Animatus

Notes: Thanks for the reviews.

Previously:

"Tomorrow morning, we'll try to find some vehicles. We'll bring them back here," Faith said slowly, figuring out her plan as she spoke.

"There's a loading bay behind the stage," Jay said. "We can drive the vans up the ramp and into the Bronze."

"Good," Giles nodded. "We'll have to pack everything that could be of any use here."

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "We don't want to have to come back for anything. And I don't want to leave anything behind that we could use. We'll have to stay here again tomorrow night. But the next morning, we'll hit the road."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Keys:

Faith watched the scenery fly by as she sat in the car, which Kate was driving towards the harbor. Though she knew that Kate believed in her abilities as a Slayer, she felt a certain sense of doubt creeping of off the older woman. Underlying everything that she had said rested a current of deception. Finally, the car came to a stop in an alley bordering the industrial district of Boston, where the factories had reigned supreme at the turn of the century before industry moved from America to foreign countries, of which Faith had never heard. "We here?" She asked, her voice breaking the silence in the car.

Kate jumped, startled by the sound of her Slayer's voice. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She could feel evil surrounding them. Vampires were notorious for using abandoned warehouses and factories as their shelters during the day. Kate wondered how many monsters lurked in the shadows around them, peering out of blackened windows at them, lustfully desiring to taste their blood. "Yes," she replied swiftly. Releasing her safety belt, she opened her car door, and stepped out onto the asphalt. Faith watched her momentarily before doing the same.

"What're we looking for?" She asked.

"Rats," Kate replied, smiling over at her charge, who was staring back at her confusedly.

"Rats?" Faith asked.

"Yes," Kate replied. "The buildings that are not inhabited with vampires will be teeming with rats. The buildings that are will be completely devoid of the furry, little monsters."

Faith chuckled. "Not a fan of vermin, huh?" She asked.

"Not in the least," Kate replied. "Come, let's begin our search."

For the better part of the afternoon, they searched the warehouses and factories by the docks, desperately hoping to find Kakistos' lair before night fell. Finally, after several hours of their exhaustive search, they stumbled upon a dilapidated building with windows that had been sloppily painted black. Pulling herself up onto a dumpster, Faith peered into one of the windows between flecks of paint. She could see people moving about inside, but her Slayer senses told her that the people were not people at all. They were vampires. Thinking that she had discovered yet another vampire nest by the docks, she prepared to climb down, when another creature caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

Lingering in the shadows of the warehouse, a massive vampire stood. His face bore its demonic form and his yellowed eyes shifted about the room purposefully and confidently. Faith looked closer, hoping to find some indication that the vampire, which was obviously powerful, was the vampire for which she searched. Finally, it stepped forward and Faith let her eyes fall to its feet, which were cloven. Sucking in a breath, she moved away from the window and jumped down the street as quietly as she could.

"Well?" Kate asked eagerly.

"This is the place," Faith affirmed. "He looks tough," she added, mostly to herself, but Kate caught the words.

"He is," she affirmed quietly. "Let's get out of here before they notice our presence." As the two women moved away from the warehouse, neither noticed a pair of eyes staring out of the window, through which Faith had just been peering, and watching them leave hungrily.

Faith climbed back into the car and sighed heavily. "I counted at least eight other vampires in there with him," she reported.

"That's not good," Kate muttered.

"This isn't going to be easy," Faith replied pessimistically.

"I agree," Kate said, but smiled over at her softly. "But we'll get through it."

"Damn straight," Faith agreed firmly, comforted by her Watcher's words.

"Faith," Kate began, but stopped. The Slayer looked over at her inquisitively, but the Watcher shook her head. "Never mind."

"Are you sure?" Faith asked.

Kate nodded. "Let's go home, shall we? We have to prepare for tomorrow."

…………………………………….

"So…," Faith began cautiously, "are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, looking over at Faith.

"You just shot Riley, B," Faith reminded her gently. "That couldn't have felt good."

"No," Buffy shook her head. "It didn't."

"But you're okay?" Faith asked again.

Buffy smiled over at her and lifted Faith's hand to her lips, gently kissing it. "I'm fine," she reassured her, though the image of Riley's body slumping to the ground haunted even her waking eyes.

"Good," Faith breathed a sigh of relief. "So what do you think of all of this?" She asked, referring to her new status as leader of the small band of survivors.

"I think that you'll do fine," Buffy spoke carefully, hoping that her voice did not betray the doubts that she felt. Though she wanted to believe whole heartedly in Faith, she could not easily forget how effortlessly Faith had allowed herself to fall into darkness. She worried that if Faith lost her reason to walk in the light, whatever that reason was, she would never find it again. "I know that you're worried that you'll mess everything up, but you won't, Faith. You have to have confidence in yourself."

"Nothing has ever gone right for me, B," Faith whispered. "My whole life…everything's just spiraled out of control. Even when I thought I was standing on solid ground, everything around me was shifting violently. I've never been able to stop any of the bad things from happening and I've never been able to protect anyone that I cared about," she said, looking down at her hands. "I don't want this to end the same way as everything else. I don't want to fail you."

"Faith," Buffy said tearfully, moving closer to her, and touching her cheek gently with the palm of her hand, "you're not going to fail me."

"You don't know that," Faith began anxiously, but Buffy interrupted her.

"No, I don't know that," she said firmly. "But I know that I trust you. I know that you'll do everything that you can to keep all of us safe. And I also know that if that's not enough, there's nothing more that anyone could have done."

"I can't lose anyone else," Faith replied, closing her eyes to prevent herself from breaking down into tears. "I just can't."

"Neither can I," Buffy said softly, resting her head on Faith's shoulder. "But we don't have much choice in that matter. The best that we can do is to try our hardest to lead these people to safety. We may lose some of them along the way, but the important thing is that we tried. The important thing is that you tried. That means everything, baby."

Faith smiled. "We're going to try to find some vans tomorrow morning to get us out of here," she stated.

"So who constitutes we?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows inquisitively.

"You, me, and Jay," Faith replied. "We'll leave early in the morning. Hopefully we'll find something. We'll bring whatever we find back here, load the vehicles up with supplies, and leave the next morning."

"That's a good plan, Faith," Buffy said encouragingly.

"Thanks, B," Faith smiled gratefully.

"I thought that you didn't trust the soldiers though?" Buffy asked confusedly.

"I don't," Faith replied quickly. "But I trust Jay. He's not like the other two."

Buffy nodded, allowing her eyes to survey the Bronze. People were huddled on the second floor, hoping to survive the night without another attack. Buffy wondered how much more they could withstand before they crumpled. Courage only carried people so far before it failed. "You want to get some sleep?" She asked, looking over at the dark haired Slayer, but Faith smiled and shook her head.

"I think I'm going to stay up for a little while longer," she said quietly. "I need to think."

"Okay," Buffy said disappointedly, but she smiled anyway. "You know where to find me when you're ready."

Faith nodded and watched Buffy walk over to their sleeping bags. "Hey, Buffy?" She called after her.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked, turning back to the younger girl, who had a serious look on her face.

"I love you," Faith said softly, but earnestly.

Buffy smiled back at her. "I love you too," she replied and continued on her way.

Faith watched her from afar as she prepared to go to sleep. The weight of the world seemed to be crashing down on her shoulders. Images and memories flitted through her mind. She remembered dreaming of Buffy and fire and a chain link fence that separated her from her love. She remembered a gunshot and a feeling of absolute despair. For some reason, every time she spoke to Buffy, she felt as though she was sharing with her the last words that they would ever speak together. She did not know what her dreams of late had meant, but she was certain that they predicted doom. Yet, she knew that she could not give in to the temptation to chose the easy path and admit defeat. Despite whatever may happen once they left the Bronze, she knew that she had to lead them, even if what they found in the world outside spoke of nothing but death.

…………………………………

The next morning dawned bright and bloody red in Faith's eyes as she stood by the windows on the second floor of the Bronze gazing out at the empty streets of Sunnydale. She had stood sentinel over the group during the night, refusing to give in to the temptation to sleep. Closing her eyes and sighing, she rested her cheek on the cool glass of the window. Choking her constantly was a lingering fear that crept up in her throat, threatening to claw its way out of her body. Though she swallowed it down, it continued to rise, until fear was all that she could see and all that she knew. A gentle humming arose in the back of her mind, dispelling the paralysis that seemed to grip her limbs. Faith smiled slightly, knowing that Buffy had awoken and was slowly walking over to her.

"Hey," Buffy said, stopping just behind Faith and leaning her body against the dark haired Slayer's. Faith could feel her breath tickling the back of her neck. Opening her eyes, she looked back at her girlfriend.

"Hey," she replied, her voice scratchy and low from lack of sleep.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" She asked concernedly.

Faith shook her head. "No," she replied. "I couldn't sleep."

"When are we leaving?" Buffy asked, tracing soothing circles on Faith's back.

"As soon as you and Jay are ready," she stated.

Buffy nodded. "Let me just go wash up," she replied and cupped Faith's cheek, pulling the dark haired Slayer's lips down to her own. Faith melted into the kiss, all of her fears and doubts fading into the back of her mind until she no longer knew that they existed. She felt Buffy's tongue pressing against her lips, begging for entrance. Opening her mouth, she moaned as the blonde Slayer's tongue sensuously massaged her own. Just as she felt as though she was losing herself, Buffy pulled away, her eyes dark with desire. "I was supposed to be going somewhere, wasn't I?" Buffy joked.

"I don't mind if you stick around a little longer," Faith breathed.

"We should get going though," Buffy replied, reluctantly moving away from Faith. "I'll meet you guys downstairs."

Faith nodded and watched Buffy walk away. Her heart was beating heavily and her face was flushed with desire. She wanted nothing more than to ravage Buffy at that moment, but she knew that she could not linger in the Bronze while the sun filled the sky. They had to find vehicles to transport them out of Sunnydale and, hopefully, to a better life. Moving away from the window, Faith noticed that the rest of the survivors were starting to stir and wake. "Hey," Jay said, greeting her as she walked down the stairs. "What's up?"

"Where are the rest of the guns?" Faith asked, distinctly feeling the gun tucked in the back waistband of her jeans pressing snugly against her skin.

"We stored them under the stage," Jay said, "when Riley told us to hide them. Why?"

"I want to redistribute them," Faith stated. "That attack last night could have gone much worse. We were lucky, but if we're going to have to stay here one more night, I think everybody would be a little more comfortable with some fire power in their hands."

"Okay," Jay nodded. "I'll hand them out right now." Faith nodded as Jay moved away and grabbed the bag of guns from behind a movable panel in front of the stage. The soldier busied himself distributing guns and ammunition to the rest of the people. Once he had finished, he rejoined Faith by the stage, Buffy following after quickly.

"We'll go through the loading dock," Faith explained. "I want to leave the front doors barricaded."

"We'll be looking for you," Giles said, joining the group. "Come back safely."

"We will," Buffy promised, hugging her Watcher tightly. The trio disappeared behind the stage, exiting the Bronze through the loading docks doors. The sun hit Faith's face and she smiled.

"So what are we looking for?" Buffy asked, slipping the gun out of the waistband of her jeans as Faith did the same.

"Anything large enough to hold fifteen people. Unfortunately," Faith said, "I think we're going to have to split up between two vehicles."

Buffy nodded. "I think you're right."

"Where are we going to go?" Jay asked suddenly.

"To find the vehicles?" Faith asked confusedly.

"No," Jay shook his head, smiling, "after we find them and hit the road."

Faith sighed. "I don't know," she replied slowly. "I guess that all depends on whether the rest of the world as we know it has been overrun as well."

"I don't see how it could be," Buffy interjected. "I've been thinking about this a lot."

"And you didn't hurt yourself? Amazing," Faith joked.

Buffy rolled her eyes and continued, "How could the zombies have crossed the oceans? They never would have made it on an airplane."

"It could be that just this country was affected," Jay surmised.

"Or that only Sunnydale was," Faith added. "The army may have been able to stop it from spreading."

"In which case, as long as we can get out of town, we'll be alright," Buffy said hopefully.

"I don't think that it's going to be that easy," Faith said softly.

"We can always hope," Buffy replied, smiling over at her.

Despite her concerns, Faith found herself smiling back. "I just don't understand why we haven't heard anything from anyone."

"Maybe no one knows that we're alive," Jay guessed. "If the army did stop the zombies from spreading and contained them in Sunnydale, maybe they just assumed that there was no one left alive."

"Wouldn't they have tried to communicate with us somehow?" Faith asked.

"I don't know," Jay said. "The town has no power and all of the phone lines are dead. How could they?"

"If we were under total quarantine, maybe they wouldn't even bother trying to contact anyone on the inside," Buffy shrugged.

The trio searched the streets of Sunnydale for the better part of the morning, talking idly amongst themselves. Cars had been abandoned everywhere, but they found nothing that would suit their purpose. Finally, they reached Main Street after completing a search of the neighborhoods. "What about those?" Jay asked suddenly, pointing to two Brinks armored vans that were sitting in front of a bank.

Faith smiled widely, hope filling her heart after it had fled from her during their earlier, fruitless search. "Hope we can find the keys," she muttered as they ran towards the vans. Upon reaching them, they performed a thorough search of the back and seats to ensure that they were free of any zombie inhabitants.

Jay slid into the driver's seat of one of the vans and glanced around, checking all of the usual places for a set of keys. Finally, he spotted them poking out from underneath the carpeting on the passenger's side. Grabbing them, he shoved one of the keys into the ignition and grinned when the engine roared to life. "Got one," he shouted happily.

"I can't find the keys for this one," Buffy announced after she had searched the second van.

Faith sighed and glanced around. The drivers of the vans were missing, presumably having been turned into the walking dead. Just as she was about to give up, she noticed something flashing at her in the sunlight. Walking over to the gutter, she leaned down, and picked up a pair of keys. "I think someone likes me today," she muttered, glancing up into the sky gratefully. "Try these!" She instructed, throwing the keys to Buffy, who caught them easily.

When the second van's engine roared to life, Faith breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "How much gas is left?" She asked, moving over to the driver's side door of the armored van in which Buffy was sitting.

"Half of a tank," she stated.

"You?" Faith asked, looking over at Jay.

"Little less than a quarter," he replied.

"Alright, looks like we need to find a gas station," Faith announced, moving around the van, and climbing into the passenger's seat beside Buffy.

The two vans slowly ambled down the road in search of a gas station. Faith watched dismayed as Buffy, driving one van, and Jay, driving the other, attempted to pick their way through the jumbled mess of abandoned cars littering the road. "This is going to take forever," she muttered.

"It's not going to be easy to try to leave town," Buffy agreed.

Faith sighed, rolled down her window, and smiled slightly as a gentle breeze blew through her hair. "I never thought that it would be."