Animatus II: The Descent
Notes: Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming.
Previously:
Faith smiled and watched Buffy finish her sandwich. "I know this is going to sound weird," she began. "But I'm kinda happy that zombies took over Sunnydale."
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know if we ever would have gotten this close if they hadn't," Faith said. "I don't know how I would have been if I would have woken up from that coma and everything was still the same."
"You would have been exactly how you are now," Buffy said seriously. "I believe in you, Faith. You're a good person. You always have been. You just lost your way a little."
Chapter Fourteen: To the End with You:
Zombies were everywhere. From where she lay on the floor, Faith could see thousands of yellowed, decaying eyes staring down at her lustfully, ravaging her with their piercing gazes. She was frozen. She was a Slayer, but she could not move. Everything inside of her blood screamed at her to run, but the world had lost all meaning. Time had ceased to exist and Faith was trapped in a moment of complete and utter terror. The zombies circling her began to advance. The moldy scent of their rotting skin filled her nostrils and she found herself gagging. Fingers clawed at her hair. She heard someone calling her from somewhere, but she could not discern the words. Through the wall of dead flesh surrounding her, she saw a glimmer of golden hair. Then she felt pain.
Buffy's eyes fluttered open. She had fallen asleep in Faith's arms on the floor of the Initiative lab. The world blurred in front of her and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision. Someone's face popped into view. "Hey," Diego said solemnly. "Time to get up."
"Thanks," Buffy smiled and tried to stretch, but noticed that Faith had her gripped in a tight embrace. Looking up into the face of her girlfriend, she saw lines of worry creasing her forehead as she slept. Her mouth was turned into a frown and, occasionally, she twitched violently. She was having a nightmare. Buffy turned to face her and placed her hands the sides of her lover's neck. "Faith," she whispered, leaning forward and brushing her lips against the younger girl's. "Faith, wake up, baby. You're having a bad dream."
Pain filled her entire being. She felt teeth gnawing through the flesh of her shoulder, striking the bone. At the sight of fresh blood, the rest of the zombies rushed forward, gripping at her exposed skin with their venomous teeth. She wished that she could die, but she was stuck in a consciousness composed entirely of suffering. Teeth ripped her flesh from her body, but still she did not die. She heard someone calling her name. The voice sounded familiar, but she no longer could place it. A hand clamped down on her face. She could not breathe. She struggled, she kicked, and lashed out with what remaining strength she had, but she could not dislodge herself. The world went black. She lost herself. Through the haze in her mind, she felt something brush against her lips. Warmth filled her heart.
Faith opened her eyes, bolting upright and nearly toppling Buffy in the process. "Hey, calm down, baby," Buffy said soothingly. "It's okay."
"B?" Faith asked confusedly, glancing at her girlfriend. After a quick survey of the room, she sighed with relief. "No zombies," she muttered. "Thank God."
"You were just dreaming, that's all," Buffy smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. When her lips met Faith's, she felt a tremor run through her body – a spark of electricity that she never had felt with anyone else.
"Oh, knock it off," Spike complained grumpily. "No one wants to watch you sodding birds make out like little bunny rabbits."
"Actually, I wouldn't mind," Jay joked.
"Have a thing for lesbians, Jay?" Faith asked humorously.
"Who doesn't?" Diego shot back with a grin.
"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled under his breath. "Can't anyone around here focus for more than two seconds?"
"Sorry," Buffy smiled unapologetically. "We're supposed to be preparing to leave, aren't we?"
"We are," Jay confirmed.
In the space of silence that fell between them, Buffy heard again the resonating pounding of the zombies trying to break into the room. Frowning slightly, she noticed that the door was starting to buckle. "Okay, guys," she said, pointing to the door, "I think that's our cue to get out of here."
"What?" Faith asked, following the path of Buffy's outstretched arm to the bulging metal door. "Shit."
"Jay, you first," Buffy instructed.
"Why does he get to go first?" Spike asked.
"He has the anti-virus," Buffy explained.
"I found the damn thing," Spike grumbled.
"Sorry, Billy," Jay joked as he moved past the bleach blonde vampire. Climbing on a lab stool, he tossed the metal case containing the anti-virus into the darkness, and hoisted himself into the hole.
"Diego," Buffy said. "You next."
Diego nodded and moved over to the open vent, taking Jay's outstretched hand. Buffy grabbed her bag from the floor and slung it over her shoulder. "You next, B," Faith offered.
Buffy smiled over at her girlfriend and easily jumped into the hole. "Looks like it's just you and me now, pet," Spike commented.
Rolling her eyes, Faith replied, "Go ahead."
"Thanks," Spike grinned. "Oh, what?" He asked as he moved under the opening, which yawned empty above him. "No one's gonna help me up?"
"Move your ass, Spike," Faith said threateningly.
"Fine, fine," Spike muttered. "I can bloody well do it myself."
As Spike was lifting himself through the opening, Faith moved behind him. She could see Buffy's worried eyes shining down on her and she smiled reassuringly. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could form the words, a loud, screeching clang tore through the lab. Turning swiftly, she looked back to see the door hanging precariously off of its hinges. A horde of zombies stood on the other side. Faith's eyes met their yellow orbs and a chill ran down her spine. "Faith!" Buffy yelled. "Come on!"
Tearing her gaze away from the zombies, who were now stumbling over the mangled pieces of the door, she propelled herself through the air, grabbing Buffy's arm as the blonde Slayer reached down to help her. Buffy pulled the younger girl up through the hole, but before Faith had cleared the opening, a zombie reached up and snagged her foot. "Shit!" Faith cursed loudly, kicking to shake her foot free. Leaning his face down to her ankle, the zombie opened his mouth to bite. Centimeters before his teeth grazed her flesh, a shot rang out through the room. Faith smelled gunpowder and, turning, she saw Jay leaning over Buffy, his gun aimed through the opening.
"Pull her up!" Jay instructed. Buffy yanked Faith entirely through the hole. The dark Slayer collapsed on top of the older girl, panting heavily as adrenaline crashed through her body.
"God damn," Faith muttered. "That was intense."
"You okay?" Buffy asked concernedly, quickly surveying her girlfriend's foot.
"I'm okay," Faith confirmed. "He didn't get me."
Another burst of gunfire rang through the air. "They're trying to get through the opening," Jay said suddenly. "We have to get moving."
"Lead the way, Jay," Buffy instructed.
"I'll bring up the rear," Diego volunteered. "Although, if they get through that opening, we're screwed."
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked as the group began the slow, exhausting crawl through the vents.
"If they follow us," he explained. "There's virtually nothing that we can do about it. We can't shoot in here. It'd be too dangerous."
"We'll just have to hope that they don't catch up with us," Buffy sighed. Though Buffy was hopeful that they would escape from the Initiative unscathed, she knew that they were in great danger. They would have to crawl through the ventilation system and back to the stairwell that connected the main floor of the compound to the system of corridors that spidered out from it like a web. However, they were not free once they had reached the main floor. Zombies littered the area, waiting for human flesh to feed their hunger. Buffy was determined to save Paul and Kate, the only two survivors she had encountered in the Initiative, who were trapped in a dead end hallway off of the main room. She knew that such a task would not be easy.
"Damn, it's hot in here," Faith grumbled behind her. Buffy smiled.
"Well, I am in front of you," she joked.
Faith grinned salaciously. "I can't say that staring at your ass this whole time hasn't been fun."
"You've been staring at my ass?" Buffy said mockingly indignant.
"No, of course not," Faith said seriously, though her eyes were smiling.
Buffy laughed. "When we get out of here," she said seductively, "I'll let you do more than stare at my ass, Faith."
Faith shuddered as a jolt of arousal flashed through her. "I'm holding you to that, B," she promised.
"You better," Buffy replied. She would have winked back at her girlfriend if she could have turned, but the walls of the vent seemed to be closing in around her.
"Anyone else feeling a bit claustrophobic in here?" Spike asked, mirroring Buffy's own thoughts.
"Hell yeah," Jay said.
"Me too," Diego muttered.
"Can't say I'm loving it," Buffy added.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Faith joked. "I'm totally fine squeezing my way through a vent no wider than a cardboard box."
"Glad we're all on the same page," Spike replied.
"Can you see anything behind us?" Buffy asked Jay worriedly.
Diego stopped crawling, contorting himself around to try to see behind him. "Everyone stop for a second," he instructed.
Silence fell between the group as they waited. Sweat dripped from Faith's face and arms as she propped herself up on the floor of the vent. The muscles of her arms were shaking. Her heart was starting to slow from the rapid pace that had captured it when the zombie had grabbed her ankle. But as the adrenaline running through her system began to fade, she started to crash. She had not eaten much since entering the Initiative and the emotional rollercoaster that she had been strapped onto since finding Buffy was starting to take its toll.
"I can't see anything," Diego announced.
"Shh," Jay said suddenly. "I think I hear something."
A distinct clanging noise echoed faintly through the vents. "Shit," Faith said grimly. "You think they're in?"
"I think so," Diego confirmed. "Double our pace people. I don't want to get eaten up here."
"Me neither," Buffy stated.
As the group continued their crawl through the ventilation system, Faith tried to think of anything but the zombies following behind them. However, her mind drifted back to their pursuers. She had faced many terrifying demons during her time as a vampire Slayer. The only time she had frozen when confronting a demon had been during her fight with Kakistos in Sunnydale. She had prided herself on her courage in battle and her willingness to do anything to achieve victory. However, the zombies terrified her to the core of her being. Whenever she looked into their yellowed eyes, she felt paralyzed. The Slayer in her screamed at her to fight, the human in her screamed at her to run, but fear gripped her heart with its icy fingers and rooted her in place.
"We're almost there," Jay announced. "I think I see the grate for the stairwell just ahead."
Faith felt a glimmer of hope spark in her heart at Jay's words, but the reality of their situation caught up with her. Though they would be escaping the zombies following them through the ventilation system, even more zombies awaited them in the main room of the compound. Buffy was determined to save two people trapped in a corridor surrounded by the living dead. Though Faith believed in Buffy and believed her to be a noble warrior, she had to question their actions. The potential danger far outweighed the good that would come from saving them. Diego and Jay had become close friends of hers during their time together. She could not rationalize putting them in danger for two people, whom she had never met. But she loved Buffy more than she had loved anyone else and she knew in her heart that she would follow the blonde Slayer to the end, even if that end was death.