A/N: No special warnings for this chapter. Thanks for reading!

I don't own Glee.

Chapter 3

After a week of becoming acquainted with the way things worked in New Lima, Kurt was finally starting to feel settled. The first few days, he'd slept almost continuously, only waking up to eat a quick meal or relieve himself. Nearly every time he woke from a deep slumber, Blaine would be there smiling at him from where he sat cross-legged in the tent. Sometimes, especially if it was in the middle of the day, Blaine wouldn't be there. Having recovered enough from his injury, Blaine did what he could to help out around the base. On these rare instances when Kurt woke up alone, he would simply roll back over and go to sleep, comfortable in the knowledge that he was in a safe place and hoping that he would never again wake up from a nightmare that involved being dragged from his bed and being put in front of the firing squad.

When Kurt finally arose from his marathon slumber and exited the tent for the first time with the expectation of actually staying awake past his next meal, Kurt found adjusting to his new surroundings a little more difficult than he would have thought. Loud noises frightened him, causing him to involuntarily jump or shout out. It was embarrassing, but after a while he noticed he wasn't the only one who responded this way. Some of the newer arrivals had similar reactions and while Kurt didn't want to think about what hellish environments these others may have come from, it was somewhat comforting to know that he wasn't alone in his reactions.

He found that he was constantly looking over his shoulder, and still walking softly on the balls of his feet as he had when trying to move soundlessly through the forests outside of his old Community. Old habits die hard and Kurt wondered if they would ever die at all. It gave him hope to see that Santana and Blaine already looked less jumpy on the outside than he and Marina did, giving him reason to believe that maybe he just needed a few more weeks.

Almost every day, Kurt received a visit from Maggie, the kind woman who'd held a gun to him that fateful afternoon in the forest outside of New Lima. She seemed to take a keen interest in Kurt and it didn't take him long to figure out why.

"You remind me so much of my son, Isaac," Maggie confessed to him one afternoon. "Your hair, your eyes, the way you carry yourself, your determination...I just see so much of him in you."

Maggie's son had been killed during a rescue mission two years earlier. She still carried a scratched up photograph of him in her pocket at all times. The photograph was a portrait shot when Isaac was in the fourth grade, right before the outbreak. Kurt couldn't deny the strong resemblance between the boy in the photograph and Kurt when he'd been that age. Kurt almost felt guilty for being nearly the same age and looking so much like Maggie's son, but he soon realized that it was almost like a gift to Maggie. She felt like she had a piece of her son's spirit back and Kurt was happy to offer it to her considering how she saved his life by bringing her here.

It was through Maggie that Kurt learned about the different teams within New Lima. There was a defense team, headed by Maggie. Their job was to patrol the areas around New Lima and alert to any possible danger or attacks. There was the scavenging team, whose mission was to find useful items in long-abandoned towns for use within New Lima. There was a building team, a hunting and gathering team, a gardening team and many others. Perhaps the most exciting (and most dangerous) was the rescue team, of which Isaac had been a member. They went on missions to other Communities to help liberate people. It was incredibly risky and unsafe, but the founding members of New Lima were determined that the opportunities and freedom they fought for would be extended to as many people who wanted it as possible.

"When you're feeling settled enough, you'll join whichever team you feel fits you the best," Maggie explained to him one day.

"Well which one needs me the most?" Kurt asked.

Maggie laughed softly. "Honey, there's a need in every one of them, so wherever you want to go, I'm sure the team will welcome you."

At dinner later that night, Kurt, Blaine, Santana and Marina all sat in a circle near their tents, discussing the pros and cons of the different teams.

"I kind of like the gathering team," Marina announced. She'd gone out with them for a couple of days by then, trying to get a feel for the work.

"You'd be really good at that," Santana encouraged her. "You were a pro with that field guide, right? I think I'm leaning toward the scavenging group."

The rest of the group snickered, causing Santana to shoot dirty looks at them in turn. "What's so funny?"

"Um, San, if you want to spend more time with Brittany, just say so," Marina said quietly, her face growing almost as red as her sister's. It hadn't taken long for the younger Lopez to figure out that Santana and Brittany were more than just friends. From the look on Santana's face, she thought she was being a little more discrete than she actually was.

"Changing topics," Blaine intervened with a smile, knowing that Santana was growing more embarrassed by the second. "I don't know, I've really enjoyed helping with the building team, I might stay there. What about you, Kurt?"

Kurt tore a chunk off of his bread and tore that chunk in two absentmindedly. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet that day, ever since parting ways with Maggie.

"I'm thinking of joining the rescue team," he finally announced quietly, still staring at the bread in his hands and waiting for their reactions.

The group was silent for a few moments.

"You're joking. He's joking, right?" Santana finally asked. "No me gusta, Kurt, it's way too dangerous."

"Yeah Kurt," Blaine added softly. "I don't like this idea at all. You could have died during our escape, we all could have. Why would you want to put yourself back in that situation now that we're finally safe from harm?"

Kurt's thoughts wandered back to the old, fading picture of Isaac and the way Maggie's eyes watered with pride when she spoke about him. Ever since their conversation earlier in the day, Kurt hadn't been able to stop thinking about the rescue team and what it would mean to be a part of it. He thought back to his life in the Community and how scared he'd been every single day that he would make a misstep and be killed. But the last few months had taught Kurt not to fear death. It wasn't until he'd escaped the Community that Kurt really felt that he had lived, truly lived. And the thought of helping other people escape to safety and freedom was almost irresistible to him.

"Forget it," he answered with a tight smile. "It was just a thought. The building team sounds nice."

Blaine and Santana both released sighs of relief and went back to weighing the different groups, but Kurt didn't miss the look he got from Marina. Over their time together, Kurt felt a unique bond with Santana's little sister and now, even when Blaine and Santana had missed it, Kurt knew that Marina hadn't. Marina knew that Kurt's mind was already made up, and it wasn't going to be the building team.

Marina quickly settled in with the gathering team and turned out to be quite an asset to them despite her youth and relative inexperience. Santana, despite her initial embarrassment, did join the scavengers with Brittany and found it quite enjoyable. Of course she enjoyed spending time with her girlfriend (after three weeks of being nearly inseparable, they'd finally had that talk), but she also felt incredibly useful and amazed by the things they found on their missions. Sometimes they were gone for several nights, but they never went near any of the handful of established Communities around the area, so she felt completely safe within the group. Thankfully, several of the members of her group were armed, just in case.

Blaine went back and forth between the hunting team and the building team before finally settling in with his original choice. He was happy with the building team. He was finally gaining back his strength after months of inaction from his injury and the constant lifting and movement made him feel human again. Kurt joined him for a few days, moving almost robotically and barely speaking at all for hours at a time. Something had gotten into him that worried Blaine and he wished he could figure out what was wrong. Every time he asked, however, he simply got a grunted, "Nothing," in return. He didn't seem angry, just lost in thought.

During their lunch break on Kurt's third day with the group, Kurt sat silently next to Blaine, eating the corn and bean mixture that had been prepared by the cooking team for the group. Blaine was observing him as he ate his own lunch and started to attempt a conversation again when he saw Kurt perk up as he spotted something or someone from across the span of land contained within the borders.

"What is it?" Blaine asked, trying to crane his neck to see what Kurt was seeing.

Kurt didn't take his eyes off of whatever it was as he set his bowl down on the ground where he sat. "I'll be right back," he mumbled, scrambling to his feet and jogging off in that direction. Blaine turned around again, watching him. Within a few seconds, he finally figured it out when he saw Kurt approaching Maggie.

"I wonder what that was all about," he muttered to himself, trying to calm the feeling of unease that was quickly rising within him.

Kurt was a little out of breath when he finally reached Maggie, who was coming in with her defense team through the main entrance.

"Kurt," she greeted, a little surprised at how flustered the boy in front of her looked. "How's it going with the building team?"

"It's fine," Kurt answered quickly. "But it's not for me. I want to join the rescue team."

"Kurt," she started with a fair amount of hesitation in her voice. "Is this about-"

"No," Kurt interrupted. "I know what you're going to say and that's not it. I need to do this. For me. It's important to me."

"It's a dangerous job, the most dangerous."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was worried, and that she only half-believed his reasoning.

"I know," Kurt said. "But you have to understand how much I need this."

Kurt felt like he was almost begging Maggie, and in a way he was. As much as he wanted to be on the rescue team, he'd grown to respect Maggie so much that he wouldn't feel comfortable doing it without her blessing. He wasn't sure why he needed it, but it was part of the deal for him.

"Please," he added as he watched the different emotions play on Maggie's face.

"Fine," she finally gave in. "I'll introduce you to Thomas."

Kurt couldn't stop himself from throwing his arms around Maggie and wrapping her in a tight, nervous but happy hug. She chuckled lightly in his ear.

"Why do I feel like I'm making a huge mistake?" she asked him quietly as he held her close.

"You're not," he answered confidently. "I promise you're not."

She nodded wordlessly once they separated and motioned for Kurt to follow her, presumably to find the leader of the rescue group. Kurt paused for a moment, looking back to where he was sitting with Blaine just a few minutes earlier. He gave a small wave and mouthed a "sorry" before turning back to follow Maggie, feeling slightly guilty about the confused look on his boyfriend's face as he walked in the opposite direction of the building team.