Zombies. Why the hell did it have be zombies. Jesse McNally was not having a good night. If his best friend, Xander Harris' not so secret fear involved clowns and mimes, than it had to be said, that he, Jesse, was just as afraid of zombies.
"At least these ones aren't eating any brains, which is just way creepy, and getting bit doesn't seem to be turning anyone into a zombie, but they are eating people. What the hell is going on?" He screamed at his best friend.
"I don't know. We learned about different ways of making zombies in our studies, but it wasn't like any of us ever intended to make any ourselves. Why don't you try to trace any Magic and see if we can track the source. Either someone or something caused this. Find the cause, end the problem." Xander answered.
"Oh, good. Someone remembered to use their brain, instead of running and screaming like a little girl." Cordelia snarked.
"Hey, if it was an army of clowns, Xander would have been the one running and screaming like a little girl." Jesse retorted.
"Hey, in case you forgot, I punched out the scary clown, during Day of the Nightmares. You thought Ms. French, praying mantis lady, had you caged up again, wanting kinky sex."
"Can we not talk about that? I am still trying to repress."
The Sunnydale Protectors Pack, led by Alphas Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase and their Betas, Kyle Defours and Rhonda Kelley, had been patrolling Sunnydale, dusting vampires; while Pack members Tor Hauer and Heidi Barrie had had the night off; when they'd gotten a call on their walkies, from their friend Jesse McNally, that zombies were shuffling their way downtown. All of them seemed to be going in the same direction. Which might be toward their zombie master. A few people that thought it was some kind of gag, had found out quickly, that it wasn't, when they got knocked down and eaten, Jesse reported.
The Pack had converged on his location and begun attacking zombies, quickly learning, that like with most things, cutting their heads off had seemed to stop them. But they just kept coming. Where were they all coming from? They knew there were alot of cemeteries in Sunnydale, plus a hundred years of dead people, but it still seemed like alot of zombies.
Jesse pulled a small crystal out of his pocket and chanted a basic trace spell, that Grandma, Xander's grandmother, the Medicine Woman of the Chumash Tribe and Jesse's teacher, had taught him. A faint mist rose from it and coalesced into a small bright ball of light. It began to move through the air in the direction the zombies were shuffling in. Jesse and the Pack followed it and found it led to a surprising place. The gallery owned by Joyce Summers, mother of Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer, who had died a year or so ago at the fangs of an old and powerful Master vampire, one who had simply called himself, the Master.
Though the shop window they could see a mask on a wall. Its eyes seemed to be glowing.
"Bingo," said Xander. "There's our culprit. Bet Mrs. Summers never knew it had power or that bringing it to the Hellmouth could be a problem." He bent down to the lock and using a small bit of metal, did something that popped the lock. He went in and pulled the mask off the wall. Since the eyes were glowing, he surmised they were the problem and using his enhanced strength popped them out of the mask and crushed them.
The zombies abruptly disappeared, as though they had never been. However, they did leave behind some partially eaten bodies. Pulling out his cell phone, Xander anonymously called in a riot taking place on the street. By the time the cops got there, the Pack and Jesse, were long gone, taking the remains of the mask with them.
Xander sent the Pack back out patrolling, while he, Cordelia and Jesse headed over to Rupert Giles' home. They presented him with the mask and reported the zombie riot. He promised to research it and Xander and Cordelia walked Jesse home before doing a sweep of the cemeteries and making sure the graves were undisturbed, which, strangely, they were. Afterward, he called the Pack and sent everyone home for the night.
The next day in the library, they told Willow, their friend and a Watcher-in-training, the story of the zombie riot. "So that's what really happened. I wondered when I saw the report in the paper. They said several people had died and some shops had damage."
"Yeah, it wasn't like Mrs. Summers knew what that thing might do. She has no idea what goes on around here after dark." Jesse said. "But, hey, I got to use a tracking spell for tracking Magic for the first time and it worked. I told Grandma about it. She said it was a fairly simple spell, but takes a lot of concentration to keep it focused on the Magic and not go off on its own. She said I did good."
"You did man. You came though in the clinch, like you always do." Xander answered.
"So, Giles, any idea what that mask was or do we need to consult Grandma?" Jesse asked.
"The mask holds the power of a zombie demon, called Ovu Mobani - Evil Eye. Or it did, until Xander crushed the jewels in the eye sockets. It's a paperweight now." Giles answered.
Glad to be done with the zombie business, the Pack, along with Willow and Jesse headed off to their classes, ready to start a new week. It might not be the best start to a week, but for these kids it was normal. They did after all, live in a city that sat on top of the world's largest and most active Hellmouth.