Animatus II: The Descent
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming.
Previously:
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.
Chapter Fifteen: Rescue Mission:
"Did I ever tell you that story about how I hate cramped spaces?" Faith asked as she picked herself up off of the floor. Buffy smiled over at her. Faith warily looked up and down the stairwell into which she had landed. She noticed Jay doing the same. In one hand, he held his gun, pointing into the darkness with its flashlight beaming bravely; in the other, he held the case containing the anti-virus.
"I know," Buffy said.
"It's really a captivating story," Faith continued. "Mystery, intrigue, romance. Worth hearing one day."
"I promise, no more vents," Buffy swore.
Faith tried to brush off the coating of grime sticking to her clothes with no avail. Frowning, she shook her head. "Of course, there's also that story about how I hate zombies."
"I have one of those too," Jay commented as Spike lowered himself out of the vent and onto the floor with an audible thud.
"You know, sometimes I think I should have just stayed in that cell," the bleach blonde vampire grumbled. "Life would have been a lot easier."
"Not when B rescues the only people who cared enough to feed you," Faith interjected. "The last time I checked, we weren't planning to rescue all of the vampires."
"We're not rescuing anymore vampires, are we?" Jay asked desperately.
"No," Buffy replied, smiling reassuringly at the soldier, "we're not rescuing anymore vampires."
"Thank God," he muttered.
"Nice to know that you care," Spike shot back.
"I don't," Jay shrugged. "At least, not about your kind."
Diego landed next to Spike and straightened himself to his full height. "You know, if you two keep bickering like this, it could give somebody the wrong idea."
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Spike asked angrily.
"You fight like an old married couple," Faith said plainly. "Someone might start to think that you actually like each other."
"Preposterous," Spike replied.
"What he said," Jay nodded. "I don't like vampires."
"And I don't like humans," Spike added.
"And, unlike you two," Jay said, looking back and forth between Buffy and Faith, "I'm not gay."
"Nor am I," Spike concluded.
"I guess that's settled then," Faith laughed.
"I guess so," Spike said huffily.
"Well, we're in the stairwell, B," Faith said. "What do we do now?"
"What level are we on?" Buffy asked, glancing around in the dark.
Diego clicked on the beam of the flashlight attached to his gun. The light danced through the stairwell as he looked for a sign. "Looks like sublevel two," he replied as the light fell upon a large, red-painted two on the wall.
"One level to climb until we reach the main floor," Buffy stated. "No time like the present." Moving forward, she started climbing the stairs. Faith followed after her. Jay fell in line behind the dark haired Slayer. Diego followed after him and Spike brought up the rear.
"I was thinking," Spike announced.
"Great," Faith muttered.
"What were you thinking Spike?" Buffy rolled her eyes.
"We have this anti-virus," Spike continued, ignoring Faith. "Why not just use it on each of us now to protect ourselves from the zombies? Or, use it on all of you, seeing as to how I'm not sure a zombie bite would actually affect me."
"It doesn't work like that," Jay replied. "It's not a preventative medicine. It's only designed to be used to cure infection after infection."
"How do we know that?" Spike asked.
"That's how it was explained to us when we volunteered for the mission," Diego said.
"It wasn't explained to me," Faith countered.
"Not everything was," Diego smiled. "They may have let you come with us, but that doesn't mean that they trust you. When they were trying to recruit volunteers for the mission, they explained what the anti-virus was. You weren't there."
"The anti-virus can't help us unless we get bit or scratched," Jay finished. "That's just the way it works."
"There's another problem though," Diego said suddenly.
"What's that?" Buffy asked warily.
"Well, we have enough samples of the anti-virus to cure all of us should we need it and we have enough extras to satisfy the government. But it's all in that case," Diego explained. "What happens if we lose Jay?"
"We're not losing Jay," Jay replied. "Jay is going to be just fine."
"Of course you are," Faith said reassuringly. "But we do need a back up plan in case you're not."
"One person shouldn't be holding all of the anti-virus," Diego added, "that's all I'm saying."
"He's got a point," Jay admitted.
"So we split it up," Buffy said. "We each take one in case we need it and we split the extras until there's none left."
"At least that way, if we don't al survive, someone will have the anti-virus to take out of Sunnydale," Diego commented. Jay nodded and opened the case. The group gathered around him as he handed out vials of the anti-virus until none remained to distribute. Discarding it the case, he shoved his vials into his pants pockets. The others did the same.
"Listen," Buffy said seriously. "I'm not going to lose anyone else down here. I promise you that. Everyone will survive this. I know it seems like we're facing insurmountable odds. I mean, there's a horde of zombies out there in that main room just waiting for something to eat. They're hungry – ravenous. And so far as we know, those two people trapped in that hallway, and all of us, are the only ones left alive in this place. I think the zombies know that. They're going to be gunning for us. But we can survive this. I know we can."
"I think you could have left out the part about the zombies being ravenous, B," Faith whispered over to the blonde Slayer. "In fact, you may want to work on the whole inspirational speech thing in general."
"I didn't think it was so bad," Jay said.
"It could have used some work in the middle," Diego critiqued.
"Guys?" Buffy asked.
"What?" Diego and Jay replied at the same time.
"What I mean is this: I'm the Slayer…well, a Slayer," she said, smiling over at Faith, "It's my job to protect you. No matter what the odds, no matter what we're facing, I'm going to do my job. It may be truly terrifying in there, but I won't let you down."
"Me neither," Faith added.
"Oh for God sakes," Spike muttered. "Can we get on with it please? I can sense that we're two seconds away from a group hug here and I have to tell you, I'm not enjoying the prospect."
"Always a downer," Faith joked.
"We're here," Buffy announced. The group collectively stopped walking and examined the door standing before them. They could hear the moaning of the zombies on the other side. The sound chilled the blonde Slayer to the bones. Shuddering, she turned to face the group. "Is everyone ready for this?"
"No," Diego shook his head.
"Not in the least," Jay added.
"I'm always ready for a little death and mayhem," Spike grinned.
"Of course you are," Faith rolled her eyes.
"What about you?" Buffy asked, turning to her lover.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Faith replied.
"What about us not being ready?" Jay asked jokingly.
"I really wasn't asking to get an actual answer from you two," Buffy joked in return.
"We're expendable," Jay whispered over to Diego.
"You maybe," Diego replied with a smile.
"When I open this door, all of the zombies in that room are going to come for us," Buffy explained, moving over to the number pad. Grabbing her gun from the waistband of her jeans, she rested her finger on the trigger. "We can't fall back though. We have to charge in there and show them that we're not afraid."
"We need to maintain a constant barrage of covering fire," Diego added. "Don't let them get close to us."
Jay lifted his gun, pointing it at the door. His eyes were fixed and focused. Diego followed suit, quickly crossing himself. Faith watched the two soldiers. She knew that they were both terrified, as was she. But she knew that they would overcome their fear. However, she was not so certain about herself. She looked over at Spike and smiled warily. "Here," she said, handing him a gun. "Can't very well let you go in there unarmed, can we?" Spike accepted the weapon and nodded his gratitude. Raising her gun, Faith flashed Buffy a smile to cover the anxiety residing in her eyes. Buffy nodded and turned her attention to the number pad. Typing in a series of numbers, she hesitated before entering the last. "Remember, don't let them push us back," she advised as she keyed in the last number.
The doors slid open seamlessly and silently, like a shark gliding through the ocean. Buffy felt a brush of air strike her face as the metal parted, then the smell of rot reached her nostrils. The main room was filled with zombies in various stages of decay. Though Buffy had smelled death before, as her duties as a Slayer often led her into strange situations, she never had experienced such an overwhelming sense of devastation. At first, the zombies seemed not to notice the opened doors. However, a pair of yellowing eyes turned and saw the collection of four living beings, and Spike, and stopped its endless, hungry pacing. A loud groan issued forth from its mouth and the rest of the zombies stopped in their tracks.
"Showtime," Faith muttered, lowering her eyes so that she was not peering into those yellow orbs that seemed to hypnotize her with fear. Bursts of gunfire rang out through the room as the group pushed forward, straight into the horde of zombies.
"Best defense is a good offense," Diego muttered as he aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. The head of a nearby zombie blew apart in a shower of red.
"Follow me!" Buffy shouted above the din of gunfire and the angry hisses of the zombies. The group advanced toward a door, behind which waited Kate and Paul. The zombies pushed back, momentarily surprised by the barrage of gunfire. But they recovered. Closing into a tight bunch, the zombies began to press forward.
Faith set her lips grimly as the zombies formed a circle around them and muttered, "So not good."