CHAPTER NINETEEN: ESCAPE
She awoke with a groan and a slight sense of complete panic. Of course, the panicking wasn't exactly a new thing for her. For the last month though, she hadn't ever just woken up naturally. Her usual awakenings was being hit, kicked or raped. Sometimes a combination of all three.
Waking up in a bed with blankets seemed so…natural, and yet so completely out of place. She had never got used to being subjected to the torture that dozens of vampires had inflicted on her, but it seemed so strange to suddenly be free of that. She wouldn't wish it to be any other way.
To say that she was confused was an understatement. She had been rescued by a vampire who, by all rights, should have been one of the creatures tormenting her, not helping her. She didn't really want to sit around and ponder that thought for too long though.
The vampire had said that they were in California, and she racked her brain trying to remember what town he had called in. Sunnyvale? Dale? It sounded somewhat familiar.
She swallowed hard and sat up in her bed, trying desperately to ignore the incessant pounding in her head. She shakily pulled out the IV lines that were attached to her arms and swung herself around to swing her legs over the bed. She vaguely noticed that she seemed to be incredibly clean. There were bandages over every bite mark that riddled her body, stitches on the cuts that were worse. Her hair had been washed and combed and her fingernails even seemed to have been cleaned.
It took nearly five minutes before she was standing properly, still a little shaky, but far more stable than she had been on the first attempt. She looked down at the hospital garment, the first piece of clothing she had worn in over three weeks. On the chair next to the bed was a leather coat with blood stains on it. Without knowing how she knew, she could tell the blood was hers.
She picked up the coat and pulled it around her small frame, buttoning it quickly. She straightened her hair out and made a dash for the door, not stopping for anyone or anything until she was out of the hospital.
She began to breathe easier when she stepped into the sunlight. It was something that had been denied to her for a month now, and the feel of its warmth surrounding her took her by surprise. She hadn't realised how much she had missed the sunlight.
Walking aimlessly, she stumbled upon the shopping centre, a neon sign advertising it to be Sunnydale Mall. She shoved her hands into the pockets of the leather coat and pulled out small bits and pieces, surprised to see a few hundreds and fifty dollar notes. Feeling only slightly guilty, she counted it and walked into the first store she found.
Twenty minutes later, the hospital garment had been discarded, and she had fitted herself with a pair of dark denim jeans and a red button up shirt. With even less guilt, she had purchased a matching denim jacket and a pair of black boots.
She stopped at the supermarket and purchased smaller items, a toothbrush, a hairbrush as well as something small to eat. Before the horror of the last month, she had been studying to be a nurse and was thus well versed on the human body and re-acclimating it to normality.
She sighed at the thought. As though she could ever be normal again. Not only was she stuck with very little money left from an anonymous person's jacket, but she was trapped in a foreign country with no passport, no visa, and no identity.
With that depressing thought in mind, she walked out of the mall and back into the sun.
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Buffy walked into the hospital and up to the reception area, trying to wait patiently until the receptionist was off the phone.
"Can I help you?"
"Uh yeah. I uh…there was a girl brought in last night, she was…she was hurt pretty badly. My friend William and I brought her in. She uh…she was in room twelve. I was just wondering if you knew how she was," Buffy said quietly.
The young woman behind the counter looked down at her computer screen and then glanced back up at Buffy.
"She seems to be healing rather well. We've still yet to determine who she is though."
Buffy nodded thoughtfully.
"So, she's not awake yet?"
"A doctor's not scheduled to check on her for another five
minutes, and…seeing as she hasn't pressed the call-button for help, I'd say
she's still sleeping."
Buffy nodded and quickly said thanks, walking down the hall towards the room she had slept in last night. Before she could reach the door, she saw a doctor and a nurse head in first, and she figured she should probably wait outside until they were finished.
She hadn't counted on the medical pair rushing out two seconds later.
"How can she just be missing?" the nurse asked frantically.
Buffy didn't even hear the doctor's reply. All she felt was a sick feeling in her gut. The hospital was a public place, one that vampires had full access to. If word had got out that the Watcher's 'pet' had been rescued and hospitalised, chances were that any vamps who had been utilising said 'pet' wouldn't be thrilled with the sudden lack of her services.
Without even realising it, she had turned around and strode out into the sunshine, once again heading back towards Spike's crypt.
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"She's missing," Buffy announced, throwing the crypt door open with flourish.
"Missing? The chit from the hospital?"
"I went to visit her, but she wasn't there," Buffy explained.
Spike stood up from his recliner and turned his television off.
"They let her out of there, just like that?" Spike asked incredulously, wondering why people had such faith in the medical system.
"She wasn't let out. She just wasn't there. The doctor who was meant to be looking after her is pretty much in hysterics. They still didn't know who she was either," Buffy explained.
Spike ran a nervous hand through his hair, hating that he cared so much about someone he knew absolutely nothing about.
"Where the hell would she have gone?"
"That's what I'm worried about," Buffy replied, stealing his seat in the recliner. Spike scowled but let her take it, making his way over to the sarcophagus and seating himself on it cross-legged. "What if she was taken again?"
Spike considered that thought fairly seriously for a moment and then shook his head.
"I don't think so. She knew without a doubt that I was a vamp, and…well, as vampire's go, I'm not exactly all fangy and obvious about it. She could tell what I was. She wouldn't have let a vamp close enough to her. Probably scarpered off the second she got a chance."
"But where? It's not like she had any idea where she is? She's got no money, no clothes. God, I can't even imagine the hell that she must be going through."
Spike looked away at that. He could still hear her quiet voice from only two weeks ago. Everything I feel, everything I touch…this is Hell.
"I want to find her. I just…I don't even know where to start. I didn't really get too good a look at her last night," Buffy continued.
Spike thought for a moment and groaned audibly.
"What?"
"She's got my bloody coat," Spike said angrily. "I left it at the hospital. That's probably how she walked out of there. She was a tiny chit, only a little bigger than you. That bloody coat woulda been massive on the likes of her. S'got about four hundred quid in the pockets as well."
Buffy looked a little surprised at that. She had never really thought about Spike and money before. He had always bugged Giles about finances, but he had never struck her as the type of vampire who didn't have money. Probably Angelus' influence.
"So…she's got money then. She's probably gone shopping with it, bought some clothes. Maybe something to eat. I'll go check out the mall, see if I can see her there. Hopefully she'll still be wearing you're ratty old duster."
"Ratty? That's a bloody priceless jacket," Spike cried indignantly.
She just rolled her eyes and left the crypt, wondering not for the first time, why Spike was such a different vampire from every other vampire she had ever slain. It didn't make sense. Although, as long as he continued being one of the white hats, it didn't really need to make sense.