Chapter 15: Bad Eggs
December 7, 1997 - Sunday
Dawn and Faith followed behind Buffy, Marie and Joyce as they walked through the Mall. They had been shopping for Christmas.
"Come on, Mom, please?" Buffy wheedled.
"I'm sorry, honey," Joyce told her daughter.
Buffy sighed. "But... don't you understand? This is so important!"
"It's an outfit. An outfit that you may never buy," answered Joyce.
"But... I looked good in it!" Buffy explained.
"You looked like a streetwalker," Joyce told Buffy.
Dawn and Faith looked at each other and rolled their eyes. The outfit Buffy was trying to persuade Joyce to let her get had not been as bad as Joyce was making it.
"But a thin streetwalker!" Buffy said. Then she sighed realizing that she had just lost the argument. "That's probably not going to be the winning argument, is it?"
"You're just too young to wear that," said Joyce.
Buffy looked over her shoulder at Dawn. "I never get to wear it do I, like ever?"
"That was the first time I ever saw that outfit," answered Dawn. "So, no."
Joyce looked at her watch. "Oh. Stores are going to close and I still need to order the flyers for the showing," she said as she looked through her purse and pulled out a receipt. She looked at Buffy. "Okay, I'll go to the printers and then get our food. You go pick up my outfit from the tailors at Everyday Woman. Here's the receipt—"
"Everyday Woman? Why didn't you go straight to Muumuus R Us?" Buffy teased.
"Come on, Buffy," said Dawn as she handed Faith her credit card. "Mom, dinner is my treat."
Joyce smiled at Dawn as she, Marie and Faith headed off as Buffy and Dawn turned in the other direction. They were heading toward the store when they noticed a guy in western-style clothes, who was clearly hitting on a cute girl. The girl sat on a bench outside the store. He stood by her, one foot on the bench. He talked, she laughs shyly.
Dawn and Buffy turned to head into the store, then stopped when they passed a mirror and noticed that in the mirror showed only the girl and they realized the guy was a vampire.
"Get mom's stuff, I'll deal with him," said Dawn as Buffy nodded. She turned and followed the vampire and the girl as they headed off and then turned down a hallway.
Dawn came up outside the arcade she had watched the pair enter.
Inside the vampire had the girl up against an arcade machine, kissing playfully. He had his hat off, his face buried in her neck.
"You know... you got about the prettiest neck I've ever seen," he said.
"Wow, you guys really don't ever come up with new lines, do you?" asked Dawn as she stopped a few feet behind him.
The vampire and the girl turned to look at her.
"Do you mind? We were talkin' here," the girl said.
"But you promised you'd never cheat on me again, honey..." said Dawn.
"Uh, I better go..." the girl said, clearly uncomfortable that the guy she had been kissing had a supposed girlfriend who had caught them.
The vampire looked at the girl and growled. "I am not done yet."
The girl started back in horror, then turned and ran out of the arcade.
The vampire turned and stepped toward Dawn. "All right then, sugarlips. I'm all yours," he said. He lunged for Dawn and she sent him reeling with a series of blows. "You're a rough one, aren't you? I like that. A pretty little tidbit like you with so much kick... Have to be one of the Slayers I've been hearing so much about- Lyle Gorch. Pleased to meet you."
Dawn smiled as he came at her. "Pleasure's mine," she said. She opened a portal and stepped through it and out an identical one behind him. She reached into around to the small of her back for her stake and pulled it out. As he spun around to find where she had gone, she drove the stake home. He barely managed to roll out of the way in time.
"This isn't over, girl," he said as he turned and ran.
Dawn sighed shaking her head. She headed back out of the arcade and to the food court. She saw that Buffy, Faith, Joyce and Marie were already there eating.
"Get him?" Buffy asked as Dawn sat down next to her.
"No," said Dawn. "He got away."
"We'll get him later," said Faith. She, Marie and Joyce had been filled in on where Dawn had gone.
December 8, 1997 – Monday
Faith woke up warm.
Skin pressed against skin, the pillow bunched under her head uncomfortably, one of Dawn's legs over her hip. She shifted the pillow and sank back down.
Sunlight filtered dimly through the window, stained blue by the curtain. It settled over Dawn's face softly, highlighting the arc of her cheek, the curve of her nose. Faith watched the steady rise and fall of Dawn's chest. She ran her fingers through Dawn's hair.
Dawn's eye's open gradually. She smiled at Faith before leaning forward and kissing her girlfriend. "I love you," she said.
Faith smiled and returned the kiss. "I love you, too, Dawn," she replied. As she looked at Dawn, she can't help but feel the happiest she's ever been.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Faith headed to health, her second class of the day. The instructor, Mr. Whitmore, was writing 'SEX' on the board when she arrived. "Goody," Faith gave a wan smile. She sat at the empty desk next to Xander.
"The sex drive in the human animal is intense. How many of us have lost countless productive hours plagued by unwanted sexual thoughts and feelings?" Mr. Whitmore said.
Xander began to raise his hand and nod but Faith grabbed the elbow of his checkered overshirt and pulled it down. "It was rhetorical," she whispered.
"Oh," he whispered back.
"Of course, for teenagers, such as yourselves, these feelings are even more overwhelming," the instructor explained. "With all sorts of hormones surging through your bodies, compelling you to action, it's often difficult to remember that there are negative consequences to having sex. Would anyone care to offer one such consequence?"
Cordelia raised her hand. Mr. Whitmore nodded to her, giving her the floor. "Well, that depends; are you talking about sex in the car or out of the car?" she asked.
Mr. Whitmore looked confused.
"Because I have a friend, not me, that was in a Miata at, parked at the top of the hill, and then she kicked the gearshift, and, and..."
Mr. Whitmore interrupted, "Yeah, I, I was thinking of something a little more commonplace, Ms. Chase."
Xander, jealous despite himself, shot Cordelia a look and put his hand up. "You want to talk negative consequence? How about the heartbreak of halitosis? I mean, a girl may seem spiffy, but if she ignores her flossing, the bloom is definitely off the rose—"
Cordelia's hand shot up again. "Like that compares to kissing a guy who thinks the Hoover technique is a big turn on—"
"Okay. Anyone—" said Mr. Whitmore trying to steer the topic back toward the actual subject.
"What about having to feign interest in her vapid, little chit-chat just to get some touch?" Xander interrupted. "Boot cut jeans, pro or con? Can you say - get a life!?"
Xander and Cordelia noticed that everyone was looking at them and decided they had said way too much and shut up.
"Now? Another consequence of sexual activity? Anyone?" the instructor asked.
Willow raised her hand; he nodded again to indicate that she should speak. "How about pregnancy? That would be a major one, right?" she blushed.
"Thank you, Ms. Rosenberg!"
Willow smiled smugly.
"Among teens unwanted pregnancy is the number one negative consequence of sexual activity. So, as discussed last week, I present you with..." he swept a sheet off of two trays of eggs, "...your offspring. You will split into parenting teams. You and your partner will share equally in the daily task of raising your egg. Now, please choose a partner and come pick up your children."
Cordelia immediately grabbed the shirtsleeve of the boy sitting across from her, "You want to have a baby?"
Faith, Willow and Xander waited until the other pairs had selected their egg. "So, who gets Xander?" Faith asked.
"Do I get a say in this?" Xander raised an eyebrow at her.
"Nope," Willow grabbed an egg. "That said who wants Buffy?"
"I'll take B," said Faith. "Would rather have Dawn but she's not in this class."
"Well, looks like it's just you, me and Xander Jr," said Xander as he looked at Willow.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The trio entered the library later that afternoon. They noticed that Buffy and Dawn who were sitting at the table. "Buffy. How come you weren't in class?" Willow asked.
"Vampire issues. Did Mister Whitmore notice that I was tardy?" Buffy replied.
"I think the word you're searching for is 'absent'," answered Xander.
"Tardy people show," Willow agreed.
Buffy sighed. "Oh. Right."
"Which means you and I are partnered," said Faith as she handed Buffy her egg. "Meet Buffy Jr."
"You lost me," said Buffy confused.
"Well, you know, it's the whole 'sex leads to responsibility' thing, which I personally don't get," Xander answered. "You got to take care of the egg. It's a baby. You got to keep it safe and teach it Christian values."
"Our egg is Jewish," Willow pouted.
"Then teach it that Dreidel song," he placated.
Willow smiled at that.
"God, I can't do this... I can't take care of stuff! I killed my gigapet," said Buffy. "Literally! I sat on it and it broke."
"You do alright with Elizabeth," said Dawn.
"That's different, you know that, right?" Buffy explained.
"Not really," said Dawn. "It's the same thing. Just pretend it's Elizabeth and you will do fine."
"Yeah, the only thing that stresses me is when do we tell them that they're adopted?" Xander joked.
They all chuckled at that.
Giles and Chloe emerged from the stacks a dusty volume in Giles' hands.
"Success at last," he said. "Dawn, your new playmate is a fellow of some repute, it seems." He put the book down in front of Buffy and Dawn.
The sisters looked at an old photograph of the vampire that Dawn had fought and another guy in western garb.
"Lyle Gorch," said Chloe. "The other one is his brother Tector. They're from Abeline. Made their reputation massacring a Mexican village in 1886."
"Friendly little demons..." said Buffy.
"No, that was before they became vampires," explained Giles. "The good news is, they're not among the great thinkers of our time. I doubt they're up to much; They were probably just drawn here by the hellmouth's energy."
"So, who's turn is it tonight?" Buffy asked.
"Faith and I will patrol tonight," said Dawn.
"Why do you all have eggs?" asked Giles puzzled on why the teens, with the exception of Dawn, all had eggs.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Later that night Dawn and Faith leaned against a tree in the cemetery. Kissing madly.
Finally, Faith broke away. "We should—"
"I know—" said Dawn as she kissed Faith again. This time she was the one to pull back. "Yeah, this really isn't hunting in the classical sense. We should get to work."
"You're right. Okay," agreed Faith as she and Dawn tried to pull it together. They moved away from the tree.
"You see anything?" Dawn asked.
"No," Faith answered.
"Okay. Enough hunting," said Dawn as she jumped Faith and they fell to the ground, laughing.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Across town Buffy, dressed for sleep, entered her bedroom with hers and Faith's egg in a makeshift bed. She set it down on her windowsill. "Alrighty then egg dude—" she said. "Okay, Buffy Jr. has had his bath, been fed, burped, and changed." She checked off each item on the list. Sort of. In theory." She looked at the egg. "Okay, kid. Sweet dreams."
An hour later suddenly, a chip of shell spontaneously broke from the egg. And a single, hairy tendril emerged from the crack. The tendril silently snaked across the windowsill, clearly heading for Buffy. It made its way over to Buffy's bed. It slid up the covers, over her legs and chest, winding its way up to her face.
The tendril flattened and widened, covering her face like a black mask. Then it started to pulse, gently, persistently.
December 9, 1997 - Tuesday
Buffy walked into the kitchen, dressed for school and carrying the egg in its little basket. Her mother was pouring herself coffee. She Grabbed the cup and took a sip.
"At least eat something if you're going to drink that," suggested Joyce.
"Not that hungry," said Buffy.
"How goes the parenting?"
Buffy shrugged. "Fine. Makes me appreciate what you went through with me and Marie and what Dawn is going through with Elizabeth. That said though I'm not ready to actually be a mother. For now, I'm happy just being the cool aunt and cool big sister."
"I'm glad," said Joyce as she smiled at her daughter.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Giles walked out from behind the stacks to get more books to shelve. Xander, Willow, Buffy and Faith were at the bottom of the steps looking up at him. "Oh! Why are you lot hanging about? Don't you have classes to go to?"
"Health got canceled," Faith told him.
"Mr. Whitmore's out. Couldn't find an egg sitter or something," Xander joked.
"Well, then, can you give me a hand?"
"Where is Chloe?" Buffy wondered thinking that Chloe would have already been helping Giles.
"Making a report to the Council," answered Giles. "So?"
"Sure!" Faith and Xander replied cheerfully.
"No," said Buffy and Willow.
"Buffy, Willow, are you two feeling alright?" Giles asked the girls. "You seem a little sluggish."
"Maybe it's something we ate," answered Willow as she and Buffy sat at the study table.
"Or perhaps it's the burden of parenthood. Notice how seriously both of you have taken this egg thing," Xander ribbed Buffy and Willow. He took Xander Jr. out of his shirt pocket. "While I, in turn, have, uh, well, chosen a more balanced approach." He tossed it into the air and caught it.
"Xander, maybe you shouldn't," Willow began.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about," He continued to toss the egg. "You can't stress over every little thing! A child picks up on that. Which is a one-way ticket to neurotic city." He tossed the egg into the air again this time missing it.
Buffy, Faith and Willow gasped in fright as the egg hit the floor. Xander picked the unbroken egg up while throwing a sheepish grin at them.
"It didn't break!" Willow gasped. "How come it didn't break?" She narrowed her eyes at Xander.
"Which is another secret to conscientious egg care: a pot of scalding water and about eight minutes," The boy replied.
"You boiled your young?" Willow gaped at him.
"I know it sounds cruel," Xander said, "but sometimes you got to be cruel to be kind! I mean, you can bet that Xander Jr. is thick-skinned now."
"Isn't that, technically, cheating?" Faith looked at Xander as she shelved a large tome. At the back of the shelf was an egg.
"No! It's like a shortcut. You know, when you run a race?" Xander tried.
"That would also be cheating," Buffy said.
"You should be ashamed," Willow glared at Xander.
"I suppose there is a sort of Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression..." said Giles.
"I resent that..." said Xander. Then he wondered if Giles was actually complimenting him. "Or, possibly, thank you..."
"Bit of both would suit," answered Giles.
Cordelia walked through the library and up to the table. "Figures, you four are all hanging in the dungeon while something major is going on at Sunnydale High."
"And what would that be, Cordelia?" Xander asked. "Barrette appreciation day?"
"Mr. Whitmore didn't show today."
"That news is of the past," said Buffy.
"He can't be reached. He's missing," said Cordelia. "And presumed dead."
"Presumed by whom?" Giles wondered.
"Well, me," she answered as if it were obvious.
"I think we might wait a few hours before we give up on him completely," he reasoned.
"Well I think we should look around," said Cordelia. "Don't you, Xander?" She gave him a pointed look.
"It can wait," Xander said.
"You're awfully gung-ho," said Faith.
"Well, his body could fall out of a closet somewhere," said Cordelia as she continued to look at Xander. "We should check every closet to see if he's in a closet."
"Of course. There could be a closet... Let's go," Xander said as he and Cordelia headed for the doors. "You guys look for other clues. We'll meet back here."
"We'll get right on that," Buffy said.
Willow watched as Cordelia and Xander left. "Are they getting weirder? Have you noticed the weirdness of them?"
"I don't know," Buffy admitted. She looked at Giles. "Should we be having guilt about not looking for Mr. Whitmore?"
"I think you two and Dawn can hold off on that," Giles said looking at both Faith and Buffy. "I'd prefer you three save your strength for hunting the Gorches."
"Yeah, I'll be fine by tonight. Maybe Dawn and I will sweep the cemetery," said Buffy.
"Be careful. If you're still feeling sluggish –" suggested Giles.
"Dawn will be with me so no worries," said Buffy. "She can portal me home if need be."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The Sunnydale High night watchman walked along the corridor checking doors to ensure that they were locked. He stopped at the intersection and glanced each way. To his right the door to the basement stood ajar. He moved over to it. He opened the door wider. The watchman looked inside then went down the steps making no attempt to be quiet. At the bottom he found the doors to the boiler room were open. He stepped in and tried the light switch. Nothing happened.
"Hello?" He called pulling out his Maglite. "Is anybody in here?"
He turned the flashlight on and continued into the room. Just past the boilers, there was a huge hole in the concrete wall hidden behind a stack of boxes. The watchman moved cautiously over to the stack with his flashlight held over his shoulder like a bat, lighting the way but ready to swing if need be.
No one was there. He set his Maglite down and pushed a stack of boxes aside. A tunnel continued on beyond the hole. Grabbing his flashlight again he stepped up to look into the hole.
His was oblivious to the approach of Mr. Whitmore behind him. He would have been shocked to see the teacher carrying a pickax and dumbfounded when the man struck him with it, knocking him unconscious.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Across town in Dawn's house Faith lay on her side in bed asleep, hers and Buffy's egg was in its basket on the nightstand next to her. Suddenly the egg exploded and a slimy creature came out of it and darted straight at Faith. The creature slithered under the blankets and made its way around to her back where it attached itself to her.
December 9, 1997 - Tuesday
The next day at lunchtime Xander was snacking on a candy bar. He looked down at the off-brand chocolate coated treat as he chewed the unyielding caramel, "Mm, Cardboardy." The boy sat on the wall and finished the rest of the candy bar. "Still hungry." Xander opened his satchel and dug through it. He pulled his egg out. He regarded Xander Jr. for a moment. Sighing Xander decided, "Sorry, Junior, but a man's gotta eat." He tapped the egg on the wall next to him and rolled it back and forth under his hand. Xander smiled and nodded at the girls when he noticed them heading his way. "Hey." He held up the egg, ready to take a bite. Xander looked back to the egg as he raised it to his face. A purplish-gray creature, dead from being boiled, was curled inside. A startled shout escaped him as he tossed the egg away.
Buffy, Dawn and Faith, who had been walking by, stopped. Dawn picked up the egg.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Moments later Xander, Buffy and Dawn stood in the science lab waiting on Faith, who had gone to get Chloe, Willow and Giles. The thing that Xander almost bit into laid on a dissection tray.
"Can I just say—" Xander shuddered. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
"I see your uhhhhhhhhhhh and raise You a gnyeh," said Buffy as Willow and Faith walked through the door. "Where are Chloe and Giles?"
"They said we should get started and they'd be by as soon as possible," answered Willow.
Xander held a small scalpel. "So. Okay," he said. "Get started Dawn, Buffy. Dissect it or something."
"Why us?" asked Buffy.
"You're the Slayers," answered Xander. "I almost ate one of these things. I've fulfilled my gross-out quota for the decade."
Willow took the scalpel and cut into the creature as blue goop squirted out.
"Do we have any idea what to look for?" he asked. "I mean, how are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?"
"Turn it over. Maybe we missed its I.D. bracelet," said Buffy.
"So now I guess we know what happened to Mr. Whitmore," Xander said.
"It's possible that Mr. Whitmore wasn't harmed. Maybe the offspring simply used him to return to the mother Bezoar," explained Willow.
"Yeah. Maybe he—" he started before realizing what Willow said. "What?"
"What's a Bezo—" Dawn but was unable to finish her question as Faith blindsided Buffy with a lead pipe.
"Faith!" Dawn shouted. "What—" She turned just in time to see an expressionless Willow bring a heavy microscope down on her head. She collapsed to the floor next to Buffy and Xander.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn sat up, feeling her head where she was hit. She saw Xander and Buffy lying beside her, touched their shoulders. "Buffy?" she said as Buffy and Xander began to come around. "Xander? Are you both okay?"
"I'm okay," admitted Buffy as she rubbed her head.
"Man, the last time Cordy dragged me in here was a lot nicer..." answered Xander.
"What?" said Buffy.
"Cordelia," said Dawn as her sister and Xander looked at her. "Future, remember? Around now was when you started dating Cordelia, Xander."
Xander sighed as felt his head. "I'm going to have a peninsula here. What the hell is going on? Willow and Faith..."
Buffy and Dawn rose to their feet. "Something to do with our hatchlings, I'm sure of that," said Buffy. "Dawn?"
"Sorry, Buffy, whatever was happening around now is hazy for me," Dawn admitted. "I remember something happening but I can't remember what. There is a large gap in my memory surrounding today. All I remember is something about a gas leak, but that's it."
Buffy sighed and nodded. She tried the door and found it locked.
Xander sat up, moving slowly. "What are they, possessed?"
"No idea," said Dawn. "That said they wanted us out of the way though."
"Why not kill us? Why drag us in here – oh," said Xander as he noticed three eggs sitting on a crate, one of which was jiggling, making a clicking sound. "Bad now."
Dawn and Buffy noticed them too. Buffy grabbed a heavy tool chest and slammed it down on top of them.
"You're scrambled," Xander said in an impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. "See, we make a great team. You two kill, I pun."
"Dawn, we could use a portal," said Buffy as Dawn nodded. Dawn waved her hand and a portal formed in front of them.
"Library," Dawn said as they stepped through it into the library. "Chloe?"
"Giles?" called Buffy.
"Giles! Chloe!" said Xander. "They must be out somewhere. What do we do?"
"We can't fight these things unless we know something about them," said Buffy.
"Willow said something... a name...what was it?" asked Xander.
"Bezoar," answered Dawn. "We need to look it up."
"In what?" Xander asked.
"A book?" suggested Buffy as they walked over to the library counter.
"Which one?"
"I'll start with this one," Dawn moved to grab a tome.
"This'll take forever," Xander complained.
"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "Plus, we don't know if the book we need is even here." She sighed, "Slayers are not cut out for research."
"You may not be, but I am," said Dawn as Xander and Buffy looked at her. "I wasn't always a Slayer, remember? During the year leading up to the battle with the First, when no one knew I was even a Potential, I was more of Watcher Jr."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
A line of students led up to the hole. One by one they stepped through and slowly made their way down the tunnel. At the end, they found a cavern twice as wide as it was tall with a deep pit on the far side. A path of crude plywood ramps made the uneven ground safe to traverse.
Strong and able-bodied students were given pickaxes, shovels and other digging equipment to excavate more of the floor. Less fit students were pulling eggs from the crevices, cleaning them and placing them in boxes. Mr. Whitmore and the night watchman stood sentry, ensuring each new entry was assigned a suitable task.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn had found the right book thankfully. "A pre-prehistoric parasite..." she read, "the mother hibernates underground, laying eggs. Offspring attach themselves to a host, taking control of their motor functions through neural clamping."
"Neural clamping? That sounds skippable," said Xander.
"So, our people are taking orders from the mama Bezoar. Which begs the question –" said Buffy.
Before she could get finish her question a scream of desperation rang out from the hall. "Somebody help me! Get this thing off me! Get this... Somebody help me! Help!"
Buffy, Dawn and Xander ran into the hall. A short boy with dark hair – Jonathan Levinson – was struggling with a parasite. Still screaming the boy fell to the floor. The screaming stopped and Jonathan got back up.
"Are you okay?" Xander asked
"I'm fine. I slipped," was the emotionless reply. Jonathan turned and headed down the hall.
Dawn, Buffy and Xander exchanged a look. They followed Jonathon through the school and down into the basement and into the boiler room. He headed straight for the hole in the wall. Buffy, Dawn and Xander cautiously followed him through the hole into the tunnel beyond.
The digging and egg gathering activity continued in the Bezoar den. Buffy, Dawn and Xander peeked into the room.
"We can't let them spread those things around," said Buffy.
"Xander and I are on it," said Dawn.
"Um, can you, uh, hold down the fort?" Xander asked Buffy with more confidence than he felt. "Better yet—can you kill the fort?"
"I'll try," admitted Buffy as she watched Xander and Dawn follow Cordelia and Faith. She then looked around. "I'm going to need a weapon. I'm going to need a big weapon." She turned and headed back into the boiler room. She emerged from the tunnel and walked straight into the Gorches.
"Told you it wasn't over," said Lyle. He then realized that this isn't the Slayer he fought but the other one. "Oh, you are the other one."
"She's so cute and little," said Tector as he looked at his brother. "Can we keep her?"
"Guys, this is not a great time," Buffy said.
"It's going to be," said Lyle as he and his brother rush Buffy.
Buffy parried their attacks, she sent Tector flying backward. Lyle hurled himself at her, they both go flying into the hole and into the cave, rolling right into the midst of the zombie throng.
Lyle stood and looked around bewildered. "What the hell is this?"
Buffy found herself face to face with her girlfriend. "Chloe?" she said surprised to see Chloe there.
Willow looked up from her digging. "Kill them."
Chloe swung her pickaxe at Buffy - who blocked it.
"Chloe?" said Buffy as she backed away from her girlfriend.
Lyle fended off the ones attacking him as he too backed away. He and Buffy end up back to back, fending off the crowd. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Long story!" said Buffy. She pushed away a teacher as Lyle knocked someone out. In a moment of brief respite, they turn to each other and started trading blows.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn and Xander followed Cordelia and Faith down the tunnel.
"Faith!" said Dawn.
"Cordelia!" added Xander.
Cordelia and Faith placed their eggs on the floor and turned to face at Xander and Dawn. They weaved away from twin punches.
"Cordelia, I don't want to hurt you..." Xander said, "some of the time..."
"And I don't want to hurt you, Faith," said Dawn as she and Xander made for the eggs.
Cordelia and Faith sent glancing blows to their respective significant other's heads.
Dawn smiled as she remembered the locked closet. She opened a portal beneath Faith and Cordelia and the two girls fell through it into the still locked closet.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Tector emerged from the hole, furious. "Where is that sorry-ass girl?" He stopped, looking at the tableau of digging and fighting. Buffy and Lyle had reached high ground, at the entrance of a caved-in tunnel, and the zombies were just eyeing them, focusing on containment.
Unbeknownst to Tector, Giles had come up beside him. Giles hit him in the back of the head with the flat end of an axe. He went flying, landing on his belly with his face right over the hole. The Bezoar moving right below his face.
"What is that...?" he asked as an eye opened right below him.
A tentacle shot out and wrapped around his head. He was pulled into the hole before he had time to scream.
Buffy and Lyle stop their fight and watched as Tector was swallowed whole by the creature.
"Tector! TECTOR!" Lyle shouted as Tector finally managed a scream seconds before the scream was replaced by the sounds of something chomping. He turned on Buffy. "This is all your fault!"
"How?" Buffy asked.
Lyle grabbed Buffy and threw her down toward the hole. She landed hard just as a tentacle came up and wrapped around her feet. She looked down at her feet - then up at Chloe, who swung the pickaxe down at her face!
Buffy rolled as the axe was buried in the ground next to her head. She grabbed hold of it - and the tentacle yanked her toward the hole. Buffy strained to hold onto the axe - but it was pulled free from the rock and both it and she fell into the hole.
Inside the creature Buffy slashed at the Bezoar, ripping its flesh with the axe. The monster's screams reverberated through the cavern as the digging activity came to a stop. The students and teachers gathered around the pit to watch and listen as the Bezoar eventually went silent.
The hosts collapsed to the floor, and the parasites fell from their backs.
Buffy pulled herself out of the hole, covered in blue gunk and looked about as deadly pissed about that fact as she could be.
Lyle stared at Buffy all of three seconds before he ran away, calling out behind him, "Okay, it's over now..."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Yes, yes, uh, it was a, a gas leak, everyone. Uh, well, just, uh, get some air, and a... good night's rest, you know, uh, you'll be fine. These gas things... will happen," Giles stuttered through an explanation to the students milling about. He turned to Xander as the boy approached him, "W-w-what was it really?"
"Go with Gas leak. I'll fill you in later," Xander said as sirens blared in the distance.
Dawn stood in front of Willow, Chloe and Faith as Xander joined them.
"Did I really hit you both?" Willow asked looking at Dawn and Xander.
"Knocked us both out," answered Dawn. She had filled in Willow, Chloe and Faith on everything that had happened.
"But I didn't," said Chloe.
"From what Buffy said you tried to hit her," said Xander.
Buffy came out of the locker room. She smiled when she spotted the guys. She jogged over to them and threw her arms around Chloe. Not caring that anyone could likely be watching, she kissed Chloe. "Glad you're okay," she said.
"So am I," said Chloe. "And I'm sorry."
"It wasn't you," said Buffy.