Hi guys, I tried to post this chapter yesterday but for some reason it didn't work? Fanfiction glitchiness. At any rate, I give you the final chapter of this disturbing tale.

Between a Rock and Faith

Chapter 5

Buffy awoke to the sound of the glass sliding, and her muscles instantly tensed. She pictured Professor Walsh holding a saw to her head, cutting into the bone of her skull. She looked around for Faith, but the other Slayer had backed against one wall and was gazing at Buffy intensely.

"Do it," Faith ordered. "Just do it, Buffy."

Tazer guns raised, several soldiers entered the room. Buffy didn't dare move as Riley snapped her wrists and ankles into the cuffs. She cast Faith a terrified look he rolled her gurney out of the room.

"Do it, Buffy! Just do it!"

The vampires and demons didn't bother to scream at her today. Few of them did anymore. In some ways she had earned their camaraderie, suffered the same things they had.

At the door of the operating room, Riley jangled his keys. "I can take it from here, fellas. Professor doesn't need you today."

The soldiers thanked Riley and left, their boots making clomping noises against the floor. Riley looked at Buffy pleadingly, then opened the door and rolled her inside.

Professor Walsh's back was to them, as she stood before the counter washing her hands. She didn't bother to turn around as she spoke. "Get her knocked out, Riley. The surgeons are coming in five."

"Yes, ma'am."

Riley moved very quietly, darting from Buffy's right wrist, to her left wrist, to her left ankle, to her right ankle, unlocking each of them. Buffy didn't move. She was watching the professor, examining the way the woman's hair was neatly trimmed, the way her earrings glinted in the light. She was a person. A human being.

"Please," Riley whispered.

It was enough for the professor to whip around, eyebrows raised. She gazed at Riley, then at Buffy, her eyes moving to each of the open cuffs. Her lips fell open. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe.

"Don't you dare move, Hostile 33," she said.

Buffy breathed hard as the professor sidled toward her, syringe in hand. She came closer, then closer. Buffy's heart went wild. She had to move now, or this woman was going to stick drugs in her vein and give her unnecessary brain surgery. Buffy pictured Faith, her mouth a hard line, saying, Do it.

Buffy snapped into the air and kicked Professor Walsh in the side of the head. The woman was dead before she hit the ground.

Buffy put her hands on her knees, panting. Riley let out a sort of guffaw, a crazed, joyful laugh.

"She's dead," he cried. Buffy could hear him breathing excitedly. "She's dead."

Buffy stood up straight. Through the tiny window in the door, she saw a horde of soldiers march by, soldiers who were probably holding tazer guns. She turned to Riley.

"Get me out of here!" she cried. She couldn't bear to look at the heap of a person on the floor, the blood pooling.

Riley nodded frantically. "Okay. Okay. Get on the gurney."

Buffy stepped away from him.

"You have to. If you're walking next to me, people will get suspicious."

Reluctantly, Buffy lay herself down on the hard metal, her hands and wrists falling instinctively into the cuffs. She shut her eyes to avoid looking at Professor Walsh's body. Faith had told her to do it, she told herself. Faith had taken responsibility.

Buffy screamed when one of the cuffs closed around her wrist. "What are you doing?"

Riley grabbed her other wrist and locked it into the cuff. "It'll look weird if they're open. I'll let you go. I promise."

"Your promise means nothing to me."

Riley's forehead broke. "Please. I'm a good person. I didn't mean to get into all of this-

"Just get me out of here, Riley!"

He nodded frantically again. After locking her ankles into the cuffs, he rolled her out the door, turning a different direction than usual, away from her cell.

"Wait," Buffy hissed. "Faith. What about Faith?"

Riley gave her a warning look. "Shush. People will hear you."

"I can't leave without Faith!"

Several soldiers down the hall looked over, and Riley shifted uncomfortably. Then his face took on a look of exaggerated anger.

"Shut up, you swine!" He slapped her, hard, across the face, stunning her into silence. The soldiers at the end of the hall looked away and continued talking.

Riley started pushing her again, away from her cell. Once they were past the group of soldiers, he looked at Buffy apologetically. "Sorry. Had to."

Buffy's cheek still burned. She whispered this time, "I can't leave without Faith."

Riley ignored her, pushing her onward, and Buffy started to crying. So much crying in these past few weeks. She'd once thought she was tough. She wasn't sure what she was anymore.

"What are you crying about?" Riley hissed. They'd moved into a large room, with concrete floors and walls, and an assortment of vehicles parked inside. Lots of soldiers were hanging around, but they paid no attention to Buffy and Riley. As long as he was pushing her around on a gurney, it looked normal.

"Faith," Buffy whimpered. "Promise me you'll get her out, too. Promise me."

Riley cocked his head to the side. Then there was a blinding light against Buffy's face, warm and bright, making her skin tingle. Sunlight. It was streaking in through the open garage door. She wanted to get up and run.

But Riley stopped them outside of a black car, by the passenger-side door. After glancing around, he unlocked Buffy's ankles. Her muscles coiled, ready to spring, but he clenched his teeth.

"You can't go running out of here," he said. "They'll just catch you again. I have to drive you."

Breathing rapidly, Buffy nodded, and he unlocked her wrists. She sat up on the gurney. He unlocked the car and she got in, feeling weird sitting against a cool leather seat. Sunlight touched her face.

Riley got into the driver's seat and, like a miracle, pulled them out of the garage. His face was relaxed, happy. Buffy guessed he was glad Professor Walsh was dead. Soon they were speeding down a desert road. Buffy knew where she was. She was forty minutes away from her house, where maybe her mother was sitting in the living room, going mad with worry. And maybe Giles was there too, fiddling with his glasses, while Willow and Xander sat on the couch.

"Listen, when you get home, you're going to have to switch addresses and lay low for a long time, or they'll come for you. Got it?" Riley said.

Buffy nodded. "Please, get Faith out too. Promise me."

"Who is Faith?"

Buffy shook her head. "The other girl in my cell. The other Slayer."

There was a long silence between them.

"Buffy," Riley said. "The girl in your cell, she's been in a coma for a long time. Professor Walsh said she isn't going to wake up."

Buffy's heart skittered. "No, she woke up from the coma. She's been there, talking to me, helping me. I couldn't have gotten through this without her."

Riley turned to her, one eyebrow raised. "I'm sorry. She hasn't been awake."

Buffy's lips fell open. The desert was vast and empty all around her, as they sped toward home. She didn't know what to think, not about anything. Had she been hallucinating the whole time? Had Faith really been lying lifeless in the cell, instead of pushing her and comforting her through this whole nightmare? Buffy couldn't say.

But she knew if Faith had found a way to appear to her even while she was in a coma, then there was goodness in people. There was mercy, even if there was evil, too.

Then again, maybe it was just a hallucination.

I may write a follow-up homecoming chapter if I feel so inclined.