Thanks for the reviews and for reading! Here's part 3.


Velociraptors, continued.


"Shut up, will ya'?"

Xander raced over and shoved the assailant away. The hand slid off Willow's mouth and Xander backed up, pulling her with him. "Would you knock it off, Andrew? One of these days I'm gonna lose it and seriously… attempt to kill you."

"Oh, real convincing, Harris. You could probably beat up a straw on a good day."

"Where is everyone?" Willow broke in anxiously.

Andrew's eyes were still wide with panic. "How should I know? - maybe a bunch got out, I don't know and I don't care! Listen, you guys gotta help me, I can't take it! They're going to kill everyone. Harris, give me your light!"

Xander shook his head. "Why?"

"There has to be a way out, Moron! I am not gonna die in here! GOT IT?!"

"Quiet down!" Xander hissed. He glanced warily at the dark hall. "Okay, listen. This door's locked but there might be another -"

"Another" what is unknown, because at that moment, a pare of sickly white hands clamped onto Andrew's shoulders and he was pulled from the circle of light, screaming.

To Willow, everything else was a blur of movement, punctuated by the penlight's erratic spotlight. It briefly landed on Andrew and his attacker, just feet away, then on Xander's face, the hallway, then back on Andrew and Willow saw something red trickling down his neck.

Then Xander was spinning her around, backing up, and pulling her forward till she heard a door slam and they were standing in the small room with the cupboard-clown.

The moment they were inside Willow pushed him away. "Xander, we can't leave him out there!"

"We don't have a choice." Xander strode to the corner and tipped a plaster skeleton out its chair. The chair, fortunately wasn't bolted to the floor.

Andrew's screams came, muffled, through the closed door.

"So we're just gonna hide in here?" He didn't answer but walked past her and wedged the chair under the doorknob. "Xander!"

The screams stopped, replaced by moaning silence. It made Willow's skin crawl. She wanted the sounds back.

"You don't think…" She said in a terrified whisper. "Is Andrew… dead?" Xander faced the door mutely. "Is he dead?!" she cried, louder than she'd meant.

"I don't know!" He finally looked up at her. "But we're going to be fine in here, alright? The security guards or something will figure it out and call the police. We just have to wait'um out."

"He's -" Willow wrapped an arm around her middle and backed into the corner. A rushing sensation filled her stomach and made her head spin. "He - can't be. I know him…he goes to school… has parents -"

"Willow - Willow! Hey…" Xander crossed the small room and grabbed her upper arms, half getting her attention, half steadying her. "We don't know anything yet, we just have to… stay calm. Pretty sure that's how it works."

"I'm really scared, Xander," Willow's voice wobbled all over the place. "D-did you see them?"

"Only a flash. Guy looked like he was wearing some kind of Halloween mask."

"What about Jesse and Amy? If we're all locked in, how come no one's noticed?" she grabbed Xander's elbows with shaking hands. "Why are they doing this?"

Xander shook his head. "I - I just don't know. But I know this: you, me, Jess and Amy we're the protagonists. Which means we'll be okay. Just like Jurassic Park two!"

"What?"

"Yeah, you know that part where they're walking through all the tall grass and a bunch of the team are just vanishing one at a time cause the velocaraptors are picking them off?"

"Xander…"

"No, but see, all the main characters made it out! Everyone else was an extra."

Willow's forehead creased. "Andrew's not an extra. I mean - maybe he's sort of improper and… okay, he's a - a jerk, but no one deserves to…"

She stared up at Xander who looked serious. "That's not what I meant. My point is, nothing's going to happen to us, Will. Okay? Nothing. We'll get out of here and go to school on Monday where I will flunk the biology test, and everything will be fine because I wont let anyone near you. Velociraptors or otherwise." Willow bit her lip. He cocked a small smile. "Now if that gives you any more comfort than hiding behind a cloud of gnats, just nod a little."

She gently bobbed her head and relaxed her grip on his elbows. "Okay."

His smile widened. "Okay. Now let's go before the penlight dies." he walked back to the door, leaned over the chair and listened. After a pause, "I don't hear them anymore."

"It's quiet upstairs, too. Maybe everyone got out?"

Xander carefully slid the chair away and turned the knob as slowly as possible. Willow stood still in the corner. He poked his head out, then shone the light around. "I think it's clear," came a whisper. "Stay close, I'm going to turn off the light."

She ran forward and grabbed his hand. With an ominous click! the penlight went out and pitched them into darkness again. The two crept from the room, avoiding the shadows of props and spring-loaded booby traps.

"Xander, I see the entrance," Willow hissed.

They sped for it.

Just feet away, Xander abruptly stopped and Willow ran into him. Then she jumped back, dragging Xander with her to crouch beside the stairs.

Right in front of the door, a black shadow loomed. At first Willow thought it was one huge being but then her eyes adjusted a little more and she saw it was two figures, one standing, the other limp, held up by the first.

A noxious sucking noise came from the figure. Willow heard a voice speak up causally from the other side of the stairs.

"Having fun?"

The limp half of the shadow fell to the floor with a dull thud. The half still standing answered throatily, "Buckets. You?"

"Ran out. I was sure there were more of them. You didn't let any get away, did you?"

"Let is a rather fluid term. The lockdown delayed, most got out this door. I locked it just now. Astor and Hyrum wont be happy if we don't bring them any, you know."

"They'll survive. If it'll help, we can swing by the fitness center on the way back. I only got one."

"Same here," replied the deeper voice and gestured at the lifeless shadow on the floor. "I don't think Lyle got any. He left, by the way."

"Fool. If I didn't know him, I - wait, shh!"

Willow flinched as her foot slipped from under her and scraped the concrete floor. Xander tensed behind her. She pulled it back, biting her bottom lip till it nearly bled.

"What?"

"Shut up!"

The silence split her ears. Footsteps approached their pathetic hiding place.

Suddenly, Xander made a rapid throwing motion and Willow heard something clatter into the television room.

The two shadows stopped short, then swooped away toward the sound. Willow felt Xander tug on her sleeve and they stole to the foot of the stairs. Willow tried to get a glimpse of the still figure on the floor, but Xander yanked her up the steps before she could.

At the top was a doorway into a "bedroom". There must have been some small window or crack because a little natural light pooled on the room's floor. It illuminated a low four-poster and brass lamp stand.

The two teenagers stopped inside the bedroom door. They could just make out each other's pale faces. "Okay," Xander whispered. "We need a plan. There's gotta be a way out and we know it's not downstairs."

"Um -" Willow was shaking. Stop it, think! "F-fire escape? I mean, they must've put in a way out on the second floor… in case of fire, right?"

"Yes, perfect!"

They heard the murmur of voices downstairs and Willow grabbed his sleeve. "Do you think everyone else got out already?"

"Yeah, I think so," Xander replied, though he didn't look sure.

"Well… so we just have to find an exit and… you have the penlight so -"

"Actually," he looked sheepish. "I sorta', chucked it - into the den."

"Oh… okay, that's good. I mean - and smart, too. So, I don't see a door in here, maybe there's another bedroom?"

"Okay." Willow started to walk but Xander caught her arm. She looked at him. "No matter what, we stay together, right?"

Willow looked confused. "Of course. Xander, of course we will, I can't -"

They jumped as the bottom step squeaked downstairs and suddenly, they were running.

Willow's Mary Janes made little tip-tap noises against the hard floor. With no light whatsoever, she started to feel like the upstairs was just a labyrinth of shadowed obstacles, sharp corners, and dead ends. "Biggest Haunted House tour in California!"

Once or twice, she ran into Xander or a wall, but was too terrified to even notice.

When they stopped, Willow noticed she was still clutching Xander's sleeve. She hoped he knew where he was going.

Some ten feet and two doorways behind them, she heard the thud of footsteps and unintelligible muttering.

"They're upstairs!" she whispered breathlessly.

Then, something caught her eye. A dim, reddish glow coming from the doorway to their right. "Xander," she practically mouthed and tugged his sleeve.

They darted into a room that turned out to be another pretend bedroom.

Just a few feet away stood a door with a sign above it glowing "EXIT" like a beacon of good fortune.

They simultaneously crossed the room and shoved their weight on it, just long enough to discover there was no give.

At that moment, Willow felt a sharp movement beside her. Xander gave a choked yell and she spun around in time to see him strike the opposite wall and slump to the floor, dazed.

"Xand -!" Willow's cry broke off into a gasp as she felt an arm snake around her shoulders and an oily voice hiss close to her ear.

"Well, I daresay, you're sweeter, sweetheart." She felt hot breath on her shoulder and froze, pinned against the stranger's chest. "But my dad always told me, life's short. Eat dessert first."

He fingered a piece of her long, red hair, then grabbed a handful. The room flipped over as he forced her head to the side. Willow's heart shot into her throat and choked a scream into a sob. "No!"

The man snarled and sunk his teeth in.


TBC