Animatus II: The Descent
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry these updates are taking longer than usual, but I've been on these antibiotics that are really taking a toll on me. Next week I'll be out of town, so I won't be able to update then, but when I get back I'll try to start posting more.
Previously:
"If we do," Buffy said, looking back at them, "we'll come back for you."
"We'll see you then, I guess," Kate said uncertainly, watching as Spike and Buffy moved back to the door.
Buffy paused before she punched in the new code to open it again. She could not hear the zombies outside of the door. "I hope they've moved on," she muttered.
"And if not?" Spike asked.
"We'll fight our way through."
Chapter Seven: On the Count of Three:
The door slid open silently. At first, Buffy could not see anything in the darkness, but then she became aware of starved eyes staring at her in the long, deep shadows. Hundreds of pairs of eyes met hers, yellowed and decaying within the heads of the zombies that were waiting for them once the door to Sector D opened. Buffy felt her stomach drop with a disappointment so fierce that she almost dropped her gun, willing, in that moment, to die. The zombies were rushing forward before she could react. A sudden thought struck her that left her numb – the zombies purposefully had been silent. Whether they had realized that by staying quiet they would trick their prey into believing that they had left, or that they had allowed some predatory instinct to guide them, Buffy did not know. All that mattered was that they had been waiting for her to return and she had not known it.
"Bloody hell!" She heard Spike yell as a zombie grabbed his forearm, raking his skin open with its broken, tangled fingernails. "Get back!" He yelled again. Buffy did not move, however. She was pinned to the floor, rooted in her despair, and completely exhausted from trying to survive when she should have surrendered to defeat. "Damn it, Slayer," Spike growled as he grabbed her by the shoulders and forcibly threw her back into the room. Kate rushed forward and caught her to prevent her from falling onto the tile floor. Buffy shook her head, glanced up at the smiling woman, and frowned confusedly. Once she had snapped out of her daze, she looked back at Spike, her face paling at the sight of the zombies crowding the door.
"A little help would be nice!" Spike snarled as he punched the zombie that had scratched his arm. It stumbled backwards, falling into the wave of the dead pushing forward. Slipping onto the ground, it disappeared under trampling feet. Spike heard the sickening crunch of its skin splitting and its bones breaking as the other zombies crushed their fallen member. Paul moved past Buffy and Kate with his gun raised. A burst of gunfire lit up the darkened hallway and Buffy could see the contorted and violent faces of the zombies clearly for a moment before the light extinguished.
Spike gripped the door and slammed it shut as the zombies nearest fell in a burst of red mist. Panting, he turned with his back pressed against the door, and smiled crookedly. "I think we're going to have to find another way out," he commented.
"Are you okay?" Kate asked, looking at Buffy warily, but concernedly.
"I'm okay," Buffy nodded, moving over to the wall, where she slid to the floor. Resting her arms on her knees, she closed her eyes. She felt dizzy again. Her world was spinning out of synch with everything else happening around her. She could feel the infection moving through her body. She knew that the only thing keeping her alive was the fact that, somewhere inside of her, still resided the Slayer. The mystical energies that created her very being were fighting to prevent the zombie infection from polluting them. But Buffy knew that she would lose the battle eventually.
"You're starting to feel it, aren't you?" Kate asked, kneeling down beside her and touching her arm lightly.
"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "I don't know how much longer I have."
Spike looked down at the broken Slayer and sighed heavily. "So you're just giving up, is that it?" He demanded.
"What else can I do?" Buffy shot back. "We can't get out of here."
"Yes, we can," Spike stated. "We just have to think creatively."
"Think creatively?" Buffy scoffed. "I can't think anymore, Spike. It just hurts."
"Bloody well have to do everything myself," Spike muttered angrily as he glanced around the room. "Is there any other way out of here?" He asked Paul, but the soldier shook his head.
"That's the only door," Paul answered.
"I wasn't talking about doors," Spike countered. "Any other way out of here would be nice."
"This corridor is sealed off from everything else," Paul replied. "I'm sorry, pal, but you guys are stuck in here."
"No, they're not," Kate suddenly spoke up.
"What're you thinking, love?" Spike asked, turning to her direction.
She blushed slightly at his moniker for her and continued, "The vents. You could use the vents."
Spike smiled widely. "See, Slayer. Just have to think creatively. Now, are you ready to go or do you want to sit there and sulk a little more?"
"Shut up, Spike," Buffy muttered, shaking her head angrily as she pulled herself to her feet.
"Look, if I'm going to leave the relative safety of this cozy, little place, I want to know that I'm doing it with someone who's into the plan one hundred percent," Spike argued. "If you're gonna launch a one woman pity party, you might as well leave me here. I want to get out of here, but not that much."
"Spike," Buffy said warningly.
"Okay, okay," Spike laughed, throwing up his hands defensively, "I'm stop talking now."
"Good," Buffy rolled her eyes. Following as Kate led them to the nearest vent, she tucked her gun into the waistband of her jeans, realizing that she was mildly thankful for Spike's insulting prompting, though she was uncertain that she could handle the vampire's glib attitude for much longer. "You're lucky I don't have any stakes," she muttered back in his direction.
"Maybe," Spike shrugged, "but I don't relish the prospect of getting shot either."
"Fair enough," Buffy replied. Kate pointed to the vent above their heads.
"You'll have to climb up there," she said. "But the entire compound is connected through these vents."
"Seeing as to how we can't get out of that door," Spike commented as he looked up at the vent, "I think this is our only way out."
"Spike," Buffy began, glancing over at his hesitantly.
"Oh hell, I'll do it," he grumbled. Climbing atop of a plastic chair, he reached up and yanked the vent cover off of the wall. "Do you need a hand too?" He smirked.
"No," Buffy said defensively, "I can do it."
"I'm sure you can," Spike laughed as he hauled himself up into the hole and started to crawl forward.
Buffy flashed a thankful smile over at Kate, who returned it. "We'll be seeing you soon," she promised as she climbed atop the chair and through the vent. The ventilation shaft was narrow. At times, she wondered if Spike would be able to continue pressing forward. It was constructed entirely of a shiny, polished metal that Buffy could not identify. The sounds of her shoes hitting the metal, however, echoed dishearteningly through the shaft. If anyone was listening, he, she, or it would know exactly where she and Spike were located.
"How're you doing, Slayer?" Spike asked, stopping and glancing back at her. Sweat dotted his brow and his smiled half heartedly.
"Just keep going," Buffy panted. The cramped quarters did not leave much room for cool air and Buffy found herself becoming overheated quickly. The air had died along with the power. The vents were lying disused and quiet. "How do we know if we're going down?" She asked after several long moments of silence.
Spike grunted and stopped again. "I don't rightly know," he answered. "But the way I see it, we don't actually have to go far in these. We just need to get out of the way of the zombies," he explained. "Are you starting to feel claustrophobic, or is it just me?" Spike added.
"Not just you," Buffy shuddered, imaging the walls closing in around her and crushing her to death.
"So, how's Angel?" Spike asked conversationally as they crawled.
"What?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Angel. Loverboy. How is he?" Spike asked again.
"You know he left for Los Angeles," Buffy stated.
"Well, yes, but the last time I saw him, he was with you," Spike pointed out.
"That's over," Buffy replied. "I've moved on."
"Have you now?" Spike smirked.
"Yes, I have," Buffy said indignantly.
"With who?" Spike asked, his curiosity overcoming him.
"I'm not so sure that I want to tell you," Buffy grumbled.
"Why's that?" Spike laughed.
"You're going to make fun of me," Buffy answered. "Why am I even talking about this with you?"
"Oh, come on," Spike said. "We're crawling through a ventilation shaft to escape the killer zombies that have taken over the Initiative. What else is there to talk about?" Spike returned sarcastically.
"Good point. Fine, I'm with Faith," Buffy stated.
"Faith?" Spike replied, trying to repress the laughter that was threatening to escape from him. "Didn't you put her in a coma?"
"That's not the point," Buffy muttered.
"I'm just saying, that's usually a relationship killer," Spike said. "Hold up a minute," he added. They had come to an intersection. "Which way should we go?" He asked.
"Can you see a way out of here?" Buffy asked, craning her neck to look around him, but the vampire blocked her view.
"Yeah," Spike answered, crawling to the left. He stopped after several feet and Buffy crawled forward. "I can see a stairwell."
"Really?" Buffy asked excitedly. "Are there any zombies?"
Spike glanced through the vent cover, squinting his eyes in concentration. "No," he said after a few moments. "I can't see anything moving. This our last stop?" He asked, trying to look back at her, but giving up when he realized that he could not turn himself around in the narrow space.
"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "The stairwell is what we want. We need to get down to Sublevel Three."
"I hope your information is accurate," Spike commented as he punched off the metal cover. Crawling forward, he tumbled out of the hole, but managed to land on his feet. "Smooth," he muttered to himself. Buffy followed after him, but was less successful in her landing.
"Ow," she muttered, looking up at him from the floor.
He smirked down at her and extended his hand. "Need some help, Slayer?" He asked.
"No," Buffy shot back, ignoring his hand as she pulled herself up to her feet.
"Sublevel Three?" Spike asked as they began descending the stairs.
Buffy nodded. "And with any luck, we'll find the anti-virus."
…………………………..
"One," Mark said as he began prying open the elevator doors. Diego shifted restlessly and fingered the trigger of his gun. Faith glanced between him and Jay, wondering how her boys would hold up under the pressure of the zombies. She knew that Diego had agreed to come on the mission from some deep rooted sense of duty to help mankind. However, she also knew that he was terrified of what lay behind the doors that Mark was opening.
"Two," Mark continued. The doors shifted open several inches. Faith tried to catch a glimpse of the other side, but she could not see anything but dim blue lighting. Jay inhaled deeply, blowing his breath back out through his mouth. Though she had not known Jay for very long, she had grown to care for him like a brother. The thought that she might lose him in the depths of the Initiative, while searching for an anti-virus that might not actually exist, pained her more than she cared to admit. She had already lost one person that she loved deeply when Buffy had been ripped away from her and she could not fathom losing another person so quickly. Perhaps that was why she had agreed to come on the mission, even though reentering Sunnydale had been the last thing on her mind once they had escaped. She wanted to protect Jay. She knew that the odds were stacked against them, but she thought that if she was there with him, she could save him, even though she could not save Buffy.
"Three," Mark announced, pushing all of his muscle power into opening the doors. The elevator doors slid open seamlessly and the group moved forward stealthily. Jay stepped out first. Faith followed behind with Diego behind her. Mark brought up the rear. Faith realized instantly that they were on a staircase. Exhaling deeply, Faith shook her head when she saw the main floor of the Initiative – it was crawling with zombies.
"Good Lord," Diego muttered.
"The door is over there," Mark said, nodding towards the door leading to the stairwell, where Buffy and Spike had descended only a short time before.
"We have to make a run for it," Jay decided.
"There are too many zombies. We can't kill them all," Faith thought aloud, "but we can distract them."
"Let's go guys," Jay said, raising his gun. The group moved forward, creeping down the stairs. The zombies seemed distracted, however. Faith thought that she could smell gunpowder on the air, but shook the thought away as impossible. They reached the bottom of the staircase and paused.
"Anyone else think that would be harder?" Diego asked confusedly.
"Really, yeah," Faith nodded.
"Keep moving," Mark instructed, taking the lead. As the group pressed forward, the zombies around them began to notice their presence. "Fire when they start coming at us," Mark stated.
They cautiously moved around the wall, inching closer and closer to the stairwell door. A burst of gunfire sounded behind her and Faith jumped, turning to see Diego firing upon a zombie that had crept up next to her without her knowing. Faith looked down at it in surprise and smiled gratefully back at him. "Thanks," she said. "I didn't even see it."
"It's okay," Diego shrugged. "I got your back."
"Guys?" Jay said, capturing their attention. "Time to rock and roll."
Faith turned and saw a line of zombies blocking them from reaching the door. Fingering the trigger of her gun, she smiled wickedly and asked, "Anyone up for killing some zombies?"