Animatus II: The Descent

Notes: Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming. I have finals this week, but I hope to update as often.

Previously:

"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.

Chapter Five: Heavy in the Silence:

She remembered nightmares that began much like the situation into which she found herself – overwhelming darkness, oppressive heat, and inhuman wailing coupled with an absolute stillness that almost was more terrifying than the noises themselves. She had to force herself to take each step down the staircase leading to the main floor of the Initiative. Each time her shoes struck concrete and echoed dully down into the darkness, she swore that she had revealed herself to the zombies waiting below. However, nothing ever attacked her in the darkness, nothing ever came. She was descending perpetually, while the sound of the zombies intensified, until she felt as though she would scream. The yellow light of her flashlight danced on the walls of the staircase, revealing splatters of old blood that graced them like the red paint of an angry abstract artist.

Buffy shivered and moved her flashlight away from the bloody walls, directing it down towards the infinite darkness before her. "This was such a good idea," she muttered. "Let's go down into the big, dark hole with all of the scary monsters. Nothing bad could ever happen down there," she scoffed. "Me and my stupid ideas. This is why I need Giles," she concluded. "He'd know what to do." But Buffy knew that the only way that she would ever see Giles – or Faith, or Willow, or Tara – again was if she continued moving forward, down into the blackness, to find the cure to the zombie infection. She found the motivation to continue in that thought, but also in the knowledge that by finding the cure, she might be able to help others similarly plighted. Though the army seemed to have quarantined Sunnydale within a series of fences, Buffy knew that no guarantee existed that the zombies would not discover a way to break free from the confines and infect whomever they could.

However, with a cure, people could arm themselves against such an attack. Buffy knew that her responsibility as a Slayer should have been the primary motivation for her decision to enter the Initiative. Her destiny was to save others from the things that most people did not know existed. In some respects, she felt as though she had failed that destiny by failing to stop the zombies from destroying what remained of Sunnydale. However, when chaos had erupted, her only thought had been to protect the people that she loved. She had cared about nothing else. Consequently, she had locked herself, Willow, Tara, and Riley into her dormitory room, where they had remained until Faith had rescued them. Though she knew that her destiny always should motivate her actions above anything else, she had to acknowledge that it rarely did. Even know, the thought that she could help the world by finding the anti-virus came second to the thought that she had to cure herself so that she could find Faith.

The thought of her lover brought a weary sigh to her lips. She missed the dark haired Slayer more and more with each hour that past, bringing her closer to death, and the inevitability of never seeing her girlfriend in the living world again. Pausing for a moment to rest, she sat down on one of the stairs. The concrete was cold against the bare skin of her back revealed when she sat and she smiled, happy for some relief against the oppressive heat rising up from the depths of the Initiative. The moaning of the zombies reached her ears in a constant drone that chilled her to the bones. She hated that sound. She remembered being surrounded by it at the campus. She had lain awake at night, listening to the zombies while her friends lay asleep around her. Always, she protected them. Always, she stood sentinel over them. She had even before the attack. Despite her efforts, she had lost several people who had found homes in her heart.

She wanted to feel the warmth of Faith's arms wrapped around her waist. She wanted to feel the tickle of Faith's breath against her skin. But more than anything, she wanted to feel the low humming again that always entered her mind when Faith was around. She had stopped feeling it when she had been bitten. The zombie virus seemed to have severed her tie with the mystical energy that comprised the Slayer. She missed her connection with that energy, but more, she missed her connection to Faith. She wondered if Faith still was able to feel her, or if Faith had lost the connection as well. Shaking away her thoughts, she focused on her mission. She knew that she only had one more set of stairs to descend before she would reach the doors leading to the main floor of the compound. Vaguely in the darkness, she could see a dull light. She imagined that, though the power had been shut down in town, the Initiative had emergency generators that would continue to pump electricity through the compound to ensure that the monsters contained within did not escape.

At least, she hoped that the Initiative scientists had thought that far in advance. She dreaded the thought of encountering more zombies, though she knew that she would, but she feared more the thought of encountering half starved vampires and demons freed from their cages, but trapped underground. With any luck, those demons and vampires still would be locked away, unable to prevent her from accomplishing her task. Pulling herself to her feet again, she continued descending. The further down she climbed, the hotter it seemed to become. Tiny beads of sweat trailed down her face. Her clothes stuck to her skin and she felt as though she was being suffocated by the fabric.

The dull light lingering before her grew brighter as she walked forward until she could see everything lying before her without the aid of the flashlight. She sighed gratefully when she finally reached the last stair. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest; she never before had felt so out of breath. A dim ache grew in her brain and she winced slightly as the pain crashed into her. Wiping the dripping sweat from her face, she glanced at the set of double doors before her. They were constructed of reinforced steel and the only way to open them was with a pass code that had to be entered into a touchpad next to the door. Fortunately, Buffy remembered the code. Moving over to the door with a determined stride, she lifted her hand and paused. Her fingers hovered over the keys on the touchpad. She knew that once she opened the door, she would have to face whatever lay within the Initiative.

But she was a Slayer, before Faith she had been the Slayer, and she knew that she could handle whatever was waiting for her on the other side of the door. She just had to conquer her fear. Once the door was opened, she would become the Slayer again. But before that, she was just a scared girl standing outside a compound full of monsters with a deadly infection spreading throughout her body. Her eyes fluttered shut momentarily as she inhaled deeply. Holding the breath for a moment, she exhaled slowly, smiling as her fear drained from her body, leaving only resolution and determination. Typing the code into the touchpad, she fingered her gun anxiously as she doors suddenly slid open. A small hallway opened before her, leading to the main room of the main floor of the Initiative compound.

As she stepped through the doors, she realized that the last leg of her journey had begun. She was inside of the Initiative. Somewhere in the maze of rooms and floors comprising the compound was an anti-virus that would save her life. She just hoped that she reached it in time. She had to locate the staircase that led to the third sublevel. Once she had reached that, her search would begin. The door slammed seamlessly shut behind her with a barely audible clang. Buffy was grateful for her silent entrance. Standing in the shadows of the hallway, she took a moment to survey her surroundings. Cold dread seeped into her heart as she stared out onto the main floor of the base. Zombies roamed freely across the room, moaning their hunger and discontent in a perpetual chorus. Buffy recognized lab coats and military uniforms covering their bodies and her fear that most of the Initiative employees had failed to escape the compound was confirmed. She wondered just how many zombies there were wandering throughout the base.

Clicking the hammer of the gun back, she stayed her initial reaction to start shooting at everything that moved. She instantly realized that she did not possess enough ammunition to kill every zombie in the Initiative. Further, firing her gun would only attract attention that she did not want or need. Relaxing the grip of her trembling hand on the gun, she tried to think rationally. The main floor of the compound was composed of several separate sections. She could sneak between computer terminals, remaining in the shadows of the dim emergency lighting, and possibly reach the stairwell without attracting any attention. She smiled, happy with her plan, and stepped forward. However, as she did, she saw a form pass in front of the entrance of the hallway. It stopped when it saw her, its yellowed eyes glowing in the dark. With a shrill wail, it effectively silenced the rest of the zombies. An overwhelming quiet fell over the room and Buffy audibly gulped. "Oh shit," she murmured as the zombie charged.

…………………………….

"We're here," Faith stated solemnly as they reached the hill announcing the entrance of the U.C. Sunnydale campus. She could hear the zombies on the other side of the hill moaning hungrily and she shuddered at the thought of what they would do to her if they caught her. She almost could feel their teeth ripping the flesh from her body. Though the thought sickened her, she wondered if that fate would not be better than the prospect of living a life without her lover.

"The Initiative entrance is located in the frat house," Jay explained. "I can lead us from here."

"Good," Diego nodded. "Faith? Take the middle with Mark. I'll guard the rear."

"There are a lot of zombies on the other side of that hill," Faith warned. "If we want to make it to the frat house, we have to be quick."

"Do not fire unless at all necessary," Mark concluded. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Agreed," Diego nodded.

"Everyone ready?" Jay asked. The group collectively nodded and began ascending the hill. The moaning grew louder. When they reached the crest, Diego, Mark, and Jay sucked in an awed breath at the sight before them.

"When you said a lot of zombies…," Diego began, "well, I believed you. But this is more than a lot of zombies."

"I told you," Faith smiled smugly. "Someone regretting the decision to come?"

"Maybe," Diego admitted.

"Hell yeah," Mark freely stated.

"I'm not," Faith said, pushing forward. "I came here for a reason. We all did. The sooner we accomplish our mission, we can leave."

"Get on with our lives," Jay muttered under his breath.

Faith smiled and looked over at him. "Whatever they might be."

Faith followed Jay as he led the group on the same path that she and Anya had walked when they had first come to the campus to rescue Buffy. She smiled at the memory. Though she only really had known Anya for a short time, she had bonded quickly with the ex-vengeance demon. Her smile quickly faded as she thought of the end that Anya had met when trying to reach the Bronze after rescuing Buffy. The blonde girl had not deserved such a fate. She had been a hero and she had died a hero, but Faith sometimes wondered if that was enough. She wondered if Anya really had wanted to die a hero, or if she had wanted just to live her life simply and contently with Xander without any pressing circumstances requiring heroic actions.

Faith wondered the same for herself often. She loved being a Slayer. Her calling had saved her from a life that she could not imagine, but at the same time, condemned her to a life that she was not certain that she wanted. Before Buffy, the violence had been enough for her. Destroying evil had been enough. Being a hero had been enough. However, after she had discovered Buffy's feelings for her, Faith had begun to question whether she really wanted the life of the Slayer. Living in peace with the woman she loved seemed like such an attractive option. Though, she had to admit that before Buffy had been bitten, she had relished the thrill of slaying with her lover. They had been connected in a way that she knew that she could never be connected with another person again. The thought that the connection that they had shared had been permanently severed saddened her beyond any grief that she had ever experienced.

The group reached the first building without incident. Hiding in its shade, Faith snapped out of her thoughts. "The frat house is just over there," Jay said, pointing a gloved hand at a building several yards away. "The elevator leading down to the Initiative main floor is located inside."

"In the frat house?" Mark questioned.

"We were a secret organization," Jay quipped. "Couldn't be too obvious."

"Frat house doesn't exactly scream organization and discipline," Faith stated.

"It is a rather good choice," Diego nodded.

"Once we reach the elevator shaft, we'll rappel down per our instructions. There's a staircase on the main floor that will lead down to the third sub level, where the anti-virus supposedly was being housed," Jay explained.

"Once we retrieve the anti-virus, we retreat. We'll meet the Jeep at the fence and be home free," Mark finished.

"Sounds so simple," Faith noted.

"But I don't think that it will be," Diego added. "Not with this many zombies."

"We may have been able to get this far without attracting attention, but I don't know what will happen once we enter the Initiative," Jay acknowledged. "There could be a significant number of zombies still inside."

"We may have to shoot our way down," Diego murmured.

"I can handle that," Faith said, patting her gun affectionately.

Diego smirked. "You have a thing for violence, huh?" He asked.

"Just a bit," Faith admitted.

"What is it about you?" Mark asked.

"What do you mean?" Faith questioned.

"How come you could lead a group of people out of a zombie infested hot zone when no one else could?" He furthered.

"What are you? Like a hot chick with superpowers or something?" Diego joked.

"Actually," Faith started.

"You're kidding, right?" Mark asked as the group left the shelter of the building and darted across the grass towards the frat house.

"I'm not kidding," Faith stated. "I am a hot chick," she smirked. "And I have superpowers."

"Just don't ask, man," Jay stressed. When they reached the outside of the frat house, Jay pulled open the front door. The house was quiet inside, but they all knew better than to trust the silence. "The elevator is on the second floor," he stated as they began to ascend the stairs.

"I don't like the quiet," Diego said nervously.

"Pull it together, Diego," Mark replied. "We can't have you freaking out on us."

"I'm not freaking out," Diego said defensively. "I'm just saying that I don't like the quiet."

"Neither do I," Faith said softly.

"Almost there," Jay announced as they reached the top of the stairs and began to move down a hallway. As Jay passed one of the bedrooms, the door slammed opened, effectively cutting the group in half. Out of the bedroom stumbled a half naked frat boy with long, diagonal scratch marks running up and down his chest. Faith could tell from his yellowed eyes that he had been turned. Before she could raise her gun, however, Diego fired a single shot that split the man's skull in half. The body dropped to the floor and Faith breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's just hope that no one heard that," Diego broke the silence.

"We better move," Jay said, shaken slightly. "The elevator's right here. You ever get the impression that this was a bad idea?" Jay asked lowly so that only Faith could hear.

Faith smiled grimly and nodded. "All the time."