The world ends on a lazy Sunday afternoon a week before graduation. Kurt and Blaine are at a mall in Westerville, Kurt's only been there twice before but he has the entire layout memorized. Malls are his natural habitat, after all. They're goofing off over music sheets when some guy limps inside and tears out another customers throat with his teeth.

Lots of screaming follows. There's a lot of panic as well. It descends on the music store like a living thing. A truly remarkable feat seeing as there are only seven people inside it. Or were, rather. Now there's six.

Kurt grabs one of the music sheet stands and instinctively steps in front of Blaine. His boyfriend is doing enough freaking out for both of them. Kurt slides the heavier metal pole of the music stand out of the plastic trappings, and stands ready. Holding it like a sword in front of him.

It's a good thing too, the person, or perhaps thing is a more apt description, begins to gnaw frantically at the newly made corpse. Kurt acts before he can consciously think about it, bringing his makeshift weapon down hard on the back of the things skull.

It staggers for a moment, before turning its attention back to Kurt. Its mouth is covered in fresh gore and it's eyes are covered in an inhuman milky sheen. Kurt desperately keeps that in mind as he drives the metal pole through it's skull.

" Oh my God." Blaine choked out. It looks like it's taking everything he has just to breathe. Kurt knows the feeling, trembling as he is. That's when the body of the customer that was attacked begins to twitch. Groaning and clearly coming back to life. Kurt tries not to think about it as he puts the pole through her eye socket.

"Nina!" a little girl shrieks, sobbing. She can't be more than ten, and Kurt hates everything because he just killed the person she was here with for the second time. As if watching her throat get torn out wasn't bad enough the first time.

" Close the door!" Kurt barks, because he's too far away to do it himself, but he can see another one of those things headed their way just fine. A girl cowering away from the now fully dead corpses leaps into action, showing initiative by grabbing another music stand pole and putting it through the handles after she slams the door closed.

Somehow, everyone else seems to take the idea of relative safety as an invitation to properly panic.

" It's the motherfucking Zombie apocalypse!" The cashier shrieks, looking around wild eyed. Naturally this only increases the panic levels in the room. The little girls sobbing hits a higher pitch. Kurt glares at the useless waste of flesh.

" This isn't Call of Duty!" Kurt snaps. He doesn't know what those things are, but his mind shies away from calling them Zombies. It's too real, somehow. Even if it is the only term that fits properly, calling them undead sounds more like vampires, and there seems to be a distinct lust for flesh instead of blood.

" If it was, then at least we'd have guns." Blaine says, he seemed to have manage to calm down, Or at least bring his panic down to manageable levels. Blaine hugs him from behind." You were amazing."

The creature finally reaches the door and bangs loudly on the glass. The room goes ominously silent.

" What the hell are we going to do." An older man explodes. All eyes in the room turn to him, and Kurt wants to demand just why the hell they think he knows what to do. Then he remembers that he just took care of the two creatures and accidentally took control of the situation.

Kurt looks around the room. There's a sobbing child who just lost the person who was supposed to be taking care of her, an old guy that looks a little older than his dad. A college aged girl in sweats and a band t-shirt, she'd been the one to close the door. And the useless, flailing cashier.
These people expect him to be their leader now, just because he has good survival instincts . It's massively, incredibly unfair of them to ask him to take responsibility like that. But It really does seem to be up to him. For a moment, Kurt really wishes his dad was there with him. Then it feels like cold water was just dumped over his spine.

" Call your families." Kurt orders. Pulling out his phone and doing just that. There are zombies in Westerville. Lima maybe two hours away, but it's still Ohio. If there are undead creatures in a mall, who's to say there aren't any in his dads shop?

Kurt doesn't breathe until his dad picks up on the third ring.

" Are you okay Kiddo?" His dad demands.

" Yes." Kurt breathes in relief, then, because there really is no other way to put it,"There are Zombies in the mall, Dad."

" There were Zombies in the shop too. Now they're not. Aim for the head, and don't you dare let them bite you. Finns home, so is Sam, and Carols at the hospital, I'm going to go get them. I need you to make it to the shop Kiddo. Bring as much food as you can, but don't go out of your way to find it. We'll weld the doors shut. Tell your friends, we don't know how long we'll have to haul up in there. I need you to stay alive Kurt. You and Blaine, both. Be smart, okay. Just, whatever you do, make it back alive."

" You too." Kurt says, and he gives himself a moment to be mindlessly worried for his family. He's got to keep his head in the game and worry's a luxury he can't afford if he wants to make it out of this alive." I love you."

" Love you too, kid." His father says. And then hangs up because one of them has to. His dad will be fine, Kurt tells himself, Hummels are made from stern stuff.

Blaine's parents are in Atlanta on business. They don't pick up the phone. Because he's Blaine, and he doesn't deal well with his own problems, he's approached the little girl and offered her his phone.

No one picks up when they call.

"Okay." Kurt says, because he can't think of anything else to say, and everything's going to get a hell of a lot worse before it can even begin to get better. They can't afford to waste time. Every second that passes someone is dying and coming back. The longer they wait, the more creatures there will be to fight. " First order of business, where are you going?"

"Names Jenny. I'm in Ohio to stay with an aunt I don't even like. So screw her, I'm going where you're going." The girl says defiantly. Something about her reminds him of Santana, but there's a desperation to her that ends the thought before it fully forms. Something about the girl is cold where Santana's runs hot.

" Just pull your weight and we'll get along fine." Kurt says.

" My wife and I usually meet at the car once she's done with her silly plants." The old man volunteers.

" Getting to the parking lot is the third order of business." Kurt affirms.

" I'm with Jenny." The cashier says." I'm going where you're going."

Kurt bites back a sigh, nods, and turns toward the little girl." What's your name?"

"Talia." She tells him tearfully. Kurt wishes he could afford to be sympathetic, but they're on the clock.

" We'll Talia, I need you to be strong for me so we can make it out alive, okay?" He says, and feels like a piece of shit.

Talia chokes on her sobs." Okay."

" Second order of business; we need to hold a formation." Kurt says, because it seems to be the thing to do. They might be attacked from any direction, they need to have all areas covered." We'll stand in a circle, Talia will go in the middle. She's our center. Whatever you do, don't stray far from her or you will be left behind. Every second we spare is a second more Zombies are being made, so be ready to move people!"

He feels remarkably like he's just channeled Sue Sylvester.

Kurt arms them all, grabbing spools of piano and guitar wires to work as garrotes in a tight spot. He hopes he doesn't need it. But if not for several violent daydreams about hurting Chris Miller with the objects present in the music room his piano classes were held in for weapons, he would have never known how to use the music sheet stand properly. He'd rather be paranoid than helpless. So the wires come with.

" Wait!" Blaine says before they move out. Kurt glares at him, unamused, before Blaine uses his pole to break the fire safety glass around a fire axe. Blaine quickly trades weapons and moves back into place beside Kurt." All ready, let's go."

" Good thinking Honey." Kurt compliments, an axe is much more versatile weapon. He gives Talia Blaine's previous metal pole. He knows she doesn't know how to use it, but she might feel better having it. He takes one last look around." Ready, everyone? Move out!"

He removes the pole from the handles and skewers the Zombie that had been lurking behind the glass doors through the mouth. The end of the pole protrudes from it's skull and Kurt has to kick her away to dislodge it. Talia makes a high pitched whimpering sound of distress.

Blaine nails a Zombie in the head. Kurt feels some acute relief at that. Blaine won't be useless, thank Gaga. Kurt hadn't thought he would be, but the confirmation is still very nice. It's always awful being the only competent person in a room. It's too much responsibility. A fact Kurt's learned well from his attempts to teach Finn the finer points of an engine.

There aren't as many Zombies around as he'd feared. It's Sunday, so it isn't exactly crowded, but it's the mall. There're still a lot of screaming and panicked running around as people freak out. This makes them easy Zombie bait and the situation so much worse.

Someone falls down the up staircase with a sickening crack. They turn by the time the staircase deposits them on the second floor again. Kurt makes sure to get him in the eye socket. Apparently you don't have to get bitten to get turned. Good to know, Kurt thinks, and even in his head he sounds like a sarcastic bitch.

They pass a Rite Aid and Kurt calls them to a stop. There are only two Zombies inside that he can see, and the tall shelves narrow the space properly so they can defend themselves strategically. And they do need supplies. Besides, it was on their way.

" We're going in." Kurt says, " Move!"

He keeps Jenny and Blaine on the forefront, stays a few steps behind all of them to he can properly barricade the door. The cashier gives up his wallet chain without question. Jenny bashes the first corpse over the head until it's brain sprays out. Blaine's axe makes quick work of the other Corpse Kurt had spotted from outside. Kurt leads the group to a corner and puts both walls at their back. They're still within easy reach of the door, just in case they need to make a quick escape.

Another Zombie appears at the end of the Isle and Kurt dispatches it easily, after their trek through the mall he's gotten the whole 'pole through the eye socket' thing down to a science. He observes the store, walks quickly between the isles.

" Clear." He calls out as he makes it back to the group.

Blaine is shaking. Kurt takes a moment to hug him tightly and murmur instructions into his ear. He tells Blaine to contact everyone and tell them the plan, to bring food and weapons, that they can provide shelter. That there's welding equipment in the shop, and that's the safest they can get.

Blaine whips out his phone, fingers flying over the keys. The familiarity of the action seems to ease something inside him and Blaine is the most okay Kurt has seen him since all of this began.

The old man whose name Kurt never got is trembling, clutching his metal pole so hard Kurt thinks his hands will soon lose circulation. It's clear he's two seconds away from bolting and joining the panicked mob outside. Kurt puts a hand on his shoulder and orders him to stand guard at the door. He relays the same orders to the cashier because Kurt knows, as awful as it might sound, that these people are useless, and all he can do is keep them from getting in the way or inadvertently screwing the rest of them over.

Jenny stands with her feet apart, ready for action. So is, surprisingly; Talia. There's something in her eyes Kurt recognizes, a forced sort of strength. For all that he felt horrible for telling her to, Kurt knows he did the right thing when he asked her to be strong for him. It's exactly what she needed to hear.

Kurt stays calm because someone has to. He needs to be strong for Blaine. He needs to be smart enough to get back to his Dad. And that means being calm and rational even though he doesn't feel that way in the least. Someone has to keep them all alive, and it's pretty clear that he's the only one for the job.

Jenny finds the book bags in the second aisle, they grab five quickly and begin to stuff them full of chips and filters and anything else in easy reach that looks useful. Batteries, flashlights, he even scored some walkie talkies. Jenny doesn't need to be told to do the same. He orders Talia to grab anything useful, antibiotics, bandages, even mints could do as snacks in a tight spot.

" We shouldn't be doing this." The old man says." This is stealing!"

Kurt barely spares the guy an incredulous look. Is this guy serious?

" It's the Zombie Apocalypse." The cashier drawls slowly, as if to a particularly slow child." You're supposed to loot!"

It's the most constructive the thing the guys done since giving up his wallet chain. He must be on a roll.

Jenny, who is wonderfully useful, takes a quick trip over the counter and fills a duffle with nothing but pills.

"So long as you think they'll be useful." Kurt calls after her, the less they have to haul around, the better.

Blaine is on his phone, still frantically texting and confirming people who will be at the garage aloud.

" Mike and Tina will be there, I told them to try and get weapons like guns, and amo. Mikes Dad has a sword collection though, so that's good." Blaine informs him.

Kurt looks down at the pole in his hands, it's covered in gore from being driven through skulls, the excess drips down and he has to wipe his hands to keep a firm grip. He really would like a sword. The guard would help keep his hands clean.

They don their packs and head out. Talia exchanges her weapon for the pill duffle, and clutches it tightly to her chest.

" Medicine is important." She tells them earnestly.

It's adorable. Kurt wants to coo at her and wrap her in bubble wrap so that nothing can ever hurt her. Not take her outside into the Zombie infested mall where corpses will try to eat her. He really hates that he has no choice in the matter. Glass windows and doors maybe perfect for displaying wares, but something tells him that they're pretty useless against zombies.

So they take off again, heading to the parking lot as quickly as they can while maintaining formation. He has the absent thought that coach Sylvester would be proud.

Kurt had been right about the Zombie increase. And slowly but surely, they're beginning to outnumber the humans.

They pick up three more people outside of Sears. One of them has a gun, he's constantly getting head-shots. Their group merges slowly as the Zombies drive them against the well. They all take refuge in the first door they find. A Hot Topic, and Kurt uses the wallet chain to secure the door again.

They're all stuck together inside. They have to find a way to lure the Zombies away. Or at least distract them so that they can get away safely. Kurt thinks this aloud as the other turn to him for guidance.

That would have been fine, if one of them wasn't a cop with nervous hands and delusions of grandeur. Kurt can see the way the guy takes one look at him and dismisses him, somehow missing the bloody pole Kurt clearly knows how to use, and the way the rest of the group turns to him. Despite the fact that most of them are older than him.

It's sort of pathetic. That this guy thinks a gun and a badge makes him special, despite that Kurt knows that there's no guidebook for this and he doesn't know what to do any better than Kurt does. It doesn't stop the cop from declaring himself the leader. The pregnant woman and a person who might be his wife, judging by the matching rings, stare at him adoringly.

" You all have supplies right?" He asks Kurt's group, eyeing Talia's duffle." We can barricade the door and wait for help."

Kurt snorts. " Yeah, no, this is happening everywhere, all over the world for all we know. Who's to say that anyone's coming. And if anyone does bother, why would they be in any hurry to get to Ohio?"

" Look kid, it's the smart thing to do!" The cop snarls.

Blaine shakes his head." Kurt's right. We need to get out of here."

" Yeah." Jenny agrees," It's your fault the stupid zombies surrounded us anyway! The least you could do is get us out of here."

The rest of them turn to her at the accusation.

Jenny huffed, crossing her arms, " He kept shooting. The guns loud as hell. The noise drew more dead."

Kurt, who had been far too busy killing Zombies and constantly checking that Talia and Blaine stayed alive and unbitten, hadn't. It's a good thing to know though.

He looks around. Paying attention to the Zombies outside the door will only make him panic, and he needs to stay calm and think. Kurt needs something to do with his hands. He begins inspecting the shelves, spotting some overly studded leather jackets and pants they could use.

He grabs a messenger bag with off the rack covered in red fanged smiley faces because it's the first thing he see's, and dumps the few real leather items he find inside. He quickly shrugs on a leather Jacket, offering one to Blaine and then swathing Talia with her own. Jenny appropriates one herself.

" Gotta dress for success." Blaine offers, trying and succeeding in lighting the mood.

" Every moment is an opportunity for fashion." Kurt replies, and steals a quick kiss before heading towards the boots. There's eight pairs of steel toed boots boots that are a great find. So are some studded gloves if he ever had to use the piano wire. Those come too.

" I thought we were supposed to get out of here." Jenny grumbles. But she toes off her shoes and puts on a pair of steel toes ones herself.

Leather arm bands go inside the messenger bag as Kurt shrugs." Leathers harder to bite through, and we're here anyway. Might as well."

" So what do we do?" Talia asks once Kurt runs out of useful things to put in his bag and begins to pace.

Her face is so very trusting. Jenny is looking at him as well. And for all that the old man doesn't seem to agree with what Kurt does, he's looking at Kurt like he wants to hear his answer too.

Kurt wants so badly to have a diva moment and tell everyone to figure it out for themselves. He's not the oldest person here. All he has to go on is common sense and instinct. He doesn't want to be in charge. But he is, he has to be. Because if he's not, then the idiot with the gun who wants to hole up until they starve or the Zombies break through the glass is.

Kurt closes his eyes tightly. Forcefully reminding himself of Rachel's diva behavior and how much he usually wants to set her hair on fire when starts on one of her self absorbed rants. Kurt has a momentary flash of an embarrassing incident involving hairspray, scented candles, and ruined curtains. He slaps a hand to his forehead. That's it! Fire.

Kurt smiles, it probably comes out more manic than he means to, but he can't help store has plenty of hairspray. There's also some masking tape covered, for reasons that escape him, in kissing lips. He snatches the weird skull lighters from the counter and turns to the people who expect him to get them out of the mall. " Flambe Zombies, anyone?"

The cop tries to argue, but it soon becomes clear that they aren't listening. Kurt offers to leave the wallet chain if he want to shut the door behind them. The cop declines.

Kurt hands out the makeshift flame throwers and orders the old man and the cashier to open the door.

" Are you sure about this, man?" The cashier hesitates, " Maybe we should listen to the cop guy. He's like the law and stuff, right?"

" Shut up Jonathan!" Jenny says. It's his first indication that they know each other." Kurt got us out of two stores now, and he's got a safe place to take us. What does the cop have? A gun? "

" Yes." Jonathan says." And a badge, but mostly the guns important."

Jenny snorts. "It's what got us in trouble in the first place! Besides, bullets run out. I'm throwing my lot in with the gay kid. He's good at figuring out what to do."

For once, Kurt doesn't mind being the gay kid. He has been pretty good about figuring out what to do. He's going to do this. He's going to make it to his navigator, and then his Dad's garage. Anyone who wants to is welcome to come with. But he's not letting anyone slow them down.

" Move people!" Kurt barks.

They fall in line. Keeping to the formation and literally open fire once the doors open. Kurt sets the first Zombie he approaches hair on fire and sprays the flames on it's burning flesh to spread the flames.

The smoke alarm begins to ring just as Kurt begins to gag at the smell of burning hair and flesh. The fire doesn't keep the Zombies away so much as it disorients them and makes them easy prey. They're almost at the door of the parking lot when the sprinkler system activates.

The lack of fire seems to make the cop stupid and anxious because he pulls out his gun and starts shooting again. That only draws more zombies, Kurt is shouting at him to stop at the top of his lungs, but he might as well be wasting his breath. So in a burst of adrenaline and a show of strength he would have otherwise thought beyond him, Kurt scoops Talia up, throws her over his shoulder, and bellows at the others to run.

They rush into the parking lot as fast as they're legs will carry them. It's only then that the cop stops shooting. Which would have been useful, if they hadn't already caught the attention of the horde of the undead in the parking lot. The corpses begin to stagger in their general direction.

A quick head count reveals that they've lost the old man. Kurt can't say when. Jenny and Jonathan are running side by side a little to the left and behind him and Blaine. The Cop and the women with him bring up the rear. The pregnant woman can't really run, at most she waddles quickly. So they're barely out the door of the parking lot.

Kurt spots the navigator and pushes himself to run that much faster. The lone Zombie in his way is skewered almost absently. His keys appear in his hand almost magically and he quickly deposits Talia ungracefully in the back seat. He turns the key of the ignition just as Blaine shuts the door from where he's riding shotgun.

Kurt pulls out of the parking space in time to see Jenny slam her pole into the back of Jonathan's head, the sudden feeding frenzie of fresh meat his body creates is just what Jenny needs to sprint the last ten feet to the safety of the navigator unmolested.

Kurt is quietly speechless. But there's still a pregnant woman to be saved. So he doesn't say anything as he rams into the Zombies about to make lunch meat out of the rest of their straggling
group. Only ushering them inside and sighing when the gun makes a brief reappearance.

He almost can't believe it when he's finally pulling out of the parking lot. He did it. He and Blaine are alive, unbitten and headed to the shop.

Blaine's phone buzzes with a text message. He blinks stupidly at it before breaking out into a smile. " Puck says not to worry. He, Sam, Artie, and Finn have had a Zombie Apocalypse kit ready for the last two years. Just in case. They're already at the shop. So are Brittney, Lauren and Santana."

Kurt's startled into a laugh. They might just all be okay after all.

" Just where are we going?" The pregnant woman demands. Kurt meets her eyes in the review. "My fathers Auto Shop. Were going to weld the doors shut."

" So you are going to hole up and wait for help." The cop says, apparently finding it in his sanctimonious soul to be snobby.

" Of course we are." Kurt snaps," Just in a place that doesn't have what amounts to large windows for walls."

" Will it be safe there?" Talia asks, her voice drifting quietly from where she was relocated in the back. She's squished back there, along with most of their bags.

" As safe as I can make it." Kurt promises. It's all he can do for her.

Blaine's hand finds his and his grip tightens until it's almost painful. Kurt is glad for the distraction.

Because he's just caught Jenny's face in the mirror. He doesn't know what he expected to find there, maybe horror, or some massive guilt. But the look on her face is pure relief. And he doesn't know what to do with that.