Animatus
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. They give me inspiration, so keep them coming! In case you're a new reader to my fics, I'll explain my general mode of updating. Typically, I will update Monday through Thursday with at least three chapters during that time (this, of course, depends on the intensity of my schedule). I usually do not update Friday through Sunday, however. Thus, please look for updates during the week, but not on the weekends. Glad you all like it so far.
Previously:
"Are we ready?" Faith asked, looking at the other two women. They nodded. Faith smiled. The other women were not Slayers, but they had the courage to be. Faith led the group, walking over to the front door. No one had mentioned the body of the little girl that had been lying in the room with them the entire time that they were packing and, for that, Faith was grateful. Pulling open the door, she peered outside for a moment. Then she stepped out, her feet directing her towards U.C. Sunnydale and the one person in all of the world that she hoped was still alive.
Chapter Four: Setbacks:
The dull hours of the day pressed on as the trio of survivors trudged across Sunnydale, moving ever closer to the college campus that lingered on the outskirts of town. The sun had reached its high point, and was starting to fall, when Faith announced that they would stop for their third rest. They had just crossed the city limits and stepped onto the road that sprawled and wound itself about for another mile before reaching the entrance of the college, which perched on top of a grassy hill. From the crest of the hill, a person could see the entire campus and the surrounding woods. Faith slid her backpack from her shoulders and allowed it to fall unceremoniously onto the street.
"I'm gonna go on ahead a little," Liz said, walking past the dark haired girl and Joyce, who had also stopped. "I just want to see what's around the bend."
"Be careful," Joyce called after her as she sat on the curb and laid her shotgun carefully down in the grass beside her, still uncomfortable with the notion of carrying the weapon. Faith watched Liz walk for several long moments before she noticed Joyce's eyes burning into her.
"What?" Faith asked irritably, though she had not intended to take such a tone with the older woman.
"That little girl," Joyce said softly, "back in the sporting good store…she was a zombie?"
"No," Faith snapped, "I just shot a little girl in the head for no reason." Dropping her crossbow, she plopped down on the ground. "Of course she was a zombie," she added in a grumble. The day had been maliciously hot with the sun burning down on them harshly from the moment that they set out on their expedition. Under normal circumstances, the heat would not have bothered Faith. But in her weakened state, she could feel it boring into her, dehydrating all of her muscles. Reaching down with both hands, she slowly tried to rub the soreness out of her seizing calf muscles.
"I'm sorry," Joyce apologized. "I didn't mean to suggest that you had…"
"Killed someone?" Faith drawled, glancing sideways over at her. "Been there, done that, remember?"
"I do," Joyce said softly.
"I don't intend to do it again," Faith replied.
"I know," Joyce nodded.
"I'm not going to hurt you, or Liz," Faith continued.
Joyce smiled patiently. "Faith, are you trying to convince me, or yourself?"
"Maybe both," Faith murmured, squinting up into the sun. Their trek had taken longer than Faith had anticipated. Joyce, despite being rather athletic for her age, had been slowing them down. Faith, however, had to admit that she had been a burden to the group as well. Though Joyce had requested their first two breaks, Faith had needed desperately the third. A low, dull ache had been spreading across her skull since they departed and it had grown into an intense throbbing that crashed through her brain like the steady hit of hammer on an impossible to conquer nail.
"You don't have to convince me," Joyce said. "I believe you. But I also know that you weren't as honest with us back on the roof as you could have been."
"What do you mean?" Faith asked in surprise, letting her eyes fall on Joyce, who was far more perceptive than she looked.
"You can try to protect us from them," Joyce answered. "But deep down inside, you know that you won't be able to forever."
Faith smiled sadly and looked down at the ground. "Maybe you're right," she murmured.
"But we had to leave sooner or later," Joyce continued. "Liz and I both know that. We just needed a reason too."
Faith followed the path Liz had been walking with her eyes, relieved to find the girl standing within a short distance from them, surveying the road ahead. "What do you think we'll find there?" Faith asked.
"I don't know," Joyce replied. "You should really eat something," she added concernedly. During their first stop, she and Liz had breakfasted on canned fruit and crackers, but Faith had refused the food that they had offered to her. Joyce knew that Faith was strong and that her Slayer blood would allow her to remain energized and focused despite a lack of sustenance. But she also knew that Faith's body had suffered greatly from the coma. Though Faith would not admit it, she did not possess the endurance that she had possessed before her extended sleep. Joyce could see Faith's fingers trembling slightly as the girl leaned forward and rest her arms on her knees.
Faith looked over at the older woman and sighed. She wanted to save the food for the other two women, who needed it more than she. But she was exhausted. Her legs screamed at her to cease the needless punishment that she was inflicting upon them. "Just a little," Faith acquiesced as Liz began walking back towards them. Joyce nodded and handed the dark haired Slayer a packet of beef jerky.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly, hoping that Faith would trust her enough to answer her question honestly.
Faith smiled crookedly, but falsely. "I'm fine," she replied. Joyce sighed imperceptibly.
"No, you're not," Liz stated, as she slowed to a halt in front of them, with Faith sitting in her shadow. "You started weaving back there. Joyce and I thought you were goin' down for a moment."
Faith carefully pulled a piece of the jerky out of the packet and nibbled on it thoughtfully, her stomach uncertain if it wanted to accept the food or reject it. "My head hurts," she finally admitted. "And I'm exhausted."
"You shouldn't even be up," Joyce admonished. "If you would have awoken while there were still doctors around, they would have kept you in the hospital until you had gathered your strength again. You're pushing yourself too hard."
"But there aren't any doctors around," Faith rebutted. "And I don't have the luxury of bed rest," she added. She ate a few more pieces of the jerky in silence and then handed the packet back to Joyce. "We should keep moving," she said, rising to her feet. "We're running out of time."
"Did you see anything around the bend?" Joyce asked, glancing over at Liz. The younger girl shook her head.
"Nothing to be seen," she replied, shrugging. The trio gathered their belongings and began walking again. A light breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves, and distracting the group from the overwhelming silence that pressed in around them. Though Faith felt as though she could sleep for another eight months, she focused on placing one foot in front of the other, and so forgot the ache in her head and the exhaustion that clung to her limbs.
She wondered what the group would find when they reached the college. Though Faith could feel Buffy's energy swirling about in her mind, and knew that the blonde Slayer was alive, she wondered in what condition the older girl would be and if it would be possible to rescue her and whoever else was with her. They had made far less progress than she had hoped during the hike. She feared that they would reach the college and have to spend the night there. She anticipated that searching the various academic and dormitory buildings housed on campus would require several more hours than they possessed. Yet, Faith was determined to find her counterpart.
She was also curious to learn how Buffy had been faring against the zombies. Faith had been lucky enough to stumble upon people with guns and ammunition. She doubted, however, that many college students possessed firearms. Though Buffy most likely hid a trunk full of weapons in her dorm room closet, as she had in her closet at her house, Faith doubted if she would have the appropriate kinds of weapons to fight effectively the type of enemy that they had to face. Stakes and holy water would do little against the walking undead. The mile walk to the campus required less time than Faith had expected, much to her relief. She stopped in the middle of the road, which normally would have been busy with cars and buses, but remained eerily still and empty, and looked up at the sign announcing the presence of U.C. Sunnydale just over the hill.
However, as Faith, Joyce, and Liz stood staring up at the grassy entrance, they heard something which caused their blood to run cold and dismay to course through their hearts. A steady moaning seemed to arise from the college. Faith listened to the famished screaming of the zombies and shuddered. To her and the others, it was starting to seem as though coming to the college campus had been a grave mistake. "Wait here," Faith instructed, gripping her crossbow firmly in her hands as she trekked up the hill. Joyce and Liz watched her leave with trepidation, raising their own weapons, and glancing about the road suspiciously.
Faith reached the top of the hill and looked down onto the campus. In the shadows of the buildings, dozens of zombies were pacing back and forth, running into each other, and pounding on the windows. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead, willing the pain away, and hoping that she could form a new and coherent plan. She knew that proceeding further would be a danger to her companions, who were not as accustomed to fighting as she. Had she been alone, she would have easily been able to sneak onto the campus, avoiding the zombies when possible, and searching the buildings without anyone knowing that she had ever set foot into them. Unfortunately, however, the two women waiting for her at the bottom of the hill were not as stealthy. The zombies were surely sense the presence of three women, rather than one.
As Faith looked out over the college, she noticed that she could feel Buffy's energy more strongly than she had been able to during her walk. She knew that the blonde Slayer was hiding in one of the buildings before her. Everything in her being cried out to her to press forward and find the older girl, but she knew that she could not. The horde of zombies lingering below was enough to dissuade her original plan. She could not account for how many more were lurking in the halls and rooms of the buildings themselves. Turning, she started back down the hill. Disappointment and frustration beat into her mind like stormy waves on a desolate beach.
"What's wrong?" Joyce asked, sensing the younger girl's aggravation.
"Zombies," Faith muttered. "There's too many of them."
"So what're we going to do?" Liz asked, though she already knew the answer. Faith would not lead them into a den of zombies. They would have to turn around.
"We have to go back," Faith said dejectedly. "But not to the roof. We'll check out the Bronze, see if we can stay there the night."
"What if we can't?" Joyce asked as the trio moved quickly in the opposite direction of the overtaken college campus.
"Then we'll have to go back to the store," Faith replied. "I just don't think it's safe there."
"It sure as hell isn't safe out here," Liz muttered.
"What about Buffy?" Joyce said lowly, walking beside Faith.
"She's there," Faith said, motioning back towards the college. "I know that she is."
"We can't just leave her there," Joyce replied emphatically. Faith smiled crookedly and shifted her crossbow in her hands.
"I'm not planning on leaving her there for long," Faith said.
"So you do have a plan then?" Joyce asked with relief. Faith nodded.
"We'll stay the night at the Bronze. But in the morning, I'm coming back," Faith said determinedly.
"You're coming back here, by yourself?" Joyce questioned. "Is that really a wise choice? What about the zombies?"
"I can avoid them," Faith answered. "They won't know that I'm there. I'm fast and I'm pretty good at breaking into things. Once I find Buffy, I'll bring her back to the Bronze."
"What if she won't go with you?" Joyce asked, sighing deeply.
"You think that she won't trust me? That she'll think I'm still evil?" Faith asked, looking over at Joyce. Though Joyce could see no emotion written on her face, she could see plainly the hurt hiding in the younger Slayer's eyes.
"Buffy doesn't like to choose the difficult path. She likes to choose the easy path, the one that causes her less pain. What happened between the two of you, it hurt her deeply, Faith, you have to understand that. I know that it hurt you too. It will be easier for her to assume that you haven't changed than it will be for her to assume that you have because if she knows that you've changed, she's going to have to forgive you. That's not an easy thing to do," Joyce explained.
Faith did not reply to the older woman's words; she was too deep in thought to formulate any kind of response. She knew that she had caused Buffy a great deal of pain, but she hoped that the older girl could see beyond their differences to recognize that they were both united again against a common enemy. The trio pressed on more quickly now, fearful that they would not reach the Bronze before night fell on Sunnydale. Already, the sun was starting to dip in the sky, reaching down towards the horizon. They walked in silence, choosing to conserve their strength, rather than waste it on idle words. While Joyce and Liz were eagerly awaiting the safety of the Bronze, Faith was eagerly awaiting the next morning, when she could strike out again on her own.
Finally, they reached the street on which the Bronze lay, after a long and rushed trek. The sky had started to redden and Faith guessed that they had only an hour until the sun would set. They were nearly jogging by the time they reached the night club. Though it looked empty from the outside, Faith could feel the energy of the people within pulsing through the walls. "Is there anyone in there?" Liz asked uncertainly.
"There is," Faith affirmed. "I can feel them."
"How do we get in?" Joyce asked. "They might think that we're zombies."
"Have you ever heard the zombies talk?" Faith asked, suddenly remembering her experience with the little girl in the sporting goods store. Though Faith had asked her several questions, she had not responded.
"No," Liz said thoughtfully, "I don't think I have."
"Neither have I," Joyce confirmed.
"I think the answer is pretty simple then," Faith said, smiling over at the two women. "Hey!" She shouted loudly, turning to look back at the Bronze. "Open the doors!" Faith's voice rang clear and true, but silence greeted it.
"Do you really think that's going to work?" Joyce questioned. As soon as the words had left her lips, however, the front door of the Bronze creaked open and a man stuck his head outside.
"Is someone out there?" He asked in a British accent that was quite familiar to Faith and Joyce.
"Mr. Giles?" Joyce asked, rushing over to the door. Giles smiled when he saw the Slayer's mother and pushed the door open further.
"Ah, Joyce," he said, stumbling backwards slightly when she launched herself into him, hugging him tightly. When she finally pulled away, he smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry," she said embarrassedly, her face turning red. "It's just good to see a familiar face."
"That it is," Giles agreed. "Please come in," he added. Joyce and Liz entered the Bronze without hesitation, while Faith lingered behind. "Faith," Giles said, though the dark haired Slayer could not read the emotions behind his words.
"Giles," Faith replied equally as coolly, watching him curiously.
"Are you going to come in? I wouldn't recommend staying out here for the night," Giles said softly, smiling a little when he saw relief flood into Faith's face.
"Of course," Faith said, moving forward. The sun slipped below the horizon as she entered the Bronze, disappointed that her original plan had fallen through, but hopeful that the next day would bring better luck.