Part IX

"What do you mean literally?" Puck asked, throwing Kurt a look that brought him back immediately to Mercedes' house and her father in the backyard.

"I mean that she bit his fucking lip off, chew, swallowed and did the same with his fucking face while he was alive" she barked to Puck, getting some distance between them. "She ate his face off and tried to do the same with me" she added, looking at her ankle which was sporting an awful bit mark. Like that of a dog who had actually taken skin.

"What did you do?" Puck asked, worried.

"What I do best... I fought back... I broke her neck" she hiccupped, looking at her bloodied hands. "She fell to the ground and I just couldn't… I hid in the closet, trying to forget what had just happened… but I could still hear her chewing… I could still hear her eating from my dad"

They had managed to get a sobbing and traumatized Lauren into the Navigator, all the while throwing glances over her shoulders as they walked. When the girl was inside they stood a few feet from the car, talking in whispers.

"Dude, what are we going to do? What if what happened to Lauren's parents is what happened to everyone else?"

"We don't know that yet. There must be someone else alive and around. Just like we found her there must be others" Kurt said, looking to the road, his eyes full of despair. "What do you think happened to the bodies?"

"Who knows, maybe they got dragged away just like Mr. Jones" Puck answered, fisting his hands inside his pockets.

"We are going to have to tell Finn and Rachel, we might be in danger and they deserve to know if that's the case" Kurt said after a while.

"And we need to try and find everyone else, at least the guys from the glee club and the team"

"What happened to Sam? Finn said that he was going to meet with us at your house"

"Dunno, man. I just hope he is ok and makes it today" Puck said with a shrug. "He was at the party with us and his family at the motel, so when he got there and didn't see anyone he just started looking everywhere. But, his siblings are really young so, I'm sure he is way more worried about them than himself"

"What about your sister? Aren't you worried about her?" Kurt asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm terrified for her, but I looked everywhere, all Saturday and Sunday, and I couldn't find her, but she is older. If she is ok she'll find her way home. I'm sure she will"

Kurt decided not comment on that last sentence. 'If she is ok she'll find her way home'… If she is ok... What if she wasn't? Puck must have been thinking about his sister (not his mom, he realized) as much as he was thinking about his dad and refused to lose hope. God, Kurt wished he had half the amount of hope that his father, a grown up, could be alive as Puck seemed to have about his little sister.

"So, what do we do now?" Kurt asked, going to the driver's side of the car, but not opening the door yet.

"Let's get Lauren to my house and then maybe we can check on everyone else at their houses" Puck said, shrugging. "I don't think my girl is in any condition to be driving around with us. She needs to sleep well and, dunno, get some food"

"I'm sure Rachel's dad will be more than happy to play mother hen on her while we check on everyone else" Kurt said, getting inside the car and finishing the conversation.

He looked to the backseat and found Lauren fast asleep, as if she hadn't slept in days. Maybe this was the first time she felt safe at all during this weekend and the first time she could actually sleep.

"We'll have to look at her foot, too" Puck said from besides him.

His eyes traveled to the injured ankle and he nodded while starting the car. The wound looked awful, all red and yellow in places. He vaguely remembered something someone at Dalton had told him once, about how the mouth had way more germs than any other place in the body.

"Do you have a first aid kit at home?" he asked Puck, while looking over his shoulder for that silly blind spot while he was in reverse.

"Uh, nope, I used the last of it after the last fight club"

"We'll have to get one from the pharmacy then"

"Shop-lifting, Hummel? I like this new you"