Part 7
#
Buffy, Faith, Giles, Xander, and Spike entered the main area of the Initiative base, which Buffy remembered vaguely. A large staging area, the big laboratory pit in the middle, lots of corridors leading off into other parts of the base.
Nothing much remained except the bare outline. The explosion had melted most of the walls and the myriad equipment Buffy remembered seeing in her brief memory flashes were completely gone. Everything looked molten and scorched.
By some small miracle they had not met anymore people once they had entered the base. Apparently the place was empty for the night, the only people Spike's sense of smell could pick up where some more guards, who stood well outside the base proper.
"About time we get lucky for once," Buffy muttered.
Giles looked around the devastated area. It looked different than the place he had seen Buffy in during his nightmares these last two weeks. Nightmares of these people torturing and hurting his Slayer while he stood helpless, unable to protect her.
Xander saw the grim look on Giles' face and guessed what was going through his head. He had never met this Riley guy or this professor Walsh, he just wished they were here right now so they could pay for what they did to his best friend. Never in his life had he been so relieved as when Faith and he had found Buffy alive two weeks ago. He just hoped that this ugly chapter would be closed tonight. After everything that happened Buffy deserved some downtime.
Faith tried to remember if she had seen this place or any parts of it in her dream. She was still trying to make sense of it. Some parts had come through. Angel's appearance, her own involvement in helping Buffy, looking up Giles. She still didn't know, though, what the deal was with Buffy eating little faces and wearing a crimson skintight bodysuit. Or why Spike had sucked on that wound in her belly. She would make sure, at the very least, that the bleached Vampire died before he got the opportunity to do that.
Spike looked around, recognizing this as the place where had escaped through after having his chip implanted. The chip that, even now, forced him to play nice with the Slayer. As much fun as it was to see her so distraught, he wanted her dead. Dead at his hands. That meant getting rid of this chip. Maybe he could find something down here to help in that endeavor.
Buffy saw the place where something had been done to her and memories flashed through her head.
Walsh.
The witch with her glowing hands.
Burning people with empty eyes.
Fire everywhere.
A glimpse of Riley, the back-stabbing traitor, tumbling down the metal stairway near the elevator, also on fire.
Something was missing, she realized. Something incredibly important she had seen during this nightmare, something that she had somehow pushed away and forgotten.
"Anne?" she murmured to herself, somehow hoping that the artificial intelligence would help her now, when there was no way back.
I told you not to come here, Anne whispered in an incredibly sad voice.
"Why? I need to know the truth, Anne. You're not telling me, so I have to find out on my own."
You ever consider that there are some truths that are much better off not known?
"What are you talking about?" Buffy demanded, but no more answer was forthcoming from the voice inside her head. What did Anne mean? What truth was so terrible that it should remain hidden from her? What had happened to her down here?
"Damn, I hate this," Spike muttered.
"What?"
"The smell," Spike answered her. "Burned flesh. Not a drop of blood left in those scorched corpses. You'd think with a blowout this big there would be some dead people lying around that still had a bit of blood for me."
"You'd snack on the dead?" Faith asked him. "You really are pathetic."
"Welcome to the club, Ms. I-want-to-repent-for-my-sins-like-the-big-poof- Slayer. Come to think of it, we'd make a great team. You kill the humans, I suck their blood."
Buffy saw Faith freeze at Spike's words, could see them slashing right through the brittle walls of self-esteem she had built back up these last two weeks.
"Shut the hell up, Spike!" Buffy punched him in the face hard enough to take him off his feet. She went right past him and touched a frozen Faith on the shoulder, causing the other Slayer to jump.
"Don't listen to him, okay?" Buffy told her. "Since he can't bite people anymore he has to get his jollies another way."
Faith nodded, but Buffy could see that her wounds had been torn open again. The dark Slayer wanted to make amends for her mistakes, Buffy believed that by now. And Buffy would help her do it.
As soon as she had found out what had happened to her down here.
"I don't see any bodies," Xander said, looking around. "Which kinda makes me glad, actually."
"They probably took the corpses away already," Giles nodded. "Though I can't imagine there will be much left of them. From the looks of those walls, the temperatures in here must have been enormous."
He didn't say it, but Buffy heard him anyway. How had she survived this? How had she managed to get out of here without so much as a scratch? She didn't know. She remembered being on fire, but there hadn't been a single burn mark on here by the time she had regained her consciousness.
She needed to know.
Spike had struggled back to his feet, looking pissed, but keeping his mouth shut for the moment. Buffy remembered what he had said a moment ago.
"You still smell the bodies?" she asked him. "Are they still here somewhere?"
"Yeah," Spike replied sourly. "Smell comes from over there. Probably stashed the whole lot in a meat locker or something."
Buffy looked in the direction he indicated. The far corner of the main staging area held some container-like structures that had clearly been brought here after the explosion.
"We should take a look." Before anyone could protest she set off at a brisk pace. The others caught up with her by the time she reached the first of the containers.
"In here?" she asked Spike.
"Yeah. Better hold your breath, kitten!"
Spike wrenched the door open and Faith, Giles, and Xander flinched back as the nauseating stench of scorched flesh and decay came at them. Cold air was trailing out of the container in vapors, but it did little to curb the stench.
"God," Xander groaned.
Interestingly enough Buffy found herself not bothered by the smell. Shouldn't a smell like that cause her insides to heave or something?
The inside of the container held several rows of bodies, all of them covered with white sheets. Some of the outlines under the sheets seemed much too small to be human bodies, though, as if parts of them were missing. Some sheets had sunken into gaping holes and gotten soaked with fluids Buffy didn't want to think about.
"Buffy, maybe we shouldn't ...," Giles began.
Without waiting for him to finish Buffy walked into the container, the freezing temperature and the stench not bothering her in the least, and began ripping the sheets away. Some came away with a horrible slurping sound, sometimes taking pieces of molten flesh with them. Buffy didn't pay attention, she just looked at the faces.
No, Buffy! I beg you ..., Anne's voice rang out inside her, but Buffy ignored it.
Remains of faces. Remains of human features, destroyed by the fire. Some of them were still intact, at least in part, and she recognized quite a few. People she had seen at Riley's frat house or wandering around campus. Initiative soldiers, all of them. All dead.
"Buffy, please ...," Giles said from the entrance.
"Buffy, stop this," a new voice rang out. Buffy looked up just as she tore another sheet away, seeing a familiar shape fill the entrance of the container, pushing Giles aside.
"Angel?" she asked softly.
"Buffy, let's get out of here before ..." His voice trailed off, his eyes going past her. She heard Giles gasp, looking in the same direction.
Buffy looked down, clutching the white sheet she had ripped off the body by her side. A body that was scorched an ugly black from top to bottom, the skin almost completely gone, the insides so much coal and ashes.
Perversely a part of the body was almost undamaged. Part of one arm, a bit of the chest, and the face. Parts of the face. Remains of the face. A face that was familiar. So very familiar that, for a moment, Buffy couldn't quite comprehend what she was seeing.
"Oh my God!" she heard someone mutter.
She knew that face. Knew those dead, empty eyes staring up at her.
Buffy looked down at the remains of her own face, her own body, and the only sound she heard was Anne, weeping inside her head.
TO BE CONCLUDED
#
Buffy, Faith, Giles, Xander, and Spike entered the main area of the Initiative base, which Buffy remembered vaguely. A large staging area, the big laboratory pit in the middle, lots of corridors leading off into other parts of the base.
Nothing much remained except the bare outline. The explosion had melted most of the walls and the myriad equipment Buffy remembered seeing in her brief memory flashes were completely gone. Everything looked molten and scorched.
By some small miracle they had not met anymore people once they had entered the base. Apparently the place was empty for the night, the only people Spike's sense of smell could pick up where some more guards, who stood well outside the base proper.
"About time we get lucky for once," Buffy muttered.
Giles looked around the devastated area. It looked different than the place he had seen Buffy in during his nightmares these last two weeks. Nightmares of these people torturing and hurting his Slayer while he stood helpless, unable to protect her.
Xander saw the grim look on Giles' face and guessed what was going through his head. He had never met this Riley guy or this professor Walsh, he just wished they were here right now so they could pay for what they did to his best friend. Never in his life had he been so relieved as when Faith and he had found Buffy alive two weeks ago. He just hoped that this ugly chapter would be closed tonight. After everything that happened Buffy deserved some downtime.
Faith tried to remember if she had seen this place or any parts of it in her dream. She was still trying to make sense of it. Some parts had come through. Angel's appearance, her own involvement in helping Buffy, looking up Giles. She still didn't know, though, what the deal was with Buffy eating little faces and wearing a crimson skintight bodysuit. Or why Spike had sucked on that wound in her belly. She would make sure, at the very least, that the bleached Vampire died before he got the opportunity to do that.
Spike looked around, recognizing this as the place where had escaped through after having his chip implanted. The chip that, even now, forced him to play nice with the Slayer. As much fun as it was to see her so distraught, he wanted her dead. Dead at his hands. That meant getting rid of this chip. Maybe he could find something down here to help in that endeavor.
Buffy saw the place where something had been done to her and memories flashed through her head.
Walsh.
The witch with her glowing hands.
Burning people with empty eyes.
Fire everywhere.
A glimpse of Riley, the back-stabbing traitor, tumbling down the metal stairway near the elevator, also on fire.
Something was missing, she realized. Something incredibly important she had seen during this nightmare, something that she had somehow pushed away and forgotten.
"Anne?" she murmured to herself, somehow hoping that the artificial intelligence would help her now, when there was no way back.
I told you not to come here, Anne whispered in an incredibly sad voice.
"Why? I need to know the truth, Anne. You're not telling me, so I have to find out on my own."
You ever consider that there are some truths that are much better off not known?
"What are you talking about?" Buffy demanded, but no more answer was forthcoming from the voice inside her head. What did Anne mean? What truth was so terrible that it should remain hidden from her? What had happened to her down here?
"Damn, I hate this," Spike muttered.
"What?"
"The smell," Spike answered her. "Burned flesh. Not a drop of blood left in those scorched corpses. You'd think with a blowout this big there would be some dead people lying around that still had a bit of blood for me."
"You'd snack on the dead?" Faith asked him. "You really are pathetic."
"Welcome to the club, Ms. I-want-to-repent-for-my-sins-like-the-big-poof- Slayer. Come to think of it, we'd make a great team. You kill the humans, I suck their blood."
Buffy saw Faith freeze at Spike's words, could see them slashing right through the brittle walls of self-esteem she had built back up these last two weeks.
"Shut the hell up, Spike!" Buffy punched him in the face hard enough to take him off his feet. She went right past him and touched a frozen Faith on the shoulder, causing the other Slayer to jump.
"Don't listen to him, okay?" Buffy told her. "Since he can't bite people anymore he has to get his jollies another way."
Faith nodded, but Buffy could see that her wounds had been torn open again. The dark Slayer wanted to make amends for her mistakes, Buffy believed that by now. And Buffy would help her do it.
As soon as she had found out what had happened to her down here.
"I don't see any bodies," Xander said, looking around. "Which kinda makes me glad, actually."
"They probably took the corpses away already," Giles nodded. "Though I can't imagine there will be much left of them. From the looks of those walls, the temperatures in here must have been enormous."
He didn't say it, but Buffy heard him anyway. How had she survived this? How had she managed to get out of here without so much as a scratch? She didn't know. She remembered being on fire, but there hadn't been a single burn mark on here by the time she had regained her consciousness.
She needed to know.
Spike had struggled back to his feet, looking pissed, but keeping his mouth shut for the moment. Buffy remembered what he had said a moment ago.
"You still smell the bodies?" she asked him. "Are they still here somewhere?"
"Yeah," Spike replied sourly. "Smell comes from over there. Probably stashed the whole lot in a meat locker or something."
Buffy looked in the direction he indicated. The far corner of the main staging area held some container-like structures that had clearly been brought here after the explosion.
"We should take a look." Before anyone could protest she set off at a brisk pace. The others caught up with her by the time she reached the first of the containers.
"In here?" she asked Spike.
"Yeah. Better hold your breath, kitten!"
Spike wrenched the door open and Faith, Giles, and Xander flinched back as the nauseating stench of scorched flesh and decay came at them. Cold air was trailing out of the container in vapors, but it did little to curb the stench.
"God," Xander groaned.
Interestingly enough Buffy found herself not bothered by the smell. Shouldn't a smell like that cause her insides to heave or something?
The inside of the container held several rows of bodies, all of them covered with white sheets. Some of the outlines under the sheets seemed much too small to be human bodies, though, as if parts of them were missing. Some sheets had sunken into gaping holes and gotten soaked with fluids Buffy didn't want to think about.
"Buffy, maybe we shouldn't ...," Giles began.
Without waiting for him to finish Buffy walked into the container, the freezing temperature and the stench not bothering her in the least, and began ripping the sheets away. Some came away with a horrible slurping sound, sometimes taking pieces of molten flesh with them. Buffy didn't pay attention, she just looked at the faces.
No, Buffy! I beg you ..., Anne's voice rang out inside her, but Buffy ignored it.
Remains of faces. Remains of human features, destroyed by the fire. Some of them were still intact, at least in part, and she recognized quite a few. People she had seen at Riley's frat house or wandering around campus. Initiative soldiers, all of them. All dead.
"Buffy, please ...," Giles said from the entrance.
"Buffy, stop this," a new voice rang out. Buffy looked up just as she tore another sheet away, seeing a familiar shape fill the entrance of the container, pushing Giles aside.
"Angel?" she asked softly.
"Buffy, let's get out of here before ..." His voice trailed off, his eyes going past her. She heard Giles gasp, looking in the same direction.
Buffy looked down, clutching the white sheet she had ripped off the body by her side. A body that was scorched an ugly black from top to bottom, the skin almost completely gone, the insides so much coal and ashes.
Perversely a part of the body was almost undamaged. Part of one arm, a bit of the chest, and the face. Parts of the face. Remains of the face. A face that was familiar. So very familiar that, for a moment, Buffy couldn't quite comprehend what she was seeing.
"Oh my God!" she heard someone mutter.
She knew that face. Knew those dead, empty eyes staring up at her.
Buffy looked down at the remains of her own face, her own body, and the only sound she heard was Anne, weeping inside her head.
TO BE CONCLUDED