A/N: Dear readers, I am so sorry that it's been so long since I've updated. My muse left me for a bit and with real life getting a bit in the way, this story fell by the wayside. I hope you'll forgive me. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people abandoned this story, but for those of you who have stayed, I offer you my deepest gratitude. Thank you for sticking with it, and I hope to make you proud in the end. Thanks again for reading.
I don't own Glee.
"Alright everyone, gather around."
Kurt, along with the other members of the rescue team obeyed the soft whisper, huddling as close to Thomas as possible so that his voice could be heard. It was pitch black and the air around them was silent, leaving them to concentrate on stifling any little noise for fear of alerting the guards. They were right outside the giant wall, not unlike the barrier surrounding the Columbus Community, that separated them from the escapees of Concord.
"Everyone knows their role," Thomas whispered quietly, earning nods from the rest of the group. Earlier that morning, they delved further into their game plan for rescuing the escapees. Much like his own escape from Columbus, a large hole had been dug under the wall, only this time, it was dug from the outside in to minimize suspicion on the other side.
The recon they'd received from the go-between suggested that security was about mid-grade; not the worse they'd had to deal with but certainly not the easiest. The worst thing the group could do was relax and let their guard down even a bit.
Kurt was slightly disappointed with his assignment. In a few moments, when Thomas broke up the huddle, he would be scaling a large tree near the wall, high enough to see over and search for trouble. He knew he'd been given this relatively safe task, not just because he was a good climber, but because he was new and inexperienced. Not to mention it was so soon after his own, very similarly mapped escape. He wondered throughout the day after receiving his assignment if Thomas was worried that he might snap under some PTSD-induced panic. Kurt huffed at the idea in his mind. He was strong. Maybe one of the strongest in the group. He just had to prove himself.
Kurt looked up at that moment, intending to focus back on Thomas, but instead his eyes zoned in on Scott, the other assigned tree climber. Really, only one was necessary, but it made sense to have two. Since they would be the last to leave, making sure no one was following the group, it was safer to have a pair in case they ran into trouble. Kurt would be lying if he didn't admit he was a tiny bit grateful.
Earlier in the day, after the assignment meeting and while they continued to trek to Concord, Scott had jogged to catch up with Kurt. They'd only talked once or twice before and never at length.
"If we're going to be assigned together, we need to get to know each other," Scott reasoned with him, offering a sheepish smile. Of course Kurt agreed. He took a few moments to observe the boy who walked beside him. He was just slightly taller than Kurt, with sandy blond hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose. He had a slim, athletic build, as though in a different world, he may be a long distance runner. Kurt couldn't help but notice the shocking blue of his eyes.
"My name is Scott, obviously," he started out when it appeared that Kurt wasn't going to start the conversation. "Let's see, I'm twenty-two years old, I've lived at New Lima almost since the beginning. My mom and dad escaped with me. My mom works on the cooking team and my dad leads the hunters."
"Well you don't get more gender stereotyped than that," Kurt spoke wryly, and then immediately worried that Scott would take offense. He hadn't meant any. Luckily, Scott laughed and continued on.
"No, I guess not," he answered lightly, as if he hadn't ever thought about it before. "Anyway, I'm on the rescue team, as you can clearly see, and I've been here for four years. I would have joined earlier, but they have an age requirement."
Four years. Kurt rolled that fact over in his brain. It seemed like a long time. It gave him comfort knowing that he would be working with someone who'd been rescuing for so long and was still in one piece.
"So, our assignment," Kurt ventured. "Have you—"
"Always been a climber?" Scott filled in his blanks with a smile. "Yeah, I guess I have. That's been my assignment from the beginning."
Kurt's expression fell a bit. He was hoping that there was a chance to move up, so to speak, into a more important role.
"Hey, you know, I may be biased, but I think this job is the most essential," Scott reasoned, seeing the disappointment in Kurt's features. "No really, hear me out. So we're up there, away from all the danger on the ground, right? All we have to do is make the signal noise if we hear someone coming, right? No way, man. It's not that simple. You and I are the last ones to leave. Everyone is counting on us to make sure that the Officials don't catch up with the group. If they come after us, we're the ones to stop them. When it comes down to it, everyone is counting on us to keep them safe. If the Officials get past us, the whole group is in danger."
Kurt paled.
"Wait," Scott said, biting his lip. "Shit, that was too much, wasn't it? Forget I said anything, just remember, you're good at what you do, that's why Thomas picked you. You saved your friends, right? Santana and her sister, and…is it Blaine? Yeah, you saved all of them singlehandedly, and now you get to do the same thing, only this time you have some help from an expert."
Kurt tried to smile at Scott's obvious charm. He was trying so hard to put Kurt at ease and Kurt appreciated it.
"People keep saying I saved my friends," Kurt mumbled after a few moments of silence. "It wasn't like that though. I mean, I wouldn't have even left the community if it hadn't been for Santana wanting me to."
"But you did leave," Scott added quietly. "And now you're here and you want to help other people leave. And you're going to be great at it."
After that, the boys fell into easy conversation with each other, and Kurt found himself genuinely enjoying Scott's company. By the time they were huddled around Thomas at five minutes until go time, Kurt was completely secure with trusting Scott as his co-partner in their assignment. As his eyes met Scott's, Scott winked and Kurt saw his white teeth flash in the moonlight. Kurt was certain that when he returned the smile, it must have looked more like a grimace.
"Kurt, Scott, it's time," Thomas said, startling Kurt out of his daze. He'd been staring at Scott for an embarrassing number of seconds and he was sure the entire group had caught him.
"Right," Scott said, breaking the tension Kurt felt. "Let's go then. Good luck guys." Scott backed out of the group and walked around to Kurt. He cuffed him lightly on the shoulder, gave him a reassuring nod and headed over to his designated tree. Kurt nodded back and with a deep breath, headed to his own.
Kurt climbed and climbed until he reached a spot just high enough to see the base of the wall inside the community. His eyes immediately landed on the group of five escapees huddled around where the hole was dug on the other side. All they would have to do was remove the small amount of dirt that remained, obscuring the hole from anyone who may have been walking the perimeter. At Scott's signal, the group began to quietly, but quickly dig on their side and within a few minutes, the passageway was complete.
Kurt, as directed, kept his eyes trained slightly off in the distance, his ears perked for any unusual sound. He was surprised at how quickly the whole thing happened. The entire group was on the other side of the wall within five minutes and after a very brief talk with Thomas and Sandra while three other members of the rescuers worked at a harried pace to fill the hole back in with dirt and brush, the full group of rescuers and escapees was heading back into the woods, swiftly and quietly.
Well, the whole group aside from Kurt and Scott. Kurt kept looking and listening, but didn't hear anything. After a few more minutes he allowed his eyes to seek out Scott in his own tree.
Kurt was impressed with what he saw. Scott was perched at what almost looked like an impossible angle, his eyes scanning the area in front of him with what looked like expert precision. One of his hands was grasping his bow, while the other was perched above his shoulder, ready to pull an arrow out and load it at a second's notice. Kurt, on the other hand, had to keep at least one hand perched on the tree trunk at all times for fear of losing his balance and toppling out. Not Scott though. If Kurt didn't know any better, he'd guess that Scott was born in a tree.
He turned his attention back to the wall and after a few minutes, he heard the quiet signal from Scott. It meant that the coast was clear and they could start running to catch up with the group. Relieved, Kurt began shimmying down the tree as Scott did the same. He leaned over to brush the loose bark off of his pants and he heard Scott's footsteps approaching him. His head still down, he smiled, preparing to tell Scott that the mission hadn't been nearly as dangerous as he was expecting, that he was expecting at least a little bit of a chase, when he heard the hammer of a gun being pulled back behind his ear. On instinct, he froze, his posture still slightly bent from being hunched over. The click of the hammer sent ice coursing through his veins.
"Hold it," a gruff voice snarled from behind him. "You're not going anywhere, boy. You're dead."