Animatus II: The Descent

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Previously:

The group collectively rose and Faith followed Jay out of the tent. A Jeep was waiting for them, idling absently. Grabbing the pack assigned to her, she slung it over her shoulder and walked over to the Jeep. Drawing in a deep breath, she looked over at the barracks. Willow, Tara, and Giles were standing outside. Tara raised her hand, flashing Faith a farewell wave. Faith smiled slightly in return and tossed her bag into the cargo area of the Jeep. Turning away from her friends, she climbed into the back. Once everyone was aboard, the Jeep rambled forward, kicking up a cloud of dust. Faith was heading back to Sunnydale.

Chapter Four: Staring into Darkness:

Dust swirled in front of her eyes, her hair blowing back and trailing out behind her as the Jeep rambled over the dirt road leading out of the army compound and towards Sunnydale. Faith squinted in the sunlight, her hands resting idly on the gun strapped to her chest, the fingers of her left hand tapping it absently. Jay was sitting beside her, a picture of complete calm. Faith wondered how he managed to control the anxiety that surely must have been rising up within him. She felt as though she could not sit still. The Jeep lurched over a bump in the road and Jay smiled over at her. "You okay?" He asked, his voice carrying through the wind to her ears.

"Five by five," Faith answered, briefly flashing him a smile before she looked away. The outer fence loomed before them. The sun was crawling through sky and, already, Faith was starting to feel warm. It was going to be a hot day. The Jeep slowed to a halt outside of the fence and two soldiers walked over to it. They spoke briefly with the driver and waved the vehicle forward. A gate opened before them and the Jeep sped through. They had entered the space between the two fences. "I thought there were land mines here," she said.

The driver smiled in the rearview mirror and glanced back at her. "Not here," he replied. "We're on the only access road between fences that isn't rigged."

"That's good," Faith mumbled, staring out at the barren landscape before her. She could see the highway leading from Sunnydale to the outside world through the inner fence. Frowning, she noticed something peculiar about the area where she and the others had jumped the fence. She could see the exact spot, but she could not see the van that they had left parked several yards behind them anywhere. "Where'd it go?" She muttered to herself.

"What did you say?" Jay asked, looking over at her.

"Nothing," Faith shook her head. "It's not important."

The Jeep reached the inner fence and another gate. This time, the driver exited the vehicle and walked up to the fence. Scanning the area in front of him, he opened the gate once he was certain that doing so would not put him or the rest of the world in danger. "This is where you get off," he stated. Faith climbed out of the back of the Jeep, happy when her feet touched the ground. The other three soldiers joined her and, together, they walked through the gate. The driver closed it behind them. It clanged shut and Faith suddenly felt as if she had made a terrible mistake. "Remember," the driver warned, "you have five days. If you're not back by then, no one's coming in after you."

"Thanks for the reminder," Faith sarcastically replied.

"Okay," Mark said, capturing the group's attention, "we're officially on the clock now, guys. Let's get moving. Faith," he paused, motioning for her to take the lead position, "I believe you're in charge until we reach the Initiative."

Faith looked around at the faces of the people standing before her. Behind her, she heard the Jeep's pull away. A cloud of dust kicked up and she repressed the urge to cough. "It's okay," Jay whispered. "We've got your back."

Faith looked over at him and smiled. "Thanks, man," she replied. Moving forward, she fingered her gun anxiously and began walking. The group filed in line behind her. Jay held the rear while Mark and Diego respectively filled in the middle. Silence hung over them as they walked. Avoiding the highway, they chose a path through the meadow surrounding the road. The grass was tall and lush and, as Faith walked, it grazed the side of her face with the delicacy of a lover's touch. Sighing, she realized, not for the first time, how much she missed Buffy. The sun beat down on her ruthlessly and she felt beads of sweat creeping down the small of her back.

"I see why they call this place Sunnydale," Diego muttered, wiping his brow with his black gloved hand. "It's hot as hell."

"Welcome to Southern California," Jay said amiably.

"How long did you live here?" Mark asked, nodding to Faith.

"I lived here for about two years," Faith replied. "But I was only conscious for about half of that."

"What do you mean?" Diego asked.

"I was in a coma for eight months," Faith answered. "I woke up and zombies had invaded."

"That sucks," Mark muttered.

"You have no idea," Faith agreed.

"The General said you led the rest of the survivors out of here," Diego commented.

"She did," Jay affirmed.

Faith smiled crookedly and replied, "It wasn't just me."

"You think you can get us to the campus by nightfall?" Diego asked.

"I can get you there before nightfall if we haul ass," Faith shot back, sensing that, perhaps, the soldier was doubting her physical capabilities.

Diego smiled and raised his hands defensively. "Down girl," he joked. "I wasn't trying to suggest that you couldn't. I was just curious."

"Look boys," Faith sighed, turning to face them, "I get that you've all been trained to do shit like this. But trust me; I know what I'm doing. When shit hits the fan, you'll be glad I'm here."

"No offense," Mark countered, "But you're just a girl."

"I'm a girl with an assault rifle strapped to her chest," Faith retorted. "So you might want to pay me some respect. Besides, I could kick your ass and if you don't believe me, we can throw down right now," Faith offered. Mark chuckled and shook his head.

"For some reason, I believe you," he stated. "Maybe it's because you survived in a zombie infested town long enough to lead a group of people out. Or maybe because you're just a scary chick."

"Good," Faith nodded, smiling slightly. "Just so we're clear."

"We're clear," Diego confirmed. "Now, I think you mentioned something about hauling ass?"

"I did," Faith nodded. "Let's go." Turning, she started walking again, progressively picking up her pace until she and the other soldiers were trotting through the meadow. She could see the entrance of the highway lingering in the haze of the day ahead of them. She could no longer see the smoke of the burning van, however, and assumed that it had burned itself to nothing. Again, she wondered to where the other van had disappeared. Shaking the thought from her mind, she pushed forward. The sound of the soldiers' boots slapping onto the ground as they ran was the only sound that interrupted the quiet that had become Sunnydale.

…………………………….

"Son of a …," Buffy muttered as the thin, spindly branch of a tree slapped back into her face as she walked. Shoving the branch out of the way, she stumbled forward through the thick cluster of trees and out into an opening of grass and wildflowers, where the sun was shining down happily. Her cheek stung from the slap of the branch and, reaching up, she rubbed the side of her face gingerly. "Stupid nature," she grumbled. Tossing her pack onto the ground, she flopped down on the grass and sighed heavily. The sun was starting to descend, moving lower and lower in the sky, which was turning a darker shade of blue. Buffy had been walking through the forest for several hours, completely lost, and wondering if she would ever find the auxiliary entrance of the Initiative.

The trees, spaced evenly when she had first entered the forest, had grown closer together and thicker, until she felt as though she was wandering through a jungle untouched by man for centuries. She wondered how often anyone bothered to walk through the forest, or if the Initiative soldiers had been the only ones to attempt it. Lying back down on the green grass, she closed her eyes. The sun caressed her face, not in the oppressively hot way that it had earlier in the day, but warm and gentle in the fading afternoon light. She knew that she should continue moving, but she felt exhausted. Her limbs hung heavily at her side and she wanted nothing more than to sleep.

She felt herself starting to doze as she lay there and, forcibly, she opened her eyes. The sun shone brightly above her, but it had sunk even further. Sighing, she sat up and grabbed her backpack. She rummaged through it for a bottle of water, which she quickly found. Unscrewing the cap, she lifted the bottle to her lips and tilted it back. The cool and refreshing water slid down her throat and she smiled. Once she had finished drinking, she placed the bottle back into her pack and stood. Stretching her tired muscles, she inhaled deeply, focusing all of her strength and energy on staying as healthy as possible, despite the infection flowing through her veins. "I'm gonna be fine," she whispered in a mantra that had been echoing in her mind for the entire day. "I'm gonna find the cure and I'm gonna get out of here. Once I do, I'm gonna find Faith and live happily every after."

Shouldering her pack again, she started walking. She felt as though every tree that she passed she had passed earlier in the day. She was starting to think that she was walking in circles. Her frustration was starting to mount after another half of an hour of struggling through the forest without any indication that she was walking in the correct direction. However, the second time that she stopped to regain her bearings, a rotten smell wafted into her nostrils. She almost gagged, but covered her mouth and nose. She could smell decaying flesh. She knew she was close. Moving towards the smell, she finally stumbled upon the auxiliary entrance to the Initiative. It looked like a rickety shed standing alone in the middle of the forest; however, she knew that within the dilapidated structure was a trap door that led to a staircase, which descended down to the main floor of the compound.

Lying outside of the shed were two decaying bodies. Buffy grimaced as she walked closer. The smell only increased. Standing over the bodies, she shook her head silently. She recognized the camouflaged pattern of the clothes hanging loosely from their shrunken, bony bodies. Both men were clutching guns in their hands, and though Buffy knew that she should probably take them, the thought of trying to pry the weapons from their dead fingers sickened her. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Though she could not be certain what had happened to them, she believed that she knew. The soldiers had not been bitten, or they would have risen again as zombies. From their placement on the ground, Buffy theorized that they had known what was going to happen, perhaps they had been warned that zombies were escaping from within the Initiative, and they had killed each other because they knew that they had no chance of escape.

Looking past the bodies, she saw the door of the shed hanging ajar. It was dark within the structure and Buffy quickly rummaged through her pack for her flashlight. Turning it on, she moved forward. The beam of light crept into the shed as she pulled the door open fully. She could not see anything lingering inside, but she fingered the gun in her other hand nervously. The same smell of decay that had emanated from the dead bodies lying in the forest was also drifting up strongly from the open trapped door in the floor before her. Moving over to it, she glanced down into the hole. An overwhelming darkness gazed back up at her. She suddenly felt very afraid.

She did not want to have to descend into that darkness, but she knew that she had to if she was going to find the cure to the virus spreading throughout her body. Taking a moment to calm her raging fear, she placed the flashlight in her mouth, clutched it tightly between her teeth, and lowered herself into the hole. Her searching fingers found the first rung of the vertical ladder that would lead her down. Resting her feet a lower rung, she mentally congratulated herself for taking the first step, and starting descending. The darkness grew thicker as she climbed. Looking up, she saw the light of the outside world starting to fade as she descended lower and lower through the ground. While silence had hung over everything in the forest above, Buffy noticed a disheartening sound rising up from beneath her. She could hear zombies moaning deep from within the Initiative. She wondered how many remained inside of the compound. She knew that only one person, who had been infected with the virus, had to have escaped the base for the infection to spread through the town. However, she wondered how many people had been left behind and how many people had escaped.

Finally, her feet hit the ground. Removing the flashlight from her mouth, she slowly turned, allowing the beam to dance down the abandoned staircase leading to the main floor. She remembered from her tour of the compound that the staircase seemed to wind itself down through the ground forever. However, she knew that her only choice, if she wanted to retrieve the anti-virus, was to descend it. It would have been quicker for her to try to rappel down the elevator shaft, but she doubted if her strength would have held. Already, she felt almost too weak to tackle the staircase waiting before her. But she knew that she had to keep moving. Sighing heavily, she took a step forward and started her last descent.