AN: I apologize for the very detailed writing in this, haha. I just don't want there to be any confusion! I hope you all are enjoying it. :) Thank you for reading! (This is not a G!P fic and yes, the virus has only infected Ohio. The state is blocked off from the rest of the country.)
The day of the outbreak, Rachel drove home quickly, the roads nothing less than chaotic as people began running and screaming around the place. She had to get to her dads and warn them before it was too late, tell them they had to leave back to McKinley and meet up with her friends. She remembered jumping out of her car quickly and running to her door, unlocking the lock only to see the door was slightly ajar.
Pushing it open, she stepped inside, hearing a faint growl in the living room. "D-Daddy?" she sputtered, her hands tightening around her keys. "Dad? We have to go now." She said again, walking cautiously towards the living room. Suddenly her world came crashing down on her as she witnessed something she would deny to have seen even to this day.
"Daddy!" Rachel screamed out, Hiram Berry on his side as blood trickled down from his head, a bullet lodged deep in his temple. He looked as if he had already transformed.
"Get out, Rachel!" She heard her dad yell from the kitchen as he held his arm with a gun in his hand and tears running down his face. "Leave before I'm dead too!" His shouts were horrifying. " Stay safe, princess, and remember that we both loved you very much." His head began to twitch as screams began to fill the house, the agony ripping through Rachel and rooting her to the spot, tears flooding her eyes. "I love you, baby." He yelled as he dropped the gun and cried out.
Rachel ran, faster than anything she had ever ran from in her life, her keys still clutched tightly in her hand.
Sam found her a few days later in the choir room of McKinley, the both of them completely at a loss of what to do. From that point on they had stayed together, watching each other and making sure the other was safe.
"Sam? Where are you?" Rachel's voice was soft, a quiet whisper. "Sam, you promised you wouldn't move!" She whispered more loudly, her voice shaking with every breath.
Rachel and Sam had both been with each other for the passed week, finding one another when they couldn't find the rest of the group. Currently, the two were in an abandoned house a few miles away from McKinley, just barely escaping an attack.
Rachel's breathing had increased quickly as she heard a shuffling around throughout the house. "Sam!" She cried out, tears filling her eyes instantly. "I just went to the bathroom.." She said to herself, looking around and nervously playing with the hem of her skirt. "Sam!" She yelled once more, her voice shaking violently as the tears threatened to spill over her cheeks.
"I'm right here, Rach!" Sam said, coming out from the kitchen. "I was just checking the pantry for food. I said I wouldn't leave you!" He said, quickly making his way over to the girl and hugging her securely in his arms. She held him back, wiping her tears on his shirt and taking a deep breath before looking up at him, his soft eyes comforting her.
"Did you at least find anything?" She asked, breaking apart from him and calming her breath. He shook his head slightly, giving off a slight sigh. "Well, we'll have to find something...and soon." Rachel said again, her weak body causing pain in her head. She could only imagine what Sam was going through, the boy use to eating four meals a day even if they were balanced.
"Yeah, I know..." He said, pushing a hand to his head and rubbing his temple. "Where do we go now?" He asked, hoping the girl had some answers. She thought quickly. They needed new clothes, food and somewhere to sleep for a few days, to at least rest their aching bodies. "Everything is either infected or on the verge of being infected." He said again, watching Rachel as she put a fist to her side, tapping her shoes gently across the wood floor. "We don't have anything, Rach. We need supplies."
"I know, I know. Give me a second." She replied, shutting her eyes.
"What if they're all gone?" Sam suddenly said quietly. "What if we are searching for them and they're all..."
"Don't even finish that sentence." Rachel commanded him, her eyes flying open and her hand automatically pointing to his face. "I lost my dads, I'm not losing my second family. Not that easy." She spoke, her tone dangerous. "We'll find them...but for now we have to get out of here and...find some place safe. With food and clothes."
"So like...the mall?" Sam said slowly, looking to Rachel for approval. "They have clothing stores and food and that huge mattress store downstairs. Also, the gun place right when you walk in. It's perfect."
"But...it's so risky." She put another hand to her head, the headache increasing. "We have no choice, do we?" She asked him, looking up. He shook his head slightly. "The mall it is. But...we can't exactly go out like this. We did that once and almost got ourselves killed." Rachel said, as she thought of where they were thirty minutes ago, practically surrounded by a pack of the disgusting monsters until Sam found the adrenaline to pick the girl up over his shoulder and lunge towards the house.
"I've got an idea." Sam said, getting up from his spot and making his way towards the kitchen, Rachel following close behind. He opened the bottom sink cabinet and pulled out a black toolbox. "I found a few things while you were in the bathroom." He said, putting the box on the table. Turning around, he pulled a Louisville Slugger baseball bat from behind the counter, putting it next to the toolbox. "This was in a room upstairs too. It's signed by all the New York Yankees." He smiled before opening the box and pulling out a handful of nails and a hammer.
"What are you going to do?" Rachel asked, staring at the boy as he lined a nail up on the head of the bat.
"Watch." He said, hammering a nail in the bat perfectly until the sharp end came out on the other side. "I saw it in my game once, it was awesome against the evil guys." He knocked a few other nails in, filling the top of the head with the sharp object before wiping his brow and passing it to Rachel. "See? You'll need to practice a little since it's kind of heavy and -" Before he was able to finish, Rachel was smashing a door in half, the broken wood falling everywhere. "Never mind, I think you got it."
"Ballet helps a lot, trust me." Rachel smiled, eyeing the bat and running her fingers over the signed Yankee players. " Wait, but what about you?" She asked, looking up to the blonde boy. He only smiled, holding his finger up.
"I saw this-" walking towards the living room, he went to the side of the couch, " on the wall next to the deer head when we walked in." He came back with a double barrel shotgun. "There are only six bullets left but it'll do until we get to the mall." Rachel's eyes blew up. "I would give it to you, but I'm pretty sure the force would knock you straight out." He laughed, cocking the gun back and filling the two empty holes with the bullets.
"We'll make it last. Now come on, it's getting late and I want to get there before the sun goes down." Rachel began leading the way towards the door. They began walking on the dirt road, the mall about an hour away on foot.
Rachel had learned to grow close to Sam even if it had only been a week that they were together. As the days moved on, it seemed as if their bond only grew that much stronger.
"Are we almost there?" Sam asked after a while, his breathing getting more and more heavier as they made their way.
"Almost. Just keep a look out." Rachel said. "I can nearly see it now." They had been walking for about forty-five minutes, the heat getting unbearable and the ache in their stomachs feeling terrible. "Only about fifteen more minutes if we pick up the pace." Sam nodded, shaking his head and walking fast.
"Who do you miss the most?" Sam asked after a few moments of silence. Rachel turned to the boy, it was obvious he was trying his hardest to get to mind off of his nausea and empty stomach.
"Um.." Rachel thought for a few moments, she didn't exactly have to rack her brain too much. The cliche answer would be Finn, of course, the two of them were McKinley's power couple, even in their Senior year. But he was never the one she longed for. Ever. "I..I miss everyone."
She missed Quinn. Her favorite blonde that she could never get enough of. The name automatically bringing butterflies to her stomach.
"...I miss Mercedes." He said after a few moments of silence. "I hope she's okay."
"Look! We're here!" Rachel said, breaking the conversation. Sam's face lit up as they began to jog to the front doors, the place completely abandoned. "We'll go eat first, stop by the store and then clean up." Rachel said as Sam kicked open the front glass door. "We should probably cover that up before leaving." She said as both of them were inside.
"Yeah, you're right." Sam went to cover it with wooden shelf that had been thrown down from the second story book store. "There?" He asked, getting the approval from Rachel.
They did exactly what Rachel had said, running to the food court and finding packaged food in the kitchens, eating a full meal of cans until their bellies were swollen, then they quickly ran to the guns at the entrance, Sam grabbing two and equipping himself with other necessities. Rachel took what she could recognize, a pistol and a knife. Sam only laughed, handing her a much bigger gun and a machete.
"I'll take the brass knuckles. I don't want you getting that close to them if you ever have to." He said with a smile, slipping each finger in a metal hole. "To the clothes?" He said once they were ready with ammunition and weapons.
"To the clothes." Rachel smiled, walking out and making her way upstairs.
"You gotta wear something comfortable but still protective. Like boots and military stuff, you know?" Sam said, running up the stairs with her.
Before the sun set, they both were covered, head to toe, in equipment. Finally, since the outbreak, Rachel felt a peace of mind as her and Sam walked back upstairs to the mattress store, her body aching for rest. Sam chose a pair of denim jeans with a black leather jacket and boots while Rachel chose black pants that she tucked into her own black boots. Sam suggested a leather jacket as well, but they all were a few sizes too big so instead she went with a long sleeved grey shirt.
"Rachel." The small girl heard a voice behind her. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned to see a tall blonde girl, scared and confused. "Sam?" She said again, hugging a sweater between her hands.
"Brittany?" Rachel said, words unable to come to her mouth. The girl looked petrified, her eyes dark and her Cheerios uniform ripped up in all different places. She had tears in her eyes as she ran towards Sam, hugging him around the neck then to Rachel, doing the same. "Brittany...where were you?" Rachel asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Where else? The sewers."
Suddenly, the three of them heard a rustling downstairs, feet hitting the ground. Looking back at Sam and Brittany, Rachel noticed the complete terror in their eyes, Brittany already staring to sob. Sam began mouthing the words, 'Mattress store. Now.' Rachel shook her head and took Brittany by the arm, the sounds getting louder and closer as each noise echoed around the mall.
Rachel's heart beat against her chest as they quickly made their way to the store. The dreadful feeling hitting her that this could quite possibly be her final minutes alive.