Xander-Hog Day 3
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners...not me.
Well as you can imagine, THAT loop would stay with me a while, and I could have spent a dozen of two loops figuring out things. I mean, even after the spell was over, only the excessive drinking was a problem, and wow, the whole insight into the adults...
I looked in my book and wondered again at what I was missing...and I thought I found in the list Willow helped me with...a man who could help me out with my shooting skills, and maybe help with the confidence. The music in my head was amazing, as songs I'd heard on the radio, country and otherwise were suddenly being recomposed for an Elvis voice and Hendrix guitar. No, soldier-boy skills this time.
I grabbed the keys, money and car, driving immediately home. I snuck through the front door to my room and got the videotaped movie. Stealthily grabbing the money out of Tony's wallet, I hit the road immediately and straight-away made it to Ethan's shop with plenty of time.
"Can I help you again, young man?" the annoyed chaos mage asked. "I'm just about to close."
"Yeah, man," Xander began, "I'm supposed to go to a costume party later with a bunch of soldier-geek friends, and I'm thinking that corporal's uniform over there is what I want." The annoyed look disappeared as fifty dollars hit counter. "And I have a whole bunch of water balloons as grenades, but if you have some that look real..."
"Of course, my boy," the Brit smiled at a larger cash sale. "Just a minute."
One minute he'd dropped a grenade into a machine-gun nest, the next he was clearly in a residential area not known to him. The man of faith prayed for guidance, firing a careful lined-up shot through the heads of two very large demons(?!). 'I'll have to ask the padre 'bout these-uns.' Hearing a woman's voice, 'definitely not a Frenchie,' he turned toward her.
"Xander?" the soft voice called, subdued after the shot.
"Yes, miss," Xander responded to her demands for attention in a soft hill voice, "how's can I hep ya?"
"It's me, Willow!"
"Like the tree, young missy?" Xander smiled politely while continuing to keep alert, "I don't right know any Willow."
Willow was about to yell at him when she noticed he seemed very alert and the look in his eye was one she'd only seen in her Uncle Hiram's eyes when he talked about his experience in Viet Nam.
"You don't know me?" Willow asked, quietly, "Xander, listen to me. I'm on your side, I swear! Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, a-and now I am a ghost. And you were supposed to be a soldier, and now I, I-I guess you're a real soldier."
"You expect me to believe that?" the man with Xander's faced asked her plainly. "Where am I anyway?"
"You're in Sunnydale, California and—"
A monster appears across the street, growling at them. Xander points his rifle at it. It runs away as Willow jumps in front of him.
"No! No guns! That's still a little kid in there!" she shouted, her attempt to push the gun away ineffective as her hand passes through it.
"What the—" Xander began, unsure of himself, only to have Willow cut him off.
"Ghost costume, now ghost, remember?" she asserted. "We just need to find...Buffy!" She runs across the street over to Buffy, the soldier behind her. "Buffy! Are you okay?"
Xander fires off a couple bursts from his M-16, leaving his familiar carbine slung over his back.
"Nice weapon," Xander approved, "I don't know if it can take the mud of Flanders like my carbine, but I guess I'm convinced for now." Xander lowers his rifle.
"Buffy, are you alright?" Willow asks the blonde Lady, "are you hurt?"
"Buffy?" the Lady asks in confusion, looking at both of them without recognition. "Who's Buffy?"
"She's not Buffy," Willow exhales, thinking. Xander takes Buffy's hand and helps her up.
"Well, how about a safe place for the two of you?" Xander asks. "After that I carry out a recon. You seem to be the only one with an idea of what's going on."
"Who are you?" Buffy asks, concerned and a little suspicious.
"We're friends in Jesus, young lady," Xander interjected. "Miss Willow here is going to guide us to a safe place, and I'll check to make sure everything's okay."
"Okay?" Buffy asks, "Does that word mean well or satisfactory? The term is unfamiliar to me."
"Yes, ma'am," Xander nodded, leading her in Willow's wake, "but we need to hurry afore trouble comes a-lookin," With that they made to 1630 Revello Drive in a few minutes.
Entering the premises, Xander gave it a quick look, then turned to Willow.
"Miss Willow, I need to go out and make sure the demons don't kill people. You stay here until this a-here blows over?"
With that, he was gone.
From down the street they heard a weird whooping noise, then a double-crack of a carbine.
Four vampires coming out of Willy's Alibi Room heard four shots report from across the street. Rear-forward in fifteen seconds, four heads explode, bodies turning into dust.
Two demons stepped out of the Alibi Room. Crack was the single noise they heard last in this world.
Four police officers were under attack by a blonde vampire chortling with laughter.
"You shoulda minded your own business like all the others, mate," William the Bloody sneered. He waved his twice-shot minions forward, "bullets don't really hurt us much you see."
Crack
Crack
Crack
"Hey!" a high-pitched voice called out to the shifty Master Vampire.
Crack
"Bullets might not hurt ya, but they kill ya with the right power, demon," the doughboy remarked stepping out from behind a tree in the park "Hmmm, look's like the sun's coming up, officers, you best get to helping the hurt folks. I'll check and see if I can add two more to my score. I still have two rounds left, and I lost my fancy rifle and bayonet a bit ago."
A police officer recovering a little more quickly than the others, choked out the two questions burning in his mind, "two hundred whats and who are you, soldier?"
"Oh, pardon my a-manners, miss officer," the young man replied with a smile as the sun's first rays touched his brow, "two hundred demons, of course, and the name's York, Alvin York of Tennessee."