Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, Supernatural, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Based on Supernatural Season 2 Episode 9 "Croatoan"
Due to the fact that everyone was suffering from some degree of Hellmouth poisoning, Chloe, Sam, Buffy and Giles were confined to their cabana for the next couple of days. Buffy quickly healed thanks to her Slayer abilities and took over most of the caregiving, such as cooking and cleaning and generally bossing everyone else while they were down. Giles, who had only gotten a pinch of the poisoning by touching Buffy when she was infected, was the next to heal and did his best to take over the cooking from the Slayer since there was only so much burnt food already sick people could eat. And he did try to reign in Buffy's bossy side, though it led to interesting arguments between Slayer and Watcher that Chloe and Sam secretly called the Mommy-Daddy-Fights as they acted like an old married couple.
Despite being sore and weak, Chloe was glad for what had happened. Not only had it proven to her that there were others out there who could access her Hellmouth energy other than Sam, but this had been a good way to see Buffy once more. The Slayer was over-mothering Chloe, and while usually the blonde would be annoyed by such she understood that this was Buffy's own way of taking care of Chloe now that she could and 'atone' for that day three years ago when she couldn't. So Chloe let Buffy get her overprotective mothering out of her with every burnt breakfast and refusal to let Chloe do the littlest things by herself.
The solitude, as she couldn't let the house and risk infecting anyone else who got close enough to brush against her, did Chloe wonders as she was able to actually sit down and talk to Buffy, Sam, and Giles. The four of them conversed, filling in each other on the way their lives had gone on during the last three years, and Chloe knew that by the time she could mingle with humans again things would be on the road to recovery.
Cordelia and Dean were taking a plane to come and see them (Cordelia swearing that if she had to drug Dean to get him onto the plane she would) and they would be spending the long weekend with them.
Andy stopped by every day to hang out and talk to the four. He made sure to stay by the door and never touch anyone as to not get infected himself, but he made himself useful whenever Buffy got bossy with him and he always had a bad joke to offer.
"So, I'm leaving Smallville." Andy surprised them by announcing. "Today."
"Really?" Giles blinked in surprise as he sipped some of his tea. "Is there a reason why?"
"I realized that this gift is more than just a really cool fluke, that there's still so much I need to understand about myself to keep from becoming like Weber," Andy announced, shaking his head. "I mean it's an addictive gift, I don't want it taking over me and making me crazy. Like the meteor infection did the meteor freaks."
"Whatever happened to them?" Chloe frowned from where she sat on the sofa next to Sam, twisting the claddagh ring Angel had given her on her birthday around her finger. She still wore it with the heart facing towards her despite Angel having left her, and no matter how much she tried to remind herself that he was gone, she just couldn't bring herself to taking off the ring. It was a if she felt that if she did that then what they had would really be over.
It made her feel quite pathetic, actually.
But she felt a little better that she'd moved it from her left hand to her right hand, and thus lessened the significance of her wearing it.
Then again, no matter how much she tried to convince herself of that fact, what spoke stronger was the fact that she couldn't take it off completely. Didn't want to.
"Who? The meteor freaks?" Andy made a face. "I don't know. They just...disappeared." He scratched his cheek. "There were whispers though that they'd been rounded up like cattle and shipped off somewhere but no one really knows what really happened. They could have all just decided that they hated it here and left for greener pastures."
Chloe frowned, leaning forwards.
"That sounds very convenient to me." Buffy made a face. "I've learnt in life that usually the ugliest explanation is the true one."
"But who would be rounding up meteor freaks and why?" Sam wanted to know. "From your stories Chlo, they were rather dangerous. Who would go to the risk to round them up like that? And for what purpose?"
"I don't know." Chloe hugged herself, rubbing her arms. "But I don't like this."
"We could take a look into it if you want." Sam offered, sending her a look. "I could always do with some exercise for my hacking techniques."
"Thanks." Chloe smiled at him.
"Don't mention it." He smiled back.
Andy cleared his throat before standing. "So I just wanted to say thanks, and goodbye."
"I'd hug you but-." Chloe motioned to herself. "I mean it should be gone by now but I don't want to push it, especially with your own ability calling to it."
"Right. I understand." Andy nodded.
"But you have our numbers and you should use them in the future," Sam reminded.
"Have I mentioned how much I like your boyfriend?" Andy asked Chloe.
Her eyes widened. "He's not my-."
"Oh!" Andy interrupted, not seeming to realize his mistake. "I met up with Pete today and I might have let it slip that you were still in town."
The blonde winced.
"He and Lana are having dinner at the Kents and say that you and your friends are invited. They all want to see you and catch up." Andy cringed. "I'm sorry, it just slipped out."
Chloe nodded. "I'll do it." She smiled. "I haven't seen Pete or the Kents in a long time."
"Good!" Andy gave her two thumbs up. "Because I might have already told him that the four of you would love to go."
Buffy groaned, leaning her head back against the sofa.
"Well, goodbye. And thanks." Andy smiled before leaving.
The group called their goodbyes before the conversation went to the dinner which would be taking place that night.
"Who are these Kents?" Giles asked curiously.
"They're Clark's parents, right?" Buffy asked, pulling a strawberry blonde strand behind her ear. "Or his adopted parents? Something like that right?"
"Adopted parents." Chloe nodded. "And he goes by Kal now."
"Right." Buffy made a face. "Do they know he's gone all Thiefy?"
"Not sure, so we should probably keep all conversation about him to a minimum." Chloe responded. "If they ask we're highschool friends. Pete knows a little about my situation because Clark told him before he went all Kal, but I doubt Lana or the Kents know so let's just pretend we're normal for one evening."
"I'm down with that." Sam nodded.
"Normal. That'll be easy." Buffy agreed. "We've had years of experience faking it."
"Yes, just as long as nothing horrible happens tonight everything should be quite fine." Giles wiped his glasses, before sensing the looks he was getting and putting the glasses back on. "What?"
"You just had to go and jinx us!" Chloe gasped.
"Bad form Giles." Sam shook his head.
Buffy sighed, patting the Watcher's back. "When this blows up in our faces, we're blaming you."
"Hellmouth poisoning?" Spike frowned as he walked down a Brazilian beach, the moonlight bathing him in its splendor. Things with Dru had gotten worse and worse and he'd hoped getting out of Europe would help things get better, and yet Spike could feel his Dark Princess slipping out of his grasp with every passing night. "What the bloody hell?"
"I'm fine." Chloe assured him, sounding like she was fussing with something. "It's basically completely out of my system and I'm going to a dinner with Kal's adoptive human parents. Also, with his ex girlfriend and her husband, his other bestie from childhood, Pete."
He bit back a growl, resentful that she was having a good time despite Angel's disappearance while he himself was growing more and more miserable despite Dru's proximity.
As always, she somehow knew, and sighed. "What about you, Spike? How are you doing? How are things with Dru?"
He hesitated, turning to look at the sea. "Not so good."
She sighed deeper. "Oh Spike. I'm sorry. Do you want me to talk to her?"
"I think it might be better if you don't speak to her much, for now, ducks." He admitted, sitting down on the sand, watching the waves. "Every time she hears from you she gets restless and even more unstable."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop bloody apologizing." He grumbled, taking out a fag and lighting it, taking in a deep whiff. "I should be sorry for you. You're stuck in bloody Smallhell while I'm in one of the liveliest places in the world."
She was smiling, he could hear it in her voice. "Send me a postcard."
He snorted. "I don't have time for that sort of trivial nonsense."
"Oh you don't, do you?" She was mocking him, and it shocked him to realize how much he'd missed it. "What exactly is Spike the Bloody, Master Vampire, doing that is keeping him so busy? Should I be buying newspapers or watching CNN?"
"Nothing like that luv, can't you trust me to be a good boy?"
"Of course not." She snorted.
He chuckled. "You know me too well Nibbles."
"I try." She replied. "I'm sending you a picture, what do you think?"
He made a face, pulling his phone away and looking at the picture sent to him. Chloe had obviously taken it of herself, the angle of the camera betraying it, and she seemed a little awkward in the little purple dress with a ruffled bottom half which reached her knees, and boots. "I like the boots."
"Only the boots?" She was pouting, he could tell that as well.
"Don't tempt me, Nibblet."
There was silence before she sighed. "I miss you guys."
Spike hated this. "Then get your bloody ass to Brazil."
"You know I can't." She responded. "I owe it to my father to be a daughter to him, and-."
"And you don't want to bloody live with us if you don't have to." Spike responded, annoyance and anger and resentment growing in him. "Admit it. You only tolerated Dru and I because Angelus was there!"
"Spike!" She gasped. "You know that's not true!"
"I don't know a bloody thing anymore." He spat. "The only thing I do know is that you better not bloody call me again!"
With that he crushed the phone in his fist and threw it into the sea.
As Chloe emerged from the cabana for the first time since Sam had taken her inside, she pulled Angel's leather jacket tighter over her, appreciative that no one commented on her wearing it. Her father and Jenny had dropped off some clothes for her and Buffy from Chloe's own closet when they'd heard what'd happened, and Andy had appeared with some clothes in Giles and Sam's sizes which he'd managed to have given to him by some 'kind' stores. It was thanks to that that Giles did not have his trademark tweed on, and seemed quite uncomfortable because of it. That was probably why he was taking his time to emerge from the house, employing Sam in a search for his bowtie.
"I can't believe he's stressing over his bowtie." Buffy shook her head before smirking. "It's kinda cute."
Chloe twisted her lips in a wry smile, amused to see that three years hadn't ended the Slayer's crush on her Watcher. She was about to comment on this when her gaze noticed something carved into the tree next to the car. It was a single word.
CROATOAN.
As she approached the tree Chloe ran her fingers over the carved words.
"What is it?" Buffy asked, hugging herself as she joined her side.
"Croatoan." Chloe mumbled.
"And?" Buffy made a face. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Yeah." Off of Buffy's blank look Chloe frowned. "Roanoke? Lost colony?"
"Never heard of it." Buffy shrugged.
Chloe shook her head and returned her attention to the carved word. "Roanoke was one of the first English colonies in America, circa the late 1500s. They just disappeared without a trace. The only thing left behind was a single word carved in a tree. Croatoan."
With this backstory Buffy's eyes narrowed on the words. "Okay, that's wiggy. Did they ever figure out what it meant or what happened to the settlers?"
"No, though there were a lot of theories." Chloe admitted. "Indian raid, disease, but no one could really prove anything. No one knew anything. There were no records, no thing. They just up and vanished overnight."
"It could be a huge coincidence." Buffy hugged herself tighter. "It's not like the whole of Smallville has disappeared overnight or anything."
"The meteor infected community has." Chloe whispered.
Buffy looked up at that, eyes wide.
Chloe pulled out her phone and began dialing Sam's number when she realized something. "There's no signal."
Buffy tried her own phone. "Same here."
The girls exchanged looks before moving towards a pay phone, which Chloe picked out, an out of service beep loud and proud as she clicked the receiver several times. "Line's dead." She hung up, frowning as she turned to the Slayer. "I'll tell you one thing. If Angelus was gonna massacre a town, that'd be his first step."
"Who is stepping where?" Giles asked as he and Sam finally emerged from the cabana.
"Giles, what is the Watcher Council's official stance on the lost colony of Roanoke?" Chloe turned towards him.
Giles frowned, pausing as he fumbled with his bowtie. "W-well, nothing has ever been proven to be the reason of their disappearance, paranormal or not, but there are so many civilizations that have just disappeared overnight-The Indus Valley Civilization of Pakistan, The Khmer Empire of Cambodia, The Anasazi of New Mexico, and The Aksumite Empire of Ethiopia are just mere examples of such-and there is a theory, although quite obscure...that Croatoan may, in fact, be the name of a demon."
"This is just getting better a better." Buffy mumbled.
"Why are we talking Croatoan?" Sam asked curiously, hands shucked in his jacket's pocket.
Chloe pointed towards the tree with the word carved into it.
His eyes narrowed. "It could be a joke."
"Does your cell have signal?" Chloe asked.
He pulled it out and flipped open the lid. "No."
"No one does. There's no signal in the pay phone either." Buffy informed. "Chloe thinks the disappearance of the meteor freaks in Smallville might have something to do with it."
"I might be overreacting, but it's some what of a coincidence don't you think?" The blonde looked between them. "After tonight's dinner with the Kents maybe we could do some old fashion Scooby-Gang investigating."
Buffy smiled. "That sounds interesting."
"We don't exactly have any reference material with us here." Giles pointed out. "My Codexes and such are in California."
Chloe turned to Sam.
"Sorry," he flinched. "With all the teleporting I've been doing and the interaction with the raw Hellmouth energy my body's fatigued. Can't do any magic. I couldn't even levitate a pencil if I wanted to."
"That's okay, I shouldn't get used to relying on magic anyway. It'll make me lazy." She gave him a smile before taking in a deep breath. "You know what? Don't worry, I'm probably just drawing at straws." She turned and walked towards her car, feeling the Watcher, Slayer, and Witch watching her with frowns on their faces.
If only for a second, Sam could close his eyes and imagine having parents like Jonathan and Martha Kent. He wondered how differently his and Dean's lives would have been if they'd been raised by the loving and friendly people. They were warm and inviting and made you feel as if their house was truly your home. There was a genuine goodness about these people that seemed hard to believe at first, especially since he'd long ago been jaded by this world, but it was the few people like Jonathan and Martha who gave Sam some hope for the future and for the world in general.
And yet while Sam enjoyed himself as they congregated around the living room while waiting for the remaining guests to arrive, he couldn't help but watch Chloe as she talked with Martha. Jonathan was busy with Giles and Buffy, and Sam supposed he should be participating more in that conversation as well, but his eyes followed Chloe as she helped Martha set up the table, the two laughing softly. It was easy to imagine a teenage Chloe, before all the Hellmouth craziness, spending her time here with these people. She'd confessed before how she'd secretly adopted Martha as her mother figure after her own mother left, and Sam could see that the woman had basically adopted her as well. There was mutual love and respect in their eyes as they spoke to each other, tenderness in their every feature.
For the first time since she'd returned Chloe didn't look haunted by memories of what she'd seen and done, of what she'd become during her stay with Angelus and his childer, instead laughing fully, grinning brightly, her greens shining.
Sam smiled softly as he stared at her.
She turned, sending them a quick glance over her shoulder and smiled at him when she caught his gaze, giving a little wave.
Sam gave a little wave back.
Suddenly the sound of a vehicle racing towards them cut into the afternoon, Jonathan Kent frowning as he went towards the window and pulled the curtain across. "Why's Pete driving like the devil's on his tail?"
The sound of doors slamming shut could be heard.
"The hell?" Jonathan's eyes widened before he rushed to the door, tearing it open. "What happened?"
Sam and Buffy shared a look, the two making out of the door seconds after the other, finding an African American guy and an Asian American woman shouldering the weight of a very beat up woman.
"What happened to her?" Giles asked in shock behind them.
"She needs to go to the hospital." Jonathan met them, replacing the pretty Asian American as he shouldered the woman's weight.
"We couldn't make it." The man, who must be Pete, declared. "There's blockades everywhere, and they're shooting at people."
"What?" Martha gasped in horror.
"We barely made it here." The woman, who had to be Lana, hurried passed them, eyes wide in terror. "People are going insane!"
Buffy frowned, turning to look at Chloe.
Sam's gaze went the blonde, who was clenching her hands into fists at her sides. He knew without having to delve into her mind what she was thinking. At the moment she was blaming herself for whatever was going on, blaming herself because wherever she went Hellmouth energy rose and affected those around her. It probably hadn't bothered her too much while she'd been living with Angelus and his childer, considering they were demons and living in a demonic society themselves, but now she was back amongst humans and they were very frail creatures. They must seem frailer to her now that she'd lived amongst monsters for so long.
"We need to go check it out." Buffy announced, letting out a little breath as she used the hairband she'd had around her wrist to put her strawberry blonde locks up into a high ponytail.
"I'm coming with you." Sam announced, descending the steps and turning to Giles, placing his hand on the man's shoulder. "Help them lock down the place in case of anything."
Giles nodded, hurrying back up the steps passed Chloe, who held her arm, ignoring the commotion behind them as Lana and Martha tended to the injured woman while Pete, Jonathan and Giles drew together to talk low, casting worried looks around them while Pete informed them more of what was going on.
"Keep an eye on them?" Sam sent the blonde girl, feeling her desire to join them, or just leave entirely and maybe take the problem with her.
Chloe was silent before giving a little nod, her greens on him and Buffy. "Don't be heroes."
"This is pure reconnaissance for right now." Buffy assured her before turning to Sam and motioning with her head. "Let's go."
"I can't believe Angus attacked you and Jake helped!" Martha's hands trembled as she tended to Beverly Tanner's wounds as the two women sat on the living room sofa. "They're your husband and son!"
"They beat me." Beverly nodded slowly, painfully, face battered. "Tied me up and cut themselves before cutting me up too with the same knife. I'm scared to think of what would have happened if Lana and Pete hadn't come over to bring Angus back his hammer."
"I can't believe it." Martha's voice trembled as much as her hands, the gentle-spirited woman obviously horrified beyond composure. "What is going on?"
"Do you have any idea why they would act this way?" Giles asked, ever the researcher desperate for answers. "Any history of chemical dependency?"
"No, of course not." Beverly shook her head, eyes turning to him. "I don't understand why they would-." Her voice choked with emotion before she cleared it and tried once more. "One minute they were my husband and my son. And the next, they had the devil in them."
"So you believe your son and husband were possessed by demonic entities?" Giles asked in all seriousness.
"What?" Beverly stared up at him in shocked confusion.
Lana sat on the loveseat, chewing her thumbnail in nerves.
Jonathan and Pete were at the windows, staring out, keeping guard.
"What are you thinking?" Chloe frowned as she stared at the Englishman, folding her arms over her chest. "That this is an Spirit Demon, or, uh, Animus Demon possessing human bodies?"
"What are they saying?" Beverly turned to Martha, who just patted her on her knee and stared up at them with wide eyes as well.
Giles, obviously realizing that they were traumatizing those within, motioned with his head towards the door.
Chloe understood, storming towards it and ignoring the others' cries for them not to go outside, hurrying out the door and down the steps.
Behind her Giles assured everyone they'd' be fine and back in a couple of minuets, before closing the door behind him and hurrying down the steps to join her out in front. "You said that when you came here you found two demons."
"A Fyarl and a Brachen." Chloe nodded. "The Brachen said he was here because he could sense me and didn't know what I was. The Fyarl growled and then attacked me." She ran fingers through her hair. "What if whatever's happening is my fault? Because I've stayed here too long?"
"When you were in Europe, was the escalation in Hellmouth activity this rapid?" The man asked, eyes narrowed.
"I lived amongst demons, I'm not sure." She frowned, beginning to pace. "I-I don't think so though. But I can't say for sure."
"While we can't discredit that your presence might be an underlying factor, you must also remember that Smallville has been a hotbed of paranormal activity from before your birth." Giles pointed out all rationally. "Whatever's happening could have nothing to do and your-ability to raise hell per se."
Chloe bit her bottom lip as she turned to face him. "What do we do?"
"Considering both the cell towers and landlines seem to be down, and not even the internet is working, we are in no way able to call for help unless someone drives out for it." Giles' eyes widened as his gaze went to the cars and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Someone should go to Grandsville at least to warn the authorities-or Metropolis if whatever this outbreak is has reached the outlying districts." He took in a deep breath. "We won't do anything until Buffy and Sam return though."
"Are you thinking Animus Demons? The ones that possess humans because once they escape Anima-their home hell region-they lose their corporal bodies?" Chloe made a face. "Because if you are you should know that I Christo'd her and there was zero reaction."
"Animus Demons very rare." Giles made a face. "The Council never were able to determine exactly how many of them there really were due to the fact that they worked quite covertly. Attacking a whole town like this would be completely out of character for their species."
"So, is that good news?" Chloe made a face.
"I don't have the vaguest." He admitted, making up a face, sending a glance to the house before returning his attention to her. "I just can't help but think about the CROATOAN you found carved on the light post and the fact that all methods of communication are conveniently gone." He narrowed his eyes. "Like you said, this would be one way of taking out a town."
"It'd can't be an Animus Demon though." Chloe was sure of this. "She didn't blink when I Christo'd her. And you know that for some reason they have a weakness when it comes to that religious stuff."
"Whatever it is, demonic or not, something is apparently turning the townspeople of Smallville into violent psychopaths." Giles frowned.
"Are you thinking this mightn't be demon related?" Chloe asked in surprise, not having even thought of the possibility.
"It could be meteor related." Giles nodded, turning his shrewd gaze on her. "Those rumors of the Meteor Freaks being rounded up and taken somewhere? This could be a consequence of that. A culmination of whatever sinister agenda was afoot-or just pure vengeance for whatever was done to them."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the added threat she hadn't even considered.
"Or, this mightn't be as horrible as it sounds and we're all overreacting." Giles tried hopefully. "This whole situation might be completely blown out of proportion."
The earth shook with an explosion that sent them to the ground, the night sky lighting up with inferno.
"I hope that wasn't Buffy's doing," Giles mumbled.
Chloe turned to look in the direction of the fiery inferno. "That was the LuthorCorp facility."
The sound of tires screeching on asphalt betrayed the truck before the vehicle turned the corner and the headlights shone in their direction, shots echoing in the air.
"Oh dear god." Giles murmured before hurrying to his feet and pulling Chloe with him, hurrying up the stairs and into the house in time for Jonathan to slam the front door shut and a bus hot to hit it, sending wood flying.
"EVERYONE ON THE GROUND!" Chloe screamed as all around them things exploded, shots raining in on the house, hoots and hollering echoing laughingly.
A shard of glass flew through the air and sliced her cheek, the sting shocking, causing her to cry out in pain.
Pete laid half on top of Lana, covering her body with his as their fingers clasped each other tightly.
Jonathan had been too far from Martha to do the same, but his gaze was on her worriedly as she laid on the ground next to Beverly.
Giles' glasses had tumbled off of his face with the dive he'd given, and were a couple of feet away from him, mixed in with the shattered glass from the broken windows.
The truck continued to circle around the house, and the only good thing was that they were wasting bullets shooting up the house and thankfully not those cowering inside.
Chloe lay on the ground, her fingernails digging into the wooden floor as glass and wood and other assorted debris rained down on her, closing her eyes tightly to keep particles from falling into her eyes.
Beverly cried loud enough for Chloe to hear it over the demented yells and gunshots.
Finally the gunshots stopped as the truck came to a screeching stop.
"Reckon anyone's alive?" Someone laughed.
"It's Red, and he's probably with his boys." Martha whispered to Jonathan.
Chloe turned to look at the man of the house, everyone still keeping to the ground as those outside laughed and hooted and hollered. "Are there any weapons in this house? Guns?"
He shook his head. "We don't believe in violence."
"Great." The blonde groaned, gaze going to the door. "They're going to come through there any minute now and we need to be prepared when they do."
Giles turned to Martha. "Is there a cellar or some other place that you and the others can hide in?"
Martha nodded, sending Jonathan a quick look before turning to Beverly when he nodded. "Honey. We're going to crawl towards the cellar, okay?"
"We're all going to die!" Beverly cried loudly.
"No, we're not." Martha assured her. "But I need you to come with me and hold it together, okay? I know tonight's been a horrible night, but I promise you, we'll make it out of this alive."
Beverly continued crying, obviously not believing Martha, but she followed the lovely redhead nonetheless as they began crawling silently towards the back.
"I'm not leaving." Lana whispered to Pete, their foreheads pressed together.
"Lana…" he whispered. "Please don't fight me in this."
She gave a little cry before reaching up and pressing a kiss to his lips before crawling after the other women.
Jonathan turned to Chloe.
She cut him off before he could begin. "You mightn't believe in violence, Mr. Kent, but I do."
"Believe me," Giles murmured as he lay on his back, eyes darting around them shrewdly. "You want her here."
Jonathan didn't seem like he agreed with that at all.
Pete slowly crawled towards them. "What's the game plan?"
"Knives." Chloe turned to her childhood friend, finally able to say one word to him since he'd arrived. "Can you make it to the kitchen and gather all the knives you can find while keeping low and out of sight?"
"We'll need someone keeping an eye on the back door as well." Giles reminded her. "They might try coming in through the back."
"I doubt it." Chloe shook her head. "How they're attacking-they're all on the offensive, in an in-your-face sorta way. They're going to want to come in the front and make a big show about it." She took in a deep breath. "They like the intimidating factor of the siege. Probably get off on it."
"How could you know this?" Jonathan asked her.
She flinched. "Let's just say I know the type." The blonde turned to Pete. "Hey."
"Hey." He gave a little chuckle, reaching out his hand towards her.
The blonde squeezed his hand tightly, the friends smiling softly at each other.
Another series of gunshots shattered the moment, and the last intact glass.
"Knives. Right." Pete hissed, letting go of her hand and beginning to crawl towards the kitchen.
One of the men outside laughed. "This here truck belongs to the Rosses." His laughter turned dark. "I always wanted to give that pretty little asian girl the ride of her life."
Jonathan's eyes narrowed.
"We all shall!" Red announced. "Kill the men first. Save the women for last so we can all show them what they've been missing."
"Someone should stand guard in front of the cellar door, just in case." Giles whispered.
Jonathan turned to Chloe.
She ignored him and his fatherly need to get her out of the line of trouble, crawling closer towards the window and finally standing in the shadows, peering discreetly out of the window. "I see five guys. All of them have guns."
Giles finally reached for his disaccorded glasses and placed his on his face. "What else can you see?"
"Their eyes…" Chloe whispered. "They're glowing green."
"You think kryptonite is to blame?" Jonathan hissed.
"You are referring to the meteor rocks which mutated some of the civilians, yes?" Giles clarified.
"The one and only." Chloe slowly lowered to the ground once more, eyeing the living room, trying to figure out what she could use as a weapon.
"HEY JONATHAN!" Red yelled inside. "YOU DEAD YET?"
Reaching out for a large shard of shattered glass, Chloe tore at the curtain and wrapped in around the bottom half of it before tying it tightly and stuffing it into her jacket's pocket.
"What are you thinking?" Giles asked, eyes narrowed on her.
"I'm thinking we need some of those guns," Chloe whispered back. "How good of a shot are you?"
"You're looking at the Watchers' Council Sharpshooter Champion five years running," he replied, not without a little pride.
Chloe's lips twitched.
"You can't be thinking of shooting them!" Jonathan hissed. "Those are our neighbors!"
"Mr. Kent, your neighbors are planning on killing you and gang raping your wife," Chloe reminded. "It's you or them."
Jonathan looked away, obviously still troubled morally.
The girl ignored him, wondering where Pete was with the knives, before slowly raising up to peer out of the window once more. "Shit. They're coming."
"We can't take on seven armed men," Giles hissed. "Not with our bare hands."
"Where's Pete?" Chloe hissed before sending another quick look out of the window and hissing. "Goddamn it!" Closing her eyes, Chloe took in a deep breath before forcing her voice wobbly, employing a tactic she hadn't had to use in a while. "PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"
The sounds of the footsteps stopped. "Do you recognize the voice?"
"PLEASE!" Chloe's voice shook with terror while her eyes spoke with Giles, the blonde letting out a little sigh as she stood and moved into the window, hands up. "Please. I won't tell anyone you're the ones who killed everyone. So please, don't hurt me!"
"Now who do we have here?" One of the guys asked, motioning to her with his gun. "Come out here so we can get a better view of you darling."
"What are you doing?" Jonathan hissed in worry to her.
Chloe ignored him, heading towards the door and slipping out, closing it behind her as she lowly walked out into the porch amidst catcalls and hoots. "Please, just let me go." She kept her hands up, taking slow steps down off the porch and into the moonlight. "I just wanna go home."
"Don't I know you?" One of the guys asked, his glowing eyes on her. "Didn't you go to school with me?"
She nodded, recognizing him from Calculus.
"You were always so damned mouthy…let's see if you still all-mouth." He grinned brightly as he threw down his gun and began working urgently on his belt buckle. "I want first have at her."
Keeping her hands up, Chloe's gaze went to the four other men, some of them lowering their guns and chuckling as they rubbed themselves over the material of their pants.
As he came towards her, pants dropping to his ankles, Chloe quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out the shard of glass, slicing his throat before flinging the shard towards the man farthest from her, the glass imbedding itself in his face as he yelled.
Guns came up quickly and Chloe pushed the youngest guy into the closest man, offsetting him and causing his shot to go completely off-course, blowing the leg off of one of his friends.
Gunshots rang and she threw herself to the ground, twirling and grabbing a rock, throwing it at one of them in the balls before standing and grabbing the one she'd offset, using his body as a shield as three gunshots fired in her direction. The bullets hit the man in front of him, and as he sagged forwards she grabbed his discarded weapon and shot the two closest to her. She really hadn't had much practice with guns as she had with other weapons, but basically with a gun one aimed and shot, and the men staggered, yet didn't go down.
The two remained standing, both holding their guns at her.
Chloe kicked up one of the other's discarded guns and held it in her free hand, pointing a weapon at each of the men.
"The fuck are you?" Red snarled, spitting out chewed tobacco. "Xena?"
Chloe's answer was to pull the triggers and then duck, her shots finding their marks and the men collapsing to the ground, their shots missing her by inches.
The front door was flung open.
The blonde remained crouched on the grass, amongst the bleeding, injured men. Some were dead, some were dying, and others were cursing her while some others cried.
Chloe closed her eyes and shook it off before slowly rising in time for Pete to reach her.
"Are you okay?"
One of the men reached for his gun to shoot Pete.
Chloe aimed and shot, her bullet piercing his forehead, killing him instantaneously.
Pete turned, eyes wide as he realized just how close he'd been to dying.
Giles arrived and sent her an enquiring look, before beginning to search the weapons after receiving her nod.
Jonathan just stood staring at the dead men in horror.
"This is the only one that has some ammo left." Giles retrieved a pistol. "And there isn't much."
"What about the ones you have?" Pete asked her.
Chloe passed him them to check, not liking guns or the cowardice of using them. She'd grown too used to the demonic way of doing things, in which the fights were physical, up close and personal.
The blonde slipped into Red's truck and grabbed the radio she'd suspected was there due to the small antenna, but like everything else in Smallville communications-wise it wasn't working.
She closed her eyes and let out a little growl before slamming the radio back into the receiver and slipping out of the truck, slamming the door shut viciously as she returned to where the men were.
"Radio's crapped out just like everything else. There is no way to call for help."
She just couldn't look at Jonathan anymore, not after he'd seen her like this, so she avoided glancing in his very direction, turning her gaze on Giles.
"I don't understand what's happening." Pete ran his hand over his head, having discarded one of the guns she'd passed him. "Sure, we've had problems in Smallville before, but not to this degree!"
Somewhere in town, something exploded again.
Giles stared at it before frowning in worry. "Buffy and Sam should be back by now."
Yet more gunshots rang in the air, thankfully a distance away from the countryside home.
Chloe ran her fingers through her hair. "Someone needs to go get help."
"How far is it to the next town?" Giles turned to Jonathan.
Clark's father finally tore his haunted gaze from the dead bodies to look at the Englishman. "It's about forty miles down to Grandsville."
"Alright, you, your wife and the others need to go down there, tell people what's going on, and find someone to help." Giles declared. "Chloe and I will stay here and wait on the others, see what we can do."
Chloe nodded.
Giles held the pistol out to the man of the house. "You'll need this more than we will."
Jonathan looked down at the pistol, looking very much like he wanted to reject it, before finally reaching out and taking it silently from Giles.
A scream echoed from the house.
Everyone turned towards the Kent's home before racing inside.
"MARTHA?" Jonathan spearheaded the race as he hurried to the entrance to the cellar and threw the door open, hurrying down inside.
Pete was the second after him, and Giles the next.
By the time Chloe finally made it downstairs it was to see the men struggling to contain a vicious Beverly, whose eyes glowed neon green.
Martha and Lana were huddled in the corner, terrified and holding each other.
"What happened?" Chloe asked in horror, reaching down to the bottom stairs.
"I don't know!" Lana whispered, voice trembling. "She just started saying she wasn't feeling good and then her eyes started glowing and she attacked us!"
The men continued struggling to contain the cursing, hissing, and fighting woman.
Chloe stared into those eyes before hers widened. "We have a big problem."
"No shit." Pete struggled, groaning.
"No…we have a very big problem." Chloe began to pace the room. "Whatever this thing is, it's infectious."
They turned to look at her.
"We could all be infected." Chloe whispered.
Lana and Martha held each other tighter.
The whole town was like some apocalyptic movie. Places were being looted, people were attacking each other, and things were in a total chaos. Many of the nights had been destroyed, casting shadows on the town, and while it made everything all that more dangerous, Sam and Buffy were able to use that to their advantage as they snuck around without being seen. The young man went up behind a wrecked car, as he did with every one they'd come against, checking to make sure that there wasn't anyone hurt inside. Thankfully, like with the others, there was no one inside, but the windows were smashed and blood covered the seats. On the ground, by the driver's side, was a large, bloody knife.
He picked it up, staring at the stained blade. "What the hell is going on?"
"It's like every drank from the same Crazy Koolaid and have gone completely psycho." Buffy kept her gaze around them narrowed, alert, her stance defensive and ready to fight. "My Spidey Senses aren't doing their thing though-and that's scary cuz they really should."
Sam tried the key in the ignition, the engine purring to life. "They didn't leave this because it stopped working."
"I have a pretty good idea about why they're not here." Buffy muttered, gaze on a severed arm in the middle of the road. "Is this Quentin Tarrantino's wet dream or what?"
"We need to get back to the farm." Sam straightened, leaning against the car as he turned to Buffy. "We need to pile into the cars and get the hell out of here."
"What about the others here?" Buffy wanted to know, worry on her face. "The civilians?"
Sam wondered if he should be worried by the fact that he hadn't even thought to consider the other innocents who were trapped in this situation. "We can't save everyone, Buffy."
"But we can try." Buffy pressed. "We can't just-."
"How many people have we snuck around since coming here?" Sam frowned. "How many of them haven't had glowing green eyes?"
The Slayer opened her mouth and then closed it, expression troubled.
"We have to assume that there mightn't be another person in this town who isn't infected with whatever this is."
Suddenly Buffy saw motion out of the corner of her eyes and turned in time for a man to step out of the alleyway, brandishing a rifle which was aimed at them.
"HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" He yelled as he stepped closer carefully.
His eyes…they weren't glowing.
"Okay!" Buffy held her hands up slowly.
Sam dropped the knife he'd been holding, rising his hands slowly. "Easy there, we're not like the others. Look at our eyes."
"They're not glowing funky neon green." Buffy agreed, keeping her hand up. "Everyone who's insane-."
The man didn't let her finish the sentence, slowly lowering his rifle. "Have damn glow in the dark eyes, yes." He looked around him before turning to them. "What's going on with everybody?"
"Hell if we know." Sam frowned as he lowered his hands, looking around. "You're the first person we've come across who doesn't have the glowing eyes."
The man nodded. "My neighbor, Mr. Rogers, he-."
"You have a neighbor named Mr. Rogers?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Not anymore." He replied pointblank. "He came at me with a hatchet. I put him down." The man ran his shaking hand over his head. "He's not the only one, I mean, it's happening to everyone. I tried to get the hell out of here but there's no way out, they've got every conceivable exit blockaded. I nearly didn't make it out of there."
Sam and Buffy shared looks at that.
"We need to get back to the others." Buffy whispered before turning to the man. "We're headed towards the Kents. We have a small group of unaffected people there."
The man hesitated, obviously not too sure he could trust them, before sighing. "Jonathan Kent is a good man."
Sam nodded his agreement, pocketing the bloody knife before reaching out his hand. "I'm Sam, and this is Buffy."
The man eyed that hand before shaking his head and reaching out to shake it. "Dr. Steven Hamilton."
"No." Jonathan snapped. "You are not going to kill her!"
"I'm not saying we kill her." Chloe tried to reason with the man. "But I'm saying you need to be mentally prepared to do so if you need to!" Her gaze went to the cellar, where the woman could be heard screaming and struggling in the chair they'd tied her to.
"Just like you were to kill Red and his boys?" Jonathan whispered. "Chloe, you didn't even bat an eye! You don't even seem affected by the fact that you've just taken human life!"
"What do you expect, Jonathan?" Chloe snapped, turning towards him, pissed with his damned moralistic view in this situation. "Those men were going to kill the men and rape the women, my own classmate was calling dibs on me. He didn't even wait to make sure you guys were dead with his eagerness to rape me! Do you really expect me to cry over their deaths?"
"Yes!" Jonathan snapped right back at her. "It's supposed to be tough, Chloe! We're supposed to struggle with this! That's the whole point of being human!"
It was all she could do to keep from snapping at him that she wasn't human.
"Mr. Kent." Pete cleared his throat from the doorway. "I understand your point, I do, and I know that you and Red used to be friends since high school, but you have to realize that those guys outside weren't your friend and his sons. They were murderers and rapists. There's blood in their truck, they killed before coming here and they attacked us. If Chloe hadn't done what she did I know for a fact that all of us wouldn't still be here."
Chloe sent a little look in his direction.
Pete gave her a little half-smile that was not at all merry.
"What if we all have it?" Lana sat heavily on the seat, eyes haunted. "What if we all go crazy and try killing each other?"
"You've got to stay calm." Martha whispered, rubbing Lana's knees comfortingly. "All we can do is wait."
"For what?" Lana's voice broke. "For more loonies to come to kill and rape us?"
Pete went to sit next to his wife and drew her into his arms, holding her tight.
Chloe watched them before heading towards the door that led to the cellar.
"What are you going to do?" Jonathan stopped her, hand on her shoulder.
She sent his a narrowed glare. "I'm not going to kill her." Yet. "We need to know more than what we do, and the only one who might be able to tell us something is down there in the cellar." She turned a look towards Giles. "Wanna interrogate?"
He sighed, nodding. "I should probably be there, yes."
"Let's go." The blonde stalked towards the door, opening it and heading down the steps, finding Beverly and her glowing green eyes glaring at her from where she was unsuccessfully trying to get loose. "Hello Beverly."
Giles closed the door and slowly made his way down as well.
The blonde leaned against the wall opposite Beverly, eyeing her as she folded her arms over her chest. "How are you feeling?"
"How would you feel if you were tied to a damn chair to the point where there's no circulation flowing in your hands?" Beverly spat. "You condescending little bitch. I'm going to yank your teeth out one by one."
"Now there's a thought." Chloe had seen enough interrogations in her lifetime, and while some of them had been at the hands of the Scoobies, most of them had actually been Spike, Dru and Angelus who'd been doing the interrogating…which was truly more torture than anything else.
She tried to find that feeling Jonathan said she should be feeling, and yet she didn't.
There was only stark determination, and a willingness to do what she needed to get out of there alive.
"I've seen that done enough times to know that while it sounds good, and sure, it hurts, in the end you end up with their blood all over you and I like this outfit." She raised an eyebrow. "I myself enjoy the more subtler ways of doing things." She pushed away from the wall and went to kneel down in front of the glaring woman. "I like being creative."
"Keep trying to be intimidating, sweetheart." The woman sneered down at her. "You're not going to touch me. And even if you have the nerve, the idiots upstairs are too softhearted to let you do anything to me."
"There's a deadbolt on this side of the door." Giles replied severely. "They use this as a tornado shelter and have made sure that it can't be opened unless those inside want it."
The woman's neon green gaze went to him, obviously contemplating his words before returning her eyes on Chloe.
"Now that we've gotten you're attention…Christo." She tried, narrowing her eyes on the woman, and her non-reaction. "Told you Giles, she isn't an Animus. This is something else." Her greens went to Beverly. "Why don't you tell me what happened when your husband and son attacked you? How did they infect you?"
Beverly bit through her bottom lip and spat the blood on Chloe's face before grinning a bloody smile. "Why don't you find out for yourself?"
The blonde pulled back and stood, wiping at her face before pausing as she felt the sting of Beverly's blood mixing with the cut in her cheek. "Blood." She yanked off her jacket and wiped her face viciously. "It's transmitted through blood." She threw her jacket away. "It's why they cut themselves and then cut her with the same knife. This is a virus that's transmitted through bodily fluids." She turned to Giles. "You have to tie me up."
He shook his head. "You can't be sure that-."
"This is the only thing that makes sense." She pointed out, shaking her head as she held her hands out. "Tie me up Giles."
In her seat, Beverly cackled. "Hello neighbor!"
Chloe ignored her, eyes on Giles. "Please."
Giles sighed, conflict obvious on his face, before nodding.
"The hell?" Sam hissed, an unfamiliar truck in front of the farm, and the bodies of four unidentified men bleeding into the lawn.
"Is this some sort of a trap?" Dr. Hamilton had his gun up and pointed at them in seconds.
Sam ignored him, rushing to the bodies before stopping as he looked at the house, seeing the many holes in the walls and the shattered windows. "CHLOE!"
"GILES!" Buffy screamed, racing towards the house as well.
The door opened and Giles stood in the doorway, face grave yet relieved. "I was beginning to get worried."
"What happened?" Sam climbed the last steps.
"We had a little visit from the neighbors." Giles' gaze went to where Dr. Hamilton was still pointing the gun at them. "That's the only one you found who wasn't infected?"
"Infected?" Sam picked up on the word.
"Steven?" Jonathan stood by the window.
"Jonathan." The man sighed in relief, putting down the weapon and moving passed those outside to head within.
"Giles, things are bad out there, like, Mad Max bad." Buffy made a face as she looked behind her at the sky. "Everything's in chaos, everyone but Dr. Hamilton has glowing green eyes and blood on their hands, and what's worse is that they have this place locked down tighter than Fort Knox. They're not letting people out."
"You said 'infected'." Sam returned to that point, gaze going to the shot up house before returning to Giles. "Have you figured out what we're dealing with?"
"In a matter of speaking, yes, though we don't have any hard facts to back our current theory." Giles' expressions were minimum, his eyes grave. "We think it's a virus that's transmitted via blood and possibly other bodily fluids."
"So it's like an STD on crack?" Buffy blinked.
"It's a plague." Giles corrected.
"At least we know what we're up against." Sam ran his fingers through his hair.
Dr. Hamilton came to the broken window. "They've got infected in here!"
"What?" Sam turned to Giles. "Who?"
"Beverly." Giles took off his glasses and ran his fingers over his eyes. "And possibly Chloe."
"What?" Sam hissed, taking a step towards Giles.
"What happened?" Buffy's voice broke.
"She went to interrogate Beverly, and found out it was transmitted via blood after Beverly spat it all over her face." Giles put back on his glasses. "She asked me to tie her up and I have…she's in the cellar with Beverly."
"I can't believe you did that!" Sam snapped as he brushed passed Giles.
"Sam!" Giles turned and followed him into the house. "We've estimated the approximate time of gestation the virus has before manifestation by calculating the time it took from Beverly's infection to manifestation. If Chloe doesn't manifest the eyes in around two hours then we know she's out in the clear." He placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, leaning in as he whispered. "You know her healing abilities, they could keep her from being infected at all…and might pose a cure for Beverly and the others who are infected."
Sam hesitated before turning to Jonathan. "Where's the cellar?"
He pointed the way.
"Thanks." Sam pushed passed the ground talking and hesitated at the door before opening it and entering, closing the door and heading down the stairs.
"Aw, look, loverboy's back in one piece." Beverly sneered from where she was tied securely to a chair, eyes neon green. "How depressing."
"Can it Bevie." Chloe snapped, sitting on the ground hands tied tightly together, fixing her to the chains locking the cellar's outside door. She gave him a little sheepish smile as she tugged on her binds. "So…funny story..."
Sam sighed, coming down the rest of the way as he went to where she was, bending to his knees in front of her. "Hey."
"Hey." She smiled softly down at him. "How are you?"
He closed his eyes and took in a breath before opening his blue/greens as he shook his head at her. "Not tied up."
"This really isn't as bad as it looks." Chloe gave the binds a little tug. "Plus you know me, I enjoy being tied up for a bit."
Memories flashed through Sam's mind of the many times he'd been forced to watch Angelus and Chloe having sex in every possible way. He'd been shackled to the wall and forced to watch this woman being taken against walls and beds and floors. He'd never touched her himself, and yet he knew exactly what to do to make her whimper and cry and arch in pleasure. He knew exactly just how much she enjoyed being tied up, or tying her partner up, and Sam must have gotten somewhat twisted due to always being shackled while watching her because he couldn't see chains or a bind of some kind without getting aroused.
"Sorry, that was out of line." Chloe must have read his silence as discomfort, gaze lowering as she sighed. "I let my guard down and got cocky." Her greens returned to him. "What's it like out there?"
"Remember the Hellmouth opening?" Sam made a face.
"That bad?" She flinched.
"Well, not in gravity-that we know of at least-but the structural damage is pretty similar." He sighed, reaching out to brush some stray gold out of her face and behind her ear. "Everyone's psycho though."
The blonde sighed as she made a face. "Nothing much has changed since I left Smallville then, huh?"
He chuckled, shaking his head. "I guess."
Chloe's gaze lowered before she looked back up at Sam. "I don't think anyone upstairs is infected, I can't think of a time in which any of them could have come into contact with contaminated blood, but if by some little chance one of them is infected they'll be showing soon."
"Buffy and Giles are upstairs." Sam shrugged. "They can handle it."
"Oh god, you two make me wanna tear out my own eyeballs." Beverly gagged.
Sam stood and looked all around before grabbing a dirty towel and balling it up, stuffing the material into the woman's mouth before returning to a chuckling Chloe and sitting down on the ground in front of her. "You're going to be okay, you know that right?"
"Course I am." She gave him a brave little smile.
Sam sighed, reaching out to cup her cheek. "You are."
She nodded silently, gaze going to Beverly before returning to him. "If I become a bitch like her though, you have my permission to deliver two to the temple."
"Don't even joke about that." Sam snapped, removing his hand.
"I'm serious Sam." Her gaze went intense. "I just finished scolding Mr. Kent about needing to be mentally prepared to do whatever's needed. You can't let me down. If I turn psycho bitch on you you have to shoot me."
Shaking his head, pissed beyond measure, Sam stood and left.
They kept going down in shifts, and it was Jonathan's turn, so Buffy took his place by the door, staring out, vigilant.
"That Beverly chick is getting stronger." The Slayer warned, gaze going to those huddled in the living room. "It seems like the virus makes those it infects stronger as time goes by, and if we wait much longer she's going to break loose. She's already beginning to crack the chair."
"We can't just kill her," Lana whispered, staring up at her. "She's our neighbor. Our friend."
"Not anymore she isn't." Pete surprisingly enough declared, holding a knife tightly and flinching at his wife's shocked look. "Baby, if I have to choose between you and her, it's you hands down."
Lana worried her bottom lip before lowering her hazel gaze to her hands.
Martha patted Lana's back before standing and going to join Giles at the window, hugging herself as she stared out at the multiple fires blazing in the horizon. "It's gotten quieter."
The Watcher nodded, gaze following the other woman's. "Not sure if that's a good thing."
"First vampires are real…and now meteor poisoning," Lana whispered to herself, shaking her head and running her hand over her neck, moving her pearls enough for Buffy to recognize a mark against the porcelain skin.
"You've been bitten by a vampire?" The blonde asked in surprise, turning towards her.
Lana looked up in surprise, continuing to rub the mark, before slowly nodding. "Some years back…Chloe saved my life actually." Her worried hazels went to the door to the cellar before she sighed and returned her attention to the Slayer. "She also helped Clark and Pete save me from an Incubus some years back." The pretty asian made a face. "I thought he was perfect-turns out he was definitely too good to be true and I was the perfect sacrificial lamb."
Buffy's eyes widened, never having heard of this.
A quick glimpse in Sam's direction proved that he hadn't either.
"Clark and I asked her to keep it hush hush," Pete admitted from where he stood, gaze on his wife.
"Incubus?" Martha asked in shock. "Vampires?"
Buffy winced and turned away, leaving Pete and Lana to explain things to the pretty redhead.
Sam stood and went to join Buffy at the door. "Dean and Cordelia would have arrived by now and realized that the entrances are blockaded. That, coupled with the fact that those fires have to be visible and that we're not answering their phone calls-they'll know something's up."
Suddenly, below them something cracked loudly and Chloe yelled something as a struggle could be heard.
Buffy reacted before the others, rushing towards the door to the cellar and taking the steps two at a time. Below was a mess, evidence of a struggle. Beverly's chair was broken, and the woman was lifeless on the ground, a large gash in her head.
Chloe just sat tied up, gazing at Mr Kent.
Jonathan stood staring down at Beverly's body, a bloody piece of broken chair clutched in his hand, a haunted expression in his eyes.
Chloe's gaze went to Buffy. "She got free."
Jonathan reacted to her voice, throwing down the bloody wood and pushing passed Buffy to hurry up the stairs and wrap his arms around Martha tightly, clutching onto her as if to dear life.
Pete and Sam made their way slowly down the steps, grabbing Beverly's extremities and slowly backing her up the stairs, most probably to place her body with the others outside.
Buffy went to sit next to Chloe as the rest returned upstairs, closing the door behind them. "You know, this place makes Sunnydale not look so bad."
Chloe let out a choked laugh before shaking her head. "If that happens to me…"
"We already had a similar conversation some years back, and I told you what I thought about what you're going to say," Buffy responded softly.
Chloe sighed. "If something happens…can you give my ring back to Angel whenever he comes back?"
The Slayer sent her friend a little look before nodding. "I don't think he would deserve to get it back, but I can promise you that much."
"Thanks." Chloe whispered.
Buffy didn't answer, merely rested her head against the blonde's shoulder.
Chloe hesitated a second before resting her head against Buffy's.
The two sat there in silence.
"Two hours have passed and she's showing no signs of being sick," Martha announced, gazing at the door to the cellar. "I don't think she's infected."
"We can't be sure." Dr. Hamilton frowned. "She could be playing us; hiding how sick she is."
"There isn't a way she could hide those glowing eyes," Lana countered with surprising strength in her voice. "I think Martha's right. We should untie her and let her out of the cellar. If she was infected it would have manifested already."
Sam opened his mouth to say something when suddenly a sound echoed throughout the house.
"Is that-?" Giles stepped forwards.
"My phone." Sam's eyes widened as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. "It's Dean." He brought the phone to his ear and pressed the send button. "Hello?"
"The hell is going on here Sammy?" Dean's voice was confused and worried and anxious. "The whole damn town is empty! There's not a soul in sight! Where the hell is everyone?"
Sam frowned, standing. "Dean says that everyone's gone. The town's deserted."
"What?" Jonathan stood, eyes wide.
Sam turned his back on them, giving his brother the directions to the Kent Farm before hanging up. "He and Cor are on their way. He said that there's no sign of life everywhere. It's like it's a ghost town."
"If no one's there anymore, then where did everyone go?" Dr. Hamilton asked a very good question. "If they'd just killed themselves there should be signs of their bodies-they shouldn't have just vanished into thin air."
Giles shook his head. "Croatoan."
"Huh?" Lana turned towards him in confusion.
"Oh my god," Buffy whispered, coming closer. "He's right. We'd thought it was referring to the disappearance of the meteor infected…but it was foreshadowing this."
"I'm lost." Dr. Hamilton looked between them in confusion. "What does the Lost Colony of Roanoke have to do with what is happening here and now?"
"Before we came here tonight, Chloe found the word CROATOAN carved into a tree by our car," Sam responded. "It hadn't been there last night."
"So you're thinking that whatever happened to the people of the Lost Colony-just happened here in Smallville?" Martha clutched at her heart.
"It's a theory in progress." Giles responded slowly. "I shall have to contact the Council immediately." He turned to Sam. "May I borrow your phone? I seem to have misplaced mine during the, uh, excitement."
Sam nodded, passing his phone to the Watcher.
Immediately Giles was dialing and bringing it to his ear, walking out of the door.
Buffy watched him before her hazel gaze went to Sam. "I'll go tell Pete and Chloe."
Sam would have joined, but he could hear a car in the distance and chose instead to stay and welcome his dumbfounded brother. He stepped outside and froze at what he saw. "I don't believe it."
"What?" Jonathan stood.
"The bodies." Sam turned to look at those inside. "They're gone."
When Chloe emerged from the cellar her wrists were sore as was her back, but she hardly noticed them as Cordelia Chase raced into her arms, hugging her tightly.
"You look horrible!" Cordelia cried, hugging her tightly. "And what have you been using on your hair? It's dry."
Chloe snorted, hugging the brunette tightly. "I missed you too, Cor."
Cordelia held on tighter. "And Buffy's new hair color doesn't go with her skin tone."
"Oh boy." Buffy rolled her eyes as he walked passed them and went to hug Dean. "Winchester."
"Slayer." He hugged her tightly before pulling away and looking at her strawberry blonde hair. "I liked your old hair better too."
"What, living with Cordelia for three years suddenly make you a fashion critic?" She slugged his arm playfully.
"Nah." He shook his head before looking passed her at Chloe, meeting the blonde's green gaze. "Chlo."
Chloe removed one hand from around Cordelia.
He stepped into the hug and held the both of them, pressing a kiss to the side of Chloe's head. "Good to have you back."
She smiled, tightening her grip on the both of them.
"I know you told me Smallville was kinda dead…" Cordy murmured. "But this was an exaggeration."
Chloe laughed, not wanting to let go of these two.
Now that the Scooby Gang was all together once more it truly dawned on her just how much she'd missed them and the family she'd had in them, tears filling her eyes as she let a little sob escape her lips.
"Don't cry in my hair…you'll frizz it up." And yet Cor's voice was shaking as well as she tightened her hold nearly painfully.
Dean was silent, yet his grip also tightened on them.
Finally the three pulled away and smiled at each other, wiping at their eyes suspiciously and clearing their throats.
"We don't have to stay here, right?" Cordelia was the first to speak, hands on her hips as she stared at the dead and the destruction. "Because it's all a little too Doomsday-ee for me." She made up her face. "I don't see how they can say the countryside is supposed to be relaxing. It's all just farmer propaganda if you ask me."
Dean chuckled as he flung his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "I think we'll all be heading to Metropolis."
"Oooh. Goodie. There are nice stores there." Cordelia grinned brightly, already apparently forgetting the chaos she was in the middle of.
Chloe shook her head, far too amused by this, when suddenly her gaze was drawn to the large apple tree in front of the remains of the Kent Farm. She excused herself from Dean and Cordelia, and went towards it. Her footsteps were silent on the grass as she approached, standing ing front of it before reaching out, her fingertips tracing the word that hadn't been there when she'd gone to interrogate Beverly.
CROATOAN.
"You know, I never got to really thank you for saving my life-all those times."
Chloe turned to see Lana standing behind her, holding her arm. "There's really no reason to."
"There is," Lana insisted, clearing her throat before stepping a little closer. "I know that you and I were never very close despite everything, but you helped me even when you were living somewhere else. Clark and Pete told me about how if it hadn't been for you Clark wouldn't have even been able to get into that demon club."
Chloe flashed back for a second to the club with the human bodies hanging from the ceiling.
"And now, you saved everyone again, and I wanted you to know that I'm so thankful." Lana smiled tremulously, hand going to her stomach. "And I was praying the whole time you were down there that you wouldn't be infected." She let out a little sigh. "For the first time I think He heard me."
Chloe probably gave this girl a really genuine smile for the first time, because while she wasn't too sure she believed in god, it was the thought that counted. "Thank you."
"Thank you." Lana whispered, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "And, you know, if you ever come back to Smallville, come by the Talon and visit us."
"I promise." Chloe nodded, gaze going to where Pete leaned against his truck and stared at them with a tender little expression on his face. "Take care of him, okay? He's a great man."
"I know. And I promise." Lana smiled back.
"So what are you planning on doing?" Chloe turned her attention back on the girl. "Your house is probably just as destroyed as the rest of this place."
"Thankfully both our house and business are insured." Lana made a up her face. "But we're thinking about going to visit Pete's family in Wichita for a while, and Dr. Hamilton has family around the same place so he'll be driving with us. Mr. and Mrs. Kent will be heading towards Metropolis since Mrs. Kent's father and family are there and will help put them up until something can be done."
"That's good." Chloe nodded, looking around her. "I wouldn't stay here after this, not for right now at least. We still don't know where everyone's disappeared to or why."
Lana nodded, her gaze going to the fires burning in the distance before shivering and turning her gaze on Chloe. "Keep in touch, okay?"
Chloe smiled and nodded.
Smiling back, Lana squeeze Chloe's hand one last time and walked away, passing her husband as he joined Chloe at her side, gazing at the word carved in the tree.
"So…are we the Lost Colony 2.0?" Pete wanted to know softly, gazing at the words.
"I don't know," she admitted softly, tracing her fingers through the word once more. "I'm going to lose sleep over this one. I mean, why here, why now? And where did everybody go? Even the dead are gone. What happened? Where did they go? They didn't just melt, that would have left some sort of residue…"
"I'm beginning to think this is our punishment for not questioning the disappearance of the meteor infected," Pete admitted softly. "We were just so relieved that…that maybe we deserved this." He ran his hand over his shortly cropped hair. "It really makes me wonder what happened to them now."
Chloe's gaze returned to the fires in the distance before sliding to the word beneath her fingers.
CROATOAN.
Would it ever be anything other than an unanswerable mystery?
"You're thinking about Clark, aren't you?" Martha asked softly as they drove behind everyone other than Lana, Pete and Dr. Hamilton, who'd taken a different exit to go to Wichita.
The Kents had packed up all they could salvage into their truck and it's broken their hearts to have to leave their farm behind, but there was nothing they could do but this.
Jonathan was unusually silent, his grip tightening on the steering wheel.
"Seeing Chloe, seeing what she was capable of doing-it made you think about Clark." Martha sighed, gazing going to the cars in front of her in the darkness. "Made you think about what he might be capable of doing with his new personality, living in the demon world like she did."
"She killed them effortlessly, Martha. It was like looking at a well-choreographed movie," Jonathan declared shakily. "And there was no reaction in her eyes to it. I couldn't see the little girl we helped Gabe raise."
Martha sighed as she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.
"And yet, when Beverly broke the chair and came at me, I did the exact same thing. I killed." Jonathan lowered his head for a second, voice breaking. "Made me realize I really couldn't judge…that I had that inside of me as well."
Martha stared at her husband in worry.
"I worry about Clark so much Martha," Jonathan admitted hoarsely. "We've only ever seen the meteor freak side of whatever he'd have to face-but despite those eyes-Beverly wasn't a meteor freak. That was something else. And it was only the tip of the iceberg." He let out a ragged breath. "Makes me realize just how little we know about our son and what he's facing."
Martha leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "We have to trust Clark, Jonathan. That's all we can do." She gave a little smile. "And what he can't handle Lucy will. She's a very capable young woman."
"Like her cousin," Jonathan whispered, gaze on the cars before him. "Doesn't mean that they both don't make me wary though."
Lana laid in the back seat, not feeling very good, so Dr. Hamilton sat in the front passenger's seat as they drove in moderate silence down the abandoned freeway. Pete kept gazing in the rearview mirror, unable to believe that there was no one around. Had it affected everyone out this far away from Smallville?
"You mind pulling up ahead there?" Dr. Hamilton suddenly asked, breaking into the silence.
"All right." Pete nodded, pulling up onto the shoulder and stopping the truck, turning to the older man. "Everything all right?"
"I gotta make a phone call." Dr. Hamilton announced, reaching into his jacket's pocket.
"Your cellular probably won't have coverage out here." Pete pointed out curiously. "This road is notorious for its reception blockage."
Dr. Hamilton chuckled as he began removing what was in his pocket. "I got it covered."
Suddenly there was movement from behind the doctor and with a quick motion of silver a blade slit Hamilton's throat open, another arm reaching out, holding an ancient goblet to the slit and catching the blood as the doctor quickly bled to death.
When the hand holding the goblet retreated back into the darkness, Pete leaned forwards and opened the door to the truck, kicking Hamilton's body out, his satellite phone falling onto the front seat.
The lights came on, revealing Lana leaning hard on the back seat, hand dipped into the blood, swirling it around as her eyes closed in concentration.
Pete turned to look at her.
"It's over, you'll be pleased. I don't think any more tests are necessary." Lana was making a call of her own, lips twitching in pleasure as she listened to the voice on the other side of the call, which only she could hear. "As expected, it had no effect on her." She paused before nodding. "Yes, of course. The chosen survivors lived through the night to bring attention to the right people, but nothing was left behind for anyone, especially not the Watcher's Council, to have any clue as to what exactly happened in Smallville tonight." She smiled, eyes opening to reveal her hazels were now demonic-black, meeting her husband's matching orbs. "Understood."
The Scooby Gang had been welcomed into Gabe and Jenny Sullivan's home with open arms, the two people Chloe considered her parents showering the group with food, beverages, and worry. They listened, hands held tightly, as the group relayed the events as they'd happened, and Chloe could see the worried glances her father would send her every couple of minutes. He'd always been terribly worried about her and her safety, and she knew that it killed him that even though she was now away from Angel (which she knew he was quite happy about) that things still kept happening to put her in danger. Jenny bit her bottom lip and at one point left Gabe's side to go sit by Chloe's, placing her hand on her knee.
"So I'm immune to whatever that was," Chloe mumbled, turning to her ex-tutor and current stepmother. "If I had thought things through, I could have tried giving her my blood to see if it would heal her. It might have."
"Or it may have made the virus inside of her ten times stronger." Giles replied evenly. "I thought about administering your blood to her, but without certainty on how she or the virus would react to it, I thought it best not to do so."
"Why would your blood strengthen the virus?" Gabe asked in confusion, never having been informed about the truth as to Chloe's unknown, biological parentage.
The blonde flinched, nothing able to think of a way to explain this to her father without explaining the Master and his claims, and then Azazel and his.
Sam, as always, came to her rescue. "She's meteor infected."
Gabe's eyes widened. "What?"
Chloe sent Sam a thankful little look before sighing as she turned to look at her father. "Mom and I were in the first meteor shower in Smallville. My meteor ability is basically strengthening blood-as far as I know at least."
"Why didn't you ever tell me this?" Gabe asked, standing.
"Because it wasn't important. It's just-a blood thing." In so many more ways than he knew.
"Chloe, you're my daughter." Gabe came to stand in front of her before kneeling and reaching up to cup her cheek. "Anything that happens to you is important to me and you need to tell me so that I can be informed and be able to help you in any way possible."
Emotion knotted in her throat as she stared at the only man she'd ever acknowledge or accept as her father, tears escaping her eyes as she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I love you daddy."
"I love you too, honey." He held her tightly, voice just as emotional. "I know you're a big woman now, but you'll always be my little girl and I'll always be here for you."
Chloe held on tighter and cried hard for all the things she could never tell him.
TBC