Going on Faith - Chapter 10
"This was a bright idea, Buffy," the Slayer thought as she pushed through a tangle of brambles, trying to keep up with the mutt which was, hopefully, leading her to Xander and Faith. No flashlight, no natural sense of direction, and her favorite cream colored pants quickly being shredded, all added up to another fun-filled evening on the Hellmouth. When oh when would she learn to dress down when going on a potentially hazardous mission?
Buffy considered the elements of the Case of the Missing Watcher thus far, as she continued to plunge through the backwoods after the elusive Rufus. Macardle's car had been found abandoned not too far from the creepy Sleep- Tite motel, where he had apparently spent a night. Said motel was run by a very unusual family of....whatever they were, whose daughter carried around a mummified baby as a doll. And Faith and Xander might or might not be lost in the woods. She certainly hoped she was coming to their rescue and not just losing herself while they showed up at the motel looking for her.
At any rate, things weren't looking good for the Watcher. The chances they'd find him alive seemed minimal. She wondered if the Council would send Faith a new Watcher right away, or leave her under Buffy's tutelage for awhile. They said no one could fathom the ways of God, well, God was nothing compared to the labyrinthine mazes of Quentin Travers' mind. Sometimes she thought the secret was that he had no plan at all, just a random series of decisions designed to plague Slayers as much as possible.
An excited whining echoed from somewhere ahead. Buffy slicked back the rain soaked hair from her face and tried to peer through the steady drizzle and the darkness of the forest. She heard a human voice answering the dog....Xander!....and she darted forward. Then, between one second and the next, the ground in front of her disappeared.
******** Xander froze at the sound of something large crashing through the underbrush, one hand firmly grasping Rufus' collar, the cheap plastic leash having torn off somewhere in the woods. Despite the muzzle they had placed on him to keep him quiet, the canine managed to make a hell of a lot of noise, and Xander was afraid it would draw whatever was out there to them like a homing beacon. Unless, whatever was out there was Buffy in which case.....
"Ow!! Xander?" a familiar voice called from somewhere off to the left, and the young man smiled in relief. Rescued!
"Buffy! I'm coming!" he shouted back, struggling to hold the dog, which now seemed determined to lead him to the Slayer. "Stay put, Faith," he called over his shoulder as the animal jerked him off his feet.
"Not goin' anywhere," she responded, huddling into a little ball in the icy rain.
"Wait, Xander, big hole!" He was getting closer to the source of the voice, but it still had a muffled quality to it.
"What?"
"Don't fall in!" she was insisting, and suddenly Buffy's voice was coming from practically under him, and the ground was crumbling away from beneath his foot.
"Jeeze Louise!" He gasped, falling back on his butt, losing his grip on the dog, dropping the flashlight, and scuttling backward from the edge of the abyss. Retrieving the flash, Xander scooched close to the edge of the pit and trained it down inside to reveal the muddy face of his savior.
"Hey," Buffy waved up at him.
"Hey yourself."
"Wanna get me out of here?"
"If you get me out of these damn woods. No more nature hikes for me....ever!"
"Deal." Buffy scrunched up her face. "Except I'm kinda lost myself. Don't lose that dog of yours or we'll be stuck here all night."
"Too late. He already took off again." Xander scanned the woods around him. "Just hold tight, Buff, and let me find a branch or something. We'll have you out in a thrice. What is a 'thrice' anyway?"
"I don't know. Less than a minute, I hope, cause it's getting really soggy and muddy down here."
Xander struggled to snap off a long, dead branch, which looked sturdy enough to hold the Slayer's weight.
"Where's Faith?"
"A few yards over that way.....or that way....I think. She got hurt her leg in a trap so she's kinda out of commission." He finally wrestled the branch apart from the tree and dragged it over to Buffy's prison. "Watch out," he called, as he stepped cautiously toward the edge and poked the makeshift ladder down into the hole.
"Ow! Scratchy!" the blond complained. "Did I mention how much I hate nature?"
"You and me both. Get me back to the safe streets of Sunnydale." Xander turned the flashlight down to illuminate Buffy's progress climbing the brittle tree branch. "Sorry. It's not too sturdy is it?" he remarked, when a bit broke off in her hand and sent the Slayer tumbling back.
"Buffy, you won't believe what we found tonight," he continued. "A whole cemetery's worth of body parts - only without the headstones."
"Mass grave? Why am I not surprised," Buffy grunted as she prepared to ascend again. "That's one majorly dysfunctional family...."
It was the last Xander heard before a searing pain burned through his body, generating out from his midback in waves before reaching his brain and leaving him in blackness.
"Damn, tourists!" Bernie Joskovitch, taser dangling from one hand, nudged Xander's prone body with a mud-caked workboot and spat over the edge of the pit, just missing Buffy's upturned face. The ladder-branch was suddenly pulled back up out of the hole before she could think to snatch at it and the Slayer was left gaping up nothing.
The motel owner reached down and grabbed the unconscious man by one wrist and began dragging him away, while the dog frisked around them both, wanting to join in this fun new game.
"Wait!! What...?!" Buffy yelled, impotently. "Hey!"
She was met by silence except for the rustling of leaves and crackling of branches as the trio moved off through the woods.
"Damn!" The tired, soaked woman leaned against the wall of her prison, then sank down to a crouch. "My job sucks," she muttered, wondering how many times her friends had gotten knocked unconscious in the line of her Slayerly duty. She sighed and waited until all she could hear was the patter of rain, then began screaming for Faith.
******** When Xander regained consciousness, he was instantly aware of the delicious aroma of barbecue sauce causing his stomach to rumble. It'd been a long time since lunch. His eyes flickered open, while his hands and feet strained against the ropes that bound him. He found himself looking at the generous backside of the lovely Mrs. Joskovitch. The sharp sound of her knife hitting a cutting board cleared the last of the fog from his head.
Eyes flicking around the kitchen looking for escape, the young man continued to quietly test the strength of his bonds, hoping he could wiggle his way free. The large woman cast a glance his way, "Hi there, young feller. Guess you'll be staying for dinner?" She laughed loudly and the huge knife came down with a thwonk, splitting a head of cabbage.
Cannibal jokes. Great. Those never go out of style. Xander thought wildly. He decided to play ignorant and gave a weak smile.
"Look, I'm sorry about the trespassing. I was just looking for my dog. He got away from me when I was here earlier. Crazy mutt. So if you'll cut me loose, I'll just get out of your hair. You can give me a call if the pooch turns up."
Velma laughed even louder. "How dumb do you think I am, sonny?"
"Not?" Xander ventured. "Not dumb at all. No. I knew right away when I met you today that you were one smart woman. That's what I said to, um, Doris, 'That Mrs. J is one smart woman!'"
"Shaddap." The wide smile was abruptly extinguished and the woman loomed over him, taking his chin in one ham-sized fist and shaking his head roughly. "Enough chatter or I'll knock you out again."
"Yes, ma'am." Xander fell silent and pondered why he had been taken and Buffy left in the pit. It didn't seem prudent to ask.
He suddenly got a mental image of Bugs Bunny stalling Yosemite Sam by giving him the recipe for Hasenpfeffer, and wondered if he could use a similar ruse to distract his captor, but no, they'd already established that Velma wasn't dumb. His best bet was to keep quiet and watchful for sharp objects that he might be able to use to his advantage.
"Bernie!" the woman suddenly bellowed. "Hurry and process the meat. You can move the car later."
Xander gulped. Maybe now would be a good time to use the Bugs defense after all.
"Uh, Mrs. Joskovitch? I see you're a woman who loves to cook. Have you ever experimented with fresh basil and peppercorn studded rump roast? There's a recipe my mother used to use I think you'd find delightful, very savory and....and piquant."
*********** Faith lifted her weary head from her knees and blinked. What the hell was keeping Harris? And was that her name being called. She could swear she heard a faint......
"Faith!!!" the voice was laced with irritation and borderline panic.
"Yeah! Coming!" She pulled herself to her feet by clutching the tree behind her, switched on her flashlight and shuffled toward Buffy's voice. "Keep callin', B."
"Hurry up! That crazy cannibal's got Xander."
Faith sped up and promptly tripped over a root and fell painfully to her knees. "Shit." She crawled forward a few yards.
"And watch out. I'm in a hole in the ground. Don't fall in," Buffy added.
"The whole damn woods is booby-trapped," Faith muttered as she continued to crawl ahead.
Reaching the pit, she shone her light down on the frustrated and furious Chosen One. "There's a branch up there somewhere. Shove it down here," she commanded.
Faith obediently recovered the deadwood and held it steady while Buffy quickly clambered up. The blond gave Faith's injured ankle a once-over then said, "Look, I hate to ditch you here but Xander's in trouble....."
"You gotta go." Faith agreed. "So go. I'll find my way out eventually." She handed over the flashlight. "Watch out for more traps." Buffy nodded and turned to leave, took about three steps, then sighed and turned back.
"No." She hauled the dark-haired girl up and slung an arm around her waist. "'Never leave a man behind.' Just hobble fast, okay?"
Faith bit back the pain that shot up from her ankle and proceeded to do just that. Sweat poured in her eyes as she struggled along at something less than Slayer speed.
"Uh, do you have any idea where we're headed?" she eventually asked her partner in the three legged race, when they had twisted and turned their way past several huge trees.
"Sure. I'm following the moon," Buffy answered confidently and pointed. "See? Now that the rain's stopped I can see a little light through the clouds every now and then."
"Oh. Okay," Faith shrugged and allowed herself to be pulled along.
The moonlight turned out to be the neon glow of "Tite" in the motel's sign, the "Sleep" part having burnt out long ago. As a beacon for the lost wanderers, it worked, leading them straight to the parking lot, where Xander's car still sat.
Buffy deposited Faith at the edge of the woods, where she would have a good view and a safer position than in the car. "Got your weapons," she asked.
"Coupla stakes and a sharp knife. I'm set."
"Good. I'll scout around."
"Wait." Faith laid a hand on her arm and gestured with the other to the rear of the motel where a dilapidated shed stood. A dark figure was dragging another dark figure from the larger building to the smaller.
Buffy nodded and began to stealthily creep up on Xander and his captor. She could hear her old friend, chattering non-stop. Sounded like he said "Hassenpfeffer". Weird. The door shut behind them as they entered the shed, and she quickly invented and discarded various plans to get Xander out of the place unscathed. Her first impulse was just to burst in, metaphoric guns blazing, but that might only succeed in getting his throat cut faster.
Buffy slipped around the perimeter of the building, looking for a window where she might catch a glimpse of the action inside. It was windowless, of course. She stood for a moment, feeling as helpless and frustrated as if she were still trapped in the pit, then a plan sprang fully-formed in her brain, like a cartoon light bulb going off.
She sprinted toward the motel to secure her hostage.
to be continued...
"This was a bright idea, Buffy," the Slayer thought as she pushed through a tangle of brambles, trying to keep up with the mutt which was, hopefully, leading her to Xander and Faith. No flashlight, no natural sense of direction, and her favorite cream colored pants quickly being shredded, all added up to another fun-filled evening on the Hellmouth. When oh when would she learn to dress down when going on a potentially hazardous mission?
Buffy considered the elements of the Case of the Missing Watcher thus far, as she continued to plunge through the backwoods after the elusive Rufus. Macardle's car had been found abandoned not too far from the creepy Sleep- Tite motel, where he had apparently spent a night. Said motel was run by a very unusual family of....whatever they were, whose daughter carried around a mummified baby as a doll. And Faith and Xander might or might not be lost in the woods. She certainly hoped she was coming to their rescue and not just losing herself while they showed up at the motel looking for her.
At any rate, things weren't looking good for the Watcher. The chances they'd find him alive seemed minimal. She wondered if the Council would send Faith a new Watcher right away, or leave her under Buffy's tutelage for awhile. They said no one could fathom the ways of God, well, God was nothing compared to the labyrinthine mazes of Quentin Travers' mind. Sometimes she thought the secret was that he had no plan at all, just a random series of decisions designed to plague Slayers as much as possible.
An excited whining echoed from somewhere ahead. Buffy slicked back the rain soaked hair from her face and tried to peer through the steady drizzle and the darkness of the forest. She heard a human voice answering the dog....Xander!....and she darted forward. Then, between one second and the next, the ground in front of her disappeared.
******** Xander froze at the sound of something large crashing through the underbrush, one hand firmly grasping Rufus' collar, the cheap plastic leash having torn off somewhere in the woods. Despite the muzzle they had placed on him to keep him quiet, the canine managed to make a hell of a lot of noise, and Xander was afraid it would draw whatever was out there to them like a homing beacon. Unless, whatever was out there was Buffy in which case.....
"Ow!! Xander?" a familiar voice called from somewhere off to the left, and the young man smiled in relief. Rescued!
"Buffy! I'm coming!" he shouted back, struggling to hold the dog, which now seemed determined to lead him to the Slayer. "Stay put, Faith," he called over his shoulder as the animal jerked him off his feet.
"Not goin' anywhere," she responded, huddling into a little ball in the icy rain.
"Wait, Xander, big hole!" He was getting closer to the source of the voice, but it still had a muffled quality to it.
"What?"
"Don't fall in!" she was insisting, and suddenly Buffy's voice was coming from practically under him, and the ground was crumbling away from beneath his foot.
"Jeeze Louise!" He gasped, falling back on his butt, losing his grip on the dog, dropping the flashlight, and scuttling backward from the edge of the abyss. Retrieving the flash, Xander scooched close to the edge of the pit and trained it down inside to reveal the muddy face of his savior.
"Hey," Buffy waved up at him.
"Hey yourself."
"Wanna get me out of here?"
"If you get me out of these damn woods. No more nature hikes for me....ever!"
"Deal." Buffy scrunched up her face. "Except I'm kinda lost myself. Don't lose that dog of yours or we'll be stuck here all night."
"Too late. He already took off again." Xander scanned the woods around him. "Just hold tight, Buff, and let me find a branch or something. We'll have you out in a thrice. What is a 'thrice' anyway?"
"I don't know. Less than a minute, I hope, cause it's getting really soggy and muddy down here."
Xander struggled to snap off a long, dead branch, which looked sturdy enough to hold the Slayer's weight.
"Where's Faith?"
"A few yards over that way.....or that way....I think. She got hurt her leg in a trap so she's kinda out of commission." He finally wrestled the branch apart from the tree and dragged it over to Buffy's prison. "Watch out," he called, as he stepped cautiously toward the edge and poked the makeshift ladder down into the hole.
"Ow! Scratchy!" the blond complained. "Did I mention how much I hate nature?"
"You and me both. Get me back to the safe streets of Sunnydale." Xander turned the flashlight down to illuminate Buffy's progress climbing the brittle tree branch. "Sorry. It's not too sturdy is it?" he remarked, when a bit broke off in her hand and sent the Slayer tumbling back.
"Buffy, you won't believe what we found tonight," he continued. "A whole cemetery's worth of body parts - only without the headstones."
"Mass grave? Why am I not surprised," Buffy grunted as she prepared to ascend again. "That's one majorly dysfunctional family...."
It was the last Xander heard before a searing pain burned through his body, generating out from his midback in waves before reaching his brain and leaving him in blackness.
"Damn, tourists!" Bernie Joskovitch, taser dangling from one hand, nudged Xander's prone body with a mud-caked workboot and spat over the edge of the pit, just missing Buffy's upturned face. The ladder-branch was suddenly pulled back up out of the hole before she could think to snatch at it and the Slayer was left gaping up nothing.
The motel owner reached down and grabbed the unconscious man by one wrist and began dragging him away, while the dog frisked around them both, wanting to join in this fun new game.
"Wait!! What...?!" Buffy yelled, impotently. "Hey!"
She was met by silence except for the rustling of leaves and crackling of branches as the trio moved off through the woods.
"Damn!" The tired, soaked woman leaned against the wall of her prison, then sank down to a crouch. "My job sucks," she muttered, wondering how many times her friends had gotten knocked unconscious in the line of her Slayerly duty. She sighed and waited until all she could hear was the patter of rain, then began screaming for Faith.
******** When Xander regained consciousness, he was instantly aware of the delicious aroma of barbecue sauce causing his stomach to rumble. It'd been a long time since lunch. His eyes flickered open, while his hands and feet strained against the ropes that bound him. He found himself looking at the generous backside of the lovely Mrs. Joskovitch. The sharp sound of her knife hitting a cutting board cleared the last of the fog from his head.
Eyes flicking around the kitchen looking for escape, the young man continued to quietly test the strength of his bonds, hoping he could wiggle his way free. The large woman cast a glance his way, "Hi there, young feller. Guess you'll be staying for dinner?" She laughed loudly and the huge knife came down with a thwonk, splitting a head of cabbage.
Cannibal jokes. Great. Those never go out of style. Xander thought wildly. He decided to play ignorant and gave a weak smile.
"Look, I'm sorry about the trespassing. I was just looking for my dog. He got away from me when I was here earlier. Crazy mutt. So if you'll cut me loose, I'll just get out of your hair. You can give me a call if the pooch turns up."
Velma laughed even louder. "How dumb do you think I am, sonny?"
"Not?" Xander ventured. "Not dumb at all. No. I knew right away when I met you today that you were one smart woman. That's what I said to, um, Doris, 'That Mrs. J is one smart woman!'"
"Shaddap." The wide smile was abruptly extinguished and the woman loomed over him, taking his chin in one ham-sized fist and shaking his head roughly. "Enough chatter or I'll knock you out again."
"Yes, ma'am." Xander fell silent and pondered why he had been taken and Buffy left in the pit. It didn't seem prudent to ask.
He suddenly got a mental image of Bugs Bunny stalling Yosemite Sam by giving him the recipe for Hasenpfeffer, and wondered if he could use a similar ruse to distract his captor, but no, they'd already established that Velma wasn't dumb. His best bet was to keep quiet and watchful for sharp objects that he might be able to use to his advantage.
"Bernie!" the woman suddenly bellowed. "Hurry and process the meat. You can move the car later."
Xander gulped. Maybe now would be a good time to use the Bugs defense after all.
"Uh, Mrs. Joskovitch? I see you're a woman who loves to cook. Have you ever experimented with fresh basil and peppercorn studded rump roast? There's a recipe my mother used to use I think you'd find delightful, very savory and....and piquant."
*********** Faith lifted her weary head from her knees and blinked. What the hell was keeping Harris? And was that her name being called. She could swear she heard a faint......
"Faith!!!" the voice was laced with irritation and borderline panic.
"Yeah! Coming!" She pulled herself to her feet by clutching the tree behind her, switched on her flashlight and shuffled toward Buffy's voice. "Keep callin', B."
"Hurry up! That crazy cannibal's got Xander."
Faith sped up and promptly tripped over a root and fell painfully to her knees. "Shit." She crawled forward a few yards.
"And watch out. I'm in a hole in the ground. Don't fall in," Buffy added.
"The whole damn woods is booby-trapped," Faith muttered as she continued to crawl ahead.
Reaching the pit, she shone her light down on the frustrated and furious Chosen One. "There's a branch up there somewhere. Shove it down here," she commanded.
Faith obediently recovered the deadwood and held it steady while Buffy quickly clambered up. The blond gave Faith's injured ankle a once-over then said, "Look, I hate to ditch you here but Xander's in trouble....."
"You gotta go." Faith agreed. "So go. I'll find my way out eventually." She handed over the flashlight. "Watch out for more traps." Buffy nodded and turned to leave, took about three steps, then sighed and turned back.
"No." She hauled the dark-haired girl up and slung an arm around her waist. "'Never leave a man behind.' Just hobble fast, okay?"
Faith bit back the pain that shot up from her ankle and proceeded to do just that. Sweat poured in her eyes as she struggled along at something less than Slayer speed.
"Uh, do you have any idea where we're headed?" she eventually asked her partner in the three legged race, when they had twisted and turned their way past several huge trees.
"Sure. I'm following the moon," Buffy answered confidently and pointed. "See? Now that the rain's stopped I can see a little light through the clouds every now and then."
"Oh. Okay," Faith shrugged and allowed herself to be pulled along.
The moonlight turned out to be the neon glow of "Tite" in the motel's sign, the "Sleep" part having burnt out long ago. As a beacon for the lost wanderers, it worked, leading them straight to the parking lot, where Xander's car still sat.
Buffy deposited Faith at the edge of the woods, where she would have a good view and a safer position than in the car. "Got your weapons," she asked.
"Coupla stakes and a sharp knife. I'm set."
"Good. I'll scout around."
"Wait." Faith laid a hand on her arm and gestured with the other to the rear of the motel where a dilapidated shed stood. A dark figure was dragging another dark figure from the larger building to the smaller.
Buffy nodded and began to stealthily creep up on Xander and his captor. She could hear her old friend, chattering non-stop. Sounded like he said "Hassenpfeffer". Weird. The door shut behind them as they entered the shed, and she quickly invented and discarded various plans to get Xander out of the place unscathed. Her first impulse was just to burst in, metaphoric guns blazing, but that might only succeed in getting his throat cut faster.
Buffy slipped around the perimeter of the building, looking for a window where she might catch a glimpse of the action inside. It was windowless, of course. She stood for a moment, feeling as helpless and frustrated as if she were still trapped in the pit, then a plan sprang fully-formed in her brain, like a cartoon light bulb going off.
She sprinted toward the motel to secure her hostage.
to be continued...