The Highway (Chapter 3)
They’ve been walking for over twenty minutes in silence. The only sounds they can hear are the wind in the trees and Brittany’s occasional sniffling.
“Stop for a minute. I gotta take a leak.” Puck releases Quinn from his grip and heads for the woods.
“Wait. Take Berry with you.” Santana demands.
“What? He doesn’t need a chaperone, Santana.”
“Just go, would you? No one should go anywhere alone. I would go with him but…” Santana nods her head towards Brittany, indicating that she doesn’t want to leave her.
Rachel huffs and walks after Puck. Rachel doesn’t dislike Santana but they’ve also never had the greatest of friendships either. They mostly tolerate each other because of their girlfriends.
Puck unzips his pants and starts peeing against a tree. Rachel turns her back. “Don’t get mad.”
Rachel sighs. “I’m not angry, Noah. For once I suppose I’d rather have Santana call the shots over me. I can’t be responsible for four other lives.”
They both turn towards the road when they hear the others approaching them. “Get down!” Santana hisses.
They all drop to their stomachs and watch as headlights approach them. They see a black truck with tinted windows. It’s impossible to tell who is inside.
The truck slows to a stop right where they are all laying. Santana turns her head to whisper to Brittany to be quiet then she completely pales. Brittany’s not there anymore.
Santana whips her head back to see Brittany running towards the truck. She tries to call out to her but Quinn slaps a hand over her mouth.
They all hold their breath out of fear as Brittany approaches the ominous truck. The window rolls down but they can’t see or hear what the driver says to the blonde. Santana bites down on Quinn’s hand when she sees the driver’s arm go out the window, a shotgun expertly being pointed at Brittany. Its barrel is just inches away from Brittany’s face.
Then, without warning, the gun is back in the car and the window is rolling up. The truck speeds off.
Santana runs to Brittany with the others just behind her. She wraps Brittany in her arms. “What the hell were you thinking? You just gave me a fucking heart attack.”
“I’m sorry, S. I didn’t know why we were hiding. I thought he’d help us.”
“What did he say to you?”
“I didn’t really understand. I told him we needed help and then he…he took the gun out. He said ‘not yet, it’s too easy.’ Then he left.”
“B, listen to me.” Santana puts her hands on Brittany’s cheeks and makes sure the blonde is focusing on her. “If I tell you to do something, do it, okay? I’ll protect you. I just need you to listen. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“It’s not an ideal situation but I suggest we follow the road but walk through the woods. That way we won't go astray or find ourselves being shot by a psycho in a truck.” Rachel suggests.
They all agree and start walking again. They make it to the motel without anymore visits from the truck.
The motel is in bad condition and extremely tiny, maybe eight rooms at most plus the manager’s office. It’s probably been out of business for a year or two by the looks of things. Santana leads them into a room that already has an open door. She goes into the adjoining room and when they are all inside she locks it.
“So what’s the game plan?” Quinn asks. They all look at Santana.
“Me? I’m supposed to have a game plan?”
No one responds to her so she just sighs and paces back and forth for a moment. “Puck and I are going to go look around. See if there’s anything we can use to protect us. There’s no phone lines even connected to the building so I’m not even going to bother with that.”
Before anyone can protest Santana and Puck are out the door. The three remaining girls wait anxiously in the room.
---
Santana and Puck find a car in the back of the building. It looks in even worse shape than the motel.
“Maybe I can get it up and running.”
“I highly doubt that, Puck. The thing is a piece of crap.”
“I can try, can’t I? What other options do we have?”
Santana shifts her weight from one foot to the other as she thinks it over. “Yeah, okay. But we’re pushing in to the front so we can watch you from the window. You aren’t staying back here alone.”
“Fine.”
Puck gets in back and pushes. Santana opens the front door and steers and pushes at the same time. About five minutes later the car is in the front with the hood popped.
Santana goes back into the motel room and locks the door behind her. She opens the shades to the window. She sees Puck staring down into the car but not really doing anything yet.
Santana knows it’s a lost cause even though he has tools and a flashlight from the trunk. The car obviously hasn’t worked in years and it’s not going to magically start just because they need it to.
Quinn and Rachel are sitting on one of the twin beds and Brittany’s on the other.
“We found a few water bottles in the manager’s office. You thirsty, B?”
The blonde nods so Santana goes to hand it to her. Rachel snatches it before Brittany can even lift her hand. “Berry I am so not in the mood for your shit-”
“Santana we have to save this. Who knows how long we’re going to be out here?”
The Latina growls. “Brittany’s thirsty. Give her the fucking water bottle.”
Brittany stands up and starts caressing Santana’s arm in an attempt to calm her. “It’s okay, S. Really. And Rachel’s right. We might need it later.”
Santana sets her jaw and grinds her teeth a bit. “Fine.”
---
An hour passes and Puck is still diligently working at the car’s engine. Rachel and Quinn are sitting and talking quietly. Santana and Brittany are lying down, spooning.
Santana is holding on to Brittany desperately, replaying the image of Brittany almost getting shot over and over again in her head.
“Imagine how much it would suck if we were attached by the hip?”
Santana, ripped out of her serious thoughts, can’t help but giggle at the blonde's randomness. “What?”
“You know, like Chinese twins.”
“I think you mean Siamese, babe.”
“Yeah, that.”
Santana simply smiles and kisses Brittany’s cheek. She untangles herself from the girl and stands up to look out the window. “I’m going to go talk to Puck, I’ll be right back.”
Santana makes her way outside and stands close to Puck. “How’s it looking?”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of problems but I can’t just stop. I got to keep working, keep busy. If I don’t got it by morning I say we just walk.”
“Okay.”
Santana just watches him for a few minutes, hoping to give him company. She’s about to tell him what Brittany said about being twins when the hood of the car comes slamming down on Puck’s head.
Santana gasps in surprise and feels herself push down a scream when it happens for a second time. Puck limply falls to the ground and Santana sees a man come around the car.
He’s tall, maybe 6 ft 5 in, and he’s muscular. He’s in loosely fitted army pants and large sweatshirt with the hood up. His face is covered with a ski mask.
Santana almost freezes as the man approaches her but she quickly realizes the danger. She runs to the door and tries to whip it open but it’s locked. She bangs loudly and screams for them to let her in.
The girls inside don’t react quickly enough and the guy is suddenly there, grabbing her away from the door. His arm is around her neck, squeezing, and she’s finding it hard to breathe. She kicks and squirms but the guy's frame overpowers her.
Puck sits up and sees Santana struggling. He leaps into action and tackles both of them to the ground.
Puck struggles with the guy for a moment and yells at Santana to run. She does.
Quinn unlocks the door and Santana runs inside. She re-locks the door and they all watch from the window, feeling helpless.
The man finally pushes Puck off of him easily, like he let Puck think he could win for a moment. They both stand.
The man throws one punch, then another, and then another and they all connect with Puck’s face. On the third one Puck is on the ground and groggy.
The man steps up to Puck and pulls a six-inch blade out of his pant pocket. He plays with it for a moment and looks up at the girls like he is trying to taunt them.
A tear actually slips from Santana’s eye and she calmly tells Brittany to look away. Remembering her promise, Brittany turns from the window.
Even though she can’t see it, she can hear the cry of agony from Puck as the man shoves the blade straight through his chest.