Chapter 2

Dream State

"No...no..no." a figure mumbled almost feverishly as it writhered on a cold floor. Finally coming out of his fit of nightmares, Jesse sat up off the floor, sweat pouring gingerly off his brow.

His hand instinctively going to his neck, he sighed in relief as he didn't find any blood or a bite mark. The last thing he remembered was talking to a beautiful blond, her face turning into something hideous, and then nothing.

'Maybe it was just a nightmare.' he thought to himself as he rubbed at his eyes. Shaking off the wave of vertigo, he took in his surroundings and saw that he was in a club.

It was confirmed where he was when he looked up and saw a ragged dusty banner that said the Bronze. Standing to his feet, he looked around the seemingly abandoned club and saw it in a state of disarray. Tables were overturned, broken glass littered the floor, and the smell of something putrid hung in the air.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked himself, his earlier headache subsiding.

Walking over to the one table that wasn't overturned, his eyes almost bugged out of his head as he read the headline of the paper. THE DEAD WALK. Picking it up to read it, he suddenly heard movement, followed by the sound of something wet.

Turning around to where he thought the sound was coming from, he walked to a corner and saw someone on the floor leaning over something. Having seen tons of horror movies growing up, he knew better not to say anything, rather he stood and watched to see what the figure was leaning over.

Even having had watched all of those movies still didn't prepare him for what he was now seeing. The man or thing was currently eating the eyes and face off of what used to be a woman. The sickening display made Jesse gasp, immediately alerting the thing that was munching on the woman.

As the thing looked up, Jesse saw the glazed over eyes, lacerations on it's face, and blood dripping from it's mouth. He knew exactly what it was. It was a zombie.

Upon recognizing Jesse as a warm dessert, the zombie let out a loud scream. Snapping out of his daze, the teen began to back peddle. Hitting the back of his leg on a table, he let loose a scream that any hollywood horror starlet would be proud of.

Realizing he had backed up against the wall, the once man slowly advancing, he turned around and thanked God that he was near an exit door. Giving the thing one last look, he hit the bar on the door and ran outside, the sun bathing him in it's golden rays.

Making sure the door was all the way closed, he turned and ran smack dab into someone. Preparing himself for another run, he looked up and saw one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen in his life.

She was about five four with light mocha colored skin with a pair of heart shaped pouty lips. Her hair was up in a tight braid, but what was most amazing about her were her eyes. They were a light brown but there was something else to them. Something that seemed almost predatory.

Taking in her figure he saw that she had on a leather jacket and was armed to the teeth with weapons. She had what looked to be a sword strapped to her back, a bandolier with knives and what looked to be wooden stakes across her chest and she was carrying a double edged medieval ax.

Coming back to reality he realized that she was speaking to him.

"What?"

"I asked if you were alright, sir?"

'God she has an accent. Could anything else make her even hotter.' he thought to himself. "Yeah... I... just what's going on?"

"I don't know, but you are de first real person I've seen since waking up." she informed him. "I came over dis way because I heard a woman screaming."

"Oh that was... that was me." he replied sheepishly, making her raise an eyebrow up at him.

Hearing shrieks in the distance, she briefly closed her eyes and reached out with her Slayer senses. She could feel a few... no dozens of the things coming from a distance.

"I tink it is time for us to go."

Not arguing with her the two sprinted through the empty, garbage-strewn streets of Sunnydale. It amazed him how stealthy his companion was and even more amazing how he was able to keep up with her as she dodged and ducked down alleys and bushes as they made it to where she was leading them.

It turned out that the house he was being led to was owned by some girl he thought he had met a day before named Buffy, which turned out to be a dead end. The house was boarded up and seemingly abandoned just like the rest of the houses they had passed. The only useful thing he had found in it was a backpack, a flashlight, and a few cans of food.

When they had managed to get into the house they saw that it was in ruins. They had also discovered that all the power in the city was out and that the phones didn't work. Remembering that he still had the paper in his hands, he was just about to sit down and read it when his beautiful saviour spoke.

"I don't tink we're safe here."

"Why do you say that?" he asked. As if on cue they heard footsteps followed by a low growl.

Cursing herself under her breath, Kendra berated herself for not making sure the house was secure on the second floor, before getting to comfortable. She was taught better then that.

Quickly taking out the flashlight, he shone it to where the kitchen door was and instantly wished that he hadn't. The thing was short with bloody mottled up blond hair. But that wasn't his biggest concern at the moment. It was her face, or lack there of.

Her eyes were glazed over in a milky white hue and her once cute lips were now crusted over with blood and drool. With the sound of inescapable torment coming from her mouth, she lunged at them.

Sweat pouring off his brow, Jesse awoke with a start. It was all just a dream. But it wasn't just a dream. That had happened almost a month ago in Sunnydale the day he and Kendra had woken up from... death. It was all because of Willow that... he didn't want to think about her right now. Or about the Zombie Buffy of whom's house he and Kendra were in that day.

His eyes starting to focus and his senses coming to him, he sat up and saw Kendra on the floor doing some quick push ups. He saw sweat pouring off her brow so she had to have been doing it for awhile.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she jumped up and started doing burpee's.

"Yeah... yeah it was just a bad dream." he said as he threw the blanket off himself and stood up.

"You seemed so tired so I let you sleep." she said mid-burpee. "It's past noon now so when I finish with me exercise, I'll be ready to go."

After a few more minutes they gathered their gear and put it into the truck. After getting something to eat they went back to the bucket and smiled as they saw that it was nearly full, since it was sitting close to where the gutter pipe was.

Filling the three glass bottles up with water and then drinking their fill of it they still had about a half a bucket of water. Taking turns they decided to take a much needed wash up, to get rid of the sweat, dirt, grime, blood and weeks of funk that were on them. To be just brutally honest, they stank.

Finally after getting done they tossed out the dirty water and threw the bucket in the back of the truck. Using deodorant, toothpaste and a few unused tooth brushes they had found, they finally felt fresh and clean.

As they neared the truck, Jesse smiled before he tossed Kendra the keys. Giving him a look, she frowned.

"Look you need to learn how to drive." he started before she could say anything. "God forbid but something might happen to me one day and we might have to count on your driving skills to get us out of a jam."

"I don't know about dis..."

"Ken come on." he said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be right next to you and it's not like we have to worry about any other drivers on the road."

"I..." admitting that he had a point, she reluctantly opened up the door and got into the truck. Taking in a deep breath, Jesse got in the passenger side and started to give instructions on what to do. Once he was satisfied that she got the basics of what to do, they took off on a journey to their next adventure.