from the table.

It's kind of true too. She also doesn't know if Coach is actually still alive as well.

/-/

"Wow, way to bring the house down, Finnept," Santana says sarcastically as soon as Quinn is out of earshot.

"Could you stop calling me that already?" Finn asks as he guiltily slumps down in his seat.

"Hey, if the shoe fits," Santana says while giving him a pointed look.

"I wonder how my family is doing…" Brittany interrupts as she pets her two cats distractedly. Santana gives her a worried glance.

"How my dad is…" Kurt throws out and sighs. "Mercedes…the others…"

"My mom…my sister…if they made it to safety…" Puck wonders.

"My mom's probably super worried…" Finn adds in.

They're all quiet as they realize that maybe they will never be able to see their family and other friends ever again.

"Wow, when did I sign up to this express train to depression-ville?" Santana cuts in suddenly. "Look, our family, friends, whatever, they all left this hellhole to get to safety. Britts, your family is probably fine. Remember? My parents were one of the first ones to board that bus to Indianapolis, like three weeks ago. And I've kept in contact with them and they're doing great."

She doesn't mention that she hasn't heard from them in two weeks.

"My parents too," Rachel confirms as well, but she shares a look with Santana and they both turn away. "My Daddy was—is one of the main doctors in Lima and Dad followed him when they were asking for volunteers to help transport the patients at the hospital. I'm even quite sure they were on the same vehicle as Santana's parents. There was the option of joining them but I decided to stay, because—well," her voice trails off. She had stayed for plenty of reasons. For Finn. For her not quite friends but not really enemies in Glee. Because of that little irrational part of her that couldn't believe that all these things were happening and she still had to cling onto her dream because it is all she knows.

Finn gives her a small smile and they lean in together.

"Yeah, they're probably all okay," he says softly and everyone agrees because they don't want to believe it's not true.

\-\

It's still early, barely past 10pm according to her cell phone but Quinn feels drained after today's events and she can tell that everyone else feels the same way. She knows that they should discuss what tomorrow will entail but after how everything left off at dinner, Quinn's not in the mood for talking and it seems that the others have the same sentiment and they're all kind of avoiding each other because they don't want to think about it.

A little earlier though, Rachel had asked her about what they should do about showering since the running water might be contaminated and she wanted to wash her hair to get rid of the lingering smell of trash. Quinn had handed her a bottle of water and told her to get creative with the sink until they could determine if the water is in fact infected and then the smaller brunette and Kurt were busy rigging something up.

Quinn is now in the room with all the cots and she has already changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt she had packed. Her hair is out of the Cheerio ponytail and she has it loose with a small braid on the left side. She is standing by the doorway and is trying to determine their sleeping arrangements when everyone starts trickling in, looking as exhausted as she feels.

Brittany and Santana have borrowed Quinn's extra clothes (shorts and t-shirts for both) and they are both carrying a cat in their arms. Their ponytails are also gone for the night. Finn and Puck have changed into sweats and shirts as well and the only ones who are wearing real pajamas are Kurt and Rachel. The short brunette's sleep set is pink with a colored star pattern(surprise, surprise) and the blonde notices that Rachel's hair looks slightly damp. Kurt's set on the other hand, is light blue and looks to be made from silk.

"I want to be as comfortable as I possibly can be," he explains when Santana gives him an incredulous look.

"Okay, well, there's only six beds and there's seven of us, so two people have to share," Quinn tells them as she looks around the room.

"Me and B can share," Santana says casually and Quinn nods because she already figured it would be those two who would be sharing.

"Okay, then that's settled and everyone else can get a bed—"

"Wait, but what about Lord Tubbington and Charity?" Brittany asks worriedly. "There's nowhere else for them to sleep and they're used to sleeping on beds and they're already so stressed from everything. If they can share a bed, it would totally help them get used to living here."

Everyone's quiet as they try to determine who else can bunk together.

"Well, me and Rachel can share, since we're boyfriend and girlfriend and all," Finn offers and Santana laughs.

"No offense, Frankenteen… okay I lie, I do mean offense actually, but that little bed barely even fits you, what makes you think you and the hobbit can both squeeze in there together? I mean, granted, Berry is ridiculously tiny, but if you rolled over she'd probably end up as road kill because of your gigantoid back squishing her."

"Ouch," Brittany looks to Rachel sympathetically and the smaller brunette is silent because she agrees.

"Okay, I don't care who else shares with who but I'm getting my own bed and I claim this one," Quinn says as she points to the third bed, "as mine."

"I wouldn't mind Rachel sharing with me," Puck grins as he waggles his eyebrows.

"Hey man! That's my girlfriend!" Finn states angrily and Rachel places a hand on his arm to calm him down.

"Finn, Noah is merely being his usual rather obtuse self; you're his best friend, shouldn't you be familiar to these inane comments already?"

Finn pauses as he tries to understand Rachel's words and then shrugs.

"Then I suppose Rachel will be sharing a bed with me?" Kurt says disappointedly, because he'd rather be sharing a bed with Finn.

"Wait! No, why would she be sharing with you?" Finn asks, clearly confused.

"Uh, duh, Finnessa. She can't share with you in case you crush her, and she can't share with Puck in case he manhandles her so that leaves Kurt—"

"No, I don't want Rachel to share with a guy that isn't me!"

"Hello? I'm gay?" Kurt states and Finn's shaking his head.

"What about Quinn?" the football player says while gesturing to the blonde that is already settling into the cot. She has already grabbed one of the many blankets and pillows located on the shelves in the room and is in the midst of lying down when Finn interrupts her.

"How about no?" Quinn declares as she sits back up, obviously annoyed. "What part of 'getting my own bed' did you not understand?"

"Well, you're the only other girl and you're smaller than Kurt anyways, wouldn't it be better for you and Rachel to share?" Finn asks as he tries to reason with the blonde.

"Okay, how about, you sleep on the floor, and Berry gets the bed and then everyone is happy?" Quinn suggests instead as she crosses her arms across her chest.

By now, the others are passing blankets and pillows around and they're already moving to their own beds. Brittany and Santana have decided on the one closest to the doorway and have placed the cats onto the one left of Quinn. Kurt takes the one to the right of the cheer captain and Puck is next to him leaving the last bed as Finn's by default.

"Well, you're leader, and doesn't a leader look out for his or her own teammates?" Finn points out.

"This is kind of entertaining," Kurt whispers across the room over to Santana and Brittany.

"Wish I hads some popcorn," Santana replies as she moves to lie down with the taller blonde.

Quinn ignores them. "Alright. Since I'm leader, you should listen to me and I order you to sleep somewhere else."

"Ooh," Puck snickers from the sidelines and at this point Rachel finally decides she has had enough.

"Quinn, do you recall the conversation we had earlier this evening?" the smaller brunette asks and the blonde narrows her eyes at her but nods. "And, I know my comment afterwards was inappropriate, but I really would like to believe that your words were sincere."

"Get to the point already, Berry," Quinn says irately because she already has an idea where this is going.

"In any other situation in which you would be entitled to share a bed with, say, Brittany, or-or even Santana, there is no doubt that you wouldn't hesitate to do so. It'll only be a temporary situation as we should be able to obtain another bed somehow later, but—"

"Arghh!" the blonde throws her hands up in the air angrily. "If I agree will you just shut up already?"

Rachel stops talking and nods in affirmation.

"Fine. Fine. But you better keep your hands to yourself," the blonde says before she flops back down on the bed, clearly annoyed that her words were used against her. If only she hadn't offered that truce earlier. What was she thinking?

"And get your own pillow," she throws out angrily. "I'm not sharing mine."

"…This is so hot."

"Shut it, Puckerman."

/-/

Time passes (Quinn's not sure how much and she's too lazy to check her phone) and despite the fatigue she felt earlier, she's now wide awake and blinking into the darkness as she listens to the others sleep. She can hear the soft, almost synchronized breathing of Santana and Brittany to her left, the low snores coming from Puck and the occasional sighs from Finn to her right. She thinks she can occasionally hear a soft purr coming from one of the cats beside her, and maybe the sound of random shifting from Kurt's silk pajamas. Rachel though, Quinn can easily hear and feel each breath as the girl sleeping right next to her methodically inhales and exhales.

None of the random sounds are what's keeping the blonde awake however. She feels restless and she's awake because she's worried.

Worried that, when they wake up in the morning and check outside, their temporary hideout will have been surrounded by zombies and they're now indefinitely trapped.

And it's her fault because she led everyone here.

Worried that, because she's leader, she now has the lives of the rest of the team in her hands. They'll be looking to her for guidance and one wrong move will easily make the difference between life and death.

And it'll be her fault because they're trusting her.

Worried that, maybe they're not going to make it after all, and really, they're just prolonging the inevitable.

And that thought scares her more than anything else.

Quinn wonders how everyone can just, pretend and somehow fall asleep so easily. Even Rachel. She had figured the other girl would be unable to sleep due to being in such close proximity to her high school tormentor. But no, her and everyone else besides the blonde is sleeping soundly.

Quinn wants to pretend too and maybe if she can sleep she'll wake up and realize that this is all merely a horrible, horribly realistic dream.

But, she can't sleep, and they can't wake up.

Because they're not dreaming.

So she decides then that maybe she'll step outside for a bit. Hopefully with all the city lights out the moon will be bright enough and she'll be able to at least see if the zombies are gathering outside. For her peace of mind, at least she'll know.

Just as she starts to swing her legs over and move her feet from the bed to the floor, Rachel shifts and suddenly Quinn feels arms slipping around her waist and she freezes.

"…Quinn?" the brunette mumbles sleepily and the blonde holds her breath because it's quiet in the room and she doesn't want to wake anyone.

"…you're all tense, and stuff…" Rachel whispers and Quinn wants to roll her eyes but knows it's pointless because it's too dark and no one will see. It seems that sleepy Rachel has none of the eloquence that the girl has while awake and Quinn would have maybe chuckled if they were in an entirely different situation.

She can feel Rachel fuss around even more so Quinn starts breathing again and leans in to where she thinks the other girl's ear is. "Go back to sleep, Berry," she murmurs softly, in reassurance.

It's obvious the singer is still half-asleep, because there's a soft "okay," and then Quinn can feel the gentle breathing of the girl besides her tapering off and becoming more measured and sleep-like.

Quinn waits until she knows that Rachel is in fact asleep before she gently extracts the arms around her waist and slips out of the bed carefully. She kneels down and fumbles around for her phone she had left underneath the cot and after a few tries finally finds it.

She stands and pushes the button to activate it and blinks as the screen lights up. She then uses her phone like a flashlight and shines it towards the exit. She almost drops the device though when she sees the dim light reflect off Charity's eyes and kind of gives the cat a nervous look before tip toeing out of the room.

As soon as she reaches the doorway she pauses and checks to see if the cat is following her or if anyone else has woken up. It's a tense moment, but finally, when she feels like she's in the clear she makes her way towards the Main Room where she knows the flashlights are and where the guns are placed.

She just wants to double check outside, just in case.

She doesn't want to alert the others by turning on the light so she merely continues to use her phone to navigate around the room, eventually finding the flashlight and switching to using that instead to find her gun. She notices a jacket sitting right next to the rifle and decides to grab it at the last minute. She figures it's either Brittany's or Santana's as she zips it up because her own is folded neatly on top of her Cheerios bag. She doesn't think either cheerleader will mind though.

Quinn slips the gun strap over her head and shifts the gun so that it's resting at her side before making her way over to the ladder. She gives a backwards glance over to where she knows the others are sleeping and then she holds the flashlight in her teeth and starts her way up the ladder.

She eventually reaches the top and the hatch that she had closed earlier and pauses to mentally prepare herself. She doesn't know what to expect when she opens the door, but she hopes that she won't be regretting it.

She pushes the entrance up slowly, not fully opening it and leaving a small gap instead. She then hooks her legs to one side of the ladder for more support and grabs the flashlight from her mouth and shines it outside. Quinn doesn't want to be suddenly ambushed by a random climbing zombie, so she makes sure to check all angles that she can see from the small opening before finally pushing the rest of the hatch open when she determines that it's clear.

She pulls herself out of the entrance and steps onto the container. The night is kind of chilly and Quinn is glad she has decided to grab a jacket.

The area is quiet, save for the faint whirring sound of the generator and Quinn is surprised that it's not as dark as she thought it would be. With all the electricity shut off, the light pollution is gone and she kind of wishes that it wasn't because of this that she can finally see the stars clearly even from within the city limits.

If it was a different time, a different place, Quinn feels that she could sit here and appreciate the stunning night sky.

But right here, right now, all it does is remind her of where they're at and merely serves as glaring evidence that civilization, that Lima, Ohio, is reaching its ruin.

She shakes her head to dislodge herself from her contemplative state and clicks off the flashlight. The moonlight is bright enough and she waits for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before she surveys her surroundings.

To her relief, there are no mobs of zombies gathered around the container and the entire parking lot actually looks quite empty. She pauses though, when she thinks she can see movement towards the back, where she knows the generator is located and she grabs her rifle to use the scope to get a closer view.

She's surprised when she sees at least six or seven zombies just standing around the generator, almost like they were attracted to it or something. She doesn't bother shooting them though; they're just there and she doesn't want to accidentally miss and end up destroying a vital part of their lifeline.

Quinn lets out a sigh because at least one of her worries is settled: this shelter is indeed safe. For the time being anyways. She lowers her gun and rests it against her side once more.

She knows she should go back in and get some sleep because there are plenty of things that they need to do tomorrow (or is it today?). Before she climbs back down though, she decides to take a moment to just, memorize this calmness that has blanketed the city. She has a feeling that things will gradually get worse from here on out and she wants to remember this sight in case she never has a chance to ever again.

As she turns around, tilting her head up to the sky, she notices that in the distance there's something else lighting up a part of the city and it isn't light from the moon. They must've not noticed it earlier because it wasn't fully dark yet and they weren't looking but now that the sun has completely set and her attention is on her surroundings, Quinn can tell that there is in fact another source of light.

She stares at it, because light means that there are other survivors in the city. Quinn doesn't feel excited or happy about that though. Instead she feels dread gathering in the pit of her stomach, because the direction that the light is coming from is from the southwest. From the area that had been deemed as the zombie hotspot.

She doesn't know what this signifies, but she has a feeling that it's not good.

Not good at all.