Buffy stood at the park entrance as she waited for Alexander. The park,
if you could call it a park, was empty. No one ever came to the park;
it was a vast empty place, with a couple of trees, and what could have
once been a seesaw. Even the Thought Police rarely came to this
solidarity location, for there was no one to find here. This fact
caused Buffy to worry about the validity of Alexander's statement
saying he knew how to find Goldstein. Normal people of this society
didn't come here to find a secret hiding place; they had nothing to
hide.

But what could he do to her? She was suspicious, so he couldn't catch
her off guard on a surprise attack. She was infinitely stronger than
him, there was no way he could out muscle her. Plus, she had her
stake with her; she never left home without. Overall, she was safe; it
was Harris that needed to worry.

**

Alexander inhaled as he saw the Slayer standing at the entrance. She
came after all. He had worried that she wouldn't show. Now he had
to worry about what he was going to say to her.

Of everyone in this goddamn society, she was the only one that could
help them overthrow the government. As a Slayer, she had insight of
the Party, she was blessed with supernatural strength, and she was
inside. With her, they could attack, and have it be a big surprise.

The only problem was that she was for the Party. It would take a lot
of convincing to bring her to the Brotherhood. And that was Alexander's
job.

But he wasn't completely hopeless. Despite the corrupt society,
he believed that humanity still was alive. People were just too
afraid to show it. The Slayer, Buffy, she still had humanity- she
had to. He just had to work past the conditioning she has gone through
with the Party. And then, maybe they would have some hope, with their
powerful ally.

Alexander walked to Buffy, his calm facade showing. "Follow me," he
said, and led her to his place.

Alexander had been seven when he discovered his secret hiding place.
His parents had been busy with their Party work, so he left the house,
and went to the abandoned park to play. It was unkempt, the grass had
grown tall, all the flowers had died, and there was virtually no
wildlife around. Alexander occupied his time by walking on the seesaw.
Then he saw it. There was a little rabbit than had emerged from the
grass. Excitedly, Alexander jumped off the seesaw, and starting
chasing it. He hoped that he would catch it, and he could bring it
home as a pet to keep him company. Frightened, the rabbit scurried
off into a midst of trees. Alexander immediately got lost, and could
no longer see traces of the society or park around him. He wandered
in the woods a bit, hoping to find his way out.

Even though the park was dead, there was one spot that was still
thriving. A tiny brook was running; it actually had water in it.
Flowers grew around it, obviously, someone had been taking care of
them. The grass was green, and trimmed, and Alexander found his
rabbit, along with others. There were squirrels, birds, animals that
Alexander had only read about. All the books stated that animals
became extinct after Big Brother came to power.

If the animals weren't extinct, what else was wrong? Were all the
facts about war, that Alexander thought seemed wrong, actually wrong?
Had he been mislead his whole life? As Alexander sat down on a rock,
he knew that this was the turning point of his life. Nothing would
ever be the same.

And as he led the Slayer to the exact same place, that he had since
took the responsibility of taking care of, he hoped the effect it
had on him would be the same for her.

**

Buffy gasped as she was led to Harris's secret spot. It was beautiful.
She had never seen anything so beautiful, so exquisite, so natural
before. There were so many colors, in the flowers, in the birds.
The water was clear, and she thought that she saw a tiny fish
swimming in it. She felt unworthy to step in, as if she would
somehow taint the place that had escaped the cold, sterility of the
society.

"Pretty isn't it?" Alexander's voice said as it ruined the mood and
brought her back to business. Reluctantly, she turned away from the
brook and faced him.

"You had news on Goldstein?" The name left a bitter taste in her
mouth, as memories of the Two Minutes Hate came back to her.

Alexander nodded and took a deep breath. In the next moment he would
either be dead or on the way to bringing down Big Brother. If this,
the power of nature, couldn't reach the Slayer, nothing could. This
was their only chance, until a new one was called. "This is
Goldstein," he gestured to the scene around him. "The plants, the
animals, the beauty of life, it's Goldstein. It represents what life
once was, and how it can be again. It's the only place untouched by
the evilness of society. Goldstein- and the Brotherhood- we're
untouched. This is what we are." He stopped talking and watched
Buffy, waiting for her reaction, and hoping that she wouldn't reach
for her stake.

Buffy felt a lump in her throat, and her eyes were becoming wet. She
was experiencing something- something that kept her from grabbing her
stake and killing this- this vampire. He was part of the Brotherhood,
she had every right to- but why wouldn't she? "Your a vampire," she
accused. "You lied to me!"

On a wild impulse, Alexander grabbed Buffy's wrist and pressed it on
his chest. "Listen- there's a heartbeat. I'm just as human as you,
as the Party is, and even more so. We are not vampires. If they
ever existed, I suspect they're long gone by now- to escape the
evilness of our government. You're only a pawn to Big Brother; he's
using you to kill humans that are his opposition. Feel the heartbeat!
It's there, it's beating for generations long gone, and for generations
we hope to bring back."

Buffy yanked her hand out of his grasp and looked at him in shock.
"I've been killing humans? Th- they told me they were monsters!"
Buffy gasped and kneeled down and threw up, horrified at her own
actions. She started crying, crying for the people she killed, for
the blindness that was just lifted off her. Suddenly she saw the
world for what it used to be, and it was better than the world is now.
Here, people wouldn't be hired to kill innocent little animals. Here-
things would be different.

She stood and faced Alexander, and took the stake out of her pocket.
His eyes widened in fear, but relaxed as she threw the stake in the
brook. Hopefully it would be washed away, and never to be seen
again.

"I guess we have to talk," Alexander replied.

And they did.