The Highway (Chapter 5)
The man cuts the ropes that are keeping Santana in place, but the ones on her wrists stay intact. He picks her up and throws her onto the bed. He’s grinning and Santana has never wanted to wipe a smirk off someone’s face so much in her life.
He lies on top of her heavily and kisses her neck a few times. She struggles against him.
The man leans up slightly so that he can look her in the eyes. “Relax. I can make this hurt a lot more if you really want to do it the hard way.”
Santana responds with a well placed kick to his groin. He shoots up in pain and surprise and she takes the opportunity to kick him square in the chest. He goes flying off the bed.
Santana wastes no time in running out the door, Brittany following close behind her. They don’t stop running until they make it to the edge of the woods. Following Santana’s directions, Brittany takes the knife from Santana’s pants and cuts her ropes. Santana does the same for Brittany.
Santana can feel tears welling up and she does her hardest to not let them fall. She walks over to the blonde and zips up her jeans shakily.
Brittany grabs the brunette’s hands. “San, you’re shaking.”
“Yeah. Do you realize what almost just happened back there to you?” Santana turns away from her and throws her head back. She squeezes her eyes shut trying to fight back the tears.
“To us.”
“Yeah. Just give me a minute, B.” Santana tries to even out her breathing and then she finally opens her eyes again. She hugs Brittany tightly. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We…we can’t leave them.”
Santana pulls away. “Rachel and Quinn? Don’t you think we should be worrying about ourselves right now?”
“They’re our friends. We love them.”
Santana takes a moment to think it over. “Fine. We need a plan. We should check out the truck and see if we can use it to escape.”
Brittany looks at the ground nervously. “Um…I don’t think the keys are in the truck. I kind of…felt them in his pockets.”
The statement causes Santana to clench her fists and grind her teeth. She mumbles, “Fuckin’ asshole.”
---
They get to the truck and they both smile. The entire trunk is filled with various weapons. Santana notes that the guy must really have experience.
She goes to pick up one of the pistols when Brittany stops her. “Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“He’s a killer. You aren’t a killer, Santana.”
Santana nods and instead of the pistol she picks up the tranquilizer gun. She puts the pistol in Brittany’s hand. “Get in the truck and lock the doors. Don’t get out for anything, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I mean it. If you hear me or Q or Rachel…Just don’t get out for anything. Promise?”
“I promise.”
---
Santana runs to the door of the motel and drops down in front of the window. She peaks her head up a bit and peers inside. She doesn’t see anyone.
She opens the door and enters it like a police officer would: gun raised and eyes scanning. It’s getting easier to see every minute because the sun is beginning to rise. She approaches the bathroom and presses her ear to the door.
At first she hears nothing, but not even five seconds later she hears a bloodcurdling scream. Santana instantly throws the door open and sees the man choking Quinn so hard that she’s actually lifted off the ground.
Santana aims and fires. The man puts his hand to his neck and rips out the tiny arrow. She fires another time and he finally falls to the ground, unconscious.
Quinn is on the ground coughing. Santana rushes over to her. “Where’s Rachel?”
Quinn starts shaking her head furiously and sobs are literally racking her body. “Oh god…He…Rachel…”
The Latina stands up and looks around the bathroom. That’s when she spots Rachel’s arm dangling on the outside of the bathtub. She rushes over and for the first time all night she has the urge to vomit.
Rachel’s neck is twisted at a weird angle and her body is limp. Santana can see the violent scene in her head and she instantly throws up in the toilet. “Fuck. Fuck!”
Rachel Berry is dead. Rachel FUCKING Berry. Santana just can’t get her head wrapped around it. She decides to deny it. Somehow she manages to push in to the back of her mind.
Right now her main concern is Brittany, Quinn, and herself. She lifts Quinn off the ground and tells her to go outside to the truck. “No! I can’t…I can’t leave her here!” Quinn cries out.
Santana doesn’t even try to reason with the girl. Instead, she grabs her arms and starts dragging her away. She manages to get her to the truck. Brittany gets out and helps Santana get Quinn into the back seat.
“Fuck! I didn’t grab the keys. I’ll be right back.”
Santana runs back into the bathroom and kneels towards the man. She looks at his ski mask and can’t help herself. She takes the mask off.
It’s anti-climatic, really. There’s nothing special or recognizable about the man. He’s rather…ordinary. Santana almost wishes he had been someone she knew. At least then there would have been more of a reason for his craziness. Now it’s clear he’s just plain psychotic.
She searches his right pocket for the keys and comes up empty handed. She finds them in the left one and turns to start running back. She feels fingers wrap around her ankle and she lands flat on her stomach, the gun skidding away.
The man drags her towards the tub, towards Rachel, and Santana lets out high-pitched scream. She can’t help it.
“You think you could get away? That easily? I don’t think so.”
He flips her so she’s on her back on the tiled floor. He straddles her waist and she can’t get away. He punches her and Santana feels her mouth fill up with blood. On the second punch she sees stars.
Santana tries to protect herself from the next blow but it just ends with him pinning her arms down. He pulls out a pocket knife from his combat boot and flicks it open. Santana’s eyes go wide and he brings down his arm. He stabs her two inches away from her belly button.
He pulls it out and Santana stops struggling. She can feel the energy rush out of her. She closes her eyes.
The man raises his arm again for another attack when the butt of the tranquilizer gun comes crashing down on his head. He groans and tries to move himself. The gun collides with his skull for a second, third, and fourth time. There’s blood everywhere and he’s not breathing anymore.
Santana opens her eyes and sees a blue-eyed beauty standing over her. “B…You broke... your promise...” Santana’s eyes close again.
Quinn’s standing at the door way and she tries to force herself into the room, but she keeps replaying the moment before her world came crashing down.
They’re in the bathtub still, arms wrapped around each other. They listen as they hear the man tying up Brittany and Santana in the other room.
Quinn kisses Rachel briefly. She whispers, “I love you.”
“You would chose today of all days to say that to me.”
“Well, I’ve wanted to say it to you for like a month now. I was afraid to say it…and after what we’ve been through today…it’s just not scary anymore.”
“I love you too.”
Their conversation is disrupted by sounds of commotion from the other room. Moments later the bathroom door is kicked open and the man angrily makes his way to them.
“QUINN! PLEASE!” Brittany’s voice cuts through Quinn’s thoughts and she finally gets herself to enter the room. She helps lift Santana to a standing position and both blonds wrap one of her arms across their shoulders.
When they make it back to the truck they manage to maneuver Santana into the backseat, lying down. “Do you want to sit with her, B?” Brittany nods and she sits so that Santana’s head is resting in her lap. “Here, take this shirt and keep pressure on where the blood is coming from. Here's my cell phone. The second you get any type of service, call for help.”
Quinn gets into the truck and locks the doors. She takes one last look at the motel, hesitating for only a second when she sees Puck’s body. She thinks about Rachel.
Then she drives away like a bat out of hell.
One Year Later…
Brittany and Santana are lying comfortably in Quinn’s guest room. Brittany is fast asleep, hear head resting on Santana’s chest. Santana’s staring at the ceiling.
They’ve made it an unspoken rule to have one of them sleep at Quinn’s house. Technically today is Brittany’s day but they usually both end up there most nights.
Lying awake for a while after B falls asleep is a nightly occurrence for the Latina. As unhealthy as it seems she has to think about what happened. She’d rather get it out now than have nightmares like Quinn does. It usually works. But there are some nights where she dreams and sees them. She feels guilty that she's still here when...everyone else isn't.
Santana kisses Brittany’s forehead lightly. “I love you, babe. I’m so lucky to have you. I’m so lucky we didn’t lose each other.”
Quinn lets out a little shriek and Santana realizes it’s time for her to move. Brittany stirs a little and opens her eyes sleepily when she feels Santana get out of bed. “It’s my turn tonight, S.”
“I got it, baby. Go to sleep.” Santana turns the door knob and stops when she hears Brittany whisper to her.
“Do you think she’ll ever be okay?”
Santana’s shoulders slump and she sighs. “I don’t know, B. Things will get better eventually. She’ll never be fully okay.”
Santana makes her way to Quinn’s room and lies down near the shivering blonde. She shakes the blonde gently and says, “It’s going to be okay, Q. It’s going to be okay.”
The whispered words seem to calm the blonde and she falls back into a restless but dreamless sleep.
Santana rests her head on the pillow. She’s the strong one, the supportive one, the unaffected one. She has to be for Quinn and Brittany.
But when she closes her eyes even she can’t fight off the image of the man that killed their friends.
He haunts her.
END