A/N: Okay, so I sort of forgot to mention that I was tossing Sam and Dean Winchester in there as well as Connor and Gunn from Angel... sorry.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
*******

"Well shit, if I knew this was an option I woulda signed up immediately!"

Buffy looked over to see Dean and Sam Winchester approaching the lawn chairs she and Faith were currently inhabiting. She set her rifle down carefully and stood up. "How did it go?"

"Good, really good," Sam told her.

Dean had moved past, grabbing one of the cold beers from the cooler and tossing another to his brother. "G.I. Joe and Graham are unloading the artillery, and Andrew's handling the perishables."

"What'd Riley do to piss you off this time?" Buffy sighed. She just didn't get it. Graham could work with anyone, but Riley just seemed to piss people off, especially the elder of the two hunters. She'd always thought it would be the other way around.

Dean had picked up her rifle, grunted at her, which let her know he was ignoring her question, and started taking shots at the zombies. She turned the question to Sam.

"Riley was under the impression that since he was in the military he's in charge when we go out on missions."

"I'll take care of it," Buffy frowned heavily. The world was ending… did she really have to put up with his prima-donna bullshit?

As she walked away she could hear Dean bitching at Sam for tattling, and Faith commenting on Riley being so uptight they could shove a lump of coal up his ass and he'd shit a diamond. That got them all laughing, and brought a smile to Buffy's face, so she figured she had one more thing to thank Faith for that day.

She made her way out to the loading area where the three M1078 Armored Cargo Trucks were parked. The boys had only taken two out on their trip, but from the activity around the vehicles it looked like a good haul… and a bloody one. Andrew, Caridad, Rona and Dawn were unloading foodstuffs, while Connor, Gunn, Kit and Shahara, a young slayer Xander had found in Egypt a few months back, began to unload boxes with a red cross on them.

Graham was coming towards her carrying a similar box, and now she could make it out to be medical supplies. He looked exhausted. Buffy stopped him to give him a one armed hug and was pleased when he leaned into it. "Talk to him," he asked softly.

She nodded and continued on towards Riley's voice. He was unloading weapons and ammunition with the help of Carlos, Vi, Oz and Jordy. He looked up briefly, but turned his attention back to what he was doing. "Let them finish this, Riley. Vi and Oz know how to sort it out. We need to talk," she directed before turning around and walking off.

Buffy looked at the man who she'd once cared for so deeply. She still cared for him. He was a good man, and she'd been glad that he, Graham and Samantha had made it to them safely. Everything had fallen apart in the world so very quickly. She supposed she could thank the Goddess for Willow's magic beacon stones.

"What do you need, Buffy? I'm trying to get everything unloaded so I can get back to Sam," he spoke shortly.

"Ri… I think you can skip the unloading, and go directly to your wife… however, first we have to talk about this thing between you and Dean," she made sure to keep her voice calm.

Riley glowered. "Winchester can't take orders for shit!"

"He wasn't meant to. I distinctly remember stating that Dean was in charge of this one since he's the one who came up with the idea," she interrupted.

"It's bullshit. What experience does he have leading? He's so damned used to going it alone, he makes decisions on the fly and expects everyone to just jump and do it."

"Ri, Dean's a good hunter, and he and Sam have been hunting since they were kids. He also knows that with the supernatural and other beasties we can't always follow a plan exactly as it's been written out… you know that… I know you do because you've done the same. So instead of picking a fight with Dean because he's an arrogant schmuck, which, if you'd have said I'd have believed by the way, why don't you tell me what in all the hells is really going on with you?"

For a moment she wasn't sure he was going to tell her. This dynamic between them, her being in charge, it was still fairly new, but finally the tension left his shoulders and he looked at her with fear in his eyes. "Sam's pregnant, Buff. She's pregnant and I'm terrified because what if I go out there on a mission and I get bit… you or one of your girls is gonna have to take me out, and what if I managed to kill someone before that can happen? My baby could grow up without a daddy," his words finished on a whisper.

This she could understand. That heartbreaking fear that now someone, something so innocent, depended on you and if you went out and made one tiny mistake you'd be gone and they wouldn't have you any more. "That's easy enough, Ri. First off, if you ever got bit I would be the one taking you out." She saw the gratitude in his eyes. "But with the news of Sam's pregnancy it pretty much means no more missions unless they're absolutely vital," she told him, and continued before he could protest. "We've got eight slayers, not that I'd let Shahara or Shen go yet, still that's still six with plenty of ass kicking experience. And you know Faith and me; we're always up for a good fight. We can always use you here in the inner workings."

Riley pulled her into an easy hug, and she could feel his body trembling. "Thank you," he whispered.

"You're not gonna thank me in a minute," she told him pulling away and smiling widely. "Go apologize to Dean. Give him a beer or something. He didn't tattle by the way," she called out as he walked away. "And tell Sam congratulations!"

Buffy stood alone in the lobby of the hotel both a little happy and a little sad. She didn't jump when the lights suddenly dimmed, faint music swelling and a spotlight appeared about one hundred feet away. In that spotlight stood a pale red demon dressed in full, glistening blue tux and tails. "Sweet," she stated his name calmly. Ever since the first zombie sighting there had not been one demon sighting. Not. One. There had been no contact with the Powers That Be either. Not even a brief flash of Whistler. Now, a demon whom she hadn't seen in a few years was standing in front of her, but… "You're not looking so good, Sweet."

"Come to ask a favor, come to ask a boon," he crooned softly. "This pain is not our doing, but now our end comes soon."

Buffy hid her surprise. Gone was the smirking, high tempo troublemaker that had wanted her sister as his wife. "Are you saying that whatever the Initiative did to cause this… this…apocalypse, it's killing all of you off?"

"Drove us away from those we loved, far away from all we knew, and now it'll never be the same," he sang, heartache throbbing in his song. "Leaving a piece of myself behind, can't take it with me, can't stay to watch over…"

"Buffy!" Willow's shout came from the stairs and she came racing into view. "Whoa! Sweet! What's Sweet doing here?"

"Singing," Buffy shared.

"Cannot run, Cannot fight, Doesn't know me, his future was bright," Sweet continued. "The witch'll take you, his heart will amaze you."

"Do you understand what he's singing about?" Willow asked.

"I think so."

"Not much time, but time for my exit stage left you see. This time there's no pain I'm leaving behind, not for any but me." Sweet gave her one last look and faded into nothing, the lights returning to normal.

"What did you need, Wills?" Buffy asked.

"Two slayers just popped up."

"Where?"

"Same area, like they're holed up together, Lima Ohio. Dawn and I are working on a portal."

**

Will Schuester stared into the dark classroom and wondered if he'd lost his mind. How else was it possible that the world had been taken over by flesh eating zombies? That wasn't real life. It was a work of fiction. But it wasn't fiction. The world had gone mad, and people, so many people, were now dead or dying. Emma turned in his arms, sleeping fitfully. "Shhhh, I'm here," he murmured.

"Will," she whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"Whatever we have to," he responded. "We're going to do whatever it is we have to do to make it out of here, Emma."

"Gosh, Will, I'm so scared, I've never been so scared…"

"I know, but right now we have to stay strong for the kids. It's up to us to take care of them now."

"Is that what you and Ken were talking about?"

Will almost sighed. "Yes, we were discussing how we needed to put our differences aside for the kids right now. Between the three of us and Ted, we're the only ones they have right now… how are you doing with the…?"

She knew he was talking about the dirt and germs. "Well, I'd like to stand under an antibacterial hose for a few hours," she joked weakly, "but I'm trying to think of other things."

**

"What are you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep any longer. I was having strange dreams, so I decided to relieve Mike and take next watch." Rachel turned to find Puck at her side. "So now I am watching for vehicles."

"Anything?"

"Just more zombies," she whispered. "What are we going to do? Sure, we've got all the entrances closed off, but eventually…"

"Eventually we run out of food, or the sheer mass of bodies pushing against the glass doors breaks said glass?"

"Precisely," she agreed as she leaned her forehead against the glass.

When the Greyhound bus had reached the high school the parking lot had been desolate. There had only been five or six cars left. Ted had driven around for a moment driving to the front of the building where they'd found twenty to thirty of those bloody zombie people trying to get into the school through the front entrances. Some of the girls had started whimpering, but the boys had been silent. Rachel had looked at the people and recognized some of them as fellow classmates. Schue had told Ted to drive around to the back entrance, near the football field. None of the creatures were back there yet. They'd gotten inside to find that the only people in the school were Coach Tanaka, Dave Karofsky, Jake Carruthers and Scott Sadler. The boys had been serving a detention with the coach.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up, Berry," Puck told her. "You could do me a favor and check on Quinn, Santana and Brittany while you're at it."

Rachel gave him a small nod and headed off to the girl's locker room. She had tried sleeping. The dreams had been so vivid…

She'd been fighting, actually winning, against this strange looking man with a deformed face, yellow eyes, and sharp teeth. She'd slammed a piece of sharpened wood through his chest and he'd disintegrated. Then she'd seen a small blonde, a few years older than she was walking towards her.

"This is what we've been fighting for years," the blonde had said.

"Doesn't much look like a zombie person," Rachel told her politely.

"No," the blonde agreed. "This is a new evil. A man-made evil. And it's up to us, you and me, our sisters, and our friends, to destroy it."

"I hesitate to agree with you for several reasons," Rachel began. "For instance, I don't even know you. Also, we're trapped in this silly High School very quickly running out of food. Which is a pity because I was always quite positive that High School would NOT kill me, how ironic is it that I was wrong?"

The blonde smiled widely. "Don't worry little sister, we're coming for you."

As Rachel made it into the locker room she heard screaming and began to run. When she got there she saw Coach Sylvester, Principal Figgins and Jacob Ben-Israel trying to eat what was effectively left of the Cheerios. Quinn and Coach Sylvester were closest and without even thinking Rachel went into a spinning kick slamming her left foot into the side of the woman's head. The woman rolled away from Quinn, and Rachel pulled Quinn up and behind her.