Note: Just got back from vacation, or I would have posted some more chapters sooner. I worked on it over vacation though, so lots to post.
Slayerfan—Thanks for all the support; Imzadi—he's coming very soon, be surprised, and you are right; Insane Sketchbook—I can't kill them off. At least not in this fic. Give me time though; Steph—Yeah, you are so totally right! That is what I've been having trouble with. I know. Sometimes I'm so much in a hurry to get to the big finale, I lose it about 2/3 of the way through. You are so in tune. I'm trying; Maineiac—thanks so much for sticking with it. I'm having so much fun; Delta-negative—yeah, new reviewer. I like new people.
I hope there are others who are reading. This is taking a long time to wrap up, I know. I'm already on to two other fics that are in the planning/first chapter stages. So please stick with while I work out my demons too. Read, enjoy, review!!
Chapter Fourteen – Visitors
The explosion happened so quickly, Wesley didn't have time to make it back to the building where Faith and Lorne had continued talking. He was flung to the ground by the blast. Then the shouting started. They'd never know who was friend and who was the enemy with all the demons and humans running around.
Riley pulled him up off the ground. "We need to roll. Grab Faith and that green demon."
Wesley ran for the building, only for Faith and Lorne to almost mow him down coming out the door. "We have visitors."
"And you think they could knock instead of blowing the place up," Lorne added, none too pleased. "You guys must be hot."
"Just little old us and a pack of slayers and soldiers." Faith was still blocking him somewhat. He didn't know how she was doing it. But he could see her worry etched on her face.
"We need to go. Lorne?" Another explosion rocked the compound.
"I can't leave. Believe it or not, I've become attached to these people. They didn't do anything other than get the hell out of Dodge."
"Then we stay and we fight," Faith chimed in. Which could ruin the whole mission, he thought. But could he sacrifice one group for the greater good?
"We can't do that, Wes." Faith shook her head no.
"No, we can't."
Giles and Riley were frantically trying to set up both the slayers and the soldiers to defend the makeshift city from an invasion. Wesley ran for the nearest vehicle, which had Giles and Riley crouched down beside it. It just seemed that every time something was going right, then all hell would break loose.
"We fight," Wesley announced as he came upon the two.
"We don't have a choice. Our escape route's blocked. My guys are working their way to that ridge above, see where this attack is coming from." Soldier Riley was in action now.
Most of the other people and demons had fallen back to the very end of the city. Time was crucial, Wesley thought. Another explosion rocked the makeshift barrier.
"Once they're through, the girls can help," Giles added.
"Not if they have guns." Wesley did not want to put their young lives on the line that way.
As if on cue, the barrier crumbled. Demons pored in from all sides, some with weapons, but most with superior strength.
"Hope you brought enough firepower," Wesley inquired with the Major.
"Time to find out." Riley motioned for his men to fire. Since the SUVs were bulletproof, they provided excellent cover.
As Dawn ran by, Faith pulled her down undercover of an abandoned car. "Go with the others, Dawn. No arguments."
"Just what I was going to do. What about you?"
"Waitin' for the boss to give the signal." A human ran by their hiding place, a demon hot on his heels. "Signal." Faith ran into the chaos to help. That was what she did. She helped people. Making that mistake of killing those humans hadn't changed the fact that was her job. And she'd work until the day she died trying to prove it.
So many demons made it hard for her to distinguish between friend and foe. Since most of the refugees hung back, that made her job much easier. She'd finish with one to have another one barreling down on top of her. No time to think, she threw kicks and punches at anything that moved.
What she hadn't counted on was seeing Dawn in the fray. Two mean looking Fyral demons had cornered Dawn and a few of the refugees against a building. Dawn had her knife out, slashing at the monsters, holding them at bay. That wouldn't last very long.
Faith threw off the next demon that dove for her, as she ran towards Dawn. Which meant she hadn't sensed two more huge demons coming up from behind. Dawn waved at her to look out, but they were on her in an instant. Faith took one down by breaking its kneecap, if you could call it that, making it topple. The other one wasn't so fragile, crashing her to the ground.
The last thing she thought before she blacked out was, "Fuck, that hurt." Then her world tumbled under.
The gun battle had changed to hand-to-hand combat. Wesley didn't have time to think, much less search for Faith and the others. There were just too many of them.
Although fighting with his fists had never been his specialty, the extra strength from Faith made keeping his head a top his body much easier. But at some point in time he knew his body would not be able to take the punishment Faith's did every time she came upon a creature like the ones he faced. He just wasn't built for it, borrowed abilities aside.
To his right, he saw one of the slayers go down in a fight against an evil looking beast with four arms. Rushing over to help her, he noticed that she was beyond anything. The thing had snapped her neck. A child fighting on the front lines of a hideous war made his blood run cold.
Taking out his pistol, he shot two bullets into the back of the creature's skull, watching it fall to the ground. No time to mourn the girl, he turned to take on another when the pain hit, bringing him to his knees. Then his knees gave out too. Lying on the ground, demons stepped on and over him, thinking that he had died. He couldn't move his limbs, for at that moment he was watching from afar some thing drag Faith off. He felt every rock, every bump that her body was subjected to.
Faith was either dead, or would be very shortly and he couldn't do a damn thing other than watch it happen.
TBC
