Timeline: BtVS: S07ish & The Walking Dead: S01.
Disclaimer: Anything copyrighted belongs to its legal owners.
Author's Note: Written for Day 16 of the 2023 August Fic-A-Day.
They had been walking away from the camp for well over half an hour before they came across six walkers. If the undead continued in the same direction they were shuffling towards then they would pass the camp with enough distance that they would not know there were living people around. Unless someone made a loud noise. Something that unfortunately was very likely between the children and adults who didn't seem to understand that loud noises equaled danger.
Buffy silently made her annoying companion for the morning aware she had located their prey, and the two of them backtracked a little so they could have a low-voiced conversation without being noticed. She made sure to keep all of them within eyesight as they were too dangerous to be ignored. Especially since there were only two of the living and nowhere for them to seek safety if the situation got out of control.
"Remember," Shane repeated for the sixth time since they had left, not counting when they agreed to the rules before they even left the Quarry Camp. "Knives only, no talking. Whoever kills the most wins, even if it's by one biter."
Buffy held back a more pointed reply and simply agreed, before adding, "Now, be quiet."
She snuck around behind the small herd and within a couple of minutes she stabbed the straggler in the back of the head. He collapsed on the ground with more noise than she had expected, causing the next two walkers to turn around and groan a greeting before shambling in her direction. Soon after they had joined their companion in the dirt.
Further ahead, Shane had foolishly chosen to attack the one in the front, and while he had managed the kill it, it had also gotten him surrounded by the remaining two undead. Buffy powerwalked up to them and made her fourth kill while Shane was trying to get close enough to stab the last one in the head.
She had already won but decided to see if the arrogant man would be able to kill the sixth one or not. Despite not liking Shane, she was ready with her knife partially raise if it became necessary to help. Annoying or not, he was a human being, and as far as she knew, he hadn't done anything to deserve to be bitten.
The scuffle took a lot longer than it should have, but he did manage to sink his knife into the undead woman's head in the end. Shane gave her a triumphant look until he moved his focus away from her and to the immediate terrain where four of the walkers were laying permanently dead.
When he finally gave her eye contact again, she smiled and simply said, "I win."
"You cheated, didn't you? You brought your crossbow or something." He glared at her while visually searching for the offending object. His mood didn't improve when he failed to locate the weapon or see arrows anywhere.
"Nope. The only weapons I have on me are knives, just as we agreed to back at the camp. Admit you lost so we can start looking for dinner." Dawn was keeping her weapons collection safe while she was out in the woods proving her worth to the idiot in charge.
He argued, more for the sake of arguing and his own ego than anything else. Then, he went and took a closer look at Buffy's kills to make sure they were actually dead. When he knelt down to check the first one, she really did roll her eyes skyward, but let him do it. If she hadn't he probably would've accused her of cheating again.
Shane was thoroughly checking each and every one of them, inspecting where she had stabbed them, and by the looks of it, how deep she let her knife sink into their skull. Meanwhile, the Slayer kept a lookout for any more walkers.
Shane was inspecting the last one when a seventh walker came out of the bushes not far from him. He didn't notice as he was busy checking for something or other. It was a little boy, maybe seven or eight when he had been bitten, and Buffy's heart clenched. It was so much worse when it was a child than when it was an adult. Nonetheless, she quickly intercepted the boy and pierced his head with her knife. Child or not, all walkers were lethal regardless of size and apparent age.
Beside them, Shane was startled badly enough that he fell over where he had been kneeling next to the head of her fourth kill of the day. He barely managed not to fall onto the downed walker, but it was pretty close.
With wide eyes, he half yelled, "What the...?"
"While you were busy trying to prove any cheating on my part," Buffy replied annoyed in a normal voice, "I was busy paying attention to our surroundings. Rule number uno when out somewhere with dangerous predators; never ever let your guard down. That's how you get dead. Or in this case, undead." You never turned your back on someone you didn't know or trust either, something this guy should've known since he had been a sheriff before.
Rather than be courteous and thank her for saving his ungrateful life, he glared at her while getting himself off the ground. Then he had to bend down again when he realized he had lost his knife.
"Also, if any of them hadn't been properly dead then your inspection would probably have gotten you bitten."
The glare intensified, but despite opening his mouth several times to speak he wisely chose not to say anything.
Buffy hadn't been idle while she had been waiting for him, but instead, she had used her enhanced hearing and senses to mentally catalog everything in their surroundings. Her main concern had obviously been walkers since they were the ones who posed the biggest threat, but other humans were also cause for concern. War and disasters caused the worst to come out of people.
There were other walkers within her hearing range, but none of them were heading in their direction or toward the camp, so she let them be. There was also another small group of living people a few miles away, but they were not heading in the direction of the camp either.
What was more interesting at the moment was the deer she had been audibly tracking for the last few minutes. Her cooking skills were lacking, but she could hunt and kill if someone else could prepare the actual meal. And she told Shane as much. He was still sulking, but the thought of a proper meal that did not come out of a tin can did cheer him up a little, and they went hunting.