They were surrounded with nowhere to run, no other choice but to fight to survive. They came suddenly in the night, clawing and banging into the barriers that had kept them out for days, barriers that had once stood strong that gave away with the force of dozens of them, blood-thirsty and starving, caught their scent, stopping at nothing to get inside.

Faith, Buffy, and Kennedy stood at the ready while the others scrambled to grab what they could and retreat to the rooftop. Faith felt tense as beads of sweat rolled down her back and she gripped on to her sword tightly, her longbow and the bag of arrows slung over her shoulders. She glanced over at Xander as he came back down the stairs from the roof and she shrugged off the bag of arrows and tossed them at him before she tossed the longbow his way. He caught it with ease and quickly readied a bolt, raising it and aiming it towards the barrier that was crumbling away.

"Where's Willow?" Buffy asked as Xander positioned himself just inside the stairwell door, giving his a clear line of sight.

"She's up on the roof with Giles. Safe."

"For now," Buffy finished for him, both her hands gripping onto her long broadsword, the tip resting on the floor by her feet. "Fire on my signal, Xander. We can't let them all get in here at once. We do and we're as good as dead."

"Way to keep the morale up, Buffy."

"Shut up, Kennedy," Faith hissed at her, her eyes stinging as she forced herself to blink. "Just shut up and focus right now. Xander, how many are there?"

"Giles is scoping it out from the roof," he replied and he turned to look up the stairs. "Giles?" He yelled out. "How many are there?"

The wood they'd nailed against the door from the outside split, the doors tore open as the infected clawed at the church pews they'd piled in front of the door. It wouldn't hold them back for long, minutes, if that. Faith and Buffy turned to look at each other and it was so clear that they were scared, but the adrenaline was quickly taking over, the slayer inside both of them waking up to the call of the fight. Buffy reached over and grabbed the front of Faith's t-shirt, pulling her in for a quick yet passionate kiss.

"Don't you die on me today, Faith."

"Same to you, B."

They kissed again, keeping it short and Faith grinned as Kennedy let out a groan of disgust and she ignored the lustful squeak of surprise she heard come from Xander. She smiled at Buffy, giving her a knowing nod as they turned their attention back to the barrier at the front door as a few of the pews came crashing to the floor.

"Seriously, guys?" Kennedy muttered and Faith glanced over at her, winking before she turned her attention back to the horde of infected that were nearly inside the old church. "Xander?"

"Giles?" Xander yelled up the stairwell again. "How many are out there? They're almost inside!"

"Retreat! There are too many. Retreat!"

Giles voice reverberated down the stairwell and none of them hesitated to move quickly, taking two steps at a time as the infected stormed inside the church. Faith was the last one out of the stairwell door and with Buffy and Kennedy's help, they barricaded the metal door with a few heavy barrels filled with scrap metal and wood.

"It won't hold for long," Giles said quietly as they all backed away from the door, one step at a time. "We'll need to find a way to take them out without putting ourselves in any further danger."

"How did they find us?" Xander whispered. "We were careful. We were quiet. We were protected. How did they find us?"

"Because of this," Willow said shakily as she held up her arm and pulled the sleeve of her shirt gingerly up her arm, revealing a long, deep gash. "I—it's not a bite," she stammered as she pulled her sleeve back down and pushed a concerned Kennedy away from her. "Kennedy, stop it, I'm fine."

"You aren't fine, Will," Kennedy said as she pulled the sleeve away from the gaping wound. "How did this happen? When did this happen? Willow?"

"This morning. I—I slipped out and went out. I was armed, protected. I couldn't come back in the way I left and I tried to—to slip through the opening where the building has caved in, you know that one spot if you climb up a little ways you can slip right on through to get inside—"

"You went out there?" Kennedy scoffed as she dropped Willow's injured arm. "Alone? How did you get this, Willow? How?"

"I slipped crawling back through and I tried to stop myself from falling. My arm got stuck and when I pulled it free, something metal and sharp cut my arm."

"And you hid it from us all day! Willow, you know better than this!"

"I know!" Willow said as her body shook with the tears that streamed down her cheeks. "I know, okay! I made a mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake. I should have told you. We could've found somewhere safer to be. I should've gone back and cleaned the blood or done something to cover the scent. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault…I'm so, so sorry…"

Faith clenched her jaw as she gripped on to her sword, the sounds of the infected climbing up the stairs growing louder by the second. Buffy looked over at her, concern written across her face and they both jumped as the loud bangs sounded from beyond the barricaded door.

She moved quickly to the edge of the roof and peered over the edge, watching as dozens of infected exited the church, snarling and growling as they stumbled out onto the street. Faith sheathed the sword into her belt and grabbed her longbow, readying an arrow as she watched the horde gather out on the street below. There were a lot; far too many for them to fight them on the ground and who knew how many more there were still inside and in the stairwell.

"What are we going to do?" Buffy asked as she stood next to her, keeping her voice quiet as she peered over the edge. "How many arrows do you have?"

"Not enough to thin out things down there, that's for sure."

"What are you thinking?"

Faith licked over her lips as she crouched down on the roof, her brows furrowed as she thought of their few options. They didn't have a lot of time or resources to fight a horde that big. There was a building next to the church, but the leap from one roof to the other was a huge risk, one that she knew herself, Buffy, and Kennedy would just barely be able to make. Fight or flight, always their options, but running away this time wasn't one. All their supplies were below and they wouldn't make it far with just the clothes on their backs and the weapons they wielded.

There could be a way. She had a shred of hope that there was a way to lead the horde away from the church, give the others time to grab their supplies and run. It only meant putting herself at risk, possibly Buffy too. Kennedy would have to stay with the others, help them fight off the infected if it came down to it because even she knew, as well as the others could fight, they weren't as strong or as fast as a slayer.

"Here's what I'm thinking," Faith said quietly as she stood up and licked over her dry lips. "We're going to lead the horde away from here."

"How?"

"We jump," she said, motioning to the roof and the thirty foot gap. She raised a hand to stop Buffy before she could utter a word. "It's a risk, I know, but we can make it, B. Are you in?"

"And then what?"

"We run, find some high ground with an escape plan, lure the horde that way and we run back here, grab our shit and get the hell outta dodge."

"And just how are we gonna lure the horde away from here?"

"Fireworks," Faith grinned at her, fully confident her plan would work. "That store we checked out a few days back? Found a stash of fireworks in the storage room. We jump, get down to the street, make our way there, grab them and we follow through on the rest of the plan. What do you think, B? Totally could work, yeah?"

"I believe it is the only plan that would give us a chance, suffice to say," Giles said as he approached them from behind. "What shall we do?"

Faith grinned. "You'll need to fight the ones in the stairwell before you can get down inside. You'll hear the fireworks go off and when they do, wait five minutes. It should clear the church out pretty quickly. You've seen how fast they move towards loud noises. When you clear your way through the stairwell, grab everything that you can and run."

"Where?" Xander asked as they all gathered near the edge, one by one. "Where are we running to?"

"The train station," Buffy answered. "We cleared it a few days ago and set up a barricade. Nothing is getting in without that barricade being torn down. You get inside and stay quiet. We'll make our way back there to you."

"How long do we wait?" Kennedy asked quietly and all eyes landed on Faith. "What if something happens to you guys? I mean, not saying something will, but what if—"

"Tomorrow night, just after dusk. If we're not there, you guys gotta move on, get outta town and head south," Faith replied quietly and she looked over at Buffy and nodded. "We'll be there before then, and if not…well, we know where you're headed, right? We'll catch up."

They quickly made plans, reminding each other to stay off the main roads and avoid dead end streets. Faith made Kennedy promise her to look out for Giles, Xander, and Willow while they were gone. She didn't have to give her the speech of what to do if anything were to happen to her or Buffy. Kennedy just knew. They all knew what to do if that ever happened. To any of them.

Faith slung her longbow over her shoulder and pulled her sword out from her belt. It was a long jump and she wasn't going to risk impaling herself with her own sword if she landed too hard or the wrong way. While Buffy and Willow talked quietly, the others arming themselves with what weapons they had, readying themselves for the fight that would happen within the next ten minutes if she and Buffy were lucky, she walked to the furthest edge of the roof and glanced at the building thirty feet away.

It was a long jump and they'd need a running start. The roof wasn't big and the direction they'd need to jump was narrow and didn't give them much length to get a good start before making the jump. There was no telling if the other building's roof would hold when they landed, the building itself mostly burnt out from a fire that happened long before they arrived in town. It was a risk, just like every day was a risk now, but it was one she knew they had no other choice. It was a thirty feet jump across or a hundred feet down to the ground.

"We can make it," Buffy whispered as she placed a hand on the back of Faith's shoulder. "Right?"

"Yeah."

Buffy moved to stand in front of her, pulling Faith's attention away from her thoughts momentarily. Had it really only been the night before that Buffy had kissed her, confessed to her that she had feelings for her she wasn't sure she was ready for? Had it really only been the night before that Buffy had fallen asleep in her arms and woke up just like that when the first rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon that morning? Faith couldn't stop the smile as she stared at Buffy, nor could she stop her hands from slipping over Buffy's narrow hips and pulling her in close, and nor could she stop herself from leaning in to kiss her.

Kissing Buffy felt like she was free-falling away from her life and all the problems that came with it, and just for a moment, everything faded away and she lost herself in the feel of Buffy's lips against her own, the way that Buffy shifted in her arms, her hands trailing over her shoulders, fingers slipping through her hair as they kissed one another with everything they had. Her mind, momentarily checked out, was brought crashing back down to reality at the sound of a throat clearing behind her.

"You two wanna tell me what's going on?" Kennedy asked tentatively as she stared at both of them as they backed away from each other. "Two days ago you two were completely avoiding each other and now you're…kissing each other when we're surrounded?"

"It's nothing, Kennedy," Buffy said quickly, turning away from Faith as she smoothed her hands down her sides. "Now isn't the time to talk about this. Let's just get this plan going, shall we?"

"Seriously?" Kennedy asked, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at Faith. "You're hooking up with her? Have you lost your mind or something?"

"It's…" Faith paused, struggling for the right word to describe it and settled on the obvious one. "It's complicated."

"Yeah, I can see that. What's really going on, Faith?"

"How about I'll let you know when I figure it out myself, yeah?" Faith said and Kennedy nodded slowly, her lips curling into a sly grin as she playfully slugged Faith in the shoulder. "What?"

"Nothing. I'll tell ya after you save all our asses from getting eaten."

"Ain't nobody gonna—"

"Faith!" Buffy called out in a hushed whisper from just a few feet away. "We have to move, now!"

"Whipped," Kennedy snickered, narrowly avoiding the almost playful punch Faith swung her way as she jogged over to join the others.

"On three?" Faith said, joining Buffy on the other side of the roof as they faced the jump.

"Did she just—"

"Three!" Faith said and she took off running, throwing her sword across the clearing before she made the jump, not once looking back to make sure Buffy was following her because she didn't need to. She knew Buffy was right there beside her, just half a step behind her.

She sucked in a breath and leapt from the roof, her legs continuing to move as she flung through the air and across the gap. Her heart leapt into her throat just milliseconds before she landed on the roof and tucked her body into a roll to reduce the impact of the jump. She groaned as she came out of the roll and crouched on the tar roof, her heart racing, and her lungs straining for a deep, much needed breath.

As she looked to her right and saw Buffy there with her, she let out a short-lived sigh of relief, barely managing to grab her sword behind her before the crackling sound echoed all around them. In seconds the roof caved in and they fell to the floor nine feet below, plaster and bricks and concrete falling all around them. Faith coughed as she sat up slowly, her vision spinning as she tried to regain her focus.

"Jesus," she groaned as she looked over at Buffy and sighed in relief to see she was okay and sitting up beside her, she too momentarily stunned. "You okay, B?"

"Didn't expect that to happen."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, let's just get out of here and stick to the plan. Your plan."

Faith nodded as she picked herself up from the floor, the floor beneath her feet creaking and groaning. It wasn't going to hold for long and the building itself could collapse at any given moment. And then there was the fact that the sound of the roof collapsing would most definitely attract the horde their way. They had a few precious minutes, if that, to get out of there and make their way down to the convenience store to grab the fireworks she'd discovered days ago in that storage room before they made their way to the other end of town. Just a few precious minutes and the clock was ticking down the seconds fast.

As they searched for a way down to the ground floor, Faith remembered an eerily similar situation they'd been in just a few months before, but now wasn't the time to think of the past. Now was the time to live in the moment, to do what they had planned to do. To save them all from what felt like an inevitable fate, one they escaped from day after day.

As the dust cleared, they finally found the door that lead to the charred remains of the stairwell. Going on a breath of hope and of faith, they headed down, moving quickly and swiftly, some of the steps crumbling beneath them as they sought to reach solid ground. As they leapt from the last few steps, Faith raised a finger to her lips and gripped tight on her sword with her right hand. They weren't alone.

With a nod of her head, she lead Buffy out of the stairwell and into the blackened storefront. The smell from the fire remained, hanging thick in the air, and she struggled not to choke as she moved silently across the floor, minding every step and listening to every ounce of her instincts as she followed the single beam of moonlight coming from the bullet hole in the front door. She cringed as glass crunched under her boot and they both stopped.

From the sounds she could hear, there were two others in the blacked, charred storefront with them, just out of sight. Her palms were sweaty as she gripped on to her sword with both and nodded her head at Buffy for her to move in the opposite direction. Two they could handle. Any more of them, they'd be in trouble because more would just keep on coming. The kill would have to be quick and quiet. There was no other way. Well, there was, but Faith wasn't going to slip out and leave two easy kills behind.

Faith caught sight of one to her right and she raised the sword, ready to strike. She caught it off guard, her sword slicing through flesh and bone and she sunk it in its head from behind. The body dropped to the ground just as Buffy made her own kill and they headed back towards the door, letting the light through the bullet hole guide them. Faith inched the door open just enough for both of them to slip through and they took off running down the street, narrowly avoiding a handful of infected that had branched off from the horde,

"How much further?" Buffy panted as they slowed their run down to a steady jog. "Another block, right?"

"Just about," Faith nodded. "When we get there, stay outside and keep a look out. I'll be in and out, alright?"

Buffy nodded and they rounded the corner. Faith slowed down to a stop as she saw the convenience store up ahead. She pointed her sword at a single infected stumbling around in an alleyway not far from them and Buffy just nodded again and headed towards it while Faith quickly made her way down the street to the store.

She slipped in through the broken door, the glass crunching under her boots as she swiftly moved to the storage room at the back. She had to kick open the door and she held her breath as the sound echoed through the store and she slipped into the storage room and grabbed the box of fireworks that sat on top of a shelf along the wall. She quickly searched around, just in case they'd missed something when they were there before, and once she was satisfied there was nothing there they could use, she exited the store, meeting up with Buffy just out on the street.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"North," Faith replied as she pointed her sword up the street in the opposite direction they'd came from. Buffy nodded curtly and they started the walk down the street. "We gotta find a place we can get out and backtrack without running into any of 'em."

"It'll be hard. There are a lot of dead end streets on this side of town."

"Hard, but not impossible, B. Besides, even if we run into some of 'em, the fireworks are gonna be going off for at least five minutes. Gonna see if I can rig it up so they don't all go off at once."

"You can do that?"

"Was shown once, long time ago when I was a kid. Growing up as a Southie kid, ya learn a lot of things that could be useful later on in life."

"Like what?"

"Hot-wiring cars in under a minute," Faith replied and she laughed softly at the look Buffy gave her. "If I didn't know how, Angel and I would never have made it outta California when we did and…well, might not be here having this conversation with ya now."

"Did you ever—"

"Steal cars?" Faith finished for her and she shook her head. "Nah, I never did. Rode shotgun once and we nearly got caught." She paused as she furrowed her brow. She never talked about her life in Boston and she wasn't sure why she was talking about it now. "Another story for another time, yeah?"

"I'll hold you to that."

"You do that, B," she chuckled quietly and she looked around at the buildings on the street. "Come on, let's check this place out. Roof looks flat from here. We can set up the 'works up there."

"And our escape plan?"

"Let's get up on the roof first, map out the area from up there," Faith replied and she tried the doors to the building, the lettering on the door mostly covered by obvious signs of a flash fire inside. A doctors office, from what she could tell of the M.D. on the end that was visible. "Come on, let's check around back for a way up."

One way up meant only one way down and that could end up being a problem. A very big problem. Faith led the way down the dark alleyway, both of them on high alert and she came to a stop where the dumpsters were lined up underneath a thick drainpipe that rose up the side of the brick building. She wiggled her eyebrows at Buffy before sheathing her sword into her belt, slung the bag of fireworks over her shoulder, and she climbed up on top of the dumpster and leapt up, her hands grasping on to the metal drainpipe as her sword clattered against the brick wall.

Climbing up wasn't hard, not for a slayer. Once she was on the rooftop, she turned around and watched Buffy effortlessly climb up. She smiled as she held out a hand to her and she pulled her up the rest of the way. Faith shrugged off the bag of fireworks and got right to work, carefully removing each one from the package and setting it up along the middle of the flat roof while Buffy kept watch on the street below.

Faith pulled out her metal tin of cigarettes, counted them and knew she had just enough to do what she needed to do to keep the fireworks going for more than ten minutes. Because the tobacco was dry, they would keep burning until the embers hit the fuse. She'd seen it done when she was young, barely ten years old and hanging out with the neighbourhood boys who liked to play with fire and set off fireworks in ingenious way at the quarry she spent most of her summers as a kid at.

"We can climb back down and run that way," Buffy said as she joined her at the edge of the roof, following her pointed finger to look at a side street that led to the train tracks that were just barely visible in the moonlight. "We'll have enough time to make it, won't we?"

"Yeah, we should. Figured out how to buy us some time. Gonna cost me a pack of smoke though."

Buffy nodded and turned to look at the set up behind them. Faith carefully explained how it was going to work as she lit one cigarette after the other, placing each one at a specific angle along each fuse, the burning end a little bit closer with every one. As Faith placed the last cigarette down, she tossed her lighter towards Buffy who lit the fuse of the first firework and they both ran towards the edge of the roof and shimmied down the drainpipe just as the fireworks began to shoot off.

The light from the multicoloured fireworks lit up the street as they ran down towards the side street Buffy had pointed out. Neither of them looked back, running at full tilt as the sounds of the infected grew louder and closer. And they weren't just coming from the direction of the church, they were coming from everywhere. Faith pulled her sword free as they veered off the street and into a narrow alleyway. They didn't stop running, not even stopping when they reached an eight foot high metal fence. Faith flung herself towards it, her sword clanging loudly against the chain link fence and she scrambled to climb up it quickly. She pulled herself over the top and landed hard on her feet with Buffy right behind her.

Buffy led the way through the rest of the alleyway and out onto a dirt covered lot. Less than fifty feet away, down a steep incline, lay the railway tracks, the light from the moon and the fireworks illuminating the way for them.

They didn't stop not even when they reached the steep incline and Faith leaned back, using the momentum to slip down the hill without tumbling down face first. She grabbed on to Buffy's hand as they reached the bottom, mostly to keep Buffy from losing her footing and mostly because Buffy was showing signs she was lagging behind. They reached the train tracks and started to run down them together, the only sounds other than the fireworks popping and exploding overhead were the sounds of their boots crunching along the gravel between the tracks.

"Faith…stop…" Buffy groaned as she tugged on her hand and slowed her down. "Just…stop for a minute, please?"

"You okay, B?"

"I'm fine, just—"

"Need a minute we ain't got?"

"How far is the train station from here?" Buffy asked and Faith could only shrug. It was anybody's best guess. "Do you think we can make it?"

"Uh, B?" Faith said with wide eyes as she looked over Buffy's shoulder at almost a dozen infected sliding down the hill and headed straight for them. "Let's get the hell outta here!"

"We need to get off these tracks, Faith."

"And go where? We can't go back there! There ain't nothing to go back to now, B."

Buffy shook her head as the two of them started running down the tracks again, the infected gaining on them as they too picked up the pace. Faith knew that Buffy was right. They needed to get off the tracks and out of the open. They needed to find a place to hide, somewhere safe, just to ride out the night. If they didn't get off the tracks, they were as good as dead, slayers or not. Two infected they could handle but any more and they'd be in some serious trouble.

As they neared a covered bridge, Faith grabbed Buffy's hand again and led her off the tracks and down the bank to the waist deep creek below. The water was cold and she knew—and hoped—it would cover their scent long enough for them to find somewhere safe to hide out. They waded downstream and away from the town and into the countryside. The further they got from the tracks, the quieter it became all around them, and they were no longer being chased down by the infected that had found them down on the tracks.

"Faith," Buffy shivered as they climbed up the bank, both of them soaked to the bone. "We have to find someplace…safe…for the night."

"I know," Faith replied, a slight shiver running through her body, the night air a lot cooler than it'd been in weeks. She looked back at the town as the last of the fireworks shot through the sky and then it grew darker and even the light from the moon wasn't near as bright as it'd been. "Come on," she said to Buffy as she grabbed her hand again and led her through a grassy field, further and further away from the town and the train tracks that would lead them to the others.

If they got out of the abandoned church alive…and she had to believe they did, she had to believe they made it out and to the train station, and that they were safe now.

If she couldn't hold on to hope for anything else, she had to believe what they'd done had saved the others, even if that meant that they couldn't save themselves.