Rachel had never been more terrified in her life. She'd screamed so loudly from the back of the truck Josh had hit her again, knocking her unconscious. She didn't know where she was now, but she was grateful to be alone. She tried the door but realized it was locked. Hoping to not call attention to herself, she hadn't tried to force the door open. Now in the complete darkness, she tried to create a plan.
When she'd seen Finn run out of the factory, just the image of him had soothed her soul. In the brief moments her eyes had met his she'd been assured of two things; one, Finn Hudson loved her completely and two, he would save her. She didn't know how, but she knew that he would. Hearing noises in the other room, she prayed that he saved her before she was hurt too much. That was probably a selfish prayer, but she couldn't help herself.
Josh hated her. She could feel the hate radiating from him every time he was around her. She'd been around people who disliked her before, but she'd never been truly despised. It scared her. Everything happening scared her, and she didn't like it. She didn't want to constantly be the victim, waiting for whatever unfair punishment her captors chose to dole out. She searched the dark closet with her hands, trying to find anything that would help her escape. She couldn't find anything.
Taking deep breaths, she laid her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Sounds of an argument startled her, causing her head to jerk up.
"My dad!" she heard a girl scream. A scuffle broke out and she heard something break. "Leave me alone!" the same girl shrieked, and Rachel heard the sound of a door slamming.
"Crazy bitch," she heard someone say, then the sound of male laughter. Luckily, it was heading away from her.
Rachel sat in the darkness for what seemed like a long time. The longer she waited, the more frightened she became. After what seemed like hours, she heard someone walking stealthily towards the closet door. Making herself as small as she could in the corner, Rachel held her breath. She heard the person outside of the door fumbling with the lock, then was shocked to hear the seemingly loud noise of the lock being broken. "Rachel?" she heard the person whisper as the door cracked open.
"Blaine?" she asked fearfully. Could it really be her friend?
"Hurry up," he told her, opening the door a little wider.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered.
Blaine shook his head and held his finger up to his lips. Nodding, Rachel followed him. She was shocked to realize they were in the school. She didn't see any of the boys that had taken her and wondered what they were doing. They could walk through the door at any minute and find her. Taking a calming breath, she decided to not think about it. She followed Blaine into the Choir room, then into Mr. Schue's office.
Blaine quietly shut the door behind them, turning the lock. Rachel threw herself into his arms, crying happy tears. "How did you find me?" she whispered.
Blaine hugged her back, then picked up the phone on Mr. Schue's desk, sighing when it didn't work. "None of the phones work," he told her in a whisper. Rachel sat with her back to the door and Blaine moved to sit beside her, holding his arm. "When Finn was driving to the factory to find you, I saw a man attacking a woman on the side of the road. I had Finn stop and I jumped out to help the lady, planning on finding a ride…or stealing one…and coming to help." Rachel nodded. "After I'd helped the lady fight off her attacker, there was another person who needed help, then another…I lost track of time, really. Then I heard you scream." He looked at her. "It chilled me to the bone. I recognized your voice immediately. The truck you were in was flying, so I jumped in the nearest car and followed it."
"How did they not see you?"
"They weren't paying attention," Blaine said simply. "I think they were watching for Finn's truck, but they didn't even seem to notice the little car I was in." He sighed. "They got here and you were unconscious. That Josh guy tossed you over his shoulder and carried you into the school, with all of the other people following. There were already quite a few people here."
"So they're using this school as a base?"
Blaine nodded. "It seems that way. I snuck in one of the kitchen doors and looked around a bit, trying to figure out where you were. I heard some of the guys talking in the cafeteria, saying they'd put you in that janitor's closet." He looked at her. "That's not all I heard."
"What is it?"
"They're going to let Finn know where you are, use you as bait. When he gets here…" He took a deep breath. "They're going to kill him, Rach."
Rachel's hand shot to her mouth. "No," she told him. "No, Blaine, we have to warn him."
"There's no way out of here," he told her. "It's getting close to the time they're all supposed to meet and they'll be all over the halls. We only made it in here by pure dumb luck."
"What about your cell phone?" Rachel asked.
"I lost it in the mall."
Rachel leaned her head against the door. "What do we do?"
Blaine put his head in his hands. "I don't know," he said wearily.
"Who was the girl that was arguing with the boys?" she asked after a moment.
Blaine shrugged. "I don't know her, but she's a Cheerio. Candi?"
"Brandi?" Rachel asked him, thinking of Quinn. Thinking of Quinn led to thinking of Puck and wondering how he was. She prayed he was okay.
"Yeah, maybe. Her dad was killed at the factory today."
"Oh no," Rachel said sadly. No matter what Brandi had done, Rachel felt a twinge of sympathy for the girl.
"We need to get out of here," Blaine said, staring at the ceiling. "Do you think we could make it through one of the vents?"
"I think we should try," Rachel told him, standing up. "We can't just sit here and let them find us." Blaine nodded, letting her help him up.
It seemed to Finn that night had come more quickly than it should have. He and his friends hadn't been able to find the other truck, though they'd been looking for hours. More police cars had moved into Lima and things seemed to be calming down. Burt had called him from the hospital to let him know that his mother was okay and had told him that two people were dead, and the hospital was overflowing with the injured. It was hard to process.
They were parked on the side of the road by Burt's shop and Finn had his head laid on his steering wheel. He couldn't seem to catch his breath and all he could think about was Rachel. He knew Kurt was worrying about Blaine. They were both a mess. His phone rang, startling him. Kurt looked at it. "Who is it?"
Finn didn't recognize the number. "Hello?"
"I know where your girlfriend is," a low voice told him.
Finn sat up. "Wait, who is this?"
"Just listen to me!" the voice hissed. "They're keeping her at the school. You better hurry!"
Finn's mind went completely blank as his heart started to race. "What?" he said into the phone, but the caller had disconnected.
"What did he say?" Kurt asked.
"He said that they've got Rachel at the school." Finn told his brother, his voice shaking.
"Where at at the school?"
"He didn't say."
"Mike, Sam!" Kurt yelled to their friends. "Hurry!"
Mike and Sam got up from the sidewalk and ran to the truck, jumping in. "Where are we going?" Mike asked.
"The school," Kurt told them. He dialed the police station as Finn started the truck. "It's busy," he said, staring at the phone as if it had turned into a rubber chicken.
"Try it again," Finn told him, racing through the streets and towards the school.
"How are we going to find her?" Kurt asked Finn, dialing the number. "Won't there be a lot of guys there?" He looked back at Mike and Sam. "There are only four of us."
"We'll have to sneak in," Finn told his brother. He could feel the look Kurt was giving him. "Look, I know I'm not the most coordinated guy, okay? But they have Rachel. We have to do this."
"So…the plan is to sneak into the school, find Rachel, hold hands and skip out?"
"Do you have a better idea?" Finn asked him.
"No," Kurt said, sighing, redialing the number. "It would be fantastic if someone somewhere could help us, though."
At the school, Zeke handed Michael his phone back. "But we don't have Berry," he said to Josh.
Josh shrugged. "We'll find her. She has to be around here somewhere. Besides, Hudson doesn't know we don't have her." He looked at Tom. "Is everyone ready?"
Tom nodded. "Everything's set up."
Josh smiled. "Let's go out and wait for the entertainment, shall we?" The other boys nodded, following him out of the room.
Quinn sat beside Puck's bed, staring out the window. The move to this hospital had made all of the difference in his condition. She wished they weren't so far away from their friends, though. Mercedes had been texting her all day, letting her know what was going on. She felt her phone vibrate and glanced down at it, expecting to see another text from her friend. It was a phone call from Brandi. Quinn debated as to whether or not she should answer it.
"What?" she said, finally answering it.
The other girl sobbed. "My dad is dead," she told Quinn.
Quinn sat up straighter. "I'm sorry, Brandi," she said.
"The guys…they laughed. They didn't care."
"That's terrible."
Brandi took a couple of deep breaths, trying to gain control of her emotions. "They're going to kill Finn," she said finally. "They're setting a trap for him at the school."
"What?" Quinn asked, sure she hadn't heard the other girl correctly. "What did you say?"
"They're going to use Berry as bait. When they catch him, they're going to kill him."
"Finn wouldn't walk into a trap like that," Quinn said.
The girl began crying again. "You do crazy things when you love someone," she said, hanging up.
Quinn stared at the phone, unsure what she should do. "What's happening?" Puck said from the bed.
"Puck," Quinn cried, jumping up and leaning over him. "How do you feel?"
"Like shit," he said, grimacing. "Who were you talking to?"
"Brandi," Quinn told him. "She said that Josh and some of the other guys are setting a trap to catch Finn."
Puck shook his head, then groaned at the pain it caused him. "Shit."
"Should I get a nurse?" she asked him worriedly. "Or your mom?"
"No," he told her. He looked at her for a minute. "Where's Rachel?" At the expression on Quinn's face he closed his eyes. "I didn't stop them," he said bitterly.
"You did, Puck," Quinn told him. "They didn't get Rachel that day."
"What the hell day is it?" he asked her. Before she answered, he reached for her hand. "They have Rachel?" Quinn nodded. "Then you were wrong. Finn is stupid enough to walk into a trap. He'd do anything for Rachel."
"What should I do?" she asked him.
"Call them. Tell them what's going on," Puck said. He didn't add a "duh" to his words, but it was implied.
Quinn quickly dialed Finn's number, but he didn't answer. "He's not answering." She dialed Mercedes. When the other girl answered, she said, "Mercedes, Finn is headed to the school-" she broke off. "They're all with him?" She closed her eyes. "Mercedes, it's a trap. They know Finn is coming. They're waiting for him." She was quiet for a moment. "They're not answering at all?" She looked at Puck. "They can't get through to the police. Finn has Kurt, Sam and Mike with him."
"Then they're all in trouble," Puck told her.
"Mercedes, someone has to do something. I'll keep calling them from here. Okay. Let us know, okay?" She hung up and ran over to her purse.
"What are you doing?" Puck asked her, closing his eyes. It was bullshit that he was already about to fall back to sleep.
"I still have Detective Bridges card," Quinn told him, digging through her bag. "If I can get him, maybe he can help us." Please, she thought, let him be able to help us.
Finn had turned his phone on silent, as had the other boys. They'd parked down the road from the school and walked to it, hoping they wouldn't be seen. Lying on a hill above the school, they looked down at it. "How are we going to get in?" Kurt whispered.
"Just walk up and go in?" Mike said. The other three boys glared at him. "Sorry," he said, looking back down at the school.
Finn closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. Puck was his best friend and had told him about a million different ways to get into the school. "The greenhouse," he said finally.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Puck said that they never lock the greenhouse so the Ag students can always get in and take care of their plants."
"They may not lock the greenhouse, but I bet they lock the door that leads into the school from the greenhouse," Kurt said.
"Puck gets in somehow," Finn told his friends. "I bet we could figure it out."
Sam sighed. "It's the best plan we've got," he said.
"I would just like to say, once again, that this is a really, really bad idea," Kurt told them as they moved cautiously around the school at a distance.
"We heard you the first five times, Kurt," Sam told him.
Inside the school, Rachel and Blaine were lost in the darkness of the vent system. The only light came from the vents below them, and it wasn't very much. "Is it okay to freak out now?" Rachel asked him, wiping sweat off of her face. "Because I'm freaking out."
"I think we're around Ms. Pillsbury's office," Blaine told her.
"Why?"
He stopped moving. "I smell bleach," he said with a shrug.
Rachel frowned. "I do too. Should we get down in her office?"
Blaine lay down on his stomach, his arm hurting. It had quit bleeding but was still numb…and he didn't think that was a good thing. "I don't know where we should get down," he said honestly. "I'm not Finn or Kurt. My brain shuts off in situations like this."
Rachel put her hand on his shoulder, lying beside him. "You're doing great," she told him with a smile. "You saved me, didn't you?"
Blaine nodded tiredly. "That I did, doll." He sighed. "If Finn does come to the school, which way is he likely to come in?"
"I don't know," she said, thinking about it. "Noah would come in through the greenhouse." She looked at Blaine. "Finn knows that! I bet that's how he comes in!"
"Good," Blaine said. "Let's rest for a minute and then go."
Rachel looked at him worriedly. "Blaine, you don't look well," she said softly.
"I'm not feeling so good," he told her. "Why don't you go find Finn and bring someone back to me?"
"I don't want to leave you," she said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I'll be okay," he said, his eyes closing. "I just need to rest."
"Blaine," Rachel said, nudging him. "Blaine."
He didn't wake up. He was still breathing, but he was out. She wiped the tears from her face, determined not to cry. Blaine was going to be okay and so was Finn. The people she loved were not going to die today. She started crawling in the direction (she hoped) the greenhouse was in.