Chapter 25

State of Decay

Faith woke up with a yawn and feeling slightly refreshed from her talk with her little friend from last night. Frowning she suddenly felt as if she were laying next to a cold body. Her eyes barely focusing, she pulled her shared blanket back and took a look at the kid that lay next to her. She couldn't figure out what it was but something was wrong as she stared at the girls limp body.

Fighting back bile, a beam of sunlight shone on Hope, and Faith saw that the little girl's lips were torn from her face, leaving a toothy death- grin. Her skin was now bluish, a bloody gash also ran along her neck. With wide eyes, Hope opened her mouth and let out a hideous moan.

"What the fuck!" Faith shouted as she stared at the dead eyed girl. "What happened!?"

With one fluid motion, Hope lunged forward and bit into Faith's neck. The Dark Slayer tried to push her off, screaming, but she was too strong and holding tight. The little girl tore flesh from her throat like a wolf.

Jumping up with a start, Faith looked around and saw that she was just having a bad dream. Feeling a small amount of weight on her, she looked down and sighed in relief as she saw Hope sleeping peacefully in her arms. Closing her eyes for a moment, she gingerly laid the girl down on the couch before standing to her feet and stretching.

Smelling something good, she walked through the darkened living room and into the kitchen, which was lit with five big candles. Looking around, Faith saw Samantha making eggs and pancakes on a decent sized, two sided indoor propane stove.

"You want some breakfast?" Samantha asked politely as she spotted Faith. Gone was the bitchy woman from last night.

"Ummm... yeah." Faith replied as she still eyed the woman suspiciously as she again looked around the room at all the stuff they had. "It looks like you guys were well stocked for the apocalypse huh?"

"No." Samantha said glumly as she flipped the last pancake onto a plate. "The power was out when we woke up, so Eddie left early this morning and... well he had to loot the wilderness store close to our house."

"Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do these days." Faith replied with a shrug. "At least Eddie was smart enough to take what you need to survive. I bet everybody else is taking toasters and TV's."

"This isn't going to be something that just lasts a few days is it?" the slightly older woman asked in concern as she put a plate of food in front of the Slayer.

"No." Faith replied as she picked up her fork and started to take a bite of the food. "Not this time."

Perhaps ignoring what she had said or not wanting to know what she meant, Samantha went on. "I umm... wanted to apologize for the way I acted last night. I know I was being a bitch but well you know... a crazy pregnant woman and her hormones."

"We're five by five." Faith replied with another shrug. "I've been treated worse." she mumbled the last part out.

"I know when my husband is lying and I know you two aren't old friends." Samantha decided to throw out there. "He's outside now helping the manager and a few others to fortify this place before things get bad. He won't be back for a couple of hours... so tell me... who are you?"

Wanting to laugh at that question or perhaps run now, Faith decided to heed Angel's warning from last night and to stop running. Letting out a breath, she started to tell the woman her story from the beginning. She told her of her father and mothers alcoholism and abuse, about how rough and violent her childhood was after her father went to prison, and all the horrible things she had seen before she even knew about monsters and demons, up until she went to Sunnydale and then prison.

"Wow." Samantha said at the end of Faith's story. Eddie having caught the end of it as he walked into the room. The younger girl really had it rough and on top of that, she was granted powers to fight against the night. Her life must've really been miserable.

"So you want to go and find this Angel guy?" Eddie asked as he sat down at the table.

"He's the only person in my life that never gave up on me." Faith told him as she stood to her feet. "The least, I can do is check on him. Don't worry... I'll be back to look in on you guys. That is if you want me to come back?"

"I'll leave a spot on the couch for you." Eddie replied with a smile.

Finishing her breakfast, Faith took a shower and was surprised when she had fresh clean clothes waiting on her. They were a size too small, but they would have to do. As she walked into the living room Hope ran into her arms. Picking her up, she saw a backpack and Eddie sitting on the couch.

"I was doing some thinking." Eddie started as he stood to his feet.

"A man that thinks." Faith cut him off with a snort. "This can't be good."

Given the situation outside, Eddie could do more then give her a look. He would have thought that she would've been a little more... serious. But also given the things she had told him about her life... "Look, I was thinking that me, my wife, and Hope can drive you into LA."

"No way." Faith replied, turning serious, as she shook her head and put the little girl back down on the floor. "You guys have got it made here. There's no telling what's out there."

"I knew that you would say that." Eddie said as his daughter ran into his arms. "So how are you going to get there?"

"I saw a Harley dealership not far from here." Faith said considering what to do. "I could go there and steal a bike and be on my way."

"I see that I can't change your mind, so here." Eddie replied as he handed her the backpack that was sitting on the couch.

"What's this?" Faith asked, even as she started to rifle through the bag.

"I thought about you when I went ransacking that sporting goods store." the older man told her with a shrug. "So I put together some supplies you might need. There should be enough food and stuff to get you through about three days."

As he was talking, her hand suddenly hit something metal in the bag. Taking it out, she frowned at the deadly weapon. "I don't do guns."

"Are you serious?" Eddie asked incredulously. "With all that's happening in the world, you better keep that."

Putting the gun back into the bag, she frowned a little. He was right, but still... "Hey is that thing real or a wall hanger?" she suddenly asked as she looked around the room and saw a Katana on the wall. It's black scabbard had a depiction of a golden dragon on it.

"It's real." Eddie told her as she walked over to it and took it off the wall and unsheathed it halfway. She smiled as the blade glistened and showed her reflection. He kept his weapons clean. "I bought it at a swap meet a couple of years ago. It's razor sharp and I used it to cut through some watermelons."

"Do you mind if I used it to cut through a few muffin caps?"

"No, take it."

"I ain't the one for long goodbyes." Faith said as she gathered her things and headed towards the door. "Take care of yourselves and don't let anybody in here."

"Wait!" Samantha said excitedly as she ran into the room. "Are you going alone?"

"Yeah." the Slayer told her.

"Well, I know I don't have a right to ask this but could you look in on my parents?" the young woman asked. "I lost contact with them last night because the phones went down. They're on your way through L.A. and..."

"I'll do it." Faith cut her off. "I gotta check on Angel first but I'll check on em."

"Thank you." Samantha replied with a smile as she wrote down their address, names, and gave her general directions. Taking the note, she stuffed them in her pants pocket and hit the door.

"Bye Miss Faith." Hope said as she ran over to her and hugged her legs.

Her heart breaking, from having to leave her little friend behind, Faith tried not to go misty eyed. "I'll see you later kiddo." the Slayer said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Believe me, I'll be back." As she opened the door, she looked back towards the family, hoping against hope that there would be someone to come back too.

The city was pretty much as Faith expected. Utter chaos and people stealing things they really didn't even need. Somehow managing to blend into this nightmare, she slipped into the shadows and saw the building that she needed to go to. Looking into the big shop window, she saw a few walkers milling about.

With the grace of a cat, she entered the abandoned shop, making the bell above the door sound off. She was hoping to do this quietly. With a roll of her eyes, she put down her backpack and watched as a walker heard her come in and turn around. Walking forward she kicked him in the chest and sliced his head off with her Katana. She then did the same to two other walkers.

Taking stock of the room, she saw some leather dusters hanging on a rack. Walking over to them, she picked out her size and threw it on. Going further into the store, she saw a few motorcycles and she was honestly about to pick out the first one she saw, until she looked up and saw the one she always wanted.

With a smile on her face, she got on the red and black Sportster, walked it out of the shop, cranked it up and hit the open road. Driving for several hours, she was making decent timing, even though she had to drive past several roadblocks, the army routing people and more than dangerous hot spots. It was getting late and to say that she was tired was an understatement. She had to go somewhere and regroup but where? That's when it hit her. It was the one place she knew that people would never loot.

An Abandoned Library

As Faith started a fire in a barrel she had found, she chuckled to herself as she imagined the looks on Diana, Giles, and Wesley's faces as she took refuge in a library. She hadn't heard from Giles, Wesley, Buffy, or any of the Scooby gang and she wondered how they were fairing at the moment. So many regrets.

Taking her mind off of them, she sat down next to her backpack. She had rummaged through it earlier but she didn't truly take stock of what was inside of it. Opening it up, she started to take out items one by one. She had a solid black, heavy duty maglite flashlight, a first aid kit, several packages of different batteries, a lifestraw, two rolls of toilet paper, some small candles, a zippo lighter, a fire starter, a tiny tool kit, several cans of food, Beef Jerky, two bottles of water, the gun she had handled earlier: along with two clips for it, soap, a toothpaste- toothbrush set, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of cigarettes.

Thank you Eddie. Faith thought to herself with a smile.

Deciding to grab the cigarettes for the moment to calm her nerves, she was about to close the backpack, when she noticed a small piece of paper at the bottom. Taking it out, she unfolded it and saw a crude drawing of two stick figures, one with black hair. Reading the bottom of the paper she saw her name and Hope's scribbled at the bottom with a black crayon. Even if it was a short amount of time, that little girl had somehow wormed her way into her heart. A heart that she thought was black now because of all of the horrible things she had done. Closing the paper and putting it in her back pocket, she re vowed this mission in Hope's name. If she would do it for anyone, it would be for her. After a quick smoke and making sure the surrounding area was cool, she made a small pallet on the floor. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

A Day And a Half Later

Faith's beautiful red and black 1995 Harley Davidson Sportster zoomed through the I-5 highway headed towards Los Angeles. Faith now wore some leather pants and a leather duster with her Katana strapped to her back. She thanked whoever was above that she took that workshop when she was in jail, which opened her mind to creating things like the sword carrying bag she had made.

She couldn't help but smile, as the wind blew through her hair and the sun shone on her face. She was free from jail. The smile was short lived and her expression turned downright grim at what she saw ahead of her in the distance.

"God damn." she said as she slowed the bike and then parked it on the side of the highway.

Skyscrapers loomed like silent tombstones, several of them just charred husks. They had to have caught on fire a few days ago, because that's when she had heard about the riots and the dead walking. Or maybe the military had dropped bombs on the city to keep the infection down, like they did in the movies. She couldn't tell from the distance she was now, but some of them looked to be still burning.

Looking straight ahead on the freeway, the lanes going into the city were nearly full, but the lanes heading out were choked with thousands of abandoned cars, trucks, and SUVs. Starting her bike back up, she drove by and observed many wrecks.

Car doors were left hanging open, fenders were crumpled, and windshields were smashed. But what was more sickening were all the dead bodies left to rot in their vehicles. It was the result of everybody trying to leave at once and others just being barbaric. Some ran out of gas, others lost their lives to accidents, but riding by some of the cars she saw that some had been shot up or looked as if their bodies had been gnawed on. It was an endless river of metal and dead people.

Having seen enough, she drove on. She had to find Angel.

Coming off of the highway, Faith rode slowly down a major street. Windows were broken out of buildings and the road was littered with vehicles, some over turned and trash slowly billowing in the wind. The motorcycle swerved back and forth through the objects, the Hyperion Hotel slowly coming into view.

Corpses laid out openly on the street. Eaten. She had seen tons of dead demons and had even killed a couple of people herself,, but this was insane. These people were slaughtered out on the street with no police or paramedics to help them. From the looks of them they had been outside, baking in the hot Los Angeles sun for days.

As she continued to ride forward, figures appeared here and there. Zombies. They peered out of broken windows, straggled out of office doorways, one even emerged out of a burned out bus.

Knowing that she could release them of their pain of hunger, if only for a moment they started to follow her. Deciding since it was only a hand full of them, she revved her engine, gave the Harley some gas and easily out-distanced them.

Suddenly she heard someone yelling. It was distant and who ever it was voice came and went almost teasingly. Stopping for a second, she used her Slayer hearing to listen over the sound of her bike. Whoever was yelling was silent now.

Deciding that maybe she was just hearing things, she was just about to give her bike some gas when she heard the yell again. Trying to track the sound, as it echoed and bounced off buildings, she figured out where it was coming from. The Hyperion.

Revving the bike again she took off in that direction and turned a corner. That's when she knew that she had made two horror movie dont's. Don't ever come into a big city after an outbreak and if you had too never come on something that made a lot of noise.

Stopping the bike on a dime and making it turn halfway, cold fear slammed through her as she saw that the streets were filled with walkers. Not just a few like before, but there was dozens of them.

Hearing the noise of the bike, the walkers turned their dead greedy eyes to her. Without dramatic fanfare the mass of the dead surged towards her.

"Fuck!" Faith yelled out as she wheeled the bike around and took off like a shot.

But to her dismay the dead were surging from that direction too. Trying not to panic she reared the bike to try to go the other way. Nearly being thrown off in the process, she held on and started to plow through them.

The walkers grabbed and clawed at her and with surprising strength from them, she was thrown off of her bike. She landed hard on the pavement, the wind being knocked out of her. Managing to recover quickly, she stood up, put on her backpack, and unsheathed her sword. Looking around herself, she smiled darkly as she saw that she was surrounded.

Raising her arms to take a swipe at her would be attacker, a bright light suddenly shimmered in front of her. "What the fuck." Faith whispered as a girl materialized into view. She was wearing a black ninja/catsuit, she had short cropped blond hair, a dangerous look in her eyes, and freckles on her face.

"You trying to get yourself killed?" the girl asked as she took a pair of sai's out of her leg sheathes and started to stab some zombies in the head.

Snapping out of her stupor, Faith did an almost ballerina like spin and chopped off the heads of three zombies at once. As they started to dispatch the freshly dead ghouls, more and more of them seemed to come out of the few shadows that the day provided.

"We gotta get out of here and now." the once invisible girl said as she and Faith went back to back, their weapons up and dripping with blood and gore.

Looking up once more, Faith saw that they had already cut a bloody path towards where she wanted to go all along. "Follow me!" Faith shouted, so her companion could hear her. Stabbing a zombie in the chest with her sword, Faith managed to flip it over her head and throw it into several others, causing them to fall to the ground.

Giving the Slayer a look of surprise of her own, at the sight of her strength, the girl that could go invisible followed Faith to the Hyperion hotel.