What he didn't expect was to be pushed up against the wall with a dagger against his throat, and two wild, blue eyes glaring down into his. 

"Wait-No! Get off of me! I'm not one of them-I'm human!" Blaine tried to push the boy off of him without pushing the knife any closer to his neck. His voice was raspy after not using it for days.

"Then who are you?" The boy replied simply, his voice high-pitched, clear, and menacing. Quite frankly, he was scaring Blaine a bit.

"B-Blaine Anderson! Could you please let go of me now? I think I'd be able to explain a bit more without a blade against my throat."

The boy's eyes seemed to soften a bit as he realized that Blaine wasn't a threat. "Oh...sorry." He lifted the dagger away from Blaine and let him down from the wall.

Blaine took a few steps back from the other boy, visibly shaken. Kurt spoke up again.

"I really am sorry. I just have to be careful, you know? I wasn't sure if you were one of...them."

Blaine looked towards the other boy again. "It's okay, really. I probably would have done the same." A pause. "Hey, are you Kurt by any chance? I was in Lima and I came across this letter signed by Kurt that was supposedly coming to Columbus to-"

The boy cut off Blaine with a small smile. "Yes, I'm Kurt. Kurt Hummel. You found my letter?"

"The one addressed to your dad?" Kurt nodded. "Then yes, I found your letter."

Kurt sighed and sat down on the concrete floor. "...Y-you didn't see my dad by any chance, did you?"

Blaine shook his head. "No, I didn't, I'm really sorry."

"I kind of figured as much..." He stood back up and began walking further back into the building.

"Wait!" Blaine called after him. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Why should it matter to you?"

Blaine took a second to think about this question. Why should it matter to him? Kurt obviously didn't want his company. Maybe he'd be better off on his own.

"I-I don't know. This is the first time I've spoken to someone else in a while, and I was kind of hoping that you'd let me stick around for a bit, I guess."

Kurt whipped around so he was facing Blaine. The kind look Blaine had seen in his eyes earlier was gone, replaced by a look so cold it made Blaine flinch. "Look, I don't know what you want from me, but I'm most certainly not going to let you stick around for company. I don't know who you are, where you come from, and what you might do if I let you stay. So unless you know of some way to help us, please leave and let us go on with our lives."

Blaine was taken aback. He didn't expect that reaction. He replied, rather timidly, "I'm sorry, I'll just...go."

He was about to turn around and leave when another person entered the room.

"Wait! Kurt, what were you saying to him? He looks terrified." The new arrival was a tiny girl with long dark hair that was tied back in a messy ponytail.

"He would just get in the way if we kept him around, Rach. I was just telling him to leave."

The girl, who Blaine was guessing was the ‘Rachel' from the letter, dragged Kurt to the corner of the room and the two began talking in hushed tones. Blaine didn't need to hear any words to know that they were talking about him.

While they were distracted, Blaine took the opportunity to walk quietly towards the door. He figured he might as well leave now; it would stop a lot of unnecessary drama from happening. But Rachel must have heard him, because before he could turn the doorknob and leave she turned around quickly and pointed in his direction.

"Don't go anywhere! Just let us settle this out." And with that she was back to her conversation with Kurt.

Rachel's voice was loud and confident, and Blaine could imagine that being around the girl for a long time could sometimes be irritating. But all of that aside, she seemed friendly enough. A lot friendlier than Kurt, anyway.

Blaine listened to her, though, and didn't try to leave again. After a few minutes of standing there awkwardly not knowing what to do, Rachel and Kurt stopped talking. He figured that Rachel had won the argument, judging by the way Kurt threw his arms up in the air and stormed out of the room.

Rachel caught his eye, and he nervously smiled at her. She smiled back in return, and began making her way over to him.

"Blaine, right?" He nodded. She gestured towards a little worn out couch. Blaine got the hint and sat down, Rachel immediately plopping down next to him.

"I'm so sorry about that. Kurt's not usually like that, I swear! It's just that lately he's been really anxious waiting for his dad..." She trailed off, and looked down at her hands.

Blaine bit his lip. "Can I tell you something? Promise not to get too mad, and please don't tell Kurt I said this, but... I don't think his dad's going to show. I went through Lima, and the place was deserted. Unless he was hiding really well or in some other town, then..."

Rachel nodded, and said sadly, "Yeah, I thought that, too. When we went back to Lima yesterday we really were expecting to see him! But no one was there at all..."

After that things got silent between them. Blaine hardly knew this girl at all, and after being bullied so much he wasn't used to making friends. Luckily, Rachel seemed rather good at making small talk.

"So, what have you been doing all this time? How did you find the letter?"

Blaine let out a tired sigh, and began to recount his journey so far. "Well, when I found out about the epidemic I took off right away. I kept walking for days, not going in any particular direction. Then I turned up in Lima, and that's where I found the letter."

He decided to keep his story short, and leave out Cooper altogether. That was more private to talk about, and he didn't feel like telling Rachel the more important details about his life just yet.

"And you decided to come here and find us?" Rachel inquired.

"Well, yeah. I hadn't seen any people in about a week, and if I'm being honest, I was getting lonely. I thought that maybe you guys would have wanted some company, too. But now I don't really know-"

Rachel interrupted him, speaking quickly and reassuringly. "No! It's okay that you came to us because you were lonely! I appreciate your company, I do. It's great to talk to new people! Kurt just-"

"Doesn't want me here."

Rachel opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to find the right thing to say. She sighed. "Yeah, pretty much. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I understand completely. He was hoping for his father, but instead he got... me." Blaine looked down at his hands and tried not to let Rachel see the sadness in his face. He was such a disappointment. No one wanted him around. Not his parents, not his classmates, and not Kurt. He completely understood.

"I'm sure he'd warm up to you after a little while." Rachel smiled at him. It wasn't convincing.

"I don't know if he'll get the chance to. I think I'm just going to head out again." He paused and looked towards the girl and gave her a smile, hoping that it looked genuine. "You've been nice to talk to, Rachel. Thank you."

He stood up and began to walk towards the door again. Rachel jumped up and ran in front of him, blocking his way.

"You're just going to leave like that? We haven't even gotten to know each other well yet!"

"You...wanted to get to know me?" Blaine said timidly. Oh no. This is not good. The last time a girl had said that to him she'd tried to make Blaine go out with her. Even after he'd told her that no, he doesn't like girls like that, she had continued to flirt with him and ask him out on dates like nothing had happened.

Rachel nodded enthusiastically and put her hand on his shoulder. "You seem really nice and I think that we could become pretty close if you stayed and gave me a chance."

"Um... Rachel, I'm really sorry but I'm-"

"Gay? Yeah, I know."

Blaine stared at her, confused. "Wait, what?! How did you-?"

"I can just tell.  Don't ask. And let me clarify: I want to get to know you better because I think we could be good friends."

Blaine smiled at the girl. He was still kind of bewildered (and a tiny bit creeped out), but Rachel was nice, and honestly he could see them becoming friends as well.

She took her hand off his shoulder but still didn't let him pass. "Please, Blaine, just stay for the night at least? We have food, and the university was hooked up to a generator so we still have running water and electricity. We're not sure how long it's going to last, though..."

Blaine took in the offer. He still felt like he would be invading Kurt's privacy if he stayed here, but he would be lying if he said he didn't want to spend the night.

"I'll stay. Just for one night though, I don't want to bother you guys for too long."

Rachel's smile only grew at Blaine's words. "Great!" She grabbed him by the hand and began showing him around the university.

Before long, they made it to the dorms.

"This is where we are staying. It has food, beds, bathrooms... What else could we ask for?"

Blaine peeked in through the open door of the dorm room closest to him. It was small, but it seemed like a bed fit for a king to Blaine, who had been sleeping on the ground or in trees for the last week. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and fall asleep, but then he remembered something else Rachel had mentioned to him.

"You said there was running water?"

Rachel nodded again, and showed Blaine into the bathroom.

It wasn't particularly clean or well-kept, but there was a shower and it was full of different soaps and shampoos and the sight literally made Blaine gasp.

"Wow, you really haven't been living well these past few days, have you? You're practically salivating over the sight of soap."

Blaine shot Rachel a glare, even though he knew that she was right. "Do you mind if I...?"

"You can go ahead and use whatever you want. This can be your room."

"Thank you so much, this is amazing."

"I'm glad to help!" Rachel turned to leave, but then remembered something. "Oh! Did you bring anything with you? I can take any stuff you have and bring it up here."

Blaine hesitated for a second. Should he trust Rachel with his stuff? She seemed kind enough, so he decided to take the risk. "Yeah, there's a duffel bag in the car I brought. It would be great if you could get it for me, but you really don't need to-"

"No, it's okay! I want to." She replied with a smile.

"Okay. Thanks, Rachel."

And with that, she left.

Blaine stripped himself of all of his dirty clothes and was about to get in the shower when he noticed his reflection in the mirror. He turned so he could see his whole body, and what he saw made him gasp in shock.

His hair was matted and dirty, and there were even branches and leaves sticking out of it. It looked (and felt) like his entire body was covered in a layer of grime. There were cuts and scratches all over his arms, legs, and face, but the one that stuck out the most was where Cooper had scratched his leg. The once-clean wound was now red and puffy. This can't be good...

Maybe if he washed it, the cut would heal faster. That seemed like a good idea.

Without a further thought, Blaine stepped into the shower and turned on the water. When the warm stream hit Blaine's chest, he had to hold back a moan it felt so good.

He spent the next ten or so minutes scrubbing his body and hair with the different soaps and shampoos, sighing contently as a week's worth of dirt went down the drain. Then he turned to the cut on his leg.

When the water hit the wound it didn't feel good at all. It stung. But Blaine carried on, gently rubbing soap over it and cleaning it as best as he could. When he felt it was enough, Blaine stepped out of the shower and began looking for a towel.

After digging around in a cabinet for a few moments, Blaine successfully found one and began to dry off. He wrapped the towel around his waist, opened the door, and went back into his bedroom.

His bag was laid on the floor by the foot of an armchair, and a clean pair of pyjamas (that weren't his, Rachel probably found them in a drawer somewhere) were set out on his bed. He reminded himself to thank Rachel again later; she really was doing a lot for him.

He quickly changed, and pulled down the covers of his bed. Judging by the sun that was still high in the sky, Blaine guessed that it was only mid-afternoon. But Blaine's eyes were tired, and his whole body was relaxed from the shower, so he decided that a few hours of sleep wouldn't hurt him. He'd wake up later and get something to eat.

He turned off the light and closed the curtains before climbing into the bed and pulling the covers up to his chin. The bed was narrow and he heard the springs creak whenever he shifted his body, but to Blaine it felt like the most luxurious, comfortable bed ever.

Feeling safe for the first time in a week, Blaine let himself drift off to sleep.