Apr 19, 2005 00:15
ooc: Open to anyone who'd like to find Fred face down in a puddle of blood in the lobby of her apartment building. Or not. Either way, she'll live. But someone else needed to notice the Yasha demon running around Boston. And Fred needed a reality check.
Fred meant it when she told Wesley she'd call someone if she ever wanted to go out hunting. She justifies this by telling herself that she's not hunting. She's simply going out for a nice walk. At night. By the docks. With a crossbow and three stakes.
It's the first time she's been out hunting alone since becoming human again, since being given the new body. She knows that it's stupid, but that doesn't stop her from peeking into dark corners, hoping to find a vampire or two sucking on someone's neck. She'd even settle for a demon at this point, although she's not entirely certain she'd be able to handle a demon by herself. Vampires are one thing, but demons hit a little too close to home still.
So far, she hasn't come across a single vampire. She's been out for nearly an hour and nothing has happened, so with a sigh, Fred turns back in the direction of her apartment. She should probably tuck the crossbow into her jacket, but she carries in plain sight. It's late and she's pretty sure no one will bother her if she's carrying a crossbow. It's probably silly, but she's more wary of the people than of the vampires.
Three blocks from her apartment she passes an alley and hears a snarl. She stops just past the opening and listens for another noise. It didn't sound like a vampire, but she just wants to make sure. When she hears nothing after a few minutes, Fred turns her back on the alley and starts walking away.
She gets another block before she's knocked flat onto the cement and pain explodes in her shoulder. She's not even given a chance to react, a chance to scream. Whatever knocked her over sinks its teeth into her shoulder again and lifts her off the pavement and tosses her aside. She rolls over into the street, then holds up the crossbow blindly and fires.
Something howls and Fred tries to sit up, drag herself away and get a look at what attacked her all at the same time. She catches a glimpse of something that looks like a dog, but bigger, scarier. The arrow from her crossbow is embedded in its left front leg and it's frantically biting at it, trying to remove it. She probably doesn't have much time before it gets the arrow out and comes after her again.
Getting to her feet, Fred drops the crossbow in another spectacularly stupid decision and clutches her bleeding shoulder with her free hand. She's lost a lot of blood already and she knows if she doesn't make it to her apartment before she passes out, this thing, whatever it is, will probably kill her.
She breaks into a run toward her building, her sneakers pounding on the cement and she can't hear if it's following her above the sound of her shoes and her ragged breathing and the pounding of her heart. The outer door isn't locked and she throws it open, then pulls it behind her as quickly as she can. As she's scrambling for her pass card to the inner door, the demon throws itself against the glass. She lets out a small scream this time, then shoves the pass card into the slot and opens the inner door.
The demon throws itself against the door a second time and Fred turns to look at it too quickly, her eyes rolling back and she passes out, slumping on the floor of the lobby.