Quinn could feel the blood rush throughout her body, her hands, as well as the rest of her, shaking terribly. A loud clank to the floor rang through her ears and only then did she look down to see the knife she was recently clutching in her dirty hands fall to the floor. Her breathing was shaken and heavy, tears filled her eyes and her throat was completely dry, the smell of rotten eggs and vomit still filling her nose. Her hair fell over her eyes in a sweaty heap.
Everyone had been staring at her, their chests heaving as well as her own, their faces were covered in sweat, dirt and, some of them, blood. Her mind was frantic, her eyes were fogged and everything felt so unreal. She had been two inches away from death.
Rachel ran to the shaking girl first, her arms flinging around Quinn's neck as she sobbed into her shoulder loudly, saying things that no one could understand as they were muffled in Quinn's shirt. Santana quickly joined, wrapping her arms around both the girls, her own eyes filling with tears. Soon enough everyone was surrounding Quinn, all of them hugging each other tightly and most of them letting tears fall down their cheeks. Finn held on to the group extra hard, his arms holding as many people as he could fit. He felt someone grab his hand, a rough hand. Turning, all he saw was Puck's mohawk head. It didn't matter who it was, the point was that they were all somewhat safe.
They all stayed like that for a while, their hearts beating as one if only for that moment. They were a family now, all they had was each other. Their was comfort in the hug that none of them had felt in so long because, no matter how much they fought, in the end, what would matter is the love that they all shared.
"Alright, enough of this." Puck said, breaking away and wiping at his face. "You better not scare us like that again, Q, or we'll really leave you out there."
Everyone laughed at the words before letting go of Quinn, a few of them sniffling, until only Rachel held on, her grip around Quinn's neck just as hard as it was before.
"You're gonna choke me, Rachel." Quinn joked, hugging the girl just as tight until she finally let go, looking up with red eyes and a soft smile.
"I just...didnt want another Mercedes incident." Rachel spoke quickly, looking at their friends.
"Well, we have to be more careful next time." Finn said to the group. "Now, Cambridge is still about a seven hour walk from here, at least. We'll have to stay here the night and hope for the best by morning." Finn said, looking out the window at the now dead townspeople who were clawing at the door, their blood smearing against the glass. "They'll wait for us if they can see us, so lets go to the back. Wait it out there." Finn hadn't noticed the way everyone had been staring at him, their mouths open wide and their stares blank. "What?" He asked, defensively. "I just really want to get to the airport."
Quickly, they all gathered their things that had been thrown to the ground and proceeded to make their way back to the very corner of the store. Before Quinn was able to walk any further than the front register, she felt a hand grab on to her own, pulling her into an isolated aisle.
Gently, Rachel held on to Quinn, her arms wrapping around Quinn's middle securely while her head rested against her soft, pale chest.
"Rachel." Quinn said, her tone more comforting than surprised.
"Don't ever leave me." Rachel said softly. Quinn's arms wrapped around Rachel's waist, pulling her in tightly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't -" Quinn's words were cut off by Rachel's lips, the soft skin against her own more than what she needed to ease her still shaking body. Kissing back just as passionate, Quinn held on to Rachel, pushing her hands up to tangle into brown locks.
Their lips hugged each other tightly as it took both of them away. Away from the hurt, from the pain, neither of them wanting to let go for fear of coming back to reality too soon.
"I wish I could show you how much you mean to me." Rachel said once they finally broke apart.
Quinn stayed quiet, just holding Rachel for this little bit of time she had with the girl.
"Rachel?" Quinn heard Sam's voice call out. " Quinn?" He called Quinn.
Breaking apart quickly, Quinn bent down to pick up the closest thing to her, that being a can of tomatoes.
"Hey." She spoke once the boy found them in the aisle. "Just looking for food and stuff." She said, her face red, but that could have been passed for the running. "Rachel was just helping me." Quinn said, turning to Rachel.
Looking to Rachel, Sam saw the 'dont-say-a-word' look given to him by the girl to which he smiled at Quinn, playing along. "Oh! Cool! I was hoping you two were...looking for food. But we found some stuff in the back." He took the can of tomatoes and began to walk out of the aisle, the girls following close behind as they both smirked at each other, locking fingers together until getting to their friends.
Everyone had been calming down, sitting on their own tattered blankets and filling their bodies with the nutrients that loitered the floors. Soon enough there wouldn't be edible food, so they took what they could for the time being.
Quinn was unsure where there next step would be, this had been the second time already that the infected almost got ahold of one of them and it scared Quinn shitless since it was her in the situation. She didn't realize just how at danger they were constantly and the feeling to keep herself as well as Rachel safe struck her hard in the chest, like a bolt of lightning finally waking her up from some trance she was having. This was real, the zombies weren't some stupid game the people at her school would play, they were real things that thirsted for their flesh, longed to feel their skin rip between their rotted, yellow teeth.
She couldn't have imagined Rachel being in her position, if it was her that fell instead of Quinn. There would have been no way Quinn would have left the girl behind, no way in hell she would be held back by someone as Rachel ran for her life against the monsters. She would fight for the girl whom she adored completely. Quinn would have rather died herself than watch a zombie eat at the small girl's body, just the thought had tears stinging at her eyes. She quickly shook that from her mind though, not wanting to show any sign of weakness because that was the last thing they all needed in this moment.
Rachel stuck by Quinn's side, not leaving for a second. Quinn began to wonder if Rachel even wanted to keep this between them, like it would matter. It was established at the house that relationships now meant absolutely nothing, perhaps it was best if things stayed that way.
But that didn't mean Quinn wasn't allowed to smile at the girl. Or touch her. Maybe even...kiss her. Quinn thought, smiling to herself as she watched Rachel eat saltine crackers with peanut butter and pretzels in a spot on the floor. They had all spread out evenly along the back of the store, some of them resting, others eating and Kurt reading the last updated Vogue magazine.
Catching the smile, Rachel grinned back, peanut butter on the side of her mouth. "What?" She asked, running her tongue on the roof of her mouth to gather the excess peanut butter that gathered there.
"You've got a little bit of.." Quinn laughed while reaching her hand out to wipe away the peanut butter at the corner of her mouth. "...there. All gone." With that, Quinn wiped it on a nearby rag, still smiling at herself.
"We...we're going to be here a while. You can rest if you want to." Rachel said, looking back at her pretzels and dipping some into the peanut butter.
"Not tired. I actually want to be awake right now." Quinn spoke. She felt the girl beside her scoot in closer before locking their hands together, much like she had been with Sam a few nights ago.
"May I ask why you feel this way?" Rachel asked, looking to Quinn with a bright smile.
"I don't know. It might have something to do with the lighting in here -" Quinn felt a hard nudge to her elbow by the girl next to her, Quinn's smile widening. "Would you let me finish? Jeez. I was going to say it might have something to do with the lighting, I can see you better than before." She finished, smiling smartly at Rachel.
"You're just saying that." Rachel looked down at her pretzels and crackers, pushing them around with her free hand.
"Maybe." Quinn said quietly. "Maybe not."
Looking around, Rachel saw the rest of their group either close to dozing off or already there. Kurt was too entranced in his magazine to care about anything else. She turned back to Quinn, planting a small kiss on her cheek before Quinn turned her head quickly so that her lips met Rachel's directly. Gasping, Rachel covered her mouth and broke apart.
"How dare you!" She said in a sarcastic tone.
"I can't help myself!" Quinn said, smiling at her. "You're the only good thing out of this. I take advantage of every moment I have with you." Quinn spoke, cupping Rachel's cheek. "Do you know how much you mean to me?"
"More than a zombie loves to devour human flesh?" Rachel smiled up, her brown eyes sparkling.
"Hey now. I didn't say love." Quinn corrected quickly only to have Rachel's smile falter. "But yeah. Somewhere along those lines." She went in to kiss the girl yet again, pulling Rachel's chin up with her thumb to make it more comfortable. They stayed like that for a while, pecking each others lips lightly, each kiss more passionate than the last until Rachel stopped, staring up at the hazel eyes that now beamed with color. SOmething she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"I need you." Rachel spoke desperately, leaning in to kiss Quinn's neck. "I really just...need you."
"I need you, too." Quinn sighed out, her grip on Rachel's hand tighter. "But not here. Not when it's so risky. I want you again and again and again until the end of time, but I also don't want it to be the end of our time for being stupid." At these words, Rachel nodded, leaning her head against Quinn.
"What if something happens?" Rachel asked, her voice barely heard.
"Look at me." Quinn said sternly, her eyes piercing through Rachel's large brown ones. "Do not say that. I will make sure nothing, nothing happens to you, okay? You're going to be safe even if it kills me, Rachel. I'm not letting anything happen to you."
Looking Quinn dead in the eyes, Rachel replied back just as sternly. "I'm not letting anything happen to you either." Quinn could only smile, holding the girl closer to her before they heard a voice interrupt them, a few feet away from behind a magazine.
"You get any closer and you'll become one." Kurt said, flipping a page idly.
"Too late." Quinn whispered to Rachel who only smiled, both their eye lids falling.
Waking up the next morning was exactly what Finn had said. The zombies had left, the only trace of them being there was the blood that smeared the glass window all over. They had all packed their things and slowly exited from the back, this time much more quieter and cautious as before. Finn led them out, his eyes staring into the woods in front of them.
"We'll have about a five hour walk through here then another two hour walk on a dirt road. I remember my mom use to take me down here all the time." He said the last part more to himself.
As always, Rachel snuck her hand between Quinn's and they began walking, guarding the group from the back. It would be a long five hours, but well worth it and much more safe.
The time passed as quickly as would be assumed, the only noise coming from the trees breaking beneath their shoes and an occasional sneeze that would usually alarm the group and have them draw their guns.
After nonstop walking, they finally came up to the dirt road Finn had been talking about. All of them exhausted and pulling each other along, combining their strength to get through these last two hours.
Their feet ached, their heads pounded, stomachs growled louder than their shoes hitting the floor and the sun beat down on them all leaving each face burnt. It felt impossible, but they did it. Two in a half hours later led them into Cambridge, the airport about ten minutes away. They all tried their best to hide their excitement, not letting it get the best of them. Instead they all stayed quiet and continued to follow Finn, his gun drawn and ready to shoot as he walked.
A huge building in front of them told the group that they had made it, they lasted the dreadful hours that finally got them here. The airport. The food. The help. Looking at each other, they all made their way inside the glass doors, the smiles on each face dropping one by one when they were faced with the scene in front of them.
Blood on the walls, floors and chairs. Backpacks, food wrappers and other things loitered the floor. Their hearts fell as they began to walk throughout the place.
Slowly each scene unraveled in Quinn's head. She could practically hear the people begging for mercy as their bloody handprints smeared against the wall. A body being dragged away on the floor to never be seen again and another trying to escape through a vent only to be pulled the other way and eaten.
Rachel threw her face in Quinn's shoulder as they all began to walk, their eyes filling with tears, each step feeling like a shot through the heart.
Falling to the floor, Puck clutched something in his arms causing everyone to turn to him.
"Dude?" Finn asked, approaching the now crying boy. "You alright?" He asked, putting his hand on Puck's shoulder.
Turning, Puck showed the group the mangled and bloody radio in his hands. "They've been gone for days. That's why they haven't responded. This was all for nothing."