Animatus

Notes: Thanks for the reviews, and, as always, keep them coming!

Previously:

"Look, as much I'd like to stand around catching up," Faith interrupted, "we gotta get moving if we're gonna get back to the Bronze before nightfall."

"We're l-leaving?" Tara asked anxiously.

"What makes you think we can get out of here?" Buffy questioned, rising to her feet.

Faith smiled grimly. "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Chapter Eight: Working Through the Madness:

"Hey, well, here's a good sign," Anya whispered over at Faith as Buffy stared at her intently, seemingly trying to read the dark haired Slayer's every thought. "She hasn't burst out laughing yet."

"Shut up," Faith whispered back, glaring over at the ex-vengeance demon, though the look contained no malice, or anger. Buffy noticed the exchange and saw the softness in Faith's eyes when she looked at Anya, the familiarity that had grown between the two virtual strangers in presumably only a short period of time. A strange feeling crept into her heart. At first, she had difficulty identifying it, but the haze parted and she recognized clearly the seeds of jealousy stirring.

"You want us to trust you?" Willow asked incredulously.

"Baby," Tara said lowly, "what's going on?"

"That's right," Willow said bitterly, "you never had the pleasure of meeting Faith. Let me introduce you to her."

"Will –" Buffy started, but Willow ignored her.

"Faith is another vampire Slayer," Willow explained.

"I thought there could only be one of them?" Riley interrupted.

"There should be only one of them – Buffy," Willow replied cynically. "Faith was a mistake."

"Fuck you, Red," Faith said angrily. Anya clamped her hand down on the younger girl's arm, preventing her from moving.

"Think about what you're doing," the ex-vengeance demon whispered just as Faith was about to step forward. "Do you really want to give Buffy a reason to hate you?"

"She already does," Faith whispered back.

"Maybe not so much as you think," Anya replied thoughtfully.

"Keep going," Riley said, looking over to Willow. He was as intrigued as Tara to learn more about the dark haired girl standing by the door. He too had sensed the tension that filled the room upon her arrival. Looking over to Buffy, he could see a myriad of emotions swirling through her eyes, none of which he liked.

"Faith killed a man," Willow continued. "And blamed Buffy for it. After that, she went crazy. She switched sides, fighting for evil instead of good. She killed another man, threatened all of us, and shot Angel with a poisoned arrow."

"Let's not leave out the part where everyone's favorite superhero gutted me and left me for dead," Faith added sarcastically.

"That was a mistake," Buffy said softly.

"Guys," Anya interrupted. "This is getting us no where."

"I think you knew exactly what you were doing," Faith said to Buffy.

Buffy chuckled mirthlessly. "And you didn't?"

"You want me to take responsibility for everything I did?" Faith asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Fine. I fucked up. I killed people. The first was an accident. And don't give me shit about that; it's not like you cared."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Buffy asked defensively.

"I was going through something. It was an accident. You acted like I was some horrible monster because I didn't know how to deal with it," Faith replied heatedly.

"I didn't know how to deal with it either," Buffy shouted. "I was a kid."

"So was I!" Faith shouted back. "I was fifteen years old. I was totally alone. How the hell did you expect me to react?"

"I didn't think you would go to Giles and blame me for it," Buffy snorted.

"I didn't know what else to do," Faith said defensively. "You all blacklisted me."

"Don't blame this on us," Willow jumped in. "You had so many chances to change and you threw them all back in our faces."

"I don't know why I bothered to come here," Faith murmured, shaking her head.

"Why did you?" Buffy demanded.

"I thought you could use some help," Faith replied angrily.

"What, so you feel guilty now?" Buffy replied sarcastically.

Faith smiled exasperatedly, laid her shotgun down on the ground, and crossed her arms. She could feel her temper rising with each passing second and wanted to distance herself from her weapon. "You know, B, I feel a lot of things," Faith said seriously. "I'm pissed that you stabbed me. I pissed that you left me in a coma for eight months. I'm jealous because you have so much and you don't even see half of it, even now. I'm resentful because I have nothing but what you see. And yes, I'm sorry that I messed up. I'm sorry I turned evil and hurt all of you. But I can't change that. I can only say that I'm sorry and hope that you can see that I'm different now."

"Are you guys gonna be a while, because if so, I'd like to sit down," Anya muttered.

"I t-think," Tara began softly, "that we all just n-need to take a few m-moments."

"That might be a good idea," Riley agreed. Though he was not certain exactly what was going on between Buffy and Faith, he had learned much in their short conversation. Faith was dangerous.

Faith nodded and exhaled deeply, allowing herself a moment to clear her mind of the jumble of thoughts tumbling through it. "I didn't come here to fight with you," she said softly, after several long moments.

"I know," Buffy nodded, uncrossing her arms. Looking down at the ground, she restlessly fidgeted with her hands.

"I found your mother," Faith explained. "I knew that you were still alive. I told her that I would find you."

"Is she okay?" Buffy asked, looking up at the dark haired girl. Faith could see tears shining in her eyes. Though Faith had a vague notion of love towards her mother, as the woman who had birthed her, she had never missed, or cared deeply, for her mom. Buffy, on the other hand, was closer with her mother than Faith had ever really understood.

Faith nodded. "She's okay," she answered. "She's shook up. I don't know a person who wouldn't be after what she's been through."

"But she's not hurt?" Buffy pressed.

"She's not hurt," Faith confirmed. "She's in good hands at the Bronze. Giles is lookin' out for her."

"How is Giles?" Willow asked suddenly.

"Unhappy with the food," Faith smiled. "But other than that, he's fine."

"I can't believe they're both alive," Buffy murmured, wiping her eyes. "I thought that they were dead. I thought that everyone was dead."

Faith let her eyes fall on Riley. He was wearing fatigues and the gun he had holstered at his hip looked much like the ones the Initiative soldiers at the Bronze had possessed. "You're with the Initiative, aren't you?" Faith asked.

"How do you know about that?" Riley asked.

"Giles," Faith answered. "He had some theories about how all of this got started."

"What do you mean?" Riley asked, squinting his eyes in confusion. He thought that he had heard an accusatory tone in her voice.

Faith shook her head. "Do you know anything about how all of this got started?" She questioned.

"No," Riley answered simply. "My pager woke me up. I reported to my commander. He issued my team orders to try to secure the campus."

"Could you?" Faith asked.

"No," Riley said wearily. "There were too many of them."

"Where do you think they came from?" Faith asked.

"I don't know," Riley admitted. "After a few hours, the entire chain of command had broken down. We weren't receiving orders anymore."

"Why are you asking all of these questions?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Giles said that soldiers came to his house and tried to evacuate him," Faith replied.

"They were probably following orders," Riley confirmed.

"The zombies hadn't reached his house yet. They were in town, but not in his neighborhood. The soldiers loaded him and several others onto a truck and tried to get them out of town. They couldn't and, instead, they left them and three soldiers at the Bronze," Faith explained.

"Do you know who they were?" Riley asked suddenly.

"Who?" Faith replied.

"The soldiers? Do you know their names?" Riley furthered.

"We didn't get that far," Anya said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked.

"The soldiers were pretty anxious," Faith replied. "They didn't want us to leave."

"They actually threatened to shoot us," Anya added.

"Until Anya threatened to go homicidal on everyone," Faith smirked.

"I was a woman with a mission," Anya smiled.

"They weren't receiving any orders either. They hadn't heard from anyone in two weeks," Faith added. "They're just keeping everyone there."

"What w-were you talking about?" Tara asked. "Theories?"

"Giles thought that the attack originated here," Faith answered. "At the college."

"How could it have originated here?" Willow questioned.

"The Initiative is under this campus," Anya stated simply.

"So?" Riley asked defensively.

"How many people worked in the Initiative?" Faith asked.

"Thousands," Riley answered.

"Where do you think all of these zombies came from?" Anya said.

"You think this was the Initiative's fault?" Buffy asked, though curiosity reigned in her voice, not anger.

Faith shrugged. "I don't know what started this. But Giles seems to think that the Initiative was involved somehow."

"That's bullshit," Riley replied. "Our job is to kill things like them."

"But you experimented on demons," Tara suddenly joined in.

"Maybe one of the scientists didn't know what he or she was getting into," Willow nodded.

"We need to leave," Faith said, reaching down and picking up her shotgun. "It's going to be night soon. I told Giles we'd be back before sunset."

"What's at sunset?" Buffy asked.

"Zombies," Anya answered.

"They don't wander around town during the day. Only night," Faith said. "It's not like here. I don't know why. Maybe there are too many of them here for them all to find a place to hide away from the sun."

"They do stay in the shadows," Buffy nodded.

"Do you really t-think that you can get us out of here?" Tara asked nervously.

Faith smiled. "I know I can."

"Besides," Buffy said, smiling slightly. "Two Slayers are better than one. You got a gun for me?"

"Yeah," Faith said, sliding her pack off of her back. Reaching in, she pulled out one of the handguns Anya had packed for her and tossed it to the blonde Slayer. She tossed her some extra ammunition as well.

"Don't get us killed, Faith," Buffy warned her as the younger girl pulled open the dorm room door.

"Really not the plan," Faith muttered.

"I think that went well," Anya whispered as they filed out into the hallway. "No punches were thrown."

"Day isn't over yet," Faith replied. Once they had all gathered in the hallway, Faith started walking, leading the way. Buffy joined her, with Anya, Willow, and Tara walking in a cluster behind her. Riley brought up the rear.

"When did you wake up?" Buffy asked.

"Three days ago," Faith answered.

"So you had no idea what was going on," Buffy stated. "I can't imagine what that was like."

"It's wasn't fun," Faith admitted. Pulling open the door to the stairwell, she leveled her shotgun. The bodies of the zombies still lay littering the stairs. She could not hear anything stirring below. "You feel anything?" She asked Buffy.

Buffy shook her head. "Only you," she murmured, though she had spoken so lowly that Faith was uncertain whether the blonde Slayer had intended for her to hear.

Faith continued moving forward, picking her way carefully down the stairs. She heard Tara gasp behind her. "Sorry for the mess," she apologized. Tara smiled gratefully and nodded.

"What makes you think you can get us out of here?" Buffy reiterated Tara's question once they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"What makes you think I can't?" Faith asked in exasperation.

"It's one thing for two people to sneak onto a campus full of zombies," Buffy reasoned. "It's quite another for a group of six to sneak off of a campus full of zombies."

"Well," Faith said thoughtfully, "we could always use Anya's plan."

"What was Anya's plan?" Willow asked warily.

"We could all pretend to be zombies," Faith shrugged. Anya laughed, but the others stare at her incredulously. "It was a joke," she added. "Anya," she said, nodding towards the other girl, "give Willow and Tara some guns."

"I don't know how to use this," Tara said as Anya gave her a handgun.

"It doesn't matter," Faith said. "It's just for emergencies."

"Are there going to be emergencies?" Willow asked anxiously.

"I don't like this," Riley stated.

"You don't have to," Faith stated. "This is my operation. We're gonna walk out of here, sneak around the building, and make a break for the hill. If anything sees us and tries to follow, we shoot it."

"That's your great plan?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"You know me, B," Faith said, pulling open the exit door. "I leap first, think later." The sunlight hit her face as she stepped outside. The afternoon was growing late and the sun was starting to sink. Faith was uncertain if they would make it back to the Bronze by nightfall. Moving to the side, she waited until the group had assembled behind her before she furtively started walking along the side of the building. She could not see any zombies, but she could hear them, and she knew that they were close. When she reached the edge of the building, she paused. Peering around the side, she could see a group of zombies wandering in the shadows several yards away. The hill lay in front of them. "Okay, guys," she whispered. "Get ready to run."