Chapter Sixty Eight: Opening and Closing

"Communications are now completely down. We have no contact with the outside world, and no contact with our other units in the town," said Captain O'Hare in her verbal report to Colonel Knight. Colonel Maybourne was also present and listening to the report in the makeshift command post.

"No word from any of our people outside the central area of the town after that first garbled message about monsters," continued the Captain. "And either our foot messengers haven't got through or they haven't got back. Radio is jammed and cellphones are not working. We don't know what's going on outside the area controlled by Headquarters Company but even in that area we've had reports of monsters."

"What sort of monsters?" asked Knight only to be interrupted by Maybourne.

"Does it matter?" asked Maybourne. "My orders to you are perfectly clear. You take control of that large house across the street and you do it now. We've got to control that place. That's the center of everything that's going on. That's why we're here."

"And can you tell me who's controlling it now? Who are we going to take control of it from?" asked an increasingly annoyed Knight. "What's their number? What's their armament? Are there any mines or other buried traps? Are there any types of monster in there?"

"We sent a patrol into those grounds a while back but we've had no contact with them. They're overdue," said Captain O'Hare.

"Gunfire? Any indication of a fire-fight?" asked Knight.

O'Hare shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "It's like everything else in this damned town. You send somebody off and you don't hear from them again."

"Listen!" said Knight sharply and everybody stopped talking. "That's gunfire, automatic weapons." He turned to his right. "And it's coming from a mile or two to the south. We have people there. They need our help." As he spoke the gunfire stopped.

"You don't know that," said Maybourne. "They might just be warning somebody off. But it doesn't make any difference anyway. They've got to look out for themselves. We can't afford the time and resources to divert from our main mission. You're not here to run around town looking after each other."

"Mutual support...," began Knight but he was interrupted before he could make his point because at that moment the ground began to shake. Everybody assumed it must be yet another earth tremor and did what they always did at times like that. They rushed outside. But this time the earth shaking just went on and on, and now it was accompanied by a low but rising rumbling coming from somewhere vaguely below ground.

"What is that?" asked O'Hare pointing across the road to where the Slayer HQ was situated behind its tall perimeter wall. The rumbling and shaking went on.

A bright green glow could now be seen surrounding that part of the house which showed above the walls. Either the house was giving off the light which produced the glow or the glow represented something which now surrounded the house. Everybody looked at Colonel Maybourne.

"How do I know?" said Maybourne with a shrug. "All I know is there's a dangerous alien artefact in that building and we've got to get hold of it." Maybourne deliberately did not use the word Stargate. He didn't want to give out any clue as to the type of artefact he was after and anyway it was no business of Knight and his troops.

"You want us to go in there?" asked Knight. "Even though you don't know what that is? What if it's some sort of dangerous radiation?"

"Did you think joining the army meant you were going to live forever?" replied Maybourne sarcastically. "You want to be safe and sound in your bed you're in the wrong business. Get your men together. We're going inside and we're going to do it now. If you won't follow my orders I'll find somebody who will."

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After landing with his company in a park in the west of town and setting up a communication center there for his unit Lieutenant Ritter had been ordered to lead a patrol into the streets nearby. The orders from the company commander were to be alert for hostiles and to detain for questioning anybody who did not have a good explanation for being on the streets so late.

The orders issued to the company had been to secure that part of the town and deal with any hostile elements. The patrol led by the lieutenant was therefore only one of a number sent out by the company commander at the same time in different directions.

Curiously nobody had been briefed about what was happening in the town. Ritter knew his Captain knew no more than he did. But the general assumption amongst the soldiers was that martial law had been declared because of serious rioting or gang activity. So far they had not found any trace of any such problems and seen no evidence of damage caused by rioters.

The patrol had begun as just a quiet walk through deserted and darkened streets. But that rapidly changed when the patrol finally met somebody, or rather several somebodies. A group of young men and women were hanging around outside the entrance to a local churchyard. Why they would be there in the middle of the night wasn't at all obvious.

For all appearances the group was composed of a perfectly normal group of young people and Ritter, not expecting anything else, assumed it was a local gang. However badass the members of a gang thought they were they would not be a problem for a highly trained military unit thought the lieutenant.

At his signal Sergeant Hastings stepped forward to challenge the group but before he could open his mouth everything changed. All at once the people in front of them changed from perfectly normal people into something quite different and quite monstrous. Their faces changed and they all displayed long fangs. As the sergeant jumped back away from them the monsters unhurriedly came forward towards the soldiers with obviously hostile intent.

Without orders being given the soldiers reacted to what they had seen and fired at the creatures. But although the bullets struck home and in some cases knocked the creatures down none of them were stopped permanently. Even those which were filled with bullets from automatic fire simply got back to their feet and continued advancing towards the soldiers who were all now backing away. That's when things got really hairy and the fighting became hand to hand.

Unless badly outnumbered Special Forces fighting hand to hand would usually be no contest against nearly any enemy in the world. Any human enemy that is. But the only humans involved in the fight were the soldiers and they were now up against creatures faster and stronger than any human. Creatures that seemed to be immune to harm. But nevertheless the soldiers were too well trained to panic as they put their training into effect.

"Bullets don't work on these things," shouted the sergeant. "Fix bayonets and remember your training. No more shooting but you can still use your guns to defend yourselves. Use the butt and the blade."

"And stay together, close support," shouted the lieutenant. "Don't let anybody get isolated."

The soldiers had been trained to work together in ad hoc fighting groups of two or three when necessary. They now used their guns as clubs, some with and some without a bayonet attached. But already two soldiers were down with creatures over them.

But the soldiers were not helpless and the other soldiers, acting together, drove the creatures back and helped their comrades to their feet. The creatures were formidable individually but were less dangerous than they might have been because they did not seem to have a leader and did not co-ordinate their attacks.

After the initial combat the two groups withdrew from each other to regroup and assess what they were up against. A quick glance told the lieutenant his men had injuries, there was some blood flowing, but nobody was down. He ordered his corporal to radio for backup from the rest of the company while the sergeant kept everybody in line with bayonets and guns facing the enemy. But while the corporal tried to get a response it soon became apparent it wasn't just the soldiers who were expecting reinforcements.

Over the next few minutes things began to get worse for the patrol because more of the creatures began to arrive to join their colleagues and as yet there was no sign of any other soldiers. Nor could the corporal get a response from his radio. In the pause in hostilities Ritter was able to hear weapons fire from at least two other places. His was not the only patrol to run into trouble. Reinforcements might not be available and he couldn't rely on help being attracted by the sound of gunfire. Perhaps, he thought, it had been the gunfire that had attracted more hostiles.

As enemy numbers continued to increase the soldiers slowly backed away until they found themselves blocked from further retreat by another group gathering in the street behind them to match the growing mob that was now a few yards away in front of them. It seemed likely to the lieutenant that both groups of hostiles would soon rush his men. And maybe that is exactly what would have happened had the rules not suddenly changed.

Something now attacked the original group of hostiles, something that rapidly began to turn the creatures into puffs of dust. No bodies, just scattered dust or ashes in the air or on the ground. It wasn't even a contest because the sudden attack from the rear not only decimated what had previously seemed to be a formidable force of enemies but panicked those not immediately destroyed.

Although the lieutenant and his men did not know what was happening those being destroyed certainly did. And they knew that if they did not get away immediately they would be joining the dust on the ground. They were joined in their flight by those in the second group blocking the withdrawal of the patrol. That group too began to rapidly melt away as soon as they saw what was happening.

As the number of enemies in front of them continued to reduce, the watching soldiers were able to see what was happening. The creatures that had decided to stay and fight were being stabbed by what appeared to be three rather small young women wielding some sort of small hand held weapons. One stab and what had been a dangerous enemy joined the others who were now just dust on the wind. And if the creatures had been fast and dangerous the women seemed to be faster and a lot more dangerous, at least to the creatures.

Finally there were no more enemies, just piles of dust and the distant figures of fleeing monsters.

Lieutenant Ritter doubted that any US Army unit had ever fought an action like the one just completed. Crazy didn't even begin to describe it. Just what sort of an insane asylum sort of town was this anyway? He cautiously walked forward to speak to one of the strange young women who were now standing and looking around, considering their next move. A woman with long blonde hair.

"Sorry General," said Buffy. "Can't stop. We've got a lot more soldier boys to save."

And without any more pausing for breath the three women turned and ran off after the fleeing monsters and towards the sounds of more gunfire. After a moment the lieutenant shouted orders to his men and set off at a run in the same direction after the rapidly disappearing women.

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"OK, it's started," said Prue immediately she opened her eyes. "Now it's time we did our job."

Prue had been visiting Sunnydale via her astral form. But now she opened her eyes to see the familiar sight of the attic in the Halliwell Manor. At the same time she stood up and looked at her three sisters who had been waiting for her to consciously return to them.

"Is Leo alright?" asked Piper. "He is there, right?"

"Leo's fine," said Prue. "He's in the basement with all the others. Everything's going according to plan, so far. Well nearly everything."

"Nearly everything?" queried Phoebe.

"The Stargate. For some reason it's been drawn into the witches' circle where the Hellmouth is going to open," said Prue.

"Something Willow did?" asked Paige.

"I don't think so," said Prue. "She seemed to be pretty busy working with the others to open the Hellmouth without letting things get out of control."

"Maybe an unseen player in the game," suggested Phoebe.

"Oh yeah, that's all we need," said Paige. "Somebody else getting involved and we don't know what side they're on." She continued by turning to Phoebe and asking: "Aren't we overdue for a glimpse of the future, guidance from on high and all that?"

Phoebe shrugged. "I'm getting nothing. Maybe whoever sends the visions knows no more than we do?"

"Or maybe there are so many possible outcomes at the moment that it's just not possible to give you a glimpse of what's likely to happen," said Prue. "Things are happening too fast."

"Well we can't just stand around here yakking," said Piper. "We'd better get busy if we're gonna to do our bit."

The role of the witch sisters was damage limitation. The increasing seismic disturbances which had developed in the past few days were now having a major affect on the whole of California and their influence was spreading even further afield. The four sisters now studied a large map on the table in front of them and Phoebe's three sisters looked at her.

Phoebe closed her eyes, trying for a vision. She was trying to get a read on the epicenter of the next major quake. If she could do that then Paige would orb the sisters to that location, or as near to it as possible. The four sisters would then carry out a Power of Four spell to try to damp down the quake as much as possible.

Nobody expected the sisters to be able to stop the earth movements altogether. The plan was to make things move much more slowly and smoothly and avoid a large part of the destructive affect of each quake.

"OK, got one," said Phoebe. "There!" she added and placed her finger on the map. Paige, stood next to her, studied the location.

"Right, hold tight," said Paige. "Let's go."

And the four sisters disappeared in an orb.

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"That was criminal," said Buffy. "They had no idea what they were up against. If we hadn't been there they would have all died."

"Or worse," said Kennedy. "Don't you think Wolfram and Hart planned on turning a lot of those boys? Well trained soldier vampires would suit them very well."

"They didn't expect us to be here," said Faith. "We messed up that part of their plan anyway."

Buffy hoped that the various groups of soldiers in the town would now stop walking the streets and making themselves easy targets. The three slayers had rescued several groups of soldiers from fights with mainly vampires but also a few demons. They had deliberately not stayed to chat. But Buffy had briefly told some of the officers to take their men to somewhere they could defend easily or get out of town. But she knew the chances of soldiers taking orders from her were effectively zero.

"We must have dusted hundreds of vamps tonight," said Faith. She knew she was exaggerating a little but they all knew they had never before staked so many in such a short time. "I wonder if it ever happened" she added quietly to herself.

"If what ever happened?" asked Kennedy.

"I wonder if a slayer ever came close to wiping out all the demons and vamps," replied Faith. "Because it would be sort of like a hunter wiping out all the game animals. When they're all gone what're you gonna do? How can you be a slayer without something to slay?"

"I don't think we need worry about that," said Buffy. "It's so not gonna happen. I don't think we've even scratched the surface."

"You think? Well we got rid of a lot of them when we shut down the Hellmouth. Now we're cutting them down even more," said Faith. "A lot of those who stayed out of town last time have come here expecting to see the new Hellmouth. And we've cut out a lot of them in the last few hours."

"Yeah, but it's a big bad world out there," said Kennedy. "Lots of places for creatures like that to hide. Hide and breed or hide and sire. Cut down on the number of predators and you make more room for those who are left. Law of nature says they increase their numbers to fill the gaps."

"You think?" asked Faith. "But up until recently there was only one slayer, one at a time. And that was enough to keep a lid on things. Now there are three of us. Stands to reason we must be having an impact. We might get to the point of seeing the last of them. Especially with Willow and all the other witches lending a hand."

"So what are you saying? Go easy on the monsters in case they die out? You want to found the Preservation of Monsters Society?" asked Kennedy with a laugh.

"I'm just saying, when we were on that other planet and couldn't kill anything I became, um, itchy. Don't deny it. You guys did too. You've enjoyed what we've been doing here tonight as much as I have," said Faith. "It's what we were born for."

"There are other things besides slaying," said Buffy.

"Laying?" suggested Kennedy with a smirk.

Buffy shrugged. "If you like," she said. "Children and family. That's one possibility."

"Let's find something else to kill before Buffy starts knitting little booties," said Faith.

"Time to get ourselves over to the Slayer HQ I think," said Buffy. "If the new Hellmouth opens and the witches don't keep things under control we're gonna have a lot more slaying to do. That should make you guys happy."

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Back in the basement of the Sunnydale Slayer HQ things seemed to be getting out of control, out of anybody's control. Despite Lilah's assumption that the movement of the Stargate had been arranged by and was part of the plans of her enemies, Willow and the other witches working with her were as surprised as anybody by what was happening.

The movement of the Stargate coincided with the first sign of an opening of the new Hellmouth. A bright red disc had now formed within the circle formed by the magic users and it was slowly beginning to thin. As it did so the Stargate, instead of floating towards the circle as it had been doing, suddenly leapt forward into the centre of the circle.

Some of the magic users had to move quickly to get out of the way as the Gate moved past. As it arrived above the red disc, which was now glowing even more brightly, the Gate toppled over and lay over the opening Hellmouth. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stood back to see what happened next.

"Do you know what's happening?" Willow asked Tara who was stood next to her, but her partner shook her head. A glance around the room showed that everybody, including the other Whitelighters and the Wolfram and Hart mages, seemed to be equally bewildered by this unexpected event. Either that or somebody was good at hiding his or her true thoughts.

"No more than you. This looks like one of those things that will only make sense when we work things out later," said Tara.

"If there is a later," said Cordelia who had now joined the other two witches to watch what was happening.

As she continued to watch, Tara took hold of Willow's hand. If necessary she would orb her partner to safety almost instantaneously. But first they had to be ready to deal with any demons or monsters that came through the opening Hellmouth.

"You know, if anything comes up out of that Hellmouth they might just go straight through the Stargate," said Amy. "Whoever's on the other end is going to get a big surprise."

"So where is it connected to?" asked Willow.

"It isn't," said Fred from behind her. "It shut down just after it started moving."