CH: 10

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Durthok's Revenge

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"Buffy!"

"About time you answered," she whispered back loudly, from the window. Inwardly, she sighed in relief.

William stood with the others directly under the window, "What's taking you so long up there?"

"Hang on a minute," Buffy said.

In short order she had tied two electrical cords together and dropped the end down to waiting team below. Each one in turn stepped up to the cord and held on. Buffy pulled them up with ease and offered a hand to help each one climb through the window.

Kate was the first to notice and ask the obvious question, "Hey, who's that on the floor?"

"Oh," Buffy replied with a slight smile on her face, "that is what took me so long."

About the time they were all finally standing in the darkened room, they all heard something outside in the hall. Buffy glanced around the room, looking again for somewhere to spring her next attack. She and William settled for a hiding place behind a nearby desk while the others clamored to various corners of the room. They waited in complete silence.

After a short wait … and no other noise coming from the hall … Buffy decided to check out who or what she had thrown against the wall earlier. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the lower light level in the room she could see that she had slammed someone in a military uniform into the wall.

"Is she dead," William asked.

"I hope not," Buffy said with a worried look. "The military doesn't like me too well already. Beating them up or killing an innocent person would be very bad!" Buffy was relieved to feel a pulse on the female Soldier's neck and see her chest rise and fall with several breaths. "Chances are she will have a heck of a headache in the morning but otherwise, she's okay I think."

"Should we leave her here?" William's expression told Buffy that there I only one correct answer.

"I guess not," Buffy offered in a humorous but sarcastic way. Buffy started to haul the unconscious girl onto her Shoulders when she heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot somewhere down the hall. First one shot echoed in the hall then, three more shots in rapid succession followed.

Buffy dropped the girl to the floor just before she swung open the door to the hallway. Out of nowhere Tyler was beside her with the shotgun in hand. For a demon, he was becoming rather handy to have around. She needed to take the time to get to know more about him.

"Buffy, we still need to take about the Durthok demon." Tyler wanted to get her attention. What he had to say was important. She just needed to know about what the Durthok actually did to her.

"Not now Tyler," is all she said. "Later, I promise."

The hall was dark but she could see something going on down at the other end of the building. The power, and therefore the lights, was shut off but the glow of a flashlight or a lantern of some sort cast a faint glow at the end of the hallway.

Buffy thought for a minute then said, "Until we know what's out there, I think we better leave sleepy girl here. Put her behind the desk in the corner so she can't be seen." With that, Buffy and Tyler slowly stepped out into the hallway.

When William and Kate had the unconscious female Soldier hidden behind a desk, they also stepped out into the darkened hallway and slowly crept toward the light at the far end.

Although Harmony was the last to step into the hallway behind Kate, she was the first to notice the smell. Kate immediately began sniffing the air as well. The metallic smell of blood hung in the air.

On closer look further down the dim hallway, the two vampires quickly noticed the blood dripping off the walls. A ring of dripping blood had formed on the ceiling showing the massive carnage that must have happened on the next floor above.

Walking slowly, Buffy noticed the dripping blood at the other end of the hall. She thought that Harmony and Kate looked like dogs in heat as the smell of blood hit their senses.

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A little further down the hall, Royal Air Force Major Gavin Marks stumbled out of the stairwell into the soft light of the lantern his team had left behind to light the way. He sobbing uncontrollably, wiping blindly at the bloodstains on his tattered uniform, and dropping his handgun as he tried to holster it. How he managed to stay alive this long was a mystery to him, but it seemed, now, that his luck had finally run out.

His team had tried to reach the backup systems electrical panel on the third floor when he had been viciously attacked by the people who had once occupied the nearby offices. Although he was not bitten or splattered with infected blood, he managed to sustain serious injury. The attackers were swift and aggressive. They had decimated his repair party in minutes. When the fighting ended, only he was left standing. Judging from the amount of his own blood on his uniform, Major Marks figured that his wounds would soon add his name to list of the dead.

The Major buckled to the floor, the brutality of his wounds stopping him from going any further. Blood was everywhere … soaking into his pants, socks, shoes. It pooled on the floor under him. A burning pain accompanied every beat of his heart. He could not help but think about how all this started just a month ago … back when his life was normal. Right now, as he lay bleeding on the floor, all he wished for was a normal life again.

Laying there, his mind began to race again with panicked thoughts of death. He began to wonder about the mission. If he could just get the power on to the sub-levels maybe, somehow, all this could end. Maybe it could all be made right again. They had all this potential to change things but without power, all their special machines and tools and gadgets were useless.

Back down the hallway Harmony and Kate were now out in front of Buffy and the others. They saw the Major at the end of a darkened hallway before Buffy could make out what was laying on the floor. With weapons in hand, the two vampires carefully made their way toward the fallen Major.

As Tyler, William and Buffy came closer they could see the look of hunger on Kate and Harmony. William thought it an odd expression until he looked down at the major.

Walking up in the dim light, William couldn't see at first that the man was hurt. "Hey mate, are you … good Lord!" William exclaimed.

Walking up behind William, Buffy gasped for an instant. She was more started by the sight of all the blood on the floor than anything else. Kneeling down, she said, "Is there anything we can do for you? We're here to help." She instinctively took his hand in hers and held it tight.

Struggling to catch his breath, Major Marks fought back his sobs long enough to collect his thoughts. He started to breathe in sobbing gasps, the tears returning at the thought of death. "The power grid," he choked, his vision dimming and blurring at the same time.

Summoning the last bit of strength from his aching, spent body, he pulled himself upright using Buffy as best he could for a counter-balance. He looked her in the eyes and tried to speak but blood gurgled deep in his lungs. He swallowed hard several times trying to clear his throat.

"Mister, I don't know what to do for you. Is there some way … I can help?" Buffy felt his grief and pain. She had seen so much death in her time but it still touched her heart to see human life fade away. This man was struggling so hard to live even when he knew the battle was soon coming to an end.

"Name's … Major … Marks," he coughed several times before he could speak again. Then, with an oddly peaceful and resolute look on his face, he said, "Small group … survivors … trapped on sub-level … t-t-two." After another coughing fit he continued, "We are … trying to … to get power … must open … security door." The strain was too much and the Major collapsed once more, crying out in pain when he couldn't pull himself back up to face Buffy and the others.

Harmony flashed into her vampire face and back out twice without drawing anyone's attention. Finally she joined Kate against a far wall. Kate knew she would have a hard time resisting so she walked away immediately after Buffy arrived at the man's side. The hunger was almost overwhelming for them. Kate was trying her very level best to hold on to what little humanity she had left. Harmony was less heroic. She knew that if she touched the major, Buffy would dust her in an instant. For Harmony, it was a simple matter of surviving the Slayer.

After a few seconds of writhing in pain and coughing up blood, Major Marks spoke once again, this time closer to a whisper. "Ba-back-up generator … working … must run through the power box on floor three. We ... we were …," he trailed off and started to mumble.

"Buffy, if there are survivors, we gotta do something," William said with compassion in his voice. "Think we can get the power on and rescue the blokes?"

"Definitely, sounds like we just need to find a big button that says 'ON' and we're in business." Buffy sounded more sarcastic than she actually meant to be.

"It would be a logical conclusion that the young Soldier girl back in the laboratory room might know where or how to restore the power," Tyler offered.

"That is if she forgives you for beating her up," William added.

The Major coughed and closed his eyes. He started to pray for a peaceful end. Within a few seconds, as Buffy held his hand, his prayer was answered.

Buffy, William and Tyler led the way back down the hall to the room with the still unconscious female Soldier. Kate and Harmony lingered behind long enough for an unseen taste of the major. They managed to catch up by the time Buffy and the others reached the lab again.

After a few minutes of reviving … reviving again … coaxing, explaining and apologizing Buffy had a shaky Private Ashley Dubois on her feet.

"How the bloody hell am I suppose to lead you anywhere with my head pounding like a base drum?" Private Dubois had obviously not totally forgiven Buffy for the concussion. "I bet I have bloody traumatic brain injury from this. Who the hell are you people anyways?"

It must have been the fact that she had just tasted the Major or something but Kate seemed to have a moment of lucidity from her blood lust. She spoke up and clarified the situation for the private. "Look, one of your leaders just died out there trying to help some of your fellow military people get the power on or something like that. We are here to help. Now either you're with us or you can grumble about your headache all night and your friends can die. What's your choice?"

Buffy and everyone else in the room looked at Kate in surprise. That was the most Buffy had ever heard the girl string together in one breath since they met. Buffy thought, "Something made Kate rather spunky all of the sudden."

"I guess I'll help, rather than you prattling around the hallways looking for trouble," the private said with reservation in her voice. "We were trying hook up the power box on the next floor. One of our people went out to turn on the generator at the standby facility a couple kilometers from here. If we're successful at getting power restored to the sub-levels … we can rescue the rest of our team and continue the proj … I mean, then they will be safe."

"Well, you're gonna need a new guy to go turn on the power," Buffy said with a frown.

The Soldier ask quickly, "Why's that?"

"If he was using a van to get there … just take my word for it, I don't think he made it." Buffy left the thought with the female Soldier for a minute before asking the question that was really weighing on her mind. As the girl silently mourned the loss of another fellow Soldier, Buffy finally asked, "What, exactly, is this place?"

"It is a government … personnel office," the Soldier replied with hesitation.

"I doubt that," Buffy said. "Wanna try again before I put you back to sleep?"

With reservation in her eyes, she simply replied, "It is a government research facility."

Buffy pressed for more. "Researching what, exactly?"

"I don't know," the Soldier replied.

"Nap time for you then." Buffy pulled back her hand and made a fist.

With a tiny shriek, Private Dubois said, "I don't know! However, I DO know is that people are trapped on a sub-level and those of us who remain are trying our best to save them before they run out of food or worse."

"What must we do then to help?" William asked the Private as he walked up and stood beside her.

"If we can just connect the power on floor three, someone else can turn on the generator at the standby facility." The girl grabbed her head and wobbled a bit then continued, "If you can help me get the power on, I can take you to someone else who can answer your questions."

Buffy shrugged, "Well, since we're here, we might as well help."

The group made it down to where the major's body lay. Harmony and Kate shot each other a worried look … hopeful that nobody would notice that they had tasted the Major … just for a second. He didn't need all that blood they thought, since he was already dead. Nobody noticed the small bite marks on the Major as the team quickly moved past the body and up the stairwell toward the third floor. A few seconds later, they all stood at the stairwell door on the third floor landing.

"Get ready," Buffy said. She opened the door slowly and everyone filed out of the stairwell and into the 3rd floor hallway. It seemed deserted. The only sound that could be heard was that of the clock farther down the corridor on the wall, ticking away the minutes. Buffy squinted and managed to make out the time, 2:13am.

"This isn't right," Private Dubois said as she came to stand next to William. "This place was supposed to be secure. We had two guards here. The major's team was just down there," she pointed to an open door half way down the hall. "They were doing the power hook up." She shook her head. "I went down to check on the noise all of you made breaking in." Her voice trailed off as she looked around for signs of her former Soldier companions.

"It appears, Miss Dubois, that if you had not gone down to investigate the noise we made breaking in, you would have perished with your associates." Tyler commented.

Buffy noticed just then that the good private did not seem too shocked by the appearance of a white haired horned demon. Although vampires and demons have come out of the closet, most people that did not have routine contact where a bit baffled by the various creatures. Laying a hand on Private Dubois arm, Buffy asked, "What kind of research did you say they do here?"

Dubois hesitated for an instant, "Just some … military research stuff. I'm only here for security."

"I think more is going on here than you are telling us." Buffy could sense that the girl was lying. She looked away for an instant to try to clam herself.

The rest of the team had fanned out in the dark hallway while Buffy and Private Dubois continued to whisper. Both Harmony and Kate could smell blood again. Glancing around Kate suddenly noticing how bloody the hall was … blood and gore everywhere, just no bodies. She frowned. "The last floor wasn't this messy."

"I think," William began, "whatever that Major fellow came across up here did all this."

Buffy flicked a switch on the wall and waited for the fluorescent lights above them to flicker on. Nothing happened. "Looks like nobody made it to the control panel as yet. Lucky us," Buffy tried to fake the enthusiasm.

They all slowly eased along the hallway toward the power control room that PVT Dubois pointed out a moment earlier when suddenly Private Dubois stopped.

Buffy bumped into her. "What's the matter?" Buffy asked, peering down the hall.

"Shhh," Private Dubois said in a hushed whisper, her gaze fixed on something at the end of the hall. Whispering, she added, "I think I see something."

William looked at the end of the hall as well. "Infected?"

"Stay low," she said quietly. They continued toward the open door to the power control room.

Buffy strained to hear anything but was unable to pick up a sound other than her own breathing. She missed the good old days of just kicking in the door and beating up the bad guy. Those were the good ole days back home in Sunnydale. It sounded odd to her but she actually thought to herself, "I miss the Hellmouth."

In an instant the quiet was broken when Dubois pointed to several forms starting to move their way. William took aim and fired several shots with the pistol he had picked up off the floor near the Major. Then Tyler fired several more right next to Buffy's ear. She fell back to the floor from the ringing pain the gun shot sound made to her ear.

Harmony yelled, "Infected are everywhere!"

Buffy got up and started swinging her ball bat! The first swing connected with the skull of one less tortured soul. Each one of their group seemed to have one or two infected they were fighting off. In the darkened hall it was hard for her to see.

Tyler and William backed up against a wall and started firing their respective weapons. Everybody else was in too close of contact with the attackers to do much more than hit and kick.

Private Dubois was knocked to the ground by an infected little old man who seemed to have super human strength. Her weapon went flying. She managed to get a boot up to the man's chest and push him back before he could vomit blood all over her. Kate caught him before he jumped back on the defenseless Soldier. With a quick twist, Kate broke his neck. She released him to fall to the floor dead.

One of the infected opened his mouth and came down abruptly on Harmony's wrist. She screamed as she felt the pressure. Luckily the attacker bit down on her bracelet managing only to break a few of his teeth before Harmony kicked his legs out from under him and breaking his neck with a solid kick to the back of his head.

An attacker rushed Buffy, avoiding the bat she sung at him. He hit her hard, slamming her against a nearby wall. In a second he was on her. She brought up an arm and shoved him away. He grabbed her again … and again she found herself held up against a wall. The guy arched his back and screamed. Noticing a writing pen in the man's tattered shirt pocket, Buffy seized it and brought it up above her head, ready to strike.

As soon as the man snapped his head back down to tear into Buffy's flesh, Buffy slammed the pen into his eye going straight through tissue, lodging deep in the man's brain. The pen found its mark, stopping the guy in his tracks. His remaining blood red eye stared at Buffy before he fell to the floor, dead.

As Buffy looked around her, it appeared that the infected were, for now, all dead. They had survived the attack. That was better than the last group of people managed to do. "Of course, it helps when at least three of the group members (Kate, Harmony, and Buffy herself) have super-human strength," Buffy thought. She didn't think Tyler possessed any special strength but he was definitely a good shot, that much was certain.

"Let's get this done and get out of here, fast, before any more show up." Buffy motioned for everyone to hurry. They all followed her into the dark power control room. William, being the last one in, closed and locked the door.

"Damn, that was close," Private Dubois exclaimed in total darkness.

Catching his breath, William replied, "You're spot on with that miss."

Buffy simply answered back, "Anybody got a light?"

"Here ya go," Harmony turned on two flashlights and handed one to the private and the other she offered to Buffy. "Vampire night vision, another positive to being a member of the undead club," Harmony smiled, happy in her self-appreciation.

The room was cluttered with electrical equipment, shelves, and a couple desks. It looked about the size of Buffy's bedroom back at the castle. "God, how I miss my bed," she thought.

Without further words, Dubois went over to the large grey power panel and started looking at the jumble of tangled wires. William stood by the door closing listening for any movement in the hall. Harmony joined the private. Kate stood alone against an empty wall.

Tyler walked up to Buffy and said, "Now, can we talk about the Durthok?"

"Fine," Buffy sighed. "He's a bad guy. He's dead. So what's the biggie deal?"

Tyler looked nervous as he tried to find the right words to say. "His blood … contaminated you. You, you, have already been showing a few signs Slayer."

"Yeah, I told you … I got it. I can tell I have a little 'so what' attitude going on but I've been slaying just fine. You can check all the dead guys I killed since ole Dirty-cloth."

"Yes … yes you can still slay with the best of them however, I am meaning a more … personal problem that will affect you … and Kate too."

At the sound of her name, Kate immediately moved closer so she could hear clearly what Tyler and Buffy were whispering. Even vampire hearing had a limit.

"What is it? What affects Buffy and I?" Kate walked up with a slightly nonchalant poise, twirling her hair with her finger.

"Well, both of you … you have to … to … to mate," he said sheepishly.

Buffy and Kate quizzically looked at each other and simultaneously raised an eyebrow.

"Not with each other … I mean … you know … with a male of the species," Tyler added.

Buffy fiddled with the flashlight as she said, "Look you already said this. I know I'm gonna be a little frisky and frustrated for awhile. Nothing I haven't already dealt with before. No biggie."

"Buffy … Kate … you … you're … just not understanding," Tyler stammered. "The Durthok's blood will make you amorous. It will make you very relaxed and pliable. It also …"

"Hear that Katie, pliable like silly putty," Buffy interrupted.

Kate giggled along with Buffy then slipped an arm around Buffy's waist. Laughing Kate said, "I always liked playing with silly putty back in first grade."

"Ladies!" Tyler was getting frustrated. "It will make you start ovulating so that you can get … so that your body can allow children."

"Tyler, you perv, we got that part. You said already why the Dirty-cloth guy bites women. Again I say, a resounding, NO BIGGIE DEAL." Buffy over dramatized the last part of her statement.

"You still do not seem to understand," Tyler said, rather aggravated, "Both of you MUST become pregnant! If you don't … you'll die within a few weeks!"

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A/N: Poor Buffy! The girl never gets a break. Pregnant for like all of a couple days, in competition with a teen vampire over her way too young William, now … the poor thing has more drama to deal with. R&R pretty please! : o) FINALLY … revised. March 13