Hunted
Episode 17
Axel's Basement, AKA the Hellmouth:
"You can't be here!" Andrew shouted, "You're dead! Buffy killed you!"
"Come on, Andrew," Jonathan said, "We'll be gods soon enough."
"I'm not falling for your stupid tricks again," Andrew told him, "I know who you are, you're the First."
Andrew was hanging from a large wheel, with an upside-down start carved in it. He was suspended above what looked like the Seal of Danthalzar. He had just been walking the streets of downtown Haynesville when he was attacked by Bringers. He had been knocked out and when he awoke, he was here.
He was surrounded by Bringers. They all heard daggers. Andrew shuddered. He wondered what they were going to do to him. But he decided whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing.
"What do you need me for?" he questioned.
"To bring forth a little power," Jonathan said, quickly shifting into Warren, "You'll like them. You've seen them before."
"Ubervamps," Andrew muttered.
"That's right," Warren replied, "My Turok-Han will help me wipe out the rest of the slayer line."
The Bringers stepped closer, raising their daggers. Suddenly, a dagger was inserted into Andrew's chest. He screamed in pain. More Bringers stepped forward and began carving little symbols into Andrew's chest, much like they had done to Spike before.
As soon as they were done carving they hoisted the circle above the seal. Andrew was unconscious now. His blood dripped from his wounds to the seal below. The blood filled up the design and the seal began to open.
Several Turok-Han climbed up out of the seal. There were ten in all. The growled ferociously. Warren stepped forward to meet them.
"Now my vampires go out and destroy the rest of the girls. Leave only her alive!" he exclaimed.
The vampire ran off into the darkness. Warren stood there, with the Bringers, staring at the unconscious form of Andrew. He smirked.
"Once he awakens," he began, "Throw him out."
Giles's Apartment:
Buffy and Giles were seated in his apartment. It was getting dark outside. Buffy would have to go out patrolling soon. Giles had changed his mind and decided to allow Buffy to go out patrolling alone. Buffy was glad that he had.
They were discussing everything that had been happening lately. It puzzled both of them that the First had come back and was still going after the slayer line. The First had told Buffy that it was not going to get involve with the goddess. But then it had come back for some reason.
Buffy had recovered a little from the other day. She had finally gotten some sleep. Willow had let her stay at her place since Kennedy left. She slept for two days straight and was well refreshed. She was ready to go back out slaying.
Buffy rose to her feet, ready to go. She knocked a newspaper on the ground as she moved. She made her way to the door.
"I'll see you later, Giles," Buffy said, opening the door.
"Hold on a second," Giles told her.
Buffy stopped and glanced towards Giles. He picked up the newspaper that she had knocked over and was reading it.
"What is it, Giles?" Buffy questioned.
"Something has arrived in town," Giles informed, "Look at this."
Buffy walked back over and picked up the newspaper. She glanced down at the headline and the picture that went along with it. The picture showed a girl who had been mauled.
"What could have done that?" Buffy asked.
"Well on occasion, a werewolf would do something like that. I think that may well be what did this," Giles answered.
"Looks like I've got a mission tonight," Buffy said, "I'm going werewolf hunting."
The Outskirts of Haynesville:
This was an unfamiliar place to Buffy. She hadn't been here before. And now she knew why. She could smell the swamps as she grew closer. She hated the smell already. She had to be there though. This is where the werewolf had been sighted. And she knew that this was where it had to be.
She gripped flashlight tightly as she walked towards the wooded, swamp area. Her job wasn't to kill the creature. It was to catch it and help it. She knew she didn't have much time to find this thing. There was only three nights of a full moon and she had two left. She knew if she didn't find it tonight, there'd be more pressure the next night.
She zipped up her jacket and kept walking. Just as she stepped off the road, she felt something cold touch her foot. She glanced down and realized she had stepped in the swamp.
"Just great," she mumbled to herself.
She walked around a little until she found a path through the swamp. The ground was hard enough to walk on. She was grateful for that. She walked deeper into the woods. The only light came from the full moon. Her flashlight shone off the trees and the dark, murky swamp waters.
That's when she heard a howl. She shone the flashlight in that direction. The werewolf sat head up towards the full moon. The flashlight glistened off its eye. Its head snapped in Buffy's direction. It broke into a full run towards her.
Buffy reached into her pocket and pulled out a tranquilizer gun. She had one chance to hit her target. If she missed, the werewolf would get her. She couldn't screw this one up or it was over.
She aimed the tranquilizer at the werewolf. It was getting closer and closer. She had to wait for the right moment. Suddenly, something tackled the werewolf. Both creatures landed in the swamp. Buffy jumped back, startled.
The werewolf was then tossed through the air. It landed, wounded, on its side, whimpering loudly. Buffy aimed the tranquilizer at it, but soon realized that it posed no threat anymore. Her attention shifted to whatever had attacked the werewolf. She pulled out a stake and gripped it tightly.
The figure rose to its feet, growling ferociously. It charged Buffy, knocking her into the swamps. It was shoving her under the water, trying to drown her. Buffy used her feet, and pushed the figure off of her. She climbed out of the water, looking for the figure.
She glanced around, searching for it. Her eyes stopped on something. The werewolf had transformed back into human form. She gasped. There lay Oz, an old friend of the gang's. He lay there, naked, in the dirt.
Buffy heard growling and looked towards her left. The figure stood there, growling menacingly. It stepped into the light and Buffy stared in horror. The Turok-Han stepped closer towards her. Buffy knew she was in trouble now. She didn't know what she was going to do with Oz either.
The Ubervamp charged her, knocking her back into the swamps. The vampire reached down and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her out of the waters. It lifted her high above the ground, strengthening its grip. Buffy struggled violently. It was no use; she just couldn't break the vampire's grip.
Her vision began to get blurry. This was it, the end for her. She was in the middle of the swamps. There was no one around to save her or Oz. She didn't save him, she failed. In a few moments, everything got dark.
Giles's Apartment:
Buffy's eyes opened. She didn't know where she was. All she knew was that her neck hurt like crazy. Wait, hadn't she been in the swamps? She was now in a room somewhere. The last thing that she remembered was being held by the Ubervamp. She remembered that Oz had been attacked by it when he was in werewolf form. She wondered where he was.
"Where's Oz?" Buffy questioned, sitting up.
"Buffy!" Xander exclaimed, "You're awake!"
He came walking over to the bed Buffy was lying on. He was the only one in the room with her.
"What happened, Xander?" Buffy asked.
"Faith saved you," he replied, "She scared off the Ubervamp and brought you back here."
"Where's Oz?" Buffy questioned.
"Oh, I guess you must have seen him before you passed out," Xander replied.
He turned and walked away. He disappeared into the hallway. Buffy wondered where he was going, but didn't ask.
"Hey B," Faith said, coming into the room, "Told ya I'd be back."
Buffy smiled. Faith had come back, just as she said she would. Now she had power back in the gang again. She was definitely going to need Faith in this one.
Buffy climbed out of the bed. Her and Faith left the room and headed into the apartment's living room. The others were there, Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz, and the remaining potential slayers. Buffy was surprises to see them all there.
"Buffy," Giles said, "I'm glad to see that you're okay."
"So what happened?" Buffy asked, "I thought I was done for."
"It's actually quite a miracle that you're still alive. You're very lucky that Faith came along," Giles told her.
"What brought you to the swamps, Faith?" Buffy asked.
"I found Oz," Faith replied, "in Chicago. We were kind of helping each other out, sorting out our problems and all. Then last month, during the full moon, he got out. I've been hunting him ever since. Following would probably be a better word for that."
"Something was calling to me," Oz added, "I can feel it even when I'm not a werewolf."
"I followed him back here," Faith went on, "It took me a while to find him. I finally traced him to the swamps. When I got there, I saw Oz, in human form, lying on the ground, injured, and I saw you, being strangled by the Ubervamp. I beat it up a little and it took off. I called Giles, and he and Xander came and we brought you and Oz back here."
"You've been here for a while?" Willow questioned.
"About a week," Faith replied.
"And you didn't come to us for help?" Giles asked.
"I figured you guys had enough on your minds now. And I could handle Oz. I wanted to wait until Oz was back to normal before I came back here," she told them.
The group was silent for a little bit. Buffy was surprised that the potentials were being quiet. They sure had grown up over the past several months. It had been a while since she had seen them all.
"For all of you that haven't really been around lately," Buffy began, "I have a very bad news."
Everyone's attention focused on her. She was going to tell them all what had been going on. She had to tell them what they were going to face eventually.
"There is a new evil afoot," she went on, "An ancient, powerful evil; much more powerful than the First. It could destroy this whole world in the blink of an eye. She is a goddess, the Goddess of Evil to be more exact."
There was now a look of horror on the girls' faces. They were terrified. They all thought that they'd be safe here in Haynesville. Now Buffy was telling them that something more powerful was gong to take them out.
"Also, the First Evil is acting up again," Buffy continued, "It is again attempting to wipe out the slayer line. It wants to kill me before the goddess does. There seems to be some kind of unfriendly competition between the two."
The gang got quiet again and serious. They all knew what Buffy was preparing to tell them. They didn't want her to say it; they didn't want to hear it.
"I'm sorry to say this," Buffy began, "I don't wanna say it. But this really is the end. It was hard enough fighting the First. This time we have no clue what we're going up against. We don't know anything about it. We don't know how to fight it. We can't fight her, she's too powerful. But we can try. We can fight until the end, until we all die. And in the end, we all will. There is no savior. We are all going to die. And there's nothing any of us can do to stop it."