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Charybdis

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"Kurt, someone's going to notice you carrying cans of gasoline," Dani countered the moment Kurt had outlined his plan.

"I'm going to use the water buckets. No one'll bat an eye."

Dani didn't look like she believed him, but she didn't argue any further. In any case, what other choice was there? "How are we going to do this?" she asked instead.

Kurt looked up, at the church steeple looming overhead with its very top obscured in the mist. "We have to burn the church."

"What?! " Dani was incredulous, vigorously shaking her head. "Kurt, are you crazy? There's a lot of people in there. No. Absolutely not."

Kurt did not reconsider. "Listen. We'll start the fire in the back, near the kitchen and away from the front door. Everybody inside will be able to get out, but the fire will be big enough to draw the whole town."

Dani stared at him, listening to the muffled clamor of the dozens of people eating and talking inside.

"It's our best option, Dani," Kurt pressed. "The fire has to be big."

Dani let out a long breath, closing her eyes for a moment. "Okay. Okay, let's do it. Before they figure out I'm not there."

Kurt swore under his breath, having forgotten that there were people expecting him inside as well. He'd told Javi he was waiting for Jessica, and if she walked in without him, Javi would probably realize that something was up. They had to move fast.

"Any ideas for getting over the fence?" he asked.

"We can't climb it," Dani replied. "We need to go through the gate. Out the front door."

Kurt nodded in agreement. Even if somehow he and Dani managed to scale the fence and scramble through the barbed wire without getting shot by the guards, he knew Santana wouldn't be able to do the same. "It'll have to be a hell of a fire."

"Yeah."

"They could double down the guards on the gate."

"We might have to hope for the best on that one."

Kurt was quiet for a moment, scanning the few buildings still visible through the fog. "Wait a sec," he said quietly, gears spinning in his head as his plan morphed into something new. "I have a better idea."

"I'm all ears," urged Dani.

"We don't need a big fire. We just need a loud one." Kurt grinned, his eyes glinting even in the shadows. This plan would work. He was certain. "We burn the armory instead."

Dani blinked in surprise. "What about the guards?" was her only question.

"I'll improvise." Kurt knew there was no time to come up with a strategy for the guards now. They had already wasted enough time talking.

"I'll get some food to bring with us," Dani said. "I saw where they keep their inventory today. Our bags are there."

Kurt nodded. "Okay. Good. Meet me at the corner across from the armory afterward."

Dani pulled away from him and faded into the fog without another word. Kurt breathed deeply, feeling the wet air pressing against his ribs from the inside, and struggled to keep his heart from leaping into his throat. The evening was already closing in.

Taking a moment to scan the area surrounding the church to make sure there was no one within eyesight, Kurt snatched two of the white lidded buckets from where they were stacked on the grass along the church's outer wall, waiting for tomorrow's crew to put them to use again. Kurt wished he could carry more than two, but he knew that a pair would be heavy enough as it was.

He peered around the corner of the building to make sure that there was no one still filtering in to the church for dinner – the doors were shut. Apart from the sentries at the town perimeter, everyone had already gone inside. The din of the crowd eating and talking and laughing was suppressed by the walls, but Kurt knew it was loud enough that nobody would hear his next step.

Approaching the bathing stations on the other side of the church with his pulse pounding in his ears, Kurt ripped the hose out of the first shower rig, and then did the same with the second. The water poured from the overhead buckets, splashing into the grass and creating muddy puddles. Kurt quickly curled both hose segments into one of his buckets, snapping the lid closed to hide them. He waited for a moment, lurking in the shadows to make sure that nobody was coming to investigate the noise, then stashed his buckets by the church stairs and went inside.

The interior of the church at night was kept as bright as possible by lanterns and candles too numerous to count, but was still dim and crowded enough that Kurt was able to slip through relatively unnoticed. He scanned the crowd, seeing Nick and Ennis sitting at their usual table in the corner, Javi and Julie eating with them. Finally, Kurt spotted Jessica and an elderly woman sitting at a table towards the back.

"Hey," said Jess with a smile when he approached. "I was wondering where you got to."

Kurt leaned in close to Jess's ear, speaking just loud enough for her to hear him over the white noise filling the church hall. "Take your mom home," he urged. "We're getting out of here."

Jessica stared at him solemnly for a moment, her expression unreadable in the lantern light. "What are you going to do?"

"Something crazy," Kurt replied. "I don't want you or your mom getting hurt."

"Kyle, what are you going to do?"

Kurt paused, suddenly unsure of whether he should have said anything in the first place. Maybe she was about to run and tell Nick what his plan was.

Jessica's mother happily chewed a slice of potato, announcing "I think I'll watch Jeopardy tonight. Alex Trebek is just so handsome."

"Kyle," Jess prodded him.

"We're going to start a fire," he said.

She was quiet, staring at him as if trying to decipher exactly how serious he was.

"Can we watch TV now?" asked her mother.

"No, Mom." Jessica inhaled slowly, her fingers twitching on the table, then she reached into her pocket. Pulling out a small object, she pressed it into Kurt's hand. "Good luck," she said.

Kurt looked down at his palm. It was a book of matches. "Come with us," he blurted out. "You can still get out."

Jess shook her head. "I told you, I'm not leaving her."

There was no time to argue. "Okay," said Kurt. "Take her home. Now."

Without waiting for them, he turned and slipped back out of the church, praying that nobody had noticed he hadn't eaten anything while he was there. He tucked the matches into his own pocket, snatched the buckets from where he'd left them by the steps, and darted across the square to the block beyond.

He almost passed the laundry stations lining this street before he remembered that he needed one more thing. Since the entire day had been cool and humid and was now wetter than ever, the laundry from that afternoon was hanging on the clotheslines between the trees on the sidewalks, still too damp to be worn. Good. Damp was better. Kurt snatched someone's undershirt from the line, letting it sit in a wet ball on top of one of the bucket lids as he continued along the street.

The fog was thick, but not thick enough to entirely conceal him. He still had to be careful, and as he finally reached the barricade, he had to quickly pause and duck behind the corner of the nearest building so as to not let the nearest guard spot him. The sentry stood quietly atop an old pickup truck, yawning with his rifle hanging slack at his side. The shifts had only changed recently and this particular guard had not been there for more than fifteen minutes, but he was already bored and barely paying attention. There wasn't much to see, anyways. Beyond the fence was an empty, foggy void, and the guard didn't seem concerned at all about threats from inside.

Kurt scanned the barricade, searching for the next guard stationed further down the fence, but it was too dark and too misty to make out even a silhouette. Okay. This was it. Kurt skirted around the corner of the building, then crept into the open and raced as quickly and quietly as he could across the dew-laden grass and garden plots. Pausing briefly in the shadow of the barricade to make sure the guard hadn't heard him, Kurt moved further away, putting as much distance between himself and the guard as he could. When he was able to just make out the amorphous shape of the next sentry down the fence, Kurt stopped. He was knelt in front of a grey sedan with two flat tires. Setting one bucket to the side, he pulled the lid off the other and removed the pair of garden hose segments, then opened the sedan's fuel cap.

Dad always said this would come in handy someday, Kurt thought to himself. He almost laughed out loud as he pushed both hoses into the tank with a practiced ease. He wedged the wet tank top into the gaps between the hoses, effectively sealing the hole, then allowed one hose to dangle into the open bucket.

Putting the other hose into his mouth, Kurt blew as hard as he could into the tank. Gasoline flowed through the first hose, splashing into the bucket and releasing a cloud of fumes. Kurt pinched his nose to suppress a cough, watching the guards to see if they'd heard him. Neither moved. Kurt drew a deep breath and blew into the tank again, forcing more gas out while he kept the end of the hose submerged so as to prevent any more loud splashes. Gradually and quietly, the bucket filled.

Five gallons. That was the maximum capacity of each bucket. The fuel tank for a car like the one Kurt was currently robbing was roughly twelve gallons, but he was only able to fill one bucket before the hose sputtered and the gas flow stopped. Kurt was disappointed but unsurprised; finding a car with a completely full tank would have been a long shot.

He clamped the lid back onto the first bucket, then moved down to the next vehicle – a broken-windowed small pickup – and repeated the process of inserting the hoses into the truck's tank. Blowing hard into the hose, the gasoline splashed again into the empty base of the second bucket. This time, the guard down the fence to Kurt's right stood alert, his head turning in Kurt's direction.

Kurt quickly ducked between the pickup and the sedan, holding his breath and praying the sentry wouldn't investigate. The hoses dangled from the filler pipe, the buckets resting as close to the truck as possible. Kurt didn't think either sentry had a chance of seeing him or any of his tools, but if they'd heard him and came to investigate… that would be a problem.

It was silent apart from Kurt's pulse pounding his eardrums, until the guard called to his colleague. "Hey, Shawn!"

"Yeah, bud?"

"I think I heard something."

Shawn's reply was through a yawn. "Like what?"

The unnamed guard paused, scanning his surroundings and looking for anything amiss. "Not sure."

"I didn't hear anything," Shawn called back.

"I think it came from out there."

"Probably just raccoon or something, then."

Kurt felt a small wave of relief ripple through him. The fog was interfering with sound, suppressing it and confusing its direction. He exhaled slowly and waited.

"Should I go take a look?"

Shawn snorted. "Dude, it's nothing."

"I don't know, Nick would—"

"Nick is paranoid and you know it. Relax."

Kurt smiled in the dark. Shawn's laziness was the deciding factor. The unnamed guard hummed in his throat, but stayed where he was. Kurt waited a minute or two, then crept back out to finish his task.

Again, he kept the mouth of the second hose below the gasoline surface while he blew into the first, keeping it silent as the bucket filled. This truck had a much bigger tank than the sedan, and thankfully did not run dry. Kurt let the bucket fill to its limit, then clamped the lid down and sealed it. He stood and heaved both pails up, straining from the new weight, and walked as quietly as possible away from the barricade. He left the hoses and undershirt jammed into the truck's filler pipe, not bothering to dispose of the evidence. If this plan worked, then by the time it was found they'd already be gone. And if it didn't work, then, well, they'd be dead anyways.

The streets were entirely empty and shrouded in mist, and Kurt felt like a ghost in limbo as he fumbled his way through the town back toward the armory. By the time he'd made it only a few blocks, his arms felt about ready to rip from his shoulders. Gasoline was lighter than water, but was still plenty heavy enough to make Kurt's muscles burn with the effort.

He found Dani waiting for him in the agreed spot near the armory, hiding in the doorway of what used to be a coffee shop. She had one backpack over her shoulder and the other at her feet. "You got it?"

"No need to sound so surprised," Kurt retorted, trying to catch his breath.

Dani chewed on her lip, her eyes black in the fog as she looked toward the armory, where two shadowy figures stood guard at the door. The white-lettered sign overhead reading HAMILTON ARMS COMPANY was just barely legible.

"Shouldn't I be the one to do this?" Dani asked. "You don't know how to use a gun."

Kurt squinted through the fog, trying to see if he could tell who the armory guards were from this distance. "I know where the safety is and I know how to pull the trigger. That's all we need for this."

"Kurt, this is risky."

"I know," Kurt sighed. "But we're out of time."

Dani didn't say anything, and a bead of sweat dripped down her temple.

Kurt gently gripped her arm. "Dani, I know they look organized," he said. "But Nick's been controlling this place for less than two months. I doubt anyone's going to stand up for him besides Ennis."

"Okay, but Ennis is still pretty scary," said Dani nervously. "And they have guns."

"In a minute, so will we." Kurt spoke confidently, refusing to leave any room for doubt or even the possibility of error. "Can you handle all this stuff? It's going to look weird if I'm carrying anything."

Dani nodded, looking like she was about to vomit. "Yeah, I got them."

"Okay, bring them to the alley in the back; I'll open the door for you there."

The fog pressed against Kurt's clothes and skin as he approached the armory with his heart in his throat. Mack and Toby were standing guard at the entrance, leaning against the railings on either side of the steps and looking just as bored as Shawn had been, if not more so. Each of them had a rifle hanging from a strap hooked over their shoulders.

Kurt let out a breath. It was now or never.

"Mack," he said, striding towards them. He held his spine rigid. "Nick needs you for something."

Mack blinked, surprised at the deviation from the monotony of guard duty. At the very least, he didn't look suspicious. "What is it?"

"I don't know, but he's over at the church."

Mack frowned at that. "He didn't tell you?"

"Do I look like I'm part of the inner circle?" Kurt snapped quickly. He hoped his voice wasn't shaking. "He just said he had something to discuss and told me to cover your post."

Mack blinked again, and this time he did look suspicious. "Seriously? You haven't been on guard duty before."

Kurt summoned the resolve to maintain his lie. "It's standing in front of a door with a gun. It's not rocket science. Besides, Nick said it would take like fifteen minutes, and then you'd be back."

Mack finally shrugged, glancing over to Toby. "You got this?"

Toby nodded through a yawn. "Yeah, we're good."

Mack stepped down from his position, handing the rifle over to Kurt, and headed off in the direction of the church. Kurt slung the gun strap over his shoulder, taking Mack's place opposite Toby. His heart was racing now, and he felt adrenaline coursing through his veins as he waited for Mack to vanish into the fog.

Toby didn't try to make small talk, and it was silent for several seconds. Any other sounds that might have floated their way from other parts of town were muffled in the mist. It was so quiet and still that Kurt feared Toby could hear his heartbeat.

Kurt drew a breath, steadying himself. The gun felt heavy and unwieldy in his hands.

And then he gritted his teeth, and swung the rifle up to aim directly at Toby's head. Toby blanched, reaching for his gun, but his startled hesitation gave Kurt the extra time he needed to switch off the safety with an audible click.

"You make one move," Kurt said lowly, staring down the barrel of the gun, "and I will shoot you."

Toby obeyed, frozen to the spot. He didn't raise his gun, instead lifting his hands open-palmed. "O-Okay," he said. He was shaking. He probably knew that Kurt wasn't a great shot, but at such a small distance and with so powerful a gun, even Kurt couldn't miss.

"Open the door," Kurt ordered.

Silently, his hand trembling, Toby reached behind himself and twisted the handle. The door swung open without so much as a squeak of its hinges.

"Inside. Now."

Toby stepped inside carefully, as though he was expecting the floor to disappear from beneath him. Kurt followed him in, letting the door swing shut and locking it behind them.

"Drop your gun."

Toby let his gun clatter to the ground, and Kurt kicked it away, skidding it along the concrete floor.

"P-Please—" Toby started.

"Shut up," Kurt snapped, jabbing the nose of the rifle between Toby's shoulder blades. Toby flinched. "Sorry about this."

"Wha—"

Before Toby could even finish the word, Kurt rammed the butt of the rifle into the back of his skull with a solid crack. Toby immediately crashed to the floor with limbs akimbo.

Kurt let out a slow breath, flicking the safety of his gun back on. He set the rifle to lean against the door. No going back now.

Taking only the briefest of seconds to push a sudden surge of panic to the back of his mind, Kurt went to the back door of the gun shop, unlocking the deadbolt from the inside and yanking it open. Dani was waiting in the alleyway. Kurt ushered her in quickly, helping her carry in the sealed buckets while they left their backpacks on the ground outside the door.

"Whoa," said Dani, setting one of the buckets down and staring at the walls upon walls of rifles, semi-automatics, and pistols. One wall boasted a massive Jenga stack of ammunition boxes, and there were several shelves of police-grade weapons that had clearly been moved from the police station to the armory after the blackout. "That's a lot of guns."

"Come on," said Kurt, already struggling to heave Toby off the floor. "Help me."

Dani quickly grabbed Toby's legs and together they carried Toby out the back door, dumping him on the ground in the alley before rushing back inside.

"Douse everything," Kurt directed as he yanked the lids off the buckets. Gasoline fumes poured into the air, making the insides of his nostrils burn.

"Do you have a preference?" asked Dani.

"For what?"

"For which ones we keep." She gestured to a wall of handguns.

Kurt shrugged. "I guess whatever's easy to bring with us?"

Dani selected two small pistols that could be wielded with one hand, and then quickly found the appropriate bullets from the display of ammunition boxes and loaded both, handing one to Kurt and shoving the other into the belt of her jeans. Kurt did the same with his, trying to ignore the cold metal pressing against the bare skin of his hip.

"Okay. Hurry." He emptied the entire contents of one bucket into the middle of the floor, making himself and Dani cough as the fumes choked them both.

Dani pushed one display shelf from behind until it gave way, tipping over and dumping a pile of rifles onto the gasoline-covered floor with a loud crash. Kurt took the second bucket and began to splash fuel over the walls, the checkout counter, the still-standing displays, and every gun he could possibly reach. Dani began to grab boxes upon boxes of ammunition from the wall behind the counter, tossing them onto the pile and scattering bullets across the floor. For a minute, the metallic tink-tink-tinks of the bullets hitting the ground and the other guns made it sound as though Dani was slowly pouring out a large jar of coins.

"I saw this in a movie once, I think," Dani remarked as she kicked a few stray bullets closer to the central pile.

Kurt snatched the large semi-automatic he'd left by the door and tossed it onto a particularly gas-soaked patch of floor. He was determined to put the biggest possible dent in the Nazareth arsenal.

"You good?" Dani asked, glancing around the room like she was trying to figure out if she'd forgotten something.

Kurt nodded, his eyes beginning to water from the fumes. "Yeah. Let's go."

Dani pushed back through the rear door and into the alleyway, bending down to seize Toby's shoulders and drag him from where he lay to a safer distance. She left him next to a rusted dumpster further down the alley. Kurt pulled one of the backpacks onto his shoulders, handing the other to Dani. He was surprised to find the pack actually somewhat heavy – he didn't know what Dani had stolen from the kitchen inventory, but it felt substantial.

Digging into his pocket to retrieve the book of matches Jessica had given him, Kurt paused, letting out a slow, nervous exhale. Dani's eyes were black in the dark of the alley, her mouth a tight line. "Ready?" he asked.

She nodded wordlessly, her hand on the armory door handle.

Kurt struck a match, the tiny orange light illuminating both of their faces for a moment, then tossed it through the doorway. Dani yanked the door shut just as the interior erupted with a roar into a column of flame, a wall of solid heat slamming outwards and singeing the ends of their hair.

"Run," hissed Kurt, and he seized Dani's hand.

They made it back to the main road just as loud POPs began to slice through the air, one after the other in rapid succession, as the bullets scattered on the armory floor began to explode. There were shouts from every direction, sentries calling to one another as they scrambled to figure out what was going on. Kurt saw Nick run up to the armory, flanked by Javi, Mack, and Julie – they had realized Kurt's intentions as soon as Mack had arrived at the church, but hadn't made it back to the armory in time to stop him.

"Go get help!" Nick ordered. "We need a bucket brigade! Use the drinking water! Now! "

Mack and Julie ran off at full speed, disappearing into the dark.

Flames burst through the windows, glass shattering outwards. Smoke poured out and filled the air with a horrific odor. Even from where he stood a block away, Kurt could feel the heat rolling over him. Within the inferno, the hundreds of bullets continued to POP POP POP-POP POP without any sign of stopping. It was the loudest thing Kurt had heard since before the blackout, and for a moment he thought his ears might bleed. He and Dani had created a miniature war zone.

Dani tugged on Kurt's arm. "Kurt, let's go."

While Nick and Javi scrambled to retrieve water from the nearest laundry station, Kurt and Dani left them behind, zigzagging through the streets and alleyways. Even several blocks away, the roar of the fire and the popping of the bullets were still just as loud, but now they were combined with frantic shouts from all directions, people yelling for help and trying to quickly organize. The few people they did pass didn't think anything of the fact that Kurt and Dani were running away from the fire rather than towards it, let alone of the backpacks they were carrying. Finally, they made it to the sidewalk in front of the police station. The mist overhead glowed a rosy orange, billows of embers rising into the sky almost like fireworks.

Together they dashed up the steps and pushed through the police station door, dodging just in time as a baseball bat swung at their heads from the shadows. Dani yelped when it clipped her shoulder. Nick must have anticipated that they would go back for Santana, and had sent Ennis to lie in wait for them.

"You idiots," Ennis snarled, his knuckles white around the handle of the bat.

"Let us by," Kurt spat. His hand gripped Dani's like a vice, his feet firmly planted between her and Ennis.

Ennis laughed. "I'm going to kill both of you. And then I'm going to kill that girl in the cell." He lunged at them, swinging the bat again. "And then, I'm going to hang you by your heels in front of the church."

Kurt let go of Dani's hand, fumbling to yank the gun from his belt. He wasn't quick enough, and the side of his head exploded in pain as he slammed into the floor. Ennis' bat had found its mark and cracked against Kurt's skull. Stars danced across Kurt's eyes, blood roaring in his ears. Somewhere in the melee there was a gunshot, and a scream from Dani. His vision blurred and the world swimming, Kurt saw Dani thrown into the wall and crumple to the ground, her pistol clattering from her hand.

A strong pair of hands seized Kurt by the shoulders, flipping him over like a rag doll, and clamped down around his neck. Ennis loomed over him, teeth bared and snarling like some kind of deranged wolf. Kurt clawed at Ennis' hands, gasping for air as the edges of his vision began to go dark.

"You know, if you'd had the upper hand in this situation, this might've been considered brave," Ennis hissed. "Maybe even noble. But as it is, it was really just plain stupid."

For a moment, Kurt felt a wave of unconsciousness rushing up to greet him, and everything went quiet. His fingertips prickled and went numb as his nails dug into the skin of Ennis' wrists, and he was fairly certain that he was drawing blood. Ennis' face twisted and faded into an unrecognizable shape, and Kurt's brain filled with static.

Then, like some kind of ghost, Kurt saw Dani drawing closer over Ennis' shoulder. She had snuck behind him, noticed by neither Kurt nor Ennis. With a desperate shriek, she raised her arms and brought Ennis' own bat down onto his head. Ennis' grip on Kurt's neck abruptly went slack, and Kurt sucked in a huge, ragged gulp of air, coughing and sputtering as his lungs opened again. Ennis fell to the side and hit the floor with a heavy thump. Dani stood there wild-eyed and panting, Ennis' bat hanging from her hands.

His arms tingling as his blood once again surged with oxygen, Kurt shoved Ennis away from him and retrieved his pistol before standing up. "Thanks," he said to Dani, still breathless and hoarse.

"Don't mention it," Dani replied. She prodded Ennis' ribs with the tip of her shoe, a look of disgust on her face. "What a prick."

Kurt made a noise of agreement in his throat. "We need the keys to the cell," he said. "They're probably in Nick's desk, so I'll go look there. You keep an eye on him."

Dani nodded, picking up her gun from the floor and tucking it back into her belt. She twisted the bat in her fists, seeming almost eager for Ennis to wake up so she could hit him again.

Kurt pushed through the door to Nick's office, which was almost completely dark. The sky outside the large office window was lit with a menacing orange glow, even this distance from the armory, but it wasn't enough to see by. Kurt groped over the surface of Nick's desk, hoping Nick had just left the keys where they could be easily snatched, but there were only books, notepads, and loose sheets of paper. Fumbling and blind, Kurt pawed through the contents of each drawer, not bothering to be quiet as he hoped for the sound of jangling keys against the plywood drawer bottoms. Nothing.

Outside, the bullets had stopped exploding, having all been spent in the fire. It was getting quiet. Kurt knew the armory was still blazing, but they were running out of time.

Exasperated and beginning to panic, it suddenly occurred to Kurt that Nick might currently have the keys on his person, all the way back at the armory. If that was the case, Kurt couldn't think of a single strategy to retrieve them. Would they have to leave Santana behind? It wasn't as though they had any change of sawing through the cell bars – even if they somehow managed to get their hands on the proper tools, they had nowhere near enough time.

No. They had to be here, somewhere. Kurt wouldn't accept any other possibility. And they sure as hell weren't leaving Santana to her execution.

Kurt returned to the station lobby. Maybe Nick had hidden the keys in one of the abandoned officers' desks in the main room.

"Kurt!" Dani hissed as soon as she saw him, her wide, toothy smile visible even in the gloom. She lifted her hand, and from her index finger hung a heavy key ring, glinting in the shadows. "Ennis had them in his pocket."

Relief washed over Kurt, and he could have kissed her.

In the holding room, Santana was already alert and clinging to the bars, having heard the commotion outside. "Dani! Kurt!" she shouted the moment she saw them.

Dani rushed past Kurt to the cell, wrapping her hands around Santana's through the bars. "We're getting out of here, babe. Right now." She fumbled with the keys, testing them one by one until the correct key slid into place and clicked. The door swung open, and Santana leaped forward, throwing her arms around Dani with enough force to almost send them both toppling to the ground.

"How did you do this?!" Santana cried, her voice choked up and shaky from lack of use.

"We'll tell you later," said Kurt. "We need to go."

"I have an idea," said Dani, a ferocious grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Together, Dani and Kurt retrieved Ennis from the other room, dragging his body down the hall like a bag of concrete. Ennis let out a muffled groan, stirring, and his eyes rolled in his head.

"Hurry, before he comes to," Kurt urged, grunting with the effort of hauling such a large person. Ennis had to be at least ninety percent solid muscle, judging by his weight alone.

Santana held the cell door open as Kurt and Dani dragged Ennis inside, letting him flop onto the cement floor just as he let out an indignant yell, swiping at their feet. They leapt away from his reach, slamming the door shut before he could orient himself enough to grab them. Dani quickly locked the cell.

"You—" Ennis panted. "You stupid sons of bitches." He pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, using the cell bars to hoist himself up. A trickle of dried blood ran down the side of his face from where Dani had hit him. He stood there glaring at them through the bars like a caged bear. "They're just going to shoot you at the gate."

"We'll take our chances," Kurt snapped.

"Let's go," Santana whispered, tugging on Dani's arm.

"You're never going to make it out there," Ennis taunted them as they turned to leave. Kurt stopped, rage flitting across his face. "You were all dying of starvation when we found you. We saved you."

"You really think a kidnapping is the same as a rescue operation? Just so you can get more bodies for your labor camp?" Kurt spat, venom dripping from his words. "This isn't World War Two."

"Isn't it? You just ruined your best chance of survival."

Then, in a move that surprised Kurt, Dani, and Santana equally, Kurt took the gun from his belt.

Ennis saw this, and laughed. "You can't shoot me."

Kurt clicked the hammer, aiming with both hands. "You think I don't have it in me?" His voice was unnervingly calm, as though a switch had been thrown in his head.

"No, I'm sure you hate me enough," Ennis said with another chuckle. "I just know you're a terrible shot. You've never held a handgun in your life."

Without warning, Kurt lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of Ennis' shirt through the bars and yanked him close, the pistol's nose digging into Ennis' chest. Dani shrieked, her hand over her mouth, and Santana's grip on her arm tightened.

"How's my aim now?" Kurt seethed.

Ennis looked genuinely frightened for half a second, and Kurt was honestly not sure if his finger slipped or if he intentionally pulled the trigger. A spray of blood erupted from Ennis' back, the bullet bursting straight through him and embedding itself in the concrete wall eight feet behind him before Kurt even registered the sound of the gunshot. Ennis gurgled, his eyes wide as he sagged against the bars. Kurt released his hold, letting him sink to the ground with a deflated thud.

Kurt turned around, his shirt and face spattered with blood. "We need to move," was all he said.

Santana and Dani stared at him, utterly agape, and Dani looked as though she might vomit. Swallowing and trying not to look at Ennis' body, Dani tugged on Santana's elbow. "Come on," she said softly. "Let's go."

Before they could go anywhere, thudding footsteps in the corridor made the girls scramble closer to Kurt. Kurt aimed his gun at the doorway, pulling the trigger again just as Nick and Mack ran into the holding room, sooty from the fire and fully armed. They ducked as the bullet hit the wall above the doorframe, a cloud of plaster raining over their heads. Without giving himself time to think or Nick time to lift his rifle, Kurt pulled the trigger again, aiming for Nick's head. Instead, the shot ripped into his stomach, tearing through skin and organs. Nick fell with an agonized cry.

Dani acted quickly, seizing the rifle from Nick's weakened grasp and kicking it out of his reach. He clutched his gut, blood already seeping through his fingers.

Mack was braced against the wall, his gun shakily pointed at Kurt's head, and he looked like the absolute last thing he wanted to do was shoot. Kurt, aiming straight back, had no such qualms.

"Nobody is stopping us from going home," he said lowly, daring Mack to fire.

Mack's eyes darted between Kurt, Ennis' body in the cell, and Nick gasping near his feet. His finger twitched near the trigger as he considered his options, and then finally flicked the safety back on and lowered his rifle.

Kurt did not return the favor and kept his pistol level and ready. "Tell the guards at the gate to go help with the fire. We're leaving."

Mack looked down at Nick, who was spitting up blood onto the floor.

Kurt lurched forward a step, making Mack flinch. "What did I just say?"

"O-Okay. Okay, I'm going." Not eager to suffer the same injuries as Nick and Ennis, Mack quickly backed off, disappearing down the corridor.

At last, Kurt lowered his gun as soon as he was sure Mack was gone. "Let's go," he said to Santana and Dani.

They rushed for the door, stepping over Nick without pause. Dani yelped when, just as she made it to the exit, Nick's arm lashed out and grabbed her ankle. Kurt's hand twitched around the handle of the pistol, ready to shoot Nick again at closer range, but Santana responded instead. She swung herself around Dani and stomped on Nick's wrist as hard as she could. There was a resounding crack as a bone in his forearm snapped, and Santana spit on him as she ushered Dani down the hall.

The last thing they heard from Nick was a wet gasp for air.

Outside, the air was odorous and heavy, and it was impossible to tell if the fog had lifted and been replaced by smoke or if the two were mixed in together. Clinging to each other and keeping their eyes open for anybody who might try to stop them, the three escapees ran for the main gate. Mack had done as he'd been told – the gate stood unchained and unguarded. No sentries lined the fence. Kurt ran ahead of the girls and pulled the gate open just wide enough for them to slip through, and didn't bother to close it again.

Guided only by the sound of their feet on pavement, they put Nazareth behind them, and didn't slow until the firelight had faded from the sky.