Fall back, or fall apart

by ariakekaze

The world was ending and Lima was going to hell. They were most likely going to die, but hey, at least they'd all die together. AU, Faberry planned. Half of the Glee Club being friends. Quinn as main char. Violence. Humor? Also, Zombies. Slow progress.

8. 33 to 10

A/N: Well. Sorry for the delay. I met up with this old friend of mine and I hung out with them for a while. That darn Lazy, always so insistent. (Yeah I totally was just too lazy to write:)

Thank you so much for the reviews! Glad some ppl still like this even though it's reaching levels of ridiculousness(didn't i already say that for the previous author's note...). But, meh. Huhu. Thank you too, to whomever decided to rec this fic somewhere :) i noticed that there was an influx of readers even though i hadn't updated in years-I mean in days(weeks). So thank you for that! (even though zombie fics aren't everyone's cup of tea or cup of coffee. Even though coffee is delicious, but zombies, not so much)

And geez this chapter is long. I say this every chapter and I'm pretty sure by the time the story ends the chapter is gonna be 20k+ words. 30k? And the next update will take a month. I don't know what I'm writing anymore :( be sad.

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Quinn shivers lightly and tries to move closer to Rachel despite them already being as close as they possibly can be. The blonde doesn't know if it's the higher elevation or what, but it's extremely chilly tonight and she wishes they had the foresight to bring up an extra blanket as well. She's wondering if there's a possible storm rolling in or something because it definitely wasn't this cold earlier.

She hopes not.

But there's no extra blanket and she and the brunette have resorted to huddling close together, backs against the brick wall in one of the corners as they try to block out the biting wind that's sweeping across the roof.

Kurt however, doesn't seem affected at all, tucked into his thick blanket and is still sleeping soundly in his warm cot. Quinn is half tempted to use the radio to tell one of the others to bring something so that they don't end up freezing to death up here.

She doesn't though, because there's only like two hours of their shift left and they've held out for this long already, so what's a little bit more?

"Quinn," Rachel calls her out from her thoughts and the blonde turns slightly to regard the brunette. "It's your turn."

Quinn nods and tries to think of something to ask the other girl.

After Rachel had practically named the entire night sky map (which Quinn more or less can't remember), the two had switched topics and had started a random game that was reminiscent of twenty questions. Instead of twenty though, they each asked five questions at a time with the option of passing any that they didn't feel comfortable answering. They would stop once their shift ended or if Kurt woke up, whichever happened first.

It's mostly to keep them from falling asleep as well as a distraction from the cold, and it's kind of working, for the most part. Except when one of them has trouble thinking of something and then they get sidetracked and the cold starts seeping in again and then—

Rachel nudges Quinn because she's taking too long again and the blonde blinks and shifts a bit before she breathes out slowly.

They can both see the mist form in the air in front of her (that's how cold it is) and Quinn settles on the first thing that pops into her head.

"You're Jewish, right?" she blurts out suddenly.

Rachel pauses and glances to the blonde briefly before she answers.

"Yes, Quinn. I am Jewish."

One.

Quinn nods because it's not like she didn't know that. Last year, Rachel had lobbied to try and start a Jewish club in McKinley and Santana had made sure to draw on all the fliers that were in the hallways.

"Well," the blonde pauses as she tries to remember what she knows about Jewish people, which isn't much at all. She can only recall the hateful things her father had told her and that was mostly about them living a life of sin. "I know you guys don't believe in stuff like Jesus and the messiah, but you do believe in God though, at least, I think you do, right?"

Rachel feels like she should be offended but answers anyway because she's interested to where Quinn is taking this.

"Despite what notions and misconceptions you may have about Judaism, it is a real and very prominent religious community and lifestyle. Of course we believe in God, and although we don't believe in Jesus as being the messiah, we do believe that one exists. We're still waiting for them to arrive though," she sighs because she doesn't really want to get into a debate on this subject. "God is God, Quinn. And no matter how many people may claim that their God is better, I'd like to believe that we all can trust in what we want to equally. Whether you're Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or even those that don't believe and are Atheist or even Agnostic. Claiming that they're sinners because they don't believe in the same things as you—that's not very tolerable, at all."

Two.

Quinn is quiet as she lets this sink in. The smaller brunette immediately wonders if she has offended the blonde somehow; she knows that Quinn is devout to some extent; the cross she always wears around her neck has to account for something, right?

Quinn, on the other hand, is merely hesitating in asking her next question. She's not upset by what Rachel has just told her; the blonde truthfully feels that anyone can believe in what they want to. She just doesn't know if she's going to sound stupid with what she wants to ask next. At least Rachel confirmed that she believed in God otherwise she would've dropped her next question completely.

Just as Rachel's about to maybe defend herself to Quinn, the cheer captain decides to just get it over with and her next words catch Rachel off guard.

"Do…do you think God's punishing us, somehow?" Quinn asks softly.

Three.

The singer doesn't know how to respond as she sits up to face the blonde fully. Quinn avoids her gaze and in the dim light, Rachel can see her fiddling with the golden chain around her neck.

The brunette sighs softly as she gathers her thoughts and weighs her options. She can choose to ignore this question and they can move on…or… or, she can try to answer it and maybe offer the blonde some kind of solace on an issue that has no doubt been bothering her for some time now.

Rachel settles back against the wall, pulling herself closer to the other girl until her head is resting on the blonde's shoulder.

"Do you think God's punishing us, Quinn?" she asks her gently.

"You're not supposed to answer a question with another question," Quinn tries to joke and Rachel nods because that was also one of the established rules.

She hesitates though, on what to say, because she wants to ease Quinn's doubts but she doesn't know how. "I think…Well, that's a difficult question to answer, Quinn. A lot of people believe that divine punishment exists in a plethora of ways: sickness, plague, war…"

"Zombies?" the cheer captain adds in.

"Maybe, maybe not," Rachel tells her. "I know that this situation we're in, it…well there's no other way to put it: it definitely sucks. And—and I know I may sound a little bit crazy and selfish in saying this, but in a way I'm—I'm kind of glad, though, that we're here."

Rachel knows that Quinn is looking at her now and when she lifts her head to match the blonde's scrutiny, she's glad that there's only curiosity and not disgust on her face.

The brunette gives her a sad smile before she lowers and rests her head once more on Quinn's shoulder. "When…when they threw me in the dumpster…I won't lie, I knew that no one was going to come look for me. My Dad and Daddy would have, naturally, but they aren't here. And Finn… Finn's a great boyfriend—for the most part—a-and he means well, but he's still a teenager—we're all teenagers and we're still at that age where it feels like the world revolves around us. I mean, especially with my talents of course the world would revolve around me—but…I know that I'm not top priority in his life, just like he isn't in mine, even though we'd like to believe we are. That whole time, I was just waiting for my phone to stop ringing because I knew that it eventually would," her voice cracks slightly from the emotion and Quinn silently leans her head down against Rachel's in a comforting gesture. "And I hoped, Quinn, that somehow—someone would come save me. And when Finn opened that lid and he and Puck were looking at me, and then I saw y-you and Santana and Brittany and Kurt—it felt like, someone had heard me and was showing me that I wasn't all alone."

The blonde doesn't have a response and the necklace drops as she lets go. She reaches for the smaller brunette's hand and their fingers intertwine because this is the most she can offer.

"Zombies and everything," the singer whispers out. "I highly doubt that God would commend this kind of catastrophe—this—this is more likely the work of some highly unethical biological weapon that's gone awry—or maybe some type of microscopic mutation on a rampage. If anything, it may be mankind punishing mankind. Regardless though, it—I think, Quinn, that if anything, God may be testing us, not punishing us."

"What makes you say that, Rach," Quinn questions her quietly.

The brunette pauses at the shortening of her name but decides she likes it and smiles softly. "Sometimes, you never know what you have until it's gone," she recites.

"...Learn to appreciate the small things in life?"

"Live everyday like it's your last."

"Take nothing for granted."

"Stop and smell the roses."

"Uhh…life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get?"

"…Quinn, did you just quote Forrest Gump?"

The blonde feels herself smirk slightly even as Rachel pokes her on the side.

"Yeah, it's a classic inspiring life quote, you know," she tells the brunette and even though she can't see her face she knows Rachel is most likely frowning.

Rachel ignores her and continues to add to their list. "The best things in life are free."

"Uhm…" Quinn seriously doesn't know how Rachel knows all these but then she recalls all those constellations Rachel had named and shakes her head. She grins though when she remembers a shirt she saw in an online store that seems appropriate.

"Real friends help you kill zombies."

Rachel sits up quickly, almost knocking her head into Quinn's jaw and the blonde moves away as the brunette turns to her.

"That, is not a life inspiring quote," Rachel rebukes her and Quinn grins wider.

"No, but it applies to the situation though." She frowns. "Scarily so, actually."

The singer looks at her and is about to say something but stops as a thought occurs to her. "D…does that mean, you consider me to be your friend?" she asks shyly.

Quinn blinks as she leans her head back onto the wall and mulls over the question. Just a few days ago, her and Rachel were 'enemies' and now here they are, in the middle of an apocalypse with only each other and a handful of people to hold on to.

"I...Yeah, I guess we are. Friends," she tells her.

Rachel can't help the grin forming on her face as she mimics Quinn and sits back as well.

"While there's life, there's hope."

"…Are we really seriously still doing this? Oh, I know a good one. Never talk back to Coach Sylvester."

"Quinn—that is not—"

"Never steal Mr. Shue's hairspray."

"Quinn—"

"Or Santana's breadsticks."

"That doesn't—"

Quinn playfully bumps shoulders with the other girl. "Come on, I know you have some wisdom you'll need to pass on to me."

Rachel huffs softly, because she actually had a few more idioms she wanted to use but the switch of topics to something more lighthearted is deliberate on Quinn's part, she knows. So she concedes and tries to think of something. She's embarrassed that there's only one thing that comes to mind but says it anyways.

"Never mess with the Cheerios."

Quinn smiles.

/-/

Time easily passes and before they know it, the stars are fading and the dark sky overhead is slowly turning into daylight. Pretty soon it'll be time for Finn and Puck to come switch shifts and Quinn can't wait because even with their diversions, she's still freezing cold and she really wants to hibernate in her cot and catch up on some serious sleep.

She yawns and pokes Rachel awake. "You're falling asleep."

"….I'm not falling asleep," the brunette mumbles as she swats Quinn's hand away.

"Yesssssssss… you areeeeeee," Quinn draws out the words and she wonders if she's delirious because she thinks that sounds kind of funny.

"….nooooo…" Rachel denies and the blonde rolls her eyes and is about to prod her again when she spots movement across to where Kurt's cot is.

She narrows her eyes and none too gently shakes Rachel awake.

"Wha—"

"Shh," Quinn quickly hushes her and the brunette can hear the urgency in her voice as she straightens up to blink sleepily at the cheer captain.

Quinn nods over to the figure that is slowly sitting up in bed and Rachel's eyes follow her movement and her heart skips a beat when she sees that Kurt's awake. She gestures, silently asking if he's still all there and Quinn shrugs because she doesn't know. The blonde quietly reaches over and grabs her weapon while Rachel picks up her own and they carefully move to stand on their feet.

Rachel has her rifle pointed on Kurt and Quinn glances to her before she calls out.

"Kurt?"

There's no reply and they're unable to see his face clearly with the low lighting and all the shadows.

"Kurt?" Rachel tries and makes sure her voice carries over and across the roof.

This time he reacts and he turns to face them before letting out a huge yawn.

"Mornin'," he greets them and misses Quinn and Rachel lowering their weapons as he stretches high and above.

Both girls sigh in relief and Quinn slings her gun strap over her head before she leans against the brick ledge, taking the opportunity to stretch out her legs. Rachel shoulders her own rifle and starts making her way over to Kurt.

"What happened to alarm clocks being your only nemesis to beauty sleep, Kurt?" the smaller girl asks him when she's close enough.

He places his arms down and throws off his blanket but changes his mind when the cold hits him almost immediately.

"Brr!" he says instead of answering as he grabs the material and covers himself once more. "I'm surprised you two aren't popsicles by now!"

"Frankly, so am I," Rachel agrees as she's reminded of the cold temperature. She involuntarily shivers and Kurt looks at her worriedly.

"I would offer to share, but I'm not sure how safe it would be, considering," he tells her.

Rachel is about to reply when Quinn brushes past her and makes her way to Kurt's cot.

"Normally, I'd advise against sharing a bed with someone who is possibly infected with a zombie virus, but it's so cold up here that I think I'll take the risk," the blonde says as she takes a seat on the bed.

"Quinn! That is extremely dangerous. We-we don't know when or if he'll turn and what if it's somehow able to pass by—"

"Just so you know, we've already been exposed to him for hours now, Rachel. If the disease is spread through by just contact, we're already screwed. I think as long as he doesn't suddenly bleed on us we should be fine," Quinn tells her. She turns to Kurt. "You don't feel like biting me right now do you, Kurt?"

He shakes his head and Quinn nods, satisfied with the answer.

Kurt stares before hesitantly offering her some of his blanket. The cheer captain immediately wraps it around herself and revels at the warmth.

A full minute passes and Rachel's just gawking at the two and then there's another gust of wind before she's moving and practically jumping onto Quinn's lap.

"Scoot over, Quinn!" Rachel yells out as she tries to take the spot in between Quinn and Kurt for extra warmth.

"Scoot over yourself, Berry," Quinn grunts out when Rachel almost elbows her in the eye. The singer shrieks when the blonde grabs her by the waist and easily swings her over to the side.

"Your abnormal cheerleading strength is rather unfair," the brunette tells her as she pouts from her new spot besides Quinn.

"Whatever," Quinn replies even as she offers Rachel some of the blanket. The brunette eagerly accepts and then all three of them are bundled together as they watch the sky continue to lighten up.

"I wonder if it's going to rain," Kurt comments idly. There are definitely a lot more clouds in the sky today.

Rachel frowns. "I hope not… there are gallons of bleach on the floor, not to mention all those dead zombies everywhere; the runoff from the rain will no doubt pollute our water source even further."

"I think it's a little too late to be worrying about our water source at this point," Quinn answers dryly.

"What I wouldn't give for a hot shower," Kurt says morosely.

"Oh, don't even mention hot water, Kurt," Rachel shakes her head at the thought of having running water once more; it seems like it's been years since they've been trapped here.

He looks at her but complies because maybe by tomorrow he won't need to worry about showers anymore.

Rachel sighs and presses herself closer to Quinn for more warmth.

Kurt notices the action and notices that Quinn's just ignoring it, like it's nothing that Rachel Berry is totally invading her personal space.

"Interesting," he mutters out and the other two choose to disregard him.

Just as Rachel feels herself being lulled into a comfortable sleep, Quinn's voice breaks the silence and she's nudging the brunette awake.

"Sun's rising," the blonde tells her and Rachel is tempted to sleep right through it but a few more incessant pokes from Quinn tells her that she shouldn't. She forces her eyes open and is surprised to see the gentle smile on the cheer captain's face.

Quinn glances over at her. "Every cloud has a silver lining," she says softly and Rachel can't help but chuckle in response.

Kurt knows he's missing out on something but he's too weirded out that the other two seem to be getting along.

It makes him think though, that maybe miracles do happen.

/-/

"Is it bad, that I don't want to leave?" Rachel whines as she snuggles deeper into the cot. She's the only one lying down and Quinn and Kurt are both sitting as they wait for the alarm to go off, signaling the end of the shift.

Quinn shrugs because now that she's defrosted she doesn't mind being up here as well. Kurt remains quiet and she turns to him, observing as he continues to stare straight ahead at the now bleached sky. There are dark clouds that they can see in the distance that has Quinn worried, but she ignores them for now.

"Penny for your thoughts?" the blonde nudges Kurt and he startles, as if he had forgotten where he was.

"Oh," he says softly and turns to see both Quinn and Rachel watching him.

He gives them a half smile. "I was just, you know, memorizing this in my mind, just in case," he explains as he gestures to the sky.

Quinn nods in understanding.

Rachel sits up suddenly and throws off the blanket before standing. She pulls out her phone from her pockets and holds it up for the other two to see.

"We should take a picture!" she announces and Quinn and Kurt both stare at her like she's grown another head. "I am serious! Here, my cell phone has a camera—and I've never had any pictures taken with any of my friends, except for Finn…and, well…" she helplessly looks around, her voice trailing off.

Kurt looks uncertain, not sure if he wants to agree. He loves pictures though, so he's tempted.

Quinn rolls her eyes but sighs. "If you want, I'm sure we can probably find a better camera in the AV room. There has to be some equipment left in there," she offers.

Kurt swivels and looks at her in surprise and the blonde dismisses it before she throws off her part of the blanket to stand up.

"We could set up a tripod too, and get in a group shot later," Quinn tells them as she stretches.

Rachel looks excited at the proposal and Kurt shakes his head.

"I have stepped into the Twilight Zone or something," he decides, because it's definitely beyond weird. Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray are getting along and there are no drugs involved. At least, he didn't think there were any.

"Would you mind, if we just took a picture, with just the three of us though, now? On my phone?" Rachel asks bashfully and Kurt thinks that he must be experiencing post-traumatic symptoms because even he can't seem to deny her request.

"Alright, sign me up on this one way track to crazy," Kurt declares as he extracts himself from his warm cocoon (i.e. his cot) and gets to his feet. He's pleased to note that with the sunlight out it's starting to warm up a bit and it's not as cold as it was earlier.

Rachel beams happily and Quinn and Kurt exchange small smiles before the brunette quickly pushes them to stand at the 'perfect location.' The sky is placed in their background as they position themselves with Rachel in the middle, Kurt on her left and Quinn on her right.

Rachel and Kurt easily switch to diva mode and they use Kurt's pocket mirror to try their hardest to fix and pat down their hair while Quinn watches them from the side.

When they deem themselves camera ready, Kurt is assigned the task of photographer since his arms are the longest between the three and he holds the phone out in front of them.

"Say Gucci!" he tells them before he pushes the button.

Rachel's and Kurt's smiles are wide and perfect as the shutter goes off.

"Let's see!" the small brunette says eagerly as she reaches to grab the phone from Kurt.

"Hold your horses," he says flippantly and turns the phone so they can see the screen and the picture.

"Quinn!" Rachel immediately reprimands the blonde when she sees the photo: the cheer captain is the only one not smiling and she has her eyebrows raised and is giving them both an incredulous look.

"What? You should have seriously seen yourselves. It was way creepy."

It only takes them five more tries before Quinn finally gives in and smiles for real and five more tries after that until Rachel's finally satisfied with their photo. She hesitates for a second, her finger hovering on the button before she presses it and sets the picture as her phone's new wallpaper, replacing the earlier one she had of her and Finn together.

She also keeps the previous so called 'defective' photos, storing them in the memory card for safe keeping.

Just as Kurt's about to ask her how her phone's battery is still at full power, there's the sound of static and Santana's voice is speaking to them just as the alarm on the watch goes off.

*Static*

"Hey, you guys all awake and not dead?"

Quinn rolls her eyes and grabs the radio from her belt before handing it to Kurt. She turns off the alarm as he pushes the talk button.

"Yes, Santana. I am feeling fine right now and no, I did not end up killing them in the middle of the night. Thank you for your concern," he tells her sarcastically.

"Well, good to know, I guess. We have a problem though, so you should gets down here."

*Static*

"Seriously, only a saint would be able to put up with her," Kurt mutters as he gives the walkie-talkie back to Quinn.

Quinn nods in agreement as she slips the device back into the pocket. "Yup. Good thing she already found one."

/-/

When they open the back door to the school, Santana and Brittany and Finn greet them as they step outside. Quinn notices that Puck is missing and Santana points over to the generator where they can see the football player examining the metal container. There are also no new zombies around and this has Quinn on high alert.

"Electricity is out inside the shelter," Santana tells them before Rachel can ask. "Puck thinks it's the generator so he's checking it out."

The blonde nods because she knew eventually they'd need to do maintenance; guess pretending that it didn't need it wouldn't work after all.

"Do you know when it went out?" Quinn asks.

Santana responds with shrug. "Was still working fine before we went to sleep."

"How are you feeling, Kurt?" Finn turns to him and he shrugs.

"Not any different from yesterday, actually," he answers. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be experiencing any symptoms, but I am feeling a bit peckish, if that's anything to go by."

"Uh, does that mean you're turning into a zombie?" Finn asks as he steps back.

"I think it means he's turning into a bird," Brittany says as she looks Kurt over. "I think that would be better than turning into a zombie."

"No, Britts," Santana shakes her head patiently even as Kurt sends her a knowing look. She's so smitten. "It means he's feeling hungry."

"Oh god, does that mean he wants to eat like, birds?"

"No, Finn, that is ridiculous," Rachel cuts in.

"Does that mean if I turn into a zombie I'll want to eat birds too?" the taller blonde asks and Santana turns to her cheer captain for help.

Quinn, however, ignores them and glances around. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. I'm gonna help Puck, see if we can see what's wrong with the generator. The rest of you, I want you to be on the lookout for zombies. Normally we'd have at least ten of them out here around the generator by now, and I'd like to believe that we've somehow driven them away, but I highly doubt it."

"Do you think they're hidden among the masses?" Rachel asks nervously as she thinks of the enormous amount of corpses in the front.

"Yeah," Quinn nods. "So tread lightly. Finn," she turns to him and ignores the glare that he sends her way. Guess he's still mad at whatever but she's too tired to care. "I want you watching Kurt as well, just in case. Rachel, if you're tired you can go sleep in the shelter and take a break; we still have the shift tonight too and four people should be enough to keep a guard, unless a mob like yesterday appears again."

The smaller brunette shakes her head. "It's alright, Quinn. I think I can manage for a few more hours. Plus, it wouldn't be entirely fair if I was able to rest my eyes while you're still awake and—"

"Okay, she gets it, we gets it," Santana interrupts before Rachel can continue her bad habit of long speeches.

"Alright, but if you get sleepy just go back into the shelter. Call me if you see anything," Quinn tells them.

They nod at her before she starts walking over to the generator and they start making their way to the front.

"…Do you think it still smells?" Brittany asks anxiously.

Everyone shudders and crosses their fingers.

\-\

"Puckerman." Quinn nods to him when she's within earshot.

The football player straightens out and grins at her. "I knew you'd eventually fall for my boyish charms and devilish looks. We can head on over to the school and—"

"As if," the cheerleader scoffs at him as she approaches him from the side. "Think you can fix it?" she asks, gesturing to the machine.

He runs his hands through his mohawk before he shrugs. "Seems easy enough. Looks like it automatically shut down because it's low on engine oil and coolant. The filters need to be replaced too," he says as he points to certain parts of the generator.

"There are some down in the storage room," Quinn tells him as her eyes try to make sense of what she's seeing. She doesn't really care to know about the mechanics but knows that the information is vital, in case something happens and Puck… well, in case something happens.

"It's already cooled down too, so we can drain the rest of the oil, replace it, add coolant, switch out the filters and this thing will be up and running in an hour or so."

"Cooled down?" she asks curiously.

"Yeah," he states as he starts uncapping one of the tubes. "This thing is similar to a car engine except there's an extra step to how it makes electricity. The engine part has constant movement inside that produces heat when the fuel burns off. That constant motion is then converted into electricity."

Quinn raises her eyebrow at him at how...smart... he sounds. He notices her gaze and smirks.

"Don't go falling in love with me, babe; I'll only break your heart," he warns her and she rolls her eyes in response.

"How hot would you say the area around here gets?"

He glances at her briefly before turning back to the generator. "Smoking hot. A machine this size has to be at least around three hundred degrees. Maybe even more. You definitely don't want to be touching any part of it until after it cools off. The heat from the exhaust too, when it's running, would be pretty high as well."

"I see," Quinn says as she considers this information.

"Why? You think it means something?" he asks her as he starts removing the cap for the engine oil tank.

"Not sure, but it's something to think about," she replies as she glances around the empty parking lot. "I'll go grab the oil and the filters."

"There should be two different filters; one for oil and one for air. Don't forget to bring up the coolant too," Puck tells her absently but he looks up suddenly. "Actually maybe I should get everything. It might be too heavy for you and—"

Quinn glares at him and he holds his hands up in defense.

"Okay, you can get them then. I'll stay here and drain the oil first. Don't miss me too much, babe."

"Whatever," Quinn grumbles at him before she starts walking over to the ISO container. She stifles a yawn and thinks that maybe she should have had him grab the stuff instead. But it's too late and Santana's not the only one with pride issues.

/-/

"Can we talk?"

Rachel looks up from where she's tinkering with the ammo case because it seems to be stuck and sighs when she realizes that Finn was talking to her.

Of course.

"Finn, you should be keeping guard and watching Kurt," she tells him and smiles lightly when the magazine clicks in properly, making her weapon now fully reloaded.

The football captain looks around to all the dead unmoving zombies; everything looks okay so far and he's not even sure why Quinn seemed so paranoid. Okay, so maybe they were attacked by a mob yesterday but they already took care of that, didn't they?

"They're all dead…undead. Whatever. Please, Rachel?" he begs her and she frowns.

She glances at him and looks over to where Kurt, Santana and Brittany are standing and chatting. "Quinn told us to keep a lookout, Finn, and it would be in our best interest to—"

"We don't need five people keeping a lookout for nothing, okay?" he tells her, obviously getting frustrated. "Quinn's over there messing around with Puck and the generator anyways, and I'm only asking you if we can talk. We'll still be around here. Just—" he searches for a more private spot that seems the least riddled with zombies and points to the area that leads to the back dumpsters. "Over there. Please? At least let me apologize."

Rachel doesn't want to agree, but knows she should because they need to work out this misunderstanding.

"Alright," she decides after a beat. "I do agree that you need to apologize for your actions. Let me just inform Santana of our proceedings and we will discuss this like two civilized adults."

Finn merely nods and watches as she goes to tell Santana. They're far enough that he can't hear what's being said but the scowl on the cheerleader's face already gives him a hint that she doesn't care.

Rachel says a few more words and turns back and then she and Finn are walking over to their designated discussion spot, stepping over the few prone zombies that are in their way.

When they're there, the smaller brunette looks at him expectantly, and he clears his throat nervously.

"I'm sorry, Rachel," he apologizes and she stares, as if she's waiting for more. When she realizes that that's all that he wants to say she shakes her head.

"Do you even know why I was so mad, Finn?"

"Uh, because I was jealous that you were sharing a bed with Quinn?"

"And?"

"Annnnnnd…uh, it was insensitive of me to be jealous?"

Rachel blinks at him before she takes a deep breath, trying to calm her annoyance. She counts backwards as she continues her breathing exercises and Finn doesn't know why she's quiet but he knows it's not a good thing.

When the singer finally feels that she's the essence of calm she gives him a smile and he responds with a dopey quirk of his lips.

"Alright Finn, since I feel that I should elaborate on this subject, I'm going to explain to you exactly why I'm upset with you and I would like you to pay attention as I break this down, point by point, for you."

"Point by point?" he asks fearfully.

"Point by point."

/-/

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kurt asks as he looks over to where the happy couple is at.

Santana seems disinterested as her eyes gloss over in their direction before she shrugs. "Who knows. But something definitely happened yesterday during mine and Britt's shift; even Q was acting kind of wonky."

"Finn's jealous," Brittany answers easily and they both turn to the taller blonde. They watch as she continues to unload and reload her gun out of boredom.

"What's Frankenteen jealous of?" Santana asks as she crosses her arms across her chest.

"Not what, but who," Brittany says as she glances up to Santana. "Finn's jealous because Q and Rachel are friends now."

"Ew! What?" the taller brunette looks scandalized.

"It's true," Kurt informs her. "It was…disturbing, to say the least, when I saw them this morning. They were smiling at each other and everything."

"Ugh," Santana shudders as she stares to where Rachel's talking down to Finn despite their obvious height difference. "That's, just wrong."

"I think it's nice," Brittany says, smiling. "They both deserve someone they can be close to. Kind of like me and you, San."

Santana shoots the blonde a questioning look but Brittany merely grins before she's turning back to her gun.

"Huh," is all Kurt can say to that.

\-\

It takes her two trips to transport all the materials and she's rolling her shoulders when she finally deposits the oil containers next to the coolant on the floor. But she's satisfied that she was able to carry it all and Puck makes the right decision to keep silent and to just start working on refilling the machine.

Quinn makes a note which area the oil goes in and then she's turning away and scanning the area. It's quiet without the constant hum of the generator motor and the blonde wonders if it really is the noise that's attracting the zombies to this spot.

"So, Quinn. What's up with you and Rachel?" Puck asks her as he starts pouring in the new oil.

Quinn's zoning out and misses the question completely. "What?"

"You and Rachel. You guys friends now or something?"

The cheer captain narrows her eyes at him, trying to determine if he's implying something. "And what's it to you?"

"Whoa, calm down," Puck tells her when he catches the tone in her voice. "I just—you know, it's—just cool. That you're friends. She could use some friends."

She watches as he places down the bottle and peers inside the tank to check the oil level. When he straightens up he notices her looking at him and leers.

"Seriously, we could be—"

"Seriously, as if," Quinn quickly retorts.

"It's your lost," he shrugs his shoulders before he reaches for the bottle again and starts pouring once more.

The blonde tries to suppress another yawn and realizes she's going to fall asleep on her feet if this keeps up. So she decides to ask her own questions.

"What about you and Rachel?"

"What about us?" Puck asks distractedly as he empties out the container before placing it aside and reaching for another one.

"You're all—nice and stuff, to her," Quinn tries to explain. "You still act like you're a pig, of course, but I've seen the way you interact with her—you're a lot nicer to her now than at school."

The mohawked boy twists off the lid and glances at Quinn before he continues to add to the tank. "We're both Jews," he tells her as if it clarifies everything.

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Okay…and what does that have to do with anything?"

Puck snorts and lowers the bottle. "It has everything to do with it!" He sincerely looks insulted. "Seriously, if you ever plan to hook up with me in the future, you'll definitely need to know about Jews." He pauses. "Or, if you ever plan to hook up with Rachel."

He grins. She glares and deliberately shifts so that her gun is pointing at him. Immediately his face drops because he doesn't want to die yet.

"Man, sometimes I forget that you only transferred here like a couple years ago, especially considering how you have everyone eating out of your hands," he mutters out as she waits for an explanation.

He finishes the bottle and chucks the plastic container away and turns to face Quinn. "Me and Rachel are both Jews, hot ones at that by the way, and the Jewish community in Lima's pretty small, so of course everyone there knows each other. Once you're a Jew, you're a Jew for life and there's not much of us, you know? So us Jews gotta stick together."

"Sounds like the Mafia…" Quinn mumbles out. "Okay, I get that but you guys didn't even talk or hang out really before. And you threw slushies at her too. Did you have a fall out or something?"

Puck looks regretful as he runs his hands through his mohawk. "Nah, it's nothing like that."

Quinn's intrigued now so she presses on. "What happened?"

The football player raises his eyebrow and gestures to his body. "This happened. Puberty happened. Girls happened."

The blonde leans against the metal casing and lifts her own eyebrow at him.

"Rachel—she's a good friend, you know?" he explains. "Talks too much sometimes, and has that problem with using all those big words and sometimes she likes to butt in too much—but she was like one of the few who never cared that I didn't really have a dad. So we were cool."

"You say all this but you're the one who still dropped her," Quinn points out and he sighs.

"Yeah—she's great, but she was just killing my game! I swear, she's been wearing those animal sweaters since kindergarten. Those short skirts of hers are hot but man, girls were starting to avoid me, the Puckasaurus, because of her!"

Quinn's quiet as she muses this over. "So you stopped talking to one of your childhood friends for the opportunity to chase even more skirts," she concludes and Puck looks slightly guilty.

"Yeah, I guess if you put it that way it sounds kind of bad."

"But even when Finn started dating her, which sort of made hanging out with you a default, you never really talked to her either."

"What, were you watching me the whole time?" Puck asks, looking smug and Quinn glares at him. "Or, were you watching Rachel?" he smirks and the blonde silently reaches over and clicks off the safety.

"Okay, okay!" he tells her and she gives him a dangerous look before she turns back on the safety and he gulps nervously. "Yeah, and he was dating her and well, you know Finn, he gets jealous easy."

"Yeah," Quinn agrees because it was one of his many flaws.

"He's my bro, you know? And yeah, maybe I could've talked to her about our Call of Duty marathons, but I didn't want to deal with that and she likes him enough, so that was okay."

Quinn shakes her head in exasperation at his reasoning and watches as he starts switching out the old filters for the new ones. She continues to stare and blinks as she realizes something.

Compared to Finn, Puck is a lot more considerate of Rachel—minus the whole slushie throwing business. But Quinn knows that although Finn never participated in those, he also never stepped in to help stop them. That meant standing up to Azimio and Karofsky and that was still beyond him since they never took him seriously even if he was football captain.

She also knows that Finn is usually too obsessed with his games and himself most of the time to think of others. She did date him after all.

She thinks that she might be making assumptions here but she has a feeling that she's right.

So she says it.

"Finn's not the one who wanted to look for Rachel when she was missing, was he?"

The filter almost slips from Puck's fingers as he quickly glances up. He doesn't say anything but his face completely gives it all away.

/-/

"...but mostly I'm disappointed in you, Finn. Because out of everyone, I thought that you would have been glad that Quinn and I have reached a mutual agreement and are becoming friends," Rachel tells him.

"There it is! Don't you think there's something wrong with that statement, Rachel?" he asks her angrily. "It's Quinn Fabray, Ice Queen of McKinley High and the girl who single handedly made your high school life a living nightmare! I'm just worried about you—you don't know Quinn, Rachel. She's—she's not someone you should trust!"

Rachel frowns as she tries to brush aside her irritation. "We have already put those things behind us—she has apologized, very sincerely I might add, and I have accepted it wholeheartedly. It's a thing of the past and—"

"Why are you so naïve? What will it take for you to understand that you can't trust her? I'll bet you anything that she's planning something—both her and Santana!"

"And what would they be planning?" she asks harshly.

Finn throws his hands up. "I don't know! Maybe they're going to use you as a sacrifice—or something. I just—don't—"

"So you're saying that Quinn has helped me—helped all of us, for her own selfish reasons. And she's offered us shelter and protection from those blood thirsty zombies because she's secretly planning to kill us all later even though she could have easily just done so at any point in time with her rifle."

"I-I don't know!"

"Maybe we should talk again, Finn, when you do know what you're trying to imply. What I'm trying to understand here is why you're so jealous of someone who was once your ex-girlfriend. Does she have some kind of blackmail material to hold against you?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"Then I can't comprehend why you feel so threatened by Quinn's presence; I understand that dating her may have given you an inferiority complex considering just how strong a character Quinn is but—"

"What? I'm not scared of her—what are you—"

"Then help me understand why you feel this way against her, Finn," Rachel says as she looks at him disappointedly.

Finn wants to kick something, because he's getting so aggravated and he's not good with words like Rachel is and he doesn't know how to explain it. He looks down to his hands and deflates.

"I…I guess I'm just jealous, of her, in general," he confesses quietly. "She's doing such a great job of being Team Leader—and then she's there for you when it should be me and she's there for everyone and she just knows all this stuff and how can I compete with that?"

Rachel gently places a hand on his arm. "It's not a competition, Finn. We're all here and we're all fighting for our lives—and we're lucky that Quinn is here to help lead us."

"See! That's what I'm talking about! It's always Quinn this and Quinn that! I could be a great leader you know? But no one ever seems to give me a chance!"

The singer can't help the surge of anger that passes through her.

"Finn, you—FINN, behind you!"

"Wha—Oh my god! Get it off me!"

\-\

"What are you talking about?" Puck tries to shrug it off and both he and Quinn know that he's failing miserably.

Quinn hums in response. "It makes a lot of sense actually, considering everything."

"You're tripping, Fabray," Puck tells her.

She watches as he switches to filling in the coolant and they're both quiet as the liquid slowly pours in.

"You going to tell her?" he asks suddenly.

"Well, I m—"

A muted scream can be heard and then gunshots from the front of the school break up the tension.

"Come on!" Quinn immediately starts running towards the back door of the school.

Puck barely remembers to grab his own rifle he had set aside before practically throwing down the bottle and the coolant slowly drains into the ground as he takes off after Quinn.

/-/

There's three zombies crawling towards Finn and one has grabbed his foot and is trying to pull him close. Another one is stretching out towards Rachel and she almost trips in her haste to get away. Her gun lies useless in her hands; she's afraid that at this close range she will miss and shoot Finn instead.

"Get away!" Finn yells out as he tries to pull his leg free. He tugs hard and there's a crunching sound as the arm from the zombie rips out of its socket and then Finn is tumbling down when the sudden pressure is gone.

"Finn!" Rachel shrieks out when one of the other zombies jumps on him and opens it mouth wide.

He manages to shove his own rifle in between its teeth and kicks it away, just as another one crawls up to his right side. Rachel quickly pulls off her sling, takes her gun and uses it like a bat, swinging fast and slamming it into its head. She cringes when she feels the metal connect and there's a cracking sound as the fragile skull breaks apart at the force. She drops her now ruined gun and it clatters to the ground besides the now unmoving zombie.

"Get up!" she hisses at Finn when she notices two more shuffling towards them and she quickly tries to pull him to his feet.

Their screams have alerted Santana and Kurt and Brittany and they're running over to help. They're almost past the stairs when a hand suddenly darts out, grabbing Kurt by his ankle and he trips onto the sidewalk.

"Oof!" he cries out and barely manages to catch himself on his hands. His eyes widen when he feels something crawling on him and he struggles to kick it away.

"Help!"

Just as the zombie dives for a bite, a bullet tears through its mouth and it collapses bodily right onto Kurt's back. He whimpers and pushes himself up, the corpse sliding off as he climbs shakily onto his feet. Brittany moves and backtracks towards him while Santana continues on.

Santana aims and fires at one of the zombies that's after Rachel. She manages to take out a kneecap and it suddenly drops as its leg gives out. Finn finally manages to break out of his stupor and he grabs his own gun and starts firing.

"Kurt! Are you okay?" Brittany asks when she reaches him.

He nods and knows he can still feel the zombie's blood on his back. He moves to wipe away the dust from his palms but the sudden sting in his hands has him looking down. His stomach drops as he spots the bright red from where the skin scraped off on the concrete.

The front doors are shoved open and Quinn is jumping down the stairs with Puck right behind her. He immediately brings up his gun as she quickly surveys the area. Kurt and Brittany are right in front, and she sees Santana helping Finn and Rachel as they start making their way back towards to the stairs. Puck instantly turns to their direction and moves to help them.

"Q!" Brittany calls to her cheer captain and she faces the taller blonde.

Kurt silently holds out his hands for her to see.

"You, Kurt Hummel, have absolutely the worst luck, ever," Quinn informs him.

"It's a gift, I guess," he replies.

"What do we do? We're out of bleach!" Brittany tells her frantically.

"It's okay, it's okay. We still have the hydrogen peroxide. It should work—remember when S had those scratches on the first day? I treated them with it and other than that small mob, it was nothing compared to yesterday's," she reassures them. "I left the bottles in Coach's Office so we'll go clean up there."

Quinn quickly moves to unlock the now closed door just as the others join them.

"What's wrong with Kurt? What happened?" Rachel asks before Quinn can shove Kurt inside.

"Kurt's bleeding—he skinned his hands when he fell so Q's going to help him clean up," Brittany explains.

"Yeah, we'll be back. Keep an eye out for any more zombies, alright?" Quinn tells them and then she and Kurt disappear inside.

"Wait! I need to get a new gun!" Rachel remembers and barely manages to catch the door before it shuts close.

"Rachel, get some more ammo too," Brittany calls out to her and she nods before she steps through the building.

"Great!" Finn says as he throws his hands out.

"Hey, this wouldn't have happened if you two had kept your mouths shut!" Santana turns to him, eyes angry. "All that yapping of yours attracted those zombies!" she accuses him.

"We shouldn't be arguing about this now, San," Brittany tries to calm Santana down and a strong hand is all that's stopping her from lunging at the football captain.

"Okay—so maybe we should have waited later to talk, but—"

"No, really?" Santana bites out sarcastically.

"Alright, everyone shut up. All this noise is just going to bring in more zombies and we still don't even know if the blood is going to attract them too. I don't really want even more freakin' corpses lying around here so we'll save this for later when we figure out if we'll be okay, alright?" Puck tells them irritably.

Finn and Santana grudgingly agree and Brittany finally removes her hand from the other girl's arm before she reaches for her gun.

"Let's hope it's not like yesterday," she tells them worriedly.

They all look across to the front and wait.

/-/

"Quinn! Kurt!"

They both turn as Rachel unexpectedly catches up to them in the hallway, looking just as tired as Quinn feels.

"What happened? Did you get hurt too?" Kurt asks as he tries to search for any visible injuries.

"N-no," she shakes her head even as she can't help feeling pleased that he's worried for her. "I—ruined my gun, so I need to get a new one."

"Well, then you've come to the right place," Quinn tells her, trying to make light of the situation.

They navigate the hallways easily and when they reach the path that splits into two, Quinn holds them back.

"Rach, since you're going to Coach's Office you can help Kurt clean up. There's some stuff I need to get, so I'll meet you guys there in a bit."

"Oh." Rachel and Kurt both share confused looks. "Okay, we'll see you there later then, Quinn."

The blonde nods lightly and heads in the opposite direction as the other two walk towards the trophy room. Rachel turns and watches Quinn for a second longer before she and Kurt continue on their way.

\-\

*Bang!*

"What number was that?" Brittany asks as she lowers her gun.

"Ten," Santana tells her.

Finn frowns and puts down his rifle. "How do you aim so well? I have a better scope than you."

The taller blonde adjusts her grip on her gun before she brings it back up. "Practice. Plus, I'm super talented."

*Bang!*

Puck grins as he places his own gun down. "Seven, baby."

"Damn," Finn complains unhappily.

/-/

Quinn's not really sure what she's looking for but when she spots the fire extinguisher she has an idea. She uses the butt of her rifle to smash through all the glass and carefully extracts it from the case. It's heavy but manageable and she starts heading over to Teacher's Lounge to see if she can find a lighter.

\-\

"There, Kurt! Good as new," Rachel finishes applying the hydrogen peroxide and tosses the used cotton ball into the trashcan before placing a band aid each on his palm.

"Thanks, Rach," Kurt says as he looks at her, eyes wide and expectant.

She averts her gaze and wipes the invisible dust from her pants. "Ahem, well, Kurt, I'm not sure if you realize this, but there's some kind of… zombie fluid on you. On your back."

"Oh!" he cringes and turns around, trying to catch a glimpse.

Rachel places a hand on his shoulder. "It's better if you don't look, actually."

He pales and stops immediately. "Well," his eyes survey the room and his face brightens when he remembers what's in the cabinets. "Change of clothes!" he calls out and skips across the room.

Rachel watches him before she sighs softly in relief. She straightens and moves to grab another gun that's identical to the one she threw aside. Just as she's loading in the magazine case, the door opens and Quinn steps in, arms full with random items: a metal trashcan, fire extinguisher, and two large textbooks.

"Oh, let me help you with that," Rachel volunteers, slinging her gun and taking a few things from Quinn. She looks down at the books and can see no relation between them in their titles.

"I'll explain outside," Quinn catches her confused expression and the smaller brunette nods.

Kurt is in the midst of switching out his jacket and the blonde calls out to him. "Kurt, you can change later. Actually, we'll all probably want to change later."

He looks at her and wants to protest but sighs and slips his soiled jacket back on. "Alright, but you better explain why I still want to wear this disgusting thing."

"Yeah. Your wounds are treated and stuff?" she asks and he shows off his new band aids. "You both ready to go back out?"

"Oh, Brittany wanted me to restock some of our ammunition!" Rachel recalls and starts grabbing boxes of ammo.

"Put some in here," Quinn holds out the trashcan and they fill it up.

When they're ready with their supplies, Quinn leads the way and soon they're pushing open the front door just as Santana fires off a shot.

*Bang!*

"Hells ya, eats that, Finnept! Eight!" Santana cheers out.

"That one was totally mine!" Finn yells at her.

"Are you all having a zombie shooting competition?" Rachel asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, and I totally won," Brittany points out.

"Second place!" Puck grins.

Santana scoffs. "At least I'm better than Finnonence here."

"Y-you cheated!"

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Okay, children. Play time is over," she looks at them pointedly. "How many zombies were there? And does it seem like they're attracted to the blood?"

"There were like, twenty, in the beginning, but they slowed down a lot before you guys showed up," Brittany answers.

"Doesn't seem like they're really coming here anymore," Puck adds in. "Aside from all our loud cheering, actually."

"That's good then. The hydrogen peroxide definitely works. We'll need to stock up on some and maybe keep a bottle in our belts just in case or something," Quinn notes absently.

"So what's up with the books, Q? You find something important in there?" Santana questions when she notices what Quinn and Rachel are holding.

Brittany helps take some of the boxes and she and Kurt sit down on the steps and start the task of refilling some of the magazines. Puck joins in and they listen as Quinn explains her plans.

"Puck pointed out something to me at the generator—the fact that it produces heat. I'm only guessing here but I have a feeling the zombies are attracted to the generator because of that, more so than they are to the sound," the cheer captain tells them as she sits, setting down all the items and starts ripping out the pages in one of the books.

"So, they're kinda like heat seeking missiles too?" Finn asks and Quinn nods as she starts making a small pile of papers. Rachel takes a seat besides her to help and the football player scowls as everyone ignores him.

"It kind of explains why sometimes they see us and sometimes they don't. The more people gathered together means more body heat. So I'm thinking that they use it to hunt—kind of like, what was it? Snakes?" she glances over to Brittany who agrees.

"Yeah, snakes totally use infrared to sense radiant heat wavelengths and it helps them hunt and to avoid predators," the taller blonde informs them as everyone shares surprised looks.

Quinn continues on, completely unfazed because she already knows that Brittany is a genius at animal trivia. "Right, so the zombies are like snakes—following a heat source allows them to hunt for something even if they're blind or whatever…Which means hiding out in buildings or underground is ideal to avoid them from detecting us in this way," Quinn muses.

She now has a good amount of pages torn out for kindling and gestures to Rachel, telling her to stop. The blonde then reaches over and grabs the trashcan and empties its contents into the pile of ammo besides Brittany.

"I want to make sure though, so we're gonna start a little experiment here and maybe get some answers."

She pulls out a lighter she had found in one of Mr. Shue's drawers(surprise, surprise) and she and Rachel throw the papers into the trashcan. "Everyone spread out; I want to see if they're really attracted to a heat source or not," she orders and they all stand and take a random spot near the building, placing at least ten to fifteen feet in between each other.

Quinn steps down from the stairs and positions the prepared trashcan a good distance away before she flicks the lighter and uses a single sheet to start the flame. It catches easily and she throws it into the bin.

The papers slowly burn and Quinn makes sure the fire is stable before she clambers back up the front steps. She takes a seat on the top one, switches off the safety to her gun and they wait.

\-\

Quinn yawns as she stares into the blaze. She's mesmerized by the dance of the flames and blinks when she feels herself swaying lightly.

A soft groan instantly catches her attention and Brittany's the first to spot the one lone zombie crawling through its brethren as it makes its way towards the school.

They all watch as another joins him at the side; it seems they're unable to walk properly due to the lack of empty space and have resorted to pulling themselves slowly across the floor. It's kind of creepy watching as they claw themselves closer.

Quinn is peering at them through her scope and she sees two, turn into three, turn into four zombies and they're all heading towards her direction, towards the fire.

She waits until it's clearly obvious that they're swarming to the biggest heat source before she aims and shoots the closest one right through the forehead. Brittany takes out the one in the back, Puck shoots the next and Quinn places another bullet in the last one.

She quickly grabs the fire extinguisher, pulling out the pin and puts out the flames. She signals to the others to return to the stairs and they all make their way back.

"This is bad news, right?" Finn asks as soon he's there in front of Quinn.

"Not necessarily," she tells him. She stares at all the dead bodies and knows they'll need to clean them up.

"So we just avoid big groups and fires and generators and it should be fine," Puck shrugs.

Quinn shakes her head. "The generator is fine to use; it only brings in a small group probably because of all the barricades and because it's in the back. We can use this though, for our advantage."

Brittany immediately gets it. "We can trick them into following after a separate heat source!"

"Yup," Quinn gives Brittany a tired smile. She then turns to Puck. "Puckerman, you know anything about making Molotovs?"

His jaw drops. "Are you serious?"

She shrugs. "Yeah, they'd be perfect to use in case we get trapped or something."

"Quinn! T-those are illegal," Rachel tells her.

"Look where we're at, babe," Puck says as he gestures around. "Can't get any more illegal than this." He grins. "This is so freaking sweet! I've always wanted to make them but if you get caught with those they skip juvie and automatically try you as adults in jail. We'll need plenty of empty bottles and gasoline and cloth. If we can find some storm matches and tape those are safer to use than cloth, but any of that will work."

Quinn nods as she sits back. "We need to get more supplies anyways—bleach, peroxide. Couldn't hurt to find more water and food either. But that'll have to wait until tomorrow—there's something even more fun we'll need to do today."

"Even more fun than throwing bottles of flaming liquid?" Santana questions.

"Uh huh. We get to move bodies," the blonde tells them and they all recoil and look to all the zombies littering the floor.

"Seriously?" Santana says while shuddering.

"Yup. It's definitely going to rain sometime soon, and I want to at least clear a path before the water hits. I'm not sure how absorbent dead bodies are, but I have a feeling it's gonna be a lot harder to move them after they've been soaked in water."

Quinn stifles a yawn. "We'll break for lunch though, and then we'll suit up and become our own personal zombie transport unit."

No one knows how to respond to that and Quinn merely stands and unlocks the door. They all gather the rest of the ammo and follow after her.

\-\

"You know, I was thinking and—"

"That must've hurt," Santana interrupts.

Puck fakes a laugh and then glares at her before continuing.

"Anyways, all this canned food, and spaghetti and stuff is good, but I'd like to eat some real food too. And that got me thinking about those commercial freezers that like, butchers use. Regular food would have spoiled by now, but those things are insulated and frozen food can last for like days in those!" he says as takes in another spoonful of ravioli.

"Don't fast food places have those?" Finn asks before he shoves some more noodles in his mouth.

"The school has a freezer too. Maybe there's food left in there," Quinn adds in from where she's lying on her back on the floor of the roof. Her own canned corn is untouched and she's resting with her arm covering her eyes as she tries to use her willpower to force her oncoming headache away. She's also trying to remember if she saw aspirin in the Nurse's office…

Rachel gives her a worried glance before she continues to eat her own mixed greens. "While the idea of consuming meat products even as there are cannibalistic creatures after us has me concerned for you all, I wouldn't mind eating something that's not full of preservatives or an unhealthy amount of sodium."

"You know, with the meat and stuff, do you think the zombies would eat that instead?" Kurt points out as he stirs his tomato soup around. He has obviously chosen the wrong meal because the red is kind of making him sick.

"What? You mean like, feed them the meat?" Santana asks as she gives him a look. "Like some kind of zombie pet or something?"

Brittany immediately frowns. "We're not going to keep him in the shelter, are we? He might eat Charity and Lord Tubbington."

"That might be a good idea actually!" Finn says enthusiastically. "We could use it like a double trap, along with those Mosotovs! Lead them with the meat as we run away or something!"

"Will they even be inclined to eat that?" Rachel wonders as she places her can down. She's tempted to lie down like what Quinn is doing because she's tired, but she doesn't want to be left out so she doesn't.

"Did the Wal-Mart even have anything left in their refrigerators?" Quinn questions quietly.

"No, most of it was gone," Puck answers her as he remembers all the empty aisles.

"A lot of the delivery trucks stopped their service two weeks ago though," Kurt recalls. "The one small market by my house ran out of milk and eggs and they never restocked."

Puck shakes his head. "There's got to be some places that were holding out on us."

"Bet you Figgins was totes lying about being low on food and packed a bunch for himself," Santana sneers out.

"We should check out the school freezer first then," Finn says as he finishes off his food.

"Quinn wants us to move the zombies in the front though," Rachel reminds them and they look over to the cheer captain who has fallen asleep.

"We should let her sleep. Aren't you tired too, Rachel?" Brittany asks the smaller brunette who's about to disagree but yawns instead.

"No, I am fine," she says immediately after and no one looks convinced.

"We'll bring up some blankets and you can just sleep here," Puck tells her even as she's shaking her head.

"It's unsanitary to—"

"I'd feel bad about waking her though," Brittany comments and everyone agrees, even Finn.

Rachel wants to accept but she doesn't want to sleep through maybe Kurt's last day.

"Just go sleep, hobbit," Santana grumbles out. "You're looking worse than you usually do and that's saying a lot right there. No point in wearing yourself thin; we'll wake you guys up in like an hour or two, if you're so eager about carrying those zombies around."

"Why, Santana, are you worr—"

"No, I'm just pointing out how bad you look, that's all," Santana's tone is defensive and she glares at Rachel, daring her to say otherwise.

"Alright," the singer agrees with a small smile before she yawns once more. "But you have to make sure to wake us up in an hour! Actually, I'll set the alarm myself and—"

"What, you don't trust us to wake you?" Santana challenges her and Rachel hesitantly glances around.

Brittany smiles at her reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll wake you guys up in an hour."

"Yeah," Finn chimes in and she's too tired to remember that she's still mad at him.

"I'll go get the blankets and pillows," Puck volunteers.

"I'll come with," Kurt throws back the rest of his soup and moves to follow the football player.

Ten minutes later and after Rachel painstakingly dusts off the area as much as she can, she gently places the blanket over Quinn and the blonde doesn't even twitch when she slips a pillow under her head. The smaller brunette gives the others a smile and they all traipse towards the roof stairs. Finn's the last in the door and he watches as Rachel lies down besides Quinn before he sighs and steps through the doorway, the door clicking shut behind him.

She doesn't know if it's out of habit now, but Rachel finds herself automatically curling up against Quinn and she's out as soon as she closes her eyes.

/-/

"Think we should wake them?" Puck asks as they continue to explore the school for more supplies.

Their trip to the freezer had been successful… if finding a huge stack of still frozen tater tots was considered to be an accomplishment. Regardless, they decided they would leave them in there for now and then transport them to the shelter when they turned the generator back on.

"Nah, let them sleep. I want to prolong carrying dead bodies around as much as possible," Santana rolls her eyes and then leads them to the row of lockers. "I says we crack these open; you never know what crazy stuff people keep in their lockers."

"I once had a pet bird in mine," Brittany tells her.

Santana gives her smile but she turns and exchanges a look with Puck. They glance over to where the blonde's locker is and wonder if it's still there.

"Oh! I just remembered. Rachel said she wanted to take a group picture and Quinn was saying that maybe there's equipment in the AV room," Kurt tells them.

"A group picture?" Santana asks incredulously.

Everyone gives Kurt a dubious look but he shrugs. "Hey, I'll never turn down pictures. If possible I'd like to capture my last moments when my hair is still in perfect condition."

"I think it's a good idea," Finn defends his girlfriend even though everyone knows he's only saying it. "I mean, it's just a picture, you know? Capture the memories, or something."

"Whatevs," Santana walks past him and pulls out her handy nail filer from her back pocket. She grins. "Never leave home withouts one."

"Bet you I can break into more than you can," Puck challenges her.

"As if!" she replies but quickly moves to open the first one.

Brittany claps and goes over to her locker. "I'm finally going to get my diary!"

Kurt and Finn watch as Puck and Santana show off their potential futures into being criminals before the shorter boy turns to the football captain.

"Finn, would you like to accompany me to the AV room?"

"Uh," Finn glances nervously at him, obviously still uncomfortable with being alone with Kurt.

"Just go with him, Finnept!" Santana scowls at him. "Someone needs to make sure he doesn't turn into a zombie anyways."

She pops open her locker before Puck and her face is triumphant.

"Sure, Kurt, I guess," he agrees finally. Rachel's the one who wanted the camera anyways so he'll at least get points for that.

They turn and start heading over to the hallway that will lead them to the AV room.

"San, can you help me open my locker? I forgot my combination."

\-\

Quinn blinks and stares when she realizes that she's looking at a very unfamiliar ceiling. It takes her a minute to realize that she didn't repaint her walls to a cloudy sky and she sleepily rubs at her eyes. The action knocks off a part of the blanket that was covering her and she's wondering where it came from.

"Quinn? Are you awake?" a voice asks her and she moves her head to the side, barely registering the soft cushion underneath just as Rachel turns to face her.

"…I fell asleep?"

"Yes, well, both of us fell asleep, actually. For approximately…" the small brunette glances at the bulky watch on her wrist for a second before looking back to Quinn. "Three hours and fifteen minutes. Well, I woke up around ten minutes ago, but for you it—"

"Okay," Quinn interrupts her, satisfied with the answer before she sits up. She's feeling a lot better at least, so that's a plus. "Where are the others?" she asks as she starts fixing her messy hair.

Rachel gets up as well and watches for a moment as Quinn expertly braids her hair even without the use of a mirror. "Well, I was in the process of debating whether or not to contact them through the radio but then I remembered it's in your possession and then you woke up, so at the moment I have no idea where they are. I am disappointed in them actually, I specifically told Santana to wake us up an hour and she let our nap extend to three!"

Quinn finishes her new hairstyle and pulls a hair tie from her pocket to tie it down before she yawns and stands. "Knowing S, she just wanted to avoid physical labor."

"I have a feeling she was worried about you, even though she would never admit that," Rachel informs her as she shakes out her hair and starts getting to her feet. "We should contact them though. I can't even imagine what trouble they could have gotten into."

"They're not kids—" the look Rachel throws her has Quinn pausing. "Okay, for the most part they're…they…well." She quickly reaches into her belt, pulling out the walkie-talkie before pushing the button.

"Hey, where you guys at?"

They both wait for the reply, hoping that they're not all dead.

*Static*

"Hey, you sleeping beauties finally awake?"

Rachel reaches over and snatches the radio from Quinn's hand.

"Hey!"

"Yes Kurt, we are awake, and I specifically told you to wake us up in an hour and do you know how much time has passed? Approximately three hours and nine—"

"Give me that," Quinn grabs the radio back. "Where are you guys?" She glares at Rachel, challenging her to try that again and the brunette harrumphs and crosses her arms across her chest.

*Static*

"Don't worry, we didn't decide to go painting the town red or anything—okay that was a bad example actually. But we're still in the school—specifically in the AV room. I always thought the AV club was kind of shady—and we've definitely found out the real reason why."

They both share a look.

"Okay, we'll be down shortly."

"Aye aye, captain!"

*Static*

Quinn deposits the radio back into its pocket. "Alright, I'm gonna freshen up first in the shelter and then we'll head over to the AV room."

"We shouldn't leave the blankets and pillows here though. What if it starts raining?" Rachel tells her worriedly and Quinn sighs.

"Okay then, let's just bring it with us."

"What about Kurt's cot?"

Quinn glances up; it's definitely a lot cloudier than it was before she went to sleep. But the clouds aren't that dark yet and she'll give it at least another day until it starts storming.

"We'll leave it for now—if anything he can just use your broken one or whatever if this one gets ruined. And—well." She doesn't mention how Kurt might not need it anymore and Rachel lowers her eyes before she clears her throat.

"Right," she says quietly and then starts gathering the blankets.

Quinn helps grab the pillows and she holds the door open for Rachel before they start their way downstairs.

/-/

A quick break after they had decided to leave the blankets and pillows in Coach's Office, the pair is now heading towards the AV room, flashlights in their hands as they make their way through the more darkened parts of the school.

"What do you suppose they found?" Rachel wonders curiously.

Quinn shrugs. "Has to be something good, if it's able to capture their attention for more than an hour."

"True. Maybe they found a way for us to get out of here!" the brunette says excitedly.

"Don't get your hopes up," Quinn tells her optimistically and Rachel shakes her head.

"Quinn, for someone who sometimes says very inspiring things, your outlook in life is rather bleak, did you know that?"

"Yes."

Rachel stops walking and Quinn continues on as the brunette stares at her for a bit.

"You're confusing."

Quinn turns and her flashlight shines in Rachel's eyes and the brunette winces at the brightness.

"Oops," the cheer captain points the light down. "Anyways, I'm confusing?" she scoffs. "You're one to talk, Berry."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means—that we're wasting time arguing in the hallway and I'm not even sure what we're arguing about," Quinn tells her and Rachel opens her mouth to refute it but changes her mind at the last second.

"Alright, we'll drop this for now but don't think that this is the last of it."

Quinn raises her eyebrow and gives the singer a mock bow. "As the lady wishes, it shall be done."

"You two done flirting yet?" a voice cuts in suddenly and Quinn immediately straightens up while Rachel shines her flashlight to the source.

"Santana! You startled me!"

Santana smirks and fakes a bow. "My apologies, fair lady."

Brittany smiles at them knowingly from the side.

Quinn rolls her eyes even though she can feel her cheeks burning. She's glad it's dark enough that they can't see her blushing.

"You two were taking too long so they sent us to go look for you," Santana informs them before they can ask questions.

"You couldn't have just used the radio?" Quinn mutters out.

The taller brunette regards them for a second before she starts leading them to the AV room. "Whatevs. Come on, there's something you two need to see."

\-\

"…what the hell is this?"

Quinn and Rachel stare at where the back wall of the AV room should be. Except it's not there and instead there's an opening and a staircase in the back that leads further down into the darkness.

"Finnept here found it. Tripped over some cords or something, smacked into the wall and it opened up to this," Santana tells them.

Finn smiles shyly. "Yeah, well."

"Shut up, that wasn't a compliment," Santana immediately glares at him.

"Oh."

"Did you guys go inside?" Quinn asks as she shines her flashlight around the entrance. The sides are deliberately reinforced with concrete and it's obvious that this has been around for a while.

"Yeah, we went in and this thing goes on forever," Puck answers. "We stopped though when we reached this area where it split and decided to turn back."

Quinn frowns as she continues to look around the tunnel.

"What do you think we should do?" Kurt asks apprehensively.

"I need a map," Quinn says unexpectedly and they all look at her. "Of Lima."

Rachel speaks up first. "The school library should carry some; although their collections of materials are lacking—which is apparent because they are missing the world-renowned biography of Barbra—"

"I'll go get them," Puck volunteers quickly and takes off towards the library.

"I'll help!" Kurt joins him.

"Lead the way, Puckerman!" Santana follows after.

"I should go too! I can help—"

"Nope, that's okay Rach! We don't need four people looking!" Kurt shouts back to her and then they're gone.

"Do you think it's another bad thing?" Brittany questions and Quinn shakes her head.

"I have no idea, B. But it's definitely not good."

/-/

When they return, Quinn quickly shuffles through all the papers and books, looking for the one that is specifically for the city. She stops and raises her eyebrow at the title of the one she's currently holding.

"Seriously? You guys grabbed a map of Russia?"

Puck shrugs. "Hey, they all look the same to me."

"He pretty much just took all the maps and atlases," Kurt explains.

"Okayyyy," Quinn says exasperatedly as she throws aside map after map.

"I knew I should've gone with—"

"Found it!" Santana interjects and holds up one of the maps Quinn had discarded.

"Thanks," the blonde says as she unfolds it and they all clear a spot in the middle of the room for space. "Anybody got a pen or pencil?"

"Oh, I saw one earlier," Brittany tells her and she swings the flashlight around until she remembers which drawer had the pens. She retrieves it and hands it to Quinn.

"Thanks."

Everyone is holding their flashlights over the map as she pops off the cap and she starts searching the map for the street their school is at, circling it as soon as she finds it.

"Okay, so our school is here…" She starts drawing in different areas: the mall, where they know some of the barricades are and the south west where there's the possibility that the hospital is still operational.

When she's done she points to the school and looks around. "You guys went down the tunnel, right?"

Everyone minus Rachel nods and Quinn glances back to the secret entrance before turning back to the map. "Do you which direction the passageway leads?"

"Let's see, the school faces that street here… so I think it starts heading towards there," Kurt says as he points to the west.

"No," Brittany cuts in. "Remember? There was that weird dippy thing and we had to curve around."

"Oh yeah," Puck nods as he recalls the area that Finn almost twisted his ankle at. "It wraps here and then it leads this way…"

The five of them continue to argue until they all finally come to an agreement and Quinn's just staring at the path that they've plotted out when they're done.

"You guys sure it's this way?" she asks quietly.

"Without a compass we wouldn't know for sure, but, I'd say that's pretty much the gist of it," Puck responds.

"Things just keep getting better and better," Santana mutters out.

Quinn tosses down the pen in frustration.

"My thoughts exactly," Rachel sighs out as she stares at the map.

There are various pen markings where Quinn had to redraw the lines, but the final consensus is that the secret passageway leads towards the southwest.

Towards the hospital.

/-/

"Quinn?"

There's no answer and Rachel glances over to the blonde who's sitting against the wall with her knees pulled up and face hidden.

They had postponed moving the bodies after stepping on that landmine and the rest of the day had been spent poking around the AV room for more clues and setting back up the generator. Kurt's quarantine location was also moved to inside the emptied chorus room due to the possibility of rain. It hasn't actually started raining yet but the wind has definitely picked up and the temperatures have dropped drastically. The solar lights and Kurt's bed have been relocated and the room is ghastly lit in the darkened school.

It's now Quinn's and Rachel's shift and Kurt is sleeping fretfully and the singer wonders if the others are also having trouble falling asleep.

She looks back to Quinn and slides closer to her.

"Quinn? Are you awake?"

Silence.

Rachel sighs softly, because she's already missing their (mostly)carefree yet entertaining conversations that they had just this morning.

The blonde shifts suddenly and leans until her head is on Rachel's shoulder.

Quinn is quiet as she voices her question. "Do you still believe God's just testing us, Rach?"

Rachel finds herself without an answer and merely searches for Quinn's hand in the dim light. When she locates it she's intertwining their fingers and absently notes that their hands fit together perfectly.

"Someone once told me, Quinn," she answers her finally. "That if there's a will, there's a way. And at that moment, I knew we had nothing to worry about because I sincerely believed her words."

They're both hushed as they continue to listen to Kurt tossing and turning in his sleep. Quinn's the first to stand and she pulls Rachel up to her feet and they pad over to his cot.

"Kurt?" Rachel gently shakes him awake and he utters out a gasp as his eyes flutter open.

He stares at them and sags in relief when he realizes that he was dreaming. They both take a seat besides him as he sits up and they wrap their arms around each other.

"I don't want to die," he sobs out as they hold him close. "I mean, I've—I've never even been kissed. And I was still waiting for Mr. Shue to recognize my talents and give me that well deserved solo—no offense, Rachel. And there was this really cute outfit I was planning to order and it was supposed to be released this week—I mean the color and the cut," he bawls out as he gestures to himself. "It was like it was made for me, you know?"

"Kurt..." Rachel struggles not to cry and Quinn turns her head away, knowing if she continued to watch she wouldn't be able to keep up her façade.

There's a knock, interrupting their moment and as the door to the room opens they pull away. One by one, Finn and Puck and Santana and Brittany enter and they can see that they're all holding pillows and blankets in their arms.

"We decided we should have a sleepover," Brittany tells them. "Charity and Lord Tubbington wanted to come too, but I told them they had to stay in the shelter. So they told me to bring you this."

She walks over and hands Kurt a purple squeaky mouse toy and he gives her a teary smile before squeezing it.

*squeak*

"A sleepover! An excellent idea!" Rachel immediately jumps up from the bed, quickly swiping at her eyes. "I'll go get the broom so we can dust off floor—"

"You cleaned the floor already, hobbit," Santana butts in. "You sure you're not related to Miss Pillsbury or something? You could give her a run for her money with your OCD."

Rachel blinks and is about to defend herself but Santana is already ignoring her so she merely frowns in response.

Kurt blots at his eyes with his pajamas sleeves. "What should we talk about?" he asks eagerly as he moves from his cot to the floor.

Everyone gathers into an incomplete circle and they look at Quinn expectantly. She sighs, not wanting to move from the comfortable bed but Brittany grabs her hand and drags her down next to her and Rachel. The smaller brunette gives her a smile before she holds up her hand to gain everyone's attention.

"For this sleepover, I propose that we—"

"I say Kurt should be the one to decide," Santana interrupts her.

Rachel throws Santana a glare. "As I was saying! I propose that we allow Kurt the honors of deciding our sleepover activity!" she turns to him. "Kurt?"

He smiles and taps his chin as he considers his options. "Normally, a sleepover would consist of the mandatory mani-pedi combination, but since that is out of the question," Finn and Puck sigh in relief at this, "I think, maybe it's time we get back to our roots to what Glee club is. We haven't sung in almost two weeks now, and I'm not sure about you guys and gals, but I miss being able to stretch out my vocal chords."

Rachel starts standing up. "I have some sheet music in my locker and—"

"Sit back down, smurfette," Santana grabs her and roughly pulls her back down.

"Ouch."

"We'll have to forego instruments though," Quinn warns them.

"That's fine actually, because I am splendid at a cappella. Rachel and I, will lead," he smiles at the smaller brunette who grins back. "And the rest of you can be back up, or something."

"Seriou—"

"San," Brittany gives her a pleading look and she sighs angrily.

"Fine."

"What should we sing?" Finn asks. "I could use pens as like, drumsticks! To at least help keep the beat."

"Well, I was thinking a song from Broadway would be a good place to start."

"Wicked?" Rachel asks eagerly.

Kurt nods. "Defying gravity?"

"Yes!" the smaller brunette excitedly claps.

"Ay Dios Mio."

"You have to avoid those high F's though," Quinn points out and Rachel pouts but decides that any singing is better than none.

"Wait, Quinn! You know Wicked?" the smaller brunette turns to her and Quinn shrugs before she grabs a pillow and lies down.

"Whatever. Serenade us to sleep already, Berry."

Time Left: 10 hours.