Author's Note:

First I must address a few things that came up about the last chapter. 1. there was an anon I responded to on AO3 who has hopefully read my response about the cliffhanger - so if you're still around and haven't read it...I'll point you to it. My job as a writer is to create tension among the characters and ultimate resolve the problems that arise. I am not doing it for shock value...but presenting these characters realistically in the situation they are placed. I explain much better in the comment I responded.

2. Someone mentioned to me that Kurt saying Finn and Rachel were essentially in heaven was bit OOC for Kurt and I agree...but the reason that Carole doesn't say it (as originally planned) is because I felt like throughout that chapter Kurt never really reacts to Rachel's death...he just keeps on pushing for them to leave and I needed him to acknowledge it. Since I myself am on the line of Agsnostic/Atheist and I know I would say something like what he said I felt it would be fine.

Other than that, enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter Nine

OF FINDING AND ENCOUNTERING

The first human that Sebastian saw was a young woman. He spotted her going into a store, and he saw the shotgun she held in her hands. Sebastian didn't approach her, knowing that it would be best to leave her alone. Instead, he kept driving. He knew his brother had gone north and it was best if he tried to get back on the I-95.

It took him a while, but when he did it was to find a couple of zombies. He drove past them, knowing they were too slow to catch up to him in his car. Still, for a while afterwards he kept glancing at his mirror trying to make sure he wasn't being followed.

Afterwards he just kept driving. He'd managed to try and brainstorm where his brother might have gone and aside from going back to his school, Sebastian had realized that there was one other place and it was closer. Their granparent's house.

The relationship between Sebastian and his grandparents on his father's side was best described as tentative. His mom and dad only spoke to his dad's family on holidays. The Smythes hadn't been happy when they heard about Sebastian's sexuality. But, Sebastian had been lucky to be born to parents that accepted him just as he was. His brother, had never quite broken tied with their grandparents.

In fact, and Sebastian thought he had been stupid to not think about it, he had begged their dad to take them with them. Their parents had shot Garret down. Sebastian smiled a little. If nothing else, he would have stopped there before continuing north. It was even in the way.

Sebastian chewed on a granola bar as he drove, continuing on I-95 to head into Delaware. It would take him about an hour or two to get to their town, it would be finding their house that might be harder because Sebastian hadn't been there since he was small.

Still, an hour and a half later he was in Delaware and he had to just drive a little further before he got to Wilmington. Then, he would need to figure out just where his grandparents were living.

He had gotten so excited about having a destination that Sebastian hadn't thought to keep an eye on his gas meter. Not until he happened to glance down to see that the gas light was on.

"Shit," he muttered.

He had a few gallons stored in the trunk, but he should have realized earlier so he could find a better place to stop. As it was, he had to pull over in the middle of the road.

It was quiet, but that was no determining factor for where zombies might be located.

Sebastian worked as quickly as he could, getting a funnel out and putting it in place before he brought the red heavy container. He uncapped it and then began to pour the gas into his car. It was just as he was finishing that he heard something behind him.

Sebastian turned slowly, lowering the gas container. Standing just a few feet away a zombie had sneaked up on him. It shuffled forward, the jeans it wore so ragged and hanging off of him that Sebastian couldn't figure out how it had managed to sneak up on him.

It was only when it had gotten close enough to touch him, that Sebastian moved, leaving the container behind in order to close up his car's tank. The zombie reached out towards him and Sebastian let out a whimper.

"Oh no," he said, "nope, nope, nope, this is not happening." He shoved it back, and it made a gargling noise and came at Sebastian again, surprisingly strong.

Why had he left his weapons in the car? Sebastian leaned back against the car, trying with all his might to push it away. Somehow, he managed to slide to the side and zombie just walked forward, hitting the car.

It was enough time for Sebastian to scramble back inside the car. He turned on with shaking hands, almost dropping the keys, and then he was pressing on the accelerator and heading away.

A few minutes later he slowed down. His breathing was erratic and his heart was still pounding. Tears that had been shed in the moment were dried on his face and he wiped away the sweat along with them on a dirty t-shirt.

Blaine had known there was no decision to make, but it hadn't made him worry less. To stay behind would have been to break off his engagement to Kurt, it would have meant saying goodbye to the love of his life. Still, a part of him while he packed, felt like he was making the choice for all the wrong reasons.

There were plenty of reasons to stay, but Kurt outweighed every reason. Blaine would not be separated from Kurt. He would face every fear that came at him in order to be by Kurt's side. It hurt that Kurt didn't seem to think so. Blaine just thought he needed more time. Time to remember that he agreed with Kurt, and time to come to terms with how Rachel died and how much of it wasn't his fault.

It stung when he saw Kurt's surprise at seeing him come out with Sam. To know that Kurt had already been preparing himself for the worst instead of being sure that Blaine would follow him to ends of the earth.

"Did you think I could stand to stay behind?" Blaine asked.

Kurt took his time to recover, wiping at his eyes. "I hoped," he mumbled.

Sam grabbed Blaine's bags and that left him free to wrap his arms around Kurt. "You told me," Blaine said, "you would never say goodbye to me. Well, I am never saying goodbye to you either."

After that all the last logistics were figured out, and now that Blaine was going with them, they made the decision to take his car as well as Elliott's Jeep – acquired on their way through New Jersey.

"I really thought you were going to stay," Kurt told Blaine ten minutes after they left the house behind.

He, Kurt, and Sam were in Blaine's car and Sam had offered to drive for the first leg of their trip. So Kurt and Blaine were in the back.

"I considered it," Blaine said, "it hurt so much to think of it but I knew I had to. Kurt, I love you so much, and I kept hoping that if I made it clear I was staying that you would change your mind. But, after you left with Elliott yesterday without even telling any of us I knew that you were serious about all of this and that even I couldn't make you stay. If I stayed I would have followed you eventually. It would have been a mistake. I've made enough mistakes when it comes to us."

Blaine hadn't realized that he was crying until Kurt was wiping away his tears. "Oh, honey, no, no don't cry," Kurt said and he removed his seatbelt to move closer, cradling Blaine's head and bringing it against his shoulder.

"I love you so much Blaine. The past is the past. We're together and we're going to see my dad and sweetheart, you didn't make a mistake today."

Blaine nodded against Kurt's shoulder and eventually he fell asleep there and Kurt just pulled him closer.

Wilmington was big as it turned out, and after driving around aimlessly and not finding anyone or anything, Sebastian decided that he may as well stop and perhaps try to find an address book or something that might help him find his grandparents and through them his brother.

It was surprising to him that he didn't see any people. They couldn't all be zombies, but he couldn't imagine that they had all left town either. Maybe they were just holed up in their homes trying to wait it out.

He found the public library and parked in front of it. He grabbed one of the guns and stuck it in the back of his jeans and then he walked up to the door which as expected was closed.

Sebastian walked around. There had to be another door or perhaps a window he could break to get inside. The back door was locked too, but next to it was a window. He used the gun to break the glass and then careful of the glass lifted the window so he could climb in. Despite trying to be careful by the time he'd made it inside, he had a cut on his left arm.

It was just deeper than scratch, so he wiped the blood off and continued inside. Had he been able to look on the computer system things would have been much easier, but Sebastian settled for finding the paper copies of the patron's records. His grandmother was an avid reader. Sebastian only knew that because his mom always sent her books for Christmas. She had to have a library card as well.

He opened all the filing cabinets and it wasn't until he was looking at the last drawer of the second that he found what he was looking for. It was files upon files but at least they were alphabetized.

It took him a while before he finally found it, a yellowing note card with his grandmother's name, Emily Smythe. There was a phone number listed and just below it an address. He took the card with him, walking out the front door and stopping just outside because in the time that it had taken him to find the note card a few zombies had wandered out.

"Well isn't this just lovely," Sebastian muttered. He took the gun out, taking the safety off.

He walked down the stairs as quietly as possible. If he didn't attract their attention then he could probably get into his car and drive away. It was the best solution. Sebastian took a deep breath. The gun was held in front of him, and despite knowing that he knew how to use the gun, Sebastian was sure that he wouldn't use it.

"Oh god," he muttered. He moved faster.

The car door was just feet away. He shuffled closer, eyes darting this way and that. Somehow he made it into the car and there he began to freak out. It took him a few minutes to calm down and then he turned on the car which definitely alerted them to his presence. Their heads lifted and they started walking in his direction but Sebastian was already driving.

He had to find the house. It would be in the nice part of town, so he drove in that direction and he started looking at every street name until about forty minutes later he finally found the right street. Finding the house was easier. It was the large one at the end, and just as he had hoped there was a car parked outside that had definitely belonged to the lab. He drove faster and left his car parked in the middle of the street and then he was running to the front door.

They stopped a couple of times to regroup. Without phones it was hard to communicate with the others, so every hour or so, they stopped and stretched their legs and decided on if they needed to stop somewhere to get anything. Kurt thought that they were making good time and somehow they hadn't managed to hit any trouble. By the time they were out of New Jersey and crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, Kurt was sure that they would get to Washington in one piece, and then they realized that they were running out of gas.

"We'll have to go into town," Sam said, "find a car with gas or something. Because for some reason the highway's been deserted."

It was true, the further south they went the less cars they saw. Blaine who was at the wheel flashed their lights at the others and they came to a stop. The others didn't stop too far away and then they saw them getting out of the car so Kurt did the same and Blaine and Sam followed.

"Gas," Kurt said, "we're going to need some."

"Us too," Elliott said, "say we take the next exit and see what we can find?"

"That's what we were thinking," Sam said.

They were back on the road at once with Blaine still driving.

"What do you think Washington is like right now?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. He had been thinking about it a lot, wondering if President Obama and his family were still even in Washington D.C., or if they had left to some bunker somewhere with other important people.

Sam who was in the back seat, moved so he was in the middle seat, "I heard," he said, "that the president in a situation like this would be moved to Cuba."

"Cuba?" Kurt asked, "why there?"

"I have no idea," Sam said.

"Well," Blaine said, "there is the doomsday plane right, where the president, vice president, and the secretary of defense and a few other officials are put. I read about it a while ago, but in any state of emergency they are put in the air. Obviously, we don't know how quickly that happened this time but it's supposed to be able to stay in the air for like a week or something, but it has to take them somewhere at some point. I doubt they're even in the country. It may as well be Cuba as some random island out there."

"Huh," Kurt said, "where did you read that?"

Blaine shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. Maybe at Dalton, or it was some article online. I really miss the internet."

They stopped behind the jeep which Elliott had parked. They were in a nice looking town and a few cars were sitting around them.

"Alright, then," Kurt said and he reached for his swords just in case because even though it was quiet for the moment that could change quickly. Somehow, though, no zombies appeared while they managed to get some gas out of the cars around them.

Once they had filled up, they were ready to get back on the road.

"Let's pick up supplies," Dani said, "this town doesn't seem bad and we might be able to find something."

She made a good point, so instead of leaving, they grabbed their weapons, locked their cars and then started towards what looked like a few small stores.

Sebastian knocked on the door repeatedly but no one answered. So, after waiting a few minutes, he walked around the house to the back, trying to peer in through the windows as he went, but there were curtains drawn across every window.

There was a large deck at the back of the house, but the door was made of glass and he could see inside. The door was locked, but when he knocked on it, it made a loud sound and a young woman looked out. Then, behind her came Garret.

"Sebastian," he said when he opened the door, "what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Now let me in."

Garret stepped aside and let him inside. Sebastian had never been inside his grandparent's house, and if he had he didn't remember.

"Are they here?" Sebastian asked.

"No," Garret said, "I hoped, but they're not. I don't know what happened to them."

The girl Sebastian had seen earlier reappeared.

"And who is this?" Sebastian asked.

Garret sighed. "My girlfriend," he said, "I managed to talk to her a few weeks ago and we agreed to meet here. I wanted to make sure Granny and Pop were alright and I guess they're not. I can't believe mom and dad didn't bring them with us."

Sebastian was amazed that he had managed to actually find his brother but that didn't stop him from being angry.

"You are such an idiot," he said, "do you know what you've put us through to not find you. You didn't even leaving a fucking note."

Garret had the decency to look guilty, but that didn't change his actions.

"Anything could happened to you," Sebastian said, "did you even have a weapon?"

When Garret shook his head, Sebastian just rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't," he said, "how did you even manage to get here?"

Garret walked towards Sebastian and wrapped his arms around him. Sebastian who wasn't used to his brother hugging him, lifted his arms to hug him back a little late.

"What now?" Garret asked.

"We go back," Sebastian said and then turned to the girlfriend as he let Garret go, "what's your name again?"

"Annie," she said, "I've heard a bit about you. I'm guessing you haven't heard about me."

"Not a thing," Sebastian said and then, "come on, we're leaving now. Mom and dad don't need to worry any more than they probably are with both of us out here."

Garret nodded. He and Annie went to grab their things and Sebastian looked outside to make sure nothing had changed before he headed out to the car. It didn't take long for them to join him. Garret went back to his car to grab a few things, but then they were settled and ready to go and Sebastian was surprised at how easy it had all turned out to be.

"Is that a car?"

Kurt came to a stop. It was. They were in one of the local drug stores which seemed to still have a few things left.

"Yes," he said, "sounds like it."

So far they hadn't encountered a lot of people. From afar they had seen people walking about, or someone in a car far enough away that if they noticed them it wouldn't be a big deal. There were probably plenty of people hiding away in apartments or houses around this very town, but no one wanted to bother them which was just fine by Kurt because they had enough to worry about.

"Come on, we should hurry. There wasn't much left here and if it's someone that's moving they'll be looking for supplies," Sam said.

Blaine nodded along, so they gathered a few more things and they stepped out onto the street. Kurt ended up walking next to Santana. He didn't know what to think about Santana. He had known it was weird when Tina had his sword after he'd given it to her. He hadn't wanted to question it too much, but to know that Santana had apparently refused to help Tina made him wonder if bringing her along was smart.

"What's got you so thoughtful?" She asked, "Frodo over there came with us, and you're going to see your dad. What's the matter now?"

He sighed. "Santana, you're my friend. You were my roommate and you know I care about you."

"But what I did to Tina was horrible," she finished and shook her head, "was I supposed to defend her? We would have both died. I was scared out of my freaking mind and my life is more important to me than hers. I gave her the sword. She had a weapon. I don't – I'm not apologizing for what I couldn't help."

That said she walked away to join Elliott and Dani who were deep in conversation. Kurt sighed. As long as she didn't cause them any problems, he was going to have to let it go. Santana despite being misguided was still one of their own.

"How much longer do you think we have to drive?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Kurt said, "a couple of hours."

They were crossing the street towards their cars when they saw the car they'd heard earlier. It was simple and just a little banged up.

"Hey does the driver look familiar?" Blaine asked.

Kurt who hadn't been paying attention shook his head, but then Sam laughed.

"Of all the people," he said, "it's that warbler, the obnoxious one. I forgot his name."

"Sebastian Smythe," Blaine supplied.

Kurt had to laugh. "Why am I not surprised, he's like a damn roach. What the hell is he doing here?"

It seemed that Sebastian had noticed and recognized them as well, because he stopped right in front of them, cut off his engine and got out of the car.

"Well, well, well," he said and smirked, "fancy meeting you lot at the end of the world. And I must say, Blaine, you're still looking good." His eyes did a scan of Blaine's body and then they moved to Kurt, "and it's nice to see you've ditched the girl clothes, Kurt, one might think you actually have a dick."

"Hey!" Elliott said at once.

Sebastian's eyes moved towards Elliott and he licked his lips. "Well, hello, now that's more like a man."

Two people got out of the car and the boy hit Sebastian. "Bas, stop being such an ass."

"Kurt here just brings it out of me, what can I say."

"Well," Kurt said, "I think we'll go our separate ways. Goodbye Sebastian."

He continued on towards the cars and he heard the others follow.

"Wait," Sebastian called, "where are you going?"

Kurt didn't think he deserved an answer. He got into Blaine's car and heard the others do the same, but Sebastian had chased them.

"Listen, I'm sorry. It's habit, but I do know you guys and we're going somewhere safe. There's this lab. They're trying to figure out a way to solve the zombie issue. Um, you can follow us there. It's completely safe."

Kurt was surprised. He hadn't expected for Sebastian to actually act like a decent human being.

"We're going to Washington," he found himself saying, "my step mom said she and my dad were going to be moved there."

Sebastian smiled, which for a moment Kurt thought looked odd on his face. "Well," he said, "I think we're going to the same place."

Author's Note: hope you enjoyed it! Please review. updates on how the writing goes can be found at my tumblr blog...my username is the same as the one on here.

-Erika